BANDA DES FEMER // SVNYA

 

Ramshackle buzzsaw Spanish punk from the only two bands I've ever heard of from Menorca. You've heard of Mallorca? Welcome to Menorca. I think these punks are mostly Barcelona based now, but hoooooooooo boy does this shit scratch an itch if you like your punk ignorant and raw. 

TALAITIK ATTACK

SPYDER DEAD

 

More Indonesian punk because the shit rules. Going back to the roots for this one with From Life To Be Death..! released in 2000. UK by way of USA spikey punk anthems like "Apathy" and "We Still Against" will power you through your day while you wonder what it must have been like to be a punk in a disastrously oppressive political regime. A you wonder if you've got what it takes....

FROM LIFE TO BE DEATH..!

BRICKS

 

If you pay attention, then you heard four of these six tracks back in November on their self-titled tape. Actually, if you were really paying attention then you would started pumping this shit back in 2022 when both tapes were released....but we can't all get hip to everything in real time, right? So yeah, the PENI-esque "Enemy" and the heavy steady squirm of "Servant" are the new (to me) cuts here (and "Servant" into "No Sanctuary" is the clear standout) so even if you were paying attention last year? Time to power up.

NO SANCTUARY

LAST DRIVE

 

A dozen high energy snotty punk tracks that land somewhere between SCREECHING WEASEL and GRIMPLE. Buzzsaw guitar, hopelessly catchy vocals, raw-as-fuck production....seriously, what's not to like? Choice cut is "Full Of Riot" if only because they appear to be playing the song just a wee bit faster than they are able. The whole song is two riffs and a bridge. Six notes total. Like I said....What's not to love?

LAST DRIVE

FREAK VIBE

 

I feel like I've been hitting these kids pretty hard lately, but that's because I've been jamming their tapes pretty often.....so you get what I'm getting, you know? They make 'em different in the PNW and FREAK VIBE were one of the differentest - it wasn't like you'd never heard the sounds before, it was like you'd never heard them quite like this. And you weren't accustomed to hearing them from DIY punks. And FREAK VIBE were punks of the highest order. No fucks given, leaving everything on the floor, punk. This might be my favorite one, but I'm glad I don't have to choose. Dark, slimy dirges that remind me of GALLON DRUNK, STOOGES or even a dusty desert raunchy BAD SEEDS. Of course you're going to get CRAMPS comparisons here (and they aren't out of order) but really what you're hearing is FREAK fuckingVIBE. 

PROTESTRATION

ANTIPHATY

 

The title suggests they've been around for ages, and the title is correct. Don't be fooled. by the stench-core cover art - contents here are unfiltered raging street punk capped off by a remix that lands like '90s NAUSEA by way of PRODIGY. Also, wonder if the band name is an accidental misspelling of "antipathy" that just stuck....I hope so. 

20 YEARS UNDERCONTROL

NARCOESTADO

 

I truly thought I had already posted this tape - maybe it's better that you get to (re)visit the sounds after the fact though, just so no one forgets. Stripped down CDMX punk delivered with the same energy that made the heyday of SouthCentral/East LA punk so brilliant. MANIA, RAYOS X, AUSENCIA (who released a split with NARCOESTADO in 2017). The perfection makes sense considering the pedigree - CRIMEN, MUERTE, TERCER MUNDO, ANTIMASTER, RATAS DEL VATICANO, HOG and a host of others past and present. Hooks upon hooks, absolutely infectious. 

NARCOESTADO

THE SABOTAGE

 

What if, ten years after the release of Get Me Out Of My Van I Have No Key Phil there was a band from Jakarta who harnessed that energy and released a split with DICKHEAD? A band who played fast as fukk melodic hardcore that was filled with hooks upon hooks upon hooks (seriously, punk - check "No More Violence") but sounded like it was played by people who would waste you if you crossed them? I have good news for you....in 2001 THE SABOTAGE released a cassette titled Anarchy Still Alive! and it is all of these things and so much more. I mean...paradise can exist simultaneously on multiple planes, right? 

