DIET COKEHEADS

Noisy and fukkd up rock music for drug addled maniacs. People like you perhaps? Chances are good that many of you are still reveling excitedly in the departure of another year, and rejoicing optimistically at the arrival of yet another. I assure you that this one will be the same, so I suggest you imbibe liberally in whatever substance you use you avoid reality - be it homemade Tuak or chocolate cake. I've tried both, with only marginal success. DIET COKEHEADS are from Florida, and this tape is fantastic.

PROFESSIONAL COCKSUCKER

ΔΙΑΤΆΡΑΞΗ ΚΟΙΝΉΣ ΗΣΥΧΊΑΣ

Exotic Underground in Bulgaria slapped this brilliant Greek comp onto cassette a full decade ago, and now this transformation into meaningless (but easily digested) 01s and 00s takes an excellent release even further from its origins and closer to you. Released in 1984 on Enigma Records (from Greece, not Southern California), ΔΙΑΤΆΡΑΞΗ ΚΟΙΝΉΣ ΗΣΥΧΊΑΣ (translated: Disturbing The Common Peace) features some of the best dark punk that the Mediterranean nation had to offer. The CHAOS GENERATION tracks are mesmerizing, and are well worth the whole download on their own (although the cassette does show some evidence of extensive love during their tracks), ADIEXODO, GROVER, STRESS and the better known PANX ROMANA and EX HUMANS are also included - two tracks per band.

DISTURBING THE COMMON PEACE

ROSENKOPF

I was struck by this one almost immediately, something about these movements completely sucked me in. Four sparse and instrumental dark wave pieces with a guitar that spends most of it's time lurking in the shadows, but lurches into the forefront with sporadic and spasmodic outbursts. The cassette came with no song titles (there's been a lot of that lately), so I emailed to try to get a little more information...which I didn't get. What I did get was a different version of Track 01, with added samples - mesmerizing. 

It's amazing how powerful such simple recordings can be; clearly the inspiration, execution and presentation are far more important than a huge recording budget, often more important than great riffs, and more meaningful than a whole truckload of hype. The first three tracks here are Side 01 of the tape, and the 12 minute dirge on the flipside will make you feel like you are on drugs. Also included is the aforementioned remix of Track 01, thanks to Soren for that song and for the additional cover scans.

ROSENKOPF

As a final endorsement, ROSENKOPF feature the vocalist from QUESTION, and can be contacted here: sorenroi57(at)gmail(dot)com

  

WAR TOYS

Their April 1984 demo was one of the first post on Terminal Escape, and though that tape is higher quality than this rehearsal recording from two months prior, I keep coming back to these tracks instead of the 'proper' demo. The guitars are ethereal and seem to float above the songs, and the vocalist is always about one off key wail away from being really fukkn irritating, but he manages to hold down the fort (or the mic stand) and deliver a brilliant and swaying goth punk performance. The bass and drums create a foundation steeped in moody punk a la early JOY DIVISION and then the guitar and vox take WAR TOYS somewhere else entirely. "Great Escape" is the standout track...the guitars conjure aural images of DEATH CULT, while "Unexcusable (sic) Situation" is perfectly executed goth punk with the emphasis on the punk. I wish that these performances had been given the recording treatment that their demo did, but I'm not here to complain.

PRACTICE TAPE 02-02-84

FUNERAL PARADE

All I would have to do is tell you who was in this band and you would be knocking over your morning coffee (or your evening cocktail) trying to get to the 'download' button as quickly as possible. If I told you that this was perhaps the best example of modern goth/punk that I've heard in the last decade, than I hope that would pique your interest just as much...this sits somewhere between The Top-era CURE and UK DECAY, but adds in elements of Southern California dark punk and THE VSS styled atmospherics. Simply awesome, but I've come to expect nothing less from this crop of kids.

