BROWN SUGAR

One of the things I miss about living in the Midwest is being able to hit the Eastern Seaboard and the Rust Belt on quick, no bullshit touring jaunts to see the great bands and hang out with the great people that reside in those regions. Albany, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Baltimore, the Tri-Valley, Grand Rapids and the list goes on...I was lucky to hit them all repeatedly and get my face melted by killer bands over and over (of course now I can do the same thing with Southern California and the overly prolific Pacific Northwest, I'm just crying a little "grass is greener" river). The whole point is that if I still lived in the Milwaukee, then I probably would have seen BROWN SUGAR by now, and I bet they would have been awesome. Buffalo has been packed with a disproportionate number of rippers for as long as I can remember (it's the winter and the desperation all twisted into a frustrated heap), and these folks are veterans of the city's rock and roll world. This tape compiles their 2008 Deportation single with a live set recorded in Syracuse (they named the track "Gushy & Wet in Akron Corfu," but it wasn't recorded in Ohio - go figure) one living room demo track and a confusing cover of "Hey Joe" which Biff says is done in the LOVE style but it comes off sounding like BIG STAR (this isn't bad, just not the tune I would have opened my tape with).  The EP tracks are tough as shit without ever coming off as macho, just raging punk rock with one ever present clean guitar that seems to be hanging out by itself while the rest of the band blow through 8 songs in 9 minutes. Tight as shit, this is perfect fodder for fans of No Way stuff or the first few TOTAL FURY records...come to think of it, that clean guitar sound exactly like the TOTAL FURY Spring Thrash single from a decade ago, though this was likely an accident (yeah right).  

DEPORTATION 

and some other trash

CORPSE GRINDERS

File this along with the hordes of killer late 80s UK bands who just simply came too late. The bombast and ensuing bass break that starts out "Democracy" would be at home with DEATH SENTENCE, DISRUPTERS or any number of second wave UK punks, but then Rob's vocals owe more to LACK OF KNOWLEDGE or Wayne Hussey styled self indulgent goth/punk and don't really fit the music at first. The affected guitars sit just fine on top of the awkward and disjointed drums and they quickly become the highlight for me...until the vocals settle in and I start to focus on them almost exclusively.  While "New World" drags on too long for my taste, and CORPSE GRINDERS mastery of UK ska/punk on this tracks is nowhere near the level of their dark punk stylings, they redeem themselves generously with the final track "Decongestion," a ripping gloomy UK82 assault that fills the final two minutes of this demo with thoughts of "shit man, the rest of this tape was good, but this is fukkn AMAZING!!" and then it's over. If this were from 1983 instead of 1989 then someone would surely have "discovered" it and exalted its virtues long ago...

MY HOVERCRAFT IS FULL OF EELS

NECRO HIPPIES

NECRO HIPPIES are from New Orleans, and my pal Layla started raving about them a few months back. She played me their 12" and I thought it was pretty fukkn rad, and when they announced a gig in San Francisco, I was pretty stoked. I couldn't really tell if I was stoked to see NECRO HIPPIES or just stoked to see Layla flip her lid cause she was so damn excited about the show. If a band is good, then they are gonna be even better at Thrillhouse Records, and since that's where the show was, I figured we were all in for a pretty sweet evening. I didn't really hang out with them, just said hello and such, probably heckled just a little bit more than would normally be considered friendly, I just watched them fucking kill it. NECRO HIPPIES played like I remember playing when your band is young and you booked a tour that might have been a little too long for your sanity, your wallets, and your relationships with the other people in the van, but then there's a shitty room and it's rammed with dirty punks and that's why you got into the van 6 weeks ago when you still had your positive outlook - you did it all for nights like this. That's how NECRO HIPPIES played, they were fukkn great, and I even trekked across the bridge to see them in Oakland the next day (good show, RANK/XEROX were awesome, but it was more...sterile than the night before). I still didn't really hang out with them there either, just passed along a few awkward "I like your band" comments that still leave my mouth like a dumfounded teenager even though I'm pushing 40 and it's getting lighter every year...but I just felt like they were good damn folks, and that goes a long way with me. It doesn't hurt that the band serves up bare bones ultra catchy snotty American hardcore with a laid back attitude, and that the songs are in your face KBD worthy US punk put through a "fuck you" filter and then pissed all over.  No...that doesn't hurt at all.

