breaker morant

going to the well with the old 'ex-member' tag in hand, i yanked out the bucket and there was breaker morant. ex-prozac memory, you have to have high hopes in that instance. and rightfully so. breaker morant drive through 5 songs of tense, taut, jagged emo of the kind perpetuated by bands such as griver and sleepytime trio. yelled vocals (but not shouted) over aggressive guitar play and sparse production. it has a very "live" feel which you pick up in a lot of great emo music, like these guys just went out and bashed away for an hour and came up with some good music somehow, no planning involved... addiction solilloquy has a particularly awesome bit in the middle where it drops out and goes all pretty, before bombasting back recklessly. killer. menchu is very much a timid build up and then combusts in an all-action rock out to follow up. i am floored.

the songs that i have here are from a split cd with amputee set, released on BMAS, and they were recorded in 1998 in kansas city, so you have the midwestmo lineage present there too. one song from this cd also appears on a comp cd featuring 40 bands from columbia, missouri. this comp cd is still in print i believe.

sadly i can find no info on what these guys got up to after they finished breaker morant, but it was probably awesome. so if you know, please let me know!

check them out right here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ouig45

anklebiter

that's torn it, i've gone and written about a band that isn't even that emo. well, kind of. i guess if the promise ring is emo then anklebiter sort of can sneak in there too. this is rough, tuneful indie rock that comes in between the wedding present and archers of loaf. short-ish songs, repetitious guitars that jangle and buzz, shouty off-key vocals and pretty much all the elements of noisier indie rock that get me excited. anklebiter also produced a quality full length lp that is perhaps even better realised than the 7" here. the best song is the final track "dynamic ribbon device", which builds up through the non-existent production and fizzes to the finale. love it.

this 7" is on vinfiz and plow records, and probably quite cheap if you ever find it, i doubt many people want it these days, which is kind of sad. this is a great style of music that is completely neglected.

members of anklebiter now parade in the slightly mediocre beat buttons (although the demo songs up there sound superior to their previous cd). i'd point you in the direction of watson (ex-clairmel) if you want to hear a modern band taking up the mantle.

here is the 7" until the link expires: http://www.sendspace.com/file/2kuyen