Notes from the underground.

WHO COULD SAY NO TO HEAD? Everybody loves Head, hut the Seattle threesome rarely find the gumption to play out live, which was why it was such a treat to see them on my last trip to the Emerald City Three chord Ramones-inspired pogo punk, sarcastic and jaded, that had the retarded-looking girl next to me dancing around like a spun potato for the whole set. Nice... The Mooney Suzuki's new single, Oh Sweet Susanna on Gammon records is a couple of garagified, fuzzed-out soul stompers. More of the same solid dope from these NYC guys... What the hell is noodlin'? Well, the Okie Noodlers want you to know. Their 7" on two-teeth records It's a Lost Art Form is dedicated to the sport of noodlin', no shit. Noodlin' is fishing for catfish with your bare hands, by dangling them in front of a catfish's hole. 'The big fish, up to 70 pounds, swallow your hand and wrist and then it's your job to wrestle them to the surface. The band plays mediocre redneck punk at best, but this one is worth it for the cover art and subject m atter alone... I'll forgive the Knotts for pulling a rip-off move and putting out a one-sided single as a debut, but only because it fucking rocks. Lo-fi, stomping, speedy punk rock from two ex-Fells. Look for It,s Alright Baby on Startime records, but look fast, there's only 200 of these babies!... You could say I followed a hunch when I picked up the latest 7" on In The Red, a label that puts out consistent quality shit. It's The Hunches, and Got Some Hate lives up to its name. A full-bore noisy fatefest of messy, messy punk... Shit, how old is Russell Quan? Who cares if the ex-Mummy can still pound the skins and yelp in some of the stompinest garage punkout there. Look for the Easys 7" You're High Maintenance (and I'm no Mechanic) on Just Add Water records... Tired of that whiner Carrot Top and his long-distance hawking? The soundtrack to his destruction has already been laid, with Los Federales Carrot Top Most Be Destroyed. Furious HC/thrash that'll whip you into a redhead murdering frenzy It's a split wi th Swing Ding Amigos, who pound out more of the same. Smokin'... I recently heard in NYC a demo by a band called Horse Pussy entitled Chick Shitter that has my no-demo-tape policy under review here at the Thrasher control tower. Side-splittin' cacophony, Chick Shitter is about a guy on a road trip who can't seem to poo more than a few pellets at a time. I know, I know, lowest common denominator, but its new wave synth and canned drums are fucking hilarious... On the reissue front comes a three-CD set from Dischord entitled 20 Years of Dischord. Capturing the early DC hardcore sound and expanding to cover other stuff. Dischord has stuck to its guns by supporting DIY and keeping its releases cheap and in print. This set has tracks by The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Void, Youth Brigade, Government Issue, Scream, Faith, Dag Nasty, Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses, and others. It's also got a CD of unreleased and live stuff and comes with a 134-page booklet... The Self-Titled 10" by Lull Z of the No Talents is noisy as all get out, and pretty damned tweaked in places. Recorded in her living room on a 4-track, with some songs in French, others in English, it rocks with a quirkiness that'll give your mom a headache and your sister the shits, but it's still cute in a way...--Wez Lundy

And the middleground, and the overground: Sonic Youth, Murray Street: "Oh, they're just a jam band" compounded with lots of "This is their most accessible record in years:" Exactly. Seven trips to the astral plane make up the LP from these veteran dissonants who just sold out two nights at the Fillmore on feedback alone... Dillinger Escape Plan, "Irony is a Dead Scene" EP. Upon first listening to the massive, massive heavies that these cats unleash, you'll be thinkin' "Yeah slide rule, yeah ProTools. Yeah cut-and-paste." Wrong. Bear live witness to fire and brimstone and tech fluidity. Mike Patton provides the (guest) tongue-twisting weirdness on this one, so if you're into tongues and weirdness... "When the shotgun sings, the traitor screams La Musica Della Mafia is a collection of Italian ballads and stories of the Mafia, straight from the old country. World and folk music at its best, with translations in English to boot--plus photos of guns, guitars, and guys with crude back tats of moths and shit. Check out pias.com to get made... Speaking of folk tunes, Tampa's Sam Beam sent Sub Pop a bunch of his Iron and Wine songs-home-recorded masterpieces of eerie whispers and slide guitar and banjo and such-Sub Pop then pared it down and released The Creek Drank the Cradle, an album's worth of roots music steeped in the ways of the Old South. And from places North and West of Sam, Idaho's Doug Martsch (of Built To 5pm fame) put out Now You Know, a solo record of Mississippi Fred McDowell-influenced slide guitar tunes, home-recorded as well and as haunting as the deep dark woods can possibly be. The sum musical parts of these two records forced me to seriously consider dusting off the Bible and moving back to the hills.--R Henry