BRET SCHNEIDER

Almost a full hour of mesmerizing (a polite way of saying "dizzying") sound manipulations. Taking found sounds and field recordings and reincarnating them is itself an art form, but on Model Of A Garden Scene..., Schneider has successfully digitally altered aural DNA to create an entirely new being. I find myself just staring at the speakers, not sure if I am more fascinated by what I've just heard or excited to hear what comes next. This defies categorization, but I would sooner file it amongst "art" than "noise," as these collages are every bit as enthralling as those put to canvas.

MODEL OF A GARDEN SCENE WITH WATERING CAN

Physical copies still available from Avant Archive

REVOLUCION EN EL PORTICO

Classic sounding and infectious punk rock from South America (someone help me out here? I think they are from Argentina, but I'm not sure), R.E.P. manage to infuse (even if accidentally) a catchy Australian tinge into bouncy Spanish language punk. The choruses to tracks like "Nunce Vayan a Volver" and "Sos Uno Mas" are undeniable, and while this twenty plus year old cassette is not likely to change your life it will absolutely make you dance. Even just a little, but sometimes a little dancing is enough.

LA LUZ DE CRISTO

DEMANDS

It might be hard to distinguish between music that is angry and music that is determined, but DEMANDS quantifies the latter for me. Vocals are pushed to their absolute limit, and the music sounds like a burly modern re-interpretation of a '00s fastcore interpretation of DC hardcore...you know, bringing the sound back home but making it sound new all over again. "Life's A Beach, So Keep Your Head In The Sand" is a total crusher, a creepy crawl intro that just fukkn implodes...the only slow song on the tape and my personal favorite. This demo is a year old...hopefully we will hear more soon. 

PISS ON YOUR WOUNDS

SEKA

I have tried to figure out which scene SEKA belongs in, but your guess is as good as mine (unless of course you have actual information). I'm not even going to give you any teasers, except to say that listening to this 1989 demo in 2013, I get the impression that I would have really liked it in 1989.

SEKA

THE FLESH EATING CREEPS

Visited '00s Virginia last week with TARPIT, so here's a brief stop in the '90s. Can't remember which tour I was on when I got this tape, but I remember listening to it A LOT in the following months. Bare bones hardcore punk with attitude for days - the kind of attitude that was not necessarily en vogue in 1996 but seems to be welcomed today. Trends notwithstanding, I figure it's just "punk."

THE FLESH EATING CREEPS

DEATH FIRST

When the drums stop and bass starts from underneath the swarm of guitars, I can do nothing but clench my fist. Total hardcore intensity from a band that has sadly called it a day - but they have left us with a brief, powerful legacy. I take exception to the title of their final release, however.

NO ONE CARES

BLAZING EYE

This just kills. Hollow, desperate punk from Los Angeles steeped in primitive Japanese hardcore with an all knowing eye. A blazing eye. Get it? They do.

BLAZING EYE

Conquest For Death and FlipoutA.A are playing Los Angeles tonight at the 7th St. warehouse with Crimson Scarlet and a shit ton of halloween covers bands, If you live there then you should watch it, because at some point in the evening, things are likely to get pretty fukkn wild. I might get a tattoo.

CROWHURST

Rarely has a cassette sounded more like a nightmare than Aghoree. "Claustrophobic In An Empty Room" is this tape's centerpiece, and all encompassing mind fukk that slowly forces you into an exhausted submission. Dark industrial sounds from this insanely prolific Los Angeles based project, if you like this then be warned: you are about to lose the rest of your day digging deeper.

AGHOREE

PIREXIA

A two song banger from Uruguay that came to me wrapped in plastic with no information or artwork. PIREXIA started in in the mid '90s and their emotionally charged sounds are indicative of the driving, forceful hardcore that dominated much of the decade. While this was my first exposure (and it was relatively recent), it led me down a glorious rabbit hole of South American hardcore. 

