PRETTY LITTLE FLOWER

 

Stalwarts of Gulf Coast Grindcore for more than two decades, PRETTY LITTLE FLOWER are one of the finest and most consistent examples of the genre. Shit is tight like a lid on your casket, the amped up early thrash riffing on the slower parts (which are still fast of course - "Pinned Beneath The Flaming Wreckage" as a perfect example) set them apart from knuckle-dragging hoards and the pure relentlessness is unparalleled. 2014's Ultimate Whirlwind Of Incineration was maybe their fourth album and it's an absolute clinic....I'm gonna stop talking - find your volume knob and activate it. 

ULTIMATE WHIRLWIND OF INCINERATION

 

BEHAVIOR

 

It's hard to explain why (how?) this BEHAVIOR tape hits so hard. Relatively hesitant, murky, no-fi dream pop ain't typically my thing over here, but....when it works, maybe it's best to not spend too much time questioning why? Just press play and let it soak in.

P.S. + THE BETTER HOUSE

ANGEL LUST

 

Oh yes - I don't know how I passed this behemoth from San Jose in real time, but all hail my hoarding tendencies and a burning desire to listen to everything at least once. You can listen to ANGEL LUST once, but I advice volume and focus to prepare yourself for the very real possibility that you might not get a second chance....there might not be anything left. Five bursts of filthy grinding hardcore delivered with OSDM ferocity, it's a fucking shame that this tape was all that ANGEL LUST have to the world, but it's possible that they imploded after they finished this masterpiece. And fair enough if they did.

ANGEL LUST

2ND COMING

Snail mail Los Angeles address and a (310) area code scrawled on the inside (but no email), so I'm going to guess late '90s here - but the sound is what really dates 2ND COMING, and that is not a dig. NYC style crossover (think SOD, ANTHRAX) with serious SUICIDAL vibes (check the solo on "The Blame" - dropping right into the funk break). It's so hard trying to imagine this band even existing in the new millennium....

2ND COMING

 

FREMEN

 

Nothing to say other than a simple, humble request: read the title. 

If this is what that sounds like...

If this is what that feels like...

Then I'm ready to pack my bags. 

TIME TRAVEL

DISCARGA

 

Playing with DISCARGA in Brazil was something else. We spent a week with them in 2002 and they laid waste to everything. Every night. I posted this demo in 2014 but I've been blasting a lot of early '00s fastcore lately and DISCARGA just keeps coming up...because they were awesome. That's all. 

DISCARGA 2000

DISHUMAN

 

Five blasts of by-the-books DBeat repetition, delivered with every ounce of raw fury the (sub)genre demands. Bands can use more than two riffs if they want...but DISHUMAN makes it clear that the extra riffs aren't really necessary. "Hate For This System" on repeat all damn day. 

DEMO 2021

VAN HALEN

I listened to VH as much as any other band in my pre-new wave 1980s - I remember how fucking bummed I was listening to OU812 at a track meet (the only track meet I ever attended - should have called it quits on Van Hagar too, but I digress...). This tape was passed around for years as pre-Van Halen I demos, and while I don't actually know the source here (I suspect these recordings are later, but someone else knows and they're going to leave a comment and the burning mystery will be solved) I know that I love cranking these rough-ass bass heavy versions of early classics that I have spent a lifetime with. Roth's growl in the chorus of "House Of Pain," Anthony's swinging bass in "Woman In Love," the beginnings of the backing vocals that put a stamp on the band even more than Eddie's guitar, a gloriously raw version of "On Fire" and thirteen examples of what an American Hard Rock band is supposed to sound like. Genre defining is one thing....generation defining is something else. 

DEMO 

SYRANAX

 

I posted this in the (very) early days of The Escape but I was blasting it the other day and...well, here you go. Primal, demonic Texas speed/thrash circa 1987 - "Face The Blade" on repeat, motherfucker. 

ANNIHILATION OF CIVILIZATION

REVENGE

 

Live German punk captured in the Baltic city of Lübek almost thirty five years ago. Raw, loose, fiery, off the rails...I mean, that's what you're after, right? Fidelity queens look elsewhere.

"FINALE" LIVE IN LÜBEK 21/10/88

GLAAS

 

This is how you do it. You're about to drop an LP and you know it's a killer, so you tease your would-be listeners and soon-to-be fans with a three songs tape and in (far) less than seven minutes they (we) are hungry. This is what GLAAS did back in 2021, and please believe that I snatched that LP and slapped it on the turntable as fast as I could. Guitars are cold and sharp, keyboards never dominate - they just remind you periodically that this is different. And it is. ICE AGE and/or INTERPOL vibes from a band that is....punk. "Concrete Coffin" is the hit of the century - of course I know that we are barely a quarter of the way through the century but will you please just let me have my moment?

GLAAS

STARING PROBLEM

 

FUCKFACE would have totally played with this band in 1996. Shit, maybe we did and I was high. Eight doses of energetic, raucous, catchy hardcore punk recorded in two hours. Is this essential....? Nope. Was I stoked to blast it...? Yup. 

