DIALER

 

Someone feel like telling me how a present-era band manages to effortlessly conjure '80s Albini and early '00s indie alt in the same apocalyptic punk track? Twenty seconds into "Palpitation" and I swear they move from BIG BLACK to BLOC PARTY and I just have so many questions. "War Reality" just offers more confusion - a chaotic, jerky proto-industrial track presented as North American basement punk that just makes me wonder where DIALER has been all my life. Or where I have been for the last few years of mine while they were creating these sounds. On the subject of sounds, the final cut is an eleven minute War Of The Worlds caliber thriller that will stop you dead....it seemed so unreal until it didn't. Doesn't. 

PALPITATION // WAR REALITY

MAREFUMI KOMURA

 

Leaning more into the execution than the title, Komura's 2008 release is a glorious exercise in sound "created by walking through many rooms with a hand held cassette recorder" rather than a traditional mix tape. When my first listen was complete I realized I was just sitting and reflecting - it's like he allows you to hear the past and allows you to see joy while constantly reminding you that you live in a very tumultuous present and you can't go back; a dystopian journey of dead sound and current anxiety.  Tough to describe the power that a thirty minute aural collage can have when it lands on the right ears, and I'm glad that this one found mine.

MIX TAPE 1

SIN RAZÓN ZOOCIAL

 

I don't know where this came from but I am over the fukkn moon that it made its way into my earholes. Ultra-primitive Mexican dark punk with synths. Contracultura was recorded 35 years ago, describing the recording as simply 'timeless' would do the band a disservice.....it's timeless to be sure, but this twenty minute cassette hits so many nerves and I have been listening incessantly since I popped it in for the first time. Brilliant, anthemic, every track is a stunner and "No Mas Presos" is from another dimension and "Crucificcion" is absolute perfection. Speechless. 

CONTRACULTURA

PANDEMIX

 

Even though they named themselves four years too early, these Boston punx kicked the fukkn doors in with Pathological Culture. From the monologues in "Total Immersion" and "Conceptual Fuck" to the off the rails unrealized UK anarcho on pharmaceutical speed vibes in "Second Opinion" just wind them up and hear them roar. They've grown into a new and compelling animal since 2016 and the new(ish) Love Is Obliteration is a total killer that showcases this early vision fully realized...but in typical elitist fashion I'm still gonna point you to the demo first because you gotta start where shit starts, you dig? Four modern hardcore burners that manage to not sound like anything you've heard....or at least not like anything you're comfortable with (which is arguably more important).

PATHOLOGICAL CULTURE

SOCKEYE

 

It's been a while since SOCKEYE have graced these pages, and when it comes to SOCKEYE...? "A while" is always too long. This one was released around the time we first crossed paths with them at The Mantis in Kent - maybe it was the time we all hit a thrift store in Stowe for blank shirts to turn into FUCKFACE shirts, or it might have been the next year when we went for a bike ride and got caught in a Midwest flash thunderstorm and I didn't have a change of clothes so I had to explain myself to some cops while I was chilling in the nude while my clothes dried. It was the mid-90s and SOCKEYE were fukkn king - they were like HICKEY without the hooks....actually they had the hooks, you just had to wait waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy longer to hear them. Because for every  "Boy With Breast Implants" there is a "Yo Me Gusta Cum," a "Baby Boogers" and a "Your Dick Is A Junkie," you know? If you don't know, then it's time to learn...and if you already understand, then it's time to get some more SOCKEYE in your life. I wonder if Dave Schall would do a split spoken word release with me - maybe I could get Max Nordile to contribute the backing track. Ideas....

WARNING: BURN HAZARD

ANTI MILITARY

 

Even casual followers of so-called Third World punk will know Indonesia's MARJINAL...but first there was ANTI MILITARY. The connection is linear and if you know either one then you'll be able to hear the  through line, but the focus here should be on how timeless Satu Bumi Tanpa Penindasan sounds in 2025. This is raw, forceful, political, honest punk that will suck you in with anthemic ferocity.....and the almost-SUBHUMANS cover just seals the deal. Please pay attention to the guitar leads on tracks like "Darah Juang" because the shit is ultra sick and highlights their ability to inject melody into rough, ramshackle political hardcore. "Bangkit Melawan" and "Demonstrasi" are the choice cuts here, and I guess there's another ANTI MILITARY tape now at the top of my want list...

SATU BUMI TANPA PENINDASAN

S.M.I.L.E.

 

Can I tell you what I hear here? Well, of course I can because that's literally why I'm here...to tell you what I hear, so it's this: What if a band went straight from STOOGES and MC5 to squirmy modern hardcore punk? What if....what if there were no in between and a band skipped DAMNED and MINOR THREAT and THE STALIN and just drew a line from "1979" to S.H.I.T.'s What Do You Stand For? and didn't make any detours? You might get S.M.I.L.E., who are one of the most honest sounding hardcore bands to pollute my earholes in recent memory. And I really do like honest hardcore; shit just feels real. 

S.M.I.L.E. SOME MORE