MENTALLY AXED

Ten straightforward minutes of filthy fukkn hardcore punk. I'm not sure what more you could possibly want from today's world. 

DESPERATE LIVING

SATELLITES OF LOVE

Take your time today, let this one sink in. Imagine a convergence of discordance that takes JESUS LIZARD's approach to construction, McPheeters' approach to delivery, INTERPOL's swooning goth guitars, SWANS self important wallowings...and makes it all sound like it belongs on a 4AD release from the mid 1980s. And it works kids, it works extremely well. I don't suggest putting this on on casually, as every note here is deliberate and very intentional. SATELLITES OF LOVE deserve your full attention. 

SATELLITES OF LOVE 

DISSLATE

It's been a while since I've been this floored by a new hardcore band. Mexicali's DISSLATE fill these eight minutes with a raw fury rooted in DBeat/crust, but they ramp everything up to such an extreme that there seems to be nothing left but sheer power. They start to crack here and there, as on "Demasiado Guapos (Para el Punk)," but it's those moments that make DISSLATE seem real, and draws even more attention to their ability to deliver a full hardcore assault. If you aren't sold by the intro to "Alguien Como Tu" then you need to have your pulse checked....and if you aren't moshing when the breakdown drops in for the last 15 seconds of the song then I just don't know if I can help you at all. 

NUEVO SISTEMA

ANTI THE U$

This thing is a raw, disgusting mess....and it's really fast too. 2011 Texas hardcore, recorded with one microphone in a fukkn dumpster - probably where they found the piece of shit mic. Everything dominates everything else, and the lyrics are a mess of frustration with song titles that don't come close to matching the tape cover so who fukkn knows what song is what. The demo listens like it reads: one angst ridden run-on sentence. Don't come here for anything advanced, even though there are some crucial hooks buried in the cavernous presentation...come here instead for an unfiltered release. Listen loud and let go. 

5 MINUTES HATE

PIÑEN

This Barcelona duo create more power with two people, one cymbal and two riffs than most bands can muster with a full arsenal at their disposal. After their show in Oakland earlier this month, a friend visiting from Europe came outside and just shook his head, "they are so terrible - all of the songs have the same beat and they all sound alike." And I was just thinking "yeah, I know....it was fukkn great." PIÑEN just drill those riffs into you, starting the tape (and the set) with "Comunicado Núm.1" chanting forcefully over three repeating chords for a full 45 seconds before the drums even join in. It's refreshing and energizing to see/hear a band deconstruct punk so completely, until nothing is left but the fury. 

TODO ÉSTA CORROMPIDO

There's a few Mexico shows left on PIÑEN's US/MX tour, but I imagine Guadalajara and CDMX punks are already well aware....

S.O.B. // ROSE ROSE

My first trip to Japan was in 1996, scabbing (poorly) on bass for my pals ALL YOU CAN EAT on the opening slot of a package featuring NUNCHAKU and GARLIC BOYS. Everything about the experience was new to me, and I met people whom I still consider friends....that's what the touring thing is supposed to be, right? In Nagoya, I traded broken English and non existent Japanese conversation with a woman during the show - conversation that mostly consisted of one of us blurting out band names and the other responding in the affirmative, in the negative, or in the confused. Mostly in the confused. The point is that this woman was shocked that I was not familiar with S.O.B. or ROSE ROSE, and she asked for my address. One result of that exchange was the tape you see here, and it's a cassette that still gets popped in from time to time, even though the ROSE ROSE wax has been a part of my collection for nearly 20 years (I have a Vicious World CD buried in a box somewhere too, but CDs in boxes are a different story). I don't think this was the finest S.O.B. era....but they were way ahead of the curve in the world of brutal metallic hardcore, S.O.D. and SLAYER influences sneaking into the Japanese hardcore realm. Sure, I'll still take Don't Be Swindle if I have to choose, but fortunately we can have both in the internet age. ROSE ROSE on the other hand, has perhaps never been more fierce than on 1990's Liquidation. Off the rails blasting fastcore/crossover...this was, after all, the band that gave Max Ward the title for his one page demo zine, Mosh Of Ass. Both bands are still very active today (the last time CFD played in Osaka, S.O.B. were playing a club down the street on the same night - plus there was KAFKA and VOĈO PROTESTA at Bears while we played with TONE DEAF and FEROCIOUS X...it was a tough night), but not surprisingly I'm still gonna reach for this home made mix every damn time. 

