HUMAN

 

Gloriously blown out chaos from the sun baked streets of Fresno, California - HUMAN make it clear they are the real fukkn deal long before this five minute demo is over. Maximum energy high distortion pogo freaks, exactly the kind of noise I want when I need to be reminded what a fukkn shit we're in. These are folks responsible for Power Glove Dub and a deadly series of DIY gigs and happenings, including a pop-up shop in Fresno's Tower District this afternoon....so if you find yourself rolling up (or down) CA-99 then you've got yet another reason to stop and hang out for a spell. I mean...if you like punk. You like punk...don't you? 

HUMAN

ABYSSAL

 

Doom is hard y'all. And when you're setting up in a sweltering warehouse to play for a cowd of maybe half a dozen people...? Doom gets real real hard. That was the scenario facing Tijuana's ABYSSAL afew weeks ago in Fresno, and I was one of the "maybe half a dozen" in attendance. They got their shit dialed in and calmly announced 'We're going to play one long song for you" and then embarked on an absolutely epic journey of sound. You could hear a pin drop in that warehouse during the introduction...and then came the tonnage. This is the hard part - because doom is (to a large extent a formula) and the audience often knows what's coming, the artist needs to surprise the listener with the how more than the what. And when ABYSSAL got heavy that night, we weren't surprised as much as we were completely blown away. It was hot, the room was awkward, and the band was mesmerizing....doom might be hard, but that night it was as if there was nothing else in this world more important than doom. It was perfect, and listening to A Deep Sea Funeral will always take me back there. 

A DEEP SEA FUNERAL

ROTTERS

The nerds are gonna know "Sit On My Face Stevie Nicks" (the nerds-in-training should get to know it) and there's a solid retrospective LP that came out in the '00s that captures a lot of the brilliant madness of THE ROTTERS. But tape traders....man, those fools had our backs before we were even paying attention. This discretely (read: poorly) labeled cassette has two brilliant bare bones ROTTERS sessions, one labeled Moor Punk College Session (1979) and one label Mystic Session (1984) and I swear if the fools who collected material for the aforementioned LP had had access to this tape then it would have been a double album. "Thank God I'm Damned" sounds demonic, "Autolobotomy" hits like a lost KBD burner, "Delousing Shower" is like DWARVES with roughshod GERMS energy. These songs are absolutely in your face and the recordings are about as perfect as you can ask for. So if you're tryna get a little dirty this Wednesday morning...then look no further. 

THE ROTTERS - MYSTIC & MOOR(E)

THE ROTTERS - MYSTIC & MOOR(E)

DEFACEMAN

 

The Yard Sale For World Peace family of artists is exactly what I want from a label and a group of creators; I never know what I to expect and I always expect that I will be engaged and intrigued. DEFACEMAN playing A Poem About You is no exception (of course) and after several consecutive listens I am still wrapping my head around a truly magnificent collection of sounds. Outsider poetry, primitive punk, reimagined sound....interesting. "Interesting" as in: a cassette that holds your interest. This is what the special artists offer us, and I am (still) here for it. 

DEFACEMAN PLAYS A POEM FOR YOU

LEBENDEN TOTEN // SKITKIDS

 

This tape was released twenty years ago. 

Let that sit there for a minute. 

This tape was released twenty years ago. 

•••

When I first started posting on Terminal Escape in 2009, I was sharing seminal UK crust demos that were just barely twenty years old. And now...I'm posting a split between two bands who are my contemporaries, and the tape is twenty years old. 

Weird things happen when you don't die, I suppose. 

DISTORT THRASH DISTORT HOPE

KONTRA

 

Fist banging beer pounding street punk from San Jose.

  Walk these streets is what we do / Can't you see that we're sick of you.

I'm wondering what exactly it is you're waiting for, punk? 

TERROR CONSTANTE

MOCK EXECUTION

When MOCK EXECUTION exploded out of Chicago a few years ago it kinda felt like the floor dropped out from underneath me. It wasn't that we'd never heard anything like them, it was just that MOCK EXECUTION did the shit better. The riffs were fire (like, every single riff was fire) and the delivery harnessed a ferocity that defied description. And now....a half decade and several heralded vinyl releases after that first tape split my ears into pieces, Milwaukee's Unlawful Assembly gives them a platform to demonstrate that they still dominate the cassette format. 

 

REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE

KOSHER CLASSICS

 

You think it's going to be a tape with songs about hot dogs when you pick it up at the thrift store, and it's only a quarter so fuck it, right? But there are no songs about hot dogs. There's a song called "Makin' Whoopee" and there are some show tunes from Milk And Honey and Marry Me! Marry Me! and I'm really not sure that any other songs have anything to to with hot dogs except "Coney Island" but even that's a stretch. I used to eat hot dogs on Roman Meal wheat bread with mayonnaise.

