FREAK ELECTRIC

Proto-shoegaze with COCTEAU TWINS overtones and classic biting female goth punk vocals. The guitars take the lead, walls of fuzzy bliss that would not feel the slightest bit uncomfortable were they to kick up their heels on a MY BLOODY VALENTINE demo, but would be equally welcome blasting out of Bob Mould's shattered speaker cabinets in 1984. "Psychotic Episode" is the stand out track here, with its psychedelic driving drone that sets the tone for a repetitive and simplistic assault.  FREAK ELECTRIC are still kicking today, but the tracks I listened to were decidedly more tame and more along the lines of modern indie/electro projects, not like the swirls of sound and urgency that make up this four song demo. 

FREAK ELECTRIC

WARDOGS

Noise Punx Monday returns with a Malaysian vengeance!! Black Konflik Records should not be a mystery to fans of brutal and fukkd raw punk, and here is one of the many reasons why you should track down every release they have their filthy hands in: WARDOGS. Distorted and ferocious raw punk guitars distorted light years past oblivion and bizarro vocals that leave me more confused than anything else. These six songs are textbook noise/raw punk, owing as much to Bristol as they do to GAI. Killer shits, but would you expect anything less from a Noise Punx Monday? I certainly hope not.

ENJOY LOUD TUNES // TUNES FOR FUCKER

JESTER BEAST

It will take you about three breaths to get past the band's moniker and start thrashing around your bedroom in manic counter clockwise circles, and the chances of you throwing shit out your window in a spontaneous fit of moshtastic fury are going to skyrocket mere seconds after you click "download this file." Torino's JESTER BEAST formed in 1983, contributed a song to the killer Heavy Metal Made In Italy compilation two years later, then laid low for several years after the untimely death of their original guitarist. 1988 saw the drummer resurrect JESTER BEAST and dish out this raging four song demo before releasing an LP and EP in the early '90s, and members from NEGAZIONE, DECLINO, plus a host of other Italians passed through their ranks before calling it quits in the mid '90s. Destroy After Use is quintessential crossover thrash; speed picking and occasional blasts are delivered with an undeniably punk fury that gets a little lost on the band's vinyl efforts. Imagine early D.R.I. mixed with '80s Italian hardcore and filtered through primitive early speed metal glasses...

DESTROY AFTER USE

ENSORCELOR

"Hey, you're that dude that does that blog, aren't you?" "Yeah," I say. "If I give you our tape, will you put it on there?" "Sure," I reply. But in my mind I think: "Only if it's good, I value my dear followers far too much to bore them with some schlock. If I'm going to put up some crap, it's gotta to be historically relevant, so bad it's funny, or filed under the dreaded 'not my cup of tea' category, but if the shit is just regular old run of the mill crap, then I ain't wasting my time." I mean...that's reasonable, right? If I put music on the internerd for others to enjoy, then I think it has merit - at least to someone - otherwise there would be no point. I don't mean to seem rude, I just like to maintain a certain level of quality, or at least uniqueness. Well, luckily for these friendly Canadians, their tape rules, and here it is. ENSORCELOR define the word 'epic,' and manage to slog through just three pieces on this demo, but the tunes they crank out are packed with doom laden depression, ethereal black metal vocals, and enough swells and build ups to last you all weekend. 36 minutes of dark and seriously sinister music, haunting and crushing and teetering ever so precariously on the edge of over indulgence...while never falling into the abyss. Nods to the quiet introspective parts of the ISIS catalog mingle liberal doses of modern crushing Eurocrust and blackened doom, all to manufacture a spectacularly bleak soundtrack. This tape comes courtesy of Gay Scientist, a new label who have certainly started off on the right foot with this release.

URARCTICA BEGINS

NO PASARAN!

I skipped over No Pasaran! several times, justifying my bias with the forgettable cover art and the late '80s release date. But pop this baby in the player and watch me eat my shorts, because this is one of the best international compilation tapes I've unearthed at TEHQ. Two ragers from Peru start the tape, PANICO and the recently reissued AUTOPSIA, but as great as these raw punk tunes are, they pale in comparison to Yugoslavia's QUOD MASSACRE - this tape is my first and only exposure to them, but the four tunes included are all classic and dark punk, simultaneously reminiscent of '70s UK and catchy '80s German shits, theirs are by far the best songs on the tape. Several songs from JUVENTUD LA KAIGUA and ERUCTO MALDONADO (both from Peru), France's PARIAPUNK, post-SUBHUMANS band CULTURE SHOCK (they don't really fit on the tape, but they are the reason I have it, so no complaints here), plus G03 and DECONTROL. The raw Peruvian rippers would be worth the whole tape, but throw in the QUOD MASSACRE shit and the French and UK punk? That doesn't make me a tape peddler...that makes me a nice fukkn guy. Now say thank you for the best 60 minutes of your day.

