Reviews: L.G. Records highlights
Shudder To Think/Young Ginns/Worst Case Scenario/Han-Shan
Mostly reissue label of Andy Coronado on Monorchid, Wrangler Brutes, and Skull Control. Maybe someone else is involved, I dunno. What I do know is that the label specializes in high quality product. Tip-on jackets housing long lost recordings or magically resuscitating previous releases. A real labor of love. I’m only dipping into four releases here, but there’s really not a bad one in the bunch. It’s been quite a two year run. Available through Dischord Records or Midheaven.
Shudder To Think - 1987 (100,019 Men Go Wow Wow Wow)
The seeds of a much revered band. Craig Wedren’s shrill vocals can be a tough take, but will grow on ya if you let ‘em. At this point I am a fan of everything they’ve done, but that wasn’t always the case. Later albums still hit situationally, but everything up to/including Get Your Goat are canon at this point. 1987 has songs from the 1987 demo on the A-side and the It Was Arson EP on the flip. Truly a public service to offer up the first EP at half the going rate. A truly singular band. It’s punk, it’s hardcore, it’s kinda goth-y. You’ll hear it the first time and remain skeptical, and the next day you’re still thinking about it. Weeks pass and you realize you’ve kept going back. A true grower.
Young Ginns - S/T
The 7” is a true gem. It’s one of those records that turns up cheap so I always grab a copy to pass off on deserving recipients. Members of Unwound and Nation of Ulysses attempting to start a Black Flag style instro band but then got invaded by a vocalist. Definitely a little Flag-y, but plenty of their other bands shining through. Has the early Unwound hardcore vibes and some Ulysses if you stripped away every ounce of sass. One of the best things to come out on Gravity Records. The Discography CD was originally released on Lance Hahn’s Honey Bear Records in ‘98 with a handful of unreleased tracks. Here it is, first time on vinyl. A true under the radar classic.
Worst Case Scenario - Studies in Pessimism
Another Trosper/Sandeno Unwound side project. Teams up the Demo and their 2 7”s. Only thing missing is the Full Length. Not that the LP isn’t good, but this is the best Worst Case Scenario material on one slab. Not too far off what they were doing with Young Ginns. Mid-tempo churning hardcore with what most folks’ll call noise rock mixed in. Seems odd to think that they had a record on Lookout!, but then again, that label had plenty of underexposed gems in the discography. First heard Worst Case Scenario on the Lookout/Kill Rocks Stars A Slice of Lemon comp. My teen ears couldn’t quite comprehend the racket but they’d catch on in a few years.
Han-Shan - S/T
My path to Han-Shan wasn’t the typical hardcore route that you’d expect. Nicolai Mickelson, ex-bandmate and #1 Drunk Horse fan, shot me a text to school me on Drunk Horse frontperson Eli Eckert’s hardcore band. In pre-Discogs days it wasn’t as easy to gather info and lore, so it took a bit to uncover that the lineup also included Cory Linstrum from John Henry West and Dave Harvey from The Tight Bros (and according to Discogs, a pre-Jackass Chris Pontius). The re-release is a marked improvement over the mudded out original version. Still noisy raging hardcore, but the new found clarity really opens it up (similar to the vastly improved End Of The Line LP). Never noticed before that Linstrum and Eckert were also in The Solid Gold who were on that same A Slice Of Lemon comp as Worst Case Scenario! It’s the Information Age, baby!