WFMU

A glimpse into the East Orange, New Jersey airwaves on this day 32 years ago.
ENJOY.

WFMU - 30 NOVEMBER 1992

PROVOKE

 

I did this one already, but it was a few years ago. I'm doing it again today because PROVOKE were a band that absolutely crushed me when I saw them the first time, absolutely crushed me every time I saw them, and absolutely crush my every time I listen to them. This was the first thing, and while there were only a couple of things after this thing....all of the things will crush you. So yeah - maybe you already know them. If you do, then this is your reminder that you need to listen to them again. Now. And if you don't know them...? You're welcome. Also, this one has a different cover so I get to do it again because I make the rules around here.

SIX SONGS

ANTISEPTIC

 

If you want me to wax on with marginally "informed" observations about '90s SE Asian DIY punk then I am definitely willing, but I think it would be better for you for crank this 1997 ANTISEPTIC recording and appreciate how different and intense that world was. These songs are so much better than my words, you know? And parts of this tape remind me of listening to DAMITOL in 1993 and that's like....that's a solid win, folks. 

FINALLY

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

On this day thirty-two years ago a DJ named Michelle hosted the five hundred fifty-fourth edition of Maximum Rocknroll Radio. To be fair, Michelle likely recorded the edition some days before, but it was broadcast on cool stations across this great land (and other greater lands) on November 27, 1992, which is this day (but thirty-two years ago). Heavy on the garage rock bangers, with a sprinkling of modern sounds du jour - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, TRASHWOMEN, GENBAKUKAIDAN, MUMMIES, DC BEGGARS, SENZA BENZA and even a PENNYWISE tune that sounds decidedly not sucky in context. It was 1992 man....we couldn't see into the future. Yet. Remember when we were excited to protest Clinton because at least he hadn't started bombing Iraqi civilians? Yeah....that was cool. 

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #554

ROUGHDRAFTS

 

If there were a world that would let me stray further from yesterday's raw Indonesian grind then I would live in that world....instead I (sadly) live in this one and I can only offer you Roughdrafts. If you believe the liner notes (and what choice do you really have?), this is a collection of songs written by and for members of THE HOPE BOMBS that were either in formative stages or were not quite suitable for the band in its (then) form. So you get acoustic manifestations of could-have-been '90s East Bay punk classic. Annie from BORED TO DEATH makes a few appearances as well, most notable on a killer STRAY CATS cover, but the real cats are coming here to listen to some heads try and croon their way through some conceptual tracks and......I am still not sure if it works but I keep coming back to "Revolution Song?" and "About Tonite" and listening to the shamelessly amateurish "Church St." while I wallow in my decisions on Church Street is something altogether other-worldly and it just works. I'm not going to lie to you; ROUGHDRAFTS are a harsh listen. But it's not the kind of noise that you're used to....and it just works. I'm not here to explain, just to share. 

ROUGHDRAFTS

PROLETAR

 

Even the most casual TE viewer has surely noticed the deluge of Indonesian punk that has filled these posts lately. I will not apologize. I will keep blasting, and as I blast? I share. PROLETAR is perfectly suited for a Monday - absolutely unhinged grind mania of the most maniacal caliber, fidelity and competency be damned. Think about Indonesian punk freaks conjuring abrasive black metal and you'll get close, though in their infancy PROLETAR sounded like nothing else before or since.  Rakyat Jelata was released in 2001 and is sending fukkn chills up my spine two decades later....so no. I will not apologize. 

RAKYAT JELATA

GORY INHUMANE GENOCIDE

There's brutality and there is fucking brutality. And there is brutality...and then there is GORY INHUMANE GENOCIDE. Green-Kore 2004 was a rare release that stopped me dead in my tracks - simultaneously mean and desperate with absolutely no room for nuance. From the shattered abrupt start to "Untuk Masa Depan" to the closer "Korban Perang" I sat slack jawed with my ears peeled, staring at the speaker/s and getting my ass handed to me. Grind is supposed to be ugly, and GORY INHUMANE GENOCIDE are fucking disgusting. 

