GONE TOURIN'

CONQUEST FOR DEATH is going back to Brasil and I couldn't be more psyched - shows with our pals CÄTÄRRO and D.E.R. and finally we get to see fukkn BANDANOS. With any luck, TEST will play on a sidewalk somewhere and melt our minds again (seriously, that link is the video for the show they played in 2011 outside our first São Paulo show - you need to watch that shit). Also, we will get to see OHLO SECO, ARMAGEDOM and MOB 47 and I am going to eat acarajé on the street in Fortaleza and Prime Dog at 3 o'clock in the morning. Also, we will play some shows.

But instead of leaving you completely in a lurch, I leave you with some places on the world wide net to visit and enjoy:

HARDCORE: THE MUSICAL

Perhaps you should just trust me on this one? The man behind this project is a legitimate genius, and anyone who lived through (or has heard stories about, or likes bands from) the '90s DIY scene needs to get amongst this now.

BROKEN DOWN. BUILT BACK UP.

This dude played drums for RUDIMENTS, OFF DA PIGS, FUCKFACE and ARTIMUS PYLE among others. The most insane drummer I've ever played with, and an extremely great fellow. I don't normally share "uplifting" or inspirational things on this blog, but holy shit man - this is 3 1/2 minutes that will change your entire perspective.

WOODWORKING TRAVELER

Kind of a weird one, but this is a link to my mother's blog. 67 years old, and she and her husband (who is 70) are on a three month trip hiking and climbing through Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and other places that I have never visited but hope to some day. I always thought that I would be able to talk about my travels to my folks and watch their eyes grow wide at my tales of playing to African metalheads in Botswana and othe adventures....but a few years ago they spent weeks hiking village to village in Kurdish eastern Turkey along the Iraqi border and I knew that I would eventually need to up my game. It's good to have something to aspire to, even if it's something as not-hardcore as your mother - also, she updates that shit daily.

I know I have a ton of requests for re-uploads, I'll get on top of that when I get home. Honest. See ya'll in a couple of weeks...

VERMIN

Thundering raw DBeat coming at your from the furthest recesses of cavernous life. No frills in the songs themselves, but the guitars rely on flange and manipulation instead of pure distortion and the vocals are hollow shouts - it's the inevitable result of noiz punk maniacs starting to devour (and recreate) '80s goth and post punk...of course, the result is simply that it's even more reminiscent of the past. They crushed it when we played with them in Gainesville.

VERMIN

DISPIRIT

The second offering from this Bay Area horde is now well over a year old, so perhaps this post is for those who exist outside of the inner circle of underground metal (like myself). DISPIRIT are even bleaker on this effort, deliberate aural missives that torturously trudge forward just to descend into a whirling pit of chaos. Three tracks totally nearly 50 minutes...when this band spends the time in the studio to make a record, the result is going to be legendary.

111112

TIME IN MALTA

There was a period in that late '90s/early '00s when genre divisions in San Francisco were blurred, especially within the subsects of bands loosely considered "hardcore," and it was nice. On initial listen, TIME IN MALTA are polished, emotional and sound very clean (as in clean music made by clean people for other clean hardcore fans). Todd's vocals are always at their breaking point, but are still controlled, and the songs them selves are a picture of managed discordance with more than ample opportunity for boys to mosh. So yeah, sounds like a band that might have been fine, but one that probably existed in another realm. But, perhaps because they didn't exactly have a realm of their own and perhaps just because they were down ass dudes, TIME IN MALTA spent much of that era playing the Tip Top, Covered Wagon and Mission Records, they played with TRAGEDY on their first trip down the coast, and shared the stage with ARTIMUS PYLE often enough that we jokingly dubbed ourselves the SF Passion Metal Mafia (a split EP was discussed and 625 offered to release it, something I still wish had we had done, if only because that combination of forces would have been even weirder in retrospect than it seemed at the time). Their live shows were always incredible, the embodiment of a band who always left everything on the "stage" (or floor), and even if it wasn't your "thing" it was hard to deny their power. These two songs are from the Construct and Demolish 12" on Escape Artist, a record that holds up shockingly well to my ears. There were two full lengths that followed on Equal Vision, and they definitely found their realm in the world of club hardcore. While the later records aren't really to my liking, the band always crushed it live, and it baffles me that, even (or especially) in the context of that world, their releases are relegated to discount dins. 

SWALLOWING GLASS // MOMENT OF CLARITY

SOUTH AFRICAN MIX TAPE

Remember all the shit I said about mix tapes last week when I posted that French heavy metal collection that someone made for my buddy Devon? Well apply all of those accolades to today's collection of bands from South Africa. Chaotic live anarcho/thrash from OUTRAGE (who have previously visited The Escape) and a chunk of commercial metal/grind from GROINCHURN, probably that country's best known punk or metal export, but everything else on this mix was new to my ears. Melodic '90s punk from FUNGY GONE WEST and CRUSH, while DIMINISHED RETURN play charging metallic hardcore with UK punk vocals, and DEVIATE are heavy grinding metalcrust. INFECTIOUS OUTBREAK (total weirdo/anarcho art/grind), THE GLEE CLUB (FROGS meets TEENAGE FANCLUB), and FRIDGE MAGNET (average punk, but the chorus just repeats "Police Stupidity" so I'm kinda into it) make appearances, but the highlights for me are the bands that start and end the tape. Seven tunes from FUCT OFF kick off the A side, raw and forceful UK influenced politically charged punk - simple but absolutely killer songs (these tracks are really raw, sounds like a several generations old recording...would love a cleaner version if anyone's holding?). And the whole thing ends up with BATTERY 9, a commercially successful dance/industrial band from the mid '90s - these two tracks were my introduction, and inspired me to get lost down an internet rabbit hole searching out more music from this duo. Land Of Rape And Honey-era MINISTRY meets POP WILL EAT ITSELF as a lazy reference, great shit. This is why mix tapes rule...again.

SOUTH AFRICAN MIX TAPE

DREAD 101

Sometimes the next greatest thing ever doesn't matter and you just want churning, heavy, ugly hardcore/crust. And sometimes you feel like maybe it should have blast beats every four or five songs. If you are having one of those days, then I suggest you blast the shit out of the Czech outfit that was active in the early 2000s. This tape compiles a shitload of demos and splits, 27 tracks altogether.

DREAD 101

DROWNER // SELF COM

Deep psych synths from DROWNER, a bit of an '80s influence and generally more constructed than 2011's Burning Room. But that's just the first few tracks, eventually their side of the split descends into the same sparse electronic bliss that I was expecting and then erupts with "Nail The Coffin Shut," which sounds like a Wax Trax! dancefloor burner that's been kidnapped by DJ Screw. On the flip, SELF COM offshoot has made a couple of appearances in the past. Sweeping digital despair that flirts with SUICIDE minimalism but denies us all of the hooks. Bleak sounds, with the painfully deliberate "Meal Worm" bringing a resignation that sets the stage for the band's closer, and absolutely morose procession called "Telephone Vision." Friends Of The Escape should already be familiar with SELF COM, a product of MUTANT VIDEO and FEEDING brethren, the outfit becomes still colder with this offering.

DROWNER // SELF COM