S.O.B. // ROSE ROSE

DORKFIT

I've created the "garage hardcore" subgenre and I know that's a stretch to some, but I swear that Pennsylvania's DORKFIT teeter on the edge of garage fastcore when they fuck with damaged and demented addictive light speed punk with lazy SoCal bar drunk punk vocals and riffs like the killer two note banger that makes up "Orthodox Punks Fuck Off." By the way, they have a song called "orthodox Punks Fuck Off," so you should basically be sold anyway. It's raw and distorted fukkd hardcore punk from the future and from the past - I hear MINUTEMEN as much as I hear DIE KREUZEN and it's from Mars and from some 23 year old hipster in cool pants....all at the same damn time. The point is that DORKFIT are that goddamned good, and I hate them for it. 

LIVE! AT THE SUGARHOLE

SAVAGES

The folks at Contact recently turned me onto Loathed Sound Department, and I couldn't be more smitten. A "fan club" cassette label focused on jazz freak and avant garde nuggets, this gem from Sonny and Linda Sharrock's SAVAGES ensemble is a perfect example of what Loathed Sound is capable of. A live in studio recording from 1974, the Sharrocks are joined by a rhythm section that settles into a pocket and then spends a quarter hour kicking their feet up and making themselves at home. Sonny's guitar is relatively subdued (especially for Sonny) and comes off like a casual band leader while Linda's voice drops in occasionally to make sure things stay out there....way out there. The 8+ minute trance inducing "1953 Blue Boogie Children" makes Savages mandatory, while "Peaceful" and "Highlife" present a bizarre big city sonic take on island life, with added haunting psychedelia. Consider this an essential reissue from a crew of folks who appear to be doing it right...and for the right reasons. 

SAVAGES - LIVE ON WKCR

VANESSA ROSSETTO

Another score from last month's SFEMF, the performance from VANESSA ROSSETTO was a mind numbing collage of found and manipulated sound presented with carefully constructed electronics and hand crafted instrumentation in front of a massive and bleak video assemblage. As I watched her calmly rise from her seat when she was finished, it didn't seem as if I was watching someone who was proud of what they had done, rather it seemed like Vanessa had simply done what she had to do....like this was her calling. It was an incredibly intense moment, and it translates well to her recorded works. Recommended for deep listening. 

FASHION TAPE

This cassette introduced me, and led me, to Philadelphia's No Rent Records. I recommend getting lost with and in their releases as I did. 

CARCINOGENZ

I know you like it raw, and I know you like it weird. I know you like your riffs to be out of control, and I know you like the guitars to sound like trash cans, and I know you like the drums to make everything real real fast, even if you can't really even hear when they are doing all of the time.  I know you have ultra short attention spans (all of you, to be clear), which is probably how you found yourself here....and probably why you're gonna take this seven minute hyper speed mutant stomp with D. Boon guitars to bed with you tonight. Because it's all of the things that you want. Really, it is. You should trust me. 

NEW! IMPROVED!

DUMSPELL

I've seen 'em a few times, and the formula is really straightforward - good punk songs with a vaguely bratty and compellingly disinterested front woman. The slower jams are reminiscent of early '90s college/indie ("Island" is the example presented here, perfect Simple Machines fodder), while the band's overall steez is a snappy, ass shaking brand of punk with sharp guitars. Like I said friends - it's pretty simple, and it totally works. 

