DESTROY FASCISM

I just spent the evening hanging out with one Spaniard and one yank living in Madrid, so perhaps it would've been wise to ask them what the hell was on this tape. But I didn't. Instead, here's a 24 track comp of Spanish punk....most of the songs are excellent and all are at least good, and track #5 will either win you over to my team immediately or you will wonder why you bother reading the drivel that I write every day - either way I hope we are still friends. The tracks here lean in the HC/punk direction, with an understandable Spanish flare (if you pay attention, then you will know what I mean - if you don't pay attention, then you should start), and the comp was released to bring attention to several anti-fascist and left leaning political causes in Spain. I'm guessing this came out in the '90s (this is only a guess), but I know that the content is superb and I welcome any attempts to identify the artists.

DESTROY FASCISM // NEONAZIS, OPONTE!

And lest you assume that I didn't actually listen simply because I didn't know who was on the comp, my favorite tracks are (in no particular order): 10 (killer 7 SECONDS vibe), 24 (I know I said no particular order, but this song is amazing), 22 (goth punk on speed vibe meets RAMONES? yeah, it rules), 7 (63 seconds of rudimentary hardcore, you know that's my jam), 21 (seriously, what is up with that flute? I love it, but who told them that was ok?), 11 (the closest this comp gets to neanderthal thrash, and it's fukkn perfect), 12 (speed is king, and this one wears the crown), 16 (raw and nasty). See? I paid attention. Now it's your turn.

THE HORDE OF TORMENT

Absolutely killer thrash metal circa '89. These tracks were recorded around the same time the band moved to San Francisco to dive into the then thriving scene packed with bands like VIO-LENCE, DEATH ANGEL, FORBIDDEN and the like. THE HORDE OF TORMENT changed their name from PESTILENCE after one of several other PESTILENCEs got a record deal, and cranked out a few more demos almost as good as this one before they fizzled along with the Bay Area thrash scene. This demo was put to wax a few years later (on a 12"  backed with three more bangers that are almost as good as these and one certified scorcher called "Liquidation"), and one dude later joined MACHINE HEAD, for whatever that's worth.

PRODUCT OF A SICK MIND

Interview with two of the dudes here, conducted by a total thrashaholic who clearly has zero patience for aging metal dudes dismissing their speed metal past in favor of broadening their artistic horizons. His commentary at the end of the interview is superb. 

FWY!

In 2003 I was in two different bands that toured Europe back to back. After a little over nine weeks with the first band, I had a ten day gap before the next crew of victims (bandmates) arrived. I made plans to meet my wife in Stockholm and we would spend a week driving rather aimlessly around Sweden and Denmark - it was a wonderful way to decompress and remove myself from the world that I was about to dive back into. I arrived at Arlanda Airport in the afternoon, and Karoline was not scheduled to arrive until early the next morning so I had some time to kill. After two months surrounded by people, the thought of solitude was rather pleasing, and after I sorted our rental car and our room, I decided to get a jump on our "driving aimlessly" agenda and cruised into Stockholm in the mid evening with no destination (or maps, or GPS, or direction, or plan) and just drove. As the evening turned into night and the streets gradually emptied, I found myself virtually alone in a place that was totally comfortable, but that was so totally removed from my reality, and I just drove. Turning randomly, driving nowhere in particular....just driving and watching the night get darker and more empty. But I wasn't without direction, and when morning traffic started to appear I turned the car north, and trekked the 40 kilometers back to Arlanda airport and scooped up my wife, and the days we spent there were excellent, some of the best I've ever spent. But the point of all of this is that on that night before she arrived, I listened to one record over and over, and that record was the soundtrack to my night alone in and out (and back in and then out again and then all over the inner streets) of Stockholm - that record was BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE's Sunset Mission, and that record is forever etched into my brain in a way that few records can ever be (we're talking in a league with Zen Arcade, Red Headed Stranger and Big Lizard In My Backyard...it's that important). And really, the point of all of this is that the moment my ears heard San Clemete, I knew this could be the soundtrack to someone else's experience driving in Los Angeles. With tracks named for stretches of Southern California freeway, this cassette was absolutely made for nights like the one I had on the streets of Stockholm, and I fukkn hope that someone in this world has had (or will have) a similar experience late one night, hitting Corona Del Mar just enough before sunrise that it makes sense to make another loop up the coast before picking up the person that makes life worth living at the airport. I imagine the perfect end to that experience would be cruising the Orange Freeway while listening to "Orange FWY" at maximum volume with the windows down and still slightly chilled dawn air whipping your cheeks, but everyone's experience is different...

SAN CLEMENTE

Moon Glyph is responsible.

THE UPTIGHTS

There are good tapes. There are tapes that stick with you and maintain your attention long after they have been filed away in some box or upon a shelf. There are some tapes that sit in the "new arrivals" pile for ages, simply because every time you listen to them you hear something new. And then there are tapes like this one. Norway's THE UPTIGHTS have done masterful things to the potentially stale world of shoegazing sounds, and made stark cold winters At The Worthersee Hotel sound like a comforting and terrifying experience. The vocal wails on "Geraldine" might be just a touch over the top, but total honesty is well worth an occasional cringe (a theory that applies to things far beyond the world of cassettes). Garage punk gone the way of dark synths and noise scapes born out of disconcerting distortion...perhaps this cassette is a perfect accident, or perhaps THE UPTIGHTS are your favorite band. 

AT THE WORTHERSEE HOTEL

I suspect this band has long since been not a secret in circle far removed from my own, but nonetheless I encourage you to visit Keep Secret, responsible for this release.

KRÜEL

More KRÜEL? Why the fukk not? Like the title suggests, this banger was thrown together for their 2010 jaunt with UNLEARN, and features tracks from the Terror Tape and DIS demos, along with assorted live and comp tracks (including the killer No Tomorrow four band DBeat comp from a while back). The earlier tracks lean more on Spanish raw punk, but by the time this tape was released, KRÜEL had (d)evolved into pure, raw and nasty disnoise, a sound they have built on in the years since. Enjoy your week.

WEST COAST TOUR TAPE!!

DROP DEAD

Two decades later, and this still lays waste to most of the bands on the planet. This is DROP DEAD's first two demos from 1991, issued in Japan by D.I.Y. Records - the incredible live radio set on the flip side can be found at Escape Is Terminal. DROP DEAD are important.

DROP DEAD

HIVE MIND

I can be a little late to the party sometimes, and my first introduction to HIVE MIND was through the Steel Trap compilation I posted a couple of weeks back, but since that swarm of disconcerting drones I have been devouring all the sounds I can find. Over nearly a decade of production and dozens of releases, (HIVE MIND's sole member Grey) Holger's approach seems to be one of subtle variations on a relatively simple theme, and 2012's They Made Me The Keeper Of The Vineyards (also from Chondritic Sound, who gave us the aforementioned Steel Trap collection) delivers two off putting doses of bleak drone punctuated with pulsing bass and casually disturbing synths.  Simultaneously gorgeous and damaged.

They Made Me The Keeper Of The Vineyards