Reframe The Concept

Regret (off their No Hatred 7", Windmill Records # 3, 1998)

Senfedge is all about records from the 1990s, as you may have noticed. Emo, Hardcore, Crustpunk, Garage and everything else that doesn't fit any category but somehow falls into the DIY-category nonetheless.

Another crucial commitment of senfedge is to document the Austrian hardcore-scene from the time. There is a chance, but it is perhaps rather unlikely that any of my international readers will have heard of Konstrukt, Manface, Kobayashi, Prohaska or H-Street, to name only a few. Well, the first and the latter stand the highest chances.

I already posted a few songs from Austrian bands before, and you know what, now it is the perfect time for another installment because my good friend Thomas Hoffer celebrated his birthday last night and a whole crew of beautiful people came out to dance cunningly to swedish metal and to drink white whine spritzers like there's no tomorrow. Perhaps even some hearts were broken? Good ol' Lord only knows. Loads of people came out to party, including almost the entire line-up of this band...

Reframe The Concept were an odd little outfit from Vienna. I am sure they'll agree that they never really fitted in with any of the other bands in Austria at the time, bands that were either playing fast and spazzy hardcore in the vein of Charles Bronson, or others that couldn't really be defined either, like Konstrukt or (sorry for tooting my own horn) Manface.

And that's a good thing.

Reframe had a bit of a reputation as being the only emo band from Vienna because they looked like they jumped straight off the Jade Tree or Doghouse catalogues. But nothing could be further from the truth; Reframe The Concept were actually the first ones to really take real metal seriously, and who would lace Maiden-esque harmonies into their songs. Yes, other bands at the time did that too, but not in Vienna (Falltime went metal much later). Reframe's sound is perhaps most closely linked to Unbroken, but that's about as far as I will go to compare them with other bands.

This 7" came out in 1998 on Windmill Records, and it's already their final release. Still they made it onto SRA, perhaps one of the only Austrian punkhardcoreemowhatever bands to have their own entry up there.

They would later go on to form The Atlantic Monthly, which were indeed more emo and quieter altogether. Thomas also sang in another band I had, called Heisenberg, but that's another story for another time.




Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Thomas!


Click for bigger. Guess who shot that pic for the label, uncredited ;)

mp3: Reframe The Concept - Regret

previous posts in the Austria-Series:
10 years of DIY / Exhibition
Manface pt. 1
Und Keiner Weint Uns Nach compilation 7"

Destroy

Remote Control (off Necropolis LP, Sound Pollution # 19, 1995)

I won't even apologise for not having posted anything for nearly half a year, because no one likes apologisers. But I will say thank you to everyone who keeps checking back, who subscribes to the RSS-feed, who downloads from here, who links to this site; in short, everyone who makes the internet great. That means YOU! Thank you!

Let me kick-off the year with a really bleak little number, is that OK? We keep hearing about how bad 2009 will be economically, and we actually know it will be. Uh-oh. But you know what? 2010 will be worse, so 2009 will actually be the best year yet. Makes sense, doesn't it?

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For the first post in the new year I've chosen Destroy from Minneapolis, it's a little nod towards my buddy Dave who is from Minnesota, and who misses the place from time to time. I'm not sure what listening to Destroy will do to him, whether it will make him teary eyed or whether he'll actually super glad he's not there anymore - who knows!

Destroy were a loud and angry crust band from the early 90s, and Necroplis was their final record. They didn't take themselves too seriously though, which is always a bonus. You will probably know some of the members even now: Felix von Havoc was on vocals, Dan from Profane Existance also sang (did I get that right?) and Mark Wilcox went on to play in one of my favorite bands of all time, Impetus Inter. I had a column in Profane Existance once, perhaps I should dig that one out and scan it. Until that I'll send a big hello to Dan.



mp3: Destroy - Remote Control

(Yes, the sample is that cut-off at the beginning. Hey, this is crust-punk, what do you expect? A vanilla soya latte? If the answer is yes, then please get me one, too, please.)

Russell interviews Morrissey on BBC Radio 2

December 2006, BBC Radio 2

Whenever a friend of mine feels a bit low and rejected I keep coming back to this Morrissey-interview, which was first aired in December 2006 on the Russell Brand show on BBC Radio 2. I downloaded the podcast then and kept the interview. I had a feeling it's a keeper.

And I was right. Because sometimes it's good to hear what Morrissey has to say about being content with yourself in the simplest of terms:

"...and you're quite happy to be as you are. And you reach a take-it-or-leave-it-stage - a take-ME-or-leave-me stage...and that's quite nice".

Now I don't care much about fawning over what other people say in interviews and being "inspired" by it, but this little sentence is pretty damn good. I try to take it on board whenever I can. So perhaps this will make you 'appy too.

