MISCHLINGE

Dark. An unpleasant conceptual journey through WWII era Germany, Following Orders creates a mood like virtually no other noise release I've come across. From the slow moving torturous frustration of the opening "A Man Torn In Two" the listener is on edge, and MISCHLINGE spend the next 40 minutes taking us through a world of deception, fear and unspeakable betrayals. Their industrial landscape is suitably bleak, ranging from the whitewashed "Commitment" to creeping tension with tracks like "Eagle's Nest" and "Partial Involvement." Released by Expectorant a couple of years back and long out of print, this is best heard in one sitting at maximum volume. Nothing short of incredible.

FOLLOWING ORDERS

THE LAST MIX

Not actually the last Friday mix tape (though I have debated ending the weekly tradition), but a relic from the Milwaukee Mix Tape Exchange that occupied our midwestern minds for one enthusiastic year...followed by one lackluster year. The problem was that most people seemed to enjoy making the tapes more than they enjoyed listening to the tapes they received, but I dare say that if folks had received brilliance like The Last Mix every month then our exchange would have blossomed. I've mentioned repeatedly that I am not the guy to start dissecting the nuances of black metal, but today's tape is packed with 80 some odd minutes of primal searing versions of it - all quality. The mix starts off with the song that I think is the best on the tape, DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTER CULT's "Dauf Ull Eine," but the quality control here is excellent, and I think that even the uninitiated, the unfamiliar, or the timid will find something to love on this tape. Then again, I'm rather optimistic about your ability to let good sounds into your minds...maybe I'm wrong and you don't like good things?

THE LAST MIX

BRUTAL GARDENERS

This wasn't my first band, but rather my first side project. After Dan left behind the brilliant ILLEGITIMATE SONS OF JACKIE O, moved from Tulsa to Norman and joined my band as a singer/weirdo/guitarist, he enlisted me in his psychedelic brainchild BRUTAL GARDENERS. Name taken from a dodgy Boyd Rice monologue, the two of us and his then girlfriend never played a show* and never released anything, but made this document with a drum machine and a four track sometime in 1993. Is it essential? Maybe not, but I'm struck by how bizarre and freaked out some of these songs sound two decades later. "The Three Times I Changed My Mind" is my favorite track (as it was then) - just small town closed minded weird surroundings put to tape, which is exactly what we were (but with open minds).

BRUTAL GARDENERS

* 2021 Edit: We played a show. With a horn section. And a violin. I have pictures. 

GRASSEATERS

I hated living in Oklahoma, even more in retrospect than I did at the time, but I still retain a strange affinity for my time there. If someone asks where I'm from, I'll say Oklahoma. I lived in Texas first, I've been in California on and off for a decade or more, and I will always keep a piece of myself in Wisconsin...but still I will tell folks that I'm from Oklahoma. And still I hate it. Culturally void, arguably the most socially conservative state in the country, with little to fall back on but a history of white oppression and unemployment. But if I lived in Oklahoma, I would want to be in GRASSEATERS. If they already had a bass player, I would learn to play guitar (realistically, I would just encourage them to kick out their bass player, as the guitar has a lot of strings that I don't understand). Chaotic, forceful, fast, at times nonsensical, but always frustrated and fukkn pissed. This is just good hardcore music - the kind that makes you understand that someone really does get it, that you aren't the only one, that there are other people as completely disenfranchised by life as you are. That's what this tape sounds like.

GRASSEATERS

AUTONOMY

There's something in the water in Carbondale, Illinois. Last time I was there I swung an axe at some dude's head. It was pretty fukkd up, very uncool, happened 15 some odd years ago and totally not related to this cassette, but it happened. STARING PROBLEM, PARLOR, and now AUTONOMY...almost makes a fella want to move there. Well, maybe just hang out for a few weeks and see some shows? These kids trudge through dark and anxious punk tunes with the forceful determination that I remember from SF's PHANTOM LIMBS, but AUTONOMY seem to be more rooted in KBD punk grooves and are trying to reconcile that with a clear affinity for early post punk and goth. The songs are awesome, their construction is flawless, and "No Need" might be the heir apparent to THE MOB's "I Wish." What if ICEAGE were raw punks and featured bass solos? Whatever man, this shit rules.

AUTONOMY

Buy your copy here.

