Update time

So, after much debating, I am going to continue with Gonna Make The Pony Trot. With Mediafire deleting my account ( including everything I posted here as well as about 5 years worth of personal stuff) I was pretty certain it was the final nail in this blog's coffin. I had a whole speech planned out about how I feel but its explained far better in the following feature. This blog was never about the latest album leaks or trying to undercut independant music, plenty of other blogs do that. I started this as a way to improve my somewhat shoddy writing skills and because I realised I had collected a wealth of demo's and unusual musical treasures from my years of touring. Combine this with my love of soundtracks and you have Gonna Make The Pony Trot. I was inspired by the likes of Cosmic Hearse, Mutant Sounds, Illogical Contraption ( who I have been lucky enough to write for ) and Lo Res Viscera to start blogging about music back in about 2006 and I think we've had a pretty good run so far. In that time I have discovered a wealth of music that I love, made quite a few new friends and acquaintances and its opened some new opportunities. Its been great so far. I am leaving everything posted prior to this up, simply as reference. Pretty much all the links are now dead. I have some new hosting sites planned, I don't really want to get into trying to re-upload stuff but if you really need something then shoot me a message.
From here on the blog will be more focused on my musical endeavours with Black Mass and Satanic Dystopia, my noise and mixtape work and plenty of ranting about movies and the usual rubbish.

Nothing Left Inside

John Carpenter mix-tape (2013)

Another mix I have been working on. A little tribute to the musical works of the great John Carpenter. I have been a fan of his since I first saw Escape From New York at the age of 11 and its iconic opening theme that stuck in head. Below is a mix I put together featuring my personal favourite moments from a variety of the masters best films. Feel free to download and share.



On another note, Mediashite has deleted my account thus deleting the entire content of this blog and the past 5 years of posts. At the moment I'm not really sure what will happen to the blog but while I look at new hosting sites, if there is anything you want re-upping then drop me a line.

Roy Budd - Get Carter OST (1971)

In 1971, Mike Hodges released the seminal, British crime flick, Get Carter. It divided opinion and suffered somewhat due to the declining interest in the British film industry as well as the amoral approach and attitude of Michael Caine's Jack Carter.

Its a great film. Its nasty and gritty, plenty of violence and just the right amount of nudity needed in any revenge film. Allegedly Mike Hodges only had £450 to spend on a score. In steps British jazz musician Roy Budd. Working with only three other musicians, Budd created the perfect jazzy accompaniment to Carter's violent investigation around the Newcastle underworld. Often imitated never bettered. here you go.

Roy Budd - Get Carter

Heil - Demo II (2012)

The term "blackened" is thrown around far too often these days ( God knows, I have used it myself on occasion ) and its applied to pretty much all forms of extreme music to describe the influence of black metal in a bands sound. Usually its pretty far off the mark and applied to any band that uses lo-fi recording and ultra hissy distortion to create their sound.

Heil certainly have that element present in their noisy take on punk. Its a superbly over blown guitar sound and rancid, rasping vocal that make up the majority of this demo. The drums occasionally pick up pace but for the majority of this record work best when banging along at a stomping pace. You know "Nothing Left Inside" by the almighty Black Flag? Well imagine Darkthrone having a crack at that and your pretty close to Heil's sound. Its pretty sweet.

Heil - Demo II

Herbie Hancock - Death Wish (1974)

RIP Micheal Winner. A big man that said what he thought oblivious to how it would be construed. He made quite a few stinkers when it came to movies but also some pretty solid fare as well. The Mechanic, The Sentinel and the urban revenge classic Death Wish. Below is the score by Herbie Hancock. A fine example of Hancock's electric style showing restraint and being applied to tense, dramatic scoring.

Herbie Hancock - Death Wish OST

Black Mass - Of First And Last Things (2013)

Bit of shameless self promotion here. We (Black Mass) have been sat on this for some time now. Its a compilation of all the material the band had previously released. After myself and our two guitarists had joined we started building up our own recording rig and this compilation is the result of those forays into home recording. Its come out pretty good if I do say so myself. We have now dropped most of this from the setlist as well, so we saw this release as a good sign off for the first period of the bands life. For now, we have released it on Bandcamp for free. If it doesn't work then use the Mediafire link under, we only get so many free downloads a month. A physical version should be available from Witchunter Records in March.

Bandcamp

Mediafire

Cops - Demo (2012)

On the surface, Cops are a bunch of hardcore punks who enjoy Crossed Out and Suppression as much as the next guy and their band certainly reflects that. But scratch beneath the surface and it begins to show a much nastier side. Squelching little synths and electronics underpin the breakneck guitars and drums giving away a knowing nod to power electronics and noise. Maybe not really anything new in the world of power violence and grind but certainly integrated far better into the Cops sound than most. I have included both demo's in the link below. I don't know if they have anything else available, what little there is is well worth your time. I came across this on the always awesome Terminal Escape.

