SPILTH

 

Rescued this bad boy out of a cardboard box in an attic closet a few months back. You're welcome. 
•••

Tough to describe SPLITH, even more so with two decades of hindsight. On their face, they could have been a heavy alt proto metal (read: pre Nü Metal) juggernaut, but they came from and existed in the DIY punk realm...where they also didn't quite fit. I feel like I saw them several times and they seemed (at the time) not quite realized (whatever that means). That was with my ears then. I'm listening with today ears today though, and this SPILTH shit is (was...and also is) something special. You're gonna hear things that you are familiar with, from WHITE ZOMBIE to NEUROSIS, but the way these kids took would-be sludge and/or groove metal riffs and made them something completely unique? And made it feel like they belonged at crust and metal shows at the Covered Wagon in 1996? That was something I couldn't appreciate at the time. They were always a force live, and while I listen tonight in a cold apartment with a cat purring contentedly by my side...I am grateful that I was able to see a band that was this ahead of their time while they were still in their time. Three of these tracks were on the 1995 SPILTH *!% EP, and two of them I can't find anywhere else, so naturally I wonder what else was in that box in that closet in that attic....but I can't go back.  

SPILTH

AVERSIO HUMANITATIS

 I wish that I could share the Sentient Ruin description with you....instead I will just offer the sounds. What are the sounds? Apocalyptic and bleak black metal fro Spain. Those are (these are) the sounds...and they are (they were) gorgeous. 

LONGING FOR THE UNTOLD

HARBINGER

 

If you know....then you know, and I don't need to write any words. You'd probably like that, but I am going to do what I do anyway. Sorry. 

WORDS: I hate to call a thing a supergroup, but sometimes the shoe kinda fits. Not even a Bay Area supergroup though - an East Bay supergroup. Eggplant (BLATZ, Absolutely Zippo), Mink (FLESHIES, S.P.A.M., Geekfest) and Aaron (CRIMPSHRINE, COLBOM, Cometbus) teamed up for this live-at-Gilman recording in 1998 and a brilliant follow up EP on Riisk. It's pretty much exactly what you think it might be - raw guitar '90s East Bay melodic punk with a serious DILS bent. If you know, you know. But some of you might not know....and that's why I'm here. You're welcome. 

EARTRAINING FOR CORPORATES

CAVEMAN

 

Massively devastating sludge / PV that will stop you in your tracks. In just eleven minutes, CAVEMAN lay waste to all of your hopes and dreams....which were useless anyway. You always knew that deep down inside, all CAVEMAN did is reach in and pull that reality out. Useless. Enough about you though, let's talk about CAVEMAN. 

SENSELESS

RAINCOAT

 

This is what happens when USHC gets dropped on a bunch of so-called Third World punk kids.....you get blown out, earnest hardcore that teaches the teaches. Listen to the closing chorus of "Self Doubt" and ask youself if you need anything else from hardcore....and realize that you don't. 

HOUSED

LE GUICHE FANTASTIQUE

 

Tthe story of LE GUICH FANTASTIQUE is a brief one, but the concept is a brilliant one. Jay told me once at the Nightbreak in San Francisco that he came up with the idea so that he could be in a band but not have to deal with as many people...so he built a guitar robot that he could control with his feet. There was still a live drummer though, and LE GUICHE FANTASTIQUE was not long for the world because Jay built a robot (and then some more robots) that took care of that "problem" too. Listening with 30 years in the rear-view mirror is interesting - I hear connections to era appropriate Bay Area punk (ALL YOU CAN EAT and HICKEY, specifically) for sure, but there's also an undeniable MITB comparison with the noise laden bass heavy dirges....the people and the approach were totally different of course but it's uncanny on tracks like "Bye Bye Kitty" I'm left trying to make it make sense. It's not supposed to make sense though, it's history. For the six people in this world who were yearning for that thread to connect SKANKIN' PICKLE to CAPTURED! BY ROBOTS....you're welcome. 

