homestead records Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Squirrel Bait “Squirrel Bait”

sfilzen — Wed, 14 May 2025 18:11:57 +0000

Squirrel Bait “Squirrel Bait” 1985. Clear red vinyl EP, Homestead Records (and cover designed by Steve Albini). Young punks from Louisville, Kentucky, at times melodic and others more hardcore. Six of the eight tracks were originally recorded in ’84 when the band members were still in high school. They toured the Midwest in the mid-80’s, opening for bands like Hüsker Dü, Naked Raygun and Big Black (hence the Albini hookup). I have vague recollections of seeing the band’s name on flyers – and it’s entirely possible I saw a show if they ever played Wisconsin back in the day – but I honestly don’t remember Squirrel Bait; their style of punk isn’t my favorite. If pressed my top picks would be “Hammering So Hard” and “Disguise” – both are alright when the band stays sharp and tight, but the emocore sound is not my jam. “Perfect” is interesting, with tempo changes, some angularity along with its rhythm — mathcore. Although there is a fair amount of fawning over the band and this EP (they are torchbearers for Fugazi, they were a huge influence on Dave Grohl, blah blah) and about what some of the band members went on to do (playing with The Lemonheads, the Breeders, forming and dissolving a bunch of punk bands), Squirrel Bait isn’t doing it for me. And because it was the mid-80s’ and punks had no money, there’s virtually nothing out there visually but I did find this performance of “Sun God” from Squirrel Bait:

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Big Black “Racer-X”

sfilzen — Wed, 08 May 2024 17:40:32 +0000

Big Black “Racer-X” 1985. Homestead Records. Just found out that Steve Albini died of a heart attack yesterday, May 7th, at age 61. I’ve had a fondness for Albini for a long time – not only do we share a birthday (July 22nd though he is/was 9 years older than me), but as he was from Chicago there were a lot of Wisconsin (Milwaukee/Madison) connections – like some of my friends were on call-him-directly levels of connection. And of course he produced/engineered a ton of some of my favorite albums/artists. We last saw Albini perform (as Shellac) literally as the world was shutting down in March 2020 at Turner Hall in Milwaukee where he gave a special shout-out to Milwaukee’s Couch Flambeau (CF’s Jay Tiller was in the audience) crediting the band for helping shape Albini’s sound.

Steve Albini (Shellac) Turner Hall March 2020

Racer-X was Big Black’s third EP, a tight collection of industrial noise-core tracks. Appearing on the EP with Albini were two members of Naked Raygun: Santiago Durango (guitar) and Jeff Pezzati (bass) – it would be Pezzati’s last time playing on a Big Black recording. Albini has both guitar and vocal credits. Drums performed by “Roland” (a Roland TR-606 drum machine). My top tracks are “The Ugly American” (featuring John Bonhen on saxophone) and the snarled funk of both “Deep Six” and the cover of James Brown’s “The Big Payback” but really all six tracks are killer.

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Sonic Youth “Death Valley 69″

sfilzen — Wed, 29 May 2019 15:45:08 +0000

Sonic Youth “Death Valley 69″ 1985 EP, Homestead Records/Blast First Records. First released as a 7″ single in 1984 and then included on Sonic Youth’s second LP Bad Moon Rising (1985), “Death Valley 69″ features no-wave artist Lydia Lunch on vocals along with Thurston Moore on vocals and guitar, Kim Gordon on bass, Bob Bert – who is currently touring as part of Jon Spencer’s Hitmakers band – on drums, and Lee Ranaldo on guitar. It is a dark, loud, powerful post-punk noise rock masterpiece. This was the first song I ever heard by Sonic Youth; a friend of mine had this EP in ‘85 and I listened to her copy obsessively after making a tape (our vinyl copy is a relatively new acquisition). “Death Valley 69″ is about the Charles Manson murders of 1969 which puts its sinister vibe into serious context. The B-side of the EP has the tracks “I Dream I Dreamed” (a no-wave shoegazer), “Inhuman” (industrial-tinged noise rock), “Brother James” (driving dissonance in minor, creepy as hell yet weirdly catchy) and “Satan is Boring” (all no-wave, really really creepy chanting, no discernible melody or beat).

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Green River “Come On Down”

sfilzen — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:43:16 +0000

Green River “Come On Down” 1985. Homestead Records. Today, July 20th, is Green River guitarist Stone Gossard’s 50th birthday (b. 1966). Come on Down is Green River’s first release and is often considered the first grunge recording release. Members of Green River went on to form Mother Love Bone (Gossard, Jeff Ament), Mudhoney (Mark Arm, Steve Turner) and then Pearl Jam (Gossard, Ament).

The EP is very riff-orientated, many nods to metal (Jeff Ament and Gossard both Iron Maiden fans) and early punk (the Stooges). The title track “Come on Down” is heavy, sludgy, and, well, grungy. In the 1996 grunge documentary Hype!, Leighton Beezer of the Thrown Ups plays the main riff of the title track “Come on Down” to illustrate the minor differences between punk and early grunge. (It’s at the 1:40 mark here) “Swallow My Pride” has a bit more upbeat punk swagger accenting the riffs – you can really hear the roots of Mudhoney on this track. “New God” is thick and sticky while “Ride of Your Life” has a weird tension between breakneck speed and a deep slow drag that is disconcerting; I picture the flannel-clad pit confused in their mosh: first slow head-banging, then frenzied fist pumping, wait now slow down and sway a bit…guitar solo!

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Big Black “The Hammer Party”

sfilzen — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:51:55 +0000

Big Black “The Hammer Party” 1986. Homestead Records. A re-release of Big Black’s first two EP’s: Side 1 is from “Lungs” (1982) and Side 2 is from “Bulldozer” (1983).

Steve Albini’s (along with members of Naked Raygun) industrial/post-punk project is hard, heavy, dark and confrontational. Stark and relentless drum-machine beats, steel-y metal (the substance, not the musical style) guitar*, harsh vocals as if through a tin can with obvious influences of bands like Killing Joke, PiL and the Cure.

The run-off groove on Side A has a little, and rather adorable, Batman logo scribble.

*So after I wrote that, I started reading a bit about the sound of Big Black on-line and sure enough Albini created his “signature “clanky” sound by using metal guitar picks notched with sheet metal clips; the notch causing the pick to hit each string twice, creating the effect of two simultaneous guitar picks.”

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