PIREXIA

TARPIT

Hardcore in the finest tradition - monster mosh breakdowns, furious vocals, a few "fuck you" choruses (even a "Don't Give A Fuck!" for good measure), rapid fire USHC built for showing off your pit style. It's stripped down to the bare essentials, and delivered with great success. "Get Extinct" is damn near perfect.

TARPIT

Last chance Bay Area: FLIPOUT A.A, CONQUEST FOR DEATH, PIG DNA, VENKMAN at The Knockout tonight. Southern California, we are coming for you next.

HAZEL'S WART

I'm still not quite grasping how music so dirty sounding can come across so beautifully. Certainly the vocals play a key role in that transformation, lilting  over plodding dirges drowned in waves of low end distortion, and the drums have a swing that belies the confrontational effect the recording embodies. My first impression was that this was a brilliant modern shoegaze effort, I heard MY BLOODY VALENTINE and NIRVANA almost immediately, and I still feel like that's a pretty accurate assessment of HAZEL'S WART though I think they dig way deeper than a band merely rehashing a sound. "Ghost Lover/Coincé" is the song of the week.

HAZEL'S WART

BOO!HISS!PFFFT! (WHY DON'T WE THROW SOME TOMATOES AT THOSE GUYS?)

I've known Devon for a long time, and he is at least indirectly responsible for almost all of the international touring I have done. And full four years before I started playing in my first band, this is what Devon was doing: BOO!HISS!PFFFT! (WH DON'T WE THROW SOME TOMATOES AT THOSE GUYS?) are perfect for the mutant miscreant, bedroom fourtrack idiocy assisted by some legitimately brilliant concepts and riffs - though admittedly those fleeting moments of brilliance are typically masked by the adolescent lack of anything approaching a quality control filter. BOO!HISS!PFFFT! are SOCKEYE caliber weird, with inside jokes and inanities peppering both of these demos (oh yeah, there are two of them....you win). 1987's self titled Boo!Hiss!Pffft! (Why Don't We Throw Some Tomatoes At Those Guys?)  features  "Cosmic Vomit," "Wanking Stupidity," "Old MacDonald Bought The Farm" and a questionable cover of "Stayin' Alive," while the follow up, 1989's Drink My Wee Wee opens with the avant/no wave stream of consciousness dirge "Silliness Kills" and continues with "The Sad And Boring Life Of Patty Toenail," "Flowers Are Nice," "Thinking Of You (No, Really)" and "Stayin' Alive (remixed for enhanced torture)" this time with keyboards. The second demo is more uh...polished but no less ridiculous (and for the purists, they changed their name on the Drink My Wee Wee, becoming BOO!HISS!THLBPT! (WHY DON'T WE THROW SOME TOMATOES AT THOSE GUYS?). Almost two hours of juvenile humor masked quite successfully as "punk," we should all be so lucky to have our musical legacy start with something that holds up so well (I means, I am a grown ass man and I still laughed my ass off).

BOO!HISS!PFFFT! (WHY DON'T WE THROW SOME TOMATOES AT THOSE GUYS?)

DRINK MY WEE WEE

Devon's current band is CONQUEST FOR DEATH. And tonight they will play at The Colony in Sacramento with FLIPOUTA.A, RAT DAMAGE and RAD. It will be very fun.

BLATANT DISREGARD

Further proof that the world of undiscovered and underappreciated '80s hardcore is vast...and well worth searching. East coast hardcore circa 1988, weaned on 7 SECONDS, MDC and with a strong ear to '80s UK punk. These songs are just catchy as hell.

BLATANT DISREGARD

FLIPOUT A.A

I posted this five and a half minute gem a few years ago, but since their West Coast tour starts today, it seemed logical to give it a refresher. Furious Japanese riffing meets maniacal fastcore, fronted by Mau's shrill shouts - there are only four songs on this ripper and all I want when it's over is more. More fast, more thrash, more flipout songs. After this demo in 2007, FLIPOUT A.A dropped the Flipout Song CDEP (recently put to wax) and the new Non Fiction EP, both of which are stellar...even if I still keep returning to the teaser of a solo in "Harb Life" that closes this demo.

