HARSH NAYYAR

A hypnotic project probably made in someone's closet under the influence of a lot of things, Argo Nunya combines industrial noise, limitless tracks of guitar leads and sounds, repetitive sampled beats and manipulated vocal chants to create something that falls in a crevasse while trying to leap from stoned-teeneager-with-a-sampler-and-a-laptop status to a peak of aural greatness. The weirder HARSH NAYYAR is, the better HARSH NAYYAR is, as some of the more indulgent multi-track experiments fall short while subdued dubs like the third untitled missive issued here are stellar exercises in patience and the mid tempo monotony of the track that follows creates dance floor hysteria in my brain. This is a formula that must have been followed thousands of times: Dark Nights + Substances + Unchecked Ideas = (Something). And in this case: (Something) = Good.

ARGO NUNYA

KRIGSSYSTEMMET

Here's a taste of the shit you monkeys used to lap up every Monday - I know I've dropped the ball a bit on Noise Punk Mondays, but the shit still rules and Mondays still happen almost every week...so here's KRIGSSYSTEMET. Malaysian noise mongers from bands you already celebrate (if you're worth a shit, that is...just saying) dish out six tracks on their first demo, though it only takes the seven chords of the intro to let you know full well what you are in for. Questionable tuning, derivative DBeat riffage and a chaotic production culminate on absolute killers like "Am I Your Punk?" and "Fool Life," while "Faceless Scum" is just an unabashed creamer that defies genre classification. You know what you're getting, you monkeys, and KRIGSSYSTEMET is exactly why you are here.

WHO'S NEXT TO BE THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT?

AK-47

Crazy catchy punk from British Columbia. These kids did their homework, drawing from hook filled and hard hitting Midwestern hardcore as much as from contemporaries (and countrymen) PROPAGANDHI. That rasp in the vocals is simply perfect, and the guitar attack here is too blown out to be poppy and just drunk enough to keep the recording on edge while the drums are captured perfectly (that's where the hardcore comes from), propelling AK-47 through 21 politically charged burners (and a few ska parts, but it was 1997). As useful as a time machine as it is a great collection of tracks...until I find myself realizing that this is a great collection of tracks no matter what decade it's from.

NOW YOU'LL KNOW

LIMBS BIN

This is one that probably should have been shared on Escape Is Terminal, but I felt like it was too good to be relegated to the dark alley that a few dozen people visit when they are bored (it's humanity's loss and their gain, of course). I have made no secret of my affinity for noise presented as hardcore, and New York's LIMBS BIN are a perfect example...there is no music, but these blasts of electronics are constructed like short bursts from a primitive grind band, and I imagine the live delivery being similarly intense. These recordings are from a 2012 trip to Israel - one show at an anarchist collective, one in the basement of a bagel shop, and a super heavy field recording from Bil'in, Palestine (heavy, perhaps, because it all sounds so normal). The motivation and presentation of these recordings is both pure and apparent, something that might not come across from simply listening to disjointed sonic eruptions, even the simplest act can be political....and even the smallest gesture can be important. More tracks from the same tour can be found here, along with recordings of Israeli bands that played with LIMBS BIN on their tour....do this, my friends. Do it now.

LIVE IN ISRAEL

DYSTOPIA

I don't feel like I really need to explain or discuss this band, as I am pretty sure that anyone who visits TE is already familiar with DYSTOPIA - and if you're not then you need to fix that immediately. This 1992 demo is from the four-piece lineup when the band was still based in Southern California...devastating and depressive sounds that bridge a gap between primitive death metal, political crust and pure heaviness. Perhaps the demo is no Human = Garbage, but holy shit was this an intense band.

DYSTOPIA

CATASTROPHE

From the first fukkn note, you feel that this one is gonna get you right in the gut....and it does. Ugly and furious hardcore that owes much to early California hardcore but somehow takes a bunch of sub genres that don't really do anything for me and combine them to create something that does something for me. I mean...the FLAG influence is blatant and the 'Nardcore is undeniable, but CATASTROPHE doesn't really sound like either. The vocals are lazy, late and confident - like they are meant to be exactly where they are...no matter what you think they should have been doing. That might be the "gotcha" this band keeps under their sleeve - hidden underneath the guitar hooks (and if you wanna talk hooks, let's discuss "Other Side," because it's next level). Smart, mean, hardcore...I hope there's more where this shit came from.

CATASTROPHE

ROMPER ROOM REJECTS

In a weird collision of worlds, I was searching for background on this demo beyond what my old SF buddy could share with me, and I found a post on the still (always) venerable True Punk and Metal blog about the very same demo. That's not really that weird, I suppose, since Nate knows his shit...but turns out ROMPER ROOM REJECTS was Nate's band when he lived in San Francisco nearly 30 years ago, so BOOM! on that one. You can read his description here, or you can believe me when I tell you that this banger is classic late '80s shred. Irreverent, feisty, punk as shit, and unabashedly political while never seeming stodgy or unfun...just like you want a demo to be. 

ROMPER ROOM REJECTS

Worth noting that Nate's demo post has ten songs, but this tape has twelve (and in a slightly different order). Not sure what's up with that...it's one of the many mysteries of the internet. OK, the twelfth song is the theme from The Jetsons, so it's not really a mystery.