STOCKPILE

OPT OUT shared a dust laden basement in Philadelphia with these crushers earlier this year, and while the demo might not live up to their live power, these eight songs are the bulldozer that is about to wreck your morning (or afternoon). Bass heavy breakneck hardcore with the unhinged feeling of early the Swedish attack without the trite aping of the sound (and riffs) - a gutteral attack from four dudes with a pedigree spanning three decades...I think the appropriate term is "lifers." A vibe is a hard thing to create on a short punk demo, but STOCKPILE manage to make me feel like this music exists because it needs to...like these sounds are not optional. The vocals are harsh and the riffs are excellent - so two of my requirements have been met, and rest assured that all other requirements are met (or exceeded) on this 13 minute banger. Enjoy your weekend.

STOCKPILE

DIGITAL DJs

If the internet is to be believed, then this cassette comp features the same producer/DJ/musical genius JEALOUS J. that went on to record, write and tour with BEYONCE, CYPRUS HILL, L'IL WAYNE and MARKY MARK (among many many others), and if in fact this is that case, then I fully expect a cease and desist email headed my way in the very near future. Bearing this in mind, I suggest that you download this tape immediately and rip yourself from the self imposed confines of punk and other rock based musics...because sometimes it's just time to party. Party and dance. This tape came from the $0.25 bin at Dimple Records in Sacramento (worthless used selection, but a goldmine for the long forgotten remnants from years old attempts at commercial cassette success), and even though it was purchased as a joke, Digitial DJs has been a staple at Escape HQ for the last few weeks. Total "glow-stick-in-the-dark-hands-in-the-air-filthy-flared-courderoy-pants-took-too-many-hallucenogens-but-can-there-really-ever-be-too-many-because-can-you FEEL THESE BEATS?!?!" music, but strangely appealing. I heartily recommend this nonsense released by Heat Wave Records back in nineteen eighty or ninety something - the studio stylings of E. Butter Joseph, DJ Jealous J., Hugo "The Man" Diaz and Devious D'Angelo might just help pump you through the last part of your week....that's why mix tapes were born, folks - and this is a fukkn good one.

PSYCHO POWER LET ME BE

SHOPPERS

Spencer told me that SHOPPERS are really blowing up in the world of blog followers, so perhaps I'm a little late to the party today. Those of you (like me) who were not invited to this popularity party, please dive into swirls of deeply personal white noise masking pretty, hook laden, aggressively determined shoegazing sounds. Female vocals creep through the mush of distortion and quietly howling guitars, like a WEDDING PRESENT cassette that got run over by a truck. I think they are from New York, I know that these songs narrow the divide between filthy and beautiful, and I heard their LP is out now.

GOODBYE TO ALL OF THAT

LES PIERRES

The same tape that gave me (and you) the glorious BLACK DEATH demo a couple of weeks back offers up this live set from the little known LES PIERRES. A raucous set from 1981 featuring teenage vocals and blown out recording - this is the shit that keeps you stopping by, right? Random recordings of first rate punk from second rate and under appreciated bands? Yeah, we got that. There are really good UK punk jams in this post - though admittedly some of them are buried under poor live sound. Amazing to think that this shit is 30 years old...when LES PIERRES started playing shows, even rock 'n roll wasn't yet 30 years old. But never mind the quality of this post - just think about the fact that when punk started, rock music was not as old as Punk is today - and yet people still flock to, attempt to recreate (and listen to) Punk music while constantly trying to reinvent rock music in the form of something interesting...something like Punk. Therefore, I contend that Punk is better than rock n roll, even though I know that they are basically different manifestations of the same music (and yeah, I know I capitalized "punk"). But really, my (belated) point is: where the fuck else are you going to download three decades old live tapes from random bands and read the pretentious ramblings presented under the guise of information and/or context? Exactly...nowhere. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow -  and the "Follow" button assuages my ego, while comments make me feel like all this drunken typing serves a purpose. Just so you know.

LES PIERRES

SOSPECHOSOS

Absolutely fukkn killer reverbed hardcore from south Chicago. Every song is fast and catchy as hell, taking cues from '80s Spanish hardcore and a certain DIY band that played a lot in their home town in the '90s. SIN ORDEN personnel involved here, so it should come as no surprise that SOSPECHOSOS are great, but I was still taken aback when I pressed play and that frustrated guitar shot into my earholes. Sadly, you'll only be able to click, and will miss out on the satisfying mechanical clunk and whir as the rollers start spinning, magically bringing the punk to you from a strip of processed petroleum through a maze of wires and transistors and amplifiers and magnets. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

SOSPECHOSOS

FOSSIL FUEL

I cannot express how essential this 1994 cassette only release is. FOSSIL FUEL were a studio only (or bedroom exclusively) SOCKEYE side project, and this 60 minute tape is nothing but pure Midwest drunken brilliance. Take teen angst, adolescent innocence and a brain treated by electro shock therapy and inject the perspective that can only come from adults who should know better - but don't. Total genius in the form of songs like "Weather Will Fuck You Up," "Alternative Kids Get Dead," "Michigan Is Shaped Retarded," and "Steal Your Face What" compliment works of lyrical genius that have rarely been equalled and never topped: "The 12 Step Program you're a dick // The 12 Step Program you're fucked unless you follow it now // The 18th step is to erase your nuts // Go and get killed you satanic motherfucker // You're gonna have an upinverted (sic) pentagram on your fukkn nuthole. " Yeah, I told you the shit rules - now download this immediately and get ready to go to school.

KICKBOY FACE

For those of you who missed this crew on their first visit to Terminal Escape. please revisit the ASS Clean As A Butt demo. More of the same irreverent nonsense...the fact that this can somehow qualify as music is one of the many reasons that I still love (and will always love) punk.

ICONOCLAST

To those familiar with the three best known bands named ICONOCLAST, it should be obvious that this is the Japanese one. In 1993, when most of the US and Europe were trying to figure out what the rules for the next wave of punk were going to be, Japan had already spent half a decade honing in on the precise sounds that would distinguish that island's versions of crust and hardcore for the next two decades...this is the crust version. A rampaging assault with generous Swedish lead leanings and anguished vocals cries - every bit as essential as their EP on Blurred the following year. One side studio, the flip live from Huck Finn in Nagoya (though the quality is nearly as good as the studio side), and released in a run of just 200 copies with two stickers that have somehow managed survive the last 18 years. Guitars compressed to digitally crunched oblivion, fists flying through the air...perfection.

DEMO // LIVE