GRINCH

 

I could write about GRINCH a lot. A few anecdotes from when I lived in the same flat with Ron, some second hand road tales from their last tour in the late '90s. but mostly I could write a lot about the music. GRINCH built this bridge that no one seemed to want to cross, though with hindsight I think maybe no one else was brave enough to cross it (the split with LOST GOAT was a perfect pairing of the two bands who really dared and really put it out there). Firmly rooted in Bay Area hardcore and punk (members did time in CHRIST ON PARADE, SCREW 32 and CRIMPSHRINE, among a host of others), they played a dark brood that was almost accessible, almost grunge, almost stoner rock, almost UNSANE, and always distant and...interesting. No one sounded like GRINCH, and no one has since. What if this is the line that connects JAWBREAKER to EL DOPA....see? I could write a lot about GRINCH. 

GRINCH

Edit: I uploaded an empty file. I apologize. Now I have uploaded a file that contains excellent rock music.

KATASTROPHE

 

Another pick up from the recent Music Not Noize purge, KATASTROPHE was new to me and I have been eating this tape up ever since I popped it in. Fierce, plodding Oi! / hardcore hybrid from Germany - five cuts that land somewhere between Punk And Disorderly, NORMAHL and EA80. "In Viefalt Vereint" is a perfect dark punk number, well worth the entire tape honestly, but every second of these eight minutes floored me. And made me want to smash things. 

TOD IN GEWAHRSAM

GRITOS DE ASKO

 

First heard GRITOS DE ASKO several years ago on the Distort Colombia comp, but nothing else until their 2013 recording was reissued last year. "Apunaldo" appears on that comp with one other track and it just left me hungry...and Extincion is what I have been hungry for. Galloping, menacing metallic Colombian crust assault fronted by a nasty guitar crunch and urged constantly onward by enviably throat searing vocals, I don't even know what else you could want from the (sub)genre. Just brutal, and they save the best track ("Un Poko De Mugre") for last. 

EXTINCION

EBOLA FUCK

Looks closely before you hit that link, because EBOLA FUCK kinda sounds like it looks. Late '90s suburban Oklahoma punk weaned on GRIMPLE, DIE KREUZEN, and FYP, throw in a little misbehavior and record the shit in a tin garbage can. Not really sure how much more motivation you need. 

I WILL FUCK YOU TILL YOU DIE

 

WOLVES OF HEAVEN / NYODENE D

Crushing dark electronics from NYODENE D - like the dust left from the joint disintegration of industrial noise and black metal....hell, like the dust left from disintegration in general. When there's no world left, this will be the soundtrack while the unfortunate languish in hopelessness, waiting to die. COLUMN OF HEAVEN offshoot WOLVES OF HEAVEN occupy the flip and offer no relief at all, instead they act like a warning beacon in sound. Desperate, anguished screams on top of a blinding, pulsating hiss - it's the moment of realization and your last breath, encapsulated in sound.

WOLVES OF HEAVEN // NYODENE D

GREETINGS FROM BULGARIA

 

Absolutely killer mid-90s comp from the folks at AON Productions, collecting tracks from 17 Bulgarian punk acts to document the scene from its inception. From '77 punk to dark proto goth to no bullshit fast hardcore, Greetings From Bulgaria truly listens like traveling through your way through a scene...and that's exactly what I want from a comp. On top of that, JUST A PRODUCT was the only band I was familiar with before blasting this tape...and that's also exactly what I want from a comp. Favorite discoveries: MEANSTREAM, AVE MARIA and CONFRONT, but there is not a single track on this tape that I don't endorse. 

GREETINGS FROM BULGARIA

TIGER BEAT

 

You ever want your acoustic indie twee sounds to be happy and melancholy? Vancouver's TIGER BEAT have got you covered....or at least they did in 1993. That was a long time ago, so i'm hoping that by now they've settled into bliss-filled and carefree middle age life. Maybe an acoustic guitar by the fireplace on a fall evening. Maybe a farmer's market on Sunday morning. Or....maybe quiet, determined rage manifested through power electronics. I got no idea. But I know that TIGER BEAT sounds like a would-be-but-never-was unplugged collaboration between WEAKERTHANS and SPITBOY and I know that "Go Home" just....it just lands perfectly. 

TIGER BEAT