STRAIGHT ARROWS

Basement garage punk sounds ripped out of the jangly psych-rock '60s and thrown headfirst into a modern world of nostalgia. STRAIGHT ARROWS fall somewhere between Nuggets and the notably sizable crop of echo friendly head bopping bastards from their island state, and It's Happening makes me feel like I'm cruising around in my old roommate Todd's '70 grey LTD at dawn...reflecting on the good times that made up the night that is coming to its end. Pleasant Screams recently gave the 2010 release the cassette treatment, simultaneously serious and seriously fun no matter how hip you are(n't).

IT'S HAPPENING

NAW DUDE // OVARY ACTION

Raw, affected hardcore from NAW DUDE - uncomfortable and ugly sounds drenched in reverb, fast and unforgiving. And disjointed female fronted punk from OVARY ACTION on the flip - manic, snotty and insistent, sounds like it could be from 1993 (and I mean that in a really good way). You need these songs, that's all.

SPLIT TAPE

PARVEROTTI

Anarcho punk, hardcore, crust and chaotic art punk are all represented on this 1994 compilation from Israel. The quality level is exceptional, especially considering the decade of release and the relatively remote  country of origin (at least in terms of geographical proximity to other countries producing punk music - touring Euro and North American bands didn't pass through Jerusalem all that often). Highlights include a ripper from NEKHEI NA'ATZA (probably the most well known band outside of the region, with a few releases on Western labels and a drummer who relocated to the states and played in Okaland's LANA DAGALES), A-SIGN BRIGADE (ridiculously low fidelity and utterly inept anacho punk), LIQUID SKY (raw and catchy punk not that far removed from '80s Spanish sounds), SARTAN HA'SHAD (almost goth sounding effect drenched weirdness, but nowhere near professional sounding enough to not be punk), BETRAYER (maybe they wanted to be a death metal band..but instead they play raw guttural punk), ETHOS (a legit mid tempo mosher, regardless of era, country of origin or intent), and of course the subtle mindfuck that is the DEAD REIGNS track that ends the release. 20 bands are represented, and virtually every one of them is worth your time.

PARVEROTTI: AN ISRA-HELLI PUNK/HARDCORE COMPILATION

SARJAN HASSAN // DAIGHILA

Terminal Escape veterans SARJAN HASSAN bring modern crossover thrashing back to your earholes with 12 blasts of face melting 'core. At times they owe more to EXODUS than to the '00s fastcore that was clearly their initial inspiration, but then tracks like "Play Fast Or Die" come blasting out of your speakers. Proving that this split is rooted more in ideology than musical similarities, DAIGHILA fill the flip side of this tape with metallic emotional hardcore devoid of even the most subtle shred of thrashing madness. Think more along the lines of MAJORITY RULE or ENVY but with more blatant nods to metal and a disjointed/distorted approach that blends mid '00s US emotional hardcore and early '00s German metalcore - think Per Koro records here, with more black metal leanings. I salivate at the thought of living in a place where there two bands that sound this different would not only play a random show together, but find that they have enough in common to collaborate on a split release...apparently I need to spend more time in Malaysia (but I already knew that).

REDEFINING D.I.Y.

NERV

Iowa ain't a hotbed for hardcore killers. I came from Oklahoma, not exactly punk's ground zero, but Iowa? Shit is rough. Perhaps NERV are trying to go back in time and rewrite their state's hardcore legacy, and if that's the case then this demo is a great start. Screaming hardcore ripped right out of the backwards attitudes that dominated '80s Midwestern culture. This is teenage anger dished out in sub-minute bursts - addictive riffs bashed out at a frenetic pace and frustrated vocals barely keeping it together. The guitar leads alone make this worth the price of admission, nine songs in as many minutes. Maybe my opinions about hardcore in The Hawkeye State are worth reconsidering.

DIE

POSITIVE OUTLOOK

After the evening I just had, perhaps I could use a little bit more of this. A few more breakdowns, a few more sing alongs and a few fewer beers. YOT vocal yeowls, heavy breakdowns with an almost comical lack of weight but still Osaka's POSITIVE OUTLOOK draw me in. Maybe this is just what you need too? 

OSAKA JUSTICE HARDCORE

ABSURDIST

From the same arid concrete abyss that brought us ROTOZAZA comes ABSURDIST. Heavier on the Scandinavian and death metal influences and simply heavier on the heavy, this is a churning blast of filthy guttural stench forced through tortured guitars. HELLSHOCK and ACEPHALIX crashing headfirst into DISCLOSE.

ABSURDIST