P.S.Y.W.A.R.

 

The midwestern united states is a special place, sonically speaking. N.O.T.A. could not have come from California. DEAD SILENCE and ANIMAL FARM were influenced by the "cool" scenes on the coast/s but they were so obviously products of their respective environments. You get an Outhouse in Kansas but never in D.C. or Boston. Enter P.S.Y.W.A.R., who straddle/d Denver and/or Kansas City, two of the largest and most influential enclaves in the middle of this country's middle section. Proximity (or lack thereof) breeds isolation and that makes for special sounds....like these sounds. We're talking early '10s USDIY squirms and reverb-laden spiked boots guttural hardcore with dark '80s Japanese influence...kinda. Because really this shit is the product of all of the influences with none of the meddlings, and that's what makes the good shit hit even harder. 

P.S.Y.W.A.R.

FOIL

 

I ripped these thirteen minutes of wild style mutant hardcore when I got home from a frustrating fourteen hour day and it was exactly what I needed. First few tracks are muddy and phased out (because DIY punk, punk) but the shit clears up just about the same time as the after-shifter starts working and I'm feeling the fukk out of FOIL because hi-NRG punk rules always, you dig? The Wonder Destroying Machine tells me that there is even more and I make a mental note to include more FOIL in my future but before I delve any deeper I hear the murk starts to clear and oh snap these fools are gloriously ferocious treble rebels and I swear I am paying full attention because bands like this don't swing through very frequently and FOIL is sounding like something I need more of. A lot more of. Sometime around "Drawing Blood" it becomes apparent that FOIL are one of those essential bands and then.....then "Tale Of A Rat Race" starts and I feel like the Universe is speaking to me. 

"...,when do we get to relax / every day feels back to back / working at your stupid job...."

So I'm just gonna go to sleep now and this will post in a few hours around the time I get up to go to work again. Actually, I'm going to set this to post at the same time I'm setting my alarm, which is something less than five hours from now. Foiled indeed, right? The entire fukkn thing is a scam and it's all a lie except for the part that's real and super duper important. But no one is gonna tell you what that part really is, you dig? That's what sucks. You know what doesn't suck? Foiled by FOIL.

FOILED BY FOIL

VIDEO DUCT

 

What if Mark E. Smith lived in Missouri in The New Century? What if he listened to GAG and squirmy shit like that? And what if no one wanted to play music with Mark E. Smith and he just decided to make all of the music hisownself? What do you think that might sound like.....?

SMALL PETS AND KITCHENETTES

CRUDE DRUGS

 

You like BLACK MARK? You American hardcore punk? You like KEINE KLASSE? All of these things are connected to KC, MO rockers CRUDE DRUGS. Seven minutes of hardcore from the end of the first decade when fukkn everyone was cranking out the serious no bullshit shit. CRUDE DRUGS was first, then BLACK MARK dropped the same demo with a different cover, then two of the dudes did the NO CLASS thing. And it all ripped. The same thing is happening now, somewhere. So pay attention. 

ORANGE SODA TAPE

CRUSADE

 

You ever wonder what the world would be like if middle America hardcore bands kneeled before VENOM and HATEBREED instead of CRO-MAGS? Sorry punks, Age Of Quarrel is over rated and unnecessarily revered. And Missouri wild men CRUSADE are cavernous brutality. Listen to "Karma." CRUSADE sound fucking terrifying. 

CRUSADE

MOM

 

I could listen to this tape over and over (and over), and I have proven this to myself by listening over and over (and over) all week. Whip smart Midwest punk, sonically and lyrically snarky - ready to pull down your pants to distract you while their friends run off with your groceries. MOM is (was) timeless attitude and genreless punk, and "Masturbation Station" is just the toughest damn track.  

MOM

LIFE LIKE

 

Folks from VOIGHT KAMPFF sent me this slammer when it came out. A few days ago I pulled out the VOIGHT KAMPF 12" and found the note inside, so I figured I'd rip out the LIFE LIKE tape when I re-shelved. It had been a while and, to no one's surprise, it's still a slammer. The 2010s really were an excellent period of "back to basics" US Hardcore and/or Punk, and damn if this isn't a perfect example. Total mutant freak hardcore - loved it then, love it now.

