SOCKEYE // VACATION

Terminal Escape will be taking some time off. A few shows with SUBHUMANS, a weekend in Austin for some fest thing, two NO STATIK shows (one at 3:00am and one at 11:00am, which is pretty stupid) and the first show with my new band RITUAL CONTROL. The Escape will be back in action in ten days or so (I know there are a lot of requests for re-ups, I'll get those sorted when I get back), but I'll leave you with SOCKEYE. No introduction should be required, but if this is your first taste of Stow, Ohio's weirdest export then I simply ask you to take a deep breath. 

WARNING: BURN HAZARD

Also - I did an interview for the excellent Drug Punk blog last week. It's not often enough that an interview makes me think, and I appreciate the opportunity.

ACRE

One tape is from 2007. Droning synths carry you off and you are in another place before you even realize you have left.

One tape is from 2008. An assault of white noise drowns out all other senses and quells all desire for life outside of your current realm.

CANDY FLIPPING // BLEEDING

FULLY INTERCOASTAL

For those of you who don't feel like setting your dial for "full rage all day every day," San Francisco's Fully Intercoastal has a six band teaser tape that will help get you through a well earned day of relaxation. The Nuggets meets boogie rock swagger of RAD CLOUD steal the tape for me, a uniquely casual and laid back approach to what are basically tried and true formulas (and the vocals are the closest I've heard to T.REX's "Spaceball Ricochet" in forever, which puts this track way over the top). FANTASTIC FIGURES, APOGEE SOUND CLUB and DAIKON contribute tracks as well, while C'EST DOMMAGE and THE C'MEL provide completely different interpretations of the same song to bookend this short tape. The majority of these sounds fall well outside my typical scope of interest, but the level of quality is high (I dare say even higher than expected), and it's good to look around the corner every now and then....you never know what might be sitting on the sidewalk.

FULLY INTERCOASTAL

NO SIR, I WON'T

Seriously? Who releases a one fukkn song demo cassette? NO SIR, I WON'T did, and I confess that if your band is as good and as unique as theirs, then a one song demo cassette might seem like a very reasonable option. More thought went into these three minutes than most bands cram into a so-called full length full of two four chord riff generipunk tunes. Anarcho punk for the new millennium. 

SUPPORT AUTHORITY

CISMA

That jerky modern interpretation of the pogo? That one that kinda goes side to side and looks especially cool when performed by punks wearing dangly earrings? Yeah, it was fukkn invented for bands like this. CISMA are raw, blown out, furious and furtive hardcore punk of the highest order, with vocals stretched to their very limit without ever breaking stride. I knew this was gonna be a killer (Alta Intensidaz has yet to disappoint), but when Imagenes Podridas kicked into high gear with "Urnas de Miseria" I went from a self congratulatory swagger to an immediate realization that CISMA have just raised the bar. This is punk for fukkn punx. 

IMAGENES PODRIDAS

SLUGFUZLE

Every small town with any kind of underground music scene, especially college towns, probably had the same murmurings in 1991. There would be some rumor about some label talking to some band about how our little town was about to be The Next Seattle and every band worth a shit was going to get signed, and then just enough things would actually happen to make all of those rumors seem plausible. We already had THE FLAMING LIPS (who were in the process of making the jump from Restless to Warner Brothers) and CHAINSAW KITTENS (who would release their second full length on Atlantic, though they were more successful in the press than the real world), bands that were several years older than us and kinda put Norman (and Oklahoma City) on the map. But of all of the bands that people whispered about "making it," SLUGFUZLE was the only one that seemed realistic at the time - more than that, it seemed like a slam dunk. Their churning, low end, hard ass rock was fronted by vocals that sounded like Ultramega OK-era Chris Cornell (which was a very good thing), and these dudes were just so far advanced...a total machine. But it never happened. This six song demo was the entirety of their output, and while major labels did indeed do a little snooping around our fair city, the results of their efforts were paltry dollar bin fodder from FOR LOVE NOT LISA (who pilfered a couple of CHAINSAW KITTENS members and moved to LA to get discovered and succeeded....in making a few forgettable CD only releases and appearing on a soundtrack or something) and THE NIXONS (a fourth rate frat party cover band who seemed to discover grunge to get them more laid than they probably already were, and who sound even more awful twenty years later than I thought they were at the time) instead of recognition for the bands that were actually good. I wasn't sure what to expect when I put this tape on since there have been hundreds (thousands?) of bands crammed in my ears since I last listened to SLUGFUZLE two decades ago...but it's still good. The vocals will probably turn some people off, and I cannot really imagine too many Escape readers who didn't live through grunge digging this without appropriate context, but these twenty minutes are legit. Even if they never made it.

