ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ

 

Earlier this week I had an early start in Santa Clara (for the far-away visitors, that's about 45minutes south of San Francisco, where I live) and I didn't feel like listening to news and/or current events on my drive, even though that's typically my go-to "entertainment" when I drive. I scanned the FM dial past the religious shit and the weird low frequency R&B stations hoping for some public radio drive time avant entertainment and a folk-ish song grabbed me so I hovered...and then I stayed. The DJ was talking about artists I'd never heard of but then he'd mention JOHN FAHEY or PAULINE OLIVEROS between tracks and I figured it was a station I should stick with. I was right....it was good - so good that I kept the digital dial in that same spot for my drive back to SF later that morning. The station? No clue, didn't pay attention. The artists that serenaded me as I drove south towards inescapable corporate drudgery? No clue, didn't pay attention. But while I was listening....I was there, and that was exactly what I needed. Because I wasn't here (which was, to be fair, there when I was listening then). ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ doesn't sound anything like anything that I heard that day....but I didn't know what to do with ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ until that moment, shit had just been sitting here waiting for the right day. And on that day, I knew that the right day was this day. 

PASSION VICTIME

TERJE RYPDAL + MIROSLAV VITOUS + JACK De JOHNETTE

 

It's hard to believe that this is a three person project, but jazz be like that sometimes. Drum forward, hard driving, surreal and ethereal....it's like being invited to someone else's trip, you dig? Prolific Czech bassist MIROSLAV VITOUS (from WEATHER REPORT), Norwegian guitarist TERJE RYPDAL who ECM called the "tone poet of the Stratocaster" and American drummer JACK DeJOHNETTE who has played with Miles Davis (he's the main drummer on Bitches Brew, so there's that), Alice Coltrane, Bill Evans and Sonny Rollins and.....I'm wondering why you still need more. Listen to the cymbal laden ambient masterpiece "Den Forste Sne" and the cymbal-laden "Will" and then...go back and listen to everything else here. Carefully. Don't just hear the sounds....listen to the sounds. Deeply listen please. 

 TERJE RYPDAL // MIROSLAV VITOUS // JACK De JOHNETTE
Can you imagine how many brilliant ECM records there are....? If I decided to dig in I feel like I might never come up for air.

FUNKADELIC

 

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert here....I'm just tryna shake my ass while I get ready for work. 1975's Let's Take It To The Stage is an absolute clinic - psychedelic afro-futurist boogie of the highest order. If you haven't, then please do. Your ass will thank you.

LET'S TAKE IT TO THE STAGE

TRAIN IN VAIN

That quote kinda says it all, right? To think that in 2005 there was a band in Indonesia trying to revive the 2001 Bandana Thrash period....well, there was, and I would have lost my shit if I had seen TRAIN IN VAIN in 2001. Or 2005. Or literally fucking ever. Thirteen songs in eleven minutes, blistering fastcore of the highest order. There's a BETERCORE cover, and blasting this shit made me think of the WHN? show with BETERCORE in Mannheim very (very) long time ago. If I recall correctly, we talked about peanut butter.

FULLSPEEDFASTTERROR

LUKE SWEENEY

 

BOWIE, CUDDLY TOYS, MOTT THE HOOPLE, CHILTON, T. REX, FANTASY....the blueprint has been public domain for decades. Any interested party should know how to make it happen and make it right, so why is it that acts like LUKE SWEENEY only seem to appear once in a blue moon? And why do they always seem to be lurking in the shadows? If this were a self released two song 45 released in 1974....? Well, you know. 

MISS ME? / TIE MAO TO MINED

PERDICIÓN

 

What an absolute fukkn beast. PERDICIÓN came from out of nowhere (actually they're from Tijuana) and knocked me on my ass in a Muay Thai gym a couple of weeks ago. Raw and brutal lo-fi metallic crust with a serious classic heavy metal bent. You know the sounds, and PERDICIÓN felt like an old friend the instant I heard them. 

TRANSTORNOS CTÓNICOS

CLUB FOOT ORCHESTRA

 

There was something different about CLUB FOOT ORCHESTRA. Equal parts '80s prog-ska and WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY, they just play so confidently weird that you might just forget that you think that you don't like whatever it is they're playing. I don't know what it is (was), and I don't even know if I like it. But I still listen. Repeatedly. 

