There Isn't a Bastro Thread...

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so I figure I'll start one, since Diablo Guapo and Sing the Troubled Beast are being re-relased on a single Drag City CD, and there's a live CD also coming out on Blue Chopsticks (DC subsidiary).

Fantastic live mp3 here: http://www.dragcity.com/mp3/bastro_hnk.mp3

uh, so yeah, discuss if you like.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

they were a treat...i still have one of the LPs...homestead, i forget the title.

― ddb (ddb), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

it's gotta be one of those two, dude.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I was about to say!

hstencil, please tell me more of this Bastro, if you could, as I cannot listen to the MP3 just yet. (Yes, it is strange that I know Bastro released 2 records, yet know nothing OF them.)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I thought they released three records on Homestead?

Ha .. I actually just found a live show from 1990 on tha seek about a month ago (different from the one about to come out) ... and it FUCKING RIPS.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

FINALLY! I was praising the almighty when I actually found a used CD of Sing The Troubled Beast many years ago (which I should sell back pretty soon now, heh). I've since found an LP copy of Diablo Guapo but never a CD.

I was always more fond of Sing The Troubled Beast... I liked many songs on Diablo Guapo, but the beatbox gets a bit old after repeated listens.

― donut christ (donut), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

So what was the exact deal with them again -- they were half famous or worked with famous people or...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

uh, so okay originally it was David Grubbs and Clark Johnson from Squirrel Bait, plus a drum machine. They put out an EP Rode Hard and Put Up Wet on Homestead which, due to the drum machine, isn't very good (tho the songs themselves are okay), too Big Black-lite.

Then they got Jon McEntire, then somewhat unknown (though I think maybe drumming for My Dad Is Dead at that point) to play for them. Recorded 2 albums, mentioned above, both on Homestead, both incredible (I"m partial to Diablo Guapo).

I guess maybe Clark went on to law school or something (I think that's what he does - his brother T.R. is a poet), and Grubbs recruited Bundy K. Brown to play bass. The live thing is from around 1991, not too long before they were over. They played a bunch of songs that would later turn into Gastr del Sol songs (including that MP3 there, entitled "Hirscheneck"), but the Bastro versions were/are fast and loud, at least we'll find that out when the CD comes out.

Oh also I think the Diablo Guapo songs were demoed with Britt Walford on drums, but I doubt that will ever see the light of day (tho they sound good).

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

dc - there's no machine on Diablo Guapo, it's McEntire.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

David Grubbs related. Which makes me skeptical from the start. I can't stand that guy. xpost

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 28 January 2005 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

listen to the mp3, dude.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh but this mp3 is really good actually!

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost!!!!!!!

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

if you like, check out the re-ish. loud, loud, loud. and fast. and really good.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

ah Rode Hard was an EP, got it.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

kinda wish they had reworked the RH songs with a drummer. Hey stormy, can you email me the live show you found? to h stencil at g y'know mail dot com?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I think I remember there being a drum-machiney Bastro track on Human Music - can anyone confirm or deny this?

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

This mp3 is from the live CD? It's fucking great.

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

you got it, babe! I'm listening to it right now, and I just realized two of the tracks are corrupted. the rest seem ok though. Fuck, I'm gonna have to find this dude again, hope I added him to my userlist...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the Human Music track might be their MDID cover. Lemme go look.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

no wait, you're right DR. It's the early version of "Flesh-Colored House" with drum machine instead of drums. Slightly flanged guitars, radio vocals, not really all that great.

I forgot that Human Music has MDID's awesome cover of "Time Has Come Today."

If anybody out there ever wants to sell me the Bastro/MDID split with them covering each other, or the "Goiter Blazes" 7", get in touch.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

do you have "Motorola Cloudburst"?

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

no I don't have that one either. Goddammit.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember driving up to Chicago from Louisville to see Bastro play. They were getting tagged as Big Black worshippers in the press at the time. Their response was to all wear the same Big Black t-shirt onstage. The show was killer. The cover art of the Goiter Blazes 7" is rather a gore-fest now that I think of it.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, did the original Diablo Guapo CD have the Rode Hard EP on it?

― donut christ (donut), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

nope.

stormy, i'm listening to this live shit now, it's fucking awesome! thanks dude!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

okay two of those songs, i have no idea what they are, must be covers. amazing, thanks!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:02 (twenty-one years ago)

one of 'em he sings something like "tell me where your family's buried!"

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I never knew the thing about Cassius Clay throwing his gold medal in the Ohio River!

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yeah that's why they gave him the new one in Atlanta in '96.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

huh. somehow I missed that or just completely forgot about it.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:11 (twenty-one years ago)

ah ok ... I just figured it out, some googling reveals track 11 is a cover of "Diamonds in the Mine" by Leonard Cohen!

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

whoa.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

and the last track is the My Dead is Dead cover...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 28 January 2005 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Baked Bean Teeth was using Motorola Cloudburst records to level up his kitchen table last time I was there in 2002.

― hull hole (hull hole), Saturday, 29 January 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I fucking love this band. the goitre blazes 7" is up there with the first minutemen 7" as my all time favourite little records. drew daniel posted something a while back on another thread about seeing them live. I swear I'd have given my left testicle for that opportunity,

― simon 803 (simon 803), Saturday, 29 January 2005 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I forgot how many great musicians came from Bastro. I also forgot about McEntire rockin the skins for My Dad Is Dead. I still don't think I've actually ever heard Bastro though.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Saturday, 29 January 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

BBT - please get in touch!

― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 29 January 2005 18:00 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

OK, so apparently someone from Dutch East emerged from the hole in the ground and had something to say about the rights issues to the Bastro reissue(s), so they got pulled from the stores after three days of being there.

However, they will be back in stores soon. There's just been a bit of an obstacle. So my point being: if you heard about the Bastro reissues being pulled, don't be an eBay sucka.. just be patient, and they'll (hopefully) be back in the stores again.

― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 10 March 2005 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Dutch East India? Didn't they fuck over enough people the first time around? I was looking fwd to these Bastro reissues but didn't scoop them up.

― mcd (mcd), Thursday, 10 March 2005 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

wait, are the originals worth anything?!?!?!?!?!?!?

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 10 March 2005 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Not much more than, say, the Squirrel Bait CD on homestead.. that's IF the reissues aren't permanently ixnayed...

― donut debonair (donut), Thursday, 10 March 2005 06:54 (twenty-one years ago)

it's so weird, DEI was dead I thot. fuckkkers.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 10 March 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

got used promos of the two blue chopsticks cds. have no idea why somebody would sell 'em. some people.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 September 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

they didn't like them?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 22 September 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

well duh but what kind of asshole couldn't like them? oh wait.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 September 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

i've never heard them.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 22 September 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

or of rhetorical questions, either.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 22 September 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

hammerhurlerhammerhurlerhammerhurler

I have a Bastro peel session somewhere on CD, it's mighty.

― mzui (mzui), Thursday, 22 September 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

pls find.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Nuts, so the twofer CD still isn't available, huh?

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

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