SLUGFUZLE

Worthwhile Norman/Oklahoma City bands from the same era not already shared on Terminal Escape include: GLUE, 9mm DILAUDID, CAPTAIN EYEBALL EXPERIENCE, JANIS 18, DEATHROW BODEAN (though I think they only played one show), SYRINGE, CLOVIS...I'm not talking about punk and hardcore bands here, because I wasn't a punk then. At least I didn't know I was.

PUBERTY WOUNDS

PUBERTY WOUNDS went from intense and raw to just plain ugly. This is genuinely disenfranchised noisy hardcore - blast the intro to "Ex-Boyfriend Voyeur" and you're moshing. Guaranteed.

STRANGE EDGE

OGHAM

This piece of utter brilliance comes courtesy of the Merz Tapes label (an outfit I only recently dicovered), and is nothing short of mesmerizing. Well over an hour of carefully constructed and ever so subtly manipulated drones. The first track is what I imagine an ambient remix of SLEEP's Jerusalem might sound like, and the second is 45 minutes of calculated and deliberate haunt. I listened to this cassette for nearly five hours straight the day I bought it...OGHAM was the background to everything I did that day, and it was the sound that put me to sleep that night. This is something I recommend very highly, and if anyone has more information about the artist and/or other releases, please share...

OGHAM

BRAIN TUMORS

I don't always make good decisions. Like there was the time that BRAIN TUMORS played in San Francisco, probably with some other bands that I really like. I didn't go to the show, I did something else instead (I was probably working about two blocks from this particular venue). But since I don't even remember what I was doing instead and I do remember that I didn't see BRAIN TUMORS, then clearly I made a bad decision that day. It's cool though, because I have this demo and on other days since the day of the BRAIN TUMORS show that I missed I have probably made some pretty good decisions. 

BRAIN TUMORS

And speaking of bad decisions, some dude in Santa Cruz is having a show today with ABSURDO, CONQUEST FOR DEATH, DIE HARD, REPLICA, NO STATIK, FAMILY STONED.

In his apartment.

SOLO SE OYE PUNK vol. 2

A fukkn perfect starter kit for the uninitiated, or simply mandatory listening for even seasoned vets. Silenzio Statico put together this mix tape as a follow up to their Latin American punk primer, and I dare say this one jams even harder. Do Punx Dance? They damn sure better when this is the soundtrack.

DO PUNX DANCE?

HELLGRAMMITE

These sounds might be more professional that the usual Escape fare, and based on my own description I might find myself shying away from Washington's HELLGRAMMITE, but initial perceptions be damned and II is an absolute killer. The weight is enough on its own to keep most of you well engaged, but then release yourself into the world of guitars...as excessive as they are progressive, somehow these kids manage to avoid complete pretension and instead present themselves as an advanced powerhouse. A crushing abyss in four movements, I will take the lazy way out and describe this cassette as a combination of KYLESA, LOST GOAT and BOTCH. 

II

KOLUMBINE

Rarely has a title so perfectly suited the sounds it described. All Go No Slow is five minutes of ferocious  throaty hardcore in eight pulverizing movements. I think this demo is from 2009 or so, but honestly I don't care because it rules. A lot.

ALL GO NO SLOW

REDROT

Another installation from the ever-impressive Chondritic Sound label. REDROT creep through four movements, each arguably more uncomfortable than the next. This project has been active for more than a decade, and this work is some of his most sinister....processed and damaged primitive industrial drones best suited for the damaged persona that likely lurks within you.

REDROT

The brain child here is also responsible for POST MORTEM JUNKIE, among other monikers..

