POTEMKIN

 

A little over two years ago I posted Sludge Vol.2 and I said this:

You ever wake up feeling....ugly? I'm not talking about "not feeling yourself" ugly, I'm thinking something more like "willing to destroy yourself" ugly. You refuse to look in the mirror - not because you're scared of what you might see, but because you know what's going to be staring at you. And it's disgusting. You ever wake up feeling....hopeless? I'm not talking about "should have slept in today" hopeless, I'm thinking something more like "hopeless" hopeless. You refuse to see the light - not because you're stubborn, but because you know it's not there. You ever wish those feelings had a soundtrack? You ever wish those days had a soundtrack? Enter: POTEMKIN. Terrifyingly misanthropic sludge that understands your desperation and sees you for the ugly piece of shit you know you are. And sometimes...it feels good to feel seen. 

Well, it should come as no surprise that the same sentiment applies to the first volume. This shit is just so disgustingly honest and brutal. When people search for this band's music, results should come with trigger warnings....and this is why we keep listening: so we can feel. 

SLUDGE VOL.1

MOONSCAPE // SMUT

 

It was almost ten years ago when I last posted MOONSCAPE, and I focused on their dark energy. That energy is arguably even more present on this SMUT split. Any if you want to talk about energy.....SMUT is everything you want in a punk. You've had them before but (if you're like me) it's been a minute and this split is a good reminder. "Thirst Trap" is the best punk song you'll hear today.

MOONSCAPE • SMUT

Worth noting that this tape sounds murky as shit in the best and punkest way imaginable.

MOOSEO

 

This band sounds like they were a fukkn blast to see live. Fast, loose and wildly catchy hardcore with roots in early century fastcore and '90s melodic punk, I picture them sharing space with ALL YOU CAN EAT and GOMEZ in some different reality. Seems like this 2012 sample laden release is all that MOOSEO offered the rest of us....so enjoy the next twenty minutes of punk. 

PUNK PERCONTOHAN

KILT

 

I was having a conversation with my mother yesterday, discussing the nuances of stench core versus crasher crust and the minute but distinct differences between the Japanese and Swedish interpretations of DBeat. Most of these fascinating details were unfortunately lost on her (though she does acknowledge the differences between THE LETTERMEN and CHUCK BERRY). At one point, I inserted noise into our conversation - there's harsh noise wall and power electronics and ambient and drone and countless more subgenres, and I brought this up to demonstrate that the more you know about a subject, the more there is to learn about the same subject. Came home that night and Nathan texted me a reminder that CRUDITY totally rips (see: Swedish interpretations of DBeat) and then I listened to 2010's Culos Asados and tried to make sense of my day. 

CULOS ASADOS 

DEATH GASP

 

My fukkn stars this shit sounds so desperate. AMEBIX, INEPSY, VENOM. Low end cavernous churn. Absolute evil and/or sonic destruction. Pittsburgh man....let's go to Pittsburgh. 

EXECUTIONER

DJ EONS // BAD SHANE

 

History is going to look at this shit and (rightly) determine that their importance far outweighs their real-time influence. Local heads know what these folks are and have been capable of, but the way they continue to push Bay Area hip hop to (and in) new and different directions with baffle historians for sonic generations to come. BAD SHANE's "Winning" is a sample-laden screwed collision. DJ EONS offers the gloriously repetitive "Gazebo Mission" that embodies '90s hip-hop and makes me feel like I'm an outsider watching low riders roll down 24th Street. No one does the shit like these dudes do the shit....even the novice knows greatness when he hears it. 

41st & EL CAMINO

ASTRAL BUTCHER

 

I played with them once. It was in Sacramento - it was probably with NO STATIK even though my brain keeps telling me it was SUICIDE BOMB) - and ASTRAL BUTCHER felt fucking dangerous. They were like the drug dealers who showed up to the high school dance and lurked in the shadows. They played with irreverence, they destroyed with abandon. They fukkn destroyed the joint. 

CEMETERY GOATS

FILE UNDER: Blistering high-end black psychedelic metalcrust power trio.