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Long Island Obscurities

Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 23-Nov-05 @ 02:39 PM

A few months ago, AP reader Lowell Greenblatt from Roslyn, New York, wrote us with a big ol' list of suggestions for 10 Essential (thanks, Lowell). One of those was "10 Essential CDs by Long Island bands," and, given that we've got one of Long Island's most buzzed-about on this month's cover (and another, Taking Back Sunday, on the cover of AP 194), we figure the suburb's bigger essentials are already covered. So this month we present 10 lesser-known gems from Strong Island history: some of which you may recognize, others you're just hearing echoes of today.

Nihilistics 13th Anniversary (Visionary,1991) You couldn’t have invented a better name for this crew of Long Island (Lindenhurst and Merrick, to be exact) scumbags, who were playing hardcore at least two years before Canada’s D.O.A. committed the term to a record sleeve. Embracing a basic philosophy of “destroy everything,” and acting out similar principles every time they took the stage (in the clubs that hadn’t banned them, that is), Nihilistics amazingly stayed together long enough to assemble this collection. Surprising probably even themselves, they’re still around today.

Garden Variety Knocking The Skill Level (Headhunter,1995) Before Anthony Roman joined the Brooklyn death-disco circuit with Radio 4, he was prefiguring post-hardcore alongside Long Island bros Anthony Rizzo and Joe Gorelick in this criminally underrated power trio. Knocking The Skill Level, Garden Variety’s second and final album, captures the band at their peak, channeling the sort of weird, angular art-emo that, at the time, only seemed possible in San Diego’s Gravity Records scene. Which proves what a visionary Roman was: After all, his current band sounds British.

Vision Of Disorder Still EP (S.F.T.,1995) Signed by Roadrunner Records shortly after releasing this blistering, gnarly debut EP, Vision Of Disorder offered a sliver of hope during the ’90s nü-metal explosion: While a nation of poseurs had formed overnight to blast fat grooves under their hardcore-metal hybrid, V.O.D. were the rare metal-hardcore crossover act who could keep it real and have big, dumb Ozzfest crowds bobbing their heads in unison. Label, management and personal troubles eventually sealed V.O.D.’s fate, but not after the band put Long Island metalcore on the map.

Mind Over Matter Automanipulation (Wreck-Age,1995) Seven years before the mainstream media was hailing screamo as the next big thing, Mind Over Matter were accidentally inventing the genre in front of floored hometown crowds. Unfortunately, the band never drew the same sort of enthusiasm outside of Long Island until after they’d broken up (and vocalist Artie Shepherd had moved on to Errortype:11 and, currently, Instruction); but it didn’t matter. Those kids from Glassjaw and Thursday who were in the crowd at Mind Over Matter’s gigs had already seen the future.

Silent Majority Life Of A Spectator (Exit,1997) As hardcore bands go, Silent Majority weren’t the first to mix melody and aggression, but that didn’t keep them from making a permanent impact. Not only on Long Island, where singer Tommy Corrigan was shaping younger fans’ minds with his no-holds-barred lyrical life lessons, but also on another, even younger generation that’s just now discovering its voice. You know that band from your town with the jagged melodies and the singer who growls and croons all over the place? Yeah, it’s been done.

Sons Of Abraham Termites In His Smile (Exit,1997) Sons Of Abraham are more notable for their concept (an all-Jewish straight-edge band) and their ex-members’ later projects (e.g., Glassjaw, These Enzymes, This Year’s Model, Burningangel.com), but the band’s lone album still stands up on its musical merits. Raging, ugly and impressively technical (even if it started as an inside joke), Termites In His Smile remains at least two years ahead of most new hardcore bands’ debut albums-which is kinda sad, when you think about it.

Milhouse Obscenity In The Milk (Wreck-Age,1997) Ex-Milhouse vocalist Artie Phillie now rocks out in NYC punk combo the Shemps, but in the late ’90s, he was one of the loosest cannons in hardcore. Cynical, confrontational, and both hoarse and smart-assed beyond his years, Phillie found the perfect musical foils in Milhouse (and, later, in Indecision), whose noise-riddled debut album defiled everything hardcore purists found holy. Unfortunately, sarcasm’s never mixed well with hardcore, and Phillie would find himself kicked out of a string of bands because of it.

Stillsuit At The Speed Of Light (TVT,1997) “Emo metal” wasn’t even a genre, let alone an insult, when this ambitious band featuring original (and now former) Glassjaw bassist Manny Carrero brought the sound to almost-major-label TVT Records. Unfortunately for Stillsuit, their debut album arrived early to the party, but it had already planted seeds in Daryl Palumbo’s head; and when he and Carrero took their former weekend project full-time with Glassjaw, the rest of the world was finally ready to sample what Long Island had been cooking for years.

Tripface Some Part Sorrow (Exit,1996) We’re not doing it on purpose; most of this month’s essentials really are within six degrees of Glassjaw. Enter Tripface, the ’90s vegan straight-edge band who were not quite metal, not quite hardcore, sort of emo, and totally obscure. Besides making this album, they also gave the world bassist Dave Allen, who took Manny Carrero’s place in Glassjaw; as well as other hardcore lifers who’d go on to more traditionally heavy bands like Lariat and Burning Bridges. Good luck finding any of ’em at Best Buy.

Kill Your Idols This Is Just The Beginning EP (Blackout!,1999) When the bigger bands around them were embracing metal and putting on black eyeliner, Kill Your Idols looked back for inspiration, coming up with an EP (and a career, for that matter) that raged with the spirit of classic ’80s hardcore: simpler, louder, harder and faster, with few frills and even less B.S. As hardcore albums go, it’s the most traditional thing in this month’s column, but lyrically, Kill Your Idols’ brains-over-brawn approach is a far cry from standard-issue hardcore sentiment.