NEEDLES AND PIZZA

Freak driven garage sludge from dreary ass Portland. Like is Toni Basil made aggressive bass/drum/synth space stomps for Valley Girl. Think about that, and then listen with volume.

SOFT OPENING

THE ARCHANGELS OF SEX RULE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REGIME

 

A ruthlessly sexual collection of experimental and industrial acts from 1985....when experimentation in the industrial realm was a complete free-for-all. From Austria's cult Nekrophile Rekords, The Archangels Of Sex Rule The Destruction Of The Regime compiles tracks from SLEƎP CHAMBER,  EWALD SPISS, ZERO KAMA. occupying tape space with even further under the radar acts METGUMBNERBONE and AIN SOPH. Suspend reality for a moment (or perhaps for 55 minutes).

THE ARCHANGELS OF SEX RULE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REGIME

NEGATIVE STEP // LAST CHANCE

I remember NEGATIVE STEP as August's new band. He gave me a tape of some tracks (maybe it was the then-unreleased 10") and I played the shit out of that thing. A flash in the pan, really, but a searing blast of hardcore freak punk, and the shit holds up. I remember NEGATIVE STEP as Garvey's new band. He told me stories about how their goal was essentially to tour Mexico as much as possible. He said one one tour,  several local punks piled into their old van to go to the next show but that with the extra weight, the van couldn't make it up a mountain road. So they turned around and unloaded all of the gear so the van would be able to make the climb and the punks could still join them. I'm still not sure if I remember that story correctly, but in my brain it's still one of the coolest and punkest stories ever. 

MUSICA ANTIFASCISTA - RESISTENCIA ANARCHOPUNK 

DARK RECESSES

Kinda listens like a lost Stranger Things soundtrack, but this creep synth masterpiece predates both SURVIVE and streaming services...so there's that to chew on. I feel like I should have put this on last night. 

 

DARK RECESSES Vol.1

FRAU

I didn't miss the boat on FRAU, I knew they were fire. But I didn't really dissect this tape until this year and it just reinforced how right Punk was to go batshit over the London quartet when they appeared. Smart, sharp modern punk with a guitar that stutters and spurts, reminding me of early Rough Trade and/or EASY CURE. The way it distorts to a breaking point during "Sherman's Gone," the way "Hostile" opens with the bass and guitar exchanging words, the way "Accused" just churns and churns until it....stops. The entire recording sounds like a struggle in the best way, as if they are trying to force their limbs to do what their minds want. The vocal intensity of "Nada" doing battle with chaotic guitars is the perfect closer...it's just an extremely sharp and demanding tape.....sometimes when Punk goes batshit, we would all be well served to take a look at what we might have missed.

FRAU

INFERNA

A(nother) beast from Freak City, this time in the form of five blown out crust crushers from INFERAN. Recording and replication are completely shrouded in maxed out/blown out lo-fi distortion, with Hellray's vocals piercing through the rubble. The blasts that start "Fever Pitch," and the slow stomp destruction that follows, is straight early '90s knuckle dragging magic...and then they launch into a modern lurch for the chorus and I'm clenching tight. You don't just feel intensity when you crank this one - you feel intense. 

INFERNA

For a completely different listening experience, crank the tape as the band intended here (also, check the cuts they released earlier this year...). But there's just something about how demented the physical version sounds that takes me to a really good place. 

BOY SPIT // EXPERT ALTERATIONS

 

A friend was downsizing recently, and jettisoned a few tapes to lighten his load (I strongly encourage this practice, especially when they are jettisoned into my open arms, because then they won't languish in obscurity....they will be loved and shared). In addition to a few doses of dark and/or sexual noise, this split from Baltimore was in the pile, and I keep returning to it, perhaps because I like hearing things that are different, especially if they are good. Both terms are relative of course, and "different" for me means primarily that this is just not what I listen to - mildly melancholic anti-folk, adolescent and unabashedly sweet. BOY SPIT have built their sound on a foundation of Lou Reed and Adam Green, while EXPERT ALTERATIONS have probably heard THE WEDDING PRESENT more than a few times, and both bands just kinda warm your ears up. "Dear Thomas should have ended the split, because it is rather magical, but I also don't mind a dose of magic in the middle of Side B. That is never something I will complain about. 

BOY EXPERTS