Morrissey also talks about vegetarianism in a pretty kick-ass, down-to-earth manner:

"I don't bring life to an end simply because I'm slightly peckish".

Nice one. This, of course, is happening on Russell's show, the man who was voted Sexiest Vegetarian of both Europe and the World in one and the same year. Crikey.

Now, this thing is probably copyrighted by the BBC. Don't sue me or nowt, please, just enjoy. Russell and Morrissey have a great rapport, it's a fun little number. Well, almost 30 minutes long.




If you want to download it, click here. And check out Russell Brand on BBC Radio 2 for more info on his show and the podcast. Do yourself a favour and subsribe to it.

Montesas!

Du Bist So Wunderschön (Soundflat Records, 2007)

Endlich mal wieder ein Lebenszeichen! Und was für eins. This time it's the wonderful Beat-Band from Germany, the amazing Montesas. They're straight-up 60s-Beat and come from the whole garage-trash-scene that was particularly prominent in the 90s through Labels such as Estrus Records and Sympathy For The Record Industry.

And this is the European side of it all, and part of the new breed. Usually they sing in English, but for this special 7" they did two German songs, and they're both kick-ass. It just makes me wanna dance, go out to a party, drink Frucade and flirt with the girls.

The packaging makes this thing just a must-have. It comes in a gatefold and includes a bona-fide Montesas-comb! Not some cheap stuff, this is a Triumph ("Nylon farbecht").

The insides of the cover is also very cheeky indeed. It has original vintage classified ads for guns, breast-enlargement, hair products, muscle-work-outs ("Zentrale für Selbstentwicklung, 404 Neuss") and mailorders for naughty films.

And then there's the A-Z of how to become a Schlurf ("Teddyboy" is the most fitting translation I'd say). I too have to combat a "Herrenwinker" from time to time, which is a term for locks or parts of your hair that aren't in place. Och, the drama! This is all just fun, and it's so frivolous!

Get this 7" from Soundflat Records. Support the Montesas. Hully Gully!





mp3: Die Montesas - Du Bist So Wunderschön

Die Montesas
Die Montesas Myspace
Soundflat Records

DIY at the Jugendmedienmesse

Exactly one year ago I was one of a handful of great people that organised an exhibition on DIY-culture in Vienna (here's last year's post). This year we were asked to be part of the Jugendmedienmesse here in Vienna, a fair for young people that are interested in journalism and the media. There's big names at that fair - and us. We show kids the beauty of DIY-publishing, we made a zine for it and also a little blog. Come and visit if you're in the area!

Jugendmedienmesse/Program
DKJJK.blogspot.com (a little HOWTO on blogging)

FM4 Soundpark - Austro-Hardcore Tonight

Hah, this is fun. FM4 is radio-station part of the Austrian Broadcast Corporation, and it's actually a pretty good station. They have a show on Austrian music called Soundpark, and they wanted to do a little Hardcore/Punk-Special, so they asked me and two friends of mine to come in and play some old records. New and current stuff is also in the show, don't worry. But yea, listen to it. It'll be on at 3am CET (yoinks), and you can also stream at http://fm4.orf.at.

The VSS / Rye Coalition split 2x7"

The VSS / Rye Coalition split 2x7" (Super 8 Records, 1997?)

This one is interesting indeed. No explanations about each band needed, The VSS are about to re-release their epic LP "Nervous Circuits" on Hydra Head (read about it all here), Rye Coalition are still around and could never decide whether they want to be big or stay small. I loved them to bits, perhaps still would if I knew their new stuff. Who knows. Saw them live and did an interview with them, they're fun to hang out with. (I almost saw The VSS in Vienna but their van broke down in Switzerland, so the show had to be cancelled. "Or so the story goes". Pleasure Forever made it here a couple of years later though.)

Well, this double-7" has both rather unlikely bands teamed up. The VSS have "In Miniature" remixed, but it's a rather lacklustre affair. The B-side is great however, an Echo And The Bunnymen cover. Nice idea, nice version. Great to hear that typical VSS-korg-sound applied to an older song like this.

Rye on the other hand simply miss the opportunity by only releasing "Fucking With Beautiful Posture" a second time (a great song off "He Saw The Cat"), and provide a remix of the very same song, which is also rather boring I'm afraid. However, I am providing the remix anyway, so please judge for yourself.

The artwork on this double-7"-single is great, and apparently, you can still get it from the original label, Super 8 Records. I don't really believe it though, that website looks very old. E-Mail them first, I'd say.


click for big

mp3: The VSS - No Hands (Echo & The Bunnymen)
mp3: Rye Coalition - Fucking With The Rye Coalition