MELEE

 

The thing that made MELEE cool is that they were so decidedly not cool. They seemed to sit at the perpetual kids' table while the USDIY scene subdivided itself and anointed royalty in the early '00s. Meanwhile, they delivered consistently ferocious raw hardcore every bit as fast as the th/en vouge Y2K thrashcore explosion, harnessed the political (and sonic) rage of CRUDOS and made the shit sound like they owned it.  Were they game changers.....? Perhaps not. But this demo, along with the EPs and splits that followed over their brief existence, have aged extremely well. Unpretentious, honest hardcore. 

MELEE

DANNY KAYE

 

Pretending isn't always bad. Faking it isn't always negative. Sometimes even a little white lie to yourself can help you make it through. Deception is a motherfucker though, so keep yourself in check. But if you want to spend 20 minutes with a national treasure from another time, from another reality, then allow me to offer Mr. Entertainment DANNY KAYE for your listening and escaping pleasure. Go ahead; lie to yourself. Everything is fine. Everything is fun. This isn't a dystopian hellscape. You aren't quietly counting the days, hoping that your life comes to a natural end before everything implodes. You aren't looking over your shoulder wondering how long until they're after you. It's all good "Down By The Riverside" though, and today is the first "Great 'Come And Get It' Day" of the rest of your life. Enjoy.  

MR. ENTERTAINMENT

LEMOTS // DISPLOISUCK

 

Arguably two of the best and/or most random band names that have appeared on this blog in the last sixteen-plus years, DISPLOISUCK and LEMOTS team up for a raw and blistering fastcore assault more than worthy of your full attention. The way LEMOTS use a machine gun double snare hit to accent their verses is tough to describe even while I find myself getting sucked way deeper into their sound than any typical '00s fast/thrashcore should warrant.....which is exactly the point: they aren't typical.  TOTAL FURY-meets-CrasherCrust energy set to absolute maximum speed and punkest fidelity, it's truly something special and I hope that (the punk) TE visitors take note.
• Oh shit - there's another side!!! •
DISPLOISUCK are an entirely different animal that makes use of many of the same descriptors as their tapemates, but DISPLOISUCK hit more like an unhinged and out of tune street punk band who listened to the first two CASUALTIES records way too much and couldn't quite pull it off while they were wasted but compensated by trying harder. I don't know what else I can do to suck you in today....except that the physical tape is slightly fukkd and turns both recordings into a phaser a few times and it makes both of them even better in a way that feels like nostalgia even though you're likely hearing both for the first time. 
• You're welcome. •

PAST TOMORROW AND FUTURE

CRUCIAL '78

 

From the opening echoes of PRINCE JAMMY's track that sets the tones to a bizarre dub from JOE GIBBS & THE PROFESSIONALS to TRINITY to U-ROY's smooth rizzed out rock steady, Crucial '78 is a master class in dub, crackling beats and hopelessly infectious reggae adjacent sounds. A glorious (and presumably homemade) mix that truly makes you feel like you've been on a journey once it's finished.  

CRUCIAL '78

RACK TRAP

 

===========================================

Hardcore is (or can be) brilliant and flawless in its simple simplicity. Sometimes you know which version you're going to get from the first burst and it makes you even more eager - you want to hear it even more because you've heard it before. Which version of the thing that you know are you going to get? You wonder consumes and your excitement increases as you reach for the volume knob....which is probably more like a volume toggle because it's almost 2026. That's what RACK TRAP feels like; six songs in five minutes. Manic mid-fidelity stomps holding back an animal struggling to break out of its cage. It's exactly what you think it's going to be, and it's beautiful. 

RACK TRAP

COLONIZE THE ROTTING

 

Seems like this band my have only recorded six songs. Ever. And still there are more riffs than the entire discography of some bands I've played in. Brutal, manic, psychotic death metal lurches from the mean streets of San Jose....shit is filthy. Shit is disjointed. Shit is precise and focused. Shit is.....brutal OSDM-influenced tech grind (but I actually don't know how to apply subgenres to death metal so probably that's wrong). Band probably stopped because the drummer/vocalist Alex Colon (who was a good musician) passed....but what a fukkn sonic legacy, right? Blasting Guttural Bay Area Death Slam, motherfuckers. 