GREEN-KORE 2004

BRICKS

 

I know you probably have a lot of stuff to do this weekend, dear visitor, so we won't take up too much of your time. In slightly less than six minutes you will have a new lease on life, and you will have BRICKS to thank. Four doses of ferocious hardcore (including a SONIC WARHEAD cover) that will help you stomp and slither your way through your weekend to-do list or maybe (better yet) encourage you to throw the list the fuck away. What is it that you were supposed to do this weekend, and was it really that important? Exactly. I didn't think so either. 

BRICKS

PAUL O'NEILL

 

A perfect mix tape is truly a thing of beauty. I am pretty good at them, but perfect....? I don't know that I'd go that far. Dave makes perfect mix tapes, and Jensen is a master. August though....August outdid himself with Paul O'Neill. No genre is off limits, so you get JAMES BROWN into STRANGULATED BEATOFFS. You get UNSANE into SMALL FACES. You get DENIECE WILLIAMS into BIG'N. You get COP SHOOT COP into JAMES BROWN (again....and it's the same song, which is genius).  YOu get ED HALL because August lived in Texas. The segues are perfect, every song is a banger, I'm just here hoping that he put PISSED JEANS after PAIN TEENS because the band names rhymed and more people need to know WELLINGTON because...well, just trust me. August is a one of a kind, a truly brilliant and beautiful being. And he makes a mean fukkn mix tape. So think about that while you're listening to STEPPENWOLF's "Hippo Stomp" and wondering what you've done with your life on this final day of the traditional work week. 

PAUL O'NEILL

DEAD LOCK // CHOS R.I.

 

First thought? Spending a slightly drunken evening in 2024 listening to a recording DEAD LCOK made in 2002 makes me feel like I felt when I spent countless sober evenings in 1993 listening to a recording GRIMPLE made in 1993. It's the tinny buzzsaw guitar, the snotty raspy vocals, the all go/no slow approach...it's fukk in every song and its punk as fukk, one of the fiercest sides I've blasted in a long long time. But there's a flip...and instead of mimicking the chaos punk on the other side, CHAOS R.I. thankfully opt for raw treble heavy grind and its a perfect combination. I don't know how many (more) reminders I need to convince myself that I love discovering new (to me) punk....actually, I don't need to be reminded. I love this shit. 

LIKE IT OR BE LOOSERZ!!

TV DRUGS

 

I really like listening to punk. Sometimes I go far too long without having my ears shredded live, and sometimes I go days without sitting down (in my case: pacing back and forth) and really listening to records at volume. But I blast these tapes...I rip and/or edit something damn near every night that I'm home, and these built in iMac speakers have pump countless low fidelity hours of DIY punk and noice into my earholes. Sometimes I'm distracted while I'm ripping - work, Murder The Cat, dishes - and the sounds are just kinda 'there' until I edit. But if I'm editing in a hurry I might not spend real time with these little plastic cases until it's their turn to share them here. I'm not proud of the attention that I'm (sometimes) not able to give but.....life gets in the way of living sometimes. Sometimes. Not today, but sometimes. Today? Today I'm listening to TV DRUGS on repeat. I sat down with TV DRUGS whle it was ripping and I got lost while I was editing, wondering how I could describe the magic I was experiencing....apparently I came up with nothing because here I am talking to you about shit that has nothing to do with TV DRUGS, you know? This shit fucking demands attention. This is a 'stop what you're doing and recognize" kind of tape. I hear '80s California beach hardcore, I keep hearing rockabilly in the double snare hits on "Medicated" and speaking of "Medicated" there's a desperate MEDICATION TIME energy in the vocals that I am way the fuck into. Urgent '10s North 'Merican DIY stomp vibes creep in with some frequency, but it's tracks like "Consume" and "How Far?' that push envelopes and challenge descriptors. Look, TY DRUGS released a ripping hardcore punk tape back in 2021, pure and simple. Listen properly and you'll get way more than 'just' a ripping hardcore punk tape. I've learned my lesson. 