SMUTS

Dude. Idaho? What the fukk? Seiously.

SMUTS

SUDDEN DEATH

Ripped this eight song banger from 1982 off of a killer mix tape I recently unearthed. The first of two demos from Winnipeg's SUDDEN DEATH, this classic second wave proto-hardcore punk - plenty of vaguely metallic nods and the Southern California influence is definitely there, but my ears mostly hear UK82 colliding with Midwestern hardcore. My tape calls this Live In Basement, but the track listing matches the demo I found on line referred to as Blood On Floor. My tape cover was written in pencil, so I'll believe the internet.

BLOOD ON FLOOR

SILENT LAND TIME MACHINE

I feel like this lands somewhere in between accidentally successful pretentious art/sound collages and the result of gloriously ambitious and endearingly innocent curiosity. SILENT LAND TIME MACHINE construct sound more than create it, and these six structures are testaments to an open mind and an open vision, an accumulation of thoughts. Orchestral instrumentation is treated with electronic ambiance, and the result is like those peaceful drunken strolls long after everyone else has called it a night. Quite pleasant if you casually listen, but heavy if you let it be....

I AM NO LONGER ALONE WITH MYSELF AND CAN ONLY ARTIFICIALLY RECALL THE SCARY AND BEAUTIFUL FEELING OF SOLITUDE

((((maybe, maybe, maybe if we can accept & tolerate & love all that is disgusting, despicable and horrible in our own selves, we can accept that which is so outside of us and finally stop projecting...finally stop being afraid of our own shadows.))))

THRASH METAL SUPERSTARS

This is filthy, loud, live and raw thrash metal up your ass for 30 painful minutes. PAGAN FIRE from Philippines start the massacre, just a horrific racket. Japan's ABIGAIL follow with "Satanic Metal Fucking Hell" and "Hell's Necromancer" - I swear that this band is the modern incarnation of VENOM. And BLACK SISTER close out the tape with four tracks more searing but even more lo-fi than the rest of the tape. For raw purists only, I probably should have put this on the live blog, but I didn't feel like depriving you fiends any more than I felt like frightening the people who downloaded the THROWING MUSES set I posted a few weeks back.

ALIVE LIKE A NIGHTMARE!

C.I.R.C.L.E. O.F. F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

From Sweden to Singapore, this ripper from 2005 gives me all of the positivity without sacrificing a shred of the intensity. The frustrations of life in general and life within the punk scene are dealt with seriously but with a terminal determination...and this band has a smile filled circle pit written all over it. 

C.I.R.C.L.E. O.F. F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

SVART STÄDHJÄLP

I got a most excellent package from a friend in Malmö a few weeks ago and in addition to goodies from his past and current bands, he turned me on to these ripping kids from his neck of the woods. There's a couple of EPs kicking around so perhaps you are already hip, but if this is your first taste then I suggest you prepare your palate for stripped down and fiery hardcore in the spirit of the 1980s Midwest delivered the way that only Scandinavians seem to be able to pull off these days (and by "these days" I am referring to the last decade or so). Eight minutes of attack presented with guitars perfectly suited for a garage rock burner and hooks galore, but with a fury more akin to the kind of hardcore that makes to question whether you should get amongst the madness or watch from a safe distance.

GATUVAPEN

ON ON ON

ON ON ON are coming from another planet. Most of these 20+ tracks clock in well under the minute mark, but they pack so much weirdness in their short bursts and the sounds are all over the map. Post punk dirges, jerky Deutsch punk manifested through some interplanetary HUGGY BEAR filter and shot up with keyboards. And then there are nursery rhymes ("Samantha The Owl," "Stress"), fuzzed out SPACEMEN 3 styled manipulations ("Sorry Miss," "Happy Sad Treat Me Kind," "Mix"), and tunes like "I Am It" that are just short bursts of swagger. It isn't often that you hear something so totally unique in sound and presentation, and whether ON ON ON have achieved this result by design or by glorious accident...I want more. 

ON ON ON

ononon(at)go(dot)to

MAINLINE COCKSUCKER

Just four tunes here, but MAINLINE COCKSSUCKERS waste no time getting straight to the point. Filthy raw punk dirges, laced with feedback and an impressive helping of "fukk you," this is what I wanted FLIPPER to sound like. But this is so much better than FLIPPER.