MUSIC THAT ANSWERS TO A HIGHER AUTHORITY

WEAPONIZED FLESH

 

Sometimes it's wise to sit down and take stock of your surroundings before you blast a cassette for the first time because, if you're like me, you might find yourself lost, confused and searching for your ass after the first track. It can be disorienting to not know where (or who) you are when you realize that your ass has just been blown off, so I suggest proper preparation before blasting WEAPONIZED FLESH for the first time. After that first listen? After that first blasting? Game on, motherfucker - you're gonna realize that you didn't even need that ass anyway and the whole Who am I? Where am I? quandry is going to see so very petty and meaningless. 

HURTFUL

MALICIOUS EXISTENCE

 

Face ripping grindcrust from Naga, Philippines, rooted firmly in 2000s fastcore/thrash mania. You only get ten minutes here (two of which are spent on samples in the truest '90 PV/grind/crust tradition) but MALICIOUS EXISTENCE prove their point on the eponymous opening track and spend the rest of the tape driving it home. Crushing slows are your only respite until "Personal Hell" comes to a merciful end and you can exhale - this is an all killer, no filler, no bullshit, black clad sonic assault. There's more where this came from, but Operation Noise Pollution will keep you busy for a brutal minute.

OPERATION NOISE POLLUTION

PARLAG

 

Some of the nastiest raw black metalpunk I have ever heard comes from Budapest. Paper thin no-fi treble rebels blasting impossibly bleak sonic destruction over the course of six movements....steel yourselves. You're welcome.

PARLAG

THE WASTED

If the punx aren't doing it for the punx, then why are the punx even punx?

PUNX FOR PUNX

 

TÉLÉCOMMANDE

 

Here's another repost. Even though TÉLÉCOMMANDE's swan song only popped up here five or six years ago, I recently snagged a copy with a cover and I know that if I just quietly edited a post from 2018 then something like zero people would even notice. My admittedly mild OCD would be satisfied, but that wouldn't do shit for the minions who have yet to experience this brilliant but relatively short lived French outfit. I mentioned SOVIETTES and SPITS when I first posted this tape in 2018 and I'm gonna stick by those references while I think about how much you're going to enjoy spending your Sunday  listening to high energy French punk with heavy synths. Lots of tasty morsels in those old posts...treat yourself. You're worth it.

EN LÍGNE DE MIRE

SQUELCH CHAMBER

 

As much as I liked the Everything Turns To Shit release from Wet Cassettes, this recording from Philadelphia's SQUELCH CHAMBER is absolutely feral. All consuming grind tracks devour themselves as the band descends into sludge and noise portals to create an indescribably terrifying assemblage of sounds that nods to Fair Warning-era VAN HALEN and MUERAN HUMANS of back-to-back tracks. Not only is it that varied, but Much Drugs is simply that fucking good. Listening to this tape is a white knuckle experience from start to finish, and I am truly in awe. 

MUCH DRUGS

DELTOIDS

 

Absolte face melter from Berlin's DELTOIDS. It's hard to believe that a band can drop a recording that's this essential and then just drop out, but it seems like that's exactly what they did. I suppose if you're going to leave the world with six minutes of music then you might as well make then count, which is exactly what these cats did. So blast "Lab" all damn day and wish that you were one of the lucky ones who got to see DELTOIDS live. 

DELTOIDS

ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND

 

Stalwarts of the Manila punk scene for nearly thirty years, ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND keep cranking out essential records and show no signs of mellowing. 2020's Kalbaryu is a master clinic in catchy street punk - a timeless recording that transcends scene, genre and region from a band still fiercely connected to (and integral to) the DIY scene in Philippines. Sometimes the best things are so perfectly executed that all you can do is shrug and say "yeah - of course it's that good." And this is what ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND have been doing for longer than many of their fans have been alive.

KALBARYU

MYSTERIOUS SKIN

 

Kinda blows my mind that MYSTERIOUS SKIN never made it to wax. The last 15 seconds of "Red Light" are as good as half this shit that came out in 2014 and the opening riff from "Wet Trash" is like if CFD's "Double Standard Bearer" was a way better song. I only saw them once, and they were every bit as good as this eight song suggests they might have been. Nine minutes - that's all the time MYSTERIOUS SKIN needed to cram hook laden ferocity into your earholes. The best nine minutes of your miserable day, I'm guessing.

MYSKN

FUTUR INCIERTO

 

If you feel like spending time with melodic '90s punk bands from Peru, then might I suggest starting with Lima's FUTUR INCIERTO? I know what you're thinking here, you're thinking "You just handed me my ass with that IMPALERS tape yesterday, I don't think I'm ready to be further disconnected from my body." Or maybe you're thinking "I don't really need any more melodic '90s Peruvian punk in my life." And either of thoughts are forgivable....until you look at this fool's glasses. Resistance is futile, my friends.

...TAN LEJOS

IMPALERS

 

You know IMPALERS, right? Then you know what's up. Hold out your hands. Thanks, here's your ass. How does that feel? 

Sometimes it be like this.

It's a new week.

