MISTLETOE

 

A haunting sonic display in four movements - horror and desperation transformed into sound. That Perchta is so calculated, so utterly deliberate, makes the sound even more terrifying. This didn't just happen...this was intentional.

PERCHTA

ME AGAINST IT ALL

 

So this tape was floating around in boxes and on shelves for a bunch of years before I listened to it. I could never remember exactly how or where I got it, but the handwriting on the spine was distinct and instantly recognizable as Max Ward's and that obviously meant that the tape had some weight. Probably a band who hoped to be a part of the 625 roster, or possibly an under the radar Japanese hardcore band who slipped Max an advance copy of a recording. I was savoring this one, and I looked forward to dropping him a line to get the history of the tape after I listened to it...which I would do eventually. Well, "eventually" happened just the other day and I have something exciting to report: It wasn't Max's handwriting. So here are six songs of turn of the century pop punk from England. There are a couple of ska parts too. 

ME AGAINST IT ALL

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

A damn perfect episode. Only in the '90s you hear Dutch shredders CKN of a tape with FACE TO FACE or SAWHORSE sharing space with TRAH BRATS...ABC DIABOLO and MR. T EXPERIENCE. It was 1992, and GRIMPLE had just dropped their first EP. It was 1992, the ARTIFICIAL PEACE relic from this broadcast was scarcely a decade old but nonetheless (and appropriately) presented as "classic" North American hardcore. Just a damn perfect episode. Punk rules. 

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #535

EU'S ARSE

 

You should know this already, right? This is the same collection of tracks that 625 and Agipunk collaborated on back in 2002 (which was my introduction to the band) and I can assure you that listening (for the first time in ages) with 2025 ears I was no less floored than I was the first time. What's Inside: the entire first EP from 1982, the split with IMPACT from 1983, live tracks from 1982/83 and a rehearsal from 1984. What You Get: your fucking ass blown out. Seriously, this is quintessential Italian hardcore - listen to Stefano's voice crack on those early live recordings and you can fukkn feel the intensity. Listen to that first EP and wonder why people don't speak THE EU'S ARSE in the same breath as WRETCHED, INDIGESTI and IMPACT - so completely unhinged and still infectious. Some punks reissued this on cassette for their US gigs in 2014 (same year Blackwater reissued the EP) - I appreciate those punks. 

1981 - 1985

ALEX BUENO ORQUESTA

 

There's a dude I work with who travels everywhere in the facility with his tunes. Okay, there are more than a few dudes who do the same thing, but I'm not gonna write a blurb about some foo blasting AC/DC or METALLICA at work because....well....yawn, right? The dude in question is always upbeat, jogs around downtown in a sweatsuit before his shift starts and will frequently jog by the jobsite just to say what's up?!? to the folks who start earlier than him. He's the guy who makes friends with the folks from management without even trying - and they invite him to the private corporate soiree because they want him there. His tunes fit his demeanor always and as soon as I heard the opening bars of "Quiero Que Elijas El Lugar" I thought about watching his entire crew getting shit done with a sly smile on their faces and a pep in their collective step. Energy is infectious, and positive energy is contagious. The sounds of Dominican ALEX BUENO are both, particularly so on 1988's Con Fe y Sentimento, Bueno's first excursion with his Orquesta (highly recommend the earlier recordings with ORQUESTA LIBERACIÓN as well). The confidence of this then 25 year old singer is astounding, even though he was already several years into his career when this was released. Anyway - I'm gonna see that dude at work today, and I'm gonna play this when he's around....maybe I can spread a little bit of that good shit too for once. 

CON FE Y SENTIMENTO 

URGENT MATTER

 

The way they plod through garage punk with a hardcore attitude is instantly infectious, like RADIOACTIVITY and REATARD vibes but played by dudes wearing studded jackets with PÏSSCHRIST patches....it makes sense, I swear it does. If you want hooks, this Singapore trio has got you covered - from the CONEHEADS energy in "No Violence" and "Leave" to "No Shit" (which really should be the song of the summer) and then there's the stunningly perfect "So Punk." The shit is just good, that's all. There's a demo that came before this 2019 tape - I want it. You can have this one now, but I want that one too. 