KIDNAPPED

ZOLOA

 

Remember the early '10s when the punk underworld was buzzing with every new Silenzio Statico release and the closet metal freaks were salivating any time a new Crepusculo Negro tape dropped? And then there was ZOLOA....the were both worlds. All of the worlds. Raw OSDM and DISRUPT  and ScandiCrust and black metal destruction and MISERY all at the same time (likely on different turntables at different speeds). Tell me "Sicario" doesn't waste your ass and I'll tell you we aren't friends - simple as that. It's the mid '20s now, and I still buzz when I blast this shit. 

PLATA O PLOMO

D-70's

 

This was a freebie that Paul from Ragin' casually tossed in the pile when I snagged that grip of Lowrider and Barrio comps. Dude just added it to the pile like it was nothing special because he rolls that deep in the special shit...and rest assured that this is special shit. I could tell you it's essentially a disco comp, and you'd probably decide to blow it off. I could tell you that you probably know most of the songs here, and you'd probably decide that it's not worth your time. But you see.....those would be wrong decisions, because this mix is one of the best dancefloor smashers I have heard. Period. Every song is a straight killer, the sequence and the segues are simply flawless. PETER JAQUES, GIORGIO MORODER, SYLVER CONVENTION, DONNA SUMMER, THE MUSIC MAKERS, THE TRAMMPS, FOXY....and even though there is so much more, this comp is so much more than the simply sum of its parts, you know? Listen at full volume, and appreciate the generosity of others. 

D-70's

VAQUERO.S

 

Sometimes you just wake up and you want to feel good. You are conscious of the negative, you're aware of the challenges, you might even feel helpless in the constant struggle against both....but you yearn to approach everything with a positive determination. VAQUERO.S are perfect for times like these. You can feel the honesty in their voices and you can soak up the joy that they take in enjoying life itself, even if that life holds a boot on their neck (I'm not saying life did that to them, but if it had.....then VASQUERO.S would still party, you know?). Listening to VASQUERO.S on a day when every dickhead you see is either going to spend the day whining about an anniversary or political division, listening to VASQUERO.S feels like watching a liter of blood gush out of a Nazi's neck......because in that moment, you feel like everything is gonna be okay. Because Nazis are really bad but ballads and accordions are really good, you know?

(ESTEREO)

WIRE

 

• I first heard WIRE around the time of the mid-era Ahead and I was super into it. I didn't know anything about their origins and/or influence, just as I couldn't begin to comprehend their context or influence - it was just a really cool and danceable new wave record that sounded somehow....different.  

• I saw WIRE only once, roughly thirty years after A Bell Is A Cup...Until It Is Struck was released. They played at Slim's in SF and I was pleasantly floored at how much they did not give a fukk at all about their hits or the songs that most attendees likely wanted to hear. I think they mostly played stuff from Nocturnal Koreans and Send but I can't really be sure, I just know that people were filing out and I was enthralled.  
• I am low-key obsessed with solo Bruce Gilbert material, particularly Insiding and The Shivering Man, this information is interesting perhaps only to me and does not in any way relate to Document And Eye Witness by WIRE. I also was a big fan of HE SAID when Hail was released. I still am. 
• These recordings are incredible, capturing the band at the very onset of not giving a fukk. I read somewhere that this Rough Trade release represented the end of "the first era" of WIRE but I almost feel like this was WIRE intentionally killing external perceptions of that era. Listen to what they did to 12XU and think about a band wanting to defy and destroy convention in real time. This wasn't "art punk," this was "punk" in its purest form. Sound without rules. 
• This 1981 release compiles songs performed and recorded in 1979 and 1980. Songs performed and recorded by a band who were clearly exhausted by punk conventions just a few years after punk's inception. I think all rational and reasonable listeners of punk are grateful for their disdain and /or disillusion because how fukkn boring would it be if we just listened to DAMNED and UK SUBS all the time, you know?
• DAMNED and UK SUBS are both great bands....WIRE is, was and will always be more interesting than either. 