NO PASARAN!

OCCULT BLOOD

Stephen Hawking is one of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century, he is also paralyzed and speaks through a computer modulated DTC01 voice synthesizer. Stephen Hawking is the title of one of the many cassette only releases by Australia's OCCULT BLOOD, and it features disconcerting distorted noise. OCCULT BLOOD's vocalist was here this past week, and as I watched him drink beer illegally in the front seat of the van (don't tell my wife) while we were driving to a show, he told me that their live shows will hit North American shores in January 2011. I am excited, as I have long wondered how these sounds would translate to the live setting - oscillating vocals accompany bizarre, tortured, and vaguely psychedelic cacophony...that's what OCCULT BLOOD create, and I want to have it blow my ears to shit in person. Until then, you (unless you live Down Under) will have to join me in pre-recorded and/or digital aural destruction. Two tracks, ten minutes.

STEPHEN HAWKING

GREEN BERET

Boston has never had a shortage of great punk and hardcore, but lately the shit has just blown up there, and add GREEN BERET to the list. I remember when I listened to the first few FUCKED UP singles, and it sounded like I was listening to hardcore but then when I paid attention to the songs it was clear that I was just blasting good old fashioned punk rock....well GREEN BERET comes off like a fast catchy punk band, but when you dig into these tunes, you'll find raging fist in the air käng hiding beneath the clean guitars and garage tinged recording. It's a rather bizarre conundrum - this is absolutely a TOTALITÄR or UNCURBED style Swedish DBeat assault, but it's just a little slower and delivered with clean and stripped down guitars so that it has a garage vibe that is addictive as hell. If you like these songs, then I suggest you buy your own copy from Side Two, and you'll probably find a lot of other good shit there as well.

GREEN BERET

DAN

For years, I completely skipped over DAN, probably because of their goofy and decidedly not punk looking record covers, but when my friend Zann Rehash played them for me I was instantly smitten - why had I ignored DAN for so long? Despite the cartoonish artwork and record titles like Mother With Child And Bunny, the band made a killer hybrid of political anarcho punk and UK thrash a la RIPCORD (nowhere near as ferocious, but the pace is there on some of the LP tracks) with crossover solos, and I was sold. The three vocalists are probably unnecessary, especially since Mandy is the only singer that really stands out, but the novelty of three frontpersons must have been quite a sight. DAN made their vinyl debut in 1987 with the An Attitude Hits EP, but this demo comes from 1984 and features few songs that made it onto DAN records. Rougher than the records, Hope In A Hopeless World show DAN in a more primitive state, yet to master the arts of tempo and tuning, but the earnest determination with which they assault these relatively simple tunes is more than a little endearing ("Possession" is a prime example of this). 14 songs in 35 minutes, favorites include "What's It Worth?," "Glorey (sic) Of Slaughter," "Army Of Fools" and the mystifying surf beat on "Heretic." 

HOPE IN A HOPELESS WORLD

Like with so many 80s punk bands, DAN thought it would be a good idea to slap a feedback laden live set onto the back side of their demo.  This set was recorded in October 1984 in their hometown of Darlington, and features DAN ripping through 16 songs and wading through minutes of feedback and full volume tuning between most of them. Much of this should be put in the "for true fans only" category, and some of the shit here is just atrocious - the guitar is beyond out of tune on songs like "Rebuild," overshadowed only by the painful wailing that they are trying to pass off as vocals, and the slogging about between songs teeters between boring and irritating. But there are killer versions of "Wall Of Fear" (later on the Where Have All The Children Gone? LP) and "The Glory Of Slaughter," the midtempo meandering guitar on "Deliverer" is great, and there's still something awesome about listening to a live set that was recorded so fukkn long ago. This tape came with two covers and it would be rude if I didn't share them both.

DAN live at Gilligan's, 10/1984

Note: The entirety of this cassette is now in the Hope In A Hopeless World link.

