KIEGETT FÖLD

 

After making a brief appearance here back in February and (presumably) taking the interweb by storm via Szégyen Kazetták, I was thirsting for more from Budapest's KIEGETT FÖLD. Luckily, during an evening filled with burritos and friendship and laughter a few weeks ago, I saw this pink sleeve peeking out of a small stack of Hungarian goodies my pal pulled out of his bag and I knew my thirst would surely be quenched. Thankfully, the tracks here are only slightly more realized than the product the band offered on their previous tape - and it's the awkward "not quite there" aspect that makes you feel like you're listening to something special. The foundation is angular UK post-anarcho, but what KIEGETT FÖLD build on that foundation is something that sounds like....well, it sounds like a one person punk project rooted in angular post-anarcho punk, allowed to grow and flourish without outside pressure. It's (still) rare and (still) wonderful to hear a band who sound so much like themselves even while not being afraid of exposing influences that may be a bit all over the place. I look forward to the next installment, just as I look forward to the friendship/s that continues to bring interesting sounds into my life. 

T​Á​BL​Á​ZATOK, INV​Á​ZI​Ó​K

PUNGENCE

 

Woooooof, this tape is fukkn disgusting. Damaged and derivative downtuned PDX crust with guitars that sound like they were recorded onto magnetic tape scored out of the 7-11 dumpster while the drummer was shoplifting some .40s so the band could all get shithoused before they hit the 4-track. Dive bombs drop in from nowhere, guttural low end vocals are punctuated by high aaaaaaaahhhhh screams that hit like DISCLONE on Dilaudid. PUNGENCE are a raw crust pisstake, a band intentionally punching way below their weight in the most gloriously neaderthal-ic manner - you either have to try really hard to sound like this, or you sound like this because you don't know anything else. And the fact that the lkistener can't tell the difference....? Is beautiful.

PUNGENCE

HEX NOIR

 

You'll excuse the inclusion of the first track - damaged though the cassette may be I still felt the sonic damage represented was worth...presenting. Ohio's HEX NOIR are a painful amalgamation of deliberate industrial noise, raw black metal and oppressive grind - the punks don't make 'em like this very often (Demo II comes from 2009) so when the punks do? We take them in whatever primitive and excruciating form they are offered. The replication is DIY to a fault so the listener suffers while the tracks themselves flourish....

DEMO II

UNDER NO BOUNDARIES

 

For the last Friday in 2024 I offer you a twenty year old collection of raw DIY hardcore, crust and grind from Singapore. If you're like me, then just a roll call of bands you're likely not familiar with will be be more than enough to get you in the door so.....STATEMENT OF OUTRAGE, DISTRUST, VOLITION., ENDLESS STRUGGLE, TOPSY TURVY, REJEX, MxAxC and HUDUD. There you go. Not a dud in the bunch, and this comp definitely had me combing the dark recesses of the internet looking for more tasty morsels from several of these bands (MxAxC and REJEX most notably). Enjoy.

UNDER NO BOUNDARIES: LION CITY CRUST/GRIND COMPILATION

GABUNGAN ROMUSHA NGAMUK

 

Holy FUKKN SHIT this tape. Ever wondered what getting your ass blown out sounds like? If not then I'd like to introduce you to some punks from Bandung, but I strongly suggest you hold on tight before you blast this motherfukkr. GABUNGAN ROMUSHA NGAMUK attack with the force and intent of the early '00s fastcore/grind outfits, but they do it with the intensity and attention to detail that has bumped late '10s DIY hardcore up a few notches. Dripping with samples and an irreverence that feels necessary after a barrage of sub-60 second blasts, this tape commands attention from start to merciful finish - it's been a really long time since I've heard something that kicked my ass so supremely. So efficiently. So completely. If you liste to just one more new thing before this year closes, I implore you to listen to Spesies Pemarah. And listen loudly. 

SPESIES PEMARAH

NUCLEAR FAMILY

 

I listen to these songs often. I like all of the NUCLEAR FAMILY releases and I will avoid trying to choose a favorite...they just did it right. This was the first recording, followed by a cassette in 2007 and an EP in 2009 before wrapping their run in 2010 with a full length and another cassette. I shared this a few years ago but, like I said, I listen to these songs often....I encourage you to do the same.

