TRAILER HITCH

 

I don't know where this one came from, but my evening stopped dead when I popped this TRAILER HITCH tape into the deck a few nights ago. I first confused this with THE HITCH from northern California (ex-SAKÉ, THE GODS) and I'm not entirely sure that I was wrong...but good gracious this is some gloriously damaged mountain crust. You're gonna hear KILARA, VICTIMS FAMILY, KEPONE, MOLLY HATCHET, KARMA TO BURN, ANIMAL FARM....you're gonna hear tracks that some fools would dismiss as stoner rock but you know better. I don't even know what's happening in my ear holes most of the time but the instrumental track labeled as "07" is as close to perfect as you're gonna get today. 

TRAILER HITCH

THROBBING GRISTLE

 

A group that should need no introduction. THROBBING GRISTLE changed the game completely, no just just with their sounds but with their approach to creating and presenting those sounds. Don't take my word for it....take theirs.

BEYOND JAZZ FUNK: TG PSYCHIC RALLY IN HEAVEN
23rd December 1980 London

HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS

 

My sister passed away in 2008, just one year before I started posting here (there's a connection, but it's a long story). It's taken my mother until this year to start sorting through my sister's things, discarding some memories, cherishing others before discarding them, choosing to sit with artifacts and pieces of my sister and let her breathe through physical objects. The next time I met my mother, she handed me a plastic shopping bag with a few cassettes from Carrie's room....the ALABAMA tape that was my first ever purchase, when I was still an only child. a TOM T. HALL tape that for whatever reason reminds me of a photo of my mother with HOYT AXTON taken at Austin City Limits a lifetime ago, CHARLIE RICH's Behind Closed Doors that is going to make me cry buckets when I listen to "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" for the first time in a (new) lifetime and a destroyed Neil Diamond cassette.  There was an Alan Jackson tape that Carrie must have bought herself....but then there was the karaoke tape of her practicing "Achy-Breaky Heart" for some church talent show or some shit. Another tape with her name, written in her hand.....I can't listen to those yet. I will. But until then, here's a rip of the copy of a HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS Greatest Hits tape that I listened to with my parents when I was a child....not sure how this ended up in my sister's things, but who the fuck knows why anything happens anyway?

HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS: GREATEST HITS

1-800-REMIXES

 

A better summer party mix has perhaps never existed, and can someone tell me if MC HAMMER was directly (or indirectly?) associated with the 1-800-REMIXES series? It just seems too perfect. Anyway, The No.1 Selling Tape Is Back so go get yourself some summertime. 

1-800-REMIXES VOL.3

REALISTIC

 

This is a band I'm in called REALISTIC. Alex, B and I started doing this (very slowly) after the Conquest Fro Death LP came out and the band was finally done. Adult schedules and toilet life made progress and productivity virtually impossible, but we recorded a sub-seven minute demo at House Of Faith in 2023....then came nothing. That's until Lory (RAD, FALSE FLOWERS, SICK BURN) stepped in and gave us life. So we're a band now, and we have a demo. 

REALISTIC: DEMO 2025

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Speaking of bands, I'm also in a band called VEXXYL who are releasing our first demo tonight.
You can get one in person.

In Pacifica, California.

VACATION

 

Five doses of blasting power violence stomps from Medan, Sumatra. And your ass is kicked in just over four minutes. That's it. That's all it takes. Not sure why you would want anything more...until the mosh drops in "Armageddon" and you realize you didn't actually know what perfection sounded like. Until you did. 

TRADITION

BODY OF LIGHT

 

For any even casual visitor, I should be able to say that Arizona's BODY OF LIGHT moved from Ascetic House to Chondritic Sound in the 2010s and that should be enough. Gloriously dark synth....there aren't even words (right now) to capture how good this is. There's more....but for now there's this. 

VOLANTA DI AMORE

EXHUMED CORPSE // DOUR

 

Dark and filthy sonic murk from two sides of the same damaged coin. I keep wanting EXHUMED CORPSE to go somewhere, to do something.....and then DOUR takes out the garbage. The conscious deliberation required to create a release like this is enviable. 

BLOOD FILTER

HOLEHOG // B-SIDE

 

B-SIDE is an indescribably off-kilter side project from one of the A GLOBAL THREAT dudes. Aggressive introvert hardcore with elements of '90s basement DIY and (bizarrely) industrial-tinged alt. I'm not hear to make sense, just listen to "It's Complicated" because it is. On the flip side from B-SIDE, which some refer to as the A-Side, you'll find Sacramento's toughest recent street punk export HOLEHOG, born from the ashes of MONSTER SQUAD before those very ashes resurrected themselves. Snotty, clenched fist pogo punk of the highest fucking order. "Wasting Away" all day every day. 
You want to know a secret.....? I fukkn love punk.

