PANDEMIX

 

Even though they named themselves four years too early, these Boston punx kicked the fukkn doors in with Pathological Culture. From the monologues in "Total Immersion" and "Conceptual Fuck" to the off the rails unrealized UK anarcho on pharmaceutical speed vibes in "Second Opinion" just wind them up and hear them roar. They've grown into a new and compelling animal since 2016 and the new(ish) Love Is Obliteration is a total killer that showcases this early vision fully realized...but in typical elitist fashion I'm still gonna point you to the demo first because you gotta start where shit starts, you dig? Four modern hardcore burners that manage to not sound like anything you've heard....or at least not like anything you're comfortable with (which is arguably more important).

PATHOLOGICAL CULTURE

SOCKEYE

 

It's been a while since SOCKEYE have graced these pages, and when it comes to SOCKEYE...? "A while" is always too long. This one was released around the time we first crossed paths with them at The Mantis in Kent - maybe it was the time we all hit a thrift store in Stowe for blank shirts to turn into FUCKFACE shirts, or it might have been the next year when we went for a bike ride and got caught in a Midwest flash thunderstorm and I didn't have a change of clothes so I had to explain myself to some cops while I was chilling in the nude while my clothes dried. It was the mid-90s and SOCKEYE were fukkn king - they were like HICKEY without the hooks....actually they had the hooks, you just had to wait waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy longer to hear them. Because for every  "Boy With Breast Implants" there is a "Yo Me Gusta Cum," a "Baby Boogers" and a "Your Dick Is A Junkie," you know? If you don't know, then it's time to learn...and if you already understand, then it's time to get some more SOCKEYE in your life. I wonder if Dave Schall would do a split spoken word release with me - maybe I could get Max Nordile to contribute the backing track. Ideas....

WARNING: BURN HAZARD

ANTI MILITARY

 

Even casual followers of so-called Third World punk will know Indonesia's MARJINAL...but first there was ANTI MILITARY. The connection is linear and if you know either one then you'll be able to hear the  through line, but the focus here should be on how timeless Satu Bumi Tanpa Penindasan sounds in 2025. This is raw, forceful, political, honest punk that will suck you in with anthemic ferocity.....and the almost-SUBHUMANS cover just seals the deal. Please pay attention to the guitar leads on tracks like "Darah Juang" because the shit is ultra sick and highlights their ability to inject melody into rough, ramshackle political hardcore. "Bangkit Melawan" and "Demonstrasi" are the choice cuts here, and I guess there's another ANTI MILITARY tape now at the top of my want list...

SATU BUMI TANPA PENINDASAN

S.M.I.L.E.

 

Can I tell you what I hear here? Well, of course I can because that's literally why I'm here...to tell you what I hear, so it's this: What if a band went straight from STOOGES and MC5 to squirmy modern hardcore punk? What if....what if there were no in between and a band skipped DAMNED and MINOR THREAT and THE STALIN and just drew a line from "1979" to S.H.I.T.'s What Do You Stand For? and didn't make any detours? You might get S.M.I.L.E., who are one of the most honest sounding hardcore bands to pollute my earholes in recent memory. And I really do like honest hardcore; shit just feels real. 

S.M.I.L.E. SOME MORE

SHOXX

 

Someone wanna tell me why a band this good with a pedigree this ridiculous only drops one fukkn tape? Some fierce ass modern day chaos-core circa early 2010s, there's a moment or three when I think about S.H.I.T. but when I listen to "Down The Toilet" I just think about balls out no filter hardcore and....can we talk about the pedigree? BASEBALL FURIES, NÖ PÖWER, BATTLETORN, MERCHANDISE, WORSE, MISSIONARY, POLLUTION and several more. Can we talk about the tape? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUKK?! How can eight minutes make such a lasting impact? Well....it's the riffs. It's the "practice room but it sounds like fire" recording. It's definitely the riffs. it's the vocals. Again - how on the godforsaken earth was SHOXX allowed to release just one cassette with four songs on it? Shit is fukkd up. Listen to "Down The Toilet" my friends....you will not be the same.

SHOXX

17 February 1987

 These tapes just keep on giving. Listen to Ruben Blades start this 90+ minute broadcast from 1987 and wait for Pat and friends do a deep dive into Fela Kuti, dub, blues and a killer '80s industrial set. There is something so indescribably comforting about listing to Pat's artifacts - not because they are his (or from him) necessarily, but just hearing realized communications from another reality makes it feel like there's hope for making it through this one. You know? Because I'm sure everything felt really hopeless then...at least someone who fely hopeless managed to make it through. SO yeah, there's hope. and maybe...just maybe....THE BAR-KAYS into CAR SKID AND CRASH into BE BOP DELUXE as broadcast in 1987 is exactly the hope that we need in 2025.

KALX - 17 FEBRUARY !987

LUNAR MIASMA

 

One half hour of meticulously crafted psychedelic space sounds from LUNAR MIASMA in the form of Heavy Mist. It's just before six in the morning as I write, and this is making me dream of dreaming in the bed that is still warm....these are night sounds. Ominous, foreboding, beautiful night sounds. 

HEAVY MIST