TAINT MISBEHAVIN'

AUSTRALIAN RADIO

I love listening to these tapes. People used to record the radio because they wanted to. Because they thought the might hear something that they wouldn't be able to hear again. Some of them were surely documenting and others just wanted something to listen to later (like Tivo...which already makes me sound an ancient human), but some people recorded these things because they were obsessed, and this is how we found things then. I recorded KMOD's distant static-laden Sunday broadcast of album sides in the '80s because how else was I going to hear Perfect Strangers? Just like I devoured Evergreen college radio broadcasts that Eric Hill's brother passed to him and Eric dubbed for me - because there was no internet and we wanted to hear everything that we could. So anyway, here's a Melbourne broadcast from December 29th 1984. Loads of the sounds on this tape was new to me....so it still works, you know? Don't ever stop consuming sound. 

"AUSTRALIAN RADIO"

INNUENDO

 

For those of you who don't know, there's a pretty killer little punk scene in Milwaukee these days. There has also been a pretty killer little punk scene in Milwaukee during virtually every era of punk since punk had eras....punk I don't want to digress or divert attention away from INNUENDO's 2024 banger. Insistent and infectious hardcore recorded in the spirit of the greats, even though those greats were great 40 years ago and INNUENDO are great now. So don't think about the history or the context - think about furious treble-heavy USDIY hardcore punk made by awkward Midwesterners....there's a template for that shit. And it fukkn works. Think about that, and you'll think about INNUENDO. 

PEACE & LOVE

Unlawful Assembly is flying the flag here. I suggest you pay attention to everything that label touches.  

WOLVES EYES

 

For all of the black metal posts over the years, I have probably declared that I don't know shit about black metal in half of them(or more). And here I al 16 years after I started, still feigning ignorance as I listen to Quebec's WOLVES EYES. We aren't going to get into the name (because literally....how can you not know?) but we are going to talk about the brilliance of rudimentary and rote black metal with distracting croaky frog vocals. The music is the equivalent of baby-skin's-first-Oi!-band dupa-dupa but translated to minor chord Scandinavian black metal with.....those creaky ass vocals. But like I said, I don't know shit about black metal so maybe it's not actually funny (even if it's not....it kinda is). Regardless, I blasted this tape yesterday like three times and tried to figure out what I would say when I posted it...turns out I didn't really figure out anything to say but damn I like listening to this shit. 

NOSTALGIA IN OUR SOULS

AUTHENTIC STRIP TEASE MUSIC

 

This shit just sounds fun. 
I know everything wasn't better 'back then' but....the shit just sounds fun.

AUTHENTIC STRIP TEASE MUSIC

ROCKET 455

 I mentioned this one the other day - just a solid mid-90s Detroit garage punk slammer from ROCKET 455. Get Hip slapped these tracks and a bunch of others on a comp called Go To Hell, but it was just titled Demo '94 on the mix tape that landed in my hands. Either way....it's good and dirty - I'm into it. 

DEMO '94

SCHENECTAVOIDZ

 

Gonna guess they're from Schenectady. Don't get me started on a nostalgic Western New York DIY punk journey because that was a happier time and it would just make me sad. Instead, blast this bombastic schenectadic slammer from 2022, long after all of my friends had left. There's an analogy in there....somewhere. In here though? Pure metallic hardcore power - think ANS and INEPSY (twenty years after both), all speed and fury to the front. Ten songs, twelve minutes. Apparently someone (not Nate) from DOF (and INTENT) is in this band and if you're from upstate you're gonna hang your hat on that shit....because you should. Off the map hardcore is the realest fucking hardcore, and you can quote me on that. 

WAX VOID

RALPH TOWNER

 

You might be better going in blind here, as I did. I picked up Old Friends, New Friends based on the cover, and decided to bring it home when I saw that it was a 1979 ECM release (plus, it was $1). I had no preconceptions when I popped it in the deck, I just hoped it would be interesting....and it was. It is. So you can ask the Wonder Destroying Machine about Ralph Towner if you like - it will tell you where he's from and what he's famous for....or you can just listen. 

OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS

WATCH FOR ME GIRL

I was ripping a ripper last week while I was getting some other shit done, so the jams were mostly lurking in the background. I heard RAMRODS blast through two sets of late '70s Detroit proto-punk followed by a VIKINGS single, then the tape flipped and there was a ROCKET 455 demo from 1994 and mostly this shit is still in the background but I'm still grooving pretty hard on the sounds.....and then I heard the guitar. I knew the song instantly, but the knowledge was buried in the recesses of my sad, cluttered brain. I stopped to focus because this track demanded full attention - the guitar riff I recognized was from DMZ, but this was different. Better, even. And I kept listening; SINIASTER SIX, SUPERSNAZZ, TEENGENERATE, DEVIL DOGA, ACTION FAMILY, THE WOGGLES blast their way/s through timeless bangers from DMZ and I was reminded how bananas the '90s Japanese garage punk scene was just as I was reminded how much DMZ still flies under the radar. TEENGENERATE covering "Mighty Idy" is probably the highlight of your day and in case you're wondering...? No, I didn't get anything else done that day. 

WATCH FOR ME GIRL

THE IDIOTS

 

Imagine building a bridge between Dealing With It and WB2D but leaving DISCHARGE out of the picture entirely and focusing on '80s guitar solos instead. Now imagine that bridge crosses over Jakarta and there's an earthquake when the band is crossing and they never make it there....or back. There, weird analogical non-description complete; this shit fukkn rips. 

WHAT IS LEFT ... WE'RE STILL HERE

CHAIN HEX

 

Whatever I said about Chico and Redding? Yeah, same shit about Santa Rosa. 
There was a hot minute when I was like "damn, I wish I lived here" because the freaks were just os....well, they were fukkn freaks. Then I thought about the commute.

PANIC ROOM / AD NOXA

ICKO SICKO

 

Shit exploded up in Northern California last decade, and I was not-at-all low-key obsessed with the crop of DIY hardcore bands coming out of Chico and Redding. The bands seemed....untainted somehow. Honest. You can scroll these pages for some of the bands and anecdotes that fueled my obsession, and then click on ICKO SICKO - I missed them in the moment, but I'm glad I have them now. 

DYSPHORIC

BAERDCYN

 

This is a (sub)genre, I just know it is. I don't know what it is, but I know it is. Might be neo-folk, might be French prog, might be some elfen shit I've never heard of. Hell, I assumed MORTIIS was metal until I heard <ORTIIS....and then later I found out MORTIIS is metal. You see what I mean? It's hard for me and I'm a person who knows some things (not very many....but some), so normal people will probably just assume that BAERDCYN is some early Windham Hill worship. Maybe it is, or maybe it's some mystical metal that I don't understand. I don't know, dear readers.....I just know that I enjoy listening to it and it's very mellow and pretty. 

YONDER REALMS

DICK DALE AND HIS DEL-TONES

 

Another piece of magic pulled from a forgotten box of soon to be trash, rescued this past summer from a storage unit in Clovis, California. Is a 'Greatest Hits (1961-1976)' quasi-bootleg on Crescendo Records actually necessary? Maybe not....but I will fuck with "Night Rider" all day long, punk. 

GREATEST HITS 1961-1976

SOMETHING WICKED

 

Back in the '90s, there was a San Diego band called THE NEIGHBORS; they played San Francisco gigs with some frequency, and we played with them more than a few times. The shit was just....punk. Like, hardcore punk for lack of a better descriptor, but really the shit was just fukkn punk. The were outsiders. Sometimes it felt like the only thing we had in common was four-chord punk, other times it felt like we were bonded for life. Their live shows were breathtakingly honest and desperate....and even though SOMETHING WICKED are from the opposite end of California - I hear THE NEIGHBORS when I listen to Deceased. The beauty? This shit sounds nothing at all like that shit - so these words are essentially worthless. But this shit feels like that shit....so these words are priceless. You're welcome. 

