ATOMSKI RAT

 

I avoid streaming music services for all of the obvious reasons, but I got free access to one of the recently and I've spent a bit of time diving into things I wouldn't otherwise spend time with (and also listening to a lot of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES). Wednesday I received an unsolicited notification that there was a new PET SHOP BOYS album about to be released and I remembered how much I liked that band so I started poking around....I had stopped paying close attention after Very was released in the early '90s, but these legends have been cranking out material consistently since then and I figured I should have a listen. I started with 2024's Nonetheless and I was floored...then I stared making my way backwards. The opener from 2020's Hotspot ("Will-O-The-Wisp") is a straight up classic, and Super from 2016 was worth three listens back to back (to back). Stunning how consistently great their output is almost 45 years after they started; evolving and meandering into different house/techno subgenres while always sounding exactly like synth pop royalty. It's been a great journey so far, and I plan to start tomorrow with 2013's Electric then keep making my way back to the '80s. 

NEKRO SAN
Anyway, here's a tape from a killer Serbian DBeat heavy hardcore band with eurocrust tendencies and a few ripping grind parts. Choice cut is the bleak midpaced closer "Senke," which makes you want to go back to the beginning and see what you may have missed. Total banger start to finish.  

NULA

 

It's hard to communicate and/or quantify our connection to this...thing. Yesterday a dude I work with talked about a tour in the '90s when he was stuck in the Lower 48 with The Merchandise while The Band (he was touring with) played a few shows in Canada and he snuck in a CRUDOS show in Boston while he was waiting for them to come back. Then tonight I was listening to Numero Group's Miracle Year record and feeling sorry for myself for never getting to see The Best Band Ever even though I have been lucky enough to see some really fukkn important bands. 

Anyway, NULA are so far outside of the above mentioned realms that it's not even worth discussing. Furious, raging '90s DIY punk from another world - listen to "Žrtve" and "Demokracija" and tell me the shit isn't important....just like CRUDOS and DÜ. Listen to "Anarhija" and tell me punk doesn't rule everything. There you go. That's it. Punk rules. 

POBJEDIMO LAŽ

REFLECTIONS OF INTERNAL RAIN

 

Y'all remember that melodic metallic European screamo from the 2000s, right? The sensitive side of stadium crust? REFLECTIONS OF INTERNAL RAIN don't have to remember it...because they embodied it. Enjoy your week.

ANSWERS

ODIO // STEVO ŽIGON

 

Early afternoon in California on what has been an extremely preoccupied day. A necessary break in the form of eleven minutes of raw and brutal grind violence from STEVO ŽIGON (Serbia) and ODIO (Mexico), manifested physically in limited numbers by Khya. So listen loudly, and then return to your regularly scheduled violence. 

ODIO // STEVO ŽIGON

ALONE

In this modern world where music, especially electronic music, can be created and regurgitated in the most sterile of environments, there is something so indescribably refreshing about hearing synth sounds created and recorded organically. I don't know how I can tell you that Serbia's ALONE sound different, but I can assure you that they do....and that's what sets an act apart from the pack. It's not "oh, that band is doing THIS....and THIS is different so it's NEW and EXCITING" - because that shit is easy. It's "this is.....it's real, and I don't know how to describe it" that makes me look up and take note. And that's what ALONE do...they make me take note. So....take note. 

UNYOU