SPOOKY VISIONS

 

There's something particularly and peculiarly special about a solo project when everything hits, you know? Of course we all love when a group of individuals present as one fine tuned sonic machine, but the freedom of one vision unencumbered is something truly unique. And when it works, it's beautiful. SPOOKY VISIONS works - fiery synth punk that is undeniably punk. We're talking late '70s first wave California shit reimagined in a new century Rust Belt basement (or closet) - a project that owes everything to the past while borrowing nothing. Instead, SPOOKY VISIONS create the shit they wish they had been able to hear in their own adolescence....so you don't have to wish. You can just have. You're welcome.

SPOOKY VISIONS

DICK HICK

 

I feel like summer energy is starting. I'm seeing way more flyers for shows that I will probably miss, the weather has been freakishly gorgeous and people are exuding weird and unreasonably positive energy as the fabric of our society tatters before our eyes. Anyway, DICK HICK are from Houston and project ATOM + HIS PACKAGE by-way-of CONEHEADS vibes and it's easy for me to imagine blasting this shit at some backyard BBQ hosted by those mutants in their early 20s who do gigs in their basement and can drink you under the table. You rarely find about their shows until you see a flyer at the coffee shop the day after that band you like played though....because you're old. You probably wouldn't have gone anyway (because you were tired or something), but it still would have been nice to know. That's what summer is all about. 

HARDCORE SHMARDCORE

NTSP PAL

 

Full on freak synth. 

I literally don't know what else I could ask for tonight, since there's no way this world can be real. 
There are bonus tracks.

FULL OF SPOTS

SIN RAZÓN ZOOCIAL

 

I don't know where this came from but I am over the fukkn moon that it made its way into my earholes. Ultra-primitive Mexican dark punk with synths. Contracultura was recorded 35 years ago, describing the recording as simply 'timeless' would do the band a disservice.....it's timeless to be sure, but this twenty minute cassette hits so many nerves and I have been listening incessantly since I popped it in for the first time. Brilliant, anthemic, every track is a stunner and "No Mas Presos" is from another dimension and "Crucificcion" is absolute perfection. Speechless. 

CONTRACULTURA

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

 

Someone wanna tell me why I'm hesitant to type out the name of the band? I mean, surely if some bot were going to determine this blog unfit for human consumption then that day would have come a long (long) time ago - but there's still something inside me that wonders if CHILD PORNOGRAPHY might be the Death Of The Escape. At least we went out with a a wild one though, right kids? Responsible for a slew of releases throughout the '00s, this California duo cranked out a respectable collection of damage during their run, culminating with this recording from Chez Shif in Oakland from 2009. Prepare to feel weird, "You Are Only A Victim Of Life" after all. 

LIVE AT CHEZ SNIF

FURIA FATAL

 

Repeated listens and I'm still not quite sure what to say about Shonen Punk. A relic from the last decade snagged from the Power Glove Dub punks a few weeks ago, this Fresno, California outfit lay waste to your idea of synth punk (and punk in general) with five hopelessly danceable doses of the real freak shit. Driving primitive lo-fi beats and dated synths fronted by a vicious hardcore snarl, FURIA FATAL sound like...nothing. Which means I want more. 

SHONEN PUNK

TÉLÉCOMMANDE

 

Here's another repost. Even though TÉLÉCOMMANDE's swan song only popped up here five or six years ago, I recently snagged a copy with a cover and I know that if I just quietly edited a post from 2018 then something like zero people would even notice. My admittedly mild OCD would be satisfied, but that wouldn't do shit for the minions who have yet to experience this brilliant but relatively short lived French outfit. I mentioned SOVIETTES and SPITS when I first posted this tape in 2018 and I'm gonna stick by those references while I think about how much you're going to enjoy spending your Sunday  listening to high energy French punk with heavy synths. Lots of tasty morsels in those old posts...treat yourself. You're worth it.

EN LÍGNE DE MIRE

SHIZOPHASIA

 

It's not often that a band sees, reaches for and achieves a vision with this much success. It's as if the entire trajectory of SCHIZOPHASIA was laid out by and for them before they played a fucking note and it shows, especially when you look back at their body of work. Ferocious noise punk injected with and interjected by noise and electronics, sometimes working together and sometimes in opposition. The releases can be challenging (part of the appeal of course), but you always feel like everything you're experiencing is a part of someone else's plan whether it was a part of your plan or not. And a decade after the release of 3000, I have to say that feeling tracks. 

3000

OK SATÁN

 

Rarely does a recording sounds as much like you think it's going to sound....rarely is the book (tape) so easily judged by its cover. But this duo? This shit sounds like it looks. Primitive drum machine punk fury with wild/ly damaged guitars and vocals that embody the opening line of the final track: "I don't get it, shit's too much. It's too much." And it is a lot, my friends, but OK SATÁN understand this. 

OK SATÁN

••••

Look at these folks...they understand a lot. 

KEM TRAIL

 

Suspend belief for a brief moment (or for fourteen minutes) and let Ach Cola Acht Bit take you to a place where punk eschewed guitars and sonic fury and found a home inside video games. DBeats make way for power-ups, clenched fists open up to hold controllers and the chaos is contained inside your screen. I was initially inclined to wonder why this exists, but now I'm left asking myself how it can feel so right.  