MAINLINE COCKSSUCKERS

INDIFERENCIA

Punks in the so-called "first world" have little excuse for not paying attention to punk and hardcore coming out of the far corners of the globe. Bands from Borneo to Kazakhstan have their demos on the internet minutes after they are recorded, and a few minutes perusing video sharing sites will have you watching hardcore in Vladivostok and ripping thrash in Maun. While it's true that one can easily fill up their day just trying to keep up with bands from the US and Europe, it's a disservice to both yourself and this thing we call "community" to ignore like minded (and excellent) bands simply due to geographical limitations. I'm not looking any further than myself when I say this, but if you've got the time to dig for that one record, then you've got the time to find that new band from someplace you've never been...but it was different pre-internet. And while today's post is hardly from the far corners of the earth, aside from a comparatively small circle of tape traders and a couple of invaluable magazines most of these bands were completely under the radar at the time. Maybe this is not the best segue into INDIFERENCIA's assault from 1995, but they were the first band I listened to this morning after spending last night talking to punks from Philippines and celebrating the birthday of the person more responsible than anyone else for opening my eyes to a world of hardcore that is far broader than my vision, and who still encourages me to keep looking.

RESPIRADO VIOLENCIA

A six song banger from INDIFERENCIA, throaty hardcore with a healthy dose of NYHC in the mix. While I dig the faster tracks like "Lealtad A Tu Falsedad" more, the vocals (and the assault of crew backing vox) are so perfectly suited to the breakdown laden mid tempo mosh and the chorus of the opening track "Quien Niega To Libertad" is a total crusher regardless of genre descriptors. Modern bands like this tend to present themselves as slick hardcore machines, and seem to market themselves to people that come from I don't know where. But before the lines were drawn...they were all just punks. 

STRACONY

Few "modern" bands have so perfectly captured the vibe of early anarcho punk as well as Poland's STRACONY. Notice that I didn't say they recreated the sound, but rather they take ownership of the sound and combine it with their obvious '80s Polish punk roots. Female vocals chant stiffly in front of the music, accompanied only sporadically by equally sharp male backups while angular guitars feel like they are jabbing at you instead of playing you a tune. Nowy System was released in 1997, their second cassette full length, and the two 12" slabs are also well worth hunting down (Uwazajcie - Bomby Wisza Waszymi Glwami from 2000 and 2007's split with VIA MEDIA). Insistent and fiercely punk, I love this now as much as I did the first time I heard it.

NOWY SYSTEM

FAST LOUD

A twenty five band comp that is about to destroy the next hour of your life. If you like to be brutalized, then I can assure you that there is something here for you, and probably several somethings since the level of quality here is pretty astounding. Bands from Singapore, Germany, Brasil, Indonesia, Mexico, Australia, UK and a bunch of other places playing fastcore, thrash, grind, hardcore, raw punk...basically all of the subgenres. Epileptic Media in Austria released this monster, a dude named Zigor in Thailand mailed it to me (thanks buddy), and now I'm sharing it with you. That's fukkn international.

FAST LOUD

CONCRETE ISLAND

I've been anticipating this collaboration for a while, and CONCRETE ISLAND did more than simply not disappoint me. These sounds are mesmerizing...dark and extremely minimal, they take the ethereal ambiance of TANGERINE DREAM (channeled in "At Midnight"), combine it with primitive industrial (on "Fear From Behind"), and then use the amalgamation to fukk with your mind on "Escape From Concrete Island." The beauty is in the simplicity, and these sounds are very very deliberate.

CONCRETE ISLAND

Spoiler Alert: CONCRETE ISLAND is one member of NEEDLES/LIMP WRIST and one member of WHITEHORSE/IVENS. And it is worthy of such a pedigree.

GAG

Knuckledragging hardcore at its very finest.  Olympia's GAG have improved since this demo, which is a terrifying thought as you listen to this bulldozer. Churning, fierce, destructive sounds - disillusioned and maladjusted. If this scares you, then wait until you see them...

SKIMASK '95