FLIPOUT A.A

THRASHCORE FASTCORE HARDCORE CORE-CORE PUNK PUNK ANNIHILATION 2013

18 San Jose // 19 Oakland // 20 Sacramento // 21 Santa Cruz // 22 San Francisco // 25 Los Angeles // 26 Tijuana // 27 (early Santa Ana (Late) Bakersfield

RITUAL HOWLS

This is arguably my favorite release from the Nostilevo family. Mesmerizing goth/industrial sounds from an obvious punk background....'Lucy" is a JOY DIVISION dirge fronted by a born male Siouxsie while the tape's opening track, "Keep Those Stones Up Boys," features a terrifyingly confident frontman belting out arguably pretentious missives over droning, reverb drenched, melancholic guitars dragging a drum machine through the misty night. The closer falls in line with the opener, "Anchorites Of The Night" is slightly more upbeat (but still dreary as all hell) while "Hell Fuck" embarks on a goth tinged industrial punk journey the likes of which you have never heard. The pace is frustrating throughout, and the effect is certainly intentional. The result is that I need more, because this is perfect.

RITUAL HOWLS

INTOXICATION OF VIOLENCE

Early Filipino hardcore has an indescribable energy. I confess that I have heard very little, but every time I come across a release from Twisted Red Cross I get excited all over again and typically lost myself in an internet hole for a few hours. INTOXICATION OF VIOLENCE is no different, and this might be my personal favorite '80s Philippine punk artifact. Raw and hopelessly infectious, I.O.V. have the vibe that thousands of bands have been trying to recreate and manufacture for two decades...it's just real.  Closer to hardcore or thrash than contemporary labelmates like G.I. & THE IDIOTS or DEAD ENDS, the parts of this tape that aren't insanely addictive ("Stop Being An Ass," "Lebanese Child" are absolutely raging ("Demoralized Ideas," "Snap Election," "Gorbachev Attack"). This is a scene often overlooked and well worth your time, so start here and then go here and get stuck in your own internet rabbit hole...after you listen to Another Destructive Century. 

ANOTHE DESTRUCTIVE CENTURY

SECTA SUICIDA

Self described Rata & Roll, Bogota's SECTA SUICIDA inject rudimentary jerky South American punk into the Johnny Thunders formula...and the result is nearly impossible to resist. Fiery punk with addictive choruses and screaming leads. PELIGRO SOCIAL is an obvious modern comparison (the former did cover the latter, so the perceived influence can't be too far off), though I would argue that "Vacio" damn near eclipses PELIGRO's output (yeah, it's that good). The packaging on this tape is superb, but it's what's inside that package that really sold me. 

SECTA SUICIDA

...banda que recupera lo esencial del punk; directo, agresiva, actual y rápida...

ABNUTIVUM

There's noise, there's kvlt, there's evil, and then there is pure unadulterated pain. ABNUTIVUM deals heavily in all of them, but focuses viciously on the latter. There is not a shred of decency to be found anywhere on this cassette...15 minutes of blinding terror.

MASTER'S MORBID LUST

ARAH KIRI

ARAH KIRI rip through nine tracks of multi vocal fastcore on 2006's Rumikot. The band is set to Maximum Energy for the entirety of the tape (which clocks in well under seven minutes), slowing for brief lurches before whipping themselves into a circle pit frenzy. Listening makes me tired, it also makes me want to rage. You might think you don't need anymore manic thrashcore in your life, but these kids from Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, Malaysian Borneo) might change your mind. 

RUMIKOT

BOMBA W TORCIE

Abrasive and antagonistic crusty (but bizarrely technical) Polish hardcore from the mid '90s. Kinda like the chaotic Per Koro shit that kicked us all in the ass back in "those days" (how many can speak at length about the first time we heard Two Hours To Doom?) but with a crazy infectious bent. BOMBA W TORCIE punches you in the brain, something that so much current hardcore seems to have forgotten how to do.

