SPOOKY VISIONS

 

There's something particularly and peculiarly special about a solo project when everything hits, you know? Of course we all love when a group of individuals present as one fine tuned sonic machine, but the freedom of one vision unencumbered is something truly unique. And when it works, it's beautiful. SPOOKY VISIONS works - fiery synth punk that is undeniably punk. We're talking late '70s first wave California shit reimagined in a new century Rust Belt basement (or closet) - a project that owes everything to the past while borrowing nothing. Instead, SPOOKY VISIONS create the shit they wish they had been able to hear in their own adolescence....so you don't have to wish. You can just have. You're welcome.

SPOOKY VISIONS

ENGLISH SKIN AND PUNK // DC HARDCORE

                               

Here's the deal: If someone had given me this tape in 1985 then my life would have been different. Maybe? But that didn't happen, so I have this life. I didn't have "Barbed Wire" in my life in 1985, just like I didn't have (this) "Action Man" in my life in 1986. Instead I had "The Biggest Lie," "In Sight" and "Whatever" and I am certainly not complaining.....but as I take a breath to think about how this tape would have (might have?) hit my teenage self....? Damn. I had a copy of the P.E.A.C.E. comp, but it was from my friend Eric's older brother and the bands were listed alphabetically so it was really just a mess. Shit was important even though it was a confusion that lasted well into my 20s. This tape though? The shit is all right here - in your face. Flex Your Head and A Country Fit For Heroes are both mandatory comps that are both somehow more important when collected with a few era appropriate DC bangers (MINOR THREAT, MEATMEN, THE FIX) and UK essentials (DAMNED, SCEPTICS, AMEBIX). Make mix tapes for your friends, that's really the entire point of this post. Also, punk rules. I guess it would have been super cool if someone had given me this tape in 1986, but mostly I'm happy that I blasted it today, in 2025. UK and DC essentials, just as the scrawls suggest. The shit is important. Punk is important. 

HARDCORE BANDS // ENGLISH SKIN AND PUNK BANDS

THE FREEZE

 

My hand slipped when I was scanning the cover - that's gonna happen when you're cranking seminal Boston hardcore at 2am and I don't feel the need to apologize. Still blown away at the progression from "I Hate Tourists" in 1980 to this infectious hardcore masterpiece just two years later, but really I just don't understand why this record isn't up on the altar alongside the USHC essentials. This is the 1990s Taang! reissue that was available in bargain bins throughout the 2000s - pretty sure this copy was $5 at the store on Melrose on a WHN? SoCal trip, and it's still available for $6 direct from the label. That's how the classics should be, and Land Of The Lost is an absolute classic. Probably the most California sounding Boston act (check "Sickly Sweet" in particular), this record (tape) is nothing but track after track after track and I can't think of a better way to spend a Thursday. So yeah...if you're still thinking about that blurry cover scan....? I'm don't really know that I can help you and you might not find what you need here. For the rest of you though.....THE FREEZE.

LAND OF THE LOST

UNDER

 

I shared this one a few years ago, but I just uncovered a duplicate and popped it in the deck last week and I found myself scraping my jaw off of the floor five minutes later so......so I'm sharing it again. UNDER deliver some of the purest, nastiest emotive power violence I have ever heard. Period. "Uneven" into "Barriers" is a master class in drawing the listener in just to crush their soul. "Faults" makes you beg for fidelity. The simple brutality of "Throne" is numbing. UNDER are an unsteady bridge between MOHINDER and ACME, a bridge that collapses before you can get to either. 

E.P.  #1

VIDEO PRICK

 

Olympia punk rules, okay? They don't have a 'sound' and they never did - they have fukkn heart and honesty. VIDEO PRICK are (were?) no exception, just another band that reinforces the rule. The rule that Olympia punk rules. Okay?

VIDEO PRICK

RAMPAGEOUS // DICKHEAD

 

What happens when the noise is not manufactured? When the chaos is simply the inevitable result of going too hard and too fast and not giving a fukk? DICKHEAD happens. What happens when you want to grind so desperately that you don't care whether or not you are capable of grinding effectively? When you grind anyway? RAMPAGEOUS happens. Suffice to say that this split is not for the faint hearted or for fidelity hunters.