SORE THROAT

Fast forward a few weeks and I saw the guitarist in Austin. We still didn't hang out, and I felt less urge to pass along "I like your band" comments since her band wasn't playing. We passed each other on Red River, I was headed from my total score of a parking space to watch Jerry A take a squishy dump all over whatever shred of a reputation POISON IDEA still manages to hold onto, and she gave me this tape.  A 2008 EP recorded "on a dumpstered boombox." I challenge you to get more punk than that. 

ALIENATION

I posted their 1988 demo last year, and this is ALIENATION's offering from the previous year. Way rougher around the edges, but at the same time this one is way less punk...dark self indulgent guitars and a greater emphasis is placed on the "I'm so spooky" vocals while the rhythm section (particularly the bass) seems barely able to fake their way through a song. The result is confusing, often out of tune and disconcerting, but overly endearing in its urgency. 

GREATEST HITS VOL II

"sometimes I need to get away // away from what you say // sometimes I don't want to see today // sometimes I think I've lost my way" 

COLD DEATH

Equally excellent and infectious female fronted punk/new wave hybrid from Germany. The vocals take about a song for me to really get into, but now I can't get them out of my head. Moody and atmospheric delivery with fantastic song writing, COLD DEATH manage to pull off complete 80s worship without sounding recycled or trite.  Check them out here, and listen to this shit all day long...

DEMONSTRATION

BULSA BREAKOUT

Perhaps this tape is more valuable as a geographical marker than a musical masterpiece, but when I saw it sitting in Allan's distro I snagged it without a moment's hesitation. Bulsa Breakout is a 60 minute compilation of bands from Bulgaria (BUL) and South Africa (SA) released cooperatively by Sound Action in South Africa and Art Of Noise in Bulgaria sometime in the 90s (I'm guessing on the date based on band photos and musical styles). Bulgaria takes side 1 and starts with LAST HOPE (pretty basic dirty UK sounding punk) and STRATEGY X (an attempt at modern H'C with rudimentary drums and meaty guitars, it works really well)...both are fukkn brilliant. MEANSTREAM sound like a tougher STRATEGY X, and the lo-fi delivery suits them perfectly, FORWARD seem like they are trying to be poppy, but the shit is too fast and chaotic and they come off like 80s Italian thrashers, IN-CRIMINAL are slower plodding angry HC while FACE UP offer one song of late 80s NYHC. The South African side leaves a bit to be desired, and I confess that I almost left a few of these songs off altogether, but then there's beauty and eyes of the beholder and all that, so I included the garage quality NOFX rip off (FUNGY GONE WEST) and a band that sounds like a wimpy WEEZER who likely pre-date WEEZER (THE GLEE CLUB). But then our sub-Saharan friends redeem themselves with killer female fronted hardcore tunes from OUTRAGE (their second tune has a very anarcho feel to it, and is the best on the tape to my ears) and forceful plodding UK style punk from DIMINISHED RETURN. The SA side rounds out with FRIDGE MAGNET (more UK punk) and CRUSH (tuneful ripping HC not unlike SNFU). Just in case there was any doubt as to the international commitment put forth on this tape, things wrap up with a radio piece that features Malaysia's CARBURETOR DUNG from a previous Sound Action tape release.  A few of these tunes should probably be put in the trash file after first listen (not the most ringing endorsement of my potential download, I realize, but honesty always pays off in the end...right?), but there are great tunes buried in here, and the simple fact that two different corners of the world reached out to one another to make this happen makes it more than worthwhile to me. And if you care about the world, then you will download this tape immediately.

BULSA BREAKOUT

NO MAN'S SLAVE

The two best things about going on tour are seeing people you like and seeing bands you like.  Luckily, a few weeks back I managed to take care of both of those things at once when NO MAN'S SLAVE played with us in Oklahoma City. They have honed their craft to a frighteningly sharp point, and these dudes have reached a level where it's not out of line to mention their name in the same breath as the band from whom NO MAN'S SLAVE lifted their moniker. The bass break in "Curbing Homophobia" has shades of LOGICAL NONSENSE, the guitar work screams IRON LUNG in the best possible way, but the overall delivery here is just plain brutal. 29 tunes in under 22 minutes, I think you know what's in store.

NO MAN'S SLAVE

The singer from this band runs the not-updated-often-enough-but-still-totally-excellent Trapped In Oklahoma blog, and is responsible for a few of the Oklahoma posts that have appeared here as well. For those who feel the need to keep track, these tunes appeared previously on the Siege Mentality EP and the split EP with I RESIGN (both on Give Praise Records), the Ear Damage cassette and their self titled cassette from 2008.