THE OILY MENACE

I got super stoked on this when I heard it last year, and fully intended to share the sounds immediately...if you people could only imagine how amazing I would be if I actually managed to pull off a fraction of the things that I have "fully intended" to do during my adult life. But, as with most of my "accomplishments," better late than never, and please enjoy Michigan's THE OILY MENACE. Clearly taking their cues from the earlier and more original bands under the heavy umbrella, elements of melody are eschewed for raw blasting violence, and sweet candy hooks are skipped over for bursts of unbridled power. Downtuned non-formulaic '90s crust with a downtuned '80s death metal delivery...and band who takes their cues from The Dead Of Night... is at least starting off on the right foot. Oh yeah, and they are really into kale, which is my favorite vegetable. Enjoy.

MODULISTIC TERROR

FERAL KID MIX TAPE Vol. 1

Continuing in the tradition of mix tapes used simultaneously as promotion, celebration and hype, Buffalo's Feral Kid Records dish out this plastic shell filled with glorious sound. The reason I like the label (and one of the many fine attributes of said label's empresario) is that there seems to be no real focus beyond the simple requirement that the music be good, and this mix tape follows that guideline rigidly. Not to imply that these songs from all over the spectrum don't make for a cohesive listen, quite the contrary, but FATHER IGNORANT's "Sex Ceiling" into "I Bleed Cash" from GOLDEN BUFFET certainly falls a little outside of the prevailing punk wisdom these days. That's why this comp rules. Made up of bands mostly from upstate New York released by, affiliated with or friends with Feral Kid, including SKATE KORPSE, GHADDAR, BROWN SUGAR, UTAH JAZZ, PLATES, MAYDAY and several others. The main stand out is the fact that none of these bands sound particularly like anything else - I can't say this is a hardcore comp or an weird punk comp, though some of the bands featured would surely fall into one of those categories, but most of these bands write songs that aren't concerned with the square hole they will wind up shoved into, and it makes the ears perk up at virtually every turn (or flip of the tape). I snagged this (and the fukkn sick new BROWN SUGAR 12") when man responsible was in town last weekend...didn't see them play because I make poor life choices sometimes, but an hour at the beach is better than no time with your friends at all, right?

FERAL KID MIX TAPE Vol. 1

INFERNO

"A fiery eruption of clamorous urgency, storming out insistent pursuits of turbulent aggression into crushing unrestrained power. INFERNO boils over in flailing thrash excitement. A blazing outfit of riveting nitro speed and amplified havoc, much like the BASTARDS or the NEOS. Crank this one into the reels and explode."

- Pushead (MRR #10, December 1983)

GOTT IST TOT

SHRAPNEL

Welsh bangers SHRAPNEL left a criminally small output before calling it a day, but with this and the Restricted Existence demo in your stable, I guess it's not really necessary to crank out a bunch of crap to beef up your discography. UK82 styled punk circa 1983 with gloriously amateurish lyrics ("We're just working class // So they can stuff their education right up their ass") that look at the world with the bleak and uncertain frustration of 1980s teenagers. Pogo your asses off.

THEY CONTROL OUR DESTINY FOR WE LIVE IN MISERY

Accompanying this post is a 35+ minute live set from SHRAPNEL, also from 1983, which can be found on ESCAPE IS TERMINAL.

MUTANT VIDEO

Subtly sinister, synth driven sounds from the Seattle. The entity behind SELF COM sits at the center of this project, and the similarities are notable, but MUTANT VIDEO quietly expand on the minimal sound of that project, adding more electronics, a distant mournful bass guitar and manipulated percussion while remaining within the rigid confines of sparse dark ambience. Not exactly a roaring return after my three week absence, but this recording got me through many turbulent flights and more than a few sleepless night while I was south of the equator, and it seemed fitting to share. 

"HEAD SCAN" - PART/ONE

WHEN THE WIZARD GOES ON TOUR, TERMINAL ESCAPE TAKES A NAP.

With about 5 hours in between the last note of our 11/1/11 show in San Francisco and our airline departure for São Paulo, everything seems pretty much normal. Sweaty, exhausted, fighting the first stages of total physical shutdown - I can't think of a better way to start a tour. Thanks to COPS! (who might just be my new favorite SF band, I am awful fickle in that department, but every time I turn around there's another band blowing my face off) and BOOM BOOM KID from Buenos Aires, who started their US tour with us as we prepare for the aural devastation of their home continent. No updates on Terminal Escape until the last week of November, but stop by Escape Is Terminal from time to time as I'll have a few live jams to sprinkle on your toast. And check out CONQUEST FOR DEATH, because I'm guessing Craig will have some pretty entertaining tour blogging for you to read.

CONQUEST FOR DEATH // SARJAN HASSAN

Malaysia's SARJAN HASSAN have visited the escape before, a full on blast of retro crossover thrashcore. Sick. CONQUEST FOR DEATH started as a project of sorts, and has evolved into a sporadic juggernaut  - a vessel that has brought a constantly evolving network of friends to half a dozen continents. In 2006, our pal Kiku (ASSFORT, CHARM) was visiting San Francisco from Tokyo and he and Devon (WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, ALL YOU CAN EAT) concocted a one-off studio project. The project included Alex (SAY BOK GWAI, cult Bay Area '80s thrashers MORBID LIFE SOCIETY) and was recorded by Craigums (YOUR MOTHER, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, LOVE SONGS) who not surprisingly contributed guitar work to the project. The result was a self titled EP and plans for a west coast stint later that year with CHARM and Tokyo's fast/noisecore monsters U.G. MAN. I was drafted for that tour, and the next few years was/has been a whirlwind that included members from three countries and tours of five (soon to be six) continents. The songs on this split were culled from that first session, written and recorded in one afternoon.

HUMAN ERROR