CONDITION

A buddy of mine was in town a few weeks ago, and we were talking music (not exactly an uncommon occurrence). He asked if I had heard CONDITION, a new side project of sorts from Southern California. I told him that I had not, but after hearing tales of their bombastic cavernous approach to raw DBeat (instead of the tired but effective "make it distorted" method) I was intrigued and set out to track down this tasty shell. I didn't have to look far, because before our conversation was even over I received an email from Sam, the brainchild behind this outfit, and three days later I was blasting this chaotic morsel at 6am (neighbors loved it, I'm sure). Exactly as described, CONDITION sound huge, and emphasize the power rather than the high end hiss - piercing shrill feedback permeates the whole session but it sounds like noises trying to seep in between the cracks, a welcome nuisance instead of a key component and it gives the whole session a disconcerting feeling. The brief breakdown that closes "Complete Fucking Robbery" into the mid tempo (dis)charge of "Complacency/Drudgery" seals the deal...can't wait for the upcoming vinyl slab. Kills.

DETERIORATING

Hard copies from: sambosson(at)gmail(dot)com

VVDBLK

I went to my least favorite bar in San Francisco the other night to see COPS (who ruled) and a couple of Japanese noise weirdos. Two piece GAGAKIRISE dished out a brilliant sonic wall of psych/guitar noise backed with powerful and chaotic Japanese hardcore drums, and the show started with a dude named Joe, crawling around on the floor with a plastic anime monster turning knobs and hitting pedals with his fist. I completely understand why some folks don't like to watch noise (even many who enjoy listening to the sounds), but Joe (VVDBLK) was engaging, his performance brief, and the sounds were excellent.

VVDBLK

HEALTH HAZZARD

I suggest listening to the admittedly rough rehearsal tracks first, so you can get a handle on what HEALTH HAZZARD are  going for before you treat yourself to their crucial (if criminally short) two song demo. Once the edges were smoothed down and they decided that they deserved a proper studio session, these kids cranked out an under the radar two song banger well worth your time. Nearly three decades old, these are still the sounds that kick me in the ass - vocals barked with youthful insistence and razor sharp guitars cutting through the mix. The plodding pace of "Picture Show" suits the bleak lyrics perfectly...classic simple UK punk. Members went on to form REFUGEES, and the live bit from today's tape can be found over at Escape Is Terminal.

BITS OF '82

LATINOCORE

I've toured a lot. I've played shows in places that many people might consider weird or off the beaten path, and I consider myself very lucky to have done so. But FUKK do I want to do an extensive tour in South America, and this tape comp only makes it worse. Well over an hour of raw and uncompromising sounds from Peru (SABOTAJE, AUTONOMIA, DISPAREUNIA, DISLEXIA), Ecuador (INNFELICES, LA DEMENCIA EXTREMA), Colombia (POLIKARPA Y SUS VICIOSAS, EX-KOMBRO, OPOZICIÓN - love the fukkn horns!), Chile (SIN APOYO), Uruguay (BASQUADE INCHALA), Paraguay (200 MUERTOS), Argentina (DISVASTACION, MIGRA VIOLENTA), Venuzuela (APATIA NO, KOLUMPIO BANKITO) and Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile, Brasil, Bolivia (I am racking my brain trying to remember is PSICOSIS SOCIAL was the band we went to see in La Paz in 2002, but I swear that band played DEEP PURPLE covers and not raw metallic hardcore)....fukk man, this shit is beyond comprehensive. The emphasis is on hardcore punk, and the level of quality is outstanding. 49 songs from 31 bands, fans of international hardcore and the world of underground DIY would be remiss to pass this one up.

LATINOCORE I

LATINOCORE II

In a rare diversion from the cassette-only format, today you also get the CDr comp Latinocore II. More of the same, 48 tracks from 36 bands. Several worthy repeats and some excellent new additions: EX-KUPIDOS (Peru), JUSTICA FINAL (Chile), INSOLENTES (Mexico), SIN PATRIA (Colombia), ATAQUE FRONTAL (Peru), RAMIROS (Panama) and a shitload more. What's even more awesome, all this shit was released by a dude from Slovakia.

STRONGBLOOD

The apocalypse is apparently filled with primitive beats and cro magnon guitar riffing. The future is also apparently very evil, and it arrived mysteriously in 2009 with the first demo from STONGBLOOD. Last year saw two more offerings - one of them was shared here, one you will listen to in a few minutes after your server lets you download, and then you will buy them both here. Primal and sinister sounds...the future is apparently very frightening.

