UNKOWN ARTIST

 

Who does this? Seven minutes of blues adjacent guitar improvisation with sporadic contributions from a person on the drums. Duplicated on a green cassette with a white cover. No words, no markings, no indicators that might suggest what this is. I don't know who made this or what they were thinking; I don't even know if I like it. I just know that I'm glad it exists.

  GUITAR + DRUM IMPROVISATION

NEW WAVE THEATRE

New Wave Theatre was a television variety show broadcast in (or "from") Los Angeles in the '80s. Eventually the show (or a version of the show) made its way onto USA Network's Night Flight - a program that was a lifeline for small town freaks like me who were limited by cable networks that didn't include MTV. I remember sitting in front of the TV with my boom box aimed at the speaker, ready to record anything that felt interesting...and it all felt interesting. I would love to go back in time and experience those moments again with adult perspective so I could know what I was learning about, but that's not what innocence is. Innocence is not knowing.
No idea if this is a single episode or a collection of segments......because this is from a tape recorded and archived by someone who was doing the same thing I was doing. A stranger from a completely different place living a completely different place, making a recording that I heard for the first time last week. 

NEW WAVE THEATRE

BANKKU RIOT

 

More mania from Indonesia - this time in the form of some way under the radar raw Indonesian street crust. Fast, brutal.....this shit is unhinged and intense from start to finish and I really want to know more about the band. But there's nothing. Nothing but System Fuck Off. So listen and wonder, punk.

SYSTEM FUCK OFF

THE STUPID

 

Full throttle Indonesian street crust - consistent and brutal. 
Choice cut: "Fuck Politicians."

WILD HUNTING

KIROT

 

I worked on it a bit, but the replication is shit and the first 6min are real murky but stick with KIROT and you'll be rewarded. Chaotic dual vocal Euro crust that reminds me of OPERATION or SCUMBRIGADE but with a decidedly Finnish flare (which makes sense....they're from Finland). When they hit that halfway point and the quality cleans up? Look out motherfucker because KIROT are coming for you like a freight train....they don't really make 'em like this anymore. Except that they do. 

KAASE POHJAAN

It sounds great on their bandcamp (link above) - treble pegged and full of power. But I still think the cassette experience is important - you hear it like I hear it. 

ATOMSKI RAT

 

I avoid streaming music services for all of the obvious reasons, but I got free access to one of the recently and I've spent a bit of time diving into things I wouldn't otherwise spend time with (and also listening to a lot of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES). Wednesday I received an unsolicited notification that there was a new PET SHOP BOYS album about to be released and I remembered how much I liked that band so I started poking around....I had stopped paying close attention after Very was released in the early '90s, but these legends have been cranking out material consistently since then and I figured I should have a listen. I started with 2024's Nonetheless and I was floored...then I stared making my way backwards. The opener from 2020's Hotspot ("Will-O-The-Wisp") is a straight up classic, and Super from 2016 was worth three listens back to back (to back). Stunning how consistently great their output is almost 45 years after they started; evolving and meandering into different house/techno subgenres while always sounding exactly like synth pop royalty. It's been a great journey so far, and I plan to start tomorrow with 2013's Electric then keep making my way back to the '80s. 

NEKRO SAN
Anyway, here's a tape from a killer Serbian DBeat heavy hardcore band with eurocrust tendencies and a few ripping grind parts. Choice cut is the bleak midpaced closer "Senke," which makes you want to go back to the beginning and see what you may have missed. Total banger start to finish.  

PISUAR

 

I don't have words here, even though and especially because I'm hopelessly drawn to this shit. The first five minutes are a murky, squirmy stomp proto goth punk slog replicated in a sewer - and then the final  track (which really just the demo from 2024) comes and it's brighter and just....more (even though it's likely and/or primarily a replication issue). This is smart punk.....punk. 

YOUR LIFE COMPILATION

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