ORDER

 

ORDER are future punk. The first time I saw them it was clear that they were simply on another level, and they just flitted around, exploring over everyone's head for much of the late 2000s. A wild mix of jerky, post punk, NOMEANSNO riffs on hallucinogens, spaced out freak jams and STALIN-esque Japanese fury, all while running with the fierce charging hardcore set. They just exist on their own plane, and it always felt like they were just exploring their surroundings with each release (there are a lot of them). "Küsö" is the choice cut on this 2008 release, which compiles the Toyota and Saru EPs. It's over in a flash.

KOMBINAT

MONASTERY OF PORCUPINES

 

It's every bit the mess the cover suggests. 90 minutes of madness and experimentation from HERMANOS GUZANOS, CAROLINER, SUCKDOG, INSECT FEAR, SOCKEYE and several more acts ranging from noteworthy and unknown. Did I mention BOOGER SAFETY PILL BARN? Because they're on this thing too. You will wonder what you're listening to, you will wonder how you can find more, and perhaps at times you will wonder when it will be over. Patience...the late 1980s were a time of sonic freedom and exploration. 

MONASTERY OF PORCUPINES

MULTI FACET

 

I'm not particularly quiet about how much I like MULTI FACET. They were a precision machine live (only saw them once - was blown away), and each of their releases has its own power and it's own pull. This demo is probably the rawest (aside from the Gilman set shared on Escape Is Terminal nearly a decade ago), and is a perfect example if fierce 1990s East Bay hardcore. Dark intensity, driven by Jeneane's vocals and completed by complex songs that owe and equal debt to the bands that they shared stages (and floors) with and the bands who preceded all of them.  Of the eight songs here, only "Wasteland" appears to appear on other releases, and the tracks are in general more adventurous...I kinda don't understand why they still fly under the radar. 

MULTI FACET

FORCLOSE // DROGATO

 

A hellish assault from New York in two terrifying movements. FORCLOSE stand at the TOTALITÄR altar wielding a metalcrust axe while DORGATO anxiously deliver two doses of manic high energy shit punk. Both bands are classic patched up gutter punk shit in the best way...when I say that Tomorrow? will grow mold on yer buttflap, please know that I'm making a compliment. 

TOMORROW?

EDIBLE

Beyond the contents of this 1983 piece of short run idealism, I seize on the experimentation that flourished within the loosely defined boundaries of the early punk communities. I suppose a modern equivalent would be punk/hardcore musicians finding influence from the worlds of primitive noise and electronic musics which, moving virtually along the imaginary timelines of sounds, might be similar to artists from the early 1980s reaching backwards and drawing from the beats. But pieces (artifacts?) like EDIBLE's You Eat What You Are come off as more soul baring, more generally daring creations. Thirty minutes of spoken word anarcho political realism broken up by a couple of ultra minimalist drum machine backed non-music punk numbers ("The National Health Service" is a standout, but "Not My Life" is a would-be shit-fi classic). If nothing else, placing your ear to the speaker of the time machine and listening to the sounds of teenage frustration and determination from 40 years ago is....pretty fukkn cool. 

YOU EAT WHAT YOU ARE

SFN

 

Spent a lot of time over the last few weeks revisiting the Midwest. That's OK, of course, because Midwest hardcore is (objectively speaking) the best hardcore. I only saw SFN a handful of times (and only in their infancy, as previously discussed), but those kids fukkn started strong. Perhaps the sound was a product of the clash between their environment and their influences, but they got even better. All of the records are worth your time (especially Itching), but this tape came first. 

SFN

THE BUG

 

THE BUG were one of the most crucial USHC outfits. Their complete lack of pretension clashed with their confident ownership of the live setting - there was nothing else that mattered in the world when they played because they were putting out everything that they had - it was casual chaos. It was fukkn real. And when their dust settled, two tapes and one EP are all that remained. The brightest ones do burn the hottest. 

WHAT'S BUGGIN' YOU?