VACUÜM

Yesterday morning we wrapped up the mixing for the VACCUUM records (two EPs plus some other stuff, hopefully all out in the near future), and today I give you the 1982 LP from Dutch "rhythmbox" rockers VACUÜM (copied onto tape, of course). This cassette copy is missing a couple of tracks, but that is more than made up for by the great original mix (the 2005 remix that circled the web sounds too modern and clean - who wants that in their punk? not me...). This two piece lands somewhere between cartoon punk and Deutsch punks CHAOS Z, and while the vibe (and the primitive drum machine) might a little too bouncy and happy sounding for some, this tape is still rammed with driving punk songs and a killer piercing guitar sound. VACUÜM were among the first punk bands from Holland to sing entirely in Dutch (even the cover of DEAD KENNEDYS "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," or rather "Nazipux Rot Op"), and arguably the first to rely entirely on programmed drums. This record is definitely random, if not necessarily rare..."Aerobic Pogo" and the primitive techno backbeat to "Vissen" are my favorites, but you should not take my word for it - dive in and make your own favorites. 

VACUÜM

THE HELPLESS

Holiday or not - Noise Punk Mondays returns with a vengeance. Maybe it's sunny outside, and maybe you have the day off from your shitty job (to my foreign friends: today is an American holiday meant to honor the workers, even though the "holiday" was actually manufactured to divert our narrow and short sighted American minds away from Mayday, the internationally and traditionally recognized day to support labor), and maybe you are outside with a grill cooking delicious food and getting hammered because that's what Americans tend to do on this day...unless you are unfortunate enough to work in a service job, in which case you are likely working today. Isn't it ironic that the people in most need of a fukkn day off are the ones that have to work on the day that is supposed to support and honor people who deserve a day off? Man, our shit is fukked up. Anyway, holiday or not, my calendar still reads Monday, and that means fukkn Noise Punk Attack - today in the form of THE HELPLESS. These dudes sprouted from the ashes of DEAD NOISE and feature a member of KRUEL, but mostly they just fukkn destroy. You name yourself after KURO, and you have just made yourself some big fukkn shoes, and THE HELPLESS fill them with style. A meaty bass and drum make for a perfect backdrop for noise guitars and destroyed vocals (which is why we really listen to this shit anyway, right?). THE HELPLESS are everything you hope for in the world of internet driven, distortion laced noise//punk. Cheers to Jon for sending this tape my way...they were great when I saw them with CROW in the spring, but these recorded tunes offer just a touch more clarity and this demo is fast becoming a favorite at TEHQ. There was mention of a Bay Area show in the fall, I hope that wasn't just talk.

NUCLEAR//FIRE

FACE UP TO IT!

Staying on the European continent today, but traveling north and east a few hundred miles to the French city of Bordeaux and picking up the pace for FACE UP TO IT!'s 10 song, 9 minute demo. This bad boy was recorded in 2000, near the height of the 80s thrash revival and the birth of what would soon come to be known as fastcore. It's not hard to imagine a sweaty 17th century building full of rampaging, circlepitting Frenchmen and Frenchwomen losing their fukkn marbles while FACE UP TO IT! blaze through DC influenced hardcore tinged with late 80s UK thrash (hence the HERESY moniker), throwing in a NEGAZIONE cover just to ramp up the singalong factor. FACE UP TO IT! are still killing it ten years later, faster and tighter than this recording, but there's something appealing about the earnest attack on the demo. Drummer Luc is responsible for Kängnäve (both the blog and the killer single page zine from the '00s), and helped me identify a bunch of early French punk I had on an unmarked tape. Which reminds me, I need to post that shit...

FACE UP TO IT!

YAKUZA HORROR

Europeans love the shit out of crust. I know that we have had our flings with crust and Dbeat here in Americaland as well, but seriously, the Europeans cannot seem to get enough of it. The result of this love affair with a predominantly monotone subgenre of our beloved punk rock is a ten story high rubbish heap of utterly forgettable records and tapes (and, oh yes, the fukkn CDs!!!) released by legions of utterly forgettable third rate Eurocrusters, sucking up the very resources that these bands sing about saving. But this love affair also brings us bands like YAKUZA HORROR, who remind me that such a done to death brand of rage can be rendered exciting once again - that crust is popular because sometimes it's fukkn GOOD. Dual vocals (the high raspy one and the low gutteral one), killer straightforward tunes and a classic approach to DBeat hardcore/crust...this shit slips into just about every cliché, but after one song I stopped caring, because it all works so well. The band comes from Spain, and the demo comes from 2005 - enjoy your Saturday.

YAKUZA HORROR

Story of the day, courtesy of one of my bosses at work:

DOCTOR, upon examining my boss: "Interesting, you seem to have what we call 'Cocaine Nose.'"

BOSS: "Well, I've done cocaine every day for the last 50 years."

FLIPSIDE VINYL FANZINE: Volume 1

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ANTITODO // NAPA

Back to South America today, with Colombia's ANTITODO and NAPA from Ecuador. ANTITODO play 80s UK influenced hardcore punk full of catchy fist in the air choruses, raw delivery and killer double snare hits and I'm hooked. "Largate!!" is a great UK82 burner, and the bouncy rhythm of "Mundo Falso" is totally infectious - these songs were recorded in 2000, but could have just as easily come from 1984 (or from South Central LA circa 2010). NADA are rougher, rawer and offer up eight rudimentary hardcore punk tunes. Plodding 1-2-1-2 beats and gruff vocals buried in the tape hiss, but still songs like "Invasión Yankee" manage to shine. ¿Te usta el Punk?

ANTITODO // NAPA

SNUFF FILM

The Bay Area's most prolific post-teen miscreants offered up this document to support their ill-fated (and ultimately cancelled) winter 2009 US tour. MIGRAINE and ECOLI ditched tour due to van failure, but fortunately they managed to leave us with this collaboration cassette, which sold out before I even knew it was finished. SNUFF FILM take discordant guitars to dizzying heights and bury the vocals in an ocean of chaos so that half the time you wonder if you are even listening to a voice at all...Take 1 makes me kinda seasick, but fortunately the voyage is over just before the 13 minute mark. A creepy concept album of sorts, the songs chronologically follow the path of a snuff film from the initial luring of the victim to the thought process in the mind of the film's creator (the final song, "Producer," is a totally fucked dirge both musically and lyrically, leaving the listener feeling rather dirty), and the lyrical approach suits the affected musical assault. This collaboration features all of the members of both bands writing and playing together, and existed only for this release.

TAKE 1