VACATION

 

Five doses of blasting power violence stomps from Medan, Sumatra. And your ass is kicked in just over four minutes. That's it. That's all it takes. Not sure why you would want anything more...until the mosh drops in "Armageddon" and you realize you didn't actually know what perfection sounded like. Until you did. 

TRADITION

BODY OF LIGHT

 

For any even casual visitor, I should be able to say that Arizona's BODY OF LIGHT moved from Ascetic House to Chondritic Sound in the 2010s and that should be enough. Gloriously dark synth....there aren't even words (right now) to capture how good this is. There's more....but for now there's this. 

VOLANTA DI AMORE

EXHUMED CORPSE // DOUR

 

Dark and filthy sonic murk from two sides of the same damaged coin. I keep wanting EXHUMED CORPSE to go somewhere, to do something.....and then DOUR takes out the garbage. The conscious deliberation required to create a release like this is enviable. 

BLOOD FILTER

HOLEHOG // B-SIDE

 

B-SIDE is an indescribably off-kilter side project from one of the A GLOBAL THREAT dudes. Aggressive introvert hardcore with elements of '90s basement DIY and (bizarrely) industrial-tinged alt. I'm not hear to make sense, just listen to "It's Complicated" because it is. On the flip side from B-SIDE, which some refer to as the A-Side, you'll find Sacramento's toughest recent street punk export HOLEHOG, born from the ashes of MONSTER SQUAD before those very ashes resurrected themselves. Snotty, clenched fist pogo punk of the highest fucking order. "Wasting Away" all day every day. 
You want to know a secret.....? I fukkn love punk.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

ASTRAL BUTCHER

 

ASTRAL BUTCHER were but a blip on the landscape, but listening to this hideous and demonic recording from 2020 makes me feel like I'm involved in something very dangerous. VENOM, MASTURBATION, MIDNIGHT, ZOUO....ASTRAL BUTCHER. 

ASTRAL //BUTCHER

MAX NORDILE

 

One of the earliest releases from our favorite sonic mutant's HAIR CLINIC imprint shows Nordile plowing through improvisational no wave stomps creating a mind numbing cacophony with layers of guitar damage and manipulated found sound - you want to hear five minutes of an instrument being dragged across the floor doing battle with a barrage of car horns? This shit is like a TG outtake from Second Annual Report reinterpreted for No New York - damage should not sound this good. 

HAIR CLINIC

LOWRIDER

 

The third volume in Thump Records' Lowrider Soundtrack series is a master class in funk and freestyle anchored by DEBBIE DEB's "When I Hear Music," an indispensable track worth the price of admission and then some all on its own. Follow that up with "I Need A Freak" from SEXUAL HARASSMENT and TONY-O's "Drop Them Drawers" and you know this a different kind of party. There are still solid lowrider jams here (HISPANIC MCs, DAZZA, SAPADILLA) but overall this collection is way freakier and more hi-NRG mix than the first two collections. So get down to TOGETHER BROTHERS, CRAZY CLOCK MC, FREESTYLE, BABY G & TRUE FUNK POSSE and HOLLYWOOD HAMILTON and you're talking about an actual fucking party....you're also talking about a brilliant mix tape. 

LOWRIDER SOUNDTRACK VOLUME 3