VINYL FORMAT. Songs About Fucking, the last Big Black studio album, ups the aggression ante on almost every front. The music is more bombastic, the production is harsher, and the lyrics are even more confrontational, delivered even more stridently than before. Rather than riding out the inevitable process of decaying into a watered-down travesty of itself, the band was determined to leave as big a smear across the pavement on the way down as possible. From the opening "The Power Of Independent Trucki   [ read more ]

LP $15.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Steve Albini and company with the unique sound.

7" $4.54

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VINYL FORMAT. The first REAL Big Black record, and it's a killer. Crunchy, spastic driving guitar noise from Albini and Santiago Durango, combined with Jeff Pezatti's driving bass, gives us the first hint of what Big Black will go on to achieve. Alas Roland doesn't appear on this recording, his spot being filled by Pat Byrne, who, while an admirable drummer, lacks Roland's wild and almost improvisational playing style.

12" EP $6.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Sensibly the most developmental and skeletal of Big Black's releases, Steve Albini's first official contribution to the rock world is a batch of sparse, minimal new wave recorded cheaply in two different apartment locations. With the exception of some sax provided by John Bohnen, everything is done by the young Albini, then a student at Northwestern. Not-so-pleasant views of morality ("I Can Be Killed"), post-mortem fornication with an army vet ("Dead Billy"), and primal living ("Steelworker")   [ read more ]

12" EP $6.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Originally released 1986. A noisier affair than Atomizer, the four-song Headache EP was accompanied by a band-written sticker warning that it's not as good as the preceding LP. However, Headache isn't a forgettable part of Big Black's catalog. "Ready Men" and "Grinder" are satisfyingly ornery, and the noise-fest of "My Disco" isn't far behind.

12" EP $12.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Recorded live in London in 1987, during the last Big Black tour, Pig Pile opens in the band's typically charming manner with bassist Dave Riley announcing "This song is called 'Dingy Little Back Alley of a Country'," before the band launches into a punishing 46-minute set. The concert includes material from the band's first EP, Lungs, all the way up through 1987s Songs About Fucking. The band's confrontational live sound emphasizes crackling, extremely harsh guitar and ver   [ read more ]

LP $15.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Originally released in 1985.

7" $4.54

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An indispensable compilation, The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape combines Big Black's monumental Atomizer LP with the following Headache EP and "Heartbeat" three-song single. While Atomizer undoubtedly remains one of the standout records of the mid-'80s underground scene... Obviously not a fan of the compact disc medium, Steve Albini goes to great lengths in the packaging and on the disc itself to encourage the consumer to scratch, fingerprint, and eat off of the CD. He also remind   [ read more ]

CD $12.99

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VINYL FORMAT. Originally released 1986. A universally praised Wire cover and two originals. Truly a classic!

7" $5.46

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Big Black's final full-length, Songs About Fucking brought about a definite sharpening of the band's sound. Steve Albini's mangled screaming is at its most bileful, his and Santiago Durango's guitars don't meander, and the rhythm section of Dave Riley and Roland is more taut than prior. Ugly characters line up in the songs like early arrivals at a monster truck rally. Most significantly, there's the murderer in "Fish Fry." Who else but Steve Albini could paint the picture of a man hosing out his truc   [ read more ]

CD $10.99

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Initially a pairing of Big Black's first two EPs, Lungs and Bulldozer, The Hammer Party first found release through Homestead on vinyl and CD. When Touch & Go bought out the band's material, they reissued it, adding the band's third EP, Racer-X. Those seeking a quick introduction to the early-'80s post-punk combo who welded industrial's nihilism to the angularities of Gang of Four, Killing Joke, and the Pop Group and the sheer claustrophobic terror and mayhem of Suicide should lo   [ read more ]

CD $12.99

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Recorded at a London date on the band's final tour and released five years after the fact, the set list of Pigpile draws on the band's entire career and as such, provides a good equivalent to a greatest-hits set played live. All three members play with the brisk efficiency that defines their studio work, with the relentless drum machine stomping all before it. The taste of the band's live work from Atomizer, a take on "Cables," only scratched the surface when it came to such stuff. Hearing {$Albini   [ read more ]

CD $13.28