Cops - Demo I and II 

Goblin - Tenebre OST (1982)

Though often credited as a Goblin record, Tenebre is really a soundtrack composed by three former members of the Italian, prog-synth, rock freak out act. Once again working with Italian master Dario Argento, Simonetti, Pignatelli and Morante crafted a sturdy mix between the well known Goblin keyboard heavy sound and something approaching the more standard guitar based work that was popular at the time ( in all honesty the track "Lesbo" could have been omitted, it sounds like the theme tune to a dreadful beach set surf cop film/TV series). The film itself is one of Argento's most under rated efforts. As much as Suspiria and Profondo Rosso are well crafted classics, Tenebre holds a certain charm and nastiness about it. Goblin's iconic title track has one of the catchiest refrains going, I dare you not to be humming it after only a few listens. French dance gang Justice covered/sampled/homaged it on the track Phantom, off the "cross" album.

Goblin - Tenebre OST

Jackman - Bad Intentions (2012)

More sexually repressed, lo-fi black noise from the Danish mystery that is Jackman and the folk at Posh Isolation. Following on from the example set by the S/T demo I posted back here ( nearly two years ago!) Bad Intentions seems to have ramped up the Brainbombs influence that was struggling to be heard amongst the filth and dirt of that first release. Pulling back on the noise and black metal elements, though it is still noisy as hell, and concentrating more on simple punk songs. A nasty little listen.

Jackman - Bad Intentions

Jerrold Immel - Megaforce OST (1982)

A fixture of my youth. Megaforce is probably one of the tackiest and mindlessly stupid movies you will ever see, but as a child, it was also the most awesome movie. A secret military force who use flying motorcycles, laser tanks, colour changing camouflage and the sort of wisecracks that even GIJoe avoided. What wasn't awesome about all this. 

The film was directed by ex-stuntman Hal Needham. The man responsible for Smokey & The Bandit, Cannonball Run, Hooper and 80's BMX classic Rad. It starred his stuntman buddy Barry Bostwick (pictured left), Coney Island Warrior Micheal Beck and the unstoppable Henry Silva. The soundtrack was handled by Jerrold Immel, a regular in TV soundtracks, having been responsible for the TV version of Logan's Run and most famously, Dallas.

Immel pulls a pretty sweet score out of the bag for this one. Based on the simple premise of uplifting motifs to represent the good guys and sinister orchestration to represent the bad guys, Immel utilised a heap of electronic organ and synthesiser equipment to replace the usual brass and string accompaniment.

All that aside its a solid piece of electronic drama. Get it downloaded.....

Jerrold Immel - Megaforce OST

Wives Of Seth - Demo (2003)

Wives Of Seth a.k.a. Ray Reardon Youth. Snooker violence. A short lived blast of noisy, aggro hardcore from Bloody Kev ( Hard To Swallow, Raging Speedhorn, Regimes and far too many others to mention) and various London folk. We played with them at a very drunken, very sweaty gig in 2004 at a Jamaican pub called The Swan. Dancehall playing in one room and a load of sweaty kids smashing up the other room to loud punk rock. It was superb.
Here's the 2003, Sexy beast sampling demo...............

Wives Of Seth - Demo 2003

You can learn all about this band and nearly everything else Kev has been involved in over at his blog Keep It In The Family.

Casualties Of Jazz - Kind Of Black (2004)

It doesn't really get any simpler than this. Instrumental jazz trio cover Sabbath classics. That's nine Black Sabbath standards filtered through drums, double bass and Hammond organ. Its a superbly laid back listen with a ton of groove and some ingenious instrumentation. Well worth your time.

Casualties Of Jazz - Kind Of Black

Blazing Magnums - Eurocrime Mixtape

Here is something I put together for a friend's birthday recently. Fans of Eurocrime, Italian cinema and 1970's amoral Police procedure movie's should hopefully enjoy it. Evoking the spirit of Henry Silva and Franco Nero and creating the perfect soundtrack to your next rooftop chase.