SHITDOGS OF WAR

Noise punk shitkrieg, motherfuckers. Baltimore's SHITDOGS OF WAR go more than a few steps beyond pushing the boundaries of what we call music, and enter a realm that borders on pure nonsense. The closest musical comparison I can make is the SECOND AUSCHWITZ tape I shared last year, but more powerviolence and less politics. Most listeners will find the constant battle to find these tunes underneath the wall of hiss perhaps a little frustrating, but for those of you looking for a legitimately inept noise attack...I present to you: Songs Of Shit And Hate.

SONGS OF SHIT AND HATE

SAVAGE DEATH

Criminally underappreciated New Jersey metalheads SAVAGE DEATH have every right to be mentioned in the same breath as SLAYER, EXODUS and other early thrashers, but I first heard of them when Devon gave me a box of demos a few weeks ago. Crucified In Hell  was their second demo (1985's Mass Genocide will appear here eventually) and features all of the charm that you have come to expect from primitive '80s satanic thrash metal. The drums are ferocious but just a touch off time, and the guitars dominate the mix (as they should) with a hellishly fuzzy wall of speed picking madness and gratuitous solos. Expect a glorious blend of Show No Mercy  and  Seven Churches with demo quality recording, true hessians rejoice!

Crucified In Hell 

NUCLEAR FAMILY

Sometimes you don't have to push boundaries, you don't have to break new ground, you don't even need to do something different - you just have to do it right. That's what Albany's NUCLEAR FAMILY do, and I watched 'em do it last night. I'm going to watch them do it again tonight too, just a short walk from my front door (the pleasures of urban living). Jen's vocals and Zach's guitar don't compete for your attention, but they do both command it from start to finish, and it's easy to alternately get wowed by either - so simple, but flawless. I posted their 2009 demo last year, and today I give you the six song burner from 2007. Favorite tunes: "Believer's Voice In Victory" (vocals rule) and "More Of The Same" (guitars rule). 

NUCLEAR FAMILY 2007

If you live in the Bay Area, go see NUCLEAR FAMILY, DAYLIGHT ROBBERY, BRILLIANT COLORS, NEONATES and AIRFIX KITS today in a backyard around the corner from Thrillhouse Records. Shit starts at 4, and it will be great.

KLOAK SKRÅL

You've been good this week, so I present you with the legendary KLOAK SKRÅL compilation.  Most notably, this was one of the first appearances of ANTI-CIMEX, but this tape is rammed with a half hour of brilliant early Swedish hardcore. From DEAD CORRUPTION's "Proud To Be Punk," the standard is set, and the songs that follow are suitable scorchers from DNA, DIABLESSE GRUPP 6, PRODUCT ASSAR, two outro tunes from X-RATED, and ultra raw early tracks from ASTA KASK (who might even steal the tape from ANTI-CIMEX - their songs are that fukkn good). There was a KLOAK SKRÅL 2, but I don't see any reason to start with #2, especially when #1 is perfect. This is mandatory listening for all punks.

KLOAK SKRÅL 1

THE JOY OF LIFE

This lifeless presentation of synth drenched '80s goth initially made me laugh, but a few minutes in I started to get drawn in by the NEW ORDER-on-Dramamine swarms of keyboards and the spoken female vocals began to remind me of CRASS. THE JOY OF LIFE sound like anything but - slow, dreary and depressing songs with dramatic vocals that bring back all to vivid memories of teenage years locked away in the corner of my room, wondering if there was any hope. Not that I ever did anything like that of course...

DUET FOUR ONE

ORAÇÃO TERRORISTA

A four song, dual vocal crust assault from Brazil. This demo comes from 2001 and features all of your favorite brutal crust characteristics...what the hell else is there to say about seven minutes of anti-fascist, anti-cop, pro-distortion, pro-punk insanity? A heavy as shit relentless assault - some might say that it's too early to raise a beer while you blast this. Those people are idiots.

Ânsia de Poder 

CHRONIC OUTBURSTS

First up is the brilliantly primitive 1982 demo from CHRONIC OUTBURSTS, four songs of haphazard UK punk with comedically gruff vocals and a torturously deliberate tempo that struggles to maintain its composure. "Religion Is A Con" is clearly the star on this tape, the chorus lurches into gear and for a moment you think they are about to unleash...until they don't. Dark dreary distorted punk, the way we like it.