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

ASTRAL BUTCHER

 

ASTRAL BUTCHER were but a blip on the landscape, but listening to this hideous and demonic recording from 2020 makes me feel like I'm involved in something very dangerous. VENOM, MASTURBATION, MIDNIGHT, ZOUO....ASTRAL BUTCHER. 

ASTRAL //BUTCHER

MAX NORDILE

 

One of the earliest releases from our favorite sonic mutant's HAIR CLINIC imprint shows Nordile plowing through improvisational no wave stomps creating a mind numbing cacophony with layers of guitar damage and manipulated found sound - you want to hear five minutes of an instrument being dragged across the floor doing battle with a barrage of car horns? This shit is like a TG outtake from Second Annual Report reinterpreted for No New York - damage should not sound this good. 

HAIR CLINIC

LOWRIDER

 

The third volume in Thump Records' Lowrider Soundtrack series is a master class in funk and freestyle anchored by DEBBIE DEB's "When I Hear Music," an indispensable track worth the price of admission and then some all on its own. Follow that up with "I Need A Freak" from SEXUAL HARASSMENT and TONY-O's "Drop Them Drawers" and you know this a different kind of party. There are still solid lowrider jams here (HISPANIC MCs, DAZZA, SAPADILLA) but overall this collection is way freakier and more hi-NRG mix than the first two collections. So get down to TOGETHER BROTHERS, CRAZY CLOCK MC, FREESTYLE, BABY G & TRUE FUNK POSSE and HOLLYWOOD HAMILTON and you're talking about an actual fucking party....you're also talking about a brilliant mix tape. 

LOWRIDER SOUNDTRACK VOLUME 3

FATAL

 

Hyper speed DBeat punk. The energy defies description and the pure desperation is palpable. I'm not gonna give you the members-of routine here, I'm just going to give you six minutes of pure hardcore. 

SIX SONGS

LUCY ENIGMA

 

Tonight my Union held a vote to elect rank and file officers and I went to cast my ballot after work (because that's what you fucking do - you wanna abstain from civil participation as a protest I totally get it, but it doesn't get more local than your workplace). I ran into a now-retired sister who I hadn't seen in over a decade and she exclaimed "You used to be a child!!" and proceeded to talk about shared (work) experiences from two (plus) decades ago....when we were both younger. It made me feel old....but it made me happy to have been young(er). LUCY ENIGMA makes me feel younger - Indonesian alt-gaze genius that sounds like Todd and me sitting in the living room in Norman in 1992. I was sober and he was maybe stoned as were were just riffing on records and bands while his dog chased its own tail uncontrollably. These feels are enhanced and/or exasperated when "The Man Who Sold The World" starts because THE 'LIPS did that shit too but this version is even better. Weirder. Cue "Yellow Is The Color" and I want to know why this band has not been with me forever because they are FANTASY and WAX IDOLS and THE SUNDAYS and COCTEAU TWINS and all of the pleasantly airy and magical things that my punk-listening self is constantly lacking. It's been a long time since something jerked me back in time like this tape did...I'm grateful.

GARU, 16 OKTOBER 2019

====================================

THE MAJESTIC

 

This one asks more questions than it answers, but once the solo in "All Rise" hits you won't even remember what you wanted to ask because you will be consumed with rock 'n roll. THE MAJESTIC hit so many nerves that I hesitate to communicate all of the vibes; garage punk, GLUE (OK), Jay Reatard, Tom Petty, skinhead ska, GEORGIA SATELLITES, Japanese pop punk, X-RAY SPEX.....hopefully you understand the challenge I'm confronted with here. Multiple vocals, keys and saxophone only when appropriate, wildly addictive soulful punk. THE MAJESTIC came out of nowhere and I'm all flustered - 101/10 would recommend. 

HOME

CINDERBLOCK

 

Remember ten years ago when CINDERBLOCK fukkn exploded in front of our eyes with one demo, one LP and one EP and then just vanished? It was exactly what we needed - hard edged high energy street punk ripped from the grooves of the Punk Lives - Let's Slam comps. It was DEFIANCE for the generation who never got to see Consensus Reality-era DEFIANCE, it was punx 'n skins, it was CRIMINAL DAMAGE and everything we hoped the CASUALTIES would be....and oh my stars was it good. Fortunately for you, young punk rocker, this shit hits just as hard as it did in the last decade. If "Disco Killers" doesn't get stuck in your head then you're either square or you're dead, and "Voiceless" still makes me lose my voice. 

CINDERBLOCK

===================================

COUMADIN

 

(This) reality breeds desperation. Unspeakable stress collides with constant uncertainty, and it feels heavy beyond words (sometimes). It feels like a weight that envelops and suffocates you - limiting hope first. Air second. This is what COUMADIN sounds like. Like a slog. Disorienting. Slow-motion excrutiation. 