URGENT MATTER

XYLITOL

 

For all of the hype about the PNW in the 2010s, can we take a minute to appreciate XYLITOL? It's that infectious, white pants wearing squirmy-squirm hardcore done up all sinister and urgent like...plus they're fast as fuck. Dangerous hardcore with no-fi dungeon gnome vocals - the Is Toxic To Pigs? EP is a straight killer and basically this is just a shit that you need. Period. That EP and their 2016 demo are included here, on a tape they made available in Oklahoma City in 2018. I was there. They ruled. Listen to "Punished" on repeat. Trust me....you'll thank me later.  

EVERYTHING IS NOT OK WITH XYLITOL

THE BAR FEEDERS

 

Popped into Thrillhouse the other day just to see what was cooking and somehow walked out with a bag of heat. I broke the seal with PISSGRAVE's Malignant Worthlessness (which is a mind bending sonic journey of the highest order, highly recommended) and then....well, you know once you commit to buying something then it's kinda game on, you know? A few more LPs that were on my 'to-get' list and then I predictably meandered over to the tape wall...where I struck gold. In addition to a handwritten demo copy of the 1995 self titled SPILTH *!% EP (with one unreleased cut) and a grip of random noise, A grabbed a hard swinging ALEX BUENO tape that you'll see next week and.....this. Tough to describe THE BAR FEEDERS to folks who weren't around at the time, but if you were active in late 1990s San Francisco punk, then you saw THE BAR FEEDERS. Bar shows, warehouse shows, pop punk shows, hardcore shows; The Haight, Dogpatch, The Mission; killer shows you had to see to believe (FUN PEOPLE, HICKEY at Rocker Studios, painful shows you had to drink to justify (most Mondays at Nightbreak). They were the band who sang about beer and made jokes ("Outhouse Of Doom," "Hail Hail The Beers All Here," "Sierra Nevada" and of course their eponymous track "Bar Feeders"), their drummer directed a horror flick about zombie meter maids and they were just.....they were just fukkn good guys. Three dudes (always the same three) who were fully locked in and while they were ripping you always got the impression that they didn't really care if you were on their side or not because at the end of the day it was always them against the world. This was the energy that made so many of the bands from that time and place so appealing - and I swear you can still feel it three decades later listening to their 1997 debut Scotto El Blotto. You're going to hear pop punk riffs and harmonies played at breakneck hardcore speed, you're going to hear hardcore songs that sound like they were made to be played to a drunk bar crowd in a beach town, you will hear a few ska breakdowns and you'll hear dick jokes and honest missives about their friends. All of the cerebral and nostalgic observations aside, THE BAR FEEDERS played their fucking asses off - they played fukkn fast and they were tight as hell even when they were drunk as shit. All of that translates here....I was stoked when I grabbed these tapes (did I also get the alternate cover self-released demo version? yes of course I did), but I didn't think I was going to be this stoked. Enjoy. 

SCOTTO EL BLOTTO

HESITATION WOUNDS

 

Came across this scorcher for the first time in a long time and popped it in the deck. Dude - shit is even better than I remember. "Too bad I already posted this shit, because all FOTE need to have their asses blown out by this insanity," I thought. Then I remembered that I posted this shit almost fifteen years ago and when the shit is this crucial, I figure even diligent readers could use a reminder. Five ültra-core face melters from 2011 that almost make a bridge between the unhinged fastcore of the previous decade and the grimier, dirtier hardcore that would dominate much of the next - an assessment that I seemed to plant the seed for in that initial post of this shit. HESITATION WOUNDS were on the cusp.....and then they stopped. This is all you get. Listen to "Against The Wall" at full volume. This is all you need. 

HESITATION WOUNDS (2011)

DESTROY SONIC'S FOURGIVEN VETERANS

Most of this should be on the other blog, but I've been digging through a lot of random tapes filled with a lot of banger recordings and....and I don't want you to miss them. So please still check the other blog for live shit, but also here some live shit:
• SONIC'S RENDEZVOUS BAND - I feel like this band is still under my radar but true rockers have always known what's up - Fred "Sonic" Smith (MC5) and Scott Asheton (STOOGES) bashing out classic Midwest proto-punk like it's in their blood....because is was. Four song set recorded in Detroit in 1977.
• DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - Another Michigan supergroup of sorts active from the early 1970s, featuring Ron Asheton (STOOGES) and a cast of influential characters. Two tracks of unknown origin.
• VIETNAM VETERANS - I wasn't familiar with the band before this tape but consider me a convert. Bare bones French garage punk, pure beauty found in pure simplicity. The pick slides in "Dogs" would make John weep, that motherfucker loves a good pick slide. 
• THEE FOURGIVEN - California garage punk captured live in San Francisco in 1985. Only ten minutes here, but this rendition of "I'm Goin' Home" will change your mind about some shit all on it's own.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
SONIC'S RENDEZVOUS BAND
VIETNAM VETERANS
THEE FOURGIVEN 

