ASTRAL MAPS

 

I posted the first Astral Maps volume almost a decade ago and I highly recommend uninitiated visitors visit that collection as soon as their done with this one (or vice versa). Now as then, the title manages to say it all without letting on how much gold it contains. Aside from JERRY JEFF WALKER (who closes the mix with the brilliant "Shell Game") and NICO (who most wouldn't expect on a mix like this, but of course it's perfect), these artists are going to be new to all but the most dedicated old country aficionados....which is to say that Astral Maps is a very special gift. BOOTS WALKER, RONNIE HAWKINS, JOHNNY ROBERTS, RONNIE McFARLAN, HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS, DAVID BLUE and loads more sing songs about traveling and wandering and love and loss. It's an honest collection of songs and singers that will take you to a completely different place if you let it. Listen to TOMMY FLANDERS' "Between Purple And Blue" before you do anything important today, and thank the folks at Ack Ack Ack Tapes for helping you (me) get through. 

ASTRAL MAPS Vol.2: COUNTRY ROCK '65-'75

DESINTEGRATIÓN VIOLENTA

 

You've crossed paths with the La Bestia EP that came out a few years ago; with heavyweight tastemakers like Roachleg, Unlawful Assembly and Static Age involved you certainly had the opportunity. But a few years beforethat Unlawful Assembly was a Midwest upstart label whose releases were famous for disappearing the day they were released - there were weren't many of us, but there's weren't many copies to go around either, so you had to be on your shit. A project related to MURO, ALAMBRADA and ATAQUE ZERØ was bound to raise eyebrows, and the self-titled Desintegratión Violenta did not disappoint. Sinister, raw Colombia tupa-punk tinged with DBeat and little tasty sprinkles of ANNIHILATION TIME for good measure, my jaw dropped when I popped this tape in the deck - five years later and I'm no less amazed. "Anormal" is the choice cut for my ears but literally every cut here will make you move the way only real hi-energy punk can. La Bestia came three years later, one can only hope they've got they've got another offering up their sleeve because this shit....? Ooof. 

DESINTEGRATIÓN VIOLENTA

BLCKDTH

 

Ominous multi-instrumental jazz inspired noise from Ohio. 

The way these tracks build in intensity leaves the listener on edge. 

blckdth

PUTAMEN INSULA

 

This one is really tough to wrap my words around - PUTAMEN INSULA are black metal in the most general sense but their approach to sound, construction, presentation...it's different. Listening to "Les Asticots de la Liberté" sounds like a hardcore punk song interpreted by a Québécois black metal band and if you don't know what that might mean then you aren't alone because I'm trying to contextualize it myself as I listen (and type). Scour these pages and you will find a scant few posts where I am struck by how like-nothing-else an artist sounds; that's PUTAMEN INSULA. There's more (from them) where this came from but you're gonna need to let the *this* sink in first. 

SOURIEZ

PSYCHO SIN // INSECTS VIOLATOR

 

OG Jersey noisecore veterans PSYCHO SIN disbanded before Clinton was elected, but they left an outsized impact on the shit-fi community while they were active. And then....they were back. Since reforming sometime in the 20101 they've cranked out dozens of releases and only grown more immature and/or brilliant. Nine tracks here spanning three minutes - starting with "Grow Up" and ending with "Die Trump Die" (don't forget "Shut Up" and "Mind Your Fucking Business" somewhere in the middle). Harsh noise presented as noiecore - hard to tell if there are riffs or instruments involved and not even point caring. The lkegens find themselves paired up with Jakarta noisecore acts INSECTS VIOLATOR who fly the flag with pride - there are ruthless fastcore/grind riffs buried under the tape hiss and "recorded this from the street outside the basement where the band was rehearsing" recording quality....but if you're still reading these words then that is exactly what you're here for. Two bands, eighteen songs, six minutes.

MAXIMUM HARDCORE

LEMOTS

 

More raw blasts from the early waves of DIY hardcore / punk that spread through Indonesia and helped build the foundation for one of the strongest, most vibrant punk scenes in the world. We Don't Give A Fuck was recorded in 2002, and from the harsh shout that opens "Stupid System" to the discordant guitars making an utterly simple riff in " Kami Akan Tetap Bertaham" sound like a revolution, to the relentless rapid fire blasts in the closer "Confused" there can be no doubt that it holds up as a brilliant example of intense and honest punk mania. You can't fake this shit. 

WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK

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DIE ENTWEIHUNG

 

Ten JOY DIVISION songs interpreted by a one-person black metal project. 

You shouldn't need much more than the above sentence to pique your interest. 