COMPOSTING THE MASTICATED

••••••

---------

GEIGER COUNTER // ZUDAS KRUST

 

It's hard to know what to say when something is executed this perfectly. GEIGER COUNTER harness '00s epic crust, Burning Spirits, face melting fastcore and DISRUPT and create something that is so instantly infectious that....it's hard to know what to say. So you flip the tape to blast ZUDAS KRUST. Epic and apocalyptic crasher crust borrowing from the classics but delivering with wild thrashcore energy. Two tracks from ZK, three from GC.... and every single one of these five tracks is an absolute berserker. 

GEIGER COUNTER // ZUDAS KRUST

DISGOD

 

What if there was a world where Thrash2K and SHITLICKERS joined hands and made a modern crasher crust band? Well, that world would have a king, and that king would be named DISGOD. Not sure what more I need to say here, except that listening to "Fuck Your Power Fuck Your Arrogance" could serve as a very important reset to start your week.....have a pleasant Monday, punk.

ENDLESS MISERY

COLOSSAL YES

 

I do not know how best to describe or discuss my feelings about Surrounded By Progress. It's like listening to SURVIVE in an entirely different realm. Like listening to future music on the radio at your dentist's office. Like the comedown from a really weird weekend....but in the form of sound. "Docile Progressions" is simultaneously ominous and beautiful.......and there's your life metaphor, you know? Ethereal synth-driven other music from the Bay Area and also from another world that you would (probably....hopefully) rather live in. There's a connection to ONCE AND FUTURE BAND which will mean something to a few readers, but really....you need ton listen to COLOSSAL YES. Because these are important sounds. 

:Surrounded By Progress:

Doesn't progress make you feel good inside?
You're idea of progress wrecks too many lives. 
=================================

SURROUNDED BY PROGRESS

TOTALITÄR

 

Y'all know TOTALITÄR, right?
Like, this isn't a thing I need to explain and/or describe to you....right? 
I saw TOTALITÄR once.
They were amazing.
This is the early shit......it is amazing. 
Simplicity is a motherfukkr, y'all.

WALLBREAKER 1986-1989

NORTHEASTERN HYMNS

 

You want something profound? Nah man, this is just four songs from four modern black metal bands I had never heard of before I listened to Northeastern Hymns. That's all. The OBSIDIAN FOREST and INFERNA BRUO tracks are exceptional. I don't like the other two quite as much, but that's just me, you know?

NORTHEASTERN HYMNS

GRAVE DANCERS

 

This tape. It was a CD first, and it was one of the only things that made me want to use a CD player after we got back from Indonesia in 2008...but it was a tape too, and this is the tape. GRAVE DANCERS were to Jakarta what VIOLATOR were to Brasilia and MUNICIPAL WASTE were to RVA - relentless and innovative crossover thrash that takes influence from the obvious foundational stalwarts and makes something that sounds like....well, the shit sounds like GRAVE DANCERS. In a just world, Morbid Nation would be a sought after piece of history. 

MORBID NATION

REGULATIONS

 

There was something really fukkn special about REGULATIONS at the time, and twenty years later the shit hits even harder. It was that weird time when stadium crust was everywhere and Y2K thrash was a fading institution and there were these little pockets of punk who were skipping all of the trends and regurgitating all of the infectious '80s punk they could consume. The first EP came out in 2003 and by the time the LP dropped two year later, this shit was everywhere - REGULATIONS and AMDI PETERSEN'S ARME and NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS were everything in those moments and no one could figure out why Sweden and Denmark did the shit so right. But they did. Some bands did blatant rips, some bands tried and failed....REGULATIONS drew a line between 1981 DC and 1982 LA and TOTAL FURY and basically said "fukk it - we are all of this shit." And they were. If you like/d any of those things, then you were up front for REGULATIONS. The LP is flawless and all three EPs are mandatory listening - "We're Blank," "Police Siren" and "Sex With Jesus" are all examples of perfection but there is not a single wasted moment in these 26 songs....punk needed this shit, and I'm glad I was there for it. 

