PUBERTY WOUNDS

PUBERTY WOUNDS went from intense and raw to just plain ugly. This is genuinely disenfranchised noisy hardcore - blast the intro to "Ex-Boyfriend Voyeur" and you're moshing. Guaranteed.

STRANGE EDGE

OGHAM

This piece of utter brilliance comes courtesy of the Merz Tapes label (an outfit I only recently dicovered), and is nothing short of mesmerizing. Well over an hour of carefully constructed and ever so subtly manipulated drones. The first track is what I imagine an ambient remix of SLEEP's Jerusalem might sound like, and the second is 45 minutes of calculated and deliberate haunt. I listened to this cassette for nearly five hours straight the day I bought it...OGHAM was the background to everything I did that day, and it was the sound that put me to sleep that night. This is something I recommend very highly, and if anyone has more information about the artist and/or other releases, please share...

OGHAM

BRAIN TUMORS

I don't always make good decisions. Like there was the time that BRAIN TUMORS played in San Francisco, probably with some other bands that I really like. I didn't go to the show, I did something else instead (I was probably working about two blocks from this particular venue). But since I don't even remember what I was doing instead and I do remember that I didn't see BRAIN TUMORS, then clearly I made a bad decision that day. It's cool though, because I have this demo and on other days since the day of the BRAIN TUMORS show that I missed I have probably made some pretty good decisions. 

BRAIN TUMORS

And speaking of bad decisions, some dude in Santa Cruz is having a show today with ABSURDO, CONQUEST FOR DEATH, DIE HARD, REPLICA, NO STATIK, FAMILY STONED.

In his apartment.

SOLO SE OYE PUNK vol. 2

A fukkn perfect starter kit for the uninitiated, or simply mandatory listening for even seasoned vets. Silenzio Statico put together this mix tape as a follow up to their Latin American punk primer, and I dare say this one jams even harder. Do Punx Dance? They damn sure better when this is the soundtrack.

DO PUNX DANCE?

HELLGRAMMITE

These sounds might be more professional that the usual Escape fare, and based on my own description I might find myself shying away from Washington's HELLGRAMMITE, but initial perceptions be damned and II is an absolute killer. The weight is enough on its own to keep most of you well engaged, but then release yourself into the world of guitars...as excessive as they are progressive, somehow these kids manage to avoid complete pretension and instead present themselves as an advanced powerhouse. A crushing abyss in four movements, I will take the lazy way out and describe this cassette as a combination of KYLESA, LOST GOAT and BOTCH. 

II

KOLUMBINE

Rarely has a title so perfectly suited the sounds it described. All Go No Slow is five minutes of ferocious  throaty hardcore in eight pulverizing movements. I think this demo is from 2009 or so, but honestly I don't care because it rules. A lot.

ALL GO NO SLOW

REDROT

Another installation from the ever-impressive Chondritic Sound label. REDROT creep through four movements, each arguably more uncomfortable than the next. This project has been active for more than a decade, and this work is some of his most sinister....processed and damaged primitive industrial drones best suited for the damaged persona that likely lurks within you.

REDROT

The brain child here is also responsible for POST MORTEM JUNKIE, among other monikers..

SMUTS

Dude. Idaho? What the fukk? Seiously.

SMUTS