SIN RAZÓN ZOOCIAL

 

I don't know where this came from but I am over the fukkn moon that it made its way into my earholes. Ultra-primitive Mexican dark punk with synths. Contracultura was recorded 35 years ago, describing the recording as simply 'timeless' would do the band a disservice.....it's timeless to be sure, but this twenty minute cassette hits so many nerves and I have been listening incessantly since I popped it in for the first time. Brilliant, anthemic, every track is a stunner and "No Mas Presos" is from another dimension and "Crucificcion" is absolute perfection. Speechless. 

CONTRACULTURA

PANDEMIX

 

Even though they named themselves four years too early, these Boston punx kicked the fukkn doors in with Pathological Culture. From the monologues in "Total Immersion" and "Conceptual Fuck" to the off the rails unrealized UK anarcho on pharmaceutical speed vibes in "Second Opinion" just wind them up and hear them roar. They've grown into a new and compelling animal since 2016 and the new(ish) Love Is Obliteration is a total killer that showcases this early vision fully realized...but in typical elitist fashion I'm still gonna point you to the demo first because you gotta start where shit starts, you dig? Four modern hardcore burners that manage to not sound like anything you've heard....or at least not like anything you're comfortable with (which is arguably more important).

PATHOLOGICAL CULTURE

SOCKEYE

 

It's been a while since SOCKEYE have graced these pages, and when it comes to SOCKEYE...? "A while" is always too long. This one was released around the time we first crossed paths with them at The Mantis in Kent - maybe it was the time we all hit a thrift store in Stowe for blank shirts to turn into FUCKFACE shirts, or it might have been the next year when we went for a bike ride and got caught in a Midwest flash thunderstorm and I didn't have a change of clothes so I had to explain myself to some cops while I was chilling in the nude while my clothes dried. It was the mid-90s and SOCKEYE were fukkn king - they were like HICKEY without the hooks....actually they had the hooks, you just had to wait waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy longer to hear them. Because for every  "Boy With Breast Implants" there is a "Yo Me Gusta Cum," a "Baby Boogers" and a "Your Dick Is A Junkie," you know? If you don't know, then it's time to learn...and if you already understand, then it's time to get some more SOCKEYE in your life. I wonder if Dave Schall would do a split spoken word release with me - maybe I could get Max Nordile to contribute the backing track. Ideas....

WARNING: BURN HAZARD

ANTI MILITARY

 

Even casual followers of so-called Third World punk will know Indonesia's MARJINAL...but first there was ANTI MILITARY. The connection is linear and if you know either one then you'll be able to hear the  through line, but the focus here should be on how timeless Satu Bumi Tanpa Penindasan sounds in 2025. This is raw, forceful, political, honest punk that will suck you in with anthemic ferocity.....and the almost-SUBHUMANS cover just seals the deal. Please pay attention to the guitar leads on tracks like "Darah Juang" because the shit is ultra sick and highlights their ability to inject melody into rough, ramshackle political hardcore. "Bangkit Melawan" and "Demonstrasi" are the choice cuts here, and I guess there's another ANTI MILITARY tape now at the top of my want list...

SATU BUMI TANPA PENINDASAN

S.M.I.L.E.

 

Can I tell you what I hear here? Well, of course I can because that's literally why I'm here...to tell you what I hear, so it's this: What if a band went straight from STOOGES and MC5 to squirmy modern hardcore punk? What if....what if there were no in between and a band skipped DAMNED and MINOR THREAT and THE STALIN and just drew a line from "1979" to S.H.I.T.'s What Do You Stand For? and didn't make any detours? You might get S.M.I.L.E., who are one of the most honest sounding hardcore bands to pollute my earholes in recent memory. And I really do like honest hardcore; shit just feels real. 

S.M.I.L.E. SOME MORE

SHOXX

 

Someone wanna tell me why a band this good with a pedigree this ridiculous only drops one fukkn tape? Some fierce ass modern day chaos-core circa early 2010s, there's a moment or three when I think about S.H.I.T. but when I listen to "Down The Toilet" I just think about balls out no filter hardcore and....can we talk about the pedigree? BASEBALL FURIES, NÖ PÖWER, BATTLETORN, MERCHANDISE, WORSE, MISSIONARY, POLLUTION and several more. Can we talk about the tape? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUKK?! How can eight minutes make such a lasting impact? Well....it's the riffs. It's the "practice room but it sounds like fire" recording. It's definitely the riffs. it's the vocals. Again - how on the godforsaken earth was SHOXX allowed to release just one cassette with four songs on it? Shit is fukkd up. Listen to "Down The Toilet" my friends....you will not be the same.