DUMSPELL

CRUSADER DE DEUS

It's like future wave DEVO by way of space age thru new wave music. Something that's completely familiar and still weird as shit, something that you super want to know but you feel like you already know....with guitar ripped straight from late '80s 120 Minutes and FALCO through an effects box caliber vocals. CRUSADER DE DEUS are fukkn weird, even though you've heard everything that they do.....you've just heard it all in different bands and in different decades. Now, you can hear it all the same time. 

CLÁSSICOS REPUBLICANOS

IRON BLOOD

Oh you dark and dirty punks, what will you come up with next? In the meantime, and for wistful BONE AWL fans who just thought the later work was too damned polished, I offer you IRON BLOOD.  Now stomp your ass across that stage and look pissed. 

WE WILL CHANGE

BARRICADED SUSPECTS

Check the bass and drum break 45 seconds into "Guns In Trunks." It's so awkward, so off, so confusing, so unequivocally bad....you just can't create sounds this good. Sounds this good, like most successes, come only from repeated failure. Tennessee's BARRICADED SUSPECTS don't fail here, quite the contrary my friends...they succeed. And their success is your victory - if you like snot nosed hardcore punk. It happens to be among me preferred genres, so no complaints from this guy. 

BARRICADED SUSPECTS

MULTA KNOX

Seeing SALLY DECKER at the SF Electronic Music Festival a few weeks back was pretty incredible (as was the entire festival, to be honest). Her performance was subdued and calculated, simultaneously vulnerable and powerful - whispers shouting at the top of her lungs behind a wall of engineered sounds. And Sally transfers that kind of deliberate intensity into MULTA KNOX...an artist that forces you to give all of your energy if you want to reap all of the rewards. Living Pearl - as a casual listen, as background sounds - is excellent. It fills the room and provides a perfect diversion. And if that's all you need, then I am sure that Sally would be fine with that. But if you want more, if you are willing to give yourself to these forty minutes the way those minutes deserve, then you will be rewarded. A journey through sound and emotion, a sonic experience that gives so much more than it takes. Listen to "A Body Holds Still" at volume...the created and artificial blending with the encroaching real world....and know that this is us. 

LIVING PEARL

PUNISHER

Nothing like a six minute blast of disgustly raw Canadian metalpunk to kick your day in the ass, right? PUNISHER are pure filth, unrestrained nihilism....a collection of terrifying stomps and ominous growls interrupted by bursts of awkward but determined dark hardcore. Try looking at the world through this lens and you might start to feel as uncomfortable as PUNISHER sound. 

VILLAIN

ENEMY

It's just good ass hardcore punk music. ENEMY are raw as fukk, with blasted guitars and a hollow sounding bass. The mix kinda varies from track to track in the way that made countless '80s records infinitely more interesting, and they drop guitar leads when they need to (not because they feel like they should). The drums are relentless, like some weirdo rock/rock solid raw punk metronome because they sound more like some fuck you garage punk band than this serious fukkn beast of a demo....ENEMY is really good, y'all - that's what I'm trying to say. Like, REALLY good. 

ENEMY

COMMUNICATES

SHIT COFFINS hit the road wit these Tokyo rippers a couple of months ago - sweetest dudes, and absolutely raging on stage. Many bands have a live energy that cannot be harnessed by magnetic tape, and I don't think I'm alone when I say that this is even more likely the case when the the bands are from Japan. And still, I don't think people knew what hit them when COMMUNICATES blew through town. Full throttle, maximum energy, and non stop positive vibes....plus Koki's leads are just ridiculous. After a decade in the game, their discography is limited to two (excellent) EPs and a split with SQUARE THE CIRCLE, and now this raw ass seven song banger that they recorded themselves before the tour in August. I'll get back in the van with these four gentlemen any damn day - 行くぞ!!!