THE NIGHT IS MY WHORE

FEMALE SNAKE

Don't really care how many times these kids have listened to IRON LUNG (I'm guessing it numbers not in the dozens, but in the hundreds), when shit is good, it's good. And this Arizona sun baked powerviolence is good. Nothing in the world wrong with combining the best modern US powerviolence band with chaotic screamo -esque grind, right? 11 songs in under ten minutes, buzzsaw guitars drive a discordant mess of ritalin fueled hardcore stomps. This is from 2008 and you should already have it...but incase you don't, I'm here to help.

FEMALE SNAKE

ZERO POINT

In case you need a little context, these Danes appeared on the World Class Punk comp tape a couple of weeks back, and these songs came off of the same tape that delivered the BÜLD recordings here and the KALASHNIKOV and L.U.L.L. songs at Escape Is Terminal. The ZERO POINT tracks that found their way onto the tape that supplied today's post are from the Murmur EP, tracks that would have made post-punk/pre-alt rock fans swoon when it was released in 1986. "The Preacher" is the standout jam here, dripping with post-SISTERS Wayne Hussey pretense...and ironically at just about the time Hussey parted way with Eldritch & Company. One instrumental number was on my mix tape that does not appear on the EP, and it serves as a nice cool down after these tunes - not sure if this falls into punk, post punk or proto something or other, but the tunes are great, and it means that there is yet another EP that I need to track down. Crap.

ZERO POINT

LIFE LOCK

Their influences are worn on their sleeve (or in this case, on the bottom of the jacket, under the studs) - brilliant DIS-worship from Singapore's LIFE LOCK. It's Monday, and the guitars are stabbing into your eyes...just how you like it. 

WHO'LL MAKE NOISE NOT MUSIC?!!

Full Force Hardcore Destruction

LIGHT BRIGADE

Portland is as known for it's unrelenting walls of bulldozer crust as for it's rainy winters, and the city's ability to effortlessly crank out essential slabs of '80s hardcore punk dates back to...well, to the '80s. Greg Sage and WIPERS land well outside of those lines, and the DEAD MOON/PIERCED ARROWS family have existed in the own world for a few decades now, but The City Of Roses has become synonymous with studded belts and fists raised high praising the sheer power of hardcore punk. If that tunnel vision means that you skip over LIGHT BRIGADE, then you have made a poor decision by not broadening your focus. Ripped right out of the hearts of the Rough Trade roster, these adult kids dish out ethereal post punk with innocently determined female vocals and a guitar that just demands that I listen to DEAD MILKMEN records as soon as I'm done with this tape. A jerky forceful tempo encourages spastic movements not unlike dancing (but not entirely like dancing either). The spaced out drunken vibe of "Monkey" makes it the stand out for my ears, but you should pick your own favorite (might I suggest the lost in the woods jammer "Pebble" as a possible contender). 

LIGHT BRIGADE

ANAL WARHEAD // NEUTRON RATS

It's been way too long since I posted a tape from Albany, but most of my friends moving away from there apparently doesn't mean that that rust belt bastion stopped cranking out killer hardcore. Enter Terminal Escape veterans ANAL WARHEAD, all snotty ferocious and fukkd up, with a guitar that may or may not have been tuned since their 2010 demo I posted. And in case that 3:44 wasn't enough to pull your sorry ass over into the CONVERT column, may I introduce NEUTRON RATS and 4:12 of rapid fire manic and tinny distorted mayhem with just a hint of melody in the guitar leads. Something about NEUTRON RATS sounds desperate, while ANAL WARHEAD sound like they want to piss on your mom's daffodils. 

ANAL WARHEAD // NEUTRON RATS

SOLO SE OYE PUNK VOL. 1

Wanna know one way to make a scene? Make mix tapes. Wanna know one reason why so many killer bands keep cropping up from the overlooked enclaves of inner Los Angeles? Silenzio Statico. The first volume in the never ending quest to turn Los Angeles into punk utopia featured Mexican and South American heavyweights from the '80s, and I dare say that few people could have done a better job selecting tracks from that era/area. Side 1 is dedicated to Brasil (RATOS DE PORÃO, LOBOTOMIA, CÓLERA, OHLO SECO), while the flip hit Mexico (MASSACRE 68, AGROTOXXXICO), Peru (DESCONTROL, EUTANASIA) and Argentina (LOS VIOLADORES). If you feel like you need an introduction (or a refresher course), then you probably do - and this is where you get it. 