SHOXX

17 February 1987

 These tapes just keep on giving. Listen to Ruben Blades start this 90+ minute broadcast from 1987 and wait for Pat and friends do a deep dive into Fela Kuti, dub, blues and a killer '80s industrial set. There is something so indescribably comforting about listing to Pat's artifacts - not because they are his (or from him) necessarily, but just hearing realized communications from another reality makes it feel like there's hope for making it through this one. You know? Because I'm sure everything felt really hopeless then...at least someone who fely hopeless managed to make it through. SO yeah, there's hope. and maybe...just maybe....THE BAR-KAYS into CAR SKID AND CRASH into BE BOP DELUXE as broadcast in 1987 is exactly the hope that we need in 2025.

KALX - 17 FEBRUARY !987

LUNAR MIASMA

 

One half hour of meticulously crafted psychedelic space sounds from LUNAR MIASMA in the form of Heavy Mist. It's just before six in the morning as I write, and this is making me dream of dreaming in the bed that is still warm....these are night sounds. Ominous, foreboding, beautiful night sounds. 

HEAVY MIST

CIVIL DISORDER

 

I'm not sure if you're prepared for this. You should listen anyway, but I strongly suggest strapping in before the opening title track on Berontak Dan Nalar kicks in because....it's a lot. Absolutely raging Indonesian crossover thrash of the highest order with speed picking guitars that'll make you think you're listening to MORBID ANGEL if you close your eyes tight enough. For context, this came out a year before Waste 'em All and I would argue CIVIL DISORDER match that record blow for blow from start to finish while taking a liberal nod in the direction of metallic Japanese hardcore/thrash. Sandpaper vocals, wildly erratic leads, EXODUS and Four Of A Kind-caliber high intensity moshes - listen to "Pembunuh Berdarah Dingin" and you will never be the same.

BERONTAK DAN NALAR

FLUFFERS

 

I like when you can hear a little bit of a band's history inside a band's sounds. Gloomy German punk vibes (GRAUZONE, EA80) ooze out of a snarky garage punk banger and the result is the sole release from FLUFFERS. Again, it's hard to imagine a band releasing something this solid and then going silent, but I guess 2013 was the year for these kids. Wish I had been there for it. FFO: NEON PISS,  early '90s college/alt, SKATE KORPSE, REATARD-related projects. 

FLUFFERS

BACKYARD

 

I swear upon the moon and stars that an angel dropped this into my life. I don't deserve these sounds, not in 2025 I don't...and yet here these sounds are, lacerating my eardrums and filling my soul with hope. Viennese West Bay obsessed grinders BACKYARD deliver eight doses of brutally lo-fi rehearsal pain on Questionable Practices, a five minute master class in PV/Grind Mastery that kneels at the altars of gods. Logo ripped from IMMORTAL FATE, font meticulously adapted from Mr. Ripple's countless visual credits, and a sound that would not raise an eyebrow if BACKYARD were played alongside PLUTO, UTTER BASTARD, DBE....you get the fukkn drill. My jaw fell open and my heart swelled when I played Questionable Practices for the first time, and there have been so many more times since that moment. This is beautiful, life is beautiful. 

QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES

ALL NATION DEATH

 

Primal and brutal DIY punk straight from the DISRUPT/DESTROY school, except ALL NATION DEATH (alternately ALLNATIONDEATH) trade fidelity for intensity. Rhythm section feels like they were kidnapped from a local ramshackle street punk band by a wild buzzsaw treble rebel and a throat searing screamer. The combination is just deadly honest punk/grind/crust and I want the guitar break from "Reign Of Terror" on repeat in my head all day. Fifteen tracks in barely as many minutes, released in the late '90s and reissued a couple of years back (thankfully) so a new generation can sink in their teeth and make their ears bleed. 

THIRD WORLD RESURRECTION

PAULA'S REVENGE

 

How about some early '90s audio porn on a Saturday? Perfect. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in. Remember when you tried to figure out how to call those 1-900 numbers without your parents seeing it on the phone bill? No? Just me? Well....this just got awkward. 

PAULA'S REVENGE

•••
If anyone knows where I can get copies of Paula's Awakening, Among Friends, Road Trip, Just Desserts or Paula's Paybacks please let me know? You know I want the whole series, even if it's utterly ridiculous. Especially if it's utterly ridiculous. You're welcome. 

