MIDNITE BRAIN

Yet another new killer SF hardcore band - they are breeding like mosquitos lately, but I hope that they live a little longer. MIDNITE BRAIN play raw and noisy, and they play fast, three things I like in my music. I missed them last weekend, arrived at the show just after they wrapped up. But conveniently they are playing their second show tonight at the Lipo Lounge in Chinatown with CULTURE KIDS, OPT OUT and CRIMSON SCARLET. What a coincidence.

MIDNITE BRAIN

SCUM

More of the same - sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to come up with words for these Monday posts. You people come here for raw, noisy, blown out blasts of hardcore influenced by '80 bands from Scandinavia and Japan who were in turn usually influenced by '80s bands from England...well, OK mostly just the one band...and then distorted to oblivion. That's what SCUM do, and they are very fukkn good at it. This is why you visit, the guitars are piercing, the vocals are harsh and desperate, and the pace is relentless. Success.

NUCLEAR WINTER

FAITH ADDICTION

Hardcore. Four songs in two and a half minutes. Florida. Killer vocals. Really fast. Good breakdowns. Snare drum sounds like a hollow turd but it sill doesn't mean that this band isn't really good. Probably better than yours, in fact (nothing personal). No Reprieve used to sell these, but they are gone now (the label is still there, and still good, they just don't seem to have the tapes anymore). I bet you are glad that I shared it with you, since you might have to wait until some teenager grows up and gets married and sells all his/her tapes in a lot on the internet to get a copy for yourself.

FAITH ADDICTION

INANGER

Cassette version of the Reality Blind EP on Tribal War (please read the interview with Neil/Tribal War in the recent MRR, excellent stuff) and an excellent rehearsal recording. 15 tracks in all, driving political punk from Scotland...exactly what you need.

WITHIN THIS CORRUPTION

UG-IT

I wasn't initially sure if this was a compilation packaged for actual release, or if it was just a mix tape of bands that Dan Riffe played in or was friends with.  Dan's bands VAN GOGH'S EAR (will share their unreleased Clear Album soon - brilliantly subtle psychedelic noise) and ILLEGITIMATE SONS OF JACKIE O make appearances on this comp, along with BIG SKIN HEARTS and freaked out sounds from NOEL BOLTE. Dan set me straight via the internet, and it seems that UG-it was released by Ron King, who was in Dan's words, "a fucking genius." The HO tracks are the highlight, a complete assault of fuzzed out psych-punk guitar mania from BIG SKIN HEARTS frontman and the Dick Dog Records impresario responsible for this release, tasty jams for the freaked out hippie queer trapped inside each and every one of us.  The SONS tracks are characteristically excellent, and the PLOPS tunes are the epitome of the weirdness that was going on in our little neck of the woods at the time. Circa 1992/3 in my corner of Oklahoma, guitar noise and punk rock were on a collision course with frequently fantastic but often shitty results...Dan was an accidental mentor who made me several mix tapes while we worked together and played in a couple of bands, including the one with this compilation sandwiched in between the BRTUAL GARDENERS demo (that was our band, not sure why he put it on a mix tape for me) and X-MAS TREE, one of his SONS side projects. It was through him that I first heard WRETCHED, NOTA and a host of other forks in the road that got me pointed down the right path and I blasted the shit out of all of those tapes countless times. Hopefully they will all eventually stop by The Escape for a visit...and we'll start those visits with UG-it.

U-GIT COMP

GRUDGES

It has all of the appeal of low end heavy death metal, but the majority of this platter is delivered with a bare ferocity typically reserved for grinding DIY crust. "Marylin" is the slow paced exception, and provides more than enough gutteral punishment to satisfy even the most gluttonous of visitors while "Net Worth" lets '90s NYHC sneak into the mix with guilt ridden success. A new band with personnel from TERROR LEVEL RED and DEATH FIRST, this will grow hair on your chest.

GRUDGES

SENTENCIA

For whatever reason, the Spanish seem better than just about anyone else on the planet at making painfully amateur hardcore punk sound like the most intensely brilliant music on the planet. KANGRENA and MG-15 in the '80s, with bands like DESTRUCCION and today's visitors SENTENCIA carrying the fine tradition well into the new millennium. Über simplistic and rudimentary ramshackle hardcore built on the D-Beat model but delivered with a grade school charm and an urgency impossible to fake. The vocals are desperate and pained, while the guitar and bass struggle to keep up, even though they are playing the most simplistic three chord punk imaginable. Nine songs in ten minutes, but then you get to listen to them all over again, this is pure brilliance. Vida O Muerte was recorded in 2007 and is well worth your internet time, and your euros if you can track down a copy.

VIDA O MUERTE