LIFE LIKE

VEIL

 

I remember some folks going all googoo gaga over this VEIL demo when it came out a few years ago. It's not that I wasn't a fan, I was just struck by how so many of my initial thoughts and potential comparisons references somewhat polarizing bands...bands who were often the subject of scorn and/or dismissal. So I'll keep those comparisons, even the ones that leap off the tape, to myself and leave these five songs to speak for themselves. And they don't just speak - they shout. Melodic, aggressive, steady, determined, forceful Midwest punk, fronted by formidable set of pipes and steered by a guitar borrowed from a different century. "Stay In Line" is the choice cut, so instantly familiar that you feel like you've just discovered a hidden outtake from a band that has been with you forever. 

VEIL

ALL BLOOD

In the alternate reality, these are the pop sounds that dominate the airwave. This is commercial rock music. These are the sounds of your summer. Well, technically they would be the sounds of Summer 2014, but you get the idea...

THE KIDS HAVE NO TASTE

LIFE LIKE

Nasty and honest Middle America hardcore punk with an unmistakable Tele Twang and a punchy rhythm section. This is the shit of garages, of rented halls, of determination. This is the shit of the effort justifying the result...not the other way around. This was the end, but there is more where this came from.

PRISONERS

NO CLASS

This demo dropped right after I moved back to California, and I remember getting super Midwest nostalgia as soon as I heard it. Never had any connection to the dudes involved, it just sounded like a thing I would have rubbed elbows with if I had still lived in the Great North American Middle Swath. Several tracks made it onto the 2010 Deranged LP with the same title and, while that session sounds decided more pro, I kinda still love the fukkd 4-track sound on this demo (take the horrifically mixed gang vocals on "You're Over" as a prime example). Brilliantly warbled guitar pretty much throughout, and a snarl reminiscent of CARDIAC ARRECT from the other side of Missouri. It's tough, nasty hardcore, and I'm still into it. 

KEINE KLASSE

GILES

Second dose of insanity from St. Louis this week, today courtesy of a 2012 home recording from GILES. Eight short minutes of sound - one serious space-fi psych jam, an ominous minimal synth track called "I'll Just Let It Burn," and some after school special shoegaze in the form of "Walk Softly." It all screams teenager (which is obviously a plus) and makes me wonder what else this kid is capable of. 

FRUIT PUNCH MOUTH

BLACK PANTIES

I had an idea a long time ago for a radio program. Or an audio zine, may a podcast (though I can't be sure that podcasts existed when I first had the idea). The program would be called Is That A Good Band Name? and would exist entirely of me reading off band names from my collection, but placed into the question: "Is THERAPY a good band name?" "Is THE WHO a good band name?" "Is ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS IN THE DARK a good band name?" and so on. I would allow for a moment of reflection after each query, but there would be no answers, no other commentary, the entire event would be rhetorical. And that would be it. The reason I'm telling you this? Because I'm wondering: "Is BLACK PANTIES a good band name?" Just curious. 

DEAD & GONE

NATURAL MAN & THE FLAMIN' HOT BAND

It's like if you could cram the greatest party ever onto 1/8" magnetic tape. That's what NATUAL MAN & THE FLAMIN' HOT BAND sounds like. High energy rock 'n roll drenched in saxophone and layered layers of back up vocals and soul-filled ass shakers - like BIG BOYS and DEVO and CCTV and DEAD MILKMEN and all that shit. I can only imagine what kind of energy these kids put off in the flesh, but I hope to someday turn imagination into reality. 

NATURE ROCKS

BLACK MARK

Why is it called Orange Soda Tape? I dunno, punk, maybe it's because they like orange soda - weird beverages are popular in the United States Of America (y'all ever heard of Big Red? But then again, Germany has Schwip Schwap, so maybe I shouldn't point the finger solely inward). But the real thing is that when you crank the tunes on this 2007 BLACK MARK demo, you're gonna stop caring about the title of the goddamned demo and start wondering why you aren't moshing. Hard. Because "Shut Down" is a mandatory banger and the rest of these tracks fall right the fukk in line. This band is (was) pre KEINE KLASSE for those keeping real careful notes....for the rest of you punks, this is is ripping straight edge hardcore demo tape. 