US WEST COAST & MEXICO TOUR TAPE

(COMMUNICATES at Bert Vaughn's Desert View Tower. Jacumba, California)

BLACK MARK

Why is it called Orange Soda Tape? I dunno, punk, maybe it's because they like orange soda - weird beverages are popular in the United States Of America (y'all ever heard of Big Red? But then again, Germany has Schwip Schwap, so maybe I shouldn't point the finger solely inward). But the real thing is that when you crank the tunes on this 2007 BLACK MARK demo, you're gonna stop caring about the title of the goddamned demo and start wondering why you aren't moshing. Hard. Because "Shut Down" is a mandatory banger and the rest of these tracks fall right the fukk in line. This band is (was) pre KEINE KLASSE for those keeping real careful notes....for the rest of you punks, this is is ripping straight edge hardcore demo tape. 

ORANGE SODA TAPE

BITCHIN' REALITY

Six songs. Five minutes. Feisty punk. Chicago. One song is called "Massive Dump." The band is called BITCHIN' REALITY. We should be good now. 

BITCHIN' REALITY

TELECOMMANDE

It's been fukkn years since these French maniac graced these pages, and honestly it's been almost as long since I've crammed a TELECOMMANDE tape into my earholes. Well....if I was trying to make the heart grow fonder in the face of forced longing and prolonged absence, then it worked! 2013's En Ligne De Mire was their final release (as far as I can tell) and as you can see, my copy came to me sans artwork. The band cared enough to send me a final errant cassette (though apparently not enough to hit the local office store and run me off a copy of the cover, but I swear I'm not complaining), and the twenty minutes of fun contained in that blue plastic shell are as appreciated as the thought itself. High energy, infectious punk rock a la SOVIETTES or THE SPITS, with a lazy synth casually carrying the base notes of each riff like an adoring puppy following its human around the park on a Sunday afternoon. I'm pretty sure I fukkd up the track IDs (it was late), but I'm also pretty sure that my mistakes will not negatively affect your listening experience....because you will be dancing too hard to notice.

EN LIGNE DE MIRE

Find my blithering on the two previous TELECOMMANDE releases here, though the links to the actual tracks are long long dead. Their bandcamp, however, is still very much alive. 

CURVED DOG

Comparison are the laziest way to try to describe music, but sometimes the shit is just so out there that one's only recourse is to relate the sounds to something that you already know...something that you can put your finger on. So, while CURVED DOG doesn't sound like THE FALL, they share the same angular abrasiveness. And while there are only a few moments where I can actually say "oh man, that's some D. Boon shit right there," I still think that MINUTEMEN probably approached songwriting in much the same manner as CURVED DOG. And yeah, I want to say that somehow CURVED DOG land in between Sonic Death and ERASE ERRATA...even though objectively that doesn't make any sense at all. But that's how I compartmentalize CURVED DOG, and these are the things I think of when I pull out this 2013 demo. I also think that "2nd Hand Patois" is nothing short of brilliance, and that the guitar work on In Defense Of Plagiarism is actually closer to James Blood Ulmer than to D. Boon, but I digress....

IN DEFENSE OF PLAGIARISM

CARDIAC ARREST

NOTE: edited on 10 November 2018 to indicate that the CARDIAC ARREST posted here is, in fact, not CARDIAC ARREST from St. Louis, Missouri, but rather CARDIAC ARREST from Linköping, Sweden. Same era, similar style, different band. Groveling gratitude to Tompa for pointing out my error...there's even a fukkn Swedish address on the back of the tape, but the photocopy is shit and I simply missed it. Even (especially) Wizards make mistakes. 

In 2000, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? released a CD with tracks from our first two recording sessions and we called it The First Year. Shortly afterwards, our pals in TEAR IT UP released The First Four Months disc in what seemed like a crafty move in a jovial game of oneupsmanship. Now....who the fukk are these Swedish mutants with this First Three Months shit?! 16 tracks in three months? Y'all are just showing off! They back it up, however, so all my bloviating is just sour grapes. Full throttle Midwestern US hardcore with vocals that make me think of Jerry A more than once. There's no moral here, no profundities, just a some anecdotes and a collection of ripping punk rock songs written and recorded over the course of three months in the early 2000s. 

 CARDIAC ARREST

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