Lalo Schifrin - Harry's Creed 
John Saunders - Gunman 
Franco Micalizzi - Folk & Violence 
Brian Bennet - Drama Montage 
Ennio Morricone - Un Amico 
Franco Micalizzi - Affano 
Goblin - La Via Della Droga 
Keith Mansfield - Jagged 
Dave Gold - City Police 
Franco Micalizzi - Criminal Gang 
Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - New Special Squad 
Franco Micalizzi - Dark Suspense 
Lalo Schifrin - Scorpio's Theme 
Guido & Maurizio De Angelis - Life Of A Policeman 
Franco Micalizzi - Running To The Airport 
Guido De Angelis - Goodbye My Friend

Satanic Threat - In To Hell (2008)

We all have a love for the head banging fury that masters like Nunslaughter and the mighty Midnight obviously rule at. Now take members of both those mentioned acts and let them loose on some 80's hardcore records and you have this EP by Satanic Threat. Solid, US, 80's hardcore. Think Uniform Choice, Minor Threat, SSD and Youth of Today if they wrote songs about hating Christ and blaspheming. Solid, evil stuff.

Satanic Threat - In To Hell

John Farnham - Savage Streets OST (1984)

Linda Blair never really had the career she deserved. I mean, having your first major role as a possessed child who shrieks about sucking cocks in hell and crawls across ceilings may not have really paved the way towards a glittering ascension to Hollywood A-list status but it certainly gave her enough cred to make a string of low budget and mostly sleazy films throughout the 80's. Lots of female prison movies.
Savage Streets was another in the long line of "urban revenge" films that followed in the wake of Death Wish and Taxi Driver. Of course it doesn't possess any of the class or social commentary of these two giants of vigilantism but it does possess enough sleaze to qualify as a worthy watch.
Alongside many shower scenes and some pretty sweet harpoon-in-gang-member action the film features an early soundtrack outing for portly, Aussie sleaze muffin John Farnham. The master behind 80's jams for both Rad, Transformers and the single "You're The Voice". Farnham's contributions take up the majority of this album and are as solid as we have come to expect from the man. In fact its pretty much a John Farnham album. Of interest, an early version of the track "Nothings Gonna Stand In Our Way" is featured on here before being used years later for Transformers The Movie.
Here you go. The album was never actually released to the public other than a vinyl only promo sent out to radio stations and DJ's around the films release.

John Farnham - Savage Streets OST

Jay Z - The Purple Album (2004)

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Look at the above images. What do you think this is all about? What would you get if you combined these two giants of popular music? Not hard to work out.

If you guessed correctly and worked out that this is the vocal track from Jay-Z's The Black Album laid over the musical tracks from Purple Rain by Prince then download it, give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star.

If you guessed incorrectly then you should probably go and sit in the middle of the road somewhere. You don't really deserve to listen to this album or really live amongst normal folk. Idiots.

 

Jay Z -The Purple Album

Gonnamaketheponyhop Mixtape (2012)

I recently did a hip hop mix just for fun and as a chance to mess around with some new editing software. It's just short of an hours worth of  beats from Onyx, NWA, Big Juss, Dead Prez and loads more. I thought I might share it here with you. Feel free to download and share around all you want.

Acid Reign - The Fear (1989)

A prime slice of British thrash metal for you tonight. I will admit I wasn't sold on Acid Reign first time around. In fact, until I picked this album up in a charity shop some years ago I never really gave them much of a chance. Shame on me I know. Here's a full live set from 1989 in London......

...and here's the album.....

Acid Reign - The Fear

John Holmes - El Louso Suavo (1999)

I wrote about John Holmes and posted up their final album a while back here, so I am not going to patter on about this awesome bands legacy and lineage again. All you need to know is that El Louso Suavo is a monster of an album. A ugly, crust influenced monstrosity of hardcore smashing its way through Deadguy and The Jesus Lizard style noise rock with a suitably British sense of nihilism.

John Holmes - El Louso Suavo

This originally came out on Flat Earth Records who have recently put their entire back catalogue up for free download. This is a label that introduced John Holmes, Hard To Swallow, Manfat, Ebola, Sawn Off Drop Dead, Witchknot and tons more to my young ears. They made an impression on my musical education.

Flat Earth Records

John Carpenter - Escape From New York Original Soundtrack (1981)

As far as directors go, John Carpenter is surely one of my favourites. The guy was responsible for Halloween, The Thing, Assault On Precinct 13, In The Mouth of Madness, Prince Of Darkness and the awesome Escape From New York. Not only is he unbelievably cool for creating such fine, cinematic masterpieces but he is also unbelievably cool for soundtracking ( with a few exceptions) nearly all of his films himself.
The musical influence of JC can't be denied these days. How many synth based, electro, 80's referencing bands have a little JC groove in them?
Escape From New York is known for the iconic main theme. The melodic pulsing synths and heart beat like groove stuck in my head from the first time I heard it. I am not even going to explain the film as you should be aware of it already.
You need the music and films of John Carpenter in your life.

John Carpenter - Escape From New York