FUNERAL PARADE

ROTOZAZA

Blown out maniacal noise punks from Arizona, these kids have done their time worshipping at the downtuned grinding crust altar, but decided to shove the whole mix into a distorted meat grinder and pick the tempo up to achieve maximum city (that's ferocity and velocity). Add in obvious nods to Bristol, Stockholm and Japan, and you have a total juggernaut. Taken from two separate sessions in late 2007, ROTOZAZA were on the front swell of the high end/high intensity wave that is cresting simultaneously in all corners of the world...

FUZZ NEVER SLEEPS

SUBRACHO DUBRACHO

First up, from 1991, three songs of slightly melodic and wholly powerful Japanese hardcore from SUBRACHO DUBRACHO. Hoarse blown out vocals, speed picking and infectious riffs - solid shit.

I'm not sure what happened, though you can hear shades of this demo creeping out of "Cold World" from the first tape, but it's hard to imagine a band changing this drastically in just a year. Gone is any sense of anger, and bubble gum pop is in its place. I do appreciate the melody from DK's "Winnebago Warrior" used so blatantly in the first tune, but otherwise this takes some getting used to. They are great at the style, and I like Austin's GOMEZ as much as the next guy (and probably more than the next guy after that), but I just can't see how this band (d)evolved so damn fast.  Three songs here as well, recorded in 1992.

SUBRACHO DUBRACHO

They came to me on one cassette, and it seemed wrong to split them up...so please enjoy.

DIRECT CONTROL

One ripping live on the radio set from Richmond, Virginia's finest purveyors of '80s style USHC. This was recorded in 2005, when DIRECT CONTROL was on the tip of everyone's tongue...what they were doing was nothing new, nothing that we all hadn't heard before, but when punks get together and dish out hardcore this perfectly, people are going to take notice. And people noticed. Brandon gave me the DIRECT CONTROL demo when he was still "this 17 year old who moved up from North Carolina to play for MUNICIPAL WASTE," and he quickly became responsible for some of the most brilliantly executed hardcore to come out of the '00s. At a fest in Chicago (2006 I think?), I signed up to drive a band to the airport to help out the organizers, but then found out that by doing so I would miss DIRECT CONTROL's set on the last day of the fest. This was unacceptable to me, and since the organizers couldn't find another ride for their cantankerous Texans, they were forced to rearrange the set times so that I could see my favorite Virginians. Does this make me an asshole? Perhaps, and I felt a little bad when DIRECT CONTROL took the stage last, after days of bands had already played and what was left of the crowd was dead tired and unenthusiastic (sorry dudes)...but that was the band I wanted to see, and fukk knows RIISTETYT were not a suitable consolation that weekend. This live set might only be 13 minutes long, but it's 13 minutes packed with hits (like "Herd The Cattle," which was my most choicest jam for at least 18 months) and features the singer from TEAR IT UP limping through a C.O.C. cover...and jokes about Boston baked beans.

DIRECT CONTROL

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

I find it curious how islands that had punk scenes in the '80s all seemed to have their own little thing going. New Zealand is relatively close to Australia, and it would stand to reason that the two would share major musical components in the early stages of the (then new and exciting) punk scene...but not so. While the Aussies were making musical whoopie on the coattails of the garage drenched punk of RADIO BIRDMAN, their Pacific neighbors were recreating imperialist punk sounds from the UK, but played through filters clouded with the hazy mist of isolated artists and drug addled individualists lost in the lush rolling hills. Flowery praise for a tape that starts of with a track from BONER, eh? This comp, released by Battery Hen Cassettes in 1988(?), is more considerably straightforward than the other NZ mixes that have appeared on The Escape, and this kiwi diversion away art punk means that you get absolutely killer jams from STENCH OF THE WOUNDED (the most rudimentary of the bunch, plodding, awkward and pedestrian), COMPOS MENTIS (brilliantly noisy female fronted punk bathed in high end distortion), CASUALTY (perhaps the most typically UK sounding band I've heard from New Zealand), ARMATRAK (the most melodic and accomplished musicians on the tape), the aforementioned BONER (another UK influenced attack, especially on "Babies," but the comp opens with a beautifully discordant dirge that sets the tone for the next 45+ minutes) and WORLD WAR 3 (distorted and chaotic anarcho noise). COMPOS MENTIS and CASUALTY both have vinyl releases I would love to get my hands on, but most of these bands only released tracks on this and other cassette compilations.