STARING PROBLEM

BELGRADE X•0•19

 

This thing is like a fukkn feed bag and I'm like a hungry ass animal burying my snout inside and furiously rooting for morsels. Twenty six morsels from ten different bands inside Belgrade X•0•19 - most of whom only popped up on regional comps, and a couple (FORWARD TO DEATH, LESSON) seem to have made their only appearance here. Hardcore, dark punk and thrash from the likes of CODEX OF DEATH, CRIST, K.Z.V., THRASHAGAIN, TOTAL DESTRUCTION, N.B.G, WHITE RABBIT BAND and D.L.H. - a solid hour of Belgrade cicra 1986. 

BELGRADE X•0•19

SAUDADE

 

In the (my) old world, in a different realm, I translated saudade as it applied to my reality. I interpreted saudade as it suited my reality. I paired the word with more fathomable words like 'longing' and I tried to make saudade comprehensible. Longing implies absence....but what of a word that puts meaning to absence? A word with such mass that it pulls absence itself into orbit and crushes longing in the black hole of loss? What of a word whose very meaning implies hopelessness and desperation in the face of possibility and love? And what of an artist that can capture all of that in the opening seconds of "The Double" - shortened, mechanical breaths serenaded by the comforting voices of impossibilities? The artist is SAUDADE, and The Hooded Ones is best enjoyed alone. Perhaps The Hooded Ones is best not enjoyed at all...perhaps it's best to listen, to feel, and to want. 

THE HOODED ONES

PLEASURE BLADE

 

If you tried to describe PLEASURE BLADE to me I would probably pass. I would probably not be interested. You might say it's kinda dreary and atonal, but that it was also loose and almost amateurish sounding. You might talk about the slow screwed jangly guitars in "State Fair" distracting from the vocals that are just....dark and off - not like drunk and damaged, just...off. You might even mention say that PLEASURE BLADE land like a(nother) '90s indie/grunge/alt throwback and you wouldn't be (entirely) wring and I would probably pass. And that would be my loss, because everything here...works. So I'm not going to describe PLEASURE BLADE. I'm not going to talk about how they sound or what their songs reming me of. I'm just going to say that I recommend listening to Gangstalkers while you're alone. And And I'm going to say that, like so many of the good things, PLEASURE BLADE makes more sense when you're finished that they will when you start.

GANGSTALKERS

TIME ADDICT

 

If not the latest...then why not simply an/other? A careful improvisational manipulation of horn and noise from the folks at Music For People that lands with the uncertainty required to actually (much less effectively) manage the greater this. There's is some structure, perhaps even some meaning. There is also madness. 

BATHING IN THE BIG W.E.B.

THE ANNIHILATED

 

Last years Submission To Annihilation was one of the fiercest to grace my ears, but there's something about this teaser tape that keeps me coming back to it. Three songs from the LP delivered live and raw and backed with a damaged fuckall remix of "Liberation" that's longer than the other three songs combined. Unrelenting, in your face hardcore..you want to feel hate? You want to feel desperation? You want to feel annihilated?

ANARKIA!

GUILTY CONNECTOR

 

There are times when music doesn't suffice. Times when everything is so....much....that a hook or a chorus or even a distortion laden two note guitar solo and throat searing vocals just won't do the trick. The itch for chaos is too intense and you need less structure and/or more chaos. You need sound that will meet you on your level, and your level is, quite frankly, low. Enter GUILTY CONNECTOR. Japanese crust violence noise lord of the highest order, delivering electronics that are measured, calculated, and fucking debilitating. Deathmaster III clocks in just under twenty minutes and when it's finished it's all you can do to remind yourself to breathe. That's when the good experiences do....they make you forget everything else. 

DEATHMASTER III

CRIMENES DE GUERRA

 

The ferocity on CRIMENES DE GUERRA's Alto A La Viviseccion is undeniable...brutal, raw Mexican political hardcore not at all suitable for folks searching for subtlety. Multiple vocal, tuning optional, intensity guaranteed - listen to "De Igual A Igual" and tell me you've heard three chords delivered with this level of determination. 

ALTO A LA VIVISECCION

MAGISTRATE'S HEAD ON A STICK

 

I still intend to post compilations every Friday, it just doesn't always work out that way. Today though, feast your ears on a collection of European hardcore with a healthy focus on UK hitters. Extra bonus awesome points because before this tape I was only familiar with SELFISH and P.U.S. and now I have a whole fukkn slew of bands that I need in my life...that's what comps are for, of course. 

MAGISTRATE'S HEAD ON A STICK...NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL JUSTICE!!

CRABAPPLE

 

You know, it's just so...sweet. The songs are good, subtly catchy and innocent in the dreamiest way. But CRABAPPLE were just...sweet. If this had dropped in the 1991 Simple Machines world then we'd still be talking about them (and fiending over the records) today, but instead the were from '10s San Jose and here's this really good tape you should enjoy.

