MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

A lot of us slagged off MRR in the '90s - we wanted speed and danger and there was a perception that The Institution was fixated on garage rock and proto-punk rehashes and didn't give a shit about the real nasty shit - they were old people writing a mag for old people, we thought (sometimes). I'm not saying this was reality, but the perception was certainly real. We were still over the fukkn moon when a postcard from Tim appeared in our PO Box asking if we would submit an interview, and a couple of years later I was picking up the mail once a week for the rag. MRR was never irrelevant or out of touch of course, perceptions are just a motherfukkr. If I had jammed this tape in 1994 though.....? Suffice to say that Episode 629 would not have done much to change my mind, but I'm one of the old people now.

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #629

TRIPLE X

 

Hyper-energetic fastcore with an ear towards '90s melodic punk - it's a combination that almost doesn't work until it is basically perfect. Seventeen songs in less than twenty minutes, and the intro to "A Test For Unity" sounds like PEARL JAM until the guitar break drops and it's like 13 Songs all over again and my head is spinning. That's what we're dealing with here - so think about the first time you heard RAZOR'S EDGE and other (similar) fast hardcore acts who had as many hooks as riffs and felt like dogpile sing-along choruses were as important as the songs themselves. Check "Song For Fun 2" (noteworthy: there are three versions of the title track) into "Undiluted" into "Social Fact" for a complete picture of what these folks are (were?) capable of. I wasn't expecting TRIPLE X when I popped the shit in the deck, but the more time I spend with the shit, the more I am fukkn sold on the shit. If Mr. Gatewood still reads this blog, Mr. Gatewood is gonna love this shit.

ROCK FOR FUN

NAUSEA

 

Maybe you don't need to be introduced to NAUSEA (though today your lucky day if this is your introduction), but maybe it's been too long since you blasted some seminal NYC political crust, and holy fukk 1987 NAUSEA was just a different animal entirely. An absolutely blistering half hour captured in the WNYU studios, featuring an early version "Godless" and a performance of "Clutches" that will make your skin crawl. Extinction is a perfect record, no question.....but if NAUSEA had released a record in real time with this kind of raw intensity? Shit would have straight up altered the trajectory of US DIY hardcore.

CRUCIAL CHAOS

WLADIMIR KOCHANSKI

 

Sometimes you just need something to be there so the sound isn't empty. You might focus on it when your mental space allows, or it might just live in the background. Wladimir Kochanski's In Concert fills that void, and fills it quite nicely. 

WLADIMIR KOCHANSKI IN CONCERT

DEAD PROPAGANDA

 

As if I wasn't already sold by the face melting ferocity of the opening track "Diskrininasi Rasial," DEAD PROPAGANDA drop this ridiculous double bass into the outro for maybe three seconds and I swear it felt like the clouds parted and the heavens were exposed. The sixteen minutes that follow are pure, harsh, chaotic....a gorgeous display of raw thrashing political grindcrust. Virtually no low end, minimal fidelity and no slow parts, just in your face and unforgiving DIY hardcore.

HORROR GENOCIDE

ARDENT VEIN

 

Listening to ARDENT VEIN produces more questions than answers, and I suspect that's exactly how they prefer it. Two tracks here, almost forty minutes of deliberate and desperate ambient noise...it's a really beautiful release, but there's an intangible darkness that you can't put your finger on. Maybe you can't put a finger on it because you can feel it? And oh....you can feel it. Both ARDENT VEIN (the band) and Dead Accents (the label) have volumes more to offer - I'm almost scared to seek it out. Almost.

THE TRESPASSER'S GIFT // IRON DOORS ON FIRE

BUTCHER

 

Nick sent me this one a few weeks back and I've been meaning to ask him about it, but I guess I'll ask you instead. Thinking it might be the BUTCHER from the Acid Sound From United Kingdom comp, but that's really just a guess. However, I know that if you dig dark, ramshackle UK-tinged punk interspersed with bursts of unhinged proto-thrash.....then this is your BUTCHER.

BUTCHER