CONTORT

 

A few days ago I woke up and I thought everything was pretty chill. I was dealing with the eternal fallout from some difficult decisions, I was putting one foot in front of the other and everything seemed basically okay. Hesitantly and cautiously okay but....still okay. And then it wasn't. And then I wasn't. It was fucked up. I was fucked up. It was disappointing. I was a disappointment. It was ugly, awful, damaged. I was damaged. I still am, and I don't anticipate a change in that status. This life is a fukkn mess, we humans only make it worse - and these sounds do nothing but reinforce this reality. I'm not sure what you though was going to happen when you woke up today....but it's this. 

ENDLESS MYOPIC BASTARDS

COMPLETED EXPOSITION

 

I wish I could describe the detonation that was COMPLETED EXPOSITION when they landed in California a lifetime ago (it was only something like ten years, but still). Absolutely unhinged sonic savagery that projected vibes that you just needed to soak up. It was no different when we shared a floor with them in Osaka on the last CFD tour, except that seeing them on their own turf might have been ever better (even though I knew what to expect). This band isn't a secret - 625 and RSR have released records and there are splits with BASTARD NOISE, WOJCZECH and EXTORTION among others, but this six minute detonation started it all twenty years ago. TO say that the shit "holds up" would be a criminal understatement.

PROGRESS AND HARMONY FOR MIND

THE MUSIC FRONT

 

A late '80s recording from post-URBAN BANDITS Arnold Morales (re)issued for new generations of punks. THE MUSIC FRONT are more '77 punk with a serious ear to the would be pop hits that came out of the first wave/s of UK punk. "Radio" deserves to be packaged for cult status - the song is more than worth the entire cassette on its own, but it shares space with "Start A New Day" and "Till I Kiss You" and seven other should-have-been classics. It's hard to believe that a session this good was kept quiet for over thirty years, just a perfect listen from start to finish...and the punky reggae anthem "What Is A Friend" as a closer? Yeah, I'm gonna be listening to this one for years (and years) to come. 

THE MUSIC FRONT

THRASH UP MY ASS!

 

The compilation is such an important thing in the history of DIY punk and hardcore, especially in the pre-internet eras. Mixes passed from hand to hand were the key to countless young rockers discovering new bands. Regional comps put together by nerds and super fans were instrumental in putting cities, states and countries on the collective map. And sometimes...? Shit just ripped. And, with 2011's Thrash Up My Ass! as evidence, clearly shit still rips. Talk about your all-go-no-slow compilations, this plastic blue shell struggles to contain 60+ 60 second bursts of hardcore/fastcore fury. A few household names (SHORT FUSE, HJERTESTOP, REPROACH) and so damn many bands that were new to me - and notably brilliant sequencing (SUNPOWER into TENSE REACTION is so particularly choice), so you want to flip it and thrash it right up your ass. Again. And this is why these comps are (still) so important. 

THRASH UP MY ASS!

DIORETIX

 

It's a fukkn crime that DIORETIX existed under the radar. 

I could go on but that is really the entire damn blog blurb. 

They were that good. 

2017

LYSOL

 

Magic isn't an accident, folks. Sometimes it's intentional and calculated, sometimes we call something "magic" simply because it's too damn good to describe by any rational and/or normal means. LYSOL are intentional and certainly calculated, but are LYSOL magic? I'm not saying they are, and I'm not saying they are not - I'm saying that their grunge infested bluesy garage punk manifested as uninhibited, nasty 2010s DIY hardcore is (was?) something truly special. And that, my friends, sound like magic to me. 

ON THE CORNER

 

KLONNS

 

It's hard to explain how something can simultaneously sound this raw and this bombastic, but then it's also hard to describe how KLONNS can feel so completely original within the admittedly restrictive confines of blown out hardcore. Then again, maybe you describe it the way KLONNS do...maybe you explain the sound as the New Wave Of Japanese Hardcore. They first popped on my radar with last year's Crow EP from Iron Lung Records, and digging back in their catalog since then has been a true joy. This tape combines the first two self released cassettes - twenty minutes of black metal tinged grinding crust destruction. Essentially just regular Tuesday stuff around TEHQ. 

DISCOGRAPHY 2016-2017