BOTCHED FACELIFT // MATURBATORY DYSFUNCTION

 

Three tracks each from California's BOTCHED FACELIFT and Washington's MASTURBATORY DYSFUNCTION. The former lurches through disjointed noise that refuses to settle into any kind of groove, punctuated by vocal outbursts and descending rumbles. The latter present an ominous interpretation of the harsh noise wall, opening with the aptly titled "March To The Graveside." Their sound is akin to large scale wreckage at sea - desperate creaks distorted to oblivion by the nature that consumes them, all set to the background of a deathly beauty. Appropriate.

BOTCHED FACELIFT // MATURBATORY DYSFUNCTION

PARALERPE

 

Ohhhhhhhh yes this is perfect today. It's like PARALERPE can't decide if they're a punk band playing hardcore or a hardcore band playing punk, and the result is absolutely ferocious. Instead of manufacturing a sound they just are raw and they play fast and off the rails, distorting their sound simply because they're going hard at all times. "Gadis Pinggiran" is the cut, an awkward squirm that seems to encapsulate their whole sound in just 72 seconds, but single track rips. From the flanged out UK82 of "Paranoia Histeria" to the punked out USHC riffing and gang vocals in the eponymous opener....get ready for nine minutes of fury, kids. 

SELF TITLED

24 FEBRUARY 1987

 

Y'all remember those commercials that advertised "Christmas in July!" sales and shit like that? Maybe that was an Oklahoma (or a middle-of-the-country) thing or maybe just generational? Regardless, because today I am here to offer you "February in June!" courtesy of Pat Wright's extensive and expansive archives. February 24th, to be exact - the TDX D90 that captures his piano heavy KALX broadcast on that date opens with JELLYROLL MORTON, ALBERT AMMONS and KING OLIVER and then drags the listener on a journey that includes CLITBOYS, a DINU LIPATTI waltz, WIPERS, a gloriously crackly KRZYSZTOF PAWCZUK track, a painfully awkward news broadcast that includes Reagan "forgetting" he approved a shipment of arms to Iran in 1985 and some blasted MINUTEMEN cuts......because it's a Pat broadcast, and Pat played MINUTEMEN all the damn time. 

KALX - 24 FEBRUARY 1987

I know what I was doing on August 8th 1985....do you?

RIBAG SUDE

 

14 minutes of fierce and relentless raw Indonesian DBeat released in 2021. 

Bleak sounds for a bleak reality. 

WAR VICTIMS

WEAVING STONES

 

Gloriously haunting lo-fi drones captured in the PNW. Two movements of mesmerizing pulses recorded in 2023 backed by a live conjuring from 2024 that focuses on mangled low end guitar feedback. There might not be much to say, but there are layers upon layers of sound waiting for your ears. 

WEAVING STONES

DICTATORS

Special? I mean, maybe not. Killer? Definitely. Dubbed as the Lonesome Dick Manitoba demo from 1976. Maybe that's correct info, maybe not. I'm just here to jam a little two song bang-bang-banger from NYC's DICTATORS.

LONESOME DICK MANITOBA

DISTURBING THE COMMON PEACE

 

Recently received a request to re-up this one, and figured that a re-post would be better - the original post is fifteen years old after all, and who's really gonna dig that deep, right? 1984's Disturbing The Common Peace is the quintessential Greek punk comp, the dark and distinct sound that epitomized their scene through the next decade is captured here with EX HUMANS, STRESS and PANX ROMANA with the slightly lesser known ADIEXODO, CHAOS GENERATION and GROVER. Two tracks from each, bootlegged and reissued countless times since then....with good reason. 

ΔΙΑΤΆΡΑΞΗ ΚΟΙΝΉΣ ΗΣΥΧΊΑΣ

VICTOR LOVERA & R. STEVIE MOORE

 

Holy shit. This tape ripped scabs of fresh wounds and opened a series of portals into sonic realms I didn't know existed. who knew that a solo trip to see some hardcore bands in the Sunset last month would have resulted in.....this? I snagged some killer heat that night for sure, but this collection of 1970/71 recordings from VICTOR LOVERA of SMASHERS and R. STEVIE MOORE might have more staying power than all of the riffs. I was not familiar with either artist, and seem seems that there's an absolute gold mine of primitive lo-fi folks and pop music with their fingerprints smeared all over them. I will investigate, I will listen, I encourage you to do the same. First though, I want you to listen to "Chewing Gum" - and know that it's okay if you're crying before the song is over. Actually, it's encouraged.