OUTSKIRTS PUNX & SKINS

 

Fukkn stunning late '90s collection of raw street punk and proto Oi!, the first of three volumes that capture the early stages of Indonesian punk finding its own place and voice. Thirty bands here, some are straight killers (DEVASTATED, THE MORONS, DISINFECT OPERATION MILITARY, MAWAR BERDURI, RENTENIR, IGNORANT FLEA to name a few) and there are a few clunkers to be sure, but if you want your eyes to peel and your face to melt and you want your mind blown.....then thank the folks at No Label Records. 

OUTSKIRTS PUNX & SKINS: STREET SOUND OF REVOLUTION

SILVER SHADOWS

 

Sometimes I put this tape on knowing exactly what to expect. I'm prepared, and I'm ready to get into a feel. But last night (note: actually 'last night' is actually 'tonight' as I type this now to post tomorrow morning) I just casually pressed play and I came to a dead stop in my slippers. Like, I know SILVER SHADOWS are good (were good - there are only two releases and the most recent is seven years old), but holy fuck did they just hit me this time. Shoegaze - sure, it's an easy and obvious compartment, but SILVER SHADOWS belong on a fucking altar and not some compartment, you know? WAX IDOLS and FLESH WORLD for contemporary comparisons....maybe appropriate but definitely not completely accurate and then they hit "Fragile Dawn" and COCTEAU TWINS energy just oozes out of this recording and I am completely gobsmacked. No idea how a band can release something this fucking good and not be universally heralded, even if only posthumously. But this is the world we live in, so me and my slippers are going to go to bed listening to the most synth-heavy Cold Plastic and check this post for typos in the morning....just in case. 

SILVER SHADOWS

JT WHITFIELD

 

The Chondritic Sound label was responsible for some of my favorite discoveries of the 2010s and while their releases have leaned more on the digital format/s for the last few years, I still keep a keen eye (and ear) on their output. If I didn't keep a keen eye (and ear), I might miss releases like like 2019's Complacent from Austin freak JT WHITFIELD. Dark and deliberate distortion tinged ambient/techno sounds for the future, sounds that sound as if they are a reminder from a distant (and tortured) past...just letting you know we'll (all) be back.

COMPLACENT

COMMUNITY

 

You know what this sounds like? This sounds like a band of adults who have been listening to punk for a long time, adults who are totally fine with letting the punk they have listened to influence the punk that they play. Heavy on the '90s DIY (you're gonna hear Ebullition bands in these vocals for sure) with a solid ear towards bands you might associate with Static Shock and Cut The Cord...talking about the current(ish) DIY hardcore that doesn't stomp and squirm just for the sake of it, you know? The opening chords of "Community" are beyond perfect - they remind me of a moment yesterday when I realized that the beginning  of "Teenage Riot" may or may not bear a striking resemblance to the beginning of "Hell's Bells" and I say that to make it clear that the opening chords of "Community" are actually that perfect, you know? This is harsh, honest, gruff, real modern DIY hardcore punk. Maybe it's a stretch calling a tape released in 2016 "modern," but this shit feels (and sounds) like yesterday so I'm gonna go with it.

COMMUNITY

DOLOR Y ODIO

 

This copy is several generations old, so I'm not exactly sure what form this tape originally took....but oh the fukkn power in these six songs. Ultra raw off the rails political hardcore punk from Mexico City related (at least loosely, I think?) to DESOBEDIENCIA CIVIL. There are still undiscovered worlds of punk like this from virtually every corner of the earth....bring them to me, Friends Of The Escape. Bring them to me so that I may share them with you.

NECESITARIAMOS SIFRIR COMO ELLOS PARA COMPRENDER LA TRISTEZA DE SUS OJOS

 

SACRIDOSE

 

I don't remember if we played with them or not, but NO STATIK stayed with some SACRIDOSE folks when we were in Florida. Does that impact or influence my listening experience in 2025? Nope. Shit is pure and fierce face melting North American grindcore. No bullshit. Sick.

