LIVID

This tape reeks of all of the same attitude that make their 2010 demo so brilliant. Smart and edgy punk that lazily invokes first wave sounds that were as rooted in alienation and creativity as they were in smashing paradigms and systems. The guitars are even more pronounced and important this time around, and the horns that dominate the start of the third track result in instant addiction that is only fueled by the burner that follows. Casually infectious vocals lope and lurch around the recording, a complimentary contrast to the insistent pace that LIVID pursues but in keeping with the attitude the project. The band is only marginally active (if at all) now, and this tape comes many months after the last time I saw them play...but it is a reminder of the energy they breathed into punks in this metropolitan area. It is an energy that was appreciated.

LIVID

If these are available, and I hope that they are, you can likely get them here.

NUCLEAR DEATH

After four demos (according to Encyclopedia Metallum), Phoenix's NUCLEAR DEATH dropped this bomb on the metal underground in 1990. Just under one half hour of insane blasts and manic riffing, this is aggressive death/thrash played by people who were obviously well capable of playing complete crap but instead selected nonstop speed and schizophrenic mania as their delivery method of choice. Much of this demo requires full attention - this is not an "in the background at the keg party" metal record, it is instead more of a "sitting in me bedroom wearing sweatpants trying to decide if I am going to kill myself or other people or just let myself go completely insane" metal record. The first 45 seconds of "Cremation" make up some of the most bizarre and frustrating sounds I've come across in many moons....NUCLEAR DEATH will challenge you both musically and mentally. You don't want me to talk about the lyrics. Trust me.

BRIDE OF INSECT

WE MAY FIGHT A BATTLE THAT CAN'T BE WON

A most excellent comp from 1996, released on cassette by Experimental from Portugal and on CD by Boisléve, We May Fight A Battle... concentrates on heavy edge/vegan hardcore, but since it was the '90s there is more than enough crossover into other subgenres. The easy highlight is Lithuania's SC - disjointed punk that seems like perhaps it wants to be metal but doesn't quite pull it off, these songs are well worth the entire cassette and I find myself scouring the internet searching their few cassette only releases (it is so far a fruitless search, but it is not finished). STONEWALL, Portugal's X-ACTO and Brazil's PERSONAL CHOICE fall nicely into the straight edge hardcore box though all write songs more interesting than a generic genre descriptor might suggest. BY ALL MEANS from Modena, Italy were the first band I ever drove on tour back in 1997, and the sonic assault they delivered at those shows has not been lessened by a decade and a half - I still think they are a seriously under appreciated band, pure and personal brutality. MEANSTREAM are gruff heavy hardcore with an affinity for mosh and Mexico's AUTOCONTROL round out the line up. AUTOCONTROL seem to have a criminally limited discography (this cassette and one track on a 1999 compilation LP) but their multi vocal doom tinged metallic crust are also worth the entire cassette, so now you have even more reason to get amongst this...

WE MAY FIGHT A BATTLE...THAT CAN'T BE WON

GERMAN ARMY

You like punk? You're a punk? You blast four chords through some battered frankenstein guitar amp and you scream at the top of your lungs about war and bash the shit out of your gear and you are fukkn punk as shit, right? You push boundaries? You play the game or change it? You give the answer or change the question? Are you inside the lines or are you drawing an entirely different picture? Do you play the game or do you write new rules? Get this.

YOUTAN POLOU

Sometimes I wonder if Chondritic Sound can do anything wrong. It seems they are not capable of imperfection...

DIOXINA

DIOXINA's sole vinyl release, Nessuna Pietá, doesn't quite stand up to many of their Italian contemporaries - their approach comes across as more metal than the unhinged hardcore that helped put Italy on the map (though I confess that a revisit in preparation for this post resulted in considerable mind moshing and fist banging). But long before that 12" was released in 1985, DIOXINA were banging out  skinhead anthems of the highest caliber, most notably on 1983's Skins E Punks = T.N.T. compilation EP, a taped version of which I listened to with wonder for a solid decade before I learned anything more about any of the bands. The two tracks from that comp (including "Franz," an infectious midtempo burner) are featured on this rehearsal recording, and the other eight tracks are just brilliant UK influenced gruff Oi! delivered with pure insistence and barely contained energy. The vocals are appropriately rough, and while this session is quite raw, any nuance lost in the recording is more than compensated for with power. "Contro Potere" is screaming, and will power you through all of the rough patches you might encounter today, and the follow up "Eroina" throws a drunken ska groove in my face and has me dancing before I even realize what's happened. Would be nice if DIOXINA had left us with more than a 20 songs from their brief run, but I'll take what I can get.

DIOXINA

Live versions of these tracks can be heard on Escape Is Terminal, originally released as a split with fellow Italian skins ROUGH in 1983. No, I do not have the ROUGH material, but I would certainly like to have it....

DINO & NIC

Somewhere between the worlds of New Age and avant garde film scores and free form psychedelia you will find this release from DINO & NIC. Four tracks spanning just under one half hour, Plays Theme From Dino & Nic is a score to a life led exclusively after sunset and under the influence of intense determination. I was struck when one online review compared the duo to avant/electronic pioneer Nic Raecevic, because the latter's Beyond The End...Eternity from 1971 was the very first thing that I thought of when I let this release set in (honestly, Karoline bought it for me at Bullseye back in '06 and I still listen to it on the regular). Perhaps you should award yourself extra nerd points if you are still reading this missive, but I assure you a serious listen will result in some much needed mind time.

PLAYS THEME FROM DINO & NIC

HARASSOR

Los Angeles noise mongers HARASSOR have been hovering in underground black metal/noise circles since the mid '00s, and this 2006 demo has been released and reissued several times during their reign. But in case you've been living under a rock (or filling your earholes exclusively with white noise drenched sounds that gaze fondly upon the ghosts of Kyushu, Bristol and Stockholm), here is that first demo in two different versions. Both Annex Scum and Nostilevo re-issued these tracks in 2011, but with different artwork, slightly altered track order and a different mix (though the "different mix" could in fact be simply a difference in the quality of the cassettes that I bought) - both versions are included in today's post. Purists rejoice, the curious are welcome to delete one of the two upon initial listen (and perhaps the second one shortly thereafter), but all will revel in the harsh brutality of "She Who Makes Dogs Shiver" and the churning destruction that is "Marching Abomination." These are dark and frightening times, and the soundtrack sometimes needs to suit them.

HARASSOR