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

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

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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

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

ARMOR

 

They do shit different in Florida. You surely know this, but rarely have you heard a better example than this ARMOR demo from 2019. It's the hardcore that you love, just delivered with a murky, dangerous, desperate edge that makes it clear that ARMOR are....different. Mayhaps no better example than "Age Of Machine," a full on juggernaut of galloping fury that slides into the down low crouch and squirm of "Daydreaming" that puts the whole thing to bed. You know these sounds, you just don't know them like this. Not yet. 

ARMOR

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

FASLE TRUCE

 

There is perhaps no better example of Covid Creativity than Austin's FALSE TRUCE. From the isolated mind of Chris Pfeffer (STORM THE TOWER, SEVERED HEAD OF STATE, CRIATURAS, SIGNAL LOST, THE ALTARS, J CHURCH, MEADOWLARK, OBEDIENCE....need I continue?) came eight doses of urgent and force-filled BLITZ-influenced punk with subtly dark undertones. The aptly named MMXX sounds like we felt; full of joy and determination in the face of uncertainty and deceit. It had been a while since I visited these tracks....and of course they're just as powerful today as they were then. When it comes down to it, we're in the same world we were in then.

MMXX

FALSE FLOWERS

 

Saw FALSE FLOWERS last weekend at Bottom of The Hill, opening for two other bands whose names I can't remember. After their set those other bands didn't matter. After their set, nothing mattered - because their set was perfect. It's hard to apply monikers like "goth punk" to FALSE FLOWERS because these punks are elevating every subgenre they touch, and their performance was a master class. Listen to the chaos that closes "Another Lullaby" and know that dark punk done properly should never be relegated to a novelty genre. Listen to "Unsafe Numbers" and know that dark punk is just fukkn punk - this shit is literally everything. Watch FALSE FLOWERS live and know that punk can be better....that it is better. 

That show was really fucking good - this band is really fucking good. 

FALSE FLOWERS

FUN CONTROL

 

I saw FUN CONTROL last weekend in a batting cage in San Francisco and they opened with the first song on this tape....here are the thoughts that I had watching this song live, which correspond perfectly to the thoughts I had listening to the tape for the first time:

HICKEY

CAPITALIST CASUALTIES
Y2K Thrash 

D-CLONE

UNA BESTIA INCONTROLABLE...and then I'm hearing '90s Merge Records shit start the second song before more erratic thrashcore wastes my sorry ass. More songs bring more brilliance and more confusion, because the current crop of San Francisco hardcore bands give no fukkn shits (and that's before we address the "Emptiness" issue - when you listen you'll understand). I haven't even scratched the surface.

TEST RUN

DÉFAITE

 

If someone wants to get into a deeper discussion about subgenres and why I like what and when I prefer one thing or another and which sounds push certain buttons in certain ways...? Well, obviously if you've been here before then you know I can do that. To a fukkn fault. But sometimes you're talking to a civilian and you just want to say you listen to punk music but then they want to start with a story about how they saw TOOL or took their kid to see SUM 41 and they try to create a false equivalence and there's no hierarchy or judgement but it's just....different. It's not the same and they aren't going to understand (and that's okay). And sometimes in those moments if someone seems receptive, I think about playing them a punk music to show them what I mean when I listen to punk music - the next time that happens I'm going to play DÉFAITE. The shit just captures so damn many things that make punk perfect - CRIMINAL DAMAGE, SOVIETTES, LES THUGS, NEON PISS, GENERACIÓN SUICIDA....you know, punk music. I like punk music. 

DÉFAITE

DESBORDE

 

What if LIMP WRIST and PURA MANIA made a weird Argentinian synth / egg punk band?

What if they sounded like Slash Records circa 1979 and had one part that was kinda NIGEL PEPPERCOCK and THE CARS circa 1979 even though those things shouldn't overlap?

What if that band was really fukkn good?