DOCUMENT AND EYE WITNESS

YOUTH AVOIDERS

 

I was assigned to review a record by YOUTH AVOIDERS forever ago and I recall needing repeated listens to fully wrap my head around what they were doing. It was never a matter of whether or not I liked it, it was trying to figure out where they were coming from and what their intentions were.....and honestly I'm still not sure. From a foundation of consistently driving and intentionally repetitious punk very much along the lines of LES THUGS and/or LA FRACTION, YOUTH AVOIDERS add a melody that owes more to OBSERVERS than their country-folk, there's the (almost) Deathreat Davis vocals...and there's something extra infectious about the clean guitar that pierces through the mix. There's a world where someone might hear these sounds a couple of times and think "Oh cool, I've heard shit like this before" and move along. I get it - and I admit that I was dangerously close to doing the same thing myself but something kept drawing me in and demanding that I pay closer attention. Listen to that something, because it's here. YOUTH AVOIDERS have the indefinable something that allows them to morph punk music that you understand and recognize into punk music that you feel. 2018's Relentless was their final release (I believe), and it capped an almost decade long string of recordings that deserve a place on a very short list. 

RELENTLESS

MINUS

 

Raw and brutal Indonesian street punk. It retrospect, it sounds kinda hopeless.....which is probably why I like it. Twenty-one songs, metallic and desperate. 

DISCOGRAPHY (1992-2000)

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

Doubling up on the comps this week to take a look at what the tastemakers at Maximum Rocknroll were shoving down our throats 32 years ago today. Honestly, this is a little taste of why some of "us" (I'm talking about some nebulous, royal "us" as in 'a general vibe not necessarily supported by facts') started to sour on the mag during the middle of the '90s. There was a perception that Tim & The Gang were moving away from hardcore and the burgeoning (and more metallic) crust/PV movements and just leaning on rehashed garage rock standards and classic "punk," just as they famously slammed the door on what was then called emo so drastically. Never mind the motivation behind any of the editorial decisions or the validity of any of these impressions....just listen to this radio show and know that, simply put: the nebulous, royal "we" were wrong. Garage rock? Sure, tons of it. Absolute screamers from PSYCHOTIC TURNBUCKLES, PSYCHOS, HEADCOATEES, MOE TOWN. Pre-alt/grunge explosion early cute from SMASHING PUMPKINS and MODHONEY. You've got NAPALM DEATH, FRUMPIES and GERMS in the same hour. And then there's the real reason we did (and still do) tune into MRR Radio - unknown and under-the-radar tracks from PRESSURE 28, FIGHTERS, JUDGE NOTHING, WOMBELS (the surprise highlight of this show for me), KEEP and others. These shows are fukkn priceless, period. And that magazine was (is) an institution for a fukkn reason. 

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #594

CHANNEL THREE

 

How far they fall...and how fukkn fast. Listen to CHANNEL 3 shredding live in 1982 and then imagine that this abomination was recorded just three years later - it's wild. You can talk about contemporaries who released seminal hardcore/punk recordings and then descended into the murky butt rock underworld; SSD is an obvious example, F.U.'s get mentioned as well but My America still rips even though it's not a raw hardcore record. Sticking with California though, T.S.O.L. is the easiest comparison but fukk man....at least they were gradual, at least Revenge is still a pretty good record and honestly I actually liked Hit And Run when it came out in '86 (still have the copy I snagged when it was current, in fact). But these assholes went from one of the best SoCal punk songs ever ("You Make Me Feel Cheap" from 1982's Fear Of Life) to a ripping sophomore effort in '83 to....this piece of garbage. Like, it's like a full fucking hour of the montage song from '80s teen movies - the song you hear the edgy band in the club playing when the square girl is going to meet the mysterious boy in the leather jacket, But this is the wholesome version. Look at the cover photo/s - it's like they were trying to ape GANG GREEN's party-punk aesthetic but make it suitable for a photo spread in Teenbeat. Even the songs that seem good in the moment (I'm looking at you, "Penance Of Passion") are sonic turds when you listen with perspective - it's like a grundgingly palatable version of a thing that fukkn blows, you know? This was released on Enigma, who were also responsible for the aforementioned Hit And Run shortly after this complete waste of resources....almost makes you wonder how many other bands they sucked the soul out of in the 1980s. To be fair, THE DEAD MILKMEN and WIRE were both on the roster at the same time so clearly the label wasn't all bad, but there were a lot of people on the payroll who presumably signed off on this release...and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement of their hiring practices or quality control standards. Someone even approved the AEROSMITH cover - and it's a song that's only memorable because of the title (which is admittedly good - but this version sucks more than the original, which totally sucks). I bought this tape for $4 last weekend at a shop in Fresno along with an ALBERTO Y LOS PARANOIAS album that I hoped would be better than it is, a coupla ELVIS records and a folk jammer I snagged because it had a cool gatefold photo of a dude chilling on an outhouse shitter. And after listening to all of them, I only regret one of those purchases and I'm left wondering why this recording even exists. So...enjoy?

