ERROR CREW

 

Another brilliant and under-appreciated street punk band from Indonesia? The more you dig the more you will find, and the more you find...? The more you will find that you need to dig for. 2001's Loose And Gain is anthemic UK hardcore tempered with 1994 RANCID and 1998 CASUALTIES so if you think even for one fukking second that these tracks aren't going to stick with you.....? Well, then you clearly have not blasted "Confused" seven beers into a Tuesday evening. I recommend it. 

LOOSE AND GAIN

DESBORDE

The self titled tape was good (really good), but this thing is an absolute stunner. Maximum energy synth drenched punk from Argentina with multiple vocals delivered with different but competing levels of harsh intensity. RADIOACTIVITY caliber hooks and CRUDOS level ferocity....and killer early '80s new wave synths. "Son Todoxs Policias" is a straight classic that could steal the heart of any era and/or subgenre specific punk rocker and then "Sin Caminos" drops in a mid-paced squirmy driver with keys that would make Greg Hawkes weak. These punks are simply flawless. 

 YA NO KIERO SER PARTE DE ESTE MUNDO

PROTOPLASMA

 

In the world of gloriously bizarre and indescribable recordings, PROTOPLASMA might belong in their very own brain melting category. Complete freak vibes activate - you're going to hear MELT BANANA, RITES OF SPRING, PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI, IDIOT FLESH, JAMES BLOOD ULMER and/or THE VSS (with grindcore drums)....none of this shit makes any sense at all. It's as if some punks fron Budapest got bored with mastering all known amalgamations of outsider music and decided to deconstruct all of them and use the remnants to make....different sounds. Nothing sounds like PROTOPLASMA. 

 - 

Yeah - the tape is called " - " so the clickable link is small. 
Sometimes you have to work for magic. 

VIBRATORS

 Companion post for a batch of killer and essential live recordings from THE VIBRATORS. Sometimes starter bands and standards are what they are for a goos reason....and that is absolutely the case with this LP, captured on the backside of a blank some live tracks and BBC session on the flip. Punk fukkn rules, and there ain't no reason for the most seasoned degenerate to not do a mental pogo to "Sweet Sweet Heart." Also "Whips & Furs" is a stone classic. Don't resist. 

PURE MANIA

THE SABOTAGE

 

These Indonesian street punks have made several appearances on these pages so frequent visitors should know what they're in store for today (as if the cover wasn't enough of a tell). THE SABOTAGE have evolved considerably from the ramshackle UK82 assault that defined many of their early releases - 2021's Generation Is Lost owes to THE CASUALTIES much like Give Us A Freedom did fifteen years earlier, but the sound is so much more realized now and incorporates Japanese hardcore influences (check the leads on "Down & Dirty" and the title track). Just as you'd expect from a crew of DIY street punk veterans.

GENERATION IS LOST

PRESSURE DROP

 

Sometimes you want gruff, hard-hitting, in your face street hardcore. Sometimes when the world is in turmoil, you want to listen to a band called PRESSURE DROP deliver a song called "World In Turmoil" and feel like you still have a fighting chance....or at least that someone else is as desperate as you are. Blast "Streets Running Red" and know that someone else is. 

PAST // PRESENT

APRAXIC

 

Face melting old school death metal infused with bombastic crust. In other words: Exactly what you need. 

GUN EYE IMPLANT
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There were issues with the HARSH RESPONSE and SEVEN LIES ABOUT GIRLS files. 
Everything has been re-zipped and re-loaded. 
Your patience and continued enthusiasm is life giving.

PAWNS

 

The sole full length from New York's PAWNS is a master class in modern death rock. Persistent, driving bass lines and sharp staccato vocals barking missives owe liberally to the early UK pioneers while the meandering guitars in "Aberrations" fall in line with the various goth punk resurgences that continue to pop up every few years. "The Pyre" is the choice cut - a smart and intentional union of all of the sounds and influences PAWNS draw from, creating something akin to SPECTRES by way of UK DECAY built for a new generation. Don't skip the handful of EPs and splits this group left us.....but you'd do yourself a favor by starting here. 

THE GALLOWS

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A few people have messaged indicating error messages when attempting to download from provided links. I'm still using Opendrive and not doing anything else differently on the front end - no issues that I can see so hopefully these are just aberrations. If problems persist please let me know, and feel free to drop a line or comment if you're still downloading successfully (and hopefully enjoying). 

~OTRON

 

It was ten years ago when I last posted ~OTRON, and my adulations today are no less intense and/or relevant. Outsider electronica sprinkled with '80s hi-NRG dance floor beats reimagined for the new generation....what else could you possibly want to validate your Tuesday existence?

DRIFT

HARSH RESPONSE

 

If you pay even casual attention to these pages, then you'll know that there's a crew in Vienna who are terrifyingly capable of recreating and/or inventing chosen subgenres of sound. There was BACKYARD (West Bay Coalition), DISCLONE (self explanatory), TONAL SHIFT (DC/HC), OPIOID CRISIS (misanthropic DYSTOPIA crust) and now there is HARSH RESPONSE. This time the sound is rooted in mid-'80s UK anarcho along the lines of CIVILISED SOCIETY? with a little touch of ANT-SECT but you'd be a fool if you didn't acknowledge the RUDIMENTARY PENI flourishes and then I'll be fucked if it doesn't sound like S.H.I.T. and SPITBOY covering INSTIGATORS. My only complaint is that it's impossible to talk about this band without talking about other bands - also this is one of the best things I have hgeard in 2026.