COLD EYES

ONE BAD PIG

 

The fifth full length from Austin's premier (?) christian punk band is shockingly good - even though much of the enjoyment comes from the eyerolls while reading the lyrics. "You're A Pagan" is a legit thrash/punk ripper and there are several tracks here that transcend ideology. Serious party punk with occasional Dr. Feelgood vibes and more funk/punk undertones than anyone should be comfortable with. I sit with these tracks and read the lyrics and....well, there's a lot of confusion here. The 5+ minute hair metal anthem "Cut Your Hair," the would-be should-be SXE thrasher "Sober Up" that turns into a skamedy (that's ska+comedy) track, "Never Forget The Cross" in its entirety....there's just a lot here. I have a lot of questions - I'm a curious person. 

I SCREAM SUNDAY

The only tag this thing gets is TEXAS. 

WEEKEND AT GRITTY'S

 

I don't know how many times I will tell you that a well crafted and curated mix tape is a wonderful thing....but here I am telling you again today that a well crafted and curated mix tape is a wonderful thing. Weekend At Gritty's is the seventh in the Pinhole Mixtape series (the first five volumes are already here - the sixth is....well, you're gonna have to wait for Halloween or something) and the brilliance in construction is perhaps best demonstrated when the curator rolls effortlessly from NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL to JEF THE BROTHERHOOD to a cut from Return Of The Living Dead. This mix is soundtrack heavy, which makes for an even better "casual" listen that allows you to relax and drift before yanking the leash with cuts from SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET, JESUS AND MARY CHAIN or THE SQUALLS. It's a gorgeous listen...highest recommendation.

WEEKEND AT GRITTY'S

SLYTTER

 

Wild freak and/or dirt punk amalgamation...like SONIC YOUTH conjuring STOOGES, CRUCIFUCKS, FLIPPER and '76 NYC punk at the same time and making you feel like you were an idiot (are...present tense...you are an idiot) for not understanding. It doesn't just make sense, SLYTTER feels perfectly relevant and/or present. Punk can be messy and confusing. Punk be like that sometimes.

TÆNKER PÅ DIG

DEATH RIDGE BOYS

 

Punk needs DEATH RIDGE BOYS more now than it did a decade ago when the band first reminded us that punk is protest music. "Leaders Don't Speak (For Me)" is the flagship for my ears even though every track is a stone cold classic - clenched fist power chord punk of the most inspirational order. "Out Of The City" into "Right Side Of History" will remind you that punk doesn't just offer.....punk demands. Listen. 

RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY

I believe in truth and justice - everybody has the right to be free
I believe in human rights and basic fucking decency

I believe that black lives matter - I believe in the women's march

I believe in the veterans who stood with the people at Standing Rock

SOUTH MARKET STREET JAZZ BAND

 

Sometimes you just want to enjoy yourself, and the folks in SOUTH MARKET STREET JAZZ BAND seem to want to enjoy themselves at all times. "Earnest dixieland jazz from San Diego" is a sentence I never thought I would write and especially not on these pages....and yet here we are. Once again I emplore you: pay attention to the tapes in those charity shops and thrifts stores, because they may bring you joy.  This one brought me some, and I will take all I can get. 

OH BABY!

ANTISOCIAL ACTION

 

Not going to bore you with the lineage here (though ANTISOCIAL ACTION's sole proprietor first appeared here more than a dozen years ago and the output has never stopped). What's important is noisecore. 40 tracks in just over ten minutes - carefully thought out and constructed anarcho violence and unfiltered bursts of reality addled mania. Half-minute quasi-DBeat/blastcore micro masterpieces interspersed with a barrage of sub-5 second bursts of noise. "Mangled Musick" as an example - a fully formulated abrasive (and arguably perfect) raw hardcore track followed by eleven songs that collectively consume a mere 62 seconds. And this ain't speed trials, it's not about how many and/or how fast, but the assault as concept approach is both notable and beautiful. "Anti-Tech," "Rotting Body Of Android," "Caught Up In Gears Of Slaughter" - this isn't noise for show, this is sonic abuse made out necessity. There are two more tapes....sadly I only have one of them. 

ROT IN CHEMICAL WORLD

STELLATONE

 

Another day, another under-the-radar regional banger. If you weren't in the southeast (or Mississippi), then you might have missed STELLATONE completely, but these kids pumped out a solid batch of releases during the 2010s and their brand of classic US punk tempered with spaced out heavy blues/psych deserves attention. You're gonna hear WHITE TRASH SUPERMAN and MISFITS and FLAMING LIPS and ADOLESCENTS and BLACK OAK ARKANSAS and LOST SONDS and goddamn the whole this is just so fukkn catchy that it's hard to believe.  Hattiesburg.....who knew, you know?

ASTRONOMICON