FFO: EVERYTHING TERRIBLE

HEAVY STENCH

 

For starters: "Trash Can" is among the fiercest hardcore bulldozers you will experience today. This week. This month. It's fukkn intense, and the rest of the Death Or Danger demo is on the same level - beautiful, pure and fierce. The replication is a little muddy but that shit settles in real quick because it's punk and that's what we're used to (we're used to getting what we get, you know?) and I swear it adds extra tension to moments like the rumbling drums on the start of "Full Cycle." If you like your shit anxious and on the edge of collapse, then this HEAVY STENCH joint is going to tickle you like it tickled me. 

DEATH OR DANGER

DISKÖURSE

 

Another book that you are encouraged to judge by its cover. If you're thinking booze-fueled bombastic DBeat dis-tortion then your thoughts are on the correct path. And this path will lead you to 2017's Love Noise, Equal And Peace! from DISKÖURSE. The piercing white wash of the crash cymbals are a bizarre highlight - a noisy recording glitch instead of manufactured distortion perhaps, and it adds an element of tension that falls right in line with tracks like "N.Q.N." and "Alcohol Attack" that sound just barely out of tune enough to make you grit your teeth and regret that last beer you had before bed. Pure and beautiful kång as interpreted by some '10s crushers from Indonesia....I was into this tape when I listened for the first time and ripped it last week, but I'm fucking with it hard this morning. And if you're wondering whether or not there's a cover of "Warmachine" on this tape? Of course there is. 

LOVE NOISE, EQUAL AND PEACE!

WARCYCLE // ZUDAS KRUST

 

Total fucking bulldozer annihilation in the form of nine relentless bursts of chaos from Indonesia and Australia. Perth's WARCYCLE start with an intro that harkens AXEWIELD and then unleash crasher crust hell on alls mortals foolish enough to stand in their way. For their part, Jakarta's ZUDAS KRUST offer four sinister grinders captured on a recording that demands repeat listens. The bass tone is formidable and damaged and the guitars are either *just* out of tune or these punks are avant-crust geniuses...I'm comfortable assuming they are both, of course. "Ini Hidup Apa" is a one riff exercise in patience and makes me want to re-listen to the rest of the recording with more focus (and volume). So that's what I'm going to do now...

WARCYCLE // ZUDAS KRUST

G*U*N*N*

 

I think I maight have shared a G*U*N*N* tape before but I don't feel like clicking through the archives to check because I'm listening to "Can't Stop" on repeat at maximum volume and pretending I'm a teenager wrecking shit in my bedroom while my parents pound on the door. And still, "Thin Blue Line" is the real banger - the one song that highlights how slightly out of tune the guitar is (the guitar that also sits bizarrely outside of the overall mix in the most interesting way). This punk is furious and this punk feels honest...and as the outro attests: "You wanna hear the truth, hit up the G*U*N*N* from OC." 

DEATH OR DANGER

SIEMPRE EN NUESTRO CORAZON

 

You have to understand....DIY punk in Indonesia didn't really start to take hold until years after several generations and movements had evolved and mutated in the so-called First World. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? had a plan to go in 1999 that never materialized, but when CFD was there in 1997 I was on the back of Aca's scooter cruising to the US consulate for some bureaucracy and he casually pointed to a government building and told me about the students who were barricaded there in '97 fighting military cops for days and days. Punk kids.....fighting the fucking army. It was presented so casually and it really put the whole "fighting the system" thing into perspective, you know? Then we had to escape some bandits attacking motorists from an overpass, fixed a flat tire and I forged signatures on a bunch of passports....it was a fucking day. Anyway, this comp dropped in 1997 and that context is pretty important as you listen - you're talking about baby punks who had access to the traditional started bands and the first few waves of US, European and Australasian DIY all at once and I can't even imagine what that information overload must have felt like. Limited access and unlimited date and...well, what if GORILLA BISCUITS and and GISM and CROSSED OUT were on the same plane? Siempre En Nuestro Corazon is what you get. STRAIGHT ANSWER, GENOCIDE, ANTISEPTIC, DIRTY EDGE, CRYPTICAL DEATH - there are more, and every single track is a slammer. Fidelity optional, passion and intensity mandatory...this is the realest compilation I have listened to in a long long time.

