Г.ТУМЭНДЭМБЭРЭЛ

I know that there are a select few Friends Of The Escape that were really hoping that I was going to return from my recent tour with an armful of seminal cassettes from Soviet Bloc-era Mongolian metal bands, some weird South Korean psych, and at least one random bizarro Chinese one-off synth project from the '70s. Well, my friends...when I lose, you lose. I was secretly hoping for a tape (truth be told, I would have even accepted a CDr, but don't tell the purists) of early АЯСЫН САЛХИ recordings (because I know they exist!), but I didn't even get that...I did snag a CD of their 2008 full length, which is rad, but I digress. However, I found the tape stall next to the bootleg mobile phone stall in the black market in Дархан (Darkhan), just down the hall from the open air stinks of death anything goes sanitation optional meat market, and I scored a few Mongolian folk music tapes. So here you go, monkeys.

Ж НАНСАЛМАА

RACCOON

A couple of years ago my pal Layla gave me this tape because she thought I would like it. Earlier today, Layla and I today contemplated (at length) the redeeming qualities of no-fi grind purveyors COLOSTOMY BAGUETTE? and for years we have extrapolated on greats like THE DECAY and AFTERBIRTH - we see the appeal of legitimately bad music that is without merit. Now go revisit that first sentence: my pal Layla gave me this tape because she thought I would like it. RACCOON are bad in every imaginable way...I mean, maybe "Sit On My Face" is kindof a decent punk song, but this shit is basically terrible and shitty. And yeah, it rules. You wonder why it's happening at all, much less in your earholes. You're welcome.

RACCOON

BORED STRAIGHT

BORED STRAIGHT started just before I left Milwaukee, and I only got to see them a couple of times in their infancy - they were good, but it's obvious listening to these final four bangers that I left town before they really hit their stride. Sure, they play hardcore influenced by the '00s bands they grew up on (and the '80s bands that those bands grew up on), but these kids absolutely bring something new to the table without trying to reinvent anything. It's a part of living just enough off the map to be allowed to go about things as you like - punks in Milwaukee aren't going to nitpick your sound. If you want to take start/stop fastcore with manic riffing and inject the misanthropic weirdness of JESUS LIZARD then the kids in the basement are still gonna get wasted and throw beer everywhere while you play...and the dozen or so people who are actually studying are going to quietly nod their approval. The only thing wrong with this tape is that there are only four songs, roughly six minutes that send the band off on the highest note possible. The aptly titled Final Session comes with a review written by a friend of the band, a review that pretty much nails the sound and serves as an epilogue at the same time: BORED STRAIGHT is an underdog, which is a concept that I think a lot of people understand, but never really gets talked about...they get to play with bands that are hyped or popular and are probably never the band that anyone goes to the show to see. Maybe if they had been from somewhere cool, more people would have paid attention. Then again, maybe if they had been from somewhere cool, they wouldn't have been this good.

FINAL SESSION

HUMAN ERROR // PSYKOANALYYSI

I can't think of a current band who dishes out this brand of DBeat brutality as well as Budapest rippers HUMAN ERROR. Every song is a whirlwind, and everything is delivered with relentless precision...after a few tracks I can't really do anything but sit with my mouth half open and numbly nod along - more that 15 years in the game and these kids have only gotten more intense.  PSYKOANALYYSI, Finland's offering to the split are more metal in both presentation and production, with high pitched vocals instead of the guttural roar typically associated with meaty euro DBeat. Their fast parts are faster, there's more blasting, and they are completely comfortable slowing down to a GENOCIDE SS pace and crushing you with patience (eg: "Kaupan Jonossa"). But the highlight of their side is the final 45 seconds, the breakdown that closes "En Anna Anteeksi" is worth the price of admission on its own, and makes the rest just seem like a juicy bonus. Both bands are absolute crushers, and have been flying under the North American hardcore radar for way too long.

HUMAN ERROR // PSYKOANALYYSI

HELLCHILD

Got these tracks on a tape from Devon a while back, and it reminded me how other worldly this band was. Nowhere near straight forward enough to be death metal, way too metal to appeal to Japanese hardcore purists, and too innovative for anything approaching mainstream attention. Watching them live was like watching an earth mover destroy a playground, casually sucking all of the sugar coating out of life and leaving you with reality, and recorded is no different. On my list of top shows ever: HELLCHILD, DS-13, ARTIMUS PYLE and DDX13 in Joe's Garage outside of Reno in 2000. Not a bad gig at all, and watching Scottzy smoke meth in the loft while convincing a teenage mall punk girl that he was a bad influence and that it would be a bad idea for her to get in the van that was parked across the street...in front of a playground and in broad daylight? That was pretty funny. Only two songs here, and no recording information - just an endorsement and an anecdote.

HELLCHILD 

LAST SENTENCE

I try not to get disappointed about things that I miss when I'm on tour because...well, because I'm on tour and I'm doing a cool thing so I shouldn't be bummed about missing out on a different cool thing, right? But last month, playing just a 15 minute walk from the VOCO PROTESTA, LAST SENTENCE, KAFKA show in Osaka was pretty harsh - well, at least until you realize that I spent the night playing with TONE DEAF, FLIPOUTA.A, FEROCIOUS X, COMPLETED EXPOSITION, and DIRTY IS GOD. So there's no disappointment here...but LAST SENTENCE is really fukkn good.

LAST SENTENCE

FUZZY // ASUNTO PENDIENTE

No secret that I have a soft spot for the stuff that we all called "melodic hardcore" in 1994, I bought the "Liza & Louise" single just like many of you did, and, even though I purged mine years ago, I'll still tap my toes when I hear it. But what I really like is that kind of music played by DIY punks, because it somehow sounds different and somehow sounds better. That's how ASUNTO PENDIENTE strike me; high energy catchy punk with excessive backing vocals (and whoa-whoas) and that middle ground between pop punk, hardcore, and quality college rock. Countrymen FUZZY skip the high energy hardcore and just go straight for JAWBREAKER styled crooning melodic punk (except on "Pasión," a burner with a driving pogo beat that makes me wonder what else these kids had up their sleeves), and pull it off perfectly without ever sounding like a soulless clone of anything at all. Both bands are from Uruguay and left a limited discography, so enjoy what you get your ears on.

FUZZY // ASUNTO PENDIENTE