THE BEAT SESSIONS

S L E E P D E A T H

 

A stunning journey through thought and sound, S L E E P D E A T H created something truly special with 2013's Reality. Sounds found and manipulated, ancient synths resurrected. Emotions manifested as sound. It would be a disservice to describe Reality as a soundtrack to an imaginary film, though it would be easy to do (and perhaps that film should exist). These sounds deserve to be experienced solitarily, in the world that they have constructed. This release will consume a solid hour, and if you're listening properly then you will be enriched by that hour even though you will never get it back. It won't be time lost, but it will be time spent. And enrichment takes time. It's worth it. 

REALITY

SADO-BABIES

 

Pretty sure the first song isn't even SADO-BABIES, and the three songs listed on the cover don't appear to indicate the tape's contents. There are eight songs here, and five of them appear twice. My goal has always been to present the sounds as presented, not as intended, so here is a collection of growling dupa-dupa that may or may not be the product of some miscreants from Boyle Heights called SADO-BABIES. Hopefully someone drops a comment here, because this shit is actual lo-fi fire and I would like to hear more. 

THE BROOD SESSIONS

THE TOURETTES

 

Hot in the heels of RAOOUL came THE TOURETTES featuring a post-LUMPS Jannelle Blarg on vocals. You open a demo with "A Fifth Of Whisky, And The World Is My Bitch" and you know folks are going to pay attention - attention that will be rewarded with nine bursts of snarky don't give a fuck marble mouthed East Bay punk. It's hard to not mention the recording - guitar is muddy as fuck and Janelle's voice is a shrieking trainwreck while the bass casually carries wildly infectious melodies and the drums are tight, crisp and forceful even when (especially when) they swing. It doesn't seem like it all fits together until "Hooked On Phonics" kicks off and...yeah, I'm hooked. I'm not going to read into the fact that "Hidden Keys To Loving Relationships" cuts off after ten seconds when the first side abruptly ends, but I'm about to revisit the single on Lookout! that never grabbed me. Didn't even know this existed until I was digging through some of Pat's stuff a while back, and I'm pretty sure these sounds will make it onto a future Copy Wright volume. 

THE TOURETTES DEVOUR RENO

PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

 

This shit is really important to a lot of people. This shit changed people's lives. Paramahansa Yogananda was a crucial figure in the early wave of Indian spiritualists bringing thoughts and ideas to the United States in the first half of the last century - maybe this shit can help the next generation not be dumb asses. 

CHANTS AND PRAYERS

DER YAHZENBURG

 

I'm not sure what dimension DER YAHZENBURG come from (came from), but it's rare to step into a cacophony that sounds this honest. Four obscene inept bursts of adolescent energy that are going to make you want to pull out an OLD SKULL record just to remind yourself of what is real and what you're imagining. There's an invalid MySpace link on the back of the tape - I admit I was a little disappointed to find a Bandcamp and answer some of my questions - though I suggest you listen first and research second (if you research at all). It'll be over in less than three minutes, you'll have time to think about it later. Call me if you need to talk. 

DER YAHZENBURG

BAD COYOTES

 

If there were ever an under appreciated Bay Area party punk band, is fukkn BAD COYOTES. Maximum energy '77 punk rock 'n roll with a serious Blood Guts & Pussy-era DWARVES vibe is exactly what you need when you're two beer past caring and looking to get into some trouble. And BAD COYOTES are three beers ahead of you. You're gonna cringe occasionally and you'll question a few of your life choices, but once you're in? You're in. 

WE GOT OUR REASONS

SHIZOPHASIA

 

It's not often that a band sees, reaches for and achieves a vision with this much success. It's as if the entire trajectory of SCHIZOPHASIA was laid out by and for them before they played a fucking note and it shows, especially when you look back at their body of work. Ferocious noise punk injected with and interjected by noise and electronics, sometimes working together and sometimes in opposition. The releases can be challenging (part of the appeal of course), but you always feel like everything you're experiencing is a part of someone else's plan whether it was a part of your plan or not. And a decade after the release of 3000, I have to say that feeling tracks. 

3000

JUSTIN WILSON

 

I was digging in Fresno a few weeks back, looking for some relic from a different time without knowing exactly what kind of relic of from what time because...that's how thrifting works. If you're trying to find a '_____' then you'd just go to the '_____' store, right? It's the adventure and the mystery and the unknown that keeps us digging, and so I was digging. And I dug until I pulled out this Cajun Comedy tape and then I figured "yeah...this is probably all for today - this is what I was meant to find" and 25¢ later I was on my way out the door. I suggest pulling up a chair here, maybe cracking open a cold one this afternoon (as I did on that afternoon a few weeks back) so you can really settle into Justin Wilson's brand of story telling - because it's really more about the stories than the comedy here, and anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good story. Maybe I should start recording my stories and leaving them in thrift stores for future searchers....

HUNTING WITH JUSTIN WILSON

Cajun Humor Recorded Live!