NUCLEAR FAMILY

20 JANUARY 1987

 I suppose I probably should have waited until today to post this other one, but rules have always seemed so unnecessary and adherence so futile. So that one dropped in October, and you get this one from January 1987 today. A reggae/dub heavy broadcast with some killer old blues, PEDRO & HIS AMIGOS, general freak sounds, wild TEENAGE JESUS & THE JERKS dirge and some LOU REED. There's more of course (a lot more), but I want you to have a little something to unwrap and be surprised, you know?

KALX - 20 JANUARY 1987

CCCRRCCSSLLRRKKRRSSS

 

Remember a few days ago when I jawed about the creative and prolific people in my orbit? File the extended MegaKut in that same category - (very) extended orbit to be clear, but some of them are right down the 101and I perk my ears up every time these cats drop new sounds...that means I'm perking my ears up often. CCCRRCCSSLLRRKKRRSSS are a different animal, self described "electechtro noise for b-girls and boys and creeps and burnouts" that defies any kind of traditional descriptor. If ever I have shared a vibe-inducing tape on these pages...this is it.Three expansive tracks spanning almost forty minutes released by Spareorgan to accompany the CD release on Megakut. 

miami - cochi - misdirect

•••••••

ZUDAS KRUST

 

For those who didn't pay attention to the split with WARCYCLE that creeped onto these pages last month, you have another opportunity to blast. That tape was recorded in 2020, while this collection collects bangers from the band's first decode of existence....and it was a crust as fuck existence to say the least. Complete distortion and howling DBeat mania of the highest order - and they're still kicking. It's Monday, punks.

HARDCORE HITS: 2009-2019

C.L.A.W.

 

Zero bullshit for today. A hardcore tape that slaps you in the face and moves you the fukk out the way. Think about the last time you pumped a PROVOKE tape? Remember how that made you feel? Did it make you feel like you wanted to destroy everything? Did it make you feel like you could destroy everything? Well that's how C.L.A.W. makes me feel, and I like it. 

ABSOLUTE CONTROL

OUTRAGE FACTOR

 

Some people are just geniuses. I have a few in my orbit and I feel lucky to know them - their compulsion inspires me. Biff is one of those people, and a couple of years ago he got a hair up his ass to make an '80s USHC band to he could get better at playing drums. Oops, motherfucker got a hair up his ass and made a perfect USHC recording. Blatant stylistic ripoffs that are just disparate enough that the whole fukkn thing ends up sounding more like a relic than mimicry....file this recording alongside ADOLESCENTS, ZERO BOYS, Blood, Guts & Pussy, CIRCLE JERKS and no one would ever know the fukkn difference. And some cat in Buffalo just whipped the shit up on a whim then recorded and played everything himself. Shit makes me want to puke before I get dressed and go to my stupid job in the morning. (I'm a) sellout.

NOTING EVER CHANGES

THE MUSICAL TRACING ENSEMBLE

 

I think the best way to describe (or sell?) the release is to describe the project (and the process). THE MUSICAL TRACING ENSEMBLE is a rotating group of musicians who perform live. A rotating group of musicians who don't know what they're going to play...and then they play it. They set up and they each put on headphones. A song is played for them, and they play along. They cannot hear the other musicians, just the song that are meant to play along with. The audience cannot hear the source material, only the sound/s the musicians are making. As a concept....it's kinda genius. As a product....it's irresistible. Hear twelve songs that you know, as you never imagined hearing them. 

THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO PLAY...AND THEN THEY PLAYED IT

Alternate Description: Elevator Music On Acid. 

STRANGE FACES

 

The Bay Area in the 2010s was really damn special - the quantity and quality of bands that were popping up was astounding. STRANGE FACES shared a rhythm section with THE NEW FLESH and popped up when THE NEW FLESH fizzled and followed a very similar path. STRANGE FACES were more punk, harnessing Dangerhouse energy at times while sticking to a primarily four on the floor approach. April's vocals are like a modernization of AVENGERS' earnest desperation and sometimes sit on top of the rest of the band like she's their protector. B gifted me this tape last weekend at practice and as near as we could remember they only played one show....damn. Listen to "Vicious Cycles" please. 

STRANGE FACES

CRIME 84

 

Just under the wire, CRIME 84 may have just delivered the toughest punk tape I've heard all damn year. Straight up. UK82 all amped up real fukkn high with a sinister snarl and a swarm of guitars. Maximum energy hardcore street stomps - crank "Louder Than Bomb" up to the appropriate volume and you'll never be the same. Now...I need to cop that 12" they did last year, and fast. Because I'm about to wear this tape the fuck out. 

