WON'T BELONG

WON'T BELONG sounds like early '00s fastcore/hardcore reborn for new millennium punks and thrashers. Heavier on the breakdowns, and some killer awkward start/stop riffing, but the breakneck whirlwind of tracks like "Expectations" is like a time warp. Vocals are at their breaking point from the word go (sadly, there are not actually any GO!s that I can make out), and the recording is treble heavy and completely in your face. That WON'T BELONG is excellent should come as no surprise when you look at the members-of list involved (FOREIGN OBJECTS, ORCHID, VACCINE, RELICS, DEATH EVOCATION, and loads more), but a simple list of cool kids would take away from the power dished out by these five tracks. Soundtrack to your day: "Refusal."

WON'T BELONG

BABELDÖM

BABELDÖM have an unpolished edge that is so damn infectious, it's pure raging hardcore played at the very brink from start to finish. The blasts in "Fight Against" take the intensity even higher...and the feedback squall into blast into breakdown into noise solo back into thunderous Japanese hardcore that makes up "Hazy Earth" is just...I don't know how to describe what that song does to me. The very definition of relentless, BABELDÖM play furiously and add the manic energy of off the rails '80s Boston to their brand of punishment. Unhinged and brilliant.

WHAT IS THE HUMAN BEING

DEVASTATION

One of the gems I got from Daniel last summer, this DEVASTATION demo has gotten countless plays at TEHQ. Seminal '80s thrash/death metal from Chicago, these hessians released various versions of a relatively small handful of burners on two demos and self released full length (cassette) during their short existence. Unclear exactly which session this tape is from, since Daniel got it from the band at some point, but you get screaming renditions of "Cranial Hemorrhage" and "Beyond Fear" along with five tracks I couldn't positively identify...but I can declare that the (brief) mosh riff in the third (instrumental) track is unfuckwithable. Fretboard gymnastics are next level on all tracks, but DEVASTATION never sacrifice speed or intensity in the process, these dudes are hard as nails and unrelenting throughout. Collections of the demos have been released on CD and there's a vinyl box that includes a couple of live sets for the completists. But start here...

DEVASTATION

Definitely recommend listening through to the 0:46 live banter, your patience will be rewarded.

BOOTS

The opening note of this demo made me think (hope) that this was a cover of "Tonight (Back From The Death)" from THE DECAY, a factoid that will perhaps only appeal to two people who will never read this (hi Golnar, hi Layla)...but I'm digressing here before I even get rolling. Hopefully adorable power pop meets Girls In The Garage from Chicago, kinda like a more rudimentary DANGER LOVES but with a little more attitude. There's an emphasis on cuteness that is, well, cute - there's the last track "Tell Me I'm Cute" and the "you're so-o-ooh-o cute/baby you're a dream come true" in "Decked" (which also features the genius line "your friends are fucking useless"), and the forlorn "Teen Dream," which is so perfectly adorable that you almost wonder if the whole band is a ruse just to suck me in. It worked. 

BOOTS

MUKEKA DI RATO

Hard to believe these monkeys have been active for two decades? First met them in 2002 when Mozine picked up WHN? at the airport with wine stains on the front of his shirt. He blasted GG Allin at his apartment in Vila Velha while his mother made us breakfast, he blasted GUITAR WOLF every day while we drove, and they were a party to watch every single night on tour (I mean on stage and in the van). When we next crossed paths at a festival in Recife last year, and the party had not slowed down one bit (and clearly the 10,000+ in attendance liked the party as well). This is the first MUKEKA DI RATO demo from 1995, high energy catchy hardcore with a couple of ska parts (don't judge, it was the '90s). 

SOBREVIVÊNCIA

Three extra tracks tacked on to the demo. They aren't identified on the tape, and I'm pretty sure they are not by MUKEKA (this is a common theme with the last batch of demos I picked up from Brasil, but who doesn't like a nice mystery, right?). For now, they are included with the demo, but some nice civilian is going to solve the mystery for all of us and we will edit the files in our computers, which is pretty much the same as refiling records. You can (and should) find MUKEKA DI RATO bassist, Crackinho co-parent and Läjä Records empresario here. Also, I just realized Crackinho has his own Twitter account, and I really wish I spoke Portuguese. 

HAND TO MOUTH

Just two songs here, and rarely has a demo sounded so undeniably '90s. From college town, Illinois, HAND TO MOUTH are the perfect combination of melody and grit, with a pile gravel in the voice and the mid tempo drums commanding a bounce and sway as you listen. "Soy Sauce Love" is about seeing a pretty girl in the grocery store (she's probably buying supplies for a delicious tofu scramble). "Omnivore" is about having a political activism discussion with your friend and then realizing that your friend eats meat. Not sure I would have liked this in 199whatever, but it suits me just fine this morning...and at least one of these tracks is a certifiable classic. 

HAND TO MOUTH

SLAYMAKER WELDING

I was immediately drawn to the tuneless and abrasive churn, reminding me of instantly of primitive organic noise mongers. I can't really imagine that early industrialists cared if a single second of their sounds were deemed "digestible," and I see Detroit's SLAYMAKER WELDING in the same light Rhythmic, distorted, atonal, mournful in its repetition, twenty minutes of monotony that will make you feel trapped and, if played at the appropriate volume, paralyzed. 

OV MELT RUIN

Treat yourself here, you're worth it.