ACHT COLA ACHT BIT

WHOLE WORLD 1

 

A most excellent dose of synth-heavy art/freak punk to carry you through the weekend. Whole World 1 comes from Germany, and features bands who came through Germany and crossed paths with the creators. Featured bands include TOP DOWN, NUNOFYRBEESWAX, THE BUGS, FREAK GENES and THE DO NOTHINGS - and I dare say there's not a single clunker during the whole half hour..though TOP DOWN's "Let's Do It" steals the show.

WHOLE WORLD 1

MODERN DELUSION

 

One of the many nuggets from the last decade that I'm still catching up to, this release from Zagrab's MODEN DELUSION is instantly addictive. Hard swinging synth punk with a dark SPITS or MARKED MEN vibe....they absolutely nail the sound and all this tape makes me want is more songs (there was an LP the year after this one, so I've got some searching to do...which I love). We all want more songs, right? Songs like "My Life" and "Wasteland" in particular.

WASTELAND

WLMRT

 

YOu ever listen to a think and wonder....."What just happened?" and then you just want to listen to it again? Well, let me introduce you to Toronto's WLMRT. Equal parts synth prog freak punk and true visionaries, these cats would have fit perfectly with those mutants in Oklahoma City I was blabbing about the other day, but really WLMRT pretty much fits anywhere. Or nowhere, which is why I'm smitten with WLMRT Forever. They have another tape called Lube 2, in case you need more convincing.

WLMRT FOREVER

NASTY WORLD

 

This wild ass morsel arrived unannounced last week and I can't stop slurping the shit up. Synth drenched horror hardcore from the depths of Oakland...the shit is just...saucy, and I love it. 

NASTY WORLD

BOG BODIES

 

Absolute freak shit of the highest order from the Great Canadian Plains. Synth punk mania; destructo pseudo punk; noise; shit-fi; drum machine blast core; sex obsessed weirdos....BOG BODIES.

There's more, but this band fucking defies description so why should I even bother?

WHERE DO THE NETHER-VELVET SLASHINGS END & WHERE DOES ORGASM BEGIN?

ARGUMENT?

 

The absence of rules is what's supposed to keep this shit interesting, right? Like a cloudy anarcho punk troupe from Los Angeles, a dual vocal trio with no guitar and only occasional blips and whirrs to augment the ploppy bass and forceful, thoughful (read: forcefully thought filled) lyrics that dominate this first tape. ARGUMENT? do not seem even remotely interested in writing (or performing) anything even close to a song, much less a hit song - the title track that closes this 2016 tape leaves me almost frustrated...and interested. In other words: it worked. 

DESPITE HER LOVE

DATA UNKNOWN

There aren't supposed to be rules, which is why a band like DATA UNKNOWN comes as more of a realization than a surprise....because when punk opened the doors, this is the freak shit that was walking out of the closets and into the world. Then came the damn rules, of course, and we got stupid CRO-MAGS. Luckily for us, someone lets the door ajar, and the weirdos are still sneaking out...a reminder of what we're leaving trapped inside. 

W/P

PERIOD BOMB

 

What a mess. I mean in the best possible way of course, and I use those words simply because I have no idea how to accurately describe PERIOD BOMB. Permanently Wet is the sound of sounds in a blender: damaged noise/psych, '90s riot grrl, savage punk stomps, swinging electronic chaos - it's all in here, and the deeper you listen then more you hear. PERIOD BOMB were (are?) exceptionally prolific and constantly all over the place, and while there's something special about pressing PLAY without really knowing what you're going to get, this collection administers that feeling in the space of one tape. I tried to track the titles....but, well, it was hard so I kinda gave up.  

PERMANENTLY WET

MUTANTS FOR NUCLEAR WASTE vs. GWTW

 

The cover looks a mess just like the tape sounds. A car crash in triplet on the top, goblin popping out of the chimney, exploding dude bottom left, diabolical sun on the right and a stick figure walking up the stairs into the clouds. Plus Diamond Head in the lockup. If you translate all of that into sound, you get WARM BODIES, PETROLEUM, MISS LADY, SYNTHETIX, BLUE DETERGENT, BIG TEX...you get Mutants For Nuclear Waste vs. GWTW. Synth punk freak outs and outsider sounds sharing space on magnetic tape...ride NATURAL MAN & THE LIZARDS "Electrical Man" right into the weekend. 

MUTANTS FOR NUCLEAR WASTE vs. GWTW

PAID BY ROCK

 

You wanna know what's up? The first song on this comps "Dustcloud (Party Mix)" by a band called DESTRUCTOS. Not sold? There's a cover of "Thru The Flowers" (the second best song on Lovely, for those paying attention) and if you didn't already love the Kansas duo MR. & THE MRS. then check their track "Fuck Cops." Also there's a KINKS cover by a band called THE CINKS. Damaged garage/indie monsters, supremely damaged synth drenched dancefloor slammers and a band called FREAK GENES.  If you need something from an isolation inspired compilation, then I'm not sure if there's hope for you. I mean, sure, a little kång would be nice, but it's not that kind of comp....

PAID BY ROCK

And because label samplers are designed to make you get horny for the label - I would be remiss if I didn't mention the new DESTRUCTOS tape and the VIRVON VARVON that came out a while back. Plus the ruthless JOY tape...Girlsville is kinda killing it. So get horny.