COPS

Musically confrontational, San Francisco's COPS blow through 6 songs in the time it would take most hipsters to carve out the perfect line on the tape case. COPS would just do the whole bag and play faster. Hardcore by way of weird, synths lurking under the wreckage to turn your stomach - the thing this tape does most is make me want more recordings. Members of TOTAL SHUTDOWN, NIGEL PEPPERCOCK and half of '90s Mission denizens FUCKFACE...you know what you are about to get into.

COPS

POVERTY RECORDS SAMPLER

It was the 1990s, and the idea of starting a label with two bands a roster made up of drug addled savants from the neighborhood, your aspiring rapper co-worker and your long defunct metal band seemed like a great idea. So Chewy did exactly that, and I can only imagine how much money he lost in the process. At the beginning of the ordeal, he dropped this cassette featuring two tracks from HICKEY (well documented, but find more here if you are uninitiated), BIG MEAT COMBO (the Mission's finest raunchy bluegrass band, long before retro country was en vogue), OSGOOD SLAUGHTER (pre-UNHOLY CADAVER, who were in turn pre-HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, and likely the only American metal band to ever tour Guam), THUNDERCHIMP (the space metal band that came in between OSGOOD and UNHOLY CADAVER), P.H.L.O.N. ("It's Not About A Salary" could have been the theme song for the label) and FUCKFACE. Poverty released a few EPs, HICKEY's ill fated discography (recently given the total treatment by 1-2-3-4 Go!) and a brilliant box set of singles that perfectly captured our little neighborhood circa 199whatever. I don't see Chewy as often as I would like, but the new HAMMERS record is fukkn great, and I think I want KING CITY to play our twentieth wedding anniversary just like they did our tenth. Even if it's just in our kitchen.

POVERTY RECORDS SAMPLER

ELEGY

From the moment four hi-hat crashes usher in the start of this three song screamer, you know exactly what you are in for: Motörcharged madness. Sad that your house is really far from the dust stained streets of Montreal and that you and your studded leather will never get to see INEPSY in the flesh? Rest easy, children, just cruise down to (sometimes) sunny San Francisco and bask in the beer soaked glory of these maniacs. Hell, why not do it Friday when they play at Retox with SYSTEMATIK? Seems like a good idea to me.

PROPAGANDA AND LIES

PLUTOCRACY

Fuck. PLUTOCRACY was in a league (and often a world) all their own. Death metal weaned on powerviolence and genuine disenfranchisement, perhaps no band personified a scene the way that PLUTO did. Redwood City...fuck. Inadvertently self relegated to mere cult status, these dudes have influenced countless bands, blown countless minds and smoked a little bit of weed in the process. Most of their vinyl releases and plenty of other West Bay Coalition artifacts can be found on the Doomryderz blog, but here is 1990's Progress? demo - a steamroller.

PROGRESS?

Vinnie called me yesterday to let me know that Kindred aka Stinkweed passed away. Few lived life at maximum volume the way he did - and virtually no one riffed harder. PLUTOCRACY, KALMEX & THE RIFFMERCHANTS, SHADOW PEOPLE, GO LIKE THIS, TORTURE UNIT, BULLSHIT EXCUSE, SHADOW PEOPLE and many others. People come and go, but this one is irreplaceable. 

DISPLEASURE

DISPLEASURE could just as easily have been born in Midwestern basements circa 199?, but I'm happy that they rose up here over the last year or so. Members of NEON PISS and FUGITIVE KIND take forceful, determined punk and inject an undeniably local attitude (think MUTANTS by way of FILTH). The demo is just a taste....live DISPLEASURE is the shit.

DEMONSTRATIONS OF DISPLEASURE

YADOKAI

Between a guitarist relocated to Southern California and other projects (HUNTING PARTY, EFFLUXUS, FACE THE RAIL, SYNTHETIC ID and more, strangely all of them are bad ass), I think YADOKAI are on their way out. It's too bad, because their version of lightning speed Japanese influenced hardcore punk is unparalleled, especially around these parts. The first demo is great, the first EP is a chaotic treat, but the second drummer suits their style perfectly and the result is a little more cohesive, which allows them to ramp up the energy and the pace. A second EP can (maybe?) be had through these punx, but this tape (released in a pathetically limited run for their summer '11 trip to LA) is long gone. Crucial.

YADOKAI

That the San Francisco Bay Area produces an disproportionately high number of quality punk and hardcore bands is not a secret, but lately I've felt especially fortunate to live here and see so many excellent shows. I missed out on a couple last week due to adulthood, but instead of getting all bummed out I hauled my ass to Oakland to get drilled in the face by PERMANENT RUIN and LA's BLOODY PHOENIX - worth it. So I'm going to spend the next week celebrating this wealthy ass metropolis filled with miscreants, weirdos, yuppies, tech millionaires and addicts.

IRON LUNG

IRON LUNG should need no introduction, they have been honing their craft for nearly 15 years and have influenced hoards of followers in the process. The students have become master craftsmen. This is IRON LUNG live in Australia in 2011...one side features a set in Newcastle, and the other has Sydney playing in one speaker while Adelaide plays in the other. Brilliant positioning (editing?) to get the two shows to line up as disconcertingly as they do.

I HATE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS

If you prefer, you are welcome to experience the mind melting two set side of this tape in technologically altered user friendly one show at a time sound at Escape Is Terminal. IRON LUNG can be found here.