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

RHINOCERVS

RHINOCERVS is a relatively new metal collective in Southern California. Loosely associated with the Crepusculo Negro and Black Twilight folks, their objective appears to be creating dark and oppressive atmospheric black metal instead of showering themselves with adoration from fans. So focused are they on the music, rather than the mania, that the first two RHINOCERVS releases are without band names, without release names, without song titles - just two cassettes, each bearing a catalog number and four movements. Howling, primitive, soaring....raw and gorgeous. This is the first release, the second will surely appear here eventually.

RHINOCERVS RH-01

BATTLE OF DISARM // SATELLITE

Andrash from M.O.A.B. released this split back in 2005, when he still lived in Jakarta, and gave me a copy a few weeks back in Long Beach (thank you).  BATTLE OF DISARM should need no introduction...even 5 years ago they were decade-plus veterans of the (very small) Japanese anarcho/DIY crust scene. A rampaging, fist in the air attack with gutteral vocals - quintessential crust. Indonesia's SATELLITE are a rawer, more primitive version of the same animal, and there's something about their simplistic approach (whether by design or by default) that I am an absolute sucker for. I saw SATELLITE in 2008, and they fukkn owned the top floor of some restaurant in Jakarta - even after a dozen bands I was floored (actually, most of the bands that night ruled...MORTAL KOMBAT, STRAIGHT AHEAD, GLADIATORS, STRAIGHT ON VIEW and more - a fukkn great night), but this 2005 version is younger and even more naïve than the band that I saw, and it works in their favor. A first and third world Asian crust collision.

BATTLE OF DISARM // SATELLITE

NEO CONS

NEO CONS started playing around SF last summer, but I wasn't fortunate enough to see them first hand until a few weeks ago. There's an undeniable and infectious NEW BOMB TURKS hook in Jason's snarl, and it suits the '80 midwest HC steeped in KBD sensibilities just fine. After the first song of their show with UNLEARN/KRUEL in November, I heard a heckler start shouting out the lyrics to "Civilization's Dying," implying that NEO CONS sounded like ZERO BOYS. I'm not sure if it was meant as an insult (the heckler was considerably more spiky than anyone on the stage, so I think that might have been the intent), but the comparison is not entirely unwarranted...and rather flattering. Stripped down and simple hardcore punk; you will find nothing fancy crammed into the next five minutes, you will also realize that you often don't need anything fancy. The 0:07 that make up the chorus of "Don't Touch Me" are some of the finest seconds to be found on The Escape...enjoy.

NEO CONS

LONG PIGS

It's Monday...do I really need to keep describing this shit? Noisy and raw hardcore punk from LONG PIGS, lots of high end and what appears to be a fukk-off punk attitude (something I support in my music). I snagged this at the ill fated MAUSER show in SF last week, no contact info, no song titles, just punk.

LONG PIGS

BLANCHE DEVEREAUX

I got this gem in the mail from my pal Ross a while back. Ross operates the killer but seldom updated Oklahoma centered Trapped In Oklahoma blog, as well as Some Fvcking Attitude, upon which I could level the same double edged compliment/complaint sword. Ross has good taste, and I was not the least bit surprised when this tape was pleasing to my ears. Insistent punk rock with shrill female gang vocals - more than a little reminiscent of lots of jerky '90s bands - not the ones that were jerks, but the ones that make you want to gyrate in a rapid and furious manner....I think they call it "dancing," but as an old man, I am not allowed to partake anymore. I just stand in the back and hope no one calls the cops about the weird greying beard lurking in the shadows feigning interest in what all the kids are up to. 

