COVID SS

 

I don't want to start talking about isolation and it would be disingenuous if I tried to talk about Covid-era isolation, but suffice to say that 2020 was a weird time. Some people shut down, and others felt the spark of opportunity (or desperation?). The result of that reality was....some killer recordings. This is one of those recordings. Punk rules, ok?

COVID SS

PRAXIS // ALTERCADOS

 

I hope it never seems like I'm buried in or obsessed with nostalgia here - I love sounds. Period. I have connections with a lot of sounds and some sounds are important to me for different reasons than other sounds are important to me...but I get a charge out of listening to something that meant something for someone else to create. I always have, I still do, and I hope that I always will.  That said....this split makes me feel nostalgic, and that's okay. Two ripping political fastcore bands from Chile circa 2000. That's it y'all, that should be all you need. ALTERCADOS give serious LIFES HALT vibes while PRAXIS land closer to what we called "melodic hardcore" at the time, and there are moments where I feel like I'm listening to a subgenre of Japanese punk that I can't quite put my finger on*...plus the lead guitar is out of fukkn control. I like 'em both, but the ALTERCADOS side is legit next level shit. So I heard it for the first time and I thought of shit from a different era-  but this is from a different era and I'm hearing it for the first time. Fukk - what if this split is actually just a time machine?

LA MAQUINARIA DEL DESCONTENTO

* Yes, I fully realize how stupid it is to compare something to a "subgenre of Japanese punk that I can't quite put my finger on." Sorry. 

NO COMPLY // LOS CRUSTÁCEOS

 

On one side you've got ten minutes of furious blastcore/PV/grind from Chile's LOS CRUSTÁCEOS with a. blatant and heavy West Bay Doomryderz influence. And it would be simple enough to tell you that the other side rips and recommend a DL+listen....but NO COMPLY is on the flip. You know NO COMPLY, right? Fuck me (and fuck you) if you don't, but if you don't....please do. NO COMPLY are (were) a special thing - Florida's SUPPRESSION perhaps. Like...if you know and you were there then there's no replacement, even though an outsider might raise an eyebrow. NO COMPLY's contribution to the second wave of DIY/PV is impossible to understate, and this 1999 live recording captures them in a rare, raw moment of ferocity. It would be very hard to find a band more dedicated to the craft than NO COMPLY, and when Justin passed in 2023 we lost a real one. Listen with volume and listen with intent, my friends. 

NO COMPLY // LOS CRUSTÁCEOS

INYECCION

 

I remember having a hard time putting INYECCION in a box that made sense when this bomber dropped a few years ago. By the time Porqueria came out I think the collective punk world had more or less figured out what do 'do' with them, but this demo was a complete head scratcher. You know the sounds - raucous Japanese pogo, Latin American anarcho/DIY hardcore and fierce UK punk are all here in spades - and INYECCION make it feel like you haven't heard them all together like this. Full force dupa-dupa with ferocious shrill vocals trading off with a sharp bark...and that guitar. GAI caliber sonic damage giving these riffs the fukkn business. I figure folks probably lumped them in with THE WANKYS and the like (right?) and they weren't wrong if they did. For me.....? I'm gonna lump them into their own fukkn world. 

INYECCION

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.6

 

The beefiest contribution to the DIY Conspiracy series, from the bulldozer Scandi-crust of CONVINCE to SHEEVA YOGA's fastcore/grind and an absolute smasher from ΝΥΞΗ leading the charge. Bands from Chile, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Greece and Czech Republic spatter a Swede-heavy volume in a series born out of Covid isolation. Pop one of these shredders in and you'll be instantly reminded how big DIY punk is....and then you'll likely skip the reflection and start raging. 

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.6

VARIOUS DEATHS

 

Disorienting noise. More noise. Six pieces of aural mania from the fine folks at Audible Mastication to grind your earholes to a pulp. GREENLING and GNAWING TEETH have visited these pages previously, and SHRIKE appeared on the Grunge To All comp I shared last summer - these three are joined by ARMENIA (Ecuador), WHITE UNDERWEAR (Australia) and 886VG (Chile). Clocking in at 90 minutes, Various Deaths is a commitment to be sure (unless you foolishly decide to try to make this background music) but full immersion is highly recommended as the line between the two 'tations' (rehabili- and debili-) blurs to the point of meaninglessness. Noise as meditation...I knew there was a third. 

VARIOUS DEATHS

IGNORANTES

 

I'm anxiously awaiting my copy of the new IGNORANTES LP and blasting the old(er) shit to keep myself amped up. South American dupa-dupa jacked up to fukkn Mars, taking the simplistic punk formula and just maxing out every possible aspect of the intent and delivery. This 2015 tape is a series of ramshackle two minute bursts with anxious and urgent vocals. No subtlety, no nuance. Just in your fukkn face punk. Can't wait to drop that needle. 

OLOR A CUERO RANCIO, VINO Y RAJA

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL. 1

The DIY Conspiracy folks spent the year of Covid cranking out some serious mix tape heat, and I was happy to get the first six installments in one hefty batch. Hardcore, crust, DBeat, punk, doom from Bulgaria, Brasil, Italy, Austria, Chile, Greece, Russia, Australia, Singapore, Portugal...this is the kind of conspiracy I can get behind. 

 

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.1

Defend DIY Punk indeed - especially from thieves and charlatans. 

But that's for a different post. 

MENORES POSEÍDOS

This one is an absolute screamer - feels the chills on the opening of "Diktadura" and listen to Chile's MENORES POSEÍDOS just unload on your ear holes. These owe a debt to the primitive fury of '80s Spanish punk to be sure, but from the gallop of "Determinacón Para Matar" to the lumbering intensity of "Lota," every moment on this tape is pure and wild. A little out of tune maybe, which is going to be the least of your concerns as soon as you feel that guitar slicing through your skin. There are only four tracks here, and I can't think of a time when listening to a band's demo made me feel thirsty when it was over. 

