Round three of this little series begins with yet another badass track from a band whose name is impossible to Google: Face Up to It. This song was on "A Call for Unity: East Coast Hardcore" in 1995 and kicks off straight away with an absolutely killer groove that blends thrashy picking patterns and the expected dose of 90's styled chugging power chords. The sound's a little on the raw side, but barely, and it sort of fits their aesthetic, so it all works out really well in the long run. Obviously this band must have been from the east coast, but that's all I know, and I'd really like to hear more if anything else exists. That opening riff rules so fuckin' hard! (There are some weird little glitchy noises in the background from time to time, but that's because a bunch of the files were fucked up when I grabbed these comps off eMusic a week or two ago. I hate that shit. If anyone can hit me up with good rips of the first two "A Call for Unity" compilations, please do help me out!)
Next up is a band that I've been desperate to find out about for over a god damn decade now, but have yet to have any luck whatosever. The Rainmen, from New York, had two songs on "East Coast Assault II: The Second Coming" in 1997, and I've never really seen mention of 'em anywhere else. I thought I had potentially found one of the members in a new band on MySpace years ago, but no one would ever respond to my messages, so who knows? I actually wrote about the Rainmen way back in 2005 (referring to their sound as "a catchier version of straight metallic hardcore with raspy vocals at times reminiscent of early Cro-Mags material") in a similar post, but no one had a clue. I doubt anything's changed, but this song is so damn great (Those basslines!), and I would totally love to finally know a little something about this extremely elusive band!
And finally (for now), another east coast band (it's a total coincidence that all three of this week's selections happened to appear on east coast-themed collections) called Soulow that had a song on "Eternity: An East Coast Hardcore Compilation" back in 1994. I believe they were from Florida, and this track has my favorite kind of 90's hardcore sound—again combining heavy riffs with an almost "emo" sort of dissonant melody. There's a great sense of atmosphere and feeling to this piece, and they really have their own sort of take on it by utilizing a unique post-hardcore vibe in both the vocals and the overall riffing style. I'd be all about hearing more from this band. Great shit...
Thanks to everyone who's commented on these posts so far. I'm glad that in some cases even if no one has a clue about the bands, people are diggin' the tunes. If anyone has any information on these east coast mysteries, please post a comment here or shoot me an email. Many thanks!
Comments
hmm a diff Face Up To It than I know. If you search for them you may only get info on Face Up To It! from 2000s. This is much better than them.
8.14.2009 | By roc
Andrew-
Dwid told me you have a couple Psywarfare- Candyman 7"s still lying around and I was wanting to order one. Shoot me an email, dude!!!!
-Mitchel
8.16.2009 | By Mitchel
I couldn’t find much info either. There’s a rap duo from Canada that goes by the name of Rainmen, trance under the same name and there’s a rapper who also uses the name of Soulow. I’ve only found reference to Soulow on that Eternity compliation. And yeah, the bass on Rainmen’s track, especially in the beginning, kicks ass.
In the meantime, I did find a list of band members as appears on Eternity: An East Coast Hardcore Compilation, in case that’s of any help.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Eternity-An-East-Coast-Hardcore-Compilation/release/1193347
In more positive news, the first three A Call For Unity comps are also on iTunes (don’t know if there’s more than three).
Good luck finding more info.
8.22.2009 | By Dichatomy
FACE UP TO IT was from PA. before FUTI all the guys except the singer were in a band called MEDICAMENTOUS, which, if you were going to shows in the really early 90’s maybe you’d remember their weird name, if nothing else. their guitar player (chris) joined up with krutch after FUTI was done. i think the first krutch record he played on was NOW THE TABLES TURN. he was also in COMIN’ CORRECT and he wrote most of their good sounding songs…i think he played on one of the BOXCUTTER records also.
he just put up a myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/faceup2it
i’ll let him know you’re interested in hearing more stuff.
8.23.2009 | By XlongislandX
Wow awesome XLIX, Krutch is one of my favorite band ever, and I’m glad to learn that kind of things, thanks a lot !
The funny thing about those posts is that I’m now making up my own comp, consisting of every song you post and that I like.
Bring on post n°4 !
8.24.2009 | By Fred
I was reading Subzero’s Happiness Without Peace’s booklet yesterday, and I saw that Rainmen were mentionned in the bands thank list ... plus a members of the band named Feneek have done some backup vocals on the Subzero’s album.
I ain’t got more infos, but maybe it is a way to start, there must be a connection between the bands !
If anyone knows anything about this, please share your knowledge !
9.11.2009 | By Fred