Error Report… or Fun with YouTube

There are a lot of songs that I’m just not sure how they got on my iPod. Sometimes I discover that Angie has snuck Lady Gaga on there or downloaded some new music that she thinks I’ll enjoy. Then there are other times that I must have just forgotten that I discovered something on my own.

This was the case with Error. I don’t know anything about the band, but the song Brains Out played while I was walking through the city last week and I was shocked that I had something I enjoyed so much that I couldn’t tell you anything about. I listened to the rest of the EP and started digging for more as soon as I got to a computer.

The first thing I noticed was that according to iTunes they had a new album due out on 11/19. This seemed like great news, but no, it’s a different band with the same name. I was so disappointed, but then I came across a series of incredibly unofficial YouTube videos like this one:

I don’t understand the Chasing Amy desktop image, but at least the creator of this gem has proven that he owns a copy of the CD. The rest of the EP is available in similar form through YouTube, including a track called Homicide.

I didn’t realize this was a cover of the 999’s Homicide from 1978. Incredibly, a video for the original is also on YouTube.

My absolute favorite track on the EP is Nothing’s Working. It really captures the frenetic industrial sound that I love and reminds me a lot of Skinny Puppy and other greats of that genre.

So what’s the deal with this band? I looked up more information after goofing around with the videos and came to discover a number of surprising details. It turns out the record was released by Epitaph in 2004 and features Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion, Atticus Ross who has worked extensively with Nine Inch Nails and Greg Puciato, the singer from the Dillinger Escape Plan.

It’s an all-star side project that I wish there was more of. Their official bio states they’re looking for a permanent singer. I have no idea how long ago that was written, but maybe I’ll send them an e-mail and offer to do it.