-------------------------

CRUST PUNK VIOLENCE // DISTORTION AGAINST SYSTEM

CHARLES MANSON

Anyone who wants these tracks probably already knows how to find them, so I guess this is for the folks who didn't know or never thought to look. Was Manson a musical genius? Nope. Is "Look At Your Game Girl" a kinda beautiful earworm? Definitely. Bonus here is Geraldo Rivera's 1988 interview that was sensationalized and broadcast as Live From Death Row - it felt salacious and dangerous at the time, and it's hard to imagine that we were barely twenty years removed from Manson as a cult leader when I was a teenager. Anyway, here's some murder hippie guitar jams. 

LIVE FROM DEATH ROW

POP HYSTERIA

 

Strap in. Aptly named POP HYSTERIA create a space between BLURT and fIREHOSE and they ooze confidence while they occupy that space. It's been quite a long time since I have heard a band pull off a sound this effortlessly, "To Live And Die On The 405" is the most important song you didn't know you needed. 

PAPA STEREO

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

 

A lot of us slagged off MRR in the '90s - we wanted speed and danger and there was a perception that The Institution was fixated on garage rock and proto-punk rehashes and didn't give a shit about the real nasty shit - they were old people writing a mag for old people, we thought (sometimes). I'm not saying this was reality, but the perception was certainly real. We were still over the fukkn moon when a postcard from Tim appeared in our PO Box asking if we would submit an interview, and a couple of years later I was picking up the mail once a week for the rag. MRR was never irrelevant or out of touch of course, perceptions are just a motherfukkr. If I had jammed this tape in 1994 though.....? Suffice to say that Episode 629 would not have done much to change my mind, but I'm one of the old people now.

MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL #629

TRIPLE X

 

Hyper-energetic fastcore with an ear towards '90s melodic punk - it's a combination that almost doesn't work until it is basically perfect. Seventeen songs in less than twenty minutes, and the intro to "A Test For Unity" sounds like PEARL JAM until the guitar break drops and it's like 13 Songs all over again and my head is spinning. That's what we're dealing with here - so think about the first time you heard RAZOR'S EDGE and other (similar) fast hardcore acts who had as many hooks as riffs and felt like dogpile sing-along choruses were as important as the songs themselves. Check "Song For Fun 2" (noteworthy: there are three versions of the title track) into "Undiluted" into "Social Fact" for a complete picture of what these folks are (were?) capable of. I wasn't expecting TRIPLE X when I popped the shit in the deck, but the more time I spend with the shit, the more I am fukkn sold on the shit. If Mr. Gatewood still reads this blog, Mr. Gatewood is gonna love this shit.

ROCK FOR FUN

NAUSEA

 

Maybe you don't need to be introduced to NAUSEA (though today your lucky day if this is your introduction), but maybe it's been too long since you blasted some seminal NYC political crust, and holy fukk 1987 NAUSEA was just a different animal entirely. An absolutely blistering half hour captured in the WNYU studios, featuring an early version "Godless" and a performance of "Clutches" that will make your skin crawl. Extinction is a perfect record, no question.....but if NAUSEA had released a record in real time with this kind of raw intensity? Shit would have straight up altered the trajectory of US DIY hardcore.

CRUCIAL CHAOS

WLADIMIR KOCHANSKI

 

Sometimes you just need something to be there so the sound isn't empty. You might focus on it when your mental space allows, or it might just live in the background. Wladimir Kochanski's In Concert fills that void, and fills it quite nicely. 

WLADIMIR KOCHANSKI IN CONCERT

DEAD PROPAGANDA

 

As if I wasn't already sold by the face melting ferocity of the opening track "Diskrininasi Rasial," DEAD PROPAGANDA drop this ridiculous double bass into the outro for maybe three seconds and I swear it felt like the clouds parted and the heavens were exposed. The sixteen minutes that follow are pure, harsh, chaotic....a gorgeous display of raw thrashing political grindcrust. Virtually no low end, minimal fidelity and no slow parts, just in your face and unforgiving DIY hardcore.