LAST TIME I DRANK...

••••
UPDATE: After feeling disgusted with myself for digging so deep into this tape, I decided to check 1989's Rejected and it sounds like it's even worse. Man, I fukkn love those first two records though, and they are still active...kinda sound like SMITHEREENS-tinged California melodic punk now. 

BARRIO MUSIC

 

Dedicated visitors will remember my excitement when I came into an entire set of the East Side Story comps. On that note, those who know me can imagine the look on my face when I was presented with the opportunity to score the first eleven volumes of the Barrio Music comps that started trickling out of Mexico in the 1980s. Essential....? I mean, you can listen to oldies on the radio if you prefer (or at least you used to could be able to do that but the radio is different now so I suppose it really depends on your market) but there's something about a perfectly crafted collection of songs, and that is exactly what these comps are. Much like East Side Story, these tapes are filled with standards that you (should) know inside and out ("I'm Your Puppet," "Seasons In The Sun") mingling with essential cuts like "Eighteen With A Bullet," It's Okay" and "Those Oldies But Goodies" that have spent decades in the shadows. These compilations create a vibe in the most glorious way, and I look forward to sprinkling the next tewn into your life. 

BARRIO MUSIC vol.1

ACHTERLICHT

 

You want to talk about something being greater than the sum of its parts? Then let's talk about ACHTERLICHT. The opening burst is dirty, fuzzed out hardcore that made me think of (LA) STAINS, then before you can blink the other sounds creep in and then before "Exaltation" starts you're listening to some lo-fi hi-NRG garage punk and how the fukk did we go from STAINS to SPITS without inflicting mental whiplash on the listener? Don't know, don't care. Want more of those guitar solo, want more period. Luckily for me (and you) here have been three releases since this 2023 demo...

ACHTERLICHT

CADAVERIBUS

 

Was drawn to the cover initially (for obvious reasons), but when I opened the case and saw "Cadaveribus is a new Death/Doom band from Tokyo, Japan" printed on the inside of the j-card under the track listing....? I was helpless. So I took this four song cassette home and popped it in the deck and I get exactly what I was hoping for - filthy guttural primal death metal stomps layered with stench and doom. The four tracks here are painfully restrained, the vocals are disgusting growls and the guitars redefine disgust itself. "Demonic" is the most melodic cut, anchored by a guitar break around the 2:30 mark that will break hearts, but the individual "moments" are simply too many to count (though you would be advised to prepare yourself for the moment when the tempo picks up in "Eternity" because.....oooff, motherfukkr). A truly devastating release - exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I wanted but even better than I expected. 

OPEN THE GATE

LOST GOAT

Kinda hard to believe I've only posted LOST GOAT once. Considering the outsized impact the band (and particularly their live performances) had on me in the latter half of the 1990s, you'd think I would have blabbed about them far more than I have....then again, they only released one tape so there's that. This tape was pulled from an AlcoholoScott box after his death a few years ago, VOID's Condensed Flesh started the side and this batch of tracks labeled LOST GOAT DEMO '97 followed. Nothing on the flip because why on earth would you want to listen to anything after that? Six songs - "White Dog" from the TOWEL split and a couple each from the GRINCH split and Trapped On Earth. The song "Trapped On Earth" is as close to sonic perfection as you're going to get today. 

DEMO 1997
When we walk we walk with fear, treading heavily on the surface
When we talk we disappear, never listening through the years
When we walk we walk with fear, nestled safely in the knowledge that the world won't change a bit and we won't lose any convenience... 

GUGAT

 

Filthy. I don't know how else to describe GUGAT, the shit is just disgusting. Razor sharp, ferocious metallic with these groove parts that just....well, they're fucking filthy. Dual femme/masc vocals are like relentless body blows while the guitars take the entire sound to other dimensions. "Bapakku Seorang Demonstran" is the most complete example of their brutality, but Family Values is best consumed as a complete document. GUGAT knocks the snot out of me like the first time I blasted the YELLO MACHINE GUN / NUNCHAKU split - a reference that will mean approximately fuckall to almost anyone who reads this (but it's a really killer record).

