7 MAGNIFICOS

There's this dude from Argentina named Tommy Del Mar, he is an artist and all 'round super sweet dude. Tommy came to San Francisco a few times in the 90s, and immediately acquired a pretty enthusiastic fan base amongst our friends here. In 2002 on a tour of Brasil, imagine our excitement when we pulled up to a show and there was Tommy, waiting for us outside. Even better, he was living in Brasil, and his band was on tour, and they were hoping to jump onto the show that we were playing that night! Fast forward the story through weird club owners, uptight show promoter and add a smattering of scene politics being discussed in rapid fire Portuguese, and Tommy's band didn't share the stage with us that night. In fact, I don't even remember if they stayed for the show at all, his bandmates understandably soured by their treatment.

Why do you care (if you care at all of course)? Tommy's band is 7 MAGNIFICOS, and the demo that he handed me when we parted ways 7 years ago (the last time I saw him) is the one that I am posting today. 7 MAGS are an anomaly in hardcore; they are genuinely original, and rarely, if ever, on this demo can I claim that they sound like anyone else at all. The songs are blended together brilliantly, and it really does feel like you've listened to one concise statement instead of 17 songs. How perfect are the stampeding elephants after the 4 second burst of "Ren Ha Ga"? These tracks appeared on a CD as well, with a "better" recording, but I almost never pull it out, this tape provides me with far too much joy to sour the experience with one of those round shiny things. I know this isn't from the UK, and even worse, it was recorded in the last 10 years, but 7 MAGS are fucking brilliant, and I hope you enjoy:

Per I Qualche Dollaro Piu (Por Un Punhado De Dolares Mas)

Also included in the download is their first recording session from 2000. There are 11 more tunes, and while they might not flow together quite as well as the "Per I Qualche..." demo, it's still a killer document of a brilliant band.

SELF ABUSE

A lot of the cassettes that I have are home tape jobs with no covers or band information, just song titles and perhaps an address if I'm lucky. I suppose the fellow who made the tapes didn't feel the need to meticulously record all of the information about each and every band he was compiling to make my life easier 20 years in the future (I've asked him about several bands, and and even when the tracks are written out in his very distinctive handwriting, he typically has no additional wisdom to bestow upon me...leaving me googling my evenings away, trying to get to the bottom of exactly who PRE MENSTRUAL TENSION were, and what they were all about.) This SELF ABUSE tape has nothing but an address that places the band in Bournemouth, southern England. After consulting my magic ball, it seems that these tracks are the band's first (and only) EP, I Didn't Want To Be A Soldier, tracks from the second demo, Teenage, and then a live version of "Pills," which appears in studio form on both of the band's demo tapes. It's kinda like your own personal "Best Of SELF ABUSE" courtesy of some dude in England circa 1983! The tracks are pretty straight forward UK82 punk, but super well delivered and the fact that these fellows appear so very young certainly ups my enjoyment factor a few notches (which might be a tad ageist of me, but I just love it when kids rock). UK bands wrote a fucking load of songs about sniffing glue ("State Of Mind" on this tape). Where I grew up, we huffed paint and gasoline, occasionally Liquid Paper, but never glue. Just an observation.

Soldier EP (plus demo tracks)

UPDATE:::It seems that SELF ABUSE are back at it! Check them out here if yer interested. cheers.

KRUNCHIES

Killer Chicago punk. Amanda's vocals either absolutely make the band, or make them unlistenable, but for me they are just punk as shit. I'm late for work, tuck in.

No Dice

SIZZORZ

So, I pretty much use Chris and KFTH as my gauge for how much time I should or should not spend researching a new, unknown (to me) band. If he doesn't know shit about them, then chances are really good that my unconnected ass isn't going to do much better. Perhaps this is a good idea, but then again, perhaps I am just lazy. 

SIZZORZ are textbook anarcho punk, hailing from Wales circa 1982-3, these tracks are moody, kinda dark, slightly off kilter, and totally punk, even if their logo looks like it was ripped off from a late 80s surf company.

As a very important and rather personal side note, today I discovered that my favorite taqueria has gone out of business. For those of you who have never spent time in San Francisco, I realize that this might not seem like a very big deal, but for the people who HAVE spent time here (or live here), you certainly understand that this is a terrible situation. Surely, Casa Mexicana can serve me a satisfactory burrito, and of course Papa Lote dishes up a fine side container of table salsa, but they are not MY taqueria, and therefore I will feel a little lost until I can settle into a new place. A place that can wrap black refried beans and Spanish rice inside a wheat tortilla with just the right amount of tofu (with ranchero sauce)...a place with the salsa bar that has avocado salsa...a place where the guy is always rude and the ladies are always kinda distant and disinterested...a place where you have to walk right through the kitchen (past the guy making tomorrow's black refried beans), just to go to the bathroom. A place where the perfect food comes in a fucking tube.

Azteca, RIP

SHRAPNEL

There's a good chunk of information readily available on SHRAPNEL, and several other recordings have been posted (probably these as well), but these tracks are just too fucking great for me to chalk it up to "everyone has probably heard this," and move on to something else (although tomorrow's post is gonna be a true killer.) These tracks made up SHRAPNEL's 4th demo, recorded in 1986 for (I think) a split with SYMBOL OF FREEDOM, who were also from Wales and shared a member with SHRAPNEL later on. I especially enjoy the drums on "Root Of All Evil," they seem like they are trying so hard, and only succeeding about 75% of the time. The audio dips out for a second during "They Are All Wrong," hopefully because someone drunkenly pressed record on a boom box in Wales in 1987 (a fella can dream, can't he?). Charging UK anarcho punk that will have your fist waving furiously, tuck in.

THREE PIECES OF SHRAPNEL

NUCLEAR FAMILY

So, as promised, I went to see DEEP SLEEP from Baltimore last night. So Fucking Good! Every ingredient was there for the perfect hardcore experience: a guitar that has spent years honing it's tone on early HUSKER DU and perhaps a few ARTICLES OF FAITH singles, a singer that is snotty, energetic and charismatic, a bass player who simply fucking FLIES over the instrument, I mean good like like early C.O.C. kinda good, and of course a drummer that is solid meat and taters backbeat. They totally killed, but they did not have any tapes. Go buy their records.

The point is...watching DEEP SLEEP reminded me why I love punk, and as much as I love listening to and discovering and sharing unearthed gems from 20 years ago (almost 30 sometimes), I would trade all that in a second for new punk and hardcore that I can feel and breathe and truly experience. Enter: NUCLEAR FAMILY. One of Albany, New York's finest exports of late, these folks have graced us with a few (three?) tapes as well as one stellar EP. This cassette was the result of not having anything to sell on their recent tour, and the tracks were hastily recorded before they set off, which might help explain the 25% cover ratio (seriously, the DILS cover rules, and Jen's vocals on the WIPERS and BUZZCOCKS tunes just makes so damn much sense!). Check them out, buy their record, go see them, and long live punk.

NUCLEAR FAMILY

IN OR OUT?

I'm about to head out to see a band from this century, so forgive me if I don't get bogged down with lengthy musings about a band about whom I know nothing anyway. IN OR OUT says it all with the lyrics; before I even heard a note, I read: "In this world all governments are exactly the fucking same, so if you want your peace and freedom, refuse to play their game." If it were only that easy. I'm off to see DEEP SLEEP, and if they have a tape, then you'll be hearing that tomorrow, if they don't then I'll be blasting their records all by myself. Enjoy.

LIE...F