Notes from the underground.

MAN, CHECK OUT THE COVER of that Rat Byte 7": An army of pig-faced cops watches as four of their colleagues are killed in various ways. One is at the end of a noose and being swung around by the neck by a guy with a green skull face sitting on the deck of an empty pool, another pig-faced cop is hanging in the corner, missing his hands and everything below about mid-torso, the third has just taken an execution style shot to the head at point blank (by a green skull-faced guy), and the fourth pig-faced cop is sitting there holding his shotgun and a dude with a green skull face has just done a frontside air over the hip of the empty pool and literally torn the pig's head off of his shoulders by smacking it with his back truck. Dude, that is some gnarly shit right there. The record is straight ahead speedy thrash with tempo changes, and the recording sounds like an old Faction record. These guys are young and it shows but they got something going there. The crazy thing is I got it with some straight edge records, and they all have the FNS label on them, but then like a sub label one is "str8ntrue" and the other is "Party Time!" and has a picture of a guy doing a handplant on a keg and drinking out of the tap. That is some confusing shit going on right there ... I knew there had to be more out there than just the one amazing LP by Th' Losin Streaks, and I was right. There's a 7" as well that features one track from the LP ("Beg, Steal or Borrow"), a cover ("Outside"), and an exclusive track ("Bad News Better Good"). Heavily stompin' garage punk with two guitars. These guys are some of the finest shit going now, and I thought they had broken up. Turns out they're playing in Sacto this weekend, and I'm gonna be there ... And speaking of top-notch garage madness, I found another 7" by Tucson's The Okmoniks (Rustle Up Some Action With the Okmoniks!!! on In Fi Records, their own label). Kick ass organ-drenched stuff fronted by Helen 33, these guys and gal are a kick to see live ... On the bigger platters, look out for the King Khan and BBQ show LP on Goner. I reviewed the BBQ LP a while back, insanely good one-man band stuff from a former member of the Spaceshits and Los Sexareenos. He's teamed up with King Kahn and the results are just as good--minimal, but not minimalist, with killer crooning up front. This one's a keeper... For a quality sampler of what kick-ass northwest label Estrus has to offer these days, look no further than the Kamikaze Ass Chomp "n" Stomp CD Sampler Volume 4. Estrus has been putting out the fine dope for years, and continues with this one, featuring tracks from the likes of DMBQ, the Fallouts, the Knockout Pills, Gas Huffer, the Mummies and plenty of others. Hell, head honcho Dave Crider even stuck one of his old band's numbers on there (or are the Mono Men back together?). A better sampler you'll be hard pressed to find ... On the dope smokin' video front, the Jamaican film Rockers has just been re-released. Post-Harder They Come, but pre-Countryman, the film is a great slice of late '70s Jamaica and the Kingston reggae scene, with appearances by Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Big Youth, Joe Gibbs and plenty more. Sure, the plot has plenty of holes, and this time around they've added subtitles if you're scratching your head at the Jamaican Patois, but the soundtrack is the good ol' stuff, before shit got all disco ... One final caveat, I got the Blood on the Saddle reference wrong when I was writing about Phoenix's Flathead. I meant Rank and File, the band that featured ex-Dils folks. Nobody said I was perfect ...