WALK TOGETHER ROCK TOGETHER

U.N.I.T.

 

Screaming, squirming, stomping hardcore from the mean streets of San Antonio, Texas. A quick peek at the song titles offers a clue: Violence. Control. Nothing. Fear. And to simply state that U.N.I.T. deliver on the promise those four words bring would be a criminal understatement. Woke up today to a (new) world of shit around me (if you're paying attention then you'll see that it's the same world that surrounds you) so I blasted these S.H.I.T. vibes and looked behind while looking inside. Even when you can't control the violence, it's nice to think that (even for a moment) you have nothing to fear. You do, of course. Shit is terrifying. But the next seven minutes are going to be glorious. 

THERE IS NOWHERE TO GO & THERE IS NOTHING TO DO

FISSURE

 

Quite literally every time I listen to FISSURE I get floored all over again. This was the tape that started the train, a self titled juggernaut released in 2013 that features nine mines of bulldozer PV-tinged '90s hardcore tonnage. Even on a poorly duplicated DIY cassette the weight is unavoidable and the impact is instant - tracks like "Gary Busey For President Of The Moon" and "I Used To Cut Myself To Dashboard Confessional" will stop you dead in your tracks. So indescribably heavy, sarcasm and irreverence pegged in the red....and so fukkn brutal

FISSURE

THE BABIES

 

As the cover might suggest, the SEX PISTOLS energy is blatant on THE BABIES' 1999 release. These Malang City Punk Rockers are so much more than that, but even if you reduce them to a '77 punk rehash they are still brilliant. Eight studio cuts including "Street Punkers," "State Of Mind" and "Malang City Punk Rockers" and then you get a dose of what it must have been like for those lucky enough to experience THE BABIES in the flesh in real time. It's brilliant punk lowest common denominator punk and I can't get enough. 

MALANG CITY PUNK ROCKERS

FIRSTBLÖÖD

 

Look at the cover.......look closely. You know exactly what you're getting here, and you're getting exactly what you want. FIRSTBLÖÖD are a precise brand of ScanDiBeat with howling Japanese HC undertones plus the obligatory SHITLICKERS cover. Like I said, you're getting exactly what you want. 

2009-2011
PUNKS NOT DEAD

INTERNAL AUTONOMY

Hard to understand why this band continues to fly under the radar, but here I am with their fifth demo from 1991 and I'm still pinching myself hearing these sounds for (not the) first time. Authentic dark wave steeped in UK anarcho with BLACK SOLSTICE connections, INTERNAL AUTONOMY are a truly unique (sounding) collection of souls - and to go from the chaotic CONFLICT-esque bombast of "The Time Has Come" and the mania of "Doesn't Anyone Believe Me?" to the PINK DOTS vibes in "An Anthem For Humanity" and the pure proto-goth of "Just Another Day" and "Foresight + Hindthought" is a magnificent feat. Every IA release hits different, and the experimental phase/s at the end of their run are often the most compelling for me - I hear new sounds literally every time I listen. My copy is a dub labeled '5th DEMO - MASTER TAPE' so any souls holding a copy with the artwork....? You know how to find me.  

PURPLE AVANT GARDE NOIZE EXPERIMENT

HISSY FIT

 

The '00s were a wild sonic decade. You might have seen HISSY FIT on a bill in a lethargic Pennsylvania basement with DISFEAR a few days after Hot August Nights wrapped up and the Eastern Seaboard was recovering from a four day cocaine bender. I say that now and it simply makes no sense, but then....? Well, it was just DIY punk, my friends. It was depressed and frustrated and hopeful - and   twenty years later we're struggling to determine which of those emotions have faded away and which ones we're stuck with. 

HISSY FIT

•••••

There are two bizarro electro punk numbers on this tape that may be leftovers from repurposed source/s, but they might also be re/imagination/s of HISSY FIT's Region Rock adjacent approach to addictive anthemic punk. I'm down either way, but detectives are welcome to contribute thoughts. 