HORROR GENOCIDE

ARDENT VEIN

 

Listening to ARDENT VEIN produces more questions than answers, and I suspect that's exactly how they prefer it. Two tracks here, almost forty minutes of deliberate and desperate ambient noise...it's a really beautiful release, but there's an intangible darkness that you can't put your finger on. Maybe you can't put a finger on it because you can feel it? And oh....you can feel it. Both ARDENT VEIN (the band) and Dead Accents (the label) have volumes more to offer - I'm almost scared to seek it out. Almost.

THE TRESPASSER'S GIFT // IRON DOORS ON FIRE

BUTCHER

 

Nick sent me this one a few weeks back and I've been meaning to ask him about it, but I guess I'll ask you instead. Thinking it might be the BUTCHER from the Acid Sound From United Kingdom comp, but that's really just a guess. However, I know that if you dig dark, ramshackle UK-tinged punk interspersed with bursts of unhinged proto-thrash.....then this is your BUTCHER.

BUTCHER

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.2

 

Sometimes with the comps I don't know if it's better to just go: "here. it's a comp. the tracks generally fall into ____ genre. enjoy?" or if I should dissect the shit track by track. It's even harder with collections that aren't genre specific because the dissection can get really pedantic and I feel like I'm gonna lose you...and I don't want to lose you. So anyway....here's a compilation. I've posted a few of these Covid-era collections previously and I'm pleased to say that reaching for a 'new' volume still gives me those good shivvers because I know I'm about to bump a bunch of tracks I've never heard from bands Ive never heard of. This second volume is more about the catchy almost-garage shits, and listeners would be forgiven if they mentioned SOVIETTES and./or REATARDS when referring to bands like GULG BEACH and LA VASE, but then there are some rippers on the flip from GHETTO GOSPEL and SKARA and there are some primitive blackened punk/metal shits from UDDA so maybe there isn't any kind of theme at all. Maybe the intent was just to collect a bunch of good ass bands from all over this flat-ass planet and present them in one place for you to listen to. If so? Success.

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.2

MIND TRAP

 

Hopeless, nihilistic USHC from Berlin. MIND TRAP reeks of working class '80s Midwest 'core, stained jeans and out of breath with sweat dripping from their collective brow. How they manifested this sound so brilliantly from Berlin is anyone's guess....or you you could just revel in "Left Alone" and how they hang on the high note in the intro for a half beat longer than they 'should' and it makes you grit your teeth a little harder. Hardcore is supposed to make you grit your teeth. Now listen to "Perseverance." You're welcome.

DRESDEN SESSIONS

OLIVER with guests....

 

Thanks to Pat's tapes for continuing to insert mystery into my ears. As near as I can tell, MILO HERNĆ was a Croatian pop singer and who the fukk knows what NARODNE MUZIKE was all about. Apparently both collaborated with someone named OLIVER and apparently someone Pat knew copied these recordings onto a cassette that I digitized last week. Pat wrote "demos" on the label he put on the case. And now we have reached then end of my knowledge and the beginning of my questions. Notably: Who is Oliver? So enter a different realm of sound and please enjoy yourself. See you tomorrow.

MILO HERNĆ + OLIVER // OLIVER + NARODNE MUZIKE

BOMB HOARDER

 

They never made it too far outside of the Bay Area (and their legacy barely made it out of the early '00s), but BLOWN TO BITS were a constant in the Mission Records era. The singer's name was Punk Rock Jim, one of the dudes had been in OPPRESSED LOGIC and it seemed like if there was a good show then BLOWN TO BITS were probably playing. A very specific reference perhaps (and one that will likely escape most readers), but I'm willing to bet that band existed in your scene too.....and in the narrative I create in my own dusty mind,  BOMB HOARDER were Corpus Christie's BLOWN TO BITS. Fist banging, studded jacket wearing, midpaced drunken DBeat-adjacent hardcore punk. This tape from 2013 is all about the guitar break in "Body Bags" and memories. 