CHRONIC OUTBURSTS Demo 1982

And because I like you, here's a double shot of this rough shit: CHRONIC OUTBURSTS live and raw, playing three songs from the demo and eight others that never got a proper release (though I might be corrected on this point, it is a sad fact that I am sometimes wrong and/or ill informed). "Organized Chaos" and "Sgt. Barker" are my favorites from this set, though that might be simply because they are faster numbers, and if there is one complaint I have about CHRONIC OUTBURSTS it would be that their mid-tempo pace gets a touch drab after a while. This band probably didn't change anyone's life, and these tracks nearly 30 years later are probably not going to blow your mind, but it's solid UK punk, and a great document of one of hundreds of bands that sprouted up during punk's second wave. Many of those bands faded away into complete anonymity, but this one didn't. 

CHRONIC OUTBURSTS Live 198?

DEFORMITY

Raw punk explosion motherfuckers. Here's the third demo from New York's DEFORMITY, and from the screech that opens "Sacrifice" you know you are are going to get treated to a non stop barrage of 4 track madness. Everything is (naturally) pegged in the red, and the mix is perfect for this style of noisy fukkd hardcore. The bass is blown out, hollow and low end heavy, while the drums are buried in a wash of white cymbal noise with a flat snare drum getting brutalized just begging to be heard. Appropriately affected vocals battle for attention with the wall of guitar noise, but the vocals lose this battle, and will likewise lose all future contests with that six stringed ear destroyer. You know the comparisons by now - CONFUSE, DISORDER and so on - but DEFORMITY take UK82 simplicity, DBeat ferocity, and a whole shitload of high end distortion and make themselves a healthy racket. Maybe Monday should be noise punk day? Blast this shit.

DEFORMITY - 3rd Demo

CRASS

Here's a little Sunday afternoon (or morning, or evening) listening party for you. Just like the label reads, this is CRASS on Radio Sheffield in 1982, but more than just an interview, this is CRASS hanging around the studio for an evening and talking about the formation and the history of their band and the scene which they were instrumental in creating. Just listen three minutes into the second track...listen to these folks talk about the spirit of DIY punk and the shit is more than a little inspiring: "you've got something, you've got the potential....if it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly." Beyond that, there are loads of historical factoids contained here that I found fascinating (who knew that the Do They Owe Us A Living EP was funded by the death of Steve Ignorant's grandmother?), as well as CRASS discussing the political ideals that drove their band's very existence. Granted, this is a long fucking tape, clocking in at a full 90 minutes, but it's well worth your Sunday, and it's great hearing these dudes putting on tunes from POISON GIRLS, MARK STEWART, THE REJECTED, KRONSTADT UPRISING, CHARLES MINGUS, and a few CRASS songs as well.  This is a brilliant document of a hugely influential band.

CRASS: Radio Sheffield 11 May 1982

the tape starts fukking up about 10 minutes into the second side, but instead of warbling up, it just starts playing slower and the band members start sounding older. Older is the same as smarter, right?

SCHOOL JERKS // NEGATIVE LIFESTYLE

I went to a punk show tonight...honestly I didn't really care for the bands, though STATUTORY APE was pretty bad ass, and the last one was OK, though I only liked them when they played a New Order cover which probably makes me way less punk but I'm comfortable with that (also, FRESH FLESH was awesome, but that costs me even more punk points, so I'll talk about it in a future post). The show was awesome though, awesome and punk as shit, and it made me happy to live in this town. A dude did a stupid drunk thing at the end of the night, and another dude got super pissed, and it was awesome...not awesome that one dude did stupid drunk shit, and not awesome that another dude got pissed, but it was the reaction that ruled. Basically there's this one dude who is punk as shit and anything goes with him and everything is cool with him, but then this other dude crossed the line and the first dude just fukkn snapped and it was rad as shit because it was right. The dude should have snapped because the other dude was being an idiot, and that is why punk rules - because everything really IS cool until you selfishly shit on someone else's parade, man. Fuck the system, fuck the state, fuck the man....just don't fuck up my shit, because then I have to clean it up tomorrow and where the fuck will you be? Not here helping me, that's where. None of this has anything to do with today's killer post, but it's all important in the world. But what is important to you is that Canada's SCHOOL JERKS made a brilliant split cassette with Sweden's NEGATIVE LIFESTLYE earlier this year, and these six songs will likely make up the best 6.5 minutes of your pathetic Saturday. What...you were gonna plant things in the garden? That ain't punk. Gonna drink at the bar? That doesn't rock. Were you gonna go to Thrillhouse and fix the broken window? Well if you were then you are punk and you deserve a backslap, but I don't think you were, so waste your day listening to this fukkn raw garage punk rawk.