KITTENS UNITE

WITCHNAIL WOLF

Probably recorded around the time that the '80s faded into the past, WITCHNAIL WOLF tried to bring the past with them and made this bizarre proto-anarcho/goth hybrid. Female vocals reminiscent of INTERNAL AUTONOMY dominate the songs, which otherwise create a vibe somewhere between later JOY DIVISION and early '80s anarcho punk, but demo versions of both. Only three songs here, certainly not for everyone...but perhaps for you.

WITCHNAIL WOLF 

SVENSK PUNK

This might be as close to a perfect punk mix tape as I've ever heard. When people talk about Swedish punk they typically mean the ANTI-CIMEX and TOTALITÄR school of hardcore, but this tape is pure fukkn punk, and it rules hard. MASSMEDIA, BITCH BOYS, KSMB, RAZZIA, RUDE KIDS, SPY, MISSBRUKARNA and others - someone (if I knew who, I would hire them to DJ my life) put some serious time and thought into this mix, and it flows perfectly. The only thing missing is EBBA GRÖN, but when listening to a tape this great, anyone who complains about what is missing is just an asshole. 

SVENSK PUNK

NEON PISS

NEON PISS are so fukkn good. Every song reminds me of something that I can't quite put my finger on, and still all of them sound entirely original. At different moments during my first listen, I clearly heard elements of COMPLICATIONS, NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS, JAY REATARD, WIPERS and others, but I stopped listening for references (in fact I stopped everything I was doing) and just listened. Three times in a row. This is easily the best demo I've stumbled across in ages (though technically it stumbled into my hands, but my point was simply that I had no preconceptions and no idea what to expect) - every second of this tape is catchy as hell and there is not a genre catch phrase to sum them up...it's just sincere punk rock. I like sincere punk rock and I look forward to seeing NEON PISS tonight...San Franciscans do yourself a favor:

NEON PISS

CAPTIVES

A relentless downtuned crust assault delivered with the hollow distorted ferocity that made early thrash metal sound so evil (and thus made us like it so much). CAPTIVES feature members of BLACK DOVE, PARALYZER and others, so clearly this demo is no lucky accident, and the guitar leads that ooze through every available crevice owe a generous tip of the hat to their earlier efforts. Songs like "Static" sound urgent and panicked, while "Sadness In The Streets" and the title track are essentially modern crust numbers, but come across like completely new creations of the old model. Oh yeah, and it's fukkn heavy. 

UNSPEAKABLE TRUTHS

SACRILEGE BC

I always thought the SACRILEGE BC long players were good, but I never thought they were great...perhaps I should have started with this demo. Four ripping bombastic East Bay thrash punk jams that combine circle pit mayhem, fist banging mania and pure fucking evil. This predates the Party With God record by a couple of years, and shows SACRILEGE (before they added the 'BC' to avoid obvious confusion with that band from England) at their most primal. Essential shits.

 SACRILEGE

MDK

A slight diversion from the rather typical black clad and stud laden rockers who tend to stop by for Noise Punk Mondays, and today I embrace the true spirit of inept raw punk. I think that MDK would like to be a maniacal grind or thrash band, but the execution is just so fukkn weird that the result defies classification. Heaps of effects (rarely where they belong), tons of guitar leads (never where they belong), and apparent recording malfunctions (most notably at the start of the seventh track) make this demo an interesting listen from start to finish.

MDK

Also notable: MDK appear to be rather self assured. MDK seem to like satan. MDK do not like nazis. MDK do not include song titles with their demo. And based solely on their artwork, I would guess that MDK are in 6th grade.