ANXIETY TREMORS

LORETTA LYNN

This is how you're supposed to listen to this shit. It's not supposed to sound perfect. No one busts out a '70s country record so you can check out the fidelity and check the sonic ceiling on a fancy hi-fi system. They give you Revolver or Aja for that shit. You listen to They Don't Make 'Em Like My Daddy so you can fukkn cry. You try to listen to feel nostalgic for something you never actually knew, but really you just end up crying. You want to hear her version of "I've Never Been This Far Before" and think about how sketchy Conway's original sounds in hindsight and wonder what the actual fuck Loretta's people were thinking when they signed off on this shit....but then the tape starts to tweak and everything starts to feel fukkd and wrong and you wonder why you were ever doing anything other than crying into your solitary beer. You want t turn it off but you keep hoping it'll even out and you'll feel okay just crying, but by the time "Ain't Love A Good Thing" shits all over what's left of your listening experience and the beer is gone and.....dude, what were you even thinking. You don't get to have a good pathetic cry, you're too fucked up for that. There's one song left though....it's called "Nothin'" so sit with that while it grinds (you) to a warbling halt. It's your life, so keep listening and keep living. If you want to.

THE DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE MY DADDY

 

ANGRY SAMOANS

 

You already know this one, right? If you're a North American, then you've flipped by Live At Rhino Records in at least a dozen cut-out bins over the years. Maybe you snagged a copy for $3.99 in a mall somewhere when you were a teenager because you recognized the name of the band? Maybe you figured if it was that readily available then maybe that meant no one wanted it because it sucked and you bought a copy of Panorama instead (*cough cough* *that was me*). Anyway, shit jams, and it's cool to hear ANGRY SAMOANS in their infancy as an early SoCal punk band before being a "hardcore" punk band was even really a thing. VOM and RAMONES covers and a version of "My Old Man's A Fatso" that's so much rougher (and better) than the Back From Samoa version that I almost don't even want to crank that LP to check and see if I'm crazy or not. Essential jams....? Nah. But goddamn the things that might have been different if I had skipped that CARS tape when I was a junior in high school. "Gimme Some Slack" still jams, but "You Stupid Asshole" would have made a serious impact then. Still does now, but really would have then, you know?

LIVE AT RHINO RECORDS

SOUR

 

Picture perfect modern melodic mosh-friendly hardcore. SOUR do the damn thing so well it makes me wonder how many other bands that could be lumped intro the same sub-categories I have just skipped over because I am old and irrelevant and I feel like these are the kids who are making music for their own kids and not for me, you know? It's different when you know the hardcore but it seems like the people creating it got to MADBALL via SOAD and their brand of trippy breakdowns starts with TOOL instead of HAWKWIND. None of this is bad, none of this is a critique - this is just vibe and context and those are things that influence the listening experience. In this case, it's a very positive influence. 

SONGZ

WOUND

 

You ever wonder how a band can release something so utterly devastating and then just...vanish? Like, did they listen to their release and just say "well, we did it - I guess we're done." Kinda like what SLAYER should have done after Reign In Blood (*see below*). That appears to be what WOUND did after they released Trashwork sometime in the mi twenty-teens, and you listen to this monster with proper ears and you can certainly see why they called it quits...shit is perfect. Perfect modern hardcore - fastcore properly reimagined for post apocalyptic reality with breakdowns and blasts and blatant Thrash2K rips and the shit like "I Am Cobra" that just makes you rethink everything you think about punk. I wish there were more, but the absence of more is what makes WOUND so perfect. Because they fukkn did it. 

TRASHWORK

•••

Look - South Of Heaven is a great and arguably also-perfect record. But do not for one second try to tell me that you think it's better and/or more important than Reign In Blood. If SLAYER has stopped in 1987 literally zero people would be saying "man, they could have done better so it's too bad they quit" and a similarly zeroid number of people have ever honestly felt happy that anything after Seasons In The Abyss even existed at all. 

The moral is: Get in. Do no shit. Get out.

MYSTIC INANE

 

There was a hot (long) minute around the turn of a couple of decades ago where I was no-at-all low key obsessed with New Orleans punk. It was really NECRO HIPPIES in a bedroom in Oakland that did it, but I kept running into these little strands that connected people I encountered to bands I like and every discovery seemed to lead to another discovery and every new discovery was a new band I needed to devour. MYSTIC INANE appeared on my radar in the early '10s and everything kinda clicked - this was a similar brand of disjointed and awkward punk, this band was also playing by their own rules...but MYSTIC INANE were fukkn dangerous. MYSTIC INANE were dirty American DIY punk weening themselves off of FU82 and Mad Dog 20/20. They're from the South and you can feel that energy before they even play a note....the shit is (was) just different. And I guess that not-at-all low key obsession is still in full effect.

MYSTIC INANE

HATEFILLED KIDS

 

It doesn't get much more primitive than HATEFILLED KIDS.
It doesn't need to be fancy, it just needs to be real. 

FUCK PUNK ROCK RIP POCKETS SNATCH JEWELS