END YOU

 

I listened to this from start to finish without typing a single word. Then I listened again intending to start writing as it played....but I didn't type a single word. I mean, I know the sounds and I know more or less where they come from. They are familiar, but my interest is intent and deliberate as it would be if I were hearing something I could not contextualize. This is like listening to a modern abrasive record recorded by someone who was introduced to hardcore through SOAD and DEFTONES but quickly made their way to WEEDEATER, BORN AGAINST  and UNSANE (not in that order) without ever forgetting that their older sister loaned them a WHITE ZOMBIE tape when they were in sixth grade. END YOU sounds like none of this and hits like all of it and....and now maybe you see why I keep listening to try to figure out what's going on and where it came from. When "Equinox" starts I remember watching KARMA TO BURN in a coffee shop in Kansas in 1995 but then I really don't know what to think after that. "Alt Delete" is mid-paced hardcore terror at its finest, "Copstomp" is as brutally intense as the title suggests except that the sonic violence is intelligent (because stomping cops is smart, apparently) and "The Call" is a dark and deliberate modern sludge/hardcore masterpiece.  It's not that this recording is all over the place; this shit is everywhere all at once and its overwhelming. The "It Gazes Back" closes the tape and honestly I feel like I need to go back to the beginning. END YOU was (is?) a one-person recording project, and it almost makes you wonder why full bands even bother. Repeat listens highly recommended - this one just gets better and more interesting.

AIMLESS DREAD: A DISSOCIATIVE EVENT IN TWELVE PARTS

===========================
Unrelated: REALISTIC is recording today. It will sound nothing like this, but it's not supposed to. 

GRAN BANKROTT

 

The connections are more than a little convoluted and/or confusing here, but patience and loose adherence to traditions will start you down several different paths leading to new and fascinating sounds. As near as I can tell, Gran is an alter ego used by an Austrian named Florian who's associated with a band called DOT DASH and several techno/EDM/noise projects. Florian released music as GRAN for a few years - a solo project rooted in early post-punk, NDW and dub while existing a space created purely for their own sound. Around the turn of the last decade, Florian added some players and GRAN became GRAN BANKROTT and released the brilliantly synth/dub heavy slog Gran Bankrott that manages to reinvent the innovative approach of trailblazers like WIRE, CABARET VOLTAIRE and EINSTURZENDE NEUBATEN for a new generation now several generations removed. That 2019 record is a fantastic journey and now Schere is, predictably, a complete departure. Gran & Company (now including bassist Lina Liquid and a guitarist from the aforementioned DOT DASH) have perfected sharp, bleak DeutschPunk sound with a dash of early '00s dark NYC indie. Electronic and dub foundations and a confidently meandering pace allow for unique re-imagination of everything from THE FALL to HANS-A-PLAST, with a guitar that hits like Eat Your Paisley-era Jasper Thread in a way that can only make sense if you really listen. The person who turned me on to this tape (and the world of Gran in general) warned me that Schere might be challenging and tough to really wrap my head around....he was right, but I'm (still) having a great time trying. Strong recommendation for the thinking listener. 

SCHERE

ASTRAL MAPS

 

I posted the first Astral Maps volume almost a decade ago and I highly recommend uninitiated visitors visit that collection as soon as their done with this one (or vice versa). Now as then, the title manages to say it all without letting on how much gold it contains. Aside from JERRY JEFF WALKER (who closes the mix with the brilliant "Shell Game") and NICO (who most wouldn't expect on a mix like this, but of course it's perfect), these artists are going to be new to all but the most dedicated old country aficionados....which is to say that Astral Maps is a very special gift. BOOTS WALKER, RONNIE HAWKINS, JOHNNY ROBERTS, RONNIE McFARLAN, HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS, DAVID BLUE and loads more sing songs about traveling and wandering and love and loss. It's an honest collection of songs and singers that will take you to a completely different place if you let it. Listen to TOMMY FLANDERS' "Between Purple And Blue" before you do anything important today, and thank the folks at Ack Ack Ack Tapes for helping you (me) get through. 

ASTRAL MAPS Vol.2: COUNTRY ROCK '65-'75

DESINTEGRATIÓN VIOLENTA

 

You've crossed paths with the La Bestia EP that came out a few years ago; with heavyweight tastemakers like Roachleg, Unlawful Assembly and Static Age involved you certainly had the opportunity. But a few years beforethat Unlawful Assembly was a Midwest upstart label whose releases were famous for disappearing the day they were released - there were weren't many of us, but there's weren't many copies to go around either, so you had to be on your shit. A project related to MURO, ALAMBRADA and ATAQUE ZERØ was bound to raise eyebrows, and the self-titled Desintegratión Violenta did not disappoint. Sinister, raw Colombia tupa-punk tinged with DBeat and little tasty sprinkles of ANNIHILATION TIME for good measure, my jaw dropped when I popped this tape in the deck - five years later and I'm no less amazed. "Anormal" is the choice cut for my ears but literally every cut here will make you move the way only real hi-energy punk can. La Bestia came three years later, one can only hope they've got they've got another offering up their sleeve because this shit....? Ooof. 

DESINTEGRATIÓN VIOLENTA

BLCKDTH

 

Ominous multi-instrumental jazz inspired noise from Ohio. 

The way these tracks build in intensity leaves the listener on edge. 

blckdth

PUTAMEN INSULA

 

This one is really tough to wrap my words around - PUTAMEN INSULA are black metal in the most general sense but their approach to sound, construction, presentation...it's different. Listening to "Les Asticots de la Liberté" sounds like a hardcore punk song interpreted by a Québécois black metal band and if you don't know what that might mean then you aren't alone because I'm trying to contextualize it myself as I listen (and type). Scour these pages and you will find a scant few posts where I am struck by how like-nothing-else an artist sounds; that's PUTAMEN INSULA. There's more (from them) where this came from but you're gonna need to let the *this* sink in first. 

SOURIEZ

PSYCHO SIN // INSECTS VIOLATOR

 

OG Jersey noisecore veterans PSYCHO SIN disbanded before Clinton was elected, but they left an outsized impact on the shit-fi community while they were active. And then....they were back. Since reforming sometime in the 20101 they've cranked out dozens of releases and only grown more immature and/or brilliant. Nine tracks here spanning three minutes - starting with "Grow Up" and ending with "Die Trump Die" (don't forget "Shut Up" and "Mind Your Fucking Business" somewhere in the middle). Harsh noise presented as noiecore - hard to tell if there are riffs or instruments involved and not even point caring. The lkegens find themselves paired up with Jakarta noisecore acts INSECTS VIOLATOR who fly the flag with pride - there are ruthless fastcore/grind riffs buried under the tape hiss and "recorded this from the street outside the basement where the band was rehearsing" recording quality....but if you're still reading these words then that is exactly what you're here for. Two bands, eighteen songs, six minutes.

MAXIMUM HARDCORE