DESBORDE

HEAVENLY BLUE

 

The Provinces keep delivering, this time with a new offering from HEAVENLY BLUE. They've sharpened their sound to a jagged point, polluting '60s garage punk with sinister snarls and gloriously damaged psych guitars. 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS fucking with Japan's MASTURBATION and/or SONICS reinterpreted by ghoulish South of Market meth fiends. The previous releases have all been great, but these Nova Scotia punks have absolutely outdone themselves here, and I think it's about time for a full length.

KNIFE

RHINO

 

Filthy, grimy, gruff, squirmy hardcore street punk. The tempo shift that closes "Spinning" is worth the price of admission on its own but you're in luck; this is ten minutes of angst ridden gold. One self-titled demo from 2018 is all you get from Rhino, which seems appropriate for a band littered with members who seem obsessed (or content?) with projects who drop a handful of songs and then dissolve (CRYIN' HAND, BOOGER, ZIG ZAG, SMELTER, EJECUTADÓR, CURBED, PUTRID BOYS....this list just scratches the surface). At the risk of repeating myself - if the songs are this good, then fukk it. 

RHINO

MUSCLEGOOSE

 

You know how sometimes you have more questions when you're finished than you did when you started? Enter: MUSCLEGOOSE. First off, they're called MUSCLEGOOSE. Secondly, they're from Arkansas. Now for the rest.....they exude genre-less '90s USDIY punk sometimes, but sometimes sound like some new century Northwest Indiana shit. Shades of squirmy shit punk and I swear a couplke of times I wondered if they were gonna remind me of SHELLAC (they never did...but it was close). There's a song called "Stand By Your Mandwich" that gave me UOA energy but those punks would have never written a song about a sandwich. Also there's a song called "Sgt. Pepperoni's Provoloney Hearts Club Sandwich" and obviously that's gonna raise an eyebrow (and yes I'm serious about the song title). It doesn't sound like anything I know and I'm still asking questions after three consecutive listens and still I feel like these sounds are already in me....in different forms. But what do you expect from a band whose follow-up release was titled Yah Mo B There, God? It's Me, Michael McDonald?

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD BUFFET

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

LÁZ

 

This shit is so good. Makes me feel like the first time blasting GORILLA ANGREB or that time I went to see SOVIETTES by myself in Riverwest and didn't know anyone there except Andy and he was drunk as shit. Truly engaging guitar heavy punk - not "heavy" guitars though - more like the guitars are the thing....until you start listening to the vocals. You'll come back to the guitars though, because they're great. There's some other shit here - '90s emo mixed with PDX >> TX garage melodies like RED DONS and STORM THE TOWER but with '80s Rough Trade and some weird ass US college radio alt. Think about SQUIRREL BAIT, CRASS and fukkn WAX IDOLS...it doesn't make sense but it works. And that's all that matters.

LASSAN ÁTJÁRÓ ZAVAR

These words were stream of consciousness garbage. 

These sounds are brilliant.

PEACEMAKER

 

A few hours ago REALISTIC played our informal cassette release show at a weird and cool spot in Richmond, California. Our tape is short (less than ten minutes) and there was a discussion about whether or not duration should factor in when calculating sale price (because the production expenses for a cassette are essentially the same regardless of length). Craig wisely noted that if a record is good, then it didn't matter how many songs were on it or how long they were....you aren't complaining that the flawless 11 minute mini-LP isn't 17 minutes long....you're flipping that shit over and blasting it again. I agree, and these are my thoughts as I listen to PEACEMAKER's two song, four minute cassette for the one-hundredth time. Two songs....that's all we got, but maybe that's all we needed. 

SEE YOU DEAD // GREED

GERINC

 

In this shit world, can we please celebrate Hungary for a moment? No one is ever going to accuse Magyar of being righteous, but damn that was a glorious rejection, right? Anyway, GERINC take snappy '00s USDIY and make it sound....theirs. Talking RED DONS and MARKED MEN and NEON PISS and shit, but a little nastier. Maybe like NEON PISS if they had existed in this modern reality. Every hook will stick with you, even though "Constrangimentos" kinda stands out as the song of the century (kinda) . So yeah, let's talk about Hungary for a moment, but maybe fuk the politics and let's talk about punk bands. I'll start: GERINC. Your turn.

REKLAMÁCIÓ