ANARCHY STILL ALIVE

And then there's the UK pub rock brilliance of the discordant "Police Attack" and I could go on (and on) but just listen. Please and thank you and also you're welcome. 

NATHALIA BEYLIS

 

Just put it on and go about your day. 

You won't be the same when you finish.

LIBRARY OF STICKS

NATALIA BEYLIS

PLEASURE

 

Dark Singaporean punk with Blinko influences oozing from their very pores. For some unknown reason, this trio only offered these five songs to the world....thankfully, one of those five is "The British Empire's Homophobic Legacy" because that shit is perfect and perfectly intense. Good punk is timeless.

PLEASURE

SAIRIANG SAJALAN

 

Another compilation of Indonesian bands you've never heard of? Yeah....you're welcome. ORANGAN SAWAH, ANAK TANI, BIG BOSS BRANDALS, ANARCHIST ATTITUDE, SIR LASMITA (best track on the tape, honestly) and others for your listening pleasure. One sound kinda like KARMA TO BURN which totally threw me for a loop, beyond that you've got you're punk and your Oi! and a little hardcore adjacent shit and.....yeah, it's a compilation of Indonesian punk bands you've never heard of, so you're welcome. I know I already said that, but you are. 

SAIRIANG SAJALAN KOMPILASI #1

ÄSS

 

Maybe this should be on the live blog. I say that when I post things here that I really dig and I don't want them to get lost because there are probably something like 46ppl in the world who check the live blog. It's a shame on the one hand, because....only 46ppl? Seriously? There's shit-hot fire on there, updated erratically but shit-hot nonetheless. On the other hand though, who fukkn cares because the shit is out there and 46ppl id way more than "forgotten in a box in some Gen Xer's closet for eternity" you know? So yeah, this is live and it's supposed t be over there at the live blog but really I make the rules here and here is ÄSS. The dude from Tee Pee, a dude from WFMU and two other dudes playing some drunk ass garage punk covers (DEVO, SQUIER, FLAG, NUGENT, LIZZy) and I can't tell you why I like it - but I like it. Check the live blog though....ager you blast some ÄSS.

LIVE IN NEW JERSEY

PRAHARA

 

Listen to the way the guitars start "Pembodomana Permanen" and you might think you're getting into some dark Oi!, and then the song starts in earnest with dueling vocals and wildly infectious riffs and you'll hear elements of '00s DIY European anarcho-crust. No Class is an instantly compelling tape - I feel like these songs have been with me for a generation even though I heard them for the first time a few days ago. I'm sticking with the dark Oi! descriptor (see the closer "Drunk & Pogo") but really this is flawless and infectious punk. For the casuals (and that's most of you) who skim a few sentences and maybe check a bandcamp link if I drop one....this is one that you should probably spend some time with. "No Class No Class" might just become your summer anthem. 

NO CLASS

THE BAR FEEDERS

 

Remember a couple of weekends ago when I posted the first BAR FEEDERS tape? Well, the day that I snagged that tape, I also picked up this tape - which I assumed (incorrectly) was just a hastily scrapped together "our tapes aren't ready and we've got a gig coming on Sushi Sunday" self released version of Scotto El Blotto.....but I popped it in to have a blast just in case. Nope! Several of the same songs ("Pissed Off," "Socioapathetic," "Half Assed" and others) with a grip of tracks that I recognize from the shows thirty years ago but I can't quite name, but everything here is faster and the recording is raw and urgent in the best fukkn way. A solid hour of SF punk, so brace yourself....this is the perfect companion to the "proper" release and it almost feels better listening to the two recordings in reverse - that one is where they ended up but this one is how they got there. 

SCOTTO EL BLOTTO

DEATHRACE

 

Look at the cover and image how DEATHRACE sounds. You're close, but they're better. They are looser and more intense than you expect. The high end is more in your face than you expect. The brutality of the repetition in the title track is noteworthy inandof itself, but it's a theme for the entire recording and that's what makes DEATHRACE so fucking good. Simplicity meets ferocity, DBeat mania delivered with reverence and respect.

WAR IS NOT THE MATTER, THE MATTER IS YOU

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