Negative Nixon – “No Lives Matter”
Negative Nixon is the name of this band and what an odd name is that? I can’t think of anything negative to say about the former President Richard Milhous Nixon, (what a cool middle name!) as I lived thought those times. And- Oh my! The current President has a lot of the same magnificent qualities and has seem to have based his illustrious career on Nixon’s- but perhaps, placing it in a shorter space of time, which just reflects on how successful his presidency has been.
And this band claims to be from Hell, Michigan which would disqualify them from a review, being outside New England, but such claims prove to be erroneous, perhaps this info came from the White House. And they claim to play neo-classical jazz fusion which, I must admit, made my underpants moist but that also turned out to be alternative facts.
But I do know this album is called “No Lives Matter” which is a great, new song by Body Count that Andy Bang featured as Video Of The Week about a month ago. But I’m fairly sure that that song came out after this album.
In the Bohemia, artistic life of Paris in the forties, they thought- “No lives matter,” in existential angst-much like we do in the current American, corporate, psychopathic present moment of time but for different reasons.
And their bandcamp has some high-falootin’ tags such as “666 concrete facelift piledriver punk hardcore,” followed by some gibberish much like, yours truly, often writes for TNB.
But I’d say this is hardcore without too much of the metal influence, that metal influence being so common nowadays. They do have short, brutal songs with exasperated, emotional vocals that, to me, smack of power violence. And the songs are unique, powerful, expressive and kick ass mightily.
But let’s take a listen and see what you think:
“Ass Blaster Master Mix 3” besides having the best titled song of the year, starts out with a rockin’ beat and vocals at a high, hysterical pitch. “No, that’s not unfair, I’m doing double. But I left the note right there, next to the shovel.” The guitars grind menacingly while the rhythm section hits hard and sharp while the vocals veer on the edge of a cliff or a nervous breakdown. This song is powerful, raw and rockin’. My expectations were met and exceeded with this great tune.
“Vegan Meat” cuts up aggressive shards of sound like hunks of meat roasting on a skewer. This song, that grinds and churns and seems to be about making vegans a healthy snack, is tasty! The beat kicks up a notch towards the end as the guitars sharpen their blades nicely, “Sliced vegan meat in between bread.”
With a rhythm that sounds like an animal bashing its’ way out of a trap, “Life In A Bottle,” explodes into a hardcore romp once the vocals burst in. “Grab me by the bottle, and feel the life in your hands. It’s not a fucking addiction, humans are a disease.” There’s a short chorus part where the rhythm relents- the vocals are meek and dissonant notes add to the scenery. But soon the song erupts into a combustible surge of power, guts and electricity towards the abyss.
“Full Reese’s” roars out from the beginning with the rhythm riding roughshod over everything with the yelping vocals proclaiming, “Only when I’m fucking dead, will I feel like I’m alive. I’ll spend my whole life sucking dick and kissing ass.” Sounds like the kind of dream job for me. The rhythm kicks ass, the guitars grind and pulverize, the world is knocked off its axis as my favorite song on this album rides rough, hard and fast off into the sunset.
“Ratfuck” starts with a doom-y feel and squeal-y guitar lines descending into majestic post-apocalypse land with bending metal chords. The beginning sounds like Metallica jamming with The Pixies which, I think, is a very good thing. Then we’re off on a super powered hardcore pulse that rips the universe to shreds. “Tell me how you think I should feel…you grab me by my fucking tail and watch my ass die.” But not before an actual, great metal guitar solo appears before our very ears- great tune.
“Clean And Unused,” struts out with a rockin’ beat under a terrific chord change, until it’s suddenly switched to hardcore overdrive. “There is no future because you’re government sold it to the highest bidder.” Well, that’s for sure. And this is surely another great song with a perfect accelerated ending.
I don’t know much about Negative Nixon, haven’t seen them live yet. I guess I’d call them an excellent hardcore band with a lot of rockin’ garage/punk parts in their music along with socially conscious lyrics and great, intense vocals as well.
But I could also say, this is emotion matched with intelligence, fury and passion combined with skill and intent. Songs that contain the best of hardcore and punk- the velocity and speed, the truthfulness and awareness and, best of all, the power and means to hit us straight on like a train that’s lost its conductor.
This is some powerful and true stuff, so powerful, that it will plough through you like a runaway, speeding train in the night, that you’re unaware of.
Till it barrels through your eardrums at full speed, careening off your heart and crashing onto your soul.
And you’ll probably love it.
(Slimedog)
