EKSTRAKTION

As mentioned yesterday, I present the 2013 demo from short lived Texas band EKSTRAKTION. Sharp, no bullshit, bombastic DBeat punk from some of the finest heads in the game. Nine songs, one DISCHARGE cover, fifteen minutes, flawless. 

EKSTRAKTION

SAVAGE REPUBLIC

I put off digging into this band for years, knowing that it would be a decision that justifiably required a significant time commitment...and '80s Los Angeles freaks SAVAGE REPUBLIC were worth the wait. File somewhere between Confusion Is Sex, ¡TCHKUNG!, contemporary late '80s SST, early UK anarcho-punk and BEATNIGS for reference, but SAVAGE REPUBLIC exist(ed) on an island of their own making. With a discography every bit as daunting as their sonic legacy, their no rules approach to sound and song is one that defies and befuddles the casual listener. I didn't start with I Married Thurston (by chance and convenience, 1989's Customs earned my first listen), but it's among my favorites in an extensive (to say the least) collection of live and demo recordings released by the band during their run. Settle in and dig deep. 

I MARRIED THURSTON

Today marks one full decade of Terminal Escape. I know that the blog has been a passé method for the dissemination and consumption of music for some time. "Everything is on youtube" or all of the new bands are on bandcamp or "fuck it I'll just listen to whatever is on spotify" - and most of that is true and almost all of that makes sense. Because working for stuff is hard, and it takes more effort, and because you have to know where to look. Sometimes it's clunky, sometimes it's not cool, and sometimes it even sounds like shit...but some of us keep looking. Just shy of 3400 posts and uploads, another 1500 live recordings on Escape Is Terminal, and I still rip everything in house on (for now) a gorgeous 1980s Yamaha TC-520 that I bought for $80. Thanks to everyone who's sent me tapes, thanks to everyone who's left a comment here or there to let me know that people are paying attention. I figured for a while that I would stop posting when I hit the ten year mark because...I mean, that's long enough, right? But I'm looking at shelves of unripped tapes, The NUCLEAR FAMILY Live In Japan mindfuck just taunting me, a really sick CIRCLE JERKS set from '83, the EKSTRAKTION demo that flew under the radar a few years back, that new JAD recording...well, you get the idea. So I'll be back. Tomorrow. Hopefully you get something good out of it.

DOISEU MIMDOISEMA

There's a lot to unpack here. So much that DOISEU MIMDOISEMA almost come off like a piss-take, trying to see if you can swallow all of these pills at the same time. There's irreverent and feisty punk, sounds that would have sounded appropriate in any number of regional micro-scenes in the '90s, and it feels like this is the base camp from which these Brasilians start their excursions. But what about the lazy and comically dreamy "Espatifada," or the psychedelic freestyle funk/rap "Epilético?" These aren't tracks that come off like a band trying to make a joke, they sound like a band who are genuinely all over the damn place - "Chamegro Latrino" is an endearing bass/drum/keyboard track, the smooth 311-demo-by-way-of-the-Caribbean "Entre a Oferta e a Procura" and there's an untitled closer that sounds like an actual teenage garage band from 1995. Which is perhaps exactly what DOISEU MIMDOISEMA were....there were no rules, no internet models to follow, creativity mingled with concepts (however bizarre) and ideas were explored. Nothing was by the book, because we were (all) still writing the book. Maybe things were better then, and hopefully there are always more chapters in the distance. 

DOISEA MIMDOISEMA INVADE CAPÃO CITY

OHIO PENITENTIARY 511 JAZZ ENSEMBLE

The story is pretty simple: A couple of heads (including Sonny Rollins' nephew) were in the Ohio state penitentiary in the '60s, and they had a band with several other inmates (of questionable musical talent). The Ohio State University band visited the prison and ended up jamming with these dudes, and a few members hatched a plan to record a session with them. These four tracks were the result of that session, recorded in the prison's chapel. Meandering and overwhelmingly peaceful jazz, borrowing from classic bop and meandering through the spiritual and psychedelic sounds and influences of the time.  "Counterry Bossa Devan" and "Psych City" are the two mainstays, while "Java Man" hits hard on the organ and the horns are unleashed. "Mantra Dance" is the floor banger, with booming drums and a wildly swinging trumpet taking the lead - perhaps the most "typical" of the bunch, but perhaps the most infectious as a result. The history of the recording is as cool as the recording itself...and I can assure you that Hard Luck Soul sounds very very cool. Another artifact offered for modern consumption by the heads at Loathed Sound. 

HARD LUCK SOUL

REZILLOS

Short and sweet:

You know REZILLOS (or you should). 

You know BBC. 

You're familiar with the 1970s. 

Worth mentioning:

Four tracks.

Recorded from BCC in the 1970s...as in probably by a teenager in their bedroom late at night.

Low(er) fidelity than you might think means high(er) tension than you might expect.

Excellent DJ gaff in the middle of "Destination Venus."

REZILLOS 

I always forget that "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" is a fukkn FLEETWOOD MAC cover. How weird is that?

FOSSOR HOUSE

Super short lived and vaguely mysterious, San Francisco's FOSSOR HOUSE didn't really "come and go" in a flash," rather they lurked under the radar for a few years before fading so quietly that you wondered if they were ever really there. With this two song cassette and Performing Borders as the apparent entirety of their recorded output, a casual observer could be forgiven for missing them completely...even though it would be that consumers lost. These were '00s kids grown up as '10s young adults, and they were reaching back to the late '80s for inspiration and turning that inspiration into something distinctly theirs. MISSION OF BURMA, MOVING TARGETS, the melodic and forceful Midwest, second wave DC - FOSSOR HOUSE take what they need from wherever they find it. Most people probably knew their other bands a little better, but I dare say that this could be the one with real staying power. 

WESTERN SESSION

CHRISTOPHER DONALDSON

Noisy, monotonous and awkwardly hypnotic audio fuckery - a twenty minute journey that goes absolutely nowhere and just leaves you rooted and confused. Shit-fi manipulations punctuated by erratic percussives....Rhythm Nation basically listens like an institutional treatment. Or a cry for help. 

RHYTHM NATION