BOMB HOARDER

TOTAL DESTROY

 

Six bursts of guttural grind/crust and an eight minute 'live' session from Bulungan Stage (I have no idea what or where that is). The whole damn thing is over in twelve minutes, so I encourage you to listen to "Sistem Bobrok" twice. At least twice. Then "Berontak." Fuck, just listen to the entire fukkn tape, okay?

BIAR MAMPUS

DICK HICK

 

I feel like summer energy is starting. I'm seeing way more flyers for shows that I will probably miss, the weather has been freakishly gorgeous and people are exuding weird and unreasonably positive energy as the fabric of our society tatters before our eyes. Anyway, DICK HICK are from Houston and project ATOM + HIS PACKAGE by-way-of CONEHEADS vibes and it's easy for me to imagine blasting this shit at some backyard BBQ hosted by those mutants in their early 20s who do gigs in their basement and can drink you under the table. You rarely find about their shows until you see a flyer at the coffee shop the day after that band you like played though....because you're old. You probably wouldn't have gone anyway (because you were tired or something), but it still would have been nice to know. That's what summer is all about. 

HARDCORE SHMARDCORE

EATING

 

I've waxed on about Max Nordile in these pages many times, and I rambled about my low-key fascination with his creative compulsions on an episode of What Are You Listening To? a couple of weeks ago...and here I am again, doing the same. This collaboration goes by EATING, and it manifests as 94 minutes of bizarro improvisation and sonic mania. There's just something different here (and by "here" I mean "there"), something that makes me always need to stop and listen. And a thing that can make me stop and shut out the noise so I can pay attention to other and specific noise? That's a special thing.

ABSOLUTE PLEASURE

PURBALINGGA

 

A(nother) ripping collection of in your face, primal hardcore from Indonesia; been cranking through a heap of these lately and I'm not getting even remotely tired of the new (to me) sounds. Full throttle floppy 'hawk shit punk from SPATU BOOT, BLACK FROG, NDASZE and PROSOPIA (all seemingly recorded in the same studio on the same gear, assembly line style) with some raw grind crust from JACK BOAT. Each band contributes two tracks, and you'll feel more punk when you finish than you did when you started. Shit, you'll be more punk when you finish that you were when you started. 

PURBALINGGA: SCREAMING & LAUGHTER

ARMAGEDDON EXPERIMENTAL BAND

 

Tempted to just leave this one here and see if y'all know to do the right thing.

So I'm going to just leave this one here.....you know what to do. 

CRIES FROM PLANET EARTH

FREAK VIBE

 

Perhaps a more aptly named band has existed, but I dare say they have not crossed my path in my years on this Earth. Massive BAD SEEDS/JESUS LIZARD/GUN CLUB vibes crammed into a tiny package from the Pacific Northwest, and still they sound lkike they belong in a moldy basement. They were a sight live, and the recordings are essential - it's not a matter of whether or not the recordings "hold up" or if they are "as good" as seeing their glistening sweat, it's that each experience is, in fact, it's own experience. There are four songs here, I wish there were eight.

FREAK VIBE

CRUDE SHIT

 

This is one of the laziest posts I've ever made, but the tape (as presented) is pretty damn lazy too so I have prematurely vindicated myself. CRUDE SS and SKITSLICKERS shouldn't need an introduction here but back in the golden age of the 1990s maybe they did, and someone (I think it was Felix?) was determined to introduce some motherfukkrs. So they jammed some records and recorded them onto some tapes and they duplicated those tapes and then distributed those tapes. Because that's punk. First ten minutes or so sound like shit, but you're supposed to be drunk at a party and/or gig when you're listening to this shit. I didn't bother editing tracks since there are no tracks or information on the boot, so here's 40 minutes of seminal SwedeCrust. You're welcome.

CRUDE SS // SHITLICKERS

RELATED:
ARTIMUS PYLE and SUNDAY MORNING EINSTEINS played in Jyväskylä in 2003 and Peter tried to get us to do an impromptu "Warsystem" cover and I had never (consciously) heard the song and I couldn't grasp the three chords and it was kinda embarassing. Same thing happened when E-150 gave me the mic while they were playing "Young 'Til I Die" and I didn't not know what the fukk was happening. Poseur status achieved.