SCHOOL JERKS // NEGATIVE LIFESTYLE

(real imaginative tape design, huh?)

BANNED IN NAGOYA

2001: It was a time of fastcore and breakdowns and a youth crew revival and circle pits around the world. I saw NINE CURVE in Japan in 2000 and their energy level was through the roof, and the very Japanese sounding DISTRICT single I've got still appeals perfectly to that part of my brain that was straight and alert for a few wholesome years, but the rest of these bands were new to me. UNLEASH sound like Kenji/TOTAL FURY singing for a primitive crust band (it's a good combo, in case you were wondering), while RINKIJI (Linkage) come off like a blown out mid tempo Japanese thrashcore assault with a high energy high voltage high pitched frontman. FURIOUS ABOUT are more furious than the other bands on the comp, and at times come off like an angry version of Osaka's FUTURES with fukkd guitar work and manic start/stop riffs. ONE LINE round out the line up, full on youthcrew/fastcore with no frills, melodic hooks, and a pace notably faster than the drummer is capable of playing...it's cool though, as about half the song is a breakdown. Nagoya has given us NICE VIEW, MUGA, BLACK GANION, ROTARY BEGINNERS, C.F.D.L. and countless other killer hardcore bands, and here are six that slipped under the radar.

BANNED IN NAGOYA

NECROMANCY

1989 was well before my first stint in the Bay Area started, but if I had been here I probably would have taken in all the NECROMANCY I could get. A hardcore attack with the slightest hint of crossover thrash undertones (my guess is the drummer, the dude has outrageous chops and he wears gloves), these kids dole out a furious mix of breakdown heavy NYHC, tuneful Bay Area punk and late '80s southern California hardcore. There are bass lines worthy of Lookout Records superstars, but NECROMANCY burst out of the melodic hooks straight into breakneck thrash...granted it's watered down thrash, but it's fast and the kids could stage dive to it. The vocals make this just a little cheesy, but that was kinda standard procedure for the time - and the thought of a New Wind-era Kevin Seconds fronting a Shoot Guns...-era HALF OFF sounds pretty good, right? Six songs from this Davis quartet, 18 minutes that will likely improve the quality of your day.

NECROMANCY

LUASA RAELON/POST-MORTEM JUNKIE

The same folks that brought us the CUSTODIAN tape can seemingly do little wrong in the world of mood altering dark noise, and this split release falls right in line with their limited but extraordinary output. LUASA RAELON (one of three solo projects from Columbus, Ohio's David Nathan Reed) is a dark ambient adventure, using mostly synthesizers to take you on your journey. "Iriri" appears in five movements, each delving deeper into a cinematic world for which the script has not yet been written. The term 'death' is often used when describing these kinds of dark industrial sounds, but rarely has that descriptor been used as appropriately as it is in reference to LUASA RAELON. Michigan's POST-MORTEM JUNKIE (another solo act, this time from the brain of Ryan Oppermann), raises the harshness level several degrees, trading fear inducing ambiance for creeping sinister electronic noise. By no means is "Tremble" a harsh noise assault, it is a subdued and deliberate build up of sound, culminating in a polite cacophony. POST-MORTEM JUNKIE's track is twisted and psychotic, it makes its point slowly. This tape is limited to 100 copies, and is available from Milwaukee's Expectorant. After you enjoy the sounds it contains, I suggest that you procure your own copy.

"Iriri"/"Tremble"

HEX 1987

After Poison In The System and Not The Promised Land, HEX cranked out this gem of a demo that brought together all of the elements they had been toying with on the earlier demos. THE CULT's Love hit the shelves in 1985, but Billy Duffy's licks are over these four songs, and it works great with the more melodic (and perhaps slightly over-harmonized) vocals...the guitar break that drops at the 2 minute mark in "Black & Proud" is pure fucking magic, and sets the stage for the rest of the demo from a band that should have received far more mainstream accolades than they ever did. "Time To Decide" could be a lost track from a John Hughes movie montage - the scene where the kid really comes into his own as a young adult and comes out of the song with the self confidence to really stick it to his detractors and stand up to the cool kids. The UK political punk fury hasn't left the band though, "All God's Christians" is a two minute ripper that borders on crossover until the bridge comes in with it's melodic guitar leads (once again: THE CULT and THE ALARM are all over this thing in the guitar department). The demo closes with a quality five minute jam that is transfixing from start to finish, total MOB/ZOUNDS styled dreary UK anarcho with soaring vocals and ethereal guitars. There is virtually no edge to these songs whatsoever, and if I had a complaint that would certainly be it, but I grew up a new waver, and these layers of decidedly untough vocal melodies are suiting me just fine this morning.