DECEASED 

LOOSE BLOODY STOOL

 

The genius of LOOSE BLOODY STOOL is that you're going to spend the next fifteen minutes thinking they're going to do something. And they do, but they never....they never finish. The White Tape is all a set-up. Yearning noise and subtly chaotic improvisations that build with no crescendo, each movement just....ends. Rarely do I finish a session so desperately wanting more of whatever I just had. And rarely yo I wish for a longer loose bloody stool. 

THE WHITE TAPE

CLUMSY

 

Gorgeously innocent twangy shoegaze/pop from San Francisco's past decade. This sounds like ill-fitting pants, bedhead, combo amps and expensive effects pedals and at least one member who would follow pills down a dark and depressing hole - possibly leading to the band's demise. Think a far less polished but no less infectious OCEAN BLUE with DIY-indie roots. Sorry I missed them, this tape is brilliant. 

CONCENTRATION

JESUS CHRYSLER

 

You've heard the name forever - or at least that's what I might have said in 1992. There were a few names that everyone knew even if they didn't know the bands. There were the DEADs (MILKMEN + KENNEDYS), BUTTHOLE SURFERS, AxCx (if you got down like that  - I didn't), but the tongue in cheek brilliance of JESUS CHRYSLER was always something else. This tape from Ragin' Records was my first exposure to the band, even though I've known the name for well over two decades. Honestly, it was way more laid back than I was expecting and they aren't from Arizona even though their sole LP is on Toxic Shock. Instead, they're from Tennessee and they apparently jammed a shitpile of Aussie punk records before they recorded This Year's Savior in 1988. What do I hear....? I hear DEAD MILKMEN and DESCENDENTS and CELIBATE RIFLES and the entire Wanghead catalog even though ELVIS HITLER really ain't got shit to do with this shit. So get into those nasal-y R. Anonymous-esque vocals and those brilliant guitars and just....get into JESUS CHRYSLER. 

THIS YEAR'S SAVIOR  

SHORTLINE

 

Late '10s ramshackle punk lurches from suburban Portland - start with THE DEAD MILKMEN, go visit GR'UPS, get invested in CONDENADA....I know all of the ingredients already but somehow I can't quite put my finger on the taste. What I can do is keep listening. 

FROWN TOWN DEMO

SPETSNAZ // FLEXIBLE AMMUNITION BELT

 

• Two doses of ramshackle noise punk annihilation from SPETSNAZ.
• Three minutes of raw anarcho/noise from FLEXIBLE AMMUNITION BELT. 

• Enjoy your week... 

SPETSNAZ // FLEXIBLE AMMUNITION BELT

BACKYARD

 

A savage dose of old school primitive grind/crust worshipping at dual altars. West Bay Doomryderz and CROSSED OUT. Dank violence and sonic misanthropy. This is beyond an homage, BACKYARD are lighting the way with a fire from the old/er guard....six minutes of pure disgust. 

LOWER INCOME DRESS CODE

DESTRUCTION UNIT

 

I heard of DESTRUCTION UNIT through MARSHSTEPPER, who I heard of through AVON LADIES who I stopped to see because they were playing with someone I had already heard of on a trip through the Southwest sometime in the previous decade. All three acts share (or have shared) a member, and all three are completely different (in general and from each other). Also, all three are fucking incredible. There are a ton of DESTRUCTION UNIT recordings and I have yet to hear one that I didn't like (a lot), and 2014's Deep Trip is exactly that; a dark-psyche journey that lands like BAUHAUS and HAWKWIND simultaneously conjured by DIY punks. Probably because that's basically what they fukkn are. To hear a band go this deep and somehow never veer off course is something truly magical. Deep Trip is magic.  

DEEP TRIP