OUTSKIRTS

New York City punks doing it right - OUTSKIRTS' 2016 demo deposits a scant ten minutes of earnest hardcore and then leaves you to contemplate. No flavor of the month bounce, no artificially tweaked anything, no pandering. Yes breakdowns, yes intensity, yes power, yes honesty. There's a full length recording that dropped earlier this year....highly recommended.

OUTSKIRTS

say you'll be here but you can't handle tears

say you'll be there but you don't believe in strength

think once it's done, it's done - don't see how it goes on and on

can't stand to see you powerful

LUCHAR POR VIVIR

Two tracks from 1997 that would appear on their Inocente Mundo de Sueños demo the following year, Uruguay's LUCHAR POR VIVIR are the kind of thick neck hardcore that only seems to catch on with the punk kids when no one is looking. And this morning...no one is looking. So throw the lid up on that hoodie and put your mean mug on. I don't need this shit often, but when it's time, nothing else will hit the spot. 

ANIVERSARIO '97

DELETER

This one dropped at the same time as the NO STATIK What Did You Give Away When You Gave In? EP on 25 Diamonds, which is how I heard about it. I appreciate a label that is all over the place, releasing what they like instead of just focusing on moving units - because if you feel it, then surely it will show...and the units will move themselves. Or not. But I was extremely happy to have our hardcore slab paired up with this sonically advanced offering from DELETER. Cold future sounds with the same ear toward early Rough Trade that made even the most jaded perk up when those first INTERPOL and FRANZ FERDINAND records dropped in the early/mid '00s. Because good is good, and that's what these kids are. Levitate The Pentagon with stick to you like glue....if the soft Butler-esque rasp of "Kill The Comedian" doesn't resonate in some way, then maybe we need to talk about broadening your view a bit. Listen, and listen repeatedly. DELETER have earned it. 

LEVITATE THE PENTAGON

UNIFORM

You see, this is what dark and introspective punk is supposed to sound like. Not like 1984 reborn as a new band who sounds like they wish they were alive in 1984...but like a band weaned on this shit who find themselves as a bunch of grown ass adults with punk and nihilism flowing through their veins. And they just can't help it. As much MISSION OF BURMA as FLUX OF PINK INDIANS, and with a presentation that sounds as urgent (and relevant) as anything you're going to hear this week (year). Atlanta bred, with a members of list that'll make you drool (WYMYNS PRYSYN, DASHER, BRAIN F≠, NURSE, CHEAP ART...I mean, if you pay attention then you get the drill), and UNIFORM manage to land at, or dangerously near, that formidable heap. "Evolve To Dust" invokes HIS HERO IS GONE with the leads, "Parallel Android" conjures early CHROME demos, and the "Nuclear Winter (BRITE GUSH)" demo has the winning and/or endearing character of current NWI punk....this collection listens like a stroll down a very dark path. There are teeth lurking in the trees, monsters hiding in the shadows, and ultimately you just want it all to envelop you. So let it. 

DEMO + NO TRENDING 

Also, they called themselves "Funeral Oi" on the internet, which is pretty cool. 

PISS PISS PISS

I miss this. PISS PISS PISS sound like they predate the replacement of intense with pretense. It's fast, heavy, pissed, frustrated, powerful - it's all of the things that I need modern punk to be, and it churns like a motherfukkr too. I never saw PISS PISS PISS, but I have a feeling that no one cared...which kinda makes me love this demo even more. Fukk the flavor of the month and crank "Schilieren Lines" real real high...PISS PISS PISS just walks in, kills, and walks out with confidence. What the fukk more can you possibly want?

NEVER HERD OF AMEBIX

CHARLATAN

A rare dose of retro smoke-filled black room hard synth dance music that sounds like it was recorded 30 years ago...as opposed to the hordes who sound like they are trying to sound like they recorded 30 years ago. This is Wreck Room on NW 39th. This is IKON. This is MFTU. This is digging for records at Bill's in Dallas before you had even heard of Mystic or Dischord and you just wanted something to make you feel like you weren't alone. This is gazing at your shoes because you simply didn't know how to look anywhere else. This is just.....really good. 

SUPERMAX

LIL TITS

Chicago's LIL TITS are like a drug addled beating. I'm not sure if it's you or your assailant who are on The Drugs, but one of you is definitely not in this reality but the beating doesn't stop. Monotonous, atonal drunk garage with a bombastic presentation, like if SMUT (MN) had the guts you always kinda wish they did. They take some kind of unknown witch garage sound and play it fast and loose and heavy, and it's scary how well it works. This tape was recorded live at Chicago's Empty Bottle in 2015 - and while perhaps that means I should have posted it on Escape Is Terminal instead (still active, with lots of recent bangers...just saying), I feel like freakout traxxx like "Slay Ride" and "Peaking" deserve the full treatment. I mean - their last EP was called Freak Flag, so obviously I am all in. 

CREEP DAY