pg. 99 Reunion Show

Best night of my life.

It's kinda odd to know that, at least when it comes to experiences involving music, you've peaked at 26.

I flew out from DFW to Richmond for this show. I never fly anywhere for shows. But, I never saw them before they broke up so I've been waiting 8 or so years for this. I don't think I can write anything that will do the anticipation, the excitement, and sense of joyful release I felt even an ounce of justice.

Being in a room packed with total strangers but feeling as if every single one of them is on the same wavelength as myself is something really special. Few bands can make that happen. pg. 99 is one of them.

Major thanks to joshuashomburg for uploading their entire set.

Four Hundred Years - Transmit Failure (reissue)

Artist: Four Hundred Years
Title: Transmit Failure (reissue)
Release: 2004 (originally 1998)
Label: Lovitt Records

Track List:
1. Power of Speech
2. Penny for Your Thoughts
3. Radio Silence
4. Transmit Failure
5. An Hour too Late
6. Motion Sickness
7. Throw Spark
8. Sequence
9. Give Us This Day
10. Line Breaker
11. Untitled

Since I had somehow never even heard of this band until two days ago I'm just going to be quoting their bio from amazon.com...

Four Hundred Years were not merely a band, but a phenomenon. A force of emo/hardcore intensity that began in Tucson, Arizona, following the end of Groundwork, they eventually migrated to Richmond, Virginia. Four Hundred Years amassed a large, frenzied, and rabid audience. Intelligent and intricate with a perfect blend of melody and dissonance in all the right places, Four Hundred Years had unparalleled abilities to captivate their listeners and turn them loose on an unsuspecting music world. Alternative Press noted, "Combined with the weight of their political views, the tension of Four Hundred Years' music is simultaneously a catharsis and a call to arms."

Four Hundred Years toured Europe, Japan, and America numerous times and played with such notables as Fugazi, Frodus, Sleepytime Trio, and many more. Upon the completion of recording The New Imperialism, their third full-length, they played four final shows on the east coast and disbanded.

This reminds me of a ton of other awesome early emo bands so if you like that kind of stuff and like me haven't heard of this band before you'll love this. "An Hour too Late" is pretty much the definition of goosebump inducing emotional release.

As usual, if you like it consider buying it.

Download: Four Hundred Years - Transmit Failure (reissue) (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Four Hundred Years - Transmit Failure (reissue) (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Ursa Minor - Smoke

Artist: Ursa Minor
Title: Smoke
Release: 1997
Label: Abraham Records

Track List:
1. Smoke
2. When Ships Set Sail
3. Goodnight

I picked this record out of a bargain bin based solely on the cover. It screamed mid 90's emo at me. And guess what, it sounds exactly like Mineral, The Gloria Record, and Knapsack. I love that about emo bands from that time. You can tell exactly what the music is gonna sound like based on the cover. Obviously to an extent that's true with a lot of bands. But with 90's emo it just seems more so for some reason.

That being said, if you've listened to the more popular examples of the genre then you probably know exactly what to expect. Quietly sung vocals, mildly dissonant but not unpleasantly so guitars, and a subtle hint of a keyboard buried somewhere in the mix that occasionally stands out loudly. All played at a speeds shifting between drudgingly slow to just a pace above mid-tempo.

I could not find a damn thing about Ursa Minor on the internet. My guess is that they probably only did this record and maybe one or two others. They probably didn't tour much or at all. And they probably never tried to make a name for themselves. If I had to guess, they were probably just college friends who played for a few years then went their separate ways after graduation. Nowadays with the ubiquitousness of the internet bands like that tend to leave a bit more of a record behind. But even in the 90's it's entirely possible that not a single word about Ursa Minor ever made it to the internet. Being the nerd that I am, to me there's something sad about that.

The 7" came with a small insert with the track listing. It says the record was recorded at Wintersound by Bob Gurske in the fall of 1997. I looked him up. It appears he's retired from recording now. Wintersound is in Gloucester Point, Virginia. The address for the record label says Charleston, South Carolina. So my guess is that they're either from Virginia, South Carolina, or somewhere nearby.

Download: Ursa Minor - Smoke (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Ursa Minor - Smoke (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Pizza/Tideland - split

Artist: Pizza/Tideland
Title: split
Release: 2009
Label: Cosmic Debris Records

Track List:
1. Pizza - Do-Do-La-La
2. Pizza - In Your Head
3. Tideland - Graveyard Song

Both Pizza and Tideland hail from Sterling, Virginia. That town should sound familiar to some of you out there. It's the home of pg. 99 and a myriad of other fantastic bands. I'm pretty certain Tideland has at least one member who was in pg. 99, and you can hear the noisy Sonic Youth influence that pg. 99 was apparently all about. However neither Tideland or Pizza is remotely close to screamo or hardcore.

Pizza's two songs are nice and quiet. Relaxing even. But not in the almost eerie way fellow Virginians Pygmy Lush can be at times. In comparison the Tideland side of this 7" is pretty loud. But not as loud as one might expect if all you've heard from the Sterling scene is pg. 99 or Pig Destroyer.

I'm still not sure what the hell the animal on the cover is supposed to be. Some kind of rat dog? I've included 600 DPI scans of the cover and insert so maybe you can figure it out.

You might still be able to buy this over at Robotic Empire. Their store doesn't say how many are left in stock and this has been out for a while so don't hesitate to order it.


Download: Pizza/Tideland - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Pizza/Tideland - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Tarpit - Wake Up

Artist: Tarpit
Title: Wake Up
Release Date: 2006
Label: Collapse Records

Track List:
1. Smoke and Mirrors
2. Slave
3. The Cycle
4. Your Shit Stinks
5. The Swan
6. Gloom Merchants

Holy shit this band rules. Very very fast and obviously very very angry hardcore from Virginia Beach. The only thing I really know about this band is that some of the members were in Iron Boots and Victims. They recently released a new full length called "Vultures". Since I managed to snag this 7" a while back I've included high res scans of the artwork. Hopefully someone out there enjoys this band as much as I do, because I once drove about two or three hours with this EP on repeat the whole time.

Download: Tarpit - Wake Up (LAME 3.90 APS)