HIT SELF DESTRUCT

This band started just as I left the Bay Area for the land of snow and consumption back in 2002, and I never got to see them live. HIT SELF DESTRUCT draw heavily from the RITES OF SPRING school, but inject a distinct SF character into the end result (think TORCHES TO ROME, NAVIO FORGE). "In Love With Lights" is the winner here, a mesmerizingly monotonous tune that surges forward into the eruption that starts the tape's final tune. Great songs made by great dudes who continue to make great bands: MOTHERCOUNTRY MOTHERFUCKERS - a project with the previously alluded to Kirsch-man who clearly, if unintentionally, had an influence on HIT SELF DESTRUCT, and PINE AWAY - who kinda sound like MARITIME and THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH combining forces to make and angular post punk band. 

HIT SELF DESTRUCT

MEAT CURTAINS/POMPOIR

Canadians strike again - lo-fi and raw punk dirges from MEAT CURTAINS and reverb drenched angular shits from POMPOIR. The former reminds me of ANTI-SCRUNTI FACTION, while the latter seems to incorporate occasional influence from JESSE TAYLOR, who apparently recorded the whole thing and to whom some of these noises might owe more than a casual nod.

MEAT CURTAINS // POMPOIR

GODFODDER

This week's comp is pretty far removed from most of the Friday posts you may be used to, and your ears will be all the better for it. Released in 1984 by Warpt Records (Maryland) and Masking Tapes (Santa Cruz, California), this comp covers all the US hardcore bases (CHRONIC DISORDER, HOMO PICNIC, PUBLIC ENEMA, DROOLING IDIOTS, CANCEROUS GROWTH) and intersperses weird electro punk (PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE, ASBESTOS ROCKPYLE) and proto-college rock (early CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN, RUMPUS CHRIST, ARCATA BOYS CHOIR). There are also a couple of interesting dark wave tunes, some total noise, and live jams from THE DEAD MILKMEN. No song titles were provided, and no information on any of the bands was included. The tape flows well, and while everything here might not be for you, there is certainly enough variety and high enough quality to keep most punks interested.

GODFODDER

OUT OF TOUCH

Nagoya's OUT OF TOUCH predated the wave of retro punk/thrash worship by a solid decade, and this 1991 demo shows them in their most gloriously primitive state. Reinterpreting US punk and hardcore/thrash crossover through Japanese ears, these kids rip through ten killers on their ridiculously limited demo (is 20 copies really a demo? I think it's more of a gift for your friends, 'cause no one else is gonna hear that shit). It's funny to think of OUT OF TOUCH as kids, but in a Japanese scene dominated by DEMOLITION, RUSTLER, ZONE, NIGHTMARE and DEATHSIDE, OUT OF TOUCH were certainly the newcomers. 18 years after this demo was recorded, the singer served me a delicious vegan picnic in the rain not far from the Nagoya train station...Hidehito is a very nice man.

OUT OF TOUCH

PEDESTRIANS

PEDESTRIANS ruled every single time I saw them. Catchy as shit and full of old punk hooks, but they never sounded derivative or recycled, they just sounded punk. After they stopped, I got to be in a band with the bass player (she rules) and the singer (finally) re-issued the OTTOWA recordings. Great band // great people // buy their records // listen to their demo:

PEDESTRIANS

WARSAW PAKT

1) This tape was apparently recorded in 1985. It says it was recorded in 1985, and I'm not one to start calling a tape a liar because that would make me appear crazy...since tapes can't talk and therefore can't tell lies.

2) The internet tells me that there was a UK '77 band also called WARSAW PAKT, spelled the same way. The internet also never lies, so I presume this to be true as well.

3) It's possible that these WARSAW PAKTS are the same WARSAW PAKT, but it seems unlikely, since '77-'85 would have been a pretty long run for UK punk bands.

4) The guitars here sound like they were lifted off a CHROME record.

5) The combination of CHROME and UK punk is an excellent idea, even if it was an accident.

6) I do not know the names of these songs (the tape didn't tell me), I just know they are good.

7) That is all for today.