FAMILY VALUES

RPM'S R&B DANCE PARTY

 

If you saw this in a pile of question marks.....would you pick it up and pop it in?

Yeah, me too. 
It's not what you think.

RPM'S R&B DANCE PARTY

FREEATLAST

 

Rough around the edges? Sure. Honest? Without question.

The is the shit that I live for. Is it awesome and/or essential? Nah, not by a mile. Is it fukkn real? No doubt.

Indonesian Hardcore - 2003.

REHEARSAL TAPE

RAÏ REBELS

 

Do I know anything about Raï? Before a few days ago I might have said "no" and today I might still say "no," but spend an afternoon with Raï Rebels and you'll want to know more. Algerian folk/protest sounds, led by cheb/cheba singers, chioukhs and cheikhates, who created mesmerizing and infectious sounds with roots in (resistance to) early 20th century colonialism. It's a different world, and the world is vast....

EARTHWORKS: RAÏ REBELS

MODERN JAZZ QUARTET

 

I remain firmly convinced that MODERN JAZZ QUARTET is the ultimate group for less familiar with and/or hesitant about jazz. Smooth and accessible, innovative and interesting, challenging and engaging;  they settle comfortably into the confines of what the civilians think of as "jazz" while pushing those very same boundaries. You're not going to hear any free jazz freak-offs, but the vibes up front create a truly unique approach to the (sub)genre, and their 1958 collaborations here with Group de Paris are just smooth as fukk. Did I scoop this out of a bargain bin? Yes. Was it a good choice? Absolutely.

LOS GRANDES DEL JAZZ: 5

PROLETARIAT

 

Gratitude to the old punks who captured and distributed this shit. PROLETARIAT are perhaps (somewhat) under-appreciated, but this boot shows that real-time punks knew what was up (I see you, Felix). A live WERS set and tracks from Soma Holiday and the elusive Distortion demo....you need this. A full 60 minutes, and you need all of it. "Events / Repeat" on repeat, and then "Options" forever. 

RADIO SHOW BOSTON

MANDRILL

 

In the never ending world of things I didn't know I needed in my life, I present MANDRILL. I feel like I have had them forever, but I heard them (consciously) for the first time in July 2025. Better late than never, yeah? Sounds I never knew I needed until I had a taste - these kids shared the stage with JAMES BROWN and DEEP PURPLE and if you need a more rousing endorsement than that then I'm not really sure I can help you. Gorgeous 1970s psychedelic funk that channels SLY STONE and PHARAOH SANDERS with equal ferocity and in real time. There are twenty MANDRILL albums to choose from, and I would be an ignorant fool if I said that you should start with this one - but I started with this one and it's amazing. 

JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN

VOCIFERIAN

 

This is one of those "sit down and just listen" tapes. Two tracks, thirty five disturbed minutes of Belgian black metal that doesn't sound like anything else. Ever. The vocals are so bizarrely manipulated that you'll wonder what's happening in your earholes while you're sitting down (and listening, as I asked). Soaring, triumphant sounds from a different realm, and the drum solo on "Ode Aux Rats" should settle any debates about the normalcy of sounds contained on this cassette...and then there's the interlude/buildup that follows. This is something else. 

ɔ d ɔ ʀ a

DIMENSION MUSIC LIBRARY

 

Keep it weird?  yeah....why the fukk not, right? Keep it weird.
Comments welcome, comments encouraged.

If you have the courage. 

HOLOPHONIC PRODUCTION SOUNDS OF THE 80'S

PENTAGON'S PINBALL SOUNDS

 

From Pinhole to Pinball, more questions and more wonder from a storage unit in the Central Valley. Someone from Always Jukin' in Seattle mailed this tape to a Dan in Sunnyvale who may or may not have invented the track-ball controller used in the Mission Impossible arcade game. Why the the fuck did Always Jukin' do this, and why does a Radio Shack Concertape brand cassette with a custom Radio Shack mailer even exist (and where can I procure a truckload of them?) and what in the fukkn world are we even listening to? It's five minutes of doo-wop interludes punctuated by pinball machine bings and dings. That's it. It doesn't make any sense at all - it shouldn't exist, and no one should have bothered mailing it to another person and I certianly never shouldn't have encountered it (much less purchased it). But all of these things happened...and now you're about to download it and ask all of these questions yourself. Luckily, there are no answers. 

AT THE CANDY STORE