ORANGE SODA TAPE

JOHN PAUL CODY

Come for the cover alone, get drawn in by the space age Roy Orbison cover, fall in love with the Elvis and Marty Robbins medleys...and then revel in the discovery that John Paul Cody may have in fact been John Cody AND Paul Cody, identical twins who found life in the abyss of Branson, Missouri in the 1980s. One of them died, and one of them may or may not have taken both names and continued on to some kind of alternate universe glory. How brave are you?

REFLECTIONS

THE STRANGER

Not to be confused with STRANGERS or STRANGER or MAKING OUT WITH STRANGERS or STRANGERS, St. Louis freaks THE STRANGER welcome you into a shadow filled walk through the early night with five tracks of urgent and urgently flanged weirdo muzic. Dual guitars jangle aggressively, doing battle and dancing off of one another while manufactured misanthropy oozes from the backside of the microphone. The slows ("Decay," "Ritual") have that perfect sqrm that you young hung punks go apeshit for, but this old head gets wild for the early FLAG meets PERE UBU vibe on "Stranger With My Face" (yeah - figure that out, right?) and the unhinged burn of "Visions" that closes the tape. This band ain't new fodder for wise observers of flyover punk, with a wax platter on Lumpy already under their belt, but it's important to keep coastal elites and foreign dignitaries in the loop. 

THE STRANGER 

DETOX

It's really just classic rock, right? But for us instead of our parents? If you think about it, we vilified and/or rolled our eyes at the bands slogging away at the townie bar playing LED ZEP or FOGHAT inspired blues based rock to 15 casually interested patrons on a Tuesday, because obviously that was a sound and a scene that was without merit and/or totally lame. Well, that was 25 years ago (for me), and I can definitely recall spending relatively recent weeknights at townie bars with 15 other casually interested patrons, enjoying the shit out of bands playing music that owed liberally to other bands that ceased to exist a lifetime ago. And those nights were great, and those nights are still great, and I hope that those nights will continue to be great long after I am willing and/or able to participate....because punk rules. Punk rules just like that post high school burnout working the fryer at Garfield's back in Ponca City thought CREAM ruled back in '88 when I got a job there and I thought he was a lame burnout because he wasn't hip to THE CURE like I was. 

DETOX

DETOX could be from Los Angeles, Seattle or Tallahassee (they are from St. Louis). DETOX could be from 2017 or from 1986 (likely not 1982, just because it doesn't sound quite that legit and they thank D4 so they are probably from the '90s). DETOX could be DIY champions or rock club frat punks. The members of DETOX could have been teenagers who grew up and went on to form other bands that you might actually care about, or they could be just one of the thousands of North American bands that decided (wisely) to play punk rock music and record it for us to listen to before quietly disappearing because weeknight life at the townie bar can get pretty old after a while. Either way, I am glad that they did, because punk rules....and the track "Ripoff" is legit in every way and reminds me of NAKED HIPPY. Fortunately, the other three songs rip just as much. 

MEAT MIST // MORSE

Awkward keyboard drenched French art punk lurches on one side, with frenetic no wave spastic attacks from Kansas City on the flip. This 2012 split is light years from anything I would consider "palatable" or a "pleasant listen," but check MEAT MIST (MO) simultaneously channel MELT BANANA, ISTERISMO, BLACK FLAG and MINISTRY on "TwerkUltra." Seriously...listen to it, loudly. Then check MORSE (F) on the flip lumber through "In The Grass" and wonder if you are listening to THE B-52's or some outtake from The Sexual Life Of The Savages. MORSE appear to have left us with nothing more than this and one two song demo (also from 2012), while MEAT MIST have been busy little beavers for the last half decade, amassing an impressing (and compelling) disc(tape)ography. Sure this one passed me by on its initial release, but sometimes the joy of missing the train comes when you get to jump back aboard, unhindered by urgency.

MEAT MIST // MORSE

NO MASTER

Noisy, bombastic DBeat raw punk from the Midwestern wasteland somewhere near the center of the USA. This description should be all that you need to proceed......so proceed. 

DISCONNECTED

You like to follow the rules...right?