HEX - 1987 DEMO

YADOKAI

This ten minute blast cam out about six months ago, and when I saw them last week I was reminded that I've been meaning to share it with those of you not lucky enough to live close enough to San Francisco to catch one of the live shows. Those live shows, though sporadic, are a thing of beauty...really ugly beauty. An online description of the band, made mostly in jest, said that YADOKAI were "GAUZE meets BCT Tapes meets HEROIN," and that fukkn nails it. The unrelenting hardcore fury heralded by BCT bands is packed into these five songs until they are overflowing, and classic Japanese hardcore song structure and riff construction makes the lofty GAUZE comparison entirely justified. Throw in the chaotic recording and occasional forays into noise indulgent but brief noise, and a vibe akin to '90s bands like HEROIN and MOHINDER starts to develop within the full on hardcore assault...it's almost a relief when "No Motivation" ends and you can take a breath. The DIY rehearsal recording captures every fucking ounce of the power, and the distortion envelops every element of the band so that vocals and guitars constantly battle for your attention, taking turns at the forefront while the bass and drums hold the operation steady. Perfect tones hide underneath the chaos, and one song bleeds right into the next, allowing for no respite until the demo is finished (like I said, the end of the tape is almost a relief). YADOKAI feature members of Bay Area bands ECOLI, NIGHTSTICK JUSTICE, FACE THE RAIL and the guitarist from VACCUUM/MORPHEME...but that pedigree is just to get you to download the shit, because Sterile Environment stands easily on it's own as one of the best slabs to come out of the bay in a long time.

STERILE ENVIRONMENT

BARCODE

It took me no time at all to get over the horribly generic name of this band as I was sucked in by their jerky, dirty, angry songs. Ithaca, New York's BARCODE deliver personal '90s hardcore in rather the same way that SLEEPING BODY do, but come off quite a bit nastier in the process. "Barneychem" features plodding JOY DIVISION drums, and is followed by "FRSK" and a bass tone that would make any noise rocker jealous. Dual vocals trade off through most of the songs, one sounds like Anna Joy from BLATZ, while her counterpart has that 'rolling on the floor consumed by inner turmoil' quality that sometimes doesn't work at all (this time it works frighteningly well). BARCODE lurch and surge, then creep back into the shadows...my only complaint is that they recorded this demo over a copy of COIL's Love's Secret Domain, but they were nice enough to leave the end of the original in tact.

+EULOGY+

JÄZZUS

Get ready to have your face melted, because these Brazilian maniacs will slow down for absolutely no one. Their affinity for Dutch thrashers LÄRM is shameless, and JÄZZUS pull off the same chaotic attack - playing fast and then faster and then blurring by with mind numbing speed, decimating riffs that might have been discernible when they were written. The guitar is out of tune just enough to make you feel a little nauseous, and the vocals spurt forth at rather erratic intervals, making the whole assault seem even more disjointed and crazed. There's only one song that tops the 60 second mark, and JÄZZUS blast their way through 15 songs in well under ten minutes, creating a disorienting hum in me ears when quietness settles in. WHN? played with these dudes in Vila Velha back in 2002, and I assure you that the live attack was every bit as insane as this demo (plus, Allan's mom makes a mean fukkn feast!), and they were some of the best folks we hung out with on the whole tour. You like chaos? You like noise? You like fast? You like JÄZZUS. 

