Hello, fellow humans! Time for my first non-review-y-type post. The idea for this one comes from a conversation I had with my dad back in January while visiting my parents for the Christmas holiday. I was listening to the new Napalm Death album (which I reviewed here) and my dad came into the room. Heavy music is one of the areas where my taste and his diverge, and his first reaction was to burst out laughing at the strange noises coming from the stereo. Once he'd got his breath back, he said, "What do you like about this?"
I was stumped. I tried to communicate to him how great it sounded, how much fun it was to listen to, but I couldn't find the words. So I decided to show him, and anyone else out there who's interested - this is Grindcore for Beginners.
Conflict - Increase the Pressure
Released 1984, in England.
Ok, I know, this isn't grindcore. Seeing as this list is called "Grindcore for Beginners" I thought I'd better ease you in. So, this is your starting point.
I chose this album as our embarcadero because, quite simply, it's fun. That's a quality a lot of people don;t associate with heavy music, but remember - Napalm Death, Minor Threat and the Stooges were all out first and foremost to have a good time.
And what a good time this album is. I mean, if the title track doesn't make you want to jump around like a hyperactive five-year-old, then there's something wrong with you. That combination of anger and good vibes runs through the entire album - unlike original anarcho-punks Crass, who just preached, Increase the Pressure is as much a party as a political broadcast. If I'd been born 25 years earlier, Conflict would have been the band of my adolescence - they show that protest music doesn't have to be some over-earnest Woody Guthrie wannabe (Leon Rosselsson, take note). Like all good punk bands, Conflict combined righteous fury with genuinely enjoyable music - and that, dear readers, is what grindcore and all other punk derivatives are about.
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