MURDERAT

 

Clenched fist hard banging stadium crust from Depok City. MURDERAT had a stint in the 2000s but their return in the 2020s has born a few jaw dropping releases, culminating with this absolute fukkn masterpiece in 2023. Heavier, faster, tighter....Rival Tirani is just more. Scandi-worship with sweeping leads and a gruff intensity to the vocals that keeps everything on edge. Man I would love to see this band in the flesh. 

RIVAL TIRANI

MARÍA MARTHA SERRA LIMA

 

Don't ask too many questions, okay? Just.....don't. Keep those questions to yourself, even though the answers are right here. MMSL is (was) an absolute vocal powerhouse and the opener "Soy Como Toda Mujer" is a perfect '80s pop ballad on a tape packed with perfect '80s pop ballads. "Amor Secreto" is like a telenovela put to song, and Plenamente will transport you to another world if you simply allow yourself to be transported. A world for lovers indeed. Un Mundo Para Amantes. See? I told you not to ask. 

PLENAMENTE

TRAP THEM

 

Sometimes you need something different. Something heavy and commercial. Something ugly. I was blasting and enjoying the first side of Filth Rations and thinking about how completely outside of my realm these sounds actually are (even though the sounds themselves are completely within my realm), and then I flipped the tape and the second side wouldn't play at all and I tried and still nothing so I thought....yeah, tine for some more shitty poorly produced punk. So thanks to TRAP THEM for the respite. I was nice to nestle in the lap of brutality for seven minutes. 

FILTH RATIONS

PROTEST

 

I mentioned this release when I was blabbing about the MIDHUMANS tape a few days ago. The bands are nothing alike, except that both existed in the 1990s and then reformed in the 2010s - MIDHUMANS were from Indonesia, while PROTEST were one of the first DIY DBeat/crust bands from Singapore. Thankfully, this release captures the first (?) PROTEST demo from 1998 (The Biggest Proof Of Human Greed Is War) along with 2017's Moral Injustice. Both are killers, and it's interesting to hear the band as initially presented and eventually realized. The vocalist is the only constant member, and the modern incarnation is significantly more metallic, polished and.....well, brutal. Both incarnations are spectacular though, I'm glad I have both. 

MORAL INJUSTICE
THE BIGGEST PROOF OF HUMAN GREED IS WAR

••••••

HELL ÖN FIRE // KÖMBATAN

 

Okay, so someone has listened to a little DISFEAR and that's so totally good with me. Mayhaps they've cranked some MOTÖRHEAD too, and that's also acceptable. Loom at the cover and think about what you know is in store for your earholes.....and yeah, that's what you're in for. All that and more. HELL ÖN FIRE are like INEPSY through a Powerload filter, it's textbook shit and it's perfect. KÖMBATAN are like MOTÖRHEAD recorded through an ANNIHILATION TIME filter, also textbook and also perfect. I'm having a hard time accepting that all of this exists....you should just have a good time raising beers and blasting the shit out of this shit. Because this is shit that was made to be blasted. 

D'BEAT ROCK 'N' ROLL MAYHEM

THE END 32

 

Tell me you aren't tired of the DIY Indonesian hardcore that's been squatting these pages for the pasts weeks (months?), because there's another box of gold headed my way shortly and I am not even close to finished with the last two deliveries. SE Asian DIY hardcore is a fascinating case study - the countries and scenes that make up the region are completely different in so many ways, the scene in Philippines was popping in the '80s but Indonesian punk didn't really start growing for another decade. Singapore is essentially a "first world" country economically but the scene there is inextricably (and geographically) connected to Malaysia's. And while all of these scenes grew separately, they all influenced one another and they all drew from the resources that were available.....notably the (then) punk scenes from the US, Japan and Europe. Now I'm left to figure out how a band like THE END 32 came to exist in early 2000s Indonesia. The sound is unbridled ferocious DIY grindcrust, and I feel like this was atypical in early '00s Jakarta (though I could easily be wrong). We're talking ASSÜCK level blasting - listen to the way the blasts change speed on "Against Animal Testing" and then ask yourself what the fuck you were doing in 2002. That shit was (is) next level - straight up - and then they do the techno shit on"Stupid 2" and my mind is blown because of the when and the where, you know? There aren't many DIY punk/grind releases that hit this hard regardless of context and/or origin.....this shit is special. 

SUFFER

FOUR WAY THUNDER ATTAKK!!!

 

Strap in, motherfukkrs. Forty-one blasts of lo-fi fastcore/grind in just under thirty minutes, featuring four of Indonesia's fiercest unknowns. SESAK NAPAS, SCREWFACE, URBAN SOLDIER and STANDARGANDA each have their own take on the "genre/s," but really this is just an exhausting and in your face sonic assault. Blast beats, samples, irreverence, high pitched screams, jack-off riffs - hit the time machine and drop this collection in 2001 and watch the nerds weep. 

INDONESIAN IV WAY THUNDER ATTAKK!!

OUR TURN

 

Turns out there are two different covers for this demo (I'm talking about the tape - I know there are several versions of the vinyl reissue) and I uncovered this copy of the live photo version a few weeks ago. Does the world need more fast, energetic, earnest straight edge crew 'core? I guess so, because OUR TURN has been blasting on repeat at TEHQ today. Every trope and pitfall is here, and all you want is more of all of it. Shameless emulation heavily influenced by early '00s fastcore. "Explanation For Action" and "step Aside" all day long, and someone please convince Neck to finish that documentary? If you know, you know.

STEP ASIDE

Yeah, I posted this in the early days of TE, but that link is long dead and who's gonna comb through 5,600+ posts to fond some crucial 'edge jams and also....why not post the shit again since this one has a different cover? Right?

MIDHUMANS

 

Early, raw Indonesian hardcore captured live in 1999 (as the title suggests). Prepare yourself for a sonically blistering listen, and then reward yourself with another live recording from a reformed MIDHUMANS almost twenty years later....just as raw and only slightly more cohesive. If it worked in the '90s....why fukkn change, right? Aside from a couple of comp appearances, this is the only MIDHUMANS output I can find - not for the weak listener but more than worth it for the die hards. 

TAPE COLLECTION SERIES: LIVE RECORDING 1999 • LIVE ON STAGE 2016

CHILL PARENTS

 

This is what I want to hear when someone mentions "modern hardcore." What I actually hear is typically something closer to short-hair metal or re-packaged '90s alt; breakdowns instead of riffs and "punk" rooted in FOO FIGHTERS choruses instead of FLIPPER. This is what I want to hear though, so my ears were pleased when the filthy stomp of "Pissy" started dragging my sorry ass into the shit. It's earnest, it just sounds real, and it feels like it comes from a place that I recognize. You wanna get punched in the face? CHILL PARENTS can do that for you. It feels good, I promise. You're welcome. 

CONTENT // COLLAPSE

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