CLEAN SLATE

 

On the off chance that you aren't currently moshing, I'd like to direct your attention to Manila's CLEAN SLATE. A frenzy of honest hardcore power, with a voice that reminds me of circa-2001 TOTAL FURY - it's a little loose, it's fully in the red, it's a little out of tune (note: just a little) here and there...but when you're going this hard, trading energy for precision is not just acceptable - it's encouraged. There's an EP on Still Ill that dropped a couple of years ago (note: it's a killer), but I recommend (as always) starting with the demo and then moving along chronologically. 

DEMO 2016

JONI EKMAN

 

If you have a soul, then Joni Ekman hits you hard and hits you fast. If your party bone isn't broken, then Joni Ekman gonna make you swing. Didn't know you had a party bone? Then Joni Ekman will help you find it. This proto-Best Of collection was my first introduction and I was instantly sold - flawless Finnish glam punk/power pop. He's clearly studied the classics (HOT RODS, T REX, SLAUGHTER, FANTASY, CUDDLY TOYS), and it's dripping with '80s pop hooks - the keys in "Sä Pidät Jäätelöstä" are just....well, second only to the guitar leads that open "Tiedän Että Valehtelet." Remember the first time you heard Permission to Land? Well...what if that record were kinda punk and also kinda J-Pop? Sold, not ashamed. 

TOTAALINEN EKMAN

DAMN YOUTH

 

I jumped on this as son as I saw it pop up - when something is this good and there are only a couple of dozen physical copies, you gotta move fast. DAMN YOUTH hail from Northeastern Brasil just outside of Fortaleza, and have been honing their AntiFascist Skate Thrash Assault since the mid '10s...CWB Undead harvests the fruit of their efforts at a live show in 2019 (I think?).  The casual conversation between songs is without pretense - DAMN YOUTH let their performance speak for itself, and 'relentless' is the only word that seems appropriate. Ten doses of brutal head splitting nazi smashing thrash metal is what you're expecting, and that's exactly what they deliver. I spent my 45th birthday with these dudes...they slayed that night just like they did the night this set was recorded. 

CWB UNDEAD

PANTANO

I keep thinking this one is going to explode, but a year after I received this tape from Rafa, still no one is talking about PANTANO...maybe now they will start? Killer, raw, hard driving dark synth punk from the depths of Ciudad de México, five doses of pure primitive electronic bliss. The kind of tape that makes me ask no one in particular: What else is there? In this moment, the answer is simple: Nada. So we dance.

SUEÑO ALTERADO

DETH KROKODIL

 

An Indonesian grind/crust bulldozer from 2010 unearthing the entire future up to (and including) present time - there's so much tonnage here, it fucking hurts to listen to. When a release opens with an instrumental titled "The Almighty Poor Call For War," I think it's safe to assume that you're fucking in for it, and DETH KROKODIL do not disappoint. Absolutely one of the angriest things I have listened to in a long long time...which is precisely how I needed my day to start. 

DETHISCOMING

09 SEPTEMBER 1986

Three quarters of an hour taken from the tail end of the 2am - 530am broadcast on Berkeley's KALX, hosted by Insect Boy (aka Insect Man aka Pat Wright). Some ticket giveaways, an upcoming event calendar, some dry humor....and some amazing music. WEATHER PROPHETS, WILD TCHOUPITOULAS, DEAD SILENCE, CULT OF BIGNESS (more on this mysterious outfit someday, for those who remain OBLIVIOUS), TOILING MIDGETS, JOHN LEE HOOKER...you get the idea. Pat didn't fuck around. Thirty five years ago today.

09 SEPTEMBER 1986

POSITIVE NOISE

 

Ripping early '00s Michigan fastcore ripped straight from the desperate clutches of the early '00s. Guitar breaks, breakdowns, lots of 'GO's,  lots of super short mosh parts - POSITIVE NOISE seem to have spent the middle of the decade fermenting, so they're just a little faster, looser, and maybe stinkier than your standard Thrash2K fare...which is a positive, of course. To some, the circle pits and dog piles of 2002 seemed like a distant memory in 2008, but some folks were just getting started. 

2008