SENANDUNG CANDALA

 

Hard skinhead stomps with blatant UK77 influences on this 2014 Indonesian comp. D'ORMAS, PRAHARA, MURDERAT, BRETEL, THE GANGS were all new to me, as was AGGROTHREAT who ironically offer the two softest cuts on the tape. Bonus instrumental ska number from THE BOSSES to close the second side and...well, what's not to like? Exactly. And when there are new sounds to discover and a lot to like, that's when we keep listening.

KOMPILASI SENANDING CANDALA

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

A hopeless number of Maximum Rocknroll radio shows are available to stream on their website, going back almost fifteen years. Yeah the shows still drop weekly, and yeah they are still awesome snapshots of what some punk you may or may not know is digging at the moment. But if you're wondering what a pre-Prank Ken was digging on this date thirty one years ago, then I suggest you blast Maximum Rocknroll Radio #603. You have to remember that this is the dude responsible for bringing ASSFOT, GAIA and GAUZE to the West Coast in the 90s....the dude who gave HHIG the platform to turn USDIY hardcore on it's collective ear. So it should come as no surprise that this 1991 broadcast is an absolute motherfucker; DEFORMED CONSCIENCE, SLAVE STATE, INSANE YOUTH, UOA, IDORA, RIP OFFS, DISCLOSE, BANANAS (yeah, that BANANAS), CITIZEN FISH, CHOKEHOLD and...well, there's more. I can't really image how much these radio shows changed people's lives - I remember looking at the list of stations where the shows were broadcast and thinking "Louisiana? Fukk dude....I was so close" but I was actually a world away. Also, COP OUT's "Over There" is such a beast. 

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #603

WORLD NASTY ANARCHY

 

Enough nonsense, how about a headfirst dive into late '90s raw hardcore from East Java's WORLD NASTY ANARCHY?  "Hate," "Proud To Be A Punk," "Fuck The State" and "Kill" are a few of the morsels waiting for you when you blast this 1999 cassette...what is waiting for you after that is entirely in your hands.

TRIBAL WAR

LAMAR // RON GRIFFIN

 

I've taken a pre-internet relic and popped it onto cassette (where it belongs) and now I'm putting it back on the internet (where, if I'm being honest, it truly belongs). RON GRIFFIN popped up sometime in the 1990s, John had it on a cassette of oddities that he got from (somewhere) and it just....well, it stuck. It's an incredibly catchy hook, and I still get the opening bars stuck in my hand with shocking frequency - should have come as no surprise to discover as I was doing research for this important project that someone else has already immortalized the track but I was surprised nonetheless. The flip side came into our field of (sonic) vision in 2006 when HIGH ON CRIME was recording in Nashville. Our engineer's main source of income was recording sessions for local rappers and this piece of genius struck him so much that he kept a copy for himself....I thank him today (and every day) for making that decision, and you will thank him soon. The artist may or not be named LAMAR, but I've been saying it was LAMAR for fifteen plus years now so....LAMAR it is. The weird thing is that this tape exists in physical form. I made thirty of them, just like I made thirty copies of the ANCIENT CHINESE PENIS Live On KATT session from 1993 that I expected exactly zero people to be interested in.....but people are buying that one too. Y'all are weird, and I'm grateful for that. 

I'M GONNA GET MY DICK SUCKED // YOUR LOVE IS REAL

DOMESTIC PRISON

 

I keep getting my ass handed to me as I dig through the treasure trove of Indonesian hardcore, Oi! and crust I got from Melvin a couple of months back (and there's still another box on the way!!). And as much as I want to sing the praises of each release equally, there are a few that truly stand out - HUSTLER for example, and this absolute crusher from Bandung's DOMESTIC PRISON. No nuance, just a blistering and uncompromising dual vocal crust assault of the highest caliber. Twenty minutes of fucking annihilation with tracks like "Prepare" and "Get Fight To Fuck" leading the way. Place this one somewhere between DETESTATION and DROPDEAD on the comparison spectrum and them throw your preconceptions out the fucking window and reach for the volume. DOMESTIC PRISON are simply incredible. 

DOMESTIC PRISON