STOLEN

SHIT FETISH

 

I waxed on about the difficulties of describing SHIT FETISH when I dropped off their first demo a few months back. Number Two is easier to get your ears around though...until it isn't. A few tracks of deeply damaged hardcore punk with FLIPPER by way of early '00s DIY punk energy. "1989" opens with starts and stops and tweaked guitars and it's almost like EDDY CURRENT mingling with STRAIGHTJACKET NATION (to keep the referenced country-specific). And then....well, and then SHIT FETISH starts to deliver. A raw and punishing hardcore dirge, and mid tempo meat swerve, a piece called "Slakto" that almost hits like some '60 fuzz rock until it takes a turn and I don't even know what kind of freedom I'm listening to anymore. There's just one cut left, and SHIT FETISH saved the.....best? for last with "Nasty Boy." The recording itself has gotten progressively weirder by this point in the tape, and the guitars are something entirely foreign and unrecognizable which is perfect because this is where the FLIPPER really starts to come out. And then comes the electronics and it all just falls the fuck apart and I'm just sitting here looking at my cat. Goes without saying that this middle aged Sepo is really looking forward to Demo III to plop. 

DEMO II

JÄVLA

 

Fuuuuuukk I wish I had gotten to see this band. Textbook DBeat hardcore with a blatant nod to the Swede School, but this DC quartet simply cannot get away from their USDIYHC roots and it gives JÄVLA a little extra (but undefinable) something. This was the first one, they dropped a two songer and an ripping EP the following year and then they bounced. I'm glad we got what we got. 

DEMO 2014

B.G.K.

 

DEAD KENNEDYS were my first real starter band. I followed the 1985 PMRC hearings as a new teenager and avid TWISTED SISTER fan, and heard DK mentioned here and there as an example of a band to be feared (their name often mentioned alongside BUTTHOLE SURFERS, of course). But there was no internet, so it was name and notoriety only for a while until a visiting cousin gifted me a copy of Give Me Convenience... and it was fukkn over. I devoured the lyrics and the visuals, but the music? Fukk dude, I had simply never heard anything that raw and that fast before - I knew some punk by then, but this was different. On top of that, you could straight up send them money and Alternative Tentacles would send you more records from different bands - I got KLAUS FLOURIDE's solo platters like this, more DK records, heard TSOL and MDC for the first time and I also got my first real taste of '80 European hardcore when I traded a paltry $6 for a copy of Nothing Can Go Wrogn! that I still own today. I didn't have the context, but I knew the shit ripped and I drove the damn grooves off of that record...I often wonder what it might have been like if I have been able to put the pieces together then, in real time, but everything just seemed so completely foreign and impossible to reach so I focused intently on the magic that was in my hands and in front of my face. Funny that BGK were one of my first 'real' underground hardcore discoveries, but when WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? covered "Action Man" fifteen years later I had still not heard the White Male Dumbinance EP - good that didn't (still don't) feel like I have anything to prove, I suppose. But this tape is a much more recent acquisition - a relic from the '90s tape traders that compiles both the EP and both LPs...a flawless discography. Fitting that fan club tape label Poison Planet named this release Best Of and then included essentially every song BGK recorded. I kinda feel like BGK were the European NOTA, which I guess brings the whole Oklahoma thing full circle, right?

BEST OF B.G.K.

Also, Poison Planet popped singles from MORNING CRESCENT and ULTRA VIOLENT on the end of the tape, and we are all grateful. 

DISOBEDIENCE

 

Eleven minutes of completely maniacal crust/grind from DISOBEDIENCE. They spend thirteen songs making music sound like punishment - fidelity be damned, competency optional, tuning a mere afterthought. This one is to totally off the damn rails - good luck.

FIGHT WAR FIGHT CLASS

GREEN AYGS & HAMM

 

There was a DIY punk explosion in 1990s Oklahoma. I was around for a piece of it but I admittedly only caught a glimpse of what was coming and was gone before the effects were really recognized. The '80s stuff is well documented (like most micro and/or region specific '80s scenes) but people still think the '90s are a forgotten punk decade. Which people think that...? Dummies, obviously. I don't think this GREEN AYGS & HAMM recording every actually dropped, but Ross was kind enough to resurrect it a few years back and share with the real heads. Ross isn't a dummy, see....? And these five songs are brilliantly adolescent hyper snotty middle America DIY punk. Does "Fart" ages very well? No, it doesn't. Is the vocal creak in "Aliterate" endearing beyond words? Absolutely. Never will I argue that these recordings are essential, but I am so happy that they exist in this present, and I'm more than happy to keep scooping this shit up as long as people keep feeding it to me.  Now, listen to "I Want A Girl" and enjoy your day. 