WARSAW PAKT

FUTURE TERROR

I picked this up at the Silenzio Statico compound a couple of weeks back and instantly thought: "Mondays." I was not disappointed, and I cannot imagine that you will be either. Portland's FUTURE TERROR are a little more together than some of the Noise Punk fodder peddled here at The Escape, and there are no discernible ridiculous effects on the vocals, but not even talent and rehearsal can stop this high end distorted juggernaut. The drums are jerky and awkward Finnish styled driving madness, lurching and propelling the rest of the band through six charged numbers, one of which is called "Stench Of Carnage," just in case you needed any extra encouragement.

SIX TRACKS DEMO

OPT OUT

This was recorded back in January, just before OPT OUT and NO STATIK made a quick jaunt down to LA to introduce ourselves to our southern neighbors. 8 songs, everything first take, we went from van fully loaded to recording started to recording finished to van re-loaded in just over 5 hours, which I think is pretty damn quick. I call this "frustrated hardcore" when people ask, but it's kinda hard to come up with descriptors for your own bands, so you can call it whatever you like. I am lucky enough to be playing with kids from DECONDITIONED, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, and CONDENADA in this band, and we are playing tonight in Potrero Hill if I get out of work in time. It is a glaring and terrifying indicator of looming adulthood when you have to put playing a show in the "maybe" column contingent on a job - but such is life. 

OPT OUT

I made these other covers in a few minutes before we left for those LA shows (first edition!), but Dan wanted new ones. I suppose if my mug was emblazoned across the cover then I might want an alternate version as well. But since the original cover looks so fukkn rad, I feel the need to share it here:

More Shameless Promotion: I've got pro-dubbed and printed copies of this demo (and NO STATIK and VACCUUM) for $4ppd, hit me up if interested.

CRUX

Here is the B side of the live in Brighton tape that I introduced with the EXIT STANCE post earlier this week. Killer driving UK punk, a good live mix and a stellar version of "Subvert" (ZOUNDZ) that makes me bounce of the walls.

CRUX

DISTORT TORONTO

Toronto was kicking in the mid '00s (still is, really), with piles of great bands. I was there a few times - not nearly often enough - and had the pleasure of seeing most of the bands on this tape either there or in the states (living in the Midwest does indeed have it's privileges, and a close proximity to our Northern Neighbors is near the top of the list). Distort Toronto goes from catchy and melodic punk (BAYONETTES) to new hardcore influenced by old hardcore (TERMINAL STATE, CAREER SUICIDE) to sweet sweet pummeling (SAIGON DISTRESS SIGNAL, THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE) and then wraps up with tracks from THE WASTERS and CAPITAL DEATH (who are from Nova Scotia, if you're keeping track).  Some of these tracks are rawer than the bands'

 appearances on wax, but that's what fukkn tapes are for - and 30 minutes of Canadian punk is what this Friday is for. 

DISTORT TORONTO

SYRANAX

 Austin's SYRANAX formed in 83/84 and spewed forth a sinister assault unparalleled by any band of their era. Their second demo, 1987's Annihilation Of Civilization, is more evil than SLAYER, and more ferocious than C.O.C. at their most primitive - 21 minutes of sheer madness. RIGOR MORTIS is a logical comparison, both for their Texas roots and their face melting speed picking. The Battalion Of Death demo from 1985 featured a different singer (and many of these same songs, and a more polished recording), but the addition of Steve "Skullhead" Holland gave SYRANAX an intensity that they had only hinted at before. Plus, the original singer and bassist left the band to join the military, and the first singer was a cop as of 2002, so I'll stick with a dude named Skullhead. This is primitive and raw thrash metal at it's absolute finest.

ANNIHILATION OF CIVILIZATION

In addition to the eight songs listed on the demo, my tape has a Nightmare On Elm Street promo, followed by an unlisted 2:32 rager - don't know what it's called but it's better than any song on the demo...except possibly "Nuclear Fate," but I'm splitting hairs here...just rock this shit.