IS IT YOU

BODYVEHICLE

 

I saw this on a shelf and....it spoke to me. There were other things on the self, but this one spoke to me. It presented well, which is part of the process of course (it's undeniable) but it also spoke to me and that is indefinable. Then I let BODYVEHICLE in...I had no idea. I let BODYVEHICLE in and I am consumed. These sounds, the amplified voices of crystals - once I hear them...it's not that I can't hear anything else, it's that I don't want to. And today, I won't. Today, these will be the sounds in my ears, and the thoughts in my head will be about how this tape, on that shelf, surrounded by all of those other tapes...this tape chose me, and I accepted.  

AMPLIFIED VOICES OF CRYSTALS

UNCLE

 

I feel like I'm going to be re/discovering essential things that I missed for basically the rest of my life. Ten minutes of pure and brutal bass and drum destruction from Canada's Atlantic Provinces (don't..fucking..get..me. started). Desperate, furtive, brutal, frantic....totally fucking wild. 

PRIMATA

GAZ

 

Absolute ramshackle scorcher coming at you from the late teens and kicking your fukkn ass. These kids are (were) complete savages...the guitars are from another planet - same guitarist as IN SCHOOL but the riffs and riffing are more unhinged and more honed, which makes no sense, but it's part of what makes this thing such a monster. Listen to Golnar yell "How Do We Remember...?" and know that GAZ is not ahead of you...they're just playing an entirely different game. 

GAZ

MAGNETIZER

 

Another sonic escape from MAGNETIZER. The combination of beats and blips hits just right, and even though these sounds were made for the night, it's exactly what I needed this morning. Exactly what I need this morning. There's more, or there's this...

ABYSSIAN

STATEMENT // SOLSTICE

 

Wild bursts of anarcho-noise from STATEMENT, brooding anarcho-goth from SOLSTICE. The song listed as "X Marks The Plot" is probably actually a STATEMENT track, but these damn dadaists made the cover next to impossible to decipher and there are no titles for the STATEMENT tracks anyways. I can only do so much...also, I strongly suspect that SOLSTICE = BLACK SOLSTICE (who are connected to CYANIDE SCENARIO) so I'm posting prematurely because what I really want to do is dig in deeper. Instead I'm just listening again...which is also fine. 

STATEMENT // SOLSTICE

KILLRATIO

 

Brutal melodic crust from Philippines, KILLRATIO were one of the best bands CONQUEST FOR DEATH played with on the Australasian tour in 2008, and the show in Lucena is one of my favorites that I've played anywhere (ever). A blistering studio recording and a raw as fukk live set on this cassette, and motherfukkr would I love to see this band again. 

NOT DEAD YET

ARIADNE

 

THIS stopped me dead in my tracks. Today of all days, this day (not actually today, but an earlier day) when nothing worked how it was meant to work, the day (almost) nothing went as planned (until it did), the day I ached for the known and the out of reach...this was the day ARIADNE found me and stopped me dead. The sound of soothing distress; out of sorts, lost, beautiful, known, familiar...distant. Stopped me dead. Made me feel cold, and made me feel seen. Heard. Known. You need to spend time with ARIADNE, as they did with me on this day (again, not actually this day...it was a recent Monday). "Nourishment" will fill your mind with impossible sonic scenarios while "Cast Down The Flesh Of Your Body" will fill your soul with the sound of the possible. Seize upon the possible and perhaps anything is...truly...possible. Sound cannot do, but sound can guide. And on this day (which was, as I have said, not actually today) ARIADNE led me to, and then through, a beautiful place. Led me to the place from which I write these words today. Actually...today. I'm grateful. 

STABAT MATER

THE JONBENET STRANGLEHOLD

 

We're not gonna talk about the cover. Or the title. Or...the band name. It was the '90s and there were buttons that people felt the need to push, that's all. We are going to talk about the tape, which is..fine. Monterey is essentially Bay Area, but it's also totally not - like Allentown to Philadelphia or some shit, but a weird confluence of rural and money and tourists...and high energy shit punk. This is the sound of Libertatia, of HazMat - even though the band existed outside the orbit of one and before the time of the other. Wanna get too drunk and say the wrong thing...? THE JONBEBET STRANGLEHOLD are right there with you. 

WHO'S YOUR DADDY?!?

DEATH CONVENTION SINGERS

Nothing sounds like DEATH CONVENTION SINGERS...nothing. A free jazz psychedelic harsh noise collective from New Mexico who deliver...nay, conjure....sounds from another plane. Glenn Branca rebirthed in the unforgiving SouthWest. These are sounds that transport you to there. To their place. 

A THREAD, A BRAID

 

DEATH PATROL

 

A couple of tracks on under the radar comps is all I've come across before, which makes this studio session even more special. Raw, rough, fiery Welsh punk from DEATH PATROL - nine tracks recorded in the early '80s, climaxing with the bizarre "Grizzly Dub" that makes me wonder what else this outfit could have done if only time had given them the chance. 

DEATH PATROL