SUDAMERICANO/MEXICANO DE LOS '80s

WOLFSNAP

Primitive, sinister and nasty music from this Oshkosh, Wisconsin two piece. As much as I liked this the first time I heard it, WOLFSNAP's ability to combine simplistic brutality with interesting song structures (and presentation) has me speechless (far removed from my normal state). The guitars sound like KARP reincarnated under the black metal umbrella and the pace is often so spastic it's hard to tell what the fuck they are doing, but this demo achieves the vibe that is typically more important than the music - and they pull off the music part too. This is what darkness sounds like in a meat grinder.

WOLFSNAP

These tapes are available for $2. That's fukkn cheap. thequickwolfsnap(at)gmail(dot)com

LOST CHERREES

An hour long cassette filled with gems from LOST CHERREES. The band should need no introduction (essential female fronted '80s UK anarcho punk if you need one anyway), and this post takes care of the live and demo tracks from the tape - a brilliant live set can be found at Escape Is Terminal.

LOST CHERREES - DEMO + EP TRACKS

CUCSIFAE

I mean, it was the '90s and there were no rules. You could sound however you wanted. DRIVE LIKE JEHU into pop punk? No sweat. Chaotic mind fuck noise rock crashing headfirst into heavy prog with really weird vocals? OK. This reminds me of HICKEY for no logical reason whatsoever - maybe just because it is really good and it sounds like they don't give a fuck if you like it or not. 

CUCSIFAE

UNDERKLANSMEN

Howling and raw kvlt sounds that fall as close to primitive modern metal as they do to abrasive noisy punk. Repetitive riffs droning with a deliberate chaos and a fiercely defiant guitar bashing out reluctant notes while a lonesome anguished vocalist suffers in the background. Perhaps slightly too self indulgent and arguably too self aware, but uncomfortable sounds are still welcome in my earholes, regardless of how calculated their creation might have been. Awkward. 

UNDERKLANSMEN

I'm guessing that the initial run of 44 copies for this tape is long gone. Equivalently disruptive sounds can be acquired from Nostilevo.

VIOLENT CONSPIRACY

This is courtesy of the same dude who said he was the BLASTING AGENTS manager a few weeks back. Ultra low fi and only marginally competent recordings from Oklahoma City circa 1987...perhaps this is for purists and curiosity seekers only, but "Runaway" is a primal scorcher.

VIOLENT CONSPIRACY

MY LAI

One of the many bands unfairly stacked in the dollar bins of the world, saddled with the mystifying "hardcore sucked in the '90s" burden. An entire punk generation gets skipped over so frequently simply because it has the stigma unfairly associated with a particular decade, a decade that was fukkn packed with original and phenomenal bands, not to mention the solidification of the DIY network as we know it today. Chicago's MY LAI released a few EPs and one devastating 12" platter in the middle of that decade, and every one of those releases stands proud when blasted today. This three song teaser features one song each from the 12", the 3.16.68 EP on Divot and the Question Of Image EP on Lengua Armada. Pointed, forceful and pissed, MY LAI pulled of an intensity that could not be faked, nothing here was contrived and the passion was light years away from the manufactured by-the-books recreations of far too many of today's internet darlings (and they were crushing live). Pure, honest hardcore punk that sounds just as good - maybe better - this morning than it did 15 years ago. While I remember the one sided banger from '99 as their finest work, these songs are so damn good I might just spend my entire day buried in that magical lost decade...

MY LAI

THE WILD BUNCH

As went the musical tastes of a large part of the underground in the mid '80s, so went the progression of cassette releases from seminal New York label ROIR and, and so goes the chronological presentation of that label's compilations from last week to today. A far cry from the international hardcore assault that was World Class Punk, this week's contribution features some of the filthiest sleaze metal that 1985 had to offer. SHOK PARIS, ANTIX, JAG PANZER, and AGENT STEEL lead a group of second and third tier metallions that share the comp with well worn leaders of the genre like ANTHRAX, POSSESSED, SLAYER and GRIM REAPER. Standout tracks include BLACKLACE's "I Like To Rock" and TEEZE's anthem-that-never-was "Party Hardy" (their self released 12" of proto-POISON cock rock is a certified banger well worth seeking out). Piercing falsettos, amateurish MAIDEN worship and mandatory headbanging will take up the remainder of your day, you have been warned.

