It's The Music: Top 20 CTHC Releases

These are my personal picks for top 20 Connecticut Punk and Hardcore records, in alphabetical order. Your list may vary.

1. Big Gulp - Hard To Swallow: New Britain’s own, Big Gulp lasted into the early 90s, later taking on more of a groove oriented, funk punk sound. Their first 7” had more of a traditional HC sound, but had enough of it’s own style to keep it interesting. Lyrics were a mix of serious and funny (for the era). Very hard to track down the original, but is currently up on Bandcamp, thanks to Micke Mansfield, bassist extraordinairre. Favorite track: Fascist Youth - a tuneful anti-fascist anthem that sticks.  Worst Track: Rock - pokes fun at homosexuality and the A.I.D.S. epidemic. Booooooooo! Funniest Track: Anorexia - Inappropriately makes fun of eating disorders, but I’m sorry, the track still cracks me up.

2. C.I.A. - Gods, Guts, Guns: Classic, no frills ripping HC from 3/5 of the soon to be formed 76% Uncertain. Kenny's riffs chug, Bones voice is Bones-like, and Bill’s tight ass drumming carries through the attack. E.J. (later of Dresden) and Mark are excellent as well, and will be two of the members who carry the band forward after the 76% defection. (Check out the full length, titled “C.I.A.” on Incas, from the second incarnation if you have an extra $100 laying around). It’s a short blast, leaving you wanting more, and luckily, “Gods, Guts, Guns and More” comes through, with extra session and demo tracks. It’s a great package to hunt down, and far less than the $500 you’d pay for the original. Fave Tack: Hazard, all of :25 long

3. Chronic Disorder - S/T: One of my earliest Punk albums, picked up at Record Breaker in Manchester, this was, in my opinion, Chronic’s strongest release. It had all of the trademark melodicism, occasional blasts of HC speed, Jason’s sneering, faux Brit Punk delivery, and sounds the most cohesive and mature of their releases. They bring in some groovy breaks that break up the full on speedy parts and show musical development that would be expanded on in the follow up — “Blithering Idiots” — that make this an album that can be enjoyed by fans of a wider spectrum of alternative music. Fave Track: Nostalgia

4. Contraband - Girls of All Nations: After discovering their two excellent tracks on the “Connecticut Fun”, I had to track this album down. And boy, did I end up paying some bux. But it was worth it. This is a fantastic melodic punk album, with catchy, well written ditties, sometimes melancholic, sometimes super fun. Tragically, two of the members have since passed away, (one being Jeff R. who in addition to playing with 76%, was also involved with some great production work) but it would have been great to see what they might have done with a second release. Fave track: Chantal

5. Jack Tragic And The Unfortunates - I Kill Hippies:  Classic CT single, released in 1983. Jack’s style fit in more with the sleaze punk style, meaning based more on a raw, garage type of sound, but with interesting changes and a good dose of guitar skill not always present in the genre. I’m a little biased because I was in the band for a year, though that was in the later 80s, but Jack could have been much bigger if not for his demons. The single is pretty pricey to find in good condition, though the two songs can be found on the semi-official ‘Coming Down Like A Hammer’ release.

6. Lost Generation - Return To Incas: Great first release which incorporates some of the material from the post- ‘Never Work’ demo and a re-recorded version of the song ‘Never Work’, as well as some newer songs. The album holds together pretty well, and I still want to hear the story of how they got H.R. involved in this release. There’s a fun looseness to these tunes that blend punk speed with rock sensibilities, a good dose of humor, and Joey’s almost narrative vocal style. Slap the monkey, indeed.

7. Lost Generation - Victim:

This was actually my first Lost Gen record, bought it at Record Breaker. At first, it didn’t resonate with me because it wasn’t “core” enough for me, whatever that meant back then, but now I can’t imagine not having it in rotation. I’d say it’s my not only favorite Lost Gen record, but also in my Top 50 punk records. The songs get tightened up and show a bit more chunk n’ roll added to the punk, and damn these songs just stick in your head. The production is clear, and everything just smacks. And they’re abundant, so go buy a record player and a copy of this album. Fave track: It’s A Disaster, or maybe Break. Or maybe the title track. Or Messed Up….

8. No Milk On Tuesday - No Milk On Tuesday: These guys were a bit before my time, so I don’t know much about them. I do know that this 7” is some quality USHC with perhaps one of the more interesting lead vocalists, reminding a bit of a warbley Doc Dart/ Jello meets typical teen snot style approach. Tune-wise, it has almost what I call that Connecticut HC meets chunky metal rock sound. Lyrically, it’s teenage stuff, oft inappropriate, and oft fun.

