I felt like someone just splashed cold water in my face when I put on THE UNVOICED - this shit shocked me thirty years into my own past and made me feel like it was all new again. The Gatewood! cassette is scrappy, snotty, feisty DIY punk from a time (1990) when USHC influences were still dominant but bands were straying in their own (weird) directions. The vocals will make you smile and cringe...and sing along: don't think about what you want but what you have // and if we come across as a little weird, you're not so normal yourseeeeeeeelllfff
But even better than those eleven songs is the other North Carolina shit some punk used to fill up the rest of the tape. The demo from YOUTHFUL IRREGULARITY is brilliant early Dischord worship with a posi tinge - possibly my favorite discovery on the whole tape. Quintessential DIY basement hardcore from TONKA - an eight song rehearsal with songs like "Butt-Ass" and "Co-Ed Dance Song" and a couple of funk breakdowns that may or may not have been tongue in cheek, but their accents alone are worth the price of admission (and a couple of these kids went on to ASSFACTOR 4). Three raw hardcore rippers from Raleigh's LIVING IS SHAME (who might actually be called LIVING IN SHAME?). An eight song dose of catchy hardcore from RIGHTS RESERVED, and a you Al Burian fronting CELIBATE COMMANDOS on what's listed as the Food For Thought demo, though I can't find most of these tracks anywhere else. All of this shit is listed as being from 1990 or 1991, and I give all thanks to the young punk who decided that THE UNVOICED just wasn't enough...
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