DOGMATICS

 Some shit from Boston's DOGMATICS played on the radio sometime around 1984 (or so). You know those bands you don't know you need until you know you never had them? DOGMATICS fit that bill - probably flipped by the reissues dozens of times....but that won't happen again. A bunch live(?) acoustic songs here that may or may not be related, but they were on the same tape and you know how I tend to operate. So enjoy.

DOGMATICS

IN REACH

 

Where the fukk was this in 1998 and why wasn't I there with it?! Index finger stabbing the air on every chorus, fastcore meets posi-crew....absolute OUTLAST energy (with a touch more 'core) from the first Vermont band I've ever posted on The Escape. Pretty sure that leaves Alaska as the only state still unrepresented on these pages, so naturally I welcome Alaskan cassette submissions. This tape though, you're going to have to dig deep to find a band who did it better. If Dan reads this, Dan's gonna love this. 

DEMO '98

LAMICTAL

 

Total CONEHEADS and/or CCTV style hyper-energetic freak punk but kinda faster and more sinister feeling. Saw 'em last week with INNUENDO (same gig I bought that Robert Lester Folsom tape at) and they kinda floored me, guitarist also had style and moves that will make you ask yourself why you don't have moves. The shit is stellar, y'all. Trust me. 

HARD PILL TO SWALLOW

ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM

 

I had this sweet mid-90s Maximum Rocknroll Radio tape I was gonna post but my track listing didn't match the audio and I'm having a really gnarly week so I didn't feel like sorting out the edits and shit so....so I'm not posting it but it started with a BLINK 182 song that's pretty good (in context) and it just feels weird to type out those words but I listened again and it's true so I am determined to post that MRR show soon. In other news......

I went to see INNUENDO and NECRON 9 last week and they both ripped. Milwaukee punk rules period. The locals were fine, but the opener was a SoCal outfit called LAMICTAL and they also ripped. Singer runs a label called Popular Affliction and I stocked up on my way out of the gig (live shows are still the best place to buy records and tapes, straight up). Truth be told, I didn't pay too much attention and just traded $40 for a bunch of tapes I didn't know shit about because the band was good and the dude seemed chill and stoked. got a few hardcore and synth punk tapes.....but then I checked this motherfukkr out. I don't know the history and I don't really care because FUCK ME this shit is beyond beautiful and there's a dude in Southern California releasing hardcore slammers and melancholy '70s freak folk and where has this reality been all my life, you know? Check this shit:

"See You Later, I'm Gone"

"Heaven On The Beach With You"

"Nobody Wants Me"

"I'm Still In Love With You"

"Sunshine Only Sometimes"

"Slowly Sinking Ship"

"Lonely Lovers"

"She"

....yeah punk, this shit is real as fuuuuukk. I don't know what else to say and/or what other context to offer. I went to a punk show and dropped $5 on a previously unknown and currently essential collection of sounds from a different world.....the sounds are not punk, and I made the right choice. Will you make the right choice?

ODE TO A RAINY DAY
SUNSHINE ONLY SOMETIMES
ARCHIVES 1972-1975

BLACK T-SHIRT

 

You're going to want to ignore the cover here, because this tape looks like it's gonna sound stupid as fukk. It doesn't sound stupid though, far from it. BLACK T-SHIRT is a super killer hi-nrg street punk slammer, and if you can't get down with tracks like "Janji Janji Tai Anjing" then I'm not even sure what you're doing here. Because there are a lot of things here and they are all important things....but damn, a good punk song is such a beautiful thing and there are a lot of really good punk songs on this tape. 

KUMPULAN TEMBANG KELUH KESAH PELIPUR LARA

BOTTLED UP

 

Someone wanna tell me how I missed this? It's entirely possible that I am simply not cool, but this ultra cool and utterly devastating thing apparently happened under my nose in the late 2010s. That think was called BOTTLED UP. Shit sounds like PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI and NO DICE playing a bar in Menlo Park in 1998 and I am so fukkn here for it. Just wondering why I wasn't there for it, you know?

FARALLON

NEONATES

 

Categorization rendered impossible, and I am grateful to Los Angeles' NEONATES for the challenge. My reference points include SISTER FUCKER, girlSperm, THE SLITS, some shit like BLURT that was on Rough Trade 40 years ago...but these are just reference points, you know? NEONATES doesn't sound like any of the above, but their plodding meanders and the shrill yelps take me to the same place. Or to a similar place. I like it there. It's not my place and it's not a place for me....but I'm happy to be able to visit from a distance because it seems really cool there. They were done a decade ago, so whatever (or wherever) that place is, it's in the past like a lot of other cool stuff. 

NEONATES