DEMO ENSAIO

LIFE ON EARTH

This compilation from Suspect Device is as close to a straightforward punk rock post as you might ever see on The Escape. Life On Earth delivers 60 glorious minutes of pogo worthy catchy late 1980s UK punk from: THE SECT (great vocal melodies and classic three chord presentation); FIVE STAR ROCK AND ROLL PATROL (who sound like a second tier SLAUGHTER); REFUGEES (Chiswick Records styled classic punk, the singer sounds like JONA LEWIE, which is a great thing); ROUT INC (the raunchiest tunes on the tape, akin to that dreaded mid '80s era when the great punk bands started going cock rock...they were still good but you could tell they were about to stink); GUITAR GANGSTERS (to the person in this band who decided to sound like RAMONES mixed with COCKSPARRER: you were a genius); CULTURE SHOCK (the punk/dub/ska band sticks out here, two tracks from their available releases); THE ABS (in modern times this might be commercial punk rock, but in this context it's just insanely catchy); FOREIGN LEGION (gothy guitars, a reverb heavy mix and an off kilter recording makes this band the winner on the tape, though I doubt that this is the Welsh FOREIGN LEGION posted here last year); IDENTITY (leather and studs, meat and potatoes UK punk); THE PARK (cheap mid tempo UK punk, their lone song is kinda mediocre); RED LONDON (generous helpings of BIG STAR and CHEAP TRICK make this politically charged track a total winner); GUITAR GANGSTERS (how can you go wrong with a song called "Everybody Wants To Be My Friend"?); THE MAGNIFICENT (it's like STIFF LITTLE FINGERS-lite, and it's pretty sweet); and things wrap up with THE FOUR GUNS (the singer reminds me of FRIJID PINK, and the guitar solos sound like THE BLOOD...that combination works frighteningly well). Not one single song here will change your life, but virtually all of them are winners, and I can't think of a better way to spend an overcast Friday morning that cranking some catchy UK punk as I start my day...I suggest you do the same.

LIFE ON EARTH

FREE CLINIC

Terminal Escape minions seem to enjoy the noisier and more fukkd side of punk, and it is in that spirit that I offer Pittsburgh's FREE CLINIC. These songs are damaged art sludge with vocals worthy of MELT BANANA comparisons, guitars that conjure up Ginn on PCP, and a vibe that makes me understand why people like FLIPPER so damn much. Seven torturous dirges...you will start to question music by the end of "Mouth," but the simplicity of the approach and the expertise of its delivery is unquestionable.

FREE CLINIC

MINDROT

There's probably not really that much still to be said about Southern California's MINDROT. Listening to these songs now, there is no doubt that they are metal, but I first heard of them as a punk band, and I imagine that is how they are still associated by most people. This tape came from Devon's collection (there will likely be more gems from his stash going up in the coming months), and along with the tape came the tale of Devon going to San Jose with Rick Ta Life (careful, the link is loud) to check out MINDROT with PLUTOCRACY and EXHUMED - I can only imagine that trip was....a trip. Mid tempo, booming, proto-anarcho-death-metal from pre-DYSTOPIA members.

MINDROT 1990 DEMO

KROMOZOM4

Hardcore circa 1984 from France's KROMOZOM4. Their only appearances on wax came with two splits, in '86 and '87, both with countrymen HEIMAT-LOS (who does a split EP and LP with the same band? that kinda rules...), but they dumped a slew of cassettes on us, starting with this gem. Ripping slap happy hardcore that keeps reminding me of the straight ahead attack of Poland's SIEKIERA (especially the 6th song, which sounds like a SIEKIERA out take), but more fun loving and carefree. Here's the bible page for them, you can look at pictures while you listen to the jams.

14  TRACKS HARDCORE FUN

NIGHTGAUN

Last week I put up the M.O.A.B. demo as a testimony to the droves of killer raw noise punk that comes from places other than Portland and Japan, and today I do the same thing. While Southern California might not be that unusual considering their punk history, how about Tempe fucking Arizona? NIGHTGAUN's attack is so brilliant, so over the top, and so packed with energy that Midnight Howls makes me pound my head on the table wishing that there were more than these three short blasts of power. All the elements are here - the one clean/one destroyed guitar assault, more high end than any mix should have, a snare drum that sounds like a hollow bucket, vocals that are echoed into oblivion...and it's fukkn great. I hope that there is more soon, because 6 minutes just ain't enough.

MIDNIGHT HOWLS

ANARKA AND POPPY

These two gigs were recorded a few days apart in 1983, the sets are exactly the same, as is the recording quality, so whether or not you really need both of them is up to you. ANARKA AND POPPY languish in the world of the cassette only doldrums, I can only imagine how much more recognisable their name would be had their recorded but never released EP on All The Madmen ever seen the light. Classic female fronted anarcho punk, this time with no bass (I gather that the singer and guitarist plowed through a slew of rhythm sections during their short existence. Three of these songs also appear on the 1982 All That Is Shattered demo, but everything here is decidedly more laid back, less fierce, and presented in pure unadulterated live quality. 

 20/8/83 Liverpool

23/8/83 Manchester