ALIENATION

More mutant hardcore from Nova Scotia. Urgent, fierce, raw, primitive, fast, killer. 

ALIENTATION TIME

STEFAN CHRISTENSEN

CHRISTENSEN's sounds are from another time and/or dimension. Dreamy and dreary vocals flittering in and out of drawn out tracks that owe as much to early psychedelia as to the early '90s bands who showed us that shoegaze can still have teeth. The sounds meander a bit, but it's a journey well worth embarking upon. "In My Head" is this fellow's favorite, but you are welcome to choose your own....and then peruse subsequent recordings that show this gentleman progressing into something of a force. 

EMPTY CONTINENTS

RAD

They've visited The Escape before, but it's been a while. And correspondingly, it's been a few years since this tape was released. But....holy shit do Sacramento's RAD fukkn smoke. Still. Their lo-fi tinny recordings capture the relentless '80s USHC assault perfectly - you could sneak "Who Wore It Best?" into the middle of the Master Tape comp and no one would bat an eye except to wonder how they missed a burner on previous listens. It's like JERRY'S KIDS reborn in the 2010's. And in California. All of this reminds me that it's been way too long since I've seen them play. 

RETURN OF THRASH RADICAL

MOONSCAPE // UNARM

Anyone who saw UNARM on last month's West Coast tour should already be jamming these sounds into their ears daily since the gig....but for the rest of you? A distortion drenched assault in three blistering movements with Nanae's vocal power front and center. Just listen to the jerky drum into to the final cut and how it just builds into a steamroller....it's hard to imagine anything coming close to their live intensity, but this recording comes close. Not to be outdone, Tokyo's MOONSCAPE on the flip deliver two mid paced metallic churns, shadows of HELLCHILD, especially with the affected vocals.....it would be hard to match UNARM's fury and speed, so the pairing with a band that relies on dark aural imagery and an undeniable groove works super well. Yes please...just: yes. 

MOONSCAPE // UNARM

EXPLODING BUDGIES

The flip side of the handmade tape with STAMMERING CHILDISH CANTICLES posted a while ago, these four tracks are from another dimension. The late '80s alt/college rock swing seeps through this, with airy guitars and borderline pretentiously delivered vocals and sweet melodies....but it's all kinda primitive, and these jams were recorded in 1984, years before that style took over the airwaves and every teenager had wavy bangs drifting over their brow. Keyboards and synths, and OCEAN BLUE vibe in "Kenneth Anger," and even one actual (though awkward) burner to keep the thing grounded. Maybe more interesting as an artifact than as a piece of essential listening...but isn't that really why you're here anyway?

EXPLODING BUDGIES

These songs (plus one more) were released by Flying Nun as The Grotesque Singers 12" in 1985. 

STAGNATION73

This one languished in one of my (many) "I need to check this out" piles for way too long, but sometimes that just makes the surprise even sweeter when you press play. Blistering and powerful Vancouver hardcore with a serious NYHC bent and some brilliant '90s US hooks - I would guess that STAGNATION73 are somewhat removed from whatever the "cool" scene is in their town, but this is one that the kids are gonna grab in a few years and wonder what the fuck they missed out on. That is....is the kids decide they want to go hard. 

VANCOUVER

IMPALERS

Y'all heard the new IMPALERS record right? Shit fukkn rrrrrrips. I remember people flipping their shit when this demo dropped in 2010, and I remember why. Pummeling DBeat meets BONE AWL topped with relentless leads - the last 20 seconds of "Out For Power" is worth the price of admission on its own. 

IMPALERS

CROSSCHECK

This is where I wax nostalgic about the '90s, right? This is where I say that the lack of rules and norms (and even division/s?) allowed bands more space for originality. This is where I say that even records that don't necessarily "hold up" musically two decades later still resonate because there's an undefinable real-ness that it is quite honestly hard(er) to find today. But....this one holds up. Massive and earnest mid paced ChicagoLand (note: actually Quad Cities - my mistake) hardcore - three tracks released as the Persist EP in 1995. What makes you better than me? What makes me better than you? If we can't all get along, then we're through.