9. Reflex From Pain - Checkered Future Flexi: This band had two great 7”s, the other being “Black and White”, but the material from “Checkered Future” tells a tale of two bands. While the first lineup takes a credible turn as a proper HC band, the second lineup brings two HC heavy weights into the fold: Todd Knapp on guitar, and a very young and squeaky sounding Ray Cappo on vocals. Bill and Dave remain as the powerhouse rhythm section, and drive the tunes forward. The music gets a bit chunkier and more intense on this record. Oddly, the material on this flexi wasn’t released until 1990 on TPOS, even though they both were recorded in 1983. A few tunes here will be rerecorded by this lineup as they morph into 76% Uncertain.

10. Rude Awakening - Teenage Suicide: Another enigmatic band that had very limited output, but were pretty good. This single has some rocking, mid-paced punk that was pretty tight and reminded me a bit of some British Oi!/ Punk stuff, with serious lyrics about the title track. From what I can tell, they only recorded six tracks?! Another hidden gem from Incas.

11. Seizure - All Hail The Fucking System: The almighty Seizure indeedy. I’d say these guys were really in the top 4 of CTHC bands, featured heavily in the building of the Anthrax scene. While I dig the later material just as much, one could argue that Karl was their best vocalist, at least for the more straightforward HC material the band started with. Later material seemed a little lighter (i.e. funner) and Donn had more of a quirkier Jello approach to the vocals which worked better with the later material.

12. Skeletal Ambitions - Feel My Disease: This is one helluva release, originally as a cassette only and recently released on digital on Bandcamp. Ripping metallic HC that at times reminds of Battalion of Saints, with Frank’s (R.I.P.) tortured manic vocals and lyrical approach at the forefront, it’s frankly a damn grim release at times, but very tight, powerful and memorable.

13. Various Artists - Better Yet Connecticut: SoConn tends to get most of the accolades, but there was a decent scene going on in middle/Northern Connecticut as well, and this late-80s comp captures a bit of that talent with good turns from Big Gulp, Freedom of Choice, Fallback, forced Reality and Scooter X. Worth a spin, and it’s got a Jim Martin cover!

14. Various Artists - Connecticut Fun: This is kind of a no brainer. Best comp ever. I am working on a feature story for this record. Stay tuned. Also a Jim Martin cover.

15. Vatican Commandos - Full Discography: Great recently released discog (although not complete as mentioned in my separate VC post) that also gets me out of having to pick my favorite VC release (I’m gonna say ‘Hit Squad For God’ though) There’s alot of unreleased stuff on this, plus comp and demo tracks and the original vinyl release songs. Buy it or be forced to eat Wonder Bread.

16. Violent Children - 7”: This band was over by the time I got on the scene, but were super important to the development of the SoConn scene, hailing from Danbury, which was a hub at the time. Songs are raw and sloppy, but had the required youthful spirit. And Ray of Today drumming! Hope Warren gave the records back.

17. White Pigs - EP: Representing the fine town of East Hartford, my former stomping grounds, WP put out this impossible to find ripper in 1984. Intense “1-2-1-2” style HC interspersed with chunky slow bits and ending with the notorious  12 second ‘Kill Kop’ I found the mp3s ripped on some blog somewhere, so that’s the only place you’ll find it. Some of the songs are on that ‘Hardcore From The Early Days’ cd, which may or may not be legit.They turned into a not as enjoyable metal band after that, though they’re not bad if you like Venom. R.I.P. Brian.

18. Youth Korps - 82: Gone like a flash was this New London outfit. I don’t know a thing about them, but they somehow managed to record a bunch of tracks with legendary producer Lou Giordano of Radiobeat. Pretty ripping early hardcore that sounded like Negative FX getting into a fight with D.C.’s State Of Alert while watching Henry Rollins auditions for Black Flag. It’s entirely coincidental that the singer sounds like a young Henry Rollins.

19 and 20. 76% Uncertain - Estimated Monkey Time and Nothing But Love Songs: Where to start with 76? Man, I just love these guys. Riffs for days, tight rhythmic structures, time changes, engaging songs, fun lyrics, great playing, good guys. EMT holds closer to the early HC ethos, but still sounds miles above what the average HC band was doing. It was one of my earliest purchases, and I was always mad there was a factory defect on ‘Another’ but I was enthralled after hearing it none the less. I still listen to this several times a year. NBLS shows a logical progression for the band in terms of skill and song craft where they’re blending some great melodic content into that 76 sound, yielding their greatest ‘hit’ - ‘I Hate The Radio’ which was played on the radio. Their amazing run would end with their spellbinding “Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Log” which manages to weave a bit of Hardcore Prog into amazing song structures. The dual guitars really add some layers and complexity to the proceedings. OK, that’s enough praise for now. Check ‘em out!!

And there you have it, my top 20 picks for Connecticut Hardcore. Some of this is hard to find, but it's all worth checking out!