DESPAIR DIVISION: A TRIBUTE TO JOY DIVISION

LOWRIDER KUMBIAS

 

What a glorious re-interpretation of the classic soul and R&B jams that continue to provide the soundtrack for summer city nights and lowriders. More than just remixes, this is banger after banger turned into low and dirty cumbias by some genius who probably had an idea while stoned as shit....and followed through. "El Duque" has never sounded this fukkn cool, and I feel like anything approaching in depth description of how this tape hits me would run the risk of being interpreted as cultural appropriation. I remain on the sidelines, with the bass and volume pumped as loud as possible. 

TURBO SONIDERO: MUSIC DE BARRIO

TARDIVE DYSKENESIA

 

The last times a band hit me like TAR-D was when I saw PIG DNA at House Of The Rat. There's something about the people who aren't assimilating by choice and the people who aren't assimilating out of sheer determination - and there's a sonic bond that connects the two groups. "Agoraphobia" sounds agoraphobic."Death" feels desperate and real. The screams in "Numb Life" are yearning to feel. This is nine minutes of frenetic determination presented as hyper-speed pogo noise mania...and it's going to be another decade before I hear anything like it.

NEVER TRUST A DREAM   

EXCRUTIATION

 

I snatched this one as a bit of an afterthought, but it's been a steady presence in my listening rotation ever since I did. Classic Euro heavy metal with death and dark thrash undertones throughout, but EXCRUCTIATION's approach is unique and it's tough to put a finger on what makes them different. I present "The Mask" as a prime (and difficult); picture the above subgenre descriptors with added influence from '80s Japanese metalpunk - think the MASTURBATION 12" or CRIME's Nucler Blood. When I mention these records while I'm talking about a band who seem to be just a couple of degrees removed from some regular ass Euro metalheads it doesn't make sense.....then "Oppressive Reality" starts and there's no more analyzing. Choice cut is maybe "Genocide In God's Name" but I could trip over myself trying to finger the most compelling tracks on this collection of tracks recorded between 1988-1990. Listen to "Wardance" and realize that there has always been hope for music, punks. 

ANNO DOMINI: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE PAST

VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED

 Outsider improvisational and/or experimental sounds from the Canadian realm, captured in Montreal in 1986. It's difficult to describe what VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED are/were/is, but I can tell you that intentional listening will likely result in intensified thought and/or analysis.  Like NEGATIVLAND and IDIOT FLESH and RESIDENTS, maybe deconstructed by ZOLAR-X because it's just that fukkn weird. 

TEDDY DIED (SINCERITY)

RSG

 

When I opened the most recent package of gold from Indonesia I remember just kinda staring and poring carefully over the contents. Almost 100 tapes spanning two-and-one-half decades of DIY punk from the fourth most populous country in the world. A capital city with as many people as the state of California (throw in both Dakotas, Hawaii and Maine for good measure). A DIY punk scene that ignited a full generation after most of the "first" world, an ignition and growth inspired and encouraged by the public pressure that led to the downfall of a military dictator. Indonesian punk and hardcore exists in a world all its own because they don't need "us" to validate their existence or their worth - they take notes and they take note, but what they're doing often has little to do with the rest of the world even when they're paying homage (like ZABØGART covering URBAN WASTE and CHARLES BRONSON last week). I stared at that box of tapes and I scoured the titles....dozens of bands I had never heard of. Hardcore, crust, emo, punk, Oi!, grind.....tape after tape from DIY punk bands creating and inspiring and existing on an entirely different plane. RSG was the first tape I pulled out of the box and I popped it in immediately - it sounded like I needed it to sound in that moment; raw, insistent, intense DIY crust/grind that could honestly have been from anywhere. But it wasn't. I'm looking forward to the next box before I've even made a dent in this one, because the more you learn, the more you know how much you have to learn. 

INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS BE THE VICTIM OF GOVERNMENT POWER

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THEIST

 

Different presentations of these songs are on the THEIST tape I posted a few years ago, but I enjoyed revisiting this absolute bulldozer so much that I figured there must be some would-be interested parties who may have missed out the first time around. A glorious amalgamation of epic stadium crust and crushing doomsludge...and then they go fast, and when they go fast I suggest you strap in. The closer "At The End Of The Maze" probably captures all of the power most effectively (makes sense that it's the closer then, no?), building on everything from the stoner grooves that open "Antidogma" to the breakneck epic DBeat assault of "Endless Lust" and the atmospheric interludes "Aeon" and "Arche" that separate this release from their other self titled cassette.
Here I am in 2026 listening to a recording from 2014...wishing it was 2003. 

THEIST

UNIVERSAL BEAT

 

Classic sounding Bay Area garage / power pop that comes from the modern era. Dripping with '90s Mission energy, it's easy to imagine myself losing my shit watching UNIVERSAL BEAT ignite a sweaty warehouse in a deserted corner of the Dogpatch, sharing the room with folks from MENSCLUB and HICKEY and FANTASY on an otherwise unremarkable Friday night. An unremarkable night in the moment that evolves into a thing of legend as the years pass - the kind of band that makes people's eyes get wide when you say you saw them more times than you can remember not because you are (were) cool but because you just happened to be there. Listen to "Mission 9" and know that this is that kind of band, you just happen to be living through a different and otherwise unremarkable time.