PERSIST

CORPORATE PARK

Hypnotic electronics from Texas released through the Nostilevo label. These sounds would be right at home alongside early CABARET VOLTAIRE or perhaps Being Boiled-era HUMAN LEAGUE, and though the entire recording is very much to my liking, I keep returning to the opener "Pillow Talk." It's a meditation that bears repeating, so repeat I will. 

MISE EN ABHYME

DOOM

There's a reason why some things are revered. Get into a time machine and tell the kid whole snagged the Police Bastard EP at a gig in the Midwest that he would be driving DOOM to Los Angeles for a couple of gigs and that kid would likely look very confused....and then he would laugh in your face. Just a short jaunt, Oakland last night, Lancaster tonight, and LA tomorrow - and a whole shitpile of crust. This is the Malarie version of DOOM's 1996 Rush Hour Of The Gods LP - just to remind you that the material released after their "prime" (including 2013's Corrupt Fucking System) is every bit as mandatory as that single I picked up 25 years ago. Volume is essential. 

教祖ラッシュ

NEW BAND

Saw these freeks tonight in Oakland. A flash in the pan project that consisted of two rehearsals, five tracks (one is a cover), one demo (this one, duh), and one gig (tonight, duh) with NOSFERATU, STERILE MIND and PROVOKE. That show ended about three hours ago, and I figured the band's life cycle should be completed with an urgency that compliments their existence. To further encourage hesitant visitors/listeners, this quartet is/was made up of people who are or have been members of: CCTV, THE WORLD, MOZART, BIG ZIT, OOZE, NEON, HOLIDAYS IN UNITED STATES, LIFE STINKS, PANG, PENNY MACHINE, CONEHEADS and likely many others. Listen...and then go make your own band.

NEW BAND

FLYKILLS

Rudimentary New York punk stomps with snarling weasel vocals to give this 2014 demo a dark and sinister bent. The drums are jerky and awkward, stumbling with every fill and making even the short burners (especially "Burnt") feel like outsider mutants. On first observation, Lump Of Flesh is pretty much a straight forward four song punk banger....but you know I like things better once you take a peek under the sheets, and this one is squirmy. 

LUMP OF FLESH

REPUGNANT

Raw grind brutality from Philippines. Not for the faint, but definitely for the true lo-fi grind maniacs. 

REPUGNANT

THE LAST SURVIVORS

Malaysia's Black Konflik have been cranking out crucial cassettes for well over a decade, and their standard of quality (both in content and presentation) has only gotten better. Enter this reissue from Japan's THE LAST SURVIVORS. With a discography of a whopping three EPs over their 15 years of activity, it's easy for a band like this to slip between the cracks....until you fukkn listen to this shit. Relentless high energy punk music with a fierce snarl and tracks for days, I have a hard time thinking of a modern band with a catalog this flawless. Not once ounce of filler found in these scant nine bangers....fists clenched, throat raw, volume maximum, pogo one notch higher. 

RAW PUNK DESTRUCTION: 2001-2016

Next Mission: see THE LAST SURVIVORS live...

HUMAN

The '90s were a weird time, man. Bands like HUMAN existed by the thousands, underground and DIY (out of necessity), they cranked out stadium ready hard rock cut on the teeth of their idols...and then they quietly went back to their garages, walked into the house (literally and figuratively) and started families, destined to only to dust off their battle axes for the occasional cover set at the sports bar in the strip mall. But the thing is...there are some gems in those files of faded self released cassettes filling Salvation Army 50¢ bins. I'm not saying Pleasanton, California's HUMAN are one of those gems, but there's an alternate version of 1994 in which they are opening for METALLICA on the ReLoad tour, vocalist ready to step into Layne Staley's shoes at the drop of a plunger...just in case. I'm guessing if these guys had avoided the introspection and just concentrated on thrashing then this tape would be a legit banger, but....like I said, the '90s were a weird time, man. 

SOBER VISIONS

C.K.N.

Screaming Dutch hardcore from 1985. I first posted this one years ago, but the link is long dead. I

This one is straight fire, kids....highly recommended. 

C.K.N.