MENORES POSEÍDOS

DESPERFECTO

I could tell from the first fukkn note that this one was a winner. Urgent, bouncy Chilean femme punk from 2013, DESPERFECTO owe as much to UK82 as to early Spanish punk...and everything is just off enough to keep their genuine swing on edge. Favorite track today is "Ruedas Gordas," though the 42 second theme song is pretty damn essential too.

DESPERFECTO

MISAHISTERICA

There's something so pure about this tape, and this band in general. Fast, raw, abrasive hardcore punk with none of the bullshit....but even within those confines MISAHISTERICA make music that is wholly interesting. Take the breaks in "Por La Paz de la Nacíon" and the way they make the riff seem brand new even before it has finished its cycle...it's the little things. It's like BORN AGAINST caliber construction delivered with South American raw hardcore rage. Chile's MISAHISTERICA is a one man project, and this tape compiles tracks from a few previous releases - 16 tracks in under 25 minutes. It's the little things....but it's also the beauty of a brutal assault.

...3 HEREJES AÑOS

LOS LOCOS

Killer collection of Latin American punk rock and dark punk. Heaps of bands I was unfamiliar with (8 BOLAS, TODOS TUS ROUERTOS, POLO PEPO) and some that most studious punks will be familiar with (INOCENTES, AS MERCENARIAS, LEUZEMIA, ALERTA ROJA). Top tracks: LUXURIA's "Luxuria Insatisfecha" and the hopelessly out of tune untitled creamer from SIZE. First side is punk, and then the flip ventures into the new wave/goth sounds of the '80s...this is why mix tapes (still) rule.

LOS LOCOS - A Latino Punk Mixtape For The Punks

JUANITO 4 GUNS

Killer comp of mostly under-the-radar hardcore/pv bands. CALLATE from Chile start out with three tracks of frantic grind with crushing sludge dirges, then Japan's FLAT SUCKS dish out ultra chaotic spastic bursts that bring to mind acts like FUTURES and DKs - hard to put a finger on what exactly  they are doing, but suffice to say that when I was playing the tape my lady friend commented "wow, that is awful" to one song and "who's this? I like it" to the next. San Francisco's VENKMAN are up next - eight tracks of fastcore and comedy (typically at the same time) before our Italian friends xDELOREANx drop four downtuned numbers influenced by West Coast pv/thrashcore. All four acts are quality, and will inject a healthy dose of irreverence into your serious consumption of sounds. It's good to be a little irreverent.

JUANITO 4 GUNS

SIN APOYO // BIOFILO PANCLASTA

BIOFILO PANCLASTA are a freight train. Ramming speed male/female fronted crust, a dozen songs fly by in less than eight minutes and the intensity level starts at maximum and only increases. SIN APOYO rip through five tunes, and while their attack may be slightly more restrained it is every bit as intense. A touch more melody within the same confines of blistering Spanish language hardcore (and they throw in a few solos too). Both bands hail from Chile, and this tape was released in 2002, you shouldn't need to know anything else.

SIN APOYO // BIOFILO PANCLASTA

LATINOCORE

I've toured a lot. I've played shows in places that many people might consider weird or off the beaten path, and I consider myself very lucky to have done so. But FUKK do I want to do an extensive tour in South America, and this tape comp only makes it worse. Well over an hour of raw and uncompromising sounds from Peru (SABOTAJE, AUTONOMIA, DISPAREUNIA, DISLEXIA), Ecuador (INNFELICES, LA DEMENCIA EXTREMA), Colombia (POLIKARPA Y SUS VICIOSAS, EX-KOMBRO, OPOZICIÓN - love the fukkn horns!), Chile (SIN APOYO), Uruguay (BASQUADE INCHALA), Paraguay (200 MUERTOS), Argentina (DISVASTACION, MIGRA VIOLENTA), Venuzuela (APATIA NO, KOLUMPIO BANKITO) and Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile, Brasil, Bolivia (I am racking my brain trying to remember is PSICOSIS SOCIAL was the band we went to see in La Paz in 2002, but I swear that band played DEEP PURPLE covers and not raw metallic hardcore)....fukk man, this shit is beyond comprehensive. The emphasis is on hardcore punk, and the level of quality is outstanding. 49 songs from 31 bands, fans of international hardcore and the world of underground DIY would be remiss to pass this one up.

LATINOCORE I

LATINOCORE II

In a rare diversion from the cassette-only format, today you also get the CDr comp Latinocore II. More of the same, 48 tracks from 36 bands. Several worthy repeats and some excellent new additions: EX-KUPIDOS (Peru), JUSTICA FINAL (Chile), INSOLENTES (Mexico), SIN PATRIA (Colombia), ATAQUE FRONTAL (Peru), RAMIROS (Panama) and a shitload more. What's even more awesome, all this shit was released by a dude from Slovakia.

GRITO DE ALERTA

Metallic charging anarcho/thrash from Chile, not to be confused with the crust assault of Brasil's GRITOS DE ALERTA. The music here falls in line with a lot of '90s South American HC/thrash, but with up front politics and a female vocalist that commands very flattering comparisons (POST REGIMENT comes to mind on many of the more straightforward parts). The guitar shreds almost constantly, a high pitched buzzsaw battling tinny distortion with glorious success while the vocals dart between earnest dual male shouts and the female screams that make GRITO DE ALERTA an unqualified winner. 

RABIA DESDE EL FIN DEL MUNDO II