GREATEST HITS

ZULU HITS

 

The titles and cover accurately indicate contents here - a glorious collection of late '80s South African music from a few artists you may know (LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO, UMOJA) and a slew of new-to-you bangers from ZIA (perfect '80s freestyle), LUCKY DUBE, INKUNZI EMDAKA, SPLASH (perhaps my favorite track on the tape), NGANE KHAMBA and heaps more. This music makes me happy in the right way - it's happy and upbeat music but it's far from empty. These sounds are full of hope, full of life, full of power. You can hear it, and you can feel it while you're hearing it.  

ZULU HITS: BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC

BOLO

 

Twelve minutes of putrid, bombastic fastcore / pv from St. Petersburg. You know the feeling when you think you know what's coming and you're waiting with outstretched earholes because you know you want what's coming and then....it's better than you wanted it to be? Well, that's BOLO. Imagine LACK OF INTEREST listening to '90s Florida death metal and then colliding with PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI in a damp (dank) alley on a Thursday morning before sunrise. Oh wait....today is Thursday isn'y it? Interesting.

FRUSTRATION

GRADIENT FADE

 

The first time I put this on I listened with intent for a few minutes and then more or less went about my afternoon with the early bars of the second track "Frost Heave" lingering in the background. I don't know when I realized that Sensory Drift was affecting my thoughts and movements, but somewhere in the middle of "Mount Analog" I had to adjust the volume (up, naturally), sit down and focus. I was focusing on the sounds to be sure, but really I was thinking about how the sounds made me feel....because the sounds made me feel. In brief moments, this recording sounds like an indie rock synth freak is trying to play funeral doom and there are other moments where it feels like a lost North Bay ambient new age relic. But in all of those moments (and all of the others), GRADIENT FADE sinks into you in a way that's hard to articulate - even the most calm and casual sounds are made with care and intent...the same way we should be treating ourselves. And maybe that's the thing, it feels like it's supposed to make you feel.

SENSORY DRIFT

ABYSM

 

No one is going to come to me for in depth and knowledgable discussions about death metal, but damn I know what I like when I like it. And that's what it's really about....and I like ABYSM. Relentlessly putrid and pummeling blackened death metal from the UK; just three tracks capped with a GRAVE cover that I would never have recognized were it not for some other chap opining on the internet about this 2012 recording. Primal, howling devastation that owes equal debts to '90s  Florida and POSSESSED...I think. But who am I anyway?

UNLEASH THE FALLEN

ZABØGART

 

You're standing at the intersection of Crust & Grind just minding your own business, and then a dumptruck drops a healthy load of Fastcore right on top of the pavement and a steamroller with a flipped up hat starts crushing it all. And then, just six minutes later, you have ZABØGART. Fourteen doses of relentless distorted fury, and it's done before you even know what happened. URBAN WASTE and CHARLES BRONSON covers to keep them honest, but ten years from now some kids on the other side of the world are going to record their version of "Polotik Identitas" and I hope I'm hear for it. 

FUCKSCENE

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BIG JAR OF MAYO

 

It was the turn of the decade and depending on where we were (geographically and/or spiritually) most of us were at some stage of managing a pandemic reality. Especially in retrospect, that period changed so many things about how we re/act and interact, how we exist, how we develop, how we create. It crushed some people (and some peoples) socially, but there were little rays of light that kept poking holes in the shrouds so many were living under. And it's in that spirit that I present the second cassingle from BIG JAR OF MAYO - this mysterious bunch of punks from (or probably not from) Nowhere, Wyoming started a ton of bands and a label called Deluxe Bias and started dropping outside freak punk tapes out of the sky and we ate them like candy. The energy that made NWI so appealing to so many seasoned '00s punks had been reborn in the Great North American Void while so many of us just wondered what was going to happen tomorrow instead of making something happen today. "Shit City" b/w "Another Ripoff" from 2021. Three minutes that were part of a larger (and greater) catalog that reminded us to live. 

SHIT CITY b/w ANOTHER RIPOFF

GRAND INVINCIBLE

 

More low-key genius from the EONS / SICK collaboration GRAND INVINCIBLE. Every beat is an earworm, every verse sounds like it was organically grown in the grooves of the dank basement funk records - it's effortless. Contraband Altars presents as an outtakes collection (whether that's reality or not? I have no idea...) with a B-side focused on DJ EONS ONE instrumentals, but literally everything these two touch is worth your attention. Perfect sunny Saturday swilling sounds. 

CONTRABAND ALTARS