2.5 CHILDREN INC.

This band mostly skipped me by in the moment. I mean, if you were active in the '90s then you surely heard about them, if only because the name was really good (in a fukk why didn't we think of that? way). And then I get a tape of their 1994 full length (well, most of it), and it's great. The introspective and pre-emo earnest nature of so much '90s USDIY is a thing that's hard to describe, because sometimes 2.5 CHILDREN sound like an angry hardcore band, but there are tons of whoa-ohhhs and hooks all over the place, and the whole thing just sounds personal in a way that totally takes me back. Tape includes all but a couple of tracks from the Nonmachineable LP and a few other bits as listed cryptically on the cover (CITIZEN FISH tracks omitted for future posting). If you are from my era then you likely do not need this, because you likely already have this....but if you missed it like me, or if you are under the age of 30 and like DIY hardcore and punk? Well then...you know what you need to do. 

2.5 CHILDREN INC.

I sat in my parents house remembering my childhood - I played my guitar and sang another sad song about how I wish that life was different in so many ways that I could cry myself to sleep. 

PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND

Straight up: I want to see this band in the flesh. Not many outfits pull off something truly original, something that sounds like them, and one listen to 2004's Flashing Open makes it clear that PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND were accomplishing this feat right out of the gate. Plenty of PINK FLOYD, plenty of fuzzed out acid rock, but I get an overwhelming feeling of honesty when I listen...nothing contrived. The Oblivion Programme is from 2013, and shows these Chicago freeks driving a little faster and hitting a little harder at times, but they no less blissed out, and the shoegaze set could learn a few lessons from tracks like "Mother Sidewalk." 

THE OBLIVION PROGRAMME

LUDDITE

Don't know much about this trio aside from their place of residence (California) and their output (brutal). File these three tracks under: "out of vogue" "hardcore" "brutality" - and hopefully someone will wake up in the future and realize that these were not tracks of rehash but rather the Sounds Of The Future. Hardcore and desperation collide. 

TO DISSOLVE

LUDDITE

3TARDS

I feel like this kind of irreverence faded away sometime around 1998, but what's more likely is that I just outgrew it and the jokes that stayed with me were the ones that were already inside. I never saw 3TARDS, my time here started just a little too late, but I saw SOCKEYE, so I think I kinda know what I missed. This tape collects a couple of different recordings, so you get two different versions of "My Mom's Peeing" but sadly only the one classic take of "Anal Fuckface." 

THIS IS A 3TARDS TAPE

RAKTA

RAKTA probably doesn't need an introduction by now, so I won't waste anyone's time with the background. Side A was recorded live in San Diego one year ago today. Side B is a remix and/or manipulation and/or interpretation of that recording by Australia's SOW DISCORD (who first heard the band through this recording when I asked them do make a remix, so that's kinda cool). I made 75 copies of this for their US/Mexico/Colombia tour earlier this year, if you don't have one now then you're just going to have to settle for these soulless digital files. 

WHISTLESTOP b/w SOW DISCORD Remix

BEYOND PEACE

A few months ago I attended an excellent gathering in Oklahoma City. I have mentioned this gathering before in print, on the internet, and in person, but the thing that made this gathering so fukkn cool is that no one was really cool. There was one band that thought they were cool, it was kinda obvious, and they mostly kept to themselves. Because in that context, thinking you are cool is kinda lame and decidedly not cool at all. One of the least cool, and therefore coolest, bands I saw that weekend was BEYOND PEACE. Also, they are one of the fiercest, most intense and purest hardcore bands I have seen in recent memory. Period. I cannot remember when I have been so instantly and completely floored - I just sat there with my mouth agape clenching my fists while they raged....because it was real. And it wasn't cool at all. It was desperate. 

BEYOND PEACE

take it back I dare you to

OIL WAVE SURFERS

How don't know how this came to me, and I don't remember seeing it until a few weeks ago, but my duty in this case is not to question WHY, but rather to give thanks. Fifteen untitled instrumentals circa Milwaukee 2006, fading into the background and then bringing you back with a lurch only to casually release you once again. Monotonous drones and hallucinogenic freaks, sometimes mellow and sometimes anything but. Track 6 is my personal go-to, essentially just an introduction to a piece that doesn't exist, but offering more introspection than most bands can muster with an entire record. Recommended for candlelight and solitude.

