مارتیک // ضیاء

 

It was probably a decade ago when I talked to Golnar about writing a thing about this tape because I thought it was cool (like...really cool) but didn't know shit about it and she was a music nerd and a Persian scholar and she already knew all about it so why would you want to read my words when I could solicit hers? Exactly. Fast forward to now and we've fallen out of contact but I'll be damned if these sounds don't (still) slap like some Ethiopian jazz meshing with those sounds that you don't understand except to know that you want to understand more than you do. Freak funk with dense horns and Mid-eastern trad funk and I am literally crying thinking about the multitude of realities that this music represents. I'm pretty sure that Ziya (exiled after the 1979 revolution) was in Los Angeles when this was released in 1987, a collaboration (maybe...? paging Golnar) with fellow ex-pat Martik Khanian who was apparently in Los Angeles when this recording was conceived. 

This current reality is light years beyond heavy, and imagining a rich culture and fascinating country ripped apart twice in the span of a half-century brings on more feelings than "طلوع ا زمغر" ...and that shit is ten minutes of pure sonic gold. Submitted with apologies, because I wish I could sa the right things.

کفریم / دیوونه / هلل یوس

P.S.Y.W.A.R.

 

The midwestern united states is a special place, sonically speaking. N.O.T.A. could not have come from California. DEAD SILENCE and ANIMAL FARM were influenced by the "cool" scenes on the coast/s but they were so obviously products of their respective environments. You get an Outhouse in Kansas but never in D.C. or Boston. Enter P.S.Y.W.A.R., who straddle/d Denver and/or Kansas City, two of the largest and most influential enclaves in the middle of this country's middle section. Proximity (or lack thereof) breeds isolation and that makes for special sounds....like these sounds. We're talking early '10s USDIY squirms and reverb-laden spiked boots guttural hardcore with dark '80s Japanese influence...kinda. Because really this shit is the product of all of the influences with none of the meddlings, and that's what makes the good shit hit even harder. 

P.S.Y.W.A.R.

80HD

 

When 80HD dropped a few years ago, the hype was all about their energetic live shows and aerial explosions. People scrambled to get to the internet to show the rest of the world how high they jumped, overfiltered grainy black and white photos with mullets and humans flying across phone screens. You never heard people talking about the music except that they were fast....but the shows were lit. Two KLPs and five years after the demo and that first West. Coast tour though, might I suggest revisit the almost unparalleled sonic detonation that is 80HD's Demo 2021? The hype was real, and this blur of j/o riffs (hi Max) propelled by a hailstorm of galloping thumps doesn't merely stand on its own without the stench of sweat and beer interrupting the surge of Gen Z punks scrambling to get the perfect photo, the context breathes new life into the special kind of fury this band was creating. Perhaps 80HD is best listened to alone at 5:30am before the coffee is finished brewing - without context and without filters and without peer promotion. That's when you can hear 80HD and feel their fury unencumbered by the noise. Seven crucial, life affirming minutes on this cassette, re-experienced (by me) the way punk was not meant to be experienced; in the dark and in the flesh accompanied by nothing but a soft snore in the background and the waft of impending caffeine from the next room. Not gonna lie though, thee jumps did look sick.

80HD

BURNING FLAG

 

The title tells you what you need to know - Grind IS Protest and BURNING FLAG are standing tall in the face of authority and sonic competence on this 2014 release. No bass (at least not in the mix), raw dual high/low vocals punctuating political DIY grind - you don't need to know BURNING FLAG to know their sound. Tracks like "Revolusi" and "Fuck The System Government" would have been right at home in 1990s Connecticut (if you know, then you know) while "Dinoe Kasetno Indro" is a more primal, metallic lo-fi crust grind assault. Melodic hooks keep creeping out of the manic DBeat guitar riffs; never enough to actually develop...just enough to raise an eyebrow before tracks like "Ludahi Para Pendusta" rip your face off. Let Grind Is Protest serve as a reminder....I'm not sure of what exactly, just consider yourself reminded. 

GRIND IS PROTEST

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