ANARCHIA 666

FAR EAST HARDCORE

I got this mix tape from a friend I met in Nagoya on my first trip to Japan. As anyone who has been there can testify, half of the experience is the huge world of bands that are virtually unknown outside of Japan, and this tape is full of them. Ten bands, and I reckon only a couple are familiar to anyone aside from the true freaks. These are all bands that were active in '96 when Yukari made me the tape, so don't expect a collection of rare '80s flexis. This is Japan - heavily influenced by US hardcore, especially the tough mosh of early '90s SxE.

FAR EAST HARDCORE

IMMOLATO TOMATOES

UK punk with a serious '80 DC bent, IMMOLATO TOMATOES manage to escape a slagging by the skin of their teeth. The vocals are a touch whiny and the recording kinda blows, but there's a charm to rudimentary hardcore punk delivered with an enthusiasm unhindered by cool points and the internet. And "Sometimes I Feel" shines well brighter than any technical insufficiencies, think GRAY MATTER as teenagers. Pretty sure these tracks come from their second demo in 1988, but I could be wring.

THAT'S NOT SLAM DANCING...IT'S A MASSACRE!

Note: Trouble with OpenDrive (unreadable zips, difficulty uploading, files labeled "private" for no apparent reason) has forced me to switch file hosts (again). I'm keeping my OpenDrive account open as long at it at least reasonably serviceable. And while I will try to get to requests for older posts, my focus will continue to be daily uploads, so it might take a some time...

Feedback appreciated.

PLEASURE CROSS

This is the best grind I have heard in fukkn forever. I have never doubted August, and my mind has melted more than once over the last (almost) two decades watching him perform live (SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, WALLS, LORDS OF LIGHT, BASEMENT ANIMAL, WALLS, and so many more)...but I was not even remotely prepared for PLEASURE CROSS. It's not just the vocals, though they are indeed other worldly, it's the entirety of the attack. It's the relentless precision. It's the terrifying effectiveness. It is the weight of everything just vomited at your feet. It is absolute perfection.

PLEASURE CROSS

MUTANT VIDEO // HOUNDED WOUNDS

You should all be familiar with MUTANT VIDEO by now, either from this fine blog or your own impeccable taste in sound, and the two tracks on their side of this cassette will certainly not disappoint you. The synths in "Different Universe" assault with painstaking simplicity while beats methodically lure you towards the mournful pounds of a lone stringed instrument...a space age death march you can witness only with your ears. "Less Future" follows with a terrifyingly subdued drone interrupted by desperate clicks and minute swells from keyboards that have already resigned. All MUTANT VIDEO works are excellent, but they have absolutely outdone themselves on this release. Not to be outdone, the HOUNDED WOUNDS track on the flip is superb. A nine minute crescendo that starts with distant CLOCK DVA styled electronic sounds, enters into sinister late '80s industrial/dance for a few minutes and then spends the final three minutes pummeling the listener with hideous white noise flowing in waves and leaving me as helpless as the terrified electronic screams that soar over the top of the madness. It's hard to decide whether this leaves me hungry or just simply dumbfounded.

HOUNDED WOUNDS // MUTANT VIDEO

METH SORES

I've shared sounds from these freaks in the past, so hopefully FOTE will know what they are getting into. For the uninitiated, San Jose's METH SORES dish out supremely fukkd sounding noisy punk dirges - genuine discomfort within the context of punk sounds. Haunted and terrified (as opposed to haunting and terrified) hardcore personified, and the live spectacle is every bit as (gloriously) awkward as the recorded sounds suggest. This third cassette features tracks from the Death Vigil and Total Fear demos in addition to new tracks....get amongst this.

FEEL NOTHING, AM NOTHING

All three demos included in this download.