OIL WAVE SURFERS - "II"

MR. WRONG

Pretty much the complete antithesis of yesterday's post, Portland guitar/drum duo MR. WRONG (they've since added a bass, apparently) play stripped down punk reminiscent of early '90s K/Simple Machines fodder. Catchy tunes (especially the title track, just try to get that one out of your head), both vocals are soul-filled and powerful, and the more you pay attention the more you start to get the tongue in cheek witticisms that take Distraction to the next level. Sometimes you want to throw it all away and dance, you know?

DISTRACTION

SWALLOWING

Soul sucking UK doom presented with maximum intensity and a heaviness that cannot be described. Tonnage is the foundation, while samples and electronics serve to keep the edge ever sharp and menacing...and the wait. The painfully tedious delays. The repetition and the repetition and the repetition and the builds before the swells. And then....the crashing, crushing walls of sound. This one is bleak.

SONGS FOR THE SAVED

SWALLOWING's "The Good People" from earlier this year comes just as highly recommended.

SYLVIA PLATH

Poet and author Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) reading her own words on a record released in 1975. I'm not going to delve too deeply into this, but will simply state that these words do periodically reflect her short and sometimes tragic existence as much as they can sometimes relate to our own. The mundane made indescribably beautiful. Listen to "Cut" and think about the things that you find in free boxes on the sidewalk...

"CREDO 3"

out of a gap, a million soldiers run...redcoats every one

STAMMERING CHILDISH CANTICLES

Mystery act sharing a homemade cassette with EXPLODING BUDGIES (stay tuned), STAMMERING CHILDISH CANTICLES play free form psych along the lines of OZRIC TENTACLES or (some) HAWKWIND. Mostly instrumental tracks with a clean jangling guitar up front while the fuzzed freakout guitar seems content in the background...the whole tape mostly sits in the background, but commands attention on the airy interlude "Fanaticism Shark" near the end of the journey. Serious question.....how many thousands of tapes are there like this just floating in the ether (and lurking in charity bins)? And how many hundreds of them that actually have merit will remain undiscovered?

STAMMERING CHILDISH CANTICLES

JEDINO BUBAŠVABE PREŽIVLJAVAJU ČERNOBIL

A pure ripper comp from 1988 Yugoslavia. Oi!, punk, proto-goth, and some essential doses of searing hardcore from the likes of: QUOD MASSACRE, DVA MINUTA MRZNJE, IDIOTI, NADE IZ INKUBATORA, MASAKER, SKÖL and a host of others. 28 tracks in total, clocking in just under 55 minutes. Time to go to school. 

JEDINO BUBAŠVABE PREŽIVLJAVAJU ČERNOBIL

REBEL ARMY

An appearance on a Bullshit Detector comp and a five song unreleased demo....that's all I was able to scrape up from REBAL ARMY when I first posted this tape back in 2009. Ramshackle UK anarcho played with that midpaced lurch that I think only comes from a marginal ability to play instruments "properly," but a determination to do so with gusto (e.g. drum fills in "Falling Down"). Then comes the synths in "Insane" and you wonder what might have happened if there had been more...

REBEL ARMY

TABLOID

Patients yield while patience yields...and volume speaks volumes. 

Please. 

ACCESS CH. 1

ATAQUE DE RABIA

How many times have I said that you can't fukkn fake intensity? I could feed you the ingredients on this demo - they are simple and readily available - and there's no way you could shit out something as pure and real as South Valley Punks ATAQUE DE RABIA. 1/2/1/2 pogo drums, single tracked buzzsaw guitars, a no frills bass bouncing underneath the textbook punk riffs and female vocals shouted with a primal desperation...you've heard all of these things before and you've even heard them in the same band....but oof when the eponymous "Ataque De Rabia" kicks in after the Punk 101 intro? If you aren't raging then you might want to opt for a FLEETWOOD MAC record or something. Maybe punk just isn't for you. 

ATAQUE DE RABIA