HARSH RESPONSE

GUDANG GARAM // ZABØGART

 

Blistering fastcore and DIY crust/grind from two Indonesian masters. GUDAN GARAM drop five tracks in three minutes while TE veterans ZABØGART offer six tracks in just two. Please tell me what the fuck else you could actually want.........I'm waiting.

HARDCORE KOPI SACHET

SEVEN LIES ABOUT GIRLS

 

Listening to The Process Of Weeding Out makes you feel like you missed out on something. Like there's another world of sound and reality - a dark, disturbing, murky, churning, terrifying world of sound and mystery. SEVEN LIES ABOUT GIRLS walk a very strange tightrope connecting dark improvisational ambient and harsh noise wall...they are not either but they clearly owe a debt to both and that makes for a really interesting listening experience. 

THE PROCESS OF WEEDING OUT

OBSESSIONS

 

Stellar four on the floor hardcore from Vienna - think SADO NATION, NEW BOMB TURKS and Dez/Keith-era FLAG punk played by a band that also has records by OBSERVERS, CRIM DAM and THE NOW DENIAL on their shelves. There's a full length that came after this tape...and it's even better.  
But that's all you get. 

THE OBSESSIONS

SILCHARDE

Painstakingly deliberate ambient black metal horde from France. Every track is like passive torture (the shortest still clocks in just under nine minutes) and the general sonic energy is that of someone trying to escape. I Love...My Death listens as the title suggests - it's a very slow death but one that you will welcome eagerly. 

I LOVE...MY DEATH 

PLETKYA

 

This Budapest trio is only going to get better with repeat listens. Bare bones synth/bass/drums with airy vocals like a minimalist RAKTA with indie/twee undertones....and PLETKYA really are as good as that descriptor suggests. If this witch shit could be the embodiment of modern dark wave then we would collectively think about that modern subgenre differently. Because this is what that should be. 

PLETKYA - DEMÓ

WRECK

 

Listening to WRECK reminded me instantly of seeing 1000 TRAVELS OF JAWAHARLAL in Fukuoka in 2000. We were playing with fastcore and thrash bands every night and then something just....something jerked us back to meaning and community and belonging. We had all of those things in our scene, but there's something about emotion being presented in this sonic context, and it hit different. I listened to a sick grindcore record before I ripped this demo and I understood it. I listened to this tape and I felt it. It's different. Perfect? Nope. That's not the point. 

WRECK - 4 SONGS

CULVERT CORPSE

This band is unreal. A perfect amalgamation of urgent, bombastic hardcore/crust and primitive, lo-fi black metal and it's just impossible to describe how perfect the execution is. Perfect, because they don't sound like they're trying to be any specific thing and as a result they end up being the specific thing that other (lesser) bands try to be. There are three demos, I have shared the first and the third.....this is the second. They are all perfect. Atlantic Provinces DIY punk rules. 

DEMO 2

BAD NERVE

 

Brilliant Swedish garage hardcore from the mid-teens in the tradition of modern classics like THE VICIOUS, GORILLA ANGREB, TERRIBLE FEELINGS....but bump tracks like "Not A Perfect World" and know that this is what we mean when we say garage hardcore. Because it's both. It's AVENGERS and CRUCIFIX on the same bill, LIVIN' SACRIFICE and MASS MEDIA embodied as high energy modern punk slammers with a decidedly goth tinge. Listen to "You Got Me Paranoid" and "Human Desperation Pays For Your Vacation" and then file this shit in the essential column. 

THE LOST ONES

JENGLOTH

 

The cover looks vaguely cartoonish and the title suggests some kind of joke grind but were aren't supposed to judge tapes by their covers....right? This is brutal, primal, savage grindcore of the highest order. 

NEWS FRIED CHCKEN

ENERGIES

 

Please.....just listen.

Gorgeous and etherial.

Beautiful.

Start to finish. 

ANNA LUISA.
EMMA CASTRO.
CHEETAH GIRL.
MICHAEL VIDAL.
CAT MAHATTA.
MONA DEMONE.
.....more.

ENERGIES

PRIMAL BRAIN

 

Not the first time I've shared music from Oklahoma's PRIMAL BRAIN and oh my stars I hope it won't be the last. This shit is ferocious and intense and......and godDAMN I swear the first 40 seconds of the opening track are '90s college/alt reimagined by modern punks. We're talking 1982 Touch & Go, 2012 S.H.I.T., 1986 Twin Cities and indescribably relevant USDIY punk...that's fukkn PRIMAL BRAIN and I don't jknow how to convey that they are better in 2025 than they ever were before and listen to (the aborted) "Northside Story" if you don't believe me. Sometimes (often) I am grateful that I will never land to Oklahoma....moments like this make me sad that I ever left. This 2025 cassette might be the toughest and most realized hardcore recording I've heard in 2026.

IS IT ALL A GAME?

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MAX ROACH

 

I remember several evenings in Scottzy's room, listening to and analyzing music. The first time I heard Roots was in his room. The first time I consciously heard SLIPKNOT was in his room. We listened to MOTÖRHEAD and NIRVANA, we analyzed MÖTLEY CRÜE and MOUNTAIN. These were special times, but Scottzy was a drummer and he was a student of the craft. Listen to "Survivors" and fukk the strings actually, the strings are incredible) because the shit Roach is doing defies description. On the flipside? Six drum-only compositions that defy description. Would give anything to be back in that place, in that time, sitting with that dude, dissecting these recordings. This motherfucker really could play the drums. 

SURVIVORS