SPEEDKILL // BERBAHAYA

 

Ten minutes of churning, in your face thrash that....man, the shit just fukkn grooves. The first SPEEDKILL cut has serious NUNCHAKU vibes and settles into something akin to the first HAUNTED record, while the BERBAHAYA tracks are full throttle cruising grind/thrash. There's nothing fancy here - they get in, they destroy, they get out. Not sure what else you could possibly want. 

OPIUM PEMBUS MORAL CANDU NADA NERAKA

MISTER BARCLAY 505

 

Look....if you're paying attention at all, then it's very difficult to feel normal right now. It's very difficult to imagine a return to anything even close to normal, or how challenging the path to that return might be. Feeling helpless is fine; feeling helpless is normal. So while you're feeling helpless, here are some innocent lo-fi home recordings from a relatively nice looking fellow from Albuquerque. When I got this tape, it kinda felt like everything was more or less okay (even if it wasn't). So it's kinda pleasant to take a minute and listen to the sounds of DAVID ISAAC BARCLAY now and think about that time and rage cry for a bit before returning to the bitter and very very real knowledge that even if things do return to a kind of normal....you won't be alive to see it. FUCK DHS. FUCK ICE. FUCK MAGA. 

ULTRA LO-FI DEMO

WARTZ

 

I frequently say that I'm at a loss for words and then say a lot of words and I fear I am about to do the same thing again but.....I mean, how else can you approach WARTZ? Manic and maniacal madness that owes equal dents to F.U.S and early 2010s NWI punk and primitive UK82 hardcore....six songs in seven minutes. and every second is perfect. 

WARTZ

1-800-REMIXES

 

If you weren't alive when (most) these songs were unavoidable then mayhaps you can't really grasp what a comfortable listen this is. I was there though - I was high school kid with a weekend job as a small town commercial radio DJ and I heard damn near every one of these tracks countless times. I didn't hear them like this though, and there's a magic in this era-appropriate collection. Until today, I never knew that MC HAMMER name dropped Oaktown in "U Can't Touch This" (which is followed by DIGITAL UNDERGROUND and EN VOGUE, two more outfits that helped put the East Bay on the mainstream map around the same time ECONOCHRIST moved out from Arkansas), and until today I never knew that JANET JACKSON collaborated with HEAVY D on a remix of "Alright." And Canada's JANE CHILD dropped one of the most essential freestyle bangers ever with "I Don't Wanna Fall In Love" and she's basically the arctic Sheila E or some shit. Basically, I learned a lot of things today. MICHEL'LE, ROB BASE, JOHNNY GIL round out a remix tape that was hopefully distributed out of the trunk of a stolen Camry...and could have provided the soundtrack for every episode of In Living Color. 

1-800-REMIXES VOL.1

If anyone has a line on subsequent volumes....you know where to find me. 

KAKERLAK

 

Twenty minutes of brutal and disorienting harsh noise wall punctuated by a few subtle respites. Actually....there are no respites.
This shit is just sonic brutality.
Kinda like an ocean crashing into your face.
I could say so many more things, but....just listen.
Loudly.

THIRST, HUNGRY, SEX & SAFETY

Yes...Play at High Volume.

THE EXPLOITED

 

Starter bands are a weird animal - the cool kids seem to steer clear of them (publicly), but please will someone try to convince me that SHITLICKERS hit harder than the first three (or six) EXPLOITED records? Ask me which one I "like" more and I'll give you an answer, but I will also put "Rival Leaders" up against anything you have to offer, and I'll die on that fukkn hill. "Warsystem" is cool and perfect and everything (of course) but if you want to tell me that it's objectively better than "Psycho" or the title track here....well, that's gonna be a discussion. DIY punk and hardcore rules, straight up and no question - but there's a reason why starter bands are "Starter Bands," you know? It's where you start. Group Sex and In God We Trust, Inc and Hear Nothing... and Damaged and Zen Arcade are essential, that's why there are hundreds of thousands of copies pressed and you can find them in any reputable shop. Well, perhaps the most single genre defining UK82 record was released by THE EXPLOITED....in 1983. And you should al know every note of eery song. Fuck me this shit is so good. 

LET'S START A WAR...SAID MAGGIE ONE DAY

**************************************************
I've only seen THE EXPLOITED once - and it was in an environment that was perfect for a complete shit show experience that would completely crush all expectation and adulation. 

They were fucking untouchable. 

PRAXIS // ALTERCADOS

 

I hope it never seems like I'm buried in or obsessed with nostalgia here - I love sounds. Period. I have connections with a lot of sounds and some sounds are important to me for different reasons than other sounds are important to me...but I get a charge out of listening to something that meant something for someone else to create. I always have, I still do, and I hope that I always will.  That said....this split makes me feel nostalgic, and that's okay. Two ripping political fastcore bands from Chile circa 2000. That's it y'all, that should be all you need. ALTERCADOS give serious LIFES HALT vibes while PRAXIS land closer to what we called "melodic hardcore" at the time, and there are moments where I feel like I'm listening to a subgenre of Japanese punk that I can't quite put my finger on*...plus the lead guitar is out of fukkn control. I like 'em both, but the ALTERCADOS side is legit next level shit. So I heard it for the first time and I thought of shit from a different era-  but this is from a different era and I'm hearing it for the first time. Fukk - what if this split is actually just a time machine?

LA MAQUINARIA DEL DESCONTENTO

* Yes, I fully realize how stupid it is to compare something to a "subgenre of Japanese punk that I can't quite put my finger on." Sorry.