THE WILD BUNCH

PLANNING FOR BURIAL

They call themselves slowcore, I call them experimental shoegazing gloom. Either way New York's PLANNING FOR BURIAL are about to be called one of your favorite bands. If you are not sold by the song title "I Put Red House Painters On A Mixtape For You" then the tear soaked crashes that interrupt the two minute introduction to that track will surely seal the deal. Likely named after the trials and tribulations of young adulthood, Late Twenties Blues features just two songs and two mostly ambient interludes, and I picked it up late last year simply because I was meant to play a show with them in the fall and we kinda bailed. It was out of town and our singer was sick and my van was leaking exhaust fumes and it just seemed like a really bad idea at the time, so we backed out at the last minute. Seeing PLANNING FOR BURIAL? Right now that seems like a really good idea, but we can't always have good ideas.

LATE TWENTIES BLUES

KANGRENA

I was super excited to get a friendly tip about the two KANGRENA cassette releases unearthed and available from Solo Para Punks (they still have copies, kids) - I ordered immediately and now you reap the bounty of my actions. File this under classic Spanish punk, abrasive but catchy and full of verve, released in 1985 near the end of their run. Rules.

EL CUBO DE LA BASURA

BROWN SUGAR

After dropping one of 2011's sneakiest full length platters, it should come as no surprise to my ears that Buffalo's BROWN SUGAR had even more genius up their sleeves. "Birds" alone is a psych-punk masterpiece of time changes and drum fills that have no business in punk, and then they launch into a laid back jam that makes it sound like they should be on the coast in San Pedro, not on the shores of Lake Erie. One of the best kept secrets in the country, this band just kills...and they do so quite casually.

SONGS ABOUT BIRDS

EXTERMINACION

Just when you started to think that the US had cornered the market on foreign raw punk, enter Colombia's EXTERMINACION. Ramshackle bass, tortured guitars, ugly and nasty delivery rooted in '80s Finncore and primitive early South American glue sniffin' madness. Exactly what you need.

DEMO II

WASTED LOVE // D/CEREGHINI

Total fukkd sounds from Eastern Canada. My guess is that this was made in the winter when there was truly nothing else to do. Hamburger Tapes delivers...again.

WASTED LOVE // D//CEREGHINI split

BÜLD

More information about this band (or this release) would be welcomed. It came to me courtesy of a 25+ year old mix tape with nothing more than the band name and these four songs (other Danish gems were on the tape too, including killer pieces of L.U.L.L. and KALASHNIKOV sets shared on Escape Is Terminal) that likely made up an EP that I cannot seem to find any information about. Glorious and forceful post punk rooted in UK anarcho almost teetering on the edge of more mainstream sounds. Brilliant stuff.

BÜLD

Footage of BÜLD covering THE MOB in 1986 is here, the entire set is included as individual songs if you want to dig deeper. I especially dig the dichotomy of the spiky belt punk singer leading a band of sweater wearing dweebs...I really need more from this band.

WORLD CLASS PUNK

Jakke handed this gem off to me when I was in New York a few weeks back, a brilliant picture of international early '80s hardcore and punk. Compiled by Mykel Board and released by ROIR in 1984, World Class Punk gave a peek into scenes in corners of the world often overlooked, especially in the pre-interweb infancy of punk. COPULATION (Switzerland) dish out a dark post punk dirge that might steal the whole tape for me,  POP GUNS (South Africa) sound like JOE JACKSON - just brilliant pop, WARRIORS OF THE LAST DAYS (Columbia) slog through a wholly inept number with a determination that cannot be faked - though France's NÉVROSE make a case for being even more brilliantly chaotic while CCM (Italy), BASTARDS (Finland), BGK (Holland), RATOS DE PORÃO (Brasil), PURRKUR PILLNIKK (Iceland), DEZERTER (Poland) dish out the kind of quality they are famous for. Sweden's DANSA SKIRKER blew me away and Spain's SLIPS Y SPERMA are raw hardcore brilliance. File this one in the mandatory column, and read Mykel's liner notes here or buy yourself a copy here.

WORLD CLASS PUNK

BRAINSTORM

Killer metallic crust punk from Belgrade (now Serbia, then Yugoslavia) most known internationally for their 1993 split with Japan's BATTLE OF DISARM. A churning assault with low throaty vocals and a crisp drum attack rooted in early thrash metal, delivered in 1989 when their country was on the precipice of a brutal and divisive civil war. Regardless of the social and political surroundings (or content) tracks like "Fucked National Conflict" and "Checking Points" are legit burners, charging forth with a raw intensity. The first seven tracks are from the Only The Dead See The End Of War demo (a disturbingly appropriate title) while the following 12 songs are rawer garage specimens. Killer.

ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR