THE VERSATILE ABSCESS GROUP

Seventy minutes of madness? I might not even know what else to say except....seventy minutes of complete madness. There are 23(ish) distinct tracks (or "pieces" perhaps?) on this cassette. Presented with no context. Primitive synth cuts give way to mental audio collages and missives that sound like they were created in a closet using Baby's First Casio. The eighth track for example (no titles, of course), could be a 12 year old fucking around with a $19.99 drum machine just as easily as a calculated homage to minimalist industrial acts of the late 1970s. And it's followed by six minutes of brooding spacial psych monotony that sounds like it was lifted off a Nik Raicevic record....and then there's an advert for a funeral parlor, a two minute live noise core stomp and then more synths. Equal parts experimentation, piss take and high art, the only thing I have managed to glean from the internet is that the act may (or may not?) have performed at Safari Sam's in Huntington beach in like '87. So there you go...maybe this is Southern California's answer to NEGATIVLAND? The guy I got it from is dead and I can't ask him.

THE VERSATILE ABSCESS GROUP

Does anybody know the Abscess dances out there?

"I do!"

Well I want you all to come up and start dancing please, because this is...this is just such a danceable song. This is serious. OK, it's a serious song. It's a serious dance song. It's a love song. It's a beer song. Its...it's four songs in one!

SIERPIEN

Another dose of synthetic cold from Moscow's SIERPIEN. Melancholic synth/pop by way of dark European wave, the sounds this duo create are timeless, and rarely have I wanted to understand an artist's language more than on this release. "Сигнал" ("Signal") simply begs to be sung along to, swaying alone in a crowded club enveloped by isolation, the light of the chorus pulling back the shades and exposing the early morning sun. It's a song with the force and the hook of a "TiK ToK" or "Domino," but this power may be rooted in KINO by way of SIEKIERA...and accept my apologies if I reached for low hanging fruit. The band sounds like a modern, relevant act that has come from the past (as opposed to a band who are looking to the past for inspiration).  As I mentioned when I previously visited SIERPIEN, body of work is immense, compelling, varied...you are encouraged to get lost. I did, and I still do. 

Реновация 

HAWK

"Once upon a time, there was a garden. The garden bloomed. She stood naked, she stood proud."

The instant you hear the opening lines to HAWK's 1972 opus Africa, She Too Can Cry, you know this is not going to be another rock 'n roll listening experience. Johannesburg's most notable heavy rock export of the '70s manage to wrap the previous decade's hippie/protest rock up in a bundle with no limits operatic assemblages and gratuitous cultural appropriation to create a stunning record...even if it enjoying requires a touch more latitude than I typically grant myself. Musically...what about FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND tempered with THREE DOG NIGHT? Does that raise your eyebrow? "Rolling Of The Bones" and "The Elephant Must Die" are solid floor jammers, and the bloke who put this cassette together was nice enough to throw a few non-LP cuts from era appropriate 45s at the end of the album, including the aquarian "In My Youth" and their biggest commercial hit "Orang Otang" (thinking of this song having anything approaching commercial success is really bizarre to my 2021 ears). Something about a bunch of white dudes in 1972 South Africa singing about the power, beauty and conflict of a continent colonized and enslaved by...well, a bunch of white dudes...it tastes a little off. But hell, I wasn't there, and maybe they were on the right side of the fight.

 

AFRICA, SHE TOO CAN CRY

Also, getting this in a package of over the top noise and harsh power electronics tapes was a real treat, so there's that. Try rolling from the EMASCULATE REGRESSION tape right into "The Return."

It's a trip...

MOMMY

When NYC's MOMMY started rumbling a few years ago, I kinda figured it was a result of the who as much as it was a case of the what. Folks from PERDITION, SAD BOYS, L.O.T.I.O.N., CERVIX and a host of other new York acts joining forces in a damaged, chaotic trio is going to turn some heads regardless, and that's understandable, but listening to this 2015 demo I almost wonder how many people made it through the who and actually sunk teeth into the what. The drums are treated as contributing instrumentation - they sound destroyed, off-putting, the distortion in a noise punk band while the bass drives the songs. Words are delivered with a fury that can only be described as a realized hatred...it's teenage adolescent desperation offered with the hindsight of young adulthood and the benefit of emotional freedom....even while emotional peace remains out of reach. Is that a stretch? Are they just having a go? Listen to "Tiny Dancer" and ask yourself that question again. 

 

MOMMY

TRADEMARK

 

If you look back at flyers for early '90s DIY shows in Wisconsin, you'll see the name TRADEMARK a lot - and since many of those shows were attended (or organized) by my wife, I have seen their name more than most over the past 25 years. Until I got a loaner package from Dug a couple of weeks ago I had never heard the band, but now I've had the clunky chorus to "Trendy Rebels" stuck in my head and there seems to be no relief aside from the hopelessly damaged guitar that kicks the breakdown in "World Disaster." Walkin The Dogma is a blur...a loose, earnest (read: honest), chaotic punk attack created by a bunch of kids. There are moments that are just blistering Midwestern hardcore punk ("Nightmare Of Confusion" is probably the purest example), but TRADEMARK go off on weird tangents, often trying to play material they don't have the chops to pull off in the process....and that's what made this listen worth the wait. Thanks Dug, and visitors will be happy to know there are still more than a dozen relics waiting in that loaner package. 

WALKIN THE DOGMA

Yes, CAREER SUICIDE used the same nuns a decade (plus) later. 

MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI

 

Once again, I'm not really qualified to discuss Amma with anything approaching authority - my background is simply the result of a general (and genuine) curiosity. I heard about Mata Amritanandamayi in 2004, and I watched a fellow from Helsinki I was on tour with talk about her at length with our host in Amherst, Massachusetts (they had both been hugged by her - that's how they met, in fact).  So it's a thing, a really big thing. And not surprisingly there's a sound that goes with it. 

BHAJANS Vo.3

BLAST FOR ME

 

No cover. 

Tape says BLAST FOR ME on both sides. 

Five minutes of ripping fastcore/grind...

....with samples about drugs and enchiladas. 

You know what to do. 

BLAST FOR ME

PERSONAL STYLE

A relatively recent release, and one that has stuck with me even though (or especially because) it falls well outside of my typical sphere. Buffalo's PERSONAL STYLE are doubtless well oiled and ready, the six songs here are ready for mass consumption, even by commercial standard. But there's a thing buried in their particular brand of hard indie, and you get the feeling that this particular thing that makes them bloom is the very seed from which they have grown. The hiccup in the drums after the chorus in "Bubble Yum," the way the backing vocals haunt the mix rather than dominate it, the single note picking in the chorus of the otherwise hard driving "Defensive," the booming '70s bass rumble - everything is clean, polished, professional...yet it still sounds like punks are behind this. So I guess if it's all a ruse then I'll just tip my hat to PERSONAL STYLE. 

PERSONAL STYLE

 

AMONG THE THUGS

 

1994 East Bay punk that sounds like...well, it sounds like East Bay punk from 1994. It sounds like sweaty shows - shows that were sparsely attended, but intense and transformative for the people who were there. It sounds like JAWBREAKER were the unspoken influence on even the bands who claimed they didn't like JAWBREAKER. It sounds like 924 Gilman Street on a Saturday when you didn't even know who was playing and you just went because....because that's what you did, and that's where you went. It sounds like the band that you bonded with in Columbus or Pueblo while you were traveling East and they were traveling West (or vice versa), the band who you still consider friends today. At least that's what it sounds like to me. 

AMONG THE THUGS

STEVE SPINALI '77 PUNK SPECIAL

 A crucial 75 minutes of '77 punk presented by long time Maximum Rocknroll contributor Steve Spinali when he was a DJ on Berkeley's KALX. The best part about listening to this broadcast is knowing that all the hardcores in 1985 probably hated this shit because BITCH BOYS and THE JOLT weren't nearly as hard as CORROSION OF CONFORMITY or BGK. And while that's technically true....Steve's show fucking rules. Sets dedicated to Dangerhouse bands, Swedish punk, '77 UK (a set that includes UK SUBS and CRASS) and bands who dropped a killer single or two before going on to be big pop stars. The adverts are a nice touch as well, on this broadcast from November 1985. 

STEVE SPINALI '77 PUNK SEPCIAL 

GUNS N' ROSA PARKS

More under appreciated '00s rippers, this time in the form of five searing cuts from Denver rippers GUNS MN' ROSA PARKS. They had a nice run of singles in the '00s, and dropped a devastating posthumous batch of unreleased gems last year (put together really nicely too, I might add), but as typical as it may sound....I keep coming back to this tape. The 27 seconds of "Glass Bottomed Boat" alone are enough, but there are like 330 more seconds after that. They deliver, you win. 

GUNS N' ROSA PARKS

CINDER

The third cut on CINDER's 2005 tour tape is called "You Can't buy The Kids," and it's simply one of the raddest posi fastcore tracks of the mid '00s - the kind of song that reminds you why there are formulas that many bands follow. The kind of song that reminds you why you love fast hardcore. CINDER were a couple of years behind the explosion that started in the late '90s, and I think their output gets overlooked as a result. But now we have 20/21 hindsight (see what I did there?), and what is the real difference between 2001 and 2005? Basically nothing. Check their final 12" Barcelona , it didn't come out until 2010 but it's an absolute stunner. Six tracks here and not a dull moment among them - the real highlight might be "En Pie De Guerra," which later appeared on Barcelona. Just honest, ripping hardcore punk. Music for skating, for hanging out with your friends, for making new friends, for singing along. I do miss this shit....I really do. 

DEMO 05

FILTH OF MANKIND

The churning stench of Poland's FILTH OF MANKIND has been well documented, so I guess this is another one that shouldn't need too much introduction. Hard to believe The Final Chapter is twenty years old, but its bleak power is timeless.  

 

THE FINAL CHAPTER

BO DIDDLEY

 

For all of the distorted bombast that dominates the world of outsider punk consumption, it's hard to image anything this side of Kawakami whipping young adults into a blind sweaty fervor as Bo Diddley in 1959. Recorded live in front of a bunch of Cornell University students who probably thought they were just going to a regular frat party...and found themselves placed under his spell. Bookended by the raucous "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Bo Says Night," Cornell Spring Weekend is a series of slow swinging standards and southern stomps - the fast and loose attack turns back the clock on the roots of punk and the repetition nods to Krautrock monotony long before there was even an inkling of such a thing. I might be reaching here but....I don't think so. The folks at Loathed Sound (I miss you) slapped an audio collage of Diddley clips and snips on the flip side, and includes a studio version "Hey Go Go" in its entirety. Not hard to see why the suburban grown ups were scared shitless of this motherfucker. 

CORNELL SPRING WEEKEND 1959

OUTCRY

 

Much has been written about OUTCRY and much has been said about the life of the singer Rosie, who passed away far too young.  So here's the 2017 tape release, here's a link to the rest of their music (and Rosie's related project CRY OUT too). And look out for your friends. 

OUTCRY

====================================

PRICE OF SILENCE

Fiercely '90s (and simply fierce) DIY hardcore from Adelaide. The tracks here make up their 1994 demo, likely transferred to an unmarked cassette by a longtime friend of mine when he was on a nine month Pacific trek that included a sojourn in Australia long enough for him to start a band. The replication is a little blown out, but I would submit these are sounds meant to be cranked up real high, in the red, intensity over fidelity. 

PRICE OF SILENCE
I'm gonna guess that Mr. Gatewood is going to like this one. ..

BRAIN V.

 

Two doses of hard swinging '80s new wave boogie from Maine. You can't really tell which direction BRIAN V. is trying to go, but "Coke Princess" has second rate Rat Pack montage oozing from its chords, while the rockabilly flare "Ninja" lands somewhere closer to a Saved By The Bell (outtake) interlude. While it's weird to imagine DIY artists striving for a place alongside THE KNACK or VAPORS until you think that of course there were newer, independent bands reaching for commercial success, and inevitably some of them would have written would-be and should've-been hits that were destined to languish in obscurity. "Coke Princess" is one of those. 

COKE PRINCESS // NINJA

The problem is your nose, it couldn't be clearer.

It's either in the air or...on the mirror. 

COMBINED EFFORT

 

What do you do when you love playing hardcore and all of the people you hang out with all the time also love playing hardcore? You write songs. And you record them. Because they're good. Even if you're (all) already in other bands, you're not constrained by the style of your other projects - no expectations and no prior presence means no rules. So if you wan't to write a batch of '97 Youth Crew revival bangers, then you write a motherfucking batch of '97 Youth Crew bangers.  And you blink, and there's a demo. Maybe there's only one, but it slams. 

COMBINED EFFORT

Crank that windmill riff into the breakdown of "Learned Nothing." Brutal. 

HEARTWORK

First demo from Niigata's HEARTWORK, whose two EPs and split with MASAKARI are some of the best under the radar Japanese hardcore of the '00s. I kinda want to just leave it there, and let these 5 1/2 songs say everything else....so I'll just add that out of all of my trips to Japan, seeing HEARTWORK in Saitama in 2009 was an absolute highlight. Pay special attention to the opening 1:12 of "Worthless."

 

HEARTWORK

ZWEI KREISE

 

Parisian minimal techno flavored by ambient passages and a foundation in the monotony of break beat repetition. "Background music" sounds like a dig, but that is exactly how I hear 2017's Silvarum/Rvlen, a recording that takes you to another places while staying with you wherever you are. A recording that is ultimately pleased if you listen with any consciousness at your disposal. 

SILVARUM/RVLEN

Physical and digital copies from Chicago's Jacktone. 

JÆNG

 

Bombastic DBeat delivered with the urgency of a barebones fastcore band, JÆNG just blaze their way through these six songs like it's a race. Even "Psycho," the obligatory midpaced mosher (because every DBeat record needs one) runs constantly in the red, and when the breakdown drops to take you to the end of the song...? Ooof. The tracks are far from straightforward - JÆNG create and conquer their own challenge by forming complex structures within the strict framework of DBeat crustpunk, using the distortion as an element to the sound in much the same manner as PHYSIQUE later would (worth noting that the bands share members). Listen loud, listen repeatedly, because this tape from 2016 is all you get. 

JÆANG 2016

ROIL

 

ROIL would have fit in nicely with early '90s East Bay fare, though I don't recall seeing the name until I recently came across this demo. The (209) area code implies Central Valley, and since third tier scenes seem relegated to just one historically important band per era, maybe they were overshadowed by PLAID RETINA...? Or maybe they just popped in to record at House Of Faith (if you know, you know)? Or maybe they existed in a different orbit? Farmhouse released a 10" so they weren't complete outsiders, but...? Regardless, the material is extremely strong - emotive DIY hardcore that drinks from the same stream as the black clad Gilman bands (MULTI FACET, PAXTON QUIGGLY), but they dip into full on '90s basement emo on "New One," the title of which is a veritable ode to the genre. A distinct Cobain rasp lingers throughout the entire recording ("Heritage" in particular) - an indicator of the era and also a minor piece of familiarity for first time listeners (as I was).  It's gotten better as I've listened  more...which makes me wonder how many more second tier bands are waiting to be unearthed. The answer is, undoubtedly, "many." And that's why we keep digging. 

THE PROSE

TOXIC REASONS

 

Independence, the first TOXIC REASONS full length, is a perfect record, that's just a fact. So today I offer you the opportunity to listen to it with new ears. The ears of a teenager in the Bay Area circa 1982, getting your blank tape ready for the stroke of midnight so you could snag a free dub of the KALX Album Of The Week. You would record every week, just as I did every Sunday at 9pm in Ponca City, Oklahoma - tweaking the knobs just so and trying to decide whether 100.5 KATT from Oklahoma City or 97.5 KMOD in Tulsa was going to have better reception and choosing which album to record based on how they would sound the next day in my Walkman rather that what they were...because I wanted all of them. But the kids tuning to 90.7 in Berkeley every Wednesday weren't getting treated to the (then) new DEEP PURPLE record or some live PINK FLOYD boot like I was...they were getting fucking TOXIC REASONS. Though the whole record is flawless, "Killer" (still) stuns me every time - and I swear there's something extra shit hot about hearing this record like this. 

INDEPENDENCE

MAXIMUM ERNST with DANIEL CARTER

 

I spent some time with the latest MAXIMUM ERNST Menace/Hallmark 12" l last week, a dizzying journey into sound. I don't mean joining forces with sound to take a trip, I mean actual immersion...becoming the piece as the piece evolves. It's beautifully and subtly harsh, truly excellent. Then I revisited the Live At Legion Hall release from 2019, which showcases the duo joining forces with horn player Daniel Carter for thirty minutes of extreme improvisation. It's hard to tell if a free jazz outfit found noise core or if James Blood Ulmer wandered into a WHITEHOUSE session, but these three New Yorkers have nailed their second collaboration so pointedly that I feel their experiment (and the experience) deserves its own title. I was consumed. And then I went back and listened to the 12" again with different ears, because the things these folks are doing right now are....they are something else. 

LIVE AT LEGION HALL