HICKEY

Maybe this should have been the post for yesterday (October 5th), since that's the day that Matty died 11 years ago. But I spent all day today (that's October 5th, at the time of typing) thinking about Matty and HICKEY and a life that seems like it was a lifetime ago, so you get these sounds and these thoughts on the 6th...unless you live in Hawai'i or Guam or some shit. These sounds come from a tape with my handwriting (LOST GOAT, HICKEY, ZZ TOP....seems about right) that was scrawled over Aesop's handwriting (ANTISCHISM, ASSFACTOR 4....also seems about right) - just instrumental rehearsal recordings of a few songs that HICKEY fans know well and a couple of deep deep cuts. In a true demonstration of changing times, I left work tonight streaming the HICKEY 12" via youtube on my employer provided smartphone while riding my bike through a city that Matty would barely recognize, just so I could drink a quart of cheap beer in front of a memorial painted in Clarion Alley. And on my way home after that quart, while "In The Beginning" was blaring out of my shirt pocket, I passed a record store and took a moment to peek inside...the look of disdain I received from the glassy eyed girl sitting out front sucking down a defiant 40oz on a warm San Francisco Saturday assured me that whatever spirit Matty embodied - even if it's not thriving, it's still here. This is the stuff that makes it all seem like it's worth it. It's all special, and it's all important. The sounds are just a footnote...

HICKEY

(L-R): Aesop, Karoline, Matty, Dwight. El Paso, 1996

I swear he wore that shirt for a fukkn year...

HANGMAN

Not sure how this band slipped by me at the time, because in 2000 I would have been all over HANGMAN even more than I am today. Intense apocalyptic hardcore with a delivery that owes to '90s "personal-is-political," a sound that falls somewhere between that vaguely emotional subgenre and melodic German metalcore (AKEPHAL, JANE, even elements of ZORN on the two longer tracks). Female lead vocals strain to be heard (and I mean that in terms of volume and intent) while the rest of the unit blazes through eight songs in just over ten minutes. Choice jam is "Last Words," an absolute ripper than clocks in at 0:41 and perfectly executes blasting hardcore intensity, a perfect bridge between HANGMAN's ever so slightly introspective approach and just setting everything on "rage," which they also do very well on tracks like "Eviction" and "40 Hour Death Sentence." I've never heard anything else from the band, and even though this demo is 13 years old it's going to be kicking my ass all day.

HANGMAN

WILLIE NELSON SHOULD SING FOR US

I made this mix tape to be played at our wedding. If I had not been high and actually remembered to bring it to that wedding, then we would have listened to these songs on October 4th, 1997. That was sixteen years ago today, and I still love her.

WILLIE NELSON SHOULD SING FOR US

THE CORPSE

I've posted tapes from THE CORPSE in the past, but everyone can use a little refresher on occasion...and these tracks are far and away my favorite from the band (at least this week). A few tracks appeared on 1984's split with MOSKWA, but by the 1988 release of Skazani Na Ból! their assault had become faster, more precise, without losing one shred of the raw intensity that sets them apart from throngs of late '80s hardcore/thrash.  The chops are undeniable (combine the most essential moments of Eastern European punk, US crossover and Japanese hardcore), but the fire with which THE CORPSE deliver their fury transcends genres. This is absolutely mandatory listening. If you don't know, then it's time to learn.

SKAZANI NA BÓL!

GEL SET

Dark and beautiful synth dirges with peacefully haunting female vocals floating above the songs more than leading them. Whether by intent or accident, this comes across as a junked out modern interpretation of early electronic dance music, with a deliberate intensity that shines on tracks like "Eyes Wide Shut" and the tape's opening (and best) jam, "Paradise For The Wicked." I'm a little late to the game with GEL SET, the second release came early this year and is arguably more excellent than Cell Jets...and it is also just as sold out. This their debut, nothing wrong with being tardy as long as you show up eventually.

CELL JETS

CROSSCURRENT

Burly and raw Midwest straight edge from the early '90s, there are only three songs on this tape but CROSSCURRENT dish out pure perfection. The metal that eventually corrupted so much 'core in the '90s is certainly present here, but in it's primitive state the influence just kicks the hardcore in its ass. Vocals are flawless for the style and the politics are as evident as the power, even on such a short tape.

CROSSCURRENT

I'm straight and clean and I'm proud of myself