ANIMAL FUN GANG

JANGAN BIARKAN NYALA PADAM OLEH HEMPASAN MODAL

 

Fastcore, punk, thrash, Oi!, hardcore....from fourteen Indonesian bands who were completely new to me (plus a track from SATELLITE). ILUSI, AKAL BANGSAT, STRESSSICK, BRETEL, BOMBARDIR, MURDERAT, SCEPTIC OFF and others...it's really damn good. 

JANGAN BIARKAN NYALA PADAM OLEH HEMPASAN MODAL

PUNK ROCK INDONESIA KOMPILASI VOLUME: 1

NARB

 

Fidelity be damned, this punk is fast, fierce and raw as fukk. Three songs that make up half of the band's recorded output - like stripped down skinhead shitpunk on pharmaceutical speed. I guess they just did shit different in the South Valley.  You want to hear adolescent angst captured on 1/4" magnetic tape and dumped into the digital aether? Welcome to NARB.

NARB

KMET

 

The patience required to make dungeon synth actually work is impressive, and the artists who can properly pull it off are few and far between. To create sounds that are equal parts sinister black metal, Stranger Things soundtrack and FLOCK OF SEAGULLS is one thing - to do it with a straight face is something else entirely. Croatia's KMET will have you suspend belief....anxiously waiting for a crescendo and/or a conclusion knowing that they're only inviting you along for the journey, not the destination. Smrt Feudalizmu compiles five painfully deliberate tracks all released digitally over the last few years - final cut is the magnificent "Kuga" but don't think you'll be free when it's finished. 

SMRT FEUDALIZMU

AFERDEATH

 

If you're thinking about starting the week by spending some time with a dis-crust trio from Singapore....? AFTERDEATH has got you covered. What More Must They Suffer checks every box, a ruthless pummeling that channels Soul Scars-era DISFEAR and pushes the guitar to the very edge of the sonic cliff and lets it teeter precariously for seventeen tense minutes of DBeat. Choice cut? "Greed." Seems appropriate. 

WHAT MORE MUST THEY SUFFER

THE GLASNOST

 

I woke up this morning around 7am with a cat purring in the crook of my knee and the sun washing over my face. Clicked the space heater on to take the bite out of the chill, hung out with the cat for a few minutes and then got out of bed to feed the cat and make some coffee. Took mental stock of shit I need to take care of before I head to Oakland for REALISTIC practice in a couple of hours (yeah, old people schedule rehearsal on weekend mornings) and I thought about Indonesian communist Oi!. "Wow, I really want to blast some clenched fist communist Oi! from Indonesia while I drink my coffee this morning,' i thought. So I did. And now you can too. 

WE STILL FIGHT AND AGAINST

DEAD BHUTTOS

 

Rarely have I wished for more than three songs harder than I am wishing there were more than three songs at this moment. Raw and desperate hardcore is supposed to sound this raw and desperate, and Lahore's DEAD BHUTTOS just fukkn nail it. I wasn't sure what I wanted today...until I heard this. 

DEMOCRACY IS THE BEST REVENGE

TAMTAM ARCHIVES

 

Two earlier TamTam volumes have appeared on these pages, and I highly recommend the full set if you missed them the first time/s around. If there's a through line then it's 'freak punk, no rules," but it's better to listen than to try to categorize. STRAWBERRY JAM hit like BIG BOYS if they had cut their teeth in '80s Czechoslovakia. ПАРАШЮТЬІ ХИ-ФИ are completely off the rails punk with an (almost and likely accidental) '80s industrial tinge. TEQILAJAZZZ would have fit in nicely on a random Doomryderz bill in '90s Redwood City while ХИМЕРА seem ripped from the grooves of a long long Rough Trade comp...and the rest of the twenty-two hitters here are just a master class in outsider sounds. The joy of spending time with a collection of completely new sounds from another time and another world cannot be understated, and listening to sounds from post-USSR Russia when anything (might have) seemed possible nails that feeling this morning. Listen to this one, then snag the first two volumes. 

TAMTAM ARCHIVES VOL.3