VRÅLROCK + EPS

I hate the sound of sirens // it's the sound of violence

DUKE ELLINGTON

 

See my MINGUS post from a few weeks back to understand my association with and introduction to jazz. Maybe DUKE ELLINGTON is different because anyone who listens to music should know who he is even if they don't fully appreciate his place - but that doesn't change the fact that the shit is brilliant, you know? He's not just a name though. The Duke is a legend for a reason. There are countless collections labeled "Best Of..." and this is just one of them. Maybe it's not the best, but you should start somewhere. Why not here?

THE BEST OF DUKE ELLINGTON

BATTOSAI-A

 

Lo-fidelity raw fastcore blast mania - this is exactly the shit that we freaked out about then, and this is exactly the shit you need to listen to now. Blast "Television Shit" and tell me you aren't on our side? Well, I'll tell you that you aren't on our side. Lunes drawn, motherfucker. 

A DISCOGRAPHY FROM 2003-2010

BLOODSHOT

 

If you go to the Ironthread Records bandcamp and check the description of this BLOODSHOT tape, it simply reads: PRIMITIVE HARDCORE....and while I crank these seven brutal minutes and slam a second cup of coffee, it's hard to imagine a better way to describe BLOODSHOT. Appropriately fuzzed out and desperate machine gun repetition punctuated by gloriously deliberate squirmy down-low mid tempo riffs that never seem to last as long as you want them to. As you need them to. So, if you're like me? You listen again. I think a third cup of coffee is in order - not so I can conquer my day but so I can better prioritize the things to not give a shit about vs. the things I need to destroy. 

WHO'S THE MAN BEHIND THE MIRROR?

GUN SLAUGHTER // GIMP

 

GIMP: Brutal and powerful PV/Grind from Phoenix. They make shit different in the Sonoran Desert. 

GUN SLAUGHTER: Brutal and powerful PV/Grind from Vancouver. Five songs, three minutes.

YOU: Curious, intrigued, eager....hungry.

ME: Piece of shit.

GIMP // GUN SLAUGHTER

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH

 

More like this please? Thank you. A breathtaking collection of raw fastcore, mince/grind, noise, shit-fi and punk, all delivered with a brilliantly honest lack of fidelity. DESTRUCT, PROJECT BABI NO.9, DEVIATED SYMPHONY, DIRTY MOUTH, NOISE FOR VIOLENCE and more, all hailing from Yogyjakarta. Shit just feels real, and the next 42 minutes of your life are about to get a lot more brutal. 

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH: A SOUNDTRACK FROM A PRINTMAKING

SPILTH

 

Rescued this bad boy out of a cardboard box in an attic closet a few months back. You're welcome. 
•••

Tough to describe SPLITH, even more so with two decades of hindsight. On their face, they could have been a heavy alt proto metal (read: pre Nü Metal) juggernaut, but they came from and existed in the DIY punk realm...where they also didn't quite fit. I feel like I saw them several times and they seemed (at the time) not quite realized (whatever that means). That was with my ears then. I'm listening with today ears today though, and this SPILTH shit is (was...and also is) something special. You're gonna hear things that you are familiar with, from WHITE ZOMBIE to NEUROSIS, but the way these kids took would-be sludge and/or groove metal riffs and made them something completely unique? And made it feel like they belonged at crust and metal shows at the Covered Wagon in 1996? That was something I couldn't appreciate at the time. They were always a force live, and while I listen tonight in a cold apartment with a cat purring contentedly by my side...I am grateful that I was able to see a band that was this ahead of their time while they were still in their time. Three of these tracks were on the 1995 SPILTH *!% EP, and two of them I can't find anywhere else, so naturally I wonder what else was in that box in that closet in that attic....but I can't go back.  

SPILTH

AVERSIO HUMANITATIS

I wish that I could share the Sentient Ruin description with you....instead I will just offer the sounds. 

What are the sounds? Apocalyptic and bleak black metal from Spain. 

Those are (these are) the sounds...and they are (they were) gorgeous. 

LONGING FOR THE UNTOLD