EENQUE

Cheers to Popular Affliction for not knowing (or, even better, not caring) that there are certain rules that hardcore tape labels are supposed to follow. Cheers to Popular Affliction for leaving that briefcase open just a little bit longer so I could grab "one of each please" on my way out the door. 

OPIOD CRISIS

 

This is the kind os post that could end up as one declarative sentence or a stream of drool and babble while I fall over myself trying to explain and/or define every nuance - logically it will end up somewhere in the middle but the point will be the same: Do. Not. Skip. This. There's something in the water in Vienna these days, and there are some kids there who rival 2000s Boston in their ability to take a thing, emulate it, and make it their own. First it was BACKYARD, who worshipped at the altar of PLUTO/NO LESS/DOOMRYDERZ. Then I heard TONAL SHIFT and I couldn't stop thinking about that show in Pomona a lifetime ago (mostly TOTAL FURY though). And then there was this....three pieces of low end distorted filth that bridge a gap between DYSTOPIA and hell. I implore you to focus on the way OPIOD CRISIS use distortion and recording limitations to make "Prenatal Exposure" (particularly the beginning) sound as demonic as anything I've heard - the song itself feels possessed. And then there's the title track "Favelas De Brutas," a seven-plus minute opus that left me absolutely stunned. These kids take their craft so much further that simple worship, and I can only imagine what it will be like when they make their next move. 

FAVELAS DE BRUTAS

WEREWOLF JONES

 

I posted a different WEREWOLF JONES tape last year and I stand by the words that I slurred then. And today I will add to those words that WEREWOLF JONES are old punk for a new reality. Because people like pretentious comparisons and impossible combinations, please take STOOGES, MOTARDS, JESUS LIZARD and LAUGHING HYENAS and make a band out of those sounds. But also make it a hardcore band. I should have posted this on the live blog because it was recorded live (at the Outer Limits Lounge), but y'all don't look at that one (you should though - theres good shit there in general and also today) so it's here. This shit hits right. Brace yourself.

STROH DOWN

SOCKEYE

 

How do you describe SOCKEYE to the uninitiated? Folks who've spent any time here should already know (as should anyone who paid attention to US DIY freak shit in the 1990s), but...how do describe SOCKEYE to someone who simply has no idea? And I'll take it a step further and ask: How do you explain SOCKEYE to someone who has only existed in the internet era? I don't think a SOCKEYE could organically evolve today, in a world that is curated and intentional. SOCKEYE were....different. They took not giving a fuck to new levels before not giving a fuck was even a thing. Confrontational and/or intentionally offensive bands had come before them and outsider art punk was already passé long before they started in late '80s Ohio, but the level of "fuck it" that SOCKEYE projected can't be understated. For the newcomers: think THE DEAD MILKMEN and SCHLONG with an (early) ANAL CUNT sense of "humor" if such a thing actually exists (existed). Alternately, what if a bunch of boob and poop jokes formed a band? Like, maybe this is just the sonic embodiment of an eyeroll. I've Got An Indian Reservation In My Cum is a collection of (then) unreleased cuts recorded between 1989-1991 on one side with live sets from 1990 (opening for SUCKDOG) and 1991 (opening for POST MORTEM) on the flip. It's a lot....90+ minutes of innocent immaturity that feels more welcome in today's very adult and very real reality than I can properly explain.

I'VE GOT AN INDIAN RESERVATION IN MY CUM

LAMICTAL

 

Three minutes. Four songs. Northwest Indiana rebirthed in Southern California....When I think about Los Angeles, I want to think about seeing LAMICTAL be total freaks in the Sunset a couple of months ago. I don't want to think about what I think about now. But that's what I think about. Fuck this shit. Fuck ICE and all the acronyms. It's fucking scary....hopefully it's also steeling. 

VIOLENT CONVULSIONS

AMASUNZU

 

Ten minutes of insanely ugly powerviolence from Hungary. Pure blast mania of the highest order, like a band trying to conjure GODSTOMPER's unhinged chaos and the precision of IRON LUNG at the same time.....and I'm telling you, punks: It works. 

