ZIPPERHEAD

Pure pogo power punk from Boston. You know the feeling when you can't control yourself and all you can do is grit your teeth and grab the shoulders of the leather jacket wearing punk in front of you and use those shoulders as leverage to propel yourself higher into the air? Over and over until that punk in front of you does the same and soon the whole room (basement) has (d)evolved into a sweaty, senseless, system smashing pogo frenzy? Yeah...ZIPPERHEAD.

ZIPPERHEAD

TERSANJUNG 13 // INQUIRY LAST SCENERY

Gnarly crust grind from Jakarta split veterans TERSANJUNG 13, backed with five bursts from Malaysia's INQUIRY LAST CENTURY that brings to mind late '90s chaotic screamo (I swear, young punks, that shit hasn't always been a bad word).  Sometimes jams hit your earholes just right and make you want to win, and that's what happened to me with this split.

TERSANJUNG 13 // INQUIRY LAST CENTURY

MEN OF BISSAU

A truly bleak aural exercise, MEN OF BISSAU demand patience and command attention over the course of two painstakingly crafted pieces. Deliberate drones serve as a base for sounds that practically morph into emotions on the first track, while the second side presents a happier time trying to break through...and failing. Listening to this at high volume in the dark, while the rain comes down outside, will change you.

CLUB BARAKA

For those interested, 2013's Club Baraka is the first of three (thus far) releases from MEN OF BISSAU, all available from the ever-compelling Nostilevo label. All are recommended...

BURST IN YOUR HEAD

You like Japanese hardcore? Cool, because I like Japanese hardcore. So what's the problem? Ahhh, there's no problem at all, because we are all listening to Japanese hardcore. Anyone who want's to tell me anything at all about this band is more than welcome to make themselves heard, because I know nothing more than this tape with no info or song titles, and I want more than these four songs...and I'm sure you will too. Because you like Japanese hardcore.

GENOCIDE STREET MONUCCA

IS THIS INTEGRITY OR STUPIDITY?

Obviously this post is a departure from the typical fare a you find on Terminal Escape, but this is a special thing. In April 2015, my band CONQUEST FOR DEATH went on a three week tour of Mongolia, China, South Korea and Japan. We've been to Japan twice before, and played one show in Guangzhou in 2008 (just a town in Guangdong province with a population of 13 million people...that no one in the US has ever heard of), but all of the these other stops were new to us. Through some friends (hi Craig) we met some friends (hi Brian) who work on a thing called Rock Naadam, and through those friends we met Javkha of Art Ger Entertainment. Javkha and Tuvshin followed us around Ulaan Bataar and Darkhan with cameras....and then Javkha made a fucking music video. So if you ever thought to yourself, "I wonder what the guy who does that blog looks like when he's drinking a beer with a vulture perched on his arm?" then now is your chance, punk. Seriously though, the tour was incredible, and the week we spent in Mongolia was utterly unforgettable...especially since it's on youtube now. Cheers to Chachy and Brian for making it happen, cheers to Paul for joining us, cheers to Javkha and Tuvshin for documenting it (and for being rad), and cheers to some of my oldest friends in this fucking circus of a band. More punk tapes as scheduled, don't worry, but here's the video in the meantime:

IS THIS INTEGRITY OR SUPIDITY?

ROCK 'N ROLL'S A LOSER'S GAME...AND WE'RE WINNING!

The Wizard On A Horse

MOZART

If punk is right than it makes you feel kinda weird....right? If listened to properly, this newish Bay quartet will make you feel downright drunk. They sway drunkenly through off the rails punk that hits you like a distracted assailant hits you with a dull kitchen knife...but the knife has that sharp bit near the tip, so watch the fukk out. The guitar harnesses early Spanish raw punk a la KANGRENA (which is to say that she beats the shit out of the poor thing), and it's a miracle that the drums were able to stay in the studio, much less assembled, during the session. And kids, those are the things you don't even notice at first. Marissa and Eli seem like they are doing battle the whole time - he wants to hold the whole thing together with a solid bass backbone but these vocals are like LEB TOTE on LSD. Try putting this shit into a genre hole, people....I dare you. It's just so very punk, and MOZART give not one single fukk. There are a bunch of new bands around these parts....this is one of them.

THE TICK

TOSKA

I often have a hard time describing or explaining what I "like" or what I'm "in to," because it really comes down to what I like at any particular moment, or what I happen to be in to right now. Well, right now I'm into TOSKA. Maybe there are more blasts that I would ask for, and maybe some of the technical guitar shit is not actually to my liking, but I popped this tape into the trusty Marantz PMD500 (yeah, my vintage Pioneer CT-F900 took a shit, much to my chagrin...and financial detriment) this weekend and it was what I wanted. Powerful. Heavy. Forceful. Bare. Determined. I like to feel like a bulldozer just fired up when I push play, and I like to feel like I need to keep looking over my shoulder as I turn up the volume...I like the sounds to threaten me, and I love when the sounds speak to me. Dark and bleak doesn't have to mean "extra reverb," sometimes you can pull that shit off by just being real.

TOSKA

He's always been kept running

Labor built his body to wear this pain as miles have built his mind to forget

But he does not mind dying here in a factory, in a shop

But he does not mind dying on a rail denied his due

Not numbed to his broken body, and not num,bed to his take home pay...