AMASUNZU

TOWANDA

 

I haven't spent any time with TOWANDA in quite a while, but listening to Freak Of Nurture makes me want to spend some quality time with their entire catalog because these four songs are absolute life changers. Modern dark punk attitude and presentation drenched in late '80s college/alt and current indie and grunge and shoegaze and...something. I don't know what the something is, but "The Antiheroine" sounds like TORCHE and WHITE LUNG in a bouncy castle and I am so fukkn here for it even though "Vanity Project" is really the game changer. If you won't listen to reason....there's always TOWANDA. 

FREAK OF NURTURE
-------
Also: FUCK I.C.E.

SERIOUSLY. 

NO BUSINESS

 

I know I blabbed about NO BUSINESS waaaaaay back in 2024, but I would like to (again) not that they were a short lived and extremely good band from Oakland. It's like they stood in the modern world and reached back to the early 1990s and borrowed the punk shit from early grunge and used it to build the foundation for a few timeless punk songs. I appreciate them for that. Even though they are all jams, "Stop Saying Sorry" is the jam.

 NO BUSINESS

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

 

 • I know that most punks my age only have "Take The Skinheads Bowling" as a reference, but I beg you to broaden your sonic horizons.

• There's a killer BUTTHOLE SURFERS set from 1987 (or so) that I 'released' and CVB were the openers.

• CBV played a few weeks ago in SF. A coworker gave the following report: Me at 25 going to a show: "FUCK YEAH! THESE ARE MY PEOPLE!" Me at 56 going to a show: "Oh FUCK. These are my people."

• Violins have never sounded more appropriate.
• We are at a bad trip.
• "Take The Skinheads Bowling" is one helluva jam, but "Circles" is even better.

II & III

ZUDAS KRUST

 

I like the ZUDAS KRUST approach. Lots of releases (so many you can't really get a handle on them all) featuring tracks from the same recordings. You regurgitate songs and sessions because what are the chances that punks are going to seek out every single one...right? Nah, punks are looking for something to pop into the deck and crank up while they clench a fukkn fist - how many people are going to know that half of these tracks are from the Matanza Y Muerte Masiva tape that I posted more than eight years ago...? Not many. So here you (all) are again: one half hour of raw and uncompromising DBeat hardcore from the streets of Jakarta. Maybe it's all been released on other tapes and/or CDrs....but have you blasted "Punx Cinta Damai" today? Well....? No? Then you're welcome, because this shit is next level. Also they cover that SHITLICKERS song (again).

A LOYAL SLAVE TO THE APOCALYPSE ORDER

PUBERTY WOUNDS

 

It's entirely possible that I have posted this before - I recall it had a yellow cover but I recognize the weird ass cover and I swear I've had my life changed by "The Slow Apocalypse" before "The Slow Apocalypse" changed my life (again) after work yesterday. This shit is like modern noise punk at the altar of JESUS LIZARD - the damage is so focused and deliberate that the shit is straight terrifying. So yeah...maybe I have posted this tape previously, but it's giving this reality a meaning now. And that's important.

STRANGE EDGE 

PLASTIGLOMERATE

 

Ever wanted to be serenaded by some genius from England with layers of noise and voice and sonic manipulation? Ever wanted to hear sounds your familiar with manifest as chaos? Ever wanted to hear what chaos sounds like? If yes, then I give you PLASTIGLOMERATE. Is it harsh noise? Yes. Is it also something else and/or something special? Also yes. You know what's a trip though? After this tape led me down a rabbit hole, I think this absolute crusher might be my least favorite PLASTIGLOMERATE release. Go figure.

XINXIN NIL

STATE IS DEAD

 

Three bands, and I am very glad I have not been hired to pick a favorite. RSG are raw crust-tinged fastcore/grind. SOCIAL DISTRUST are harsh, uncompromising and in your face crusty hardcore. AGGRESSOR have this bizarre clean guitar tone that almost sounds like it's sending a hearty fuck you to the rest of the band (and you) which is why that guitar is the thing that makes this band hum - shit is just unhinged and blown to fukk hardcore blasts. I'm glad that my job is just to share with you and not choose, because each of these three bands are straight up deadly. Thirty plus tracks filling up more that forty minutes.....listen to "No Seniority" by AGGRESSOR before you do anything else today. Please and thank you (and you're welcome)

STATE ID DEAD: 3 THRASHCORE SOLUTIONS