Sunday, January 26, 2014

Cryptic Slaughter

More Thrash.  Cryptic Slaughter were out-thrashing the grown ups before they were even old enough to skip out on that whole "voting" malarkey, or even drive themselves to band practice.  This link includes their demo, Life In Grave, and their first LP, Convicted.  Don Thy Denim.  Bang Thy Head.




Detente - Recognize No Authority

Detente was a thrash metal band from Los Angeles from the mid 80's to the present(?), and their thrash was pretty standard, almost punk even.  The (female) vocals are what make this record great instead of just alright.  Dawn Crosby lead the thrash attack with a ferocity that few could match.  She left the band to form Fear Of God, and Detente replaced her with another singer, then that singer was replaced by another.  I'm not sure if they are still active or not and honestly, I haven't listened to any of their later records, so I couldn't tell you if they're as good as this one or not.  Sadly, Dawn died in '96 of liver failure.



Damad - Burning Cold

The second excellent LP from punk metal sludgers, Damad.  This is one of my all time favorite bands and I don't understand why more people don't feel the same way about them.  If you missed out on the first LP, just click HERE.



BLACK METAL

HAH!  Here ya go.  Fancypants Deluxe Edition, too.  The first link is the original album.  The second link is Bonus (ooh la la!) tracks and for shits and giggles I threw in a track of just stage banter.  Rock N Roll is the Devil.  We are the Devil.





Saturday, January 25, 2014

GRB

GRB was a hugely influential hardcore punk band from the formative era of the Barcelona punk scene.  The shared members with many other bands, including one of my favorites, Ultimo Resorte.  I think this record is their entire discography.  Circle pit to Spanish punk.



You Wanna Hear It?

This is a stupid, dumb, funny and fun ripoff of one of the most famous hardcore bands ever.  They just take the original idea and make it evil and Satanic.  It's goofy and it might make you smile.  It's better than you might think it could be, but it is still simply novelty.   I'm trying to avoid posting the band or record name, because the label this is on is pretty heavy-handed in shutting down downloads of their stuff, so the pictures will have to fill you in.  Oh, and the people behind this band are in pretty well-known death metal bands from Ohio.



In A Car

This band is pretty famous compared to most of the stuff I put up, and this is their first 7".  It's 5 minutes long and I like it more than anything else they did.  I'm not saying they didn't put out other good records.  I'm saying I like this one way more.  Have fun.



Vicious Circle

Ooh, I haven't really touched Australian hardcore on here, yet, which is a shame because the country/continent put out some really unique bands.  I'm fascinated by the influence of location and environment on musical sounds and aesthetics, and Australian bands have a vein running through them that bands from anywhere else don't and can't have.  Vicious Circle is obviously heavily inspired by Western hardcore, but there's enough distance between them and their influences to where they obviously didn't care (or know) to adhere to the same formulas of the rest of the world.  I can't really put a finger on what it is that makes Vicious Circle's Reflections such a fresh and invigorating hardcore record even though it's 30 years old.  You should just listen to it and figure out how it makes you feel.



Six Weeks Omnibus Vol. 2 - Japan

So tired.  AAAGGGHHHH.  Hardcore punk from Japan just hits on all those emotions of rage, exasperation and despair.  It sounds like the straw that broke the camel's back, the overly taxed and stretched strings of your psyche finally giving way.  Fuck everything!  This is a comp featuring some lesser known, but very vicious bands. Gouka and Exhale stand out for me, but Soul Craft, Civil Rights, S.C.U.M. and Flame all hold their own.  Really good.





Thursday, January 23, 2014

more Electric Deads

I really like this band's sound a lot.  It's just such a nice balance of so many different things i like: catchy, tough, driving, hard, melodic, bouncy, fast...all good things.  I already posted the Anti-Sex EP HERE, so I figured you should get the other ones, too.  Enjoy.




Dotfuckingcom

One thing I feel I've made clear is my love of South Carolina's dark and twisted hardcore punk tradition.  From nasty places come nasty musics.  Dotfuckingcom (or .fuckingcom) was short-lived and featured Kevin and Lyz from Initial State and Antischism.  They only put out this 7" and it doesn't stray too far from the sound they created in their previous projects, and that is totally fine by me.





Neos

Really fast, nasty, snotty punk from Canaduh.  They weren't around for long, but they made their point loud and clear.  This shit rules.




Rappresaglia

Here's an excellent and quite under-appreciated Italian punk band.  They were(are?) called Rappresaglia, which means "reprisal".  They started in 1982 and I'm not real sure when or if they ever broke up. Their early recordings have that same manic hardcore energy that all the early Italian bands seemed to be infected with, but Rappresaglia had a slightly more controlled, melodic style and it really works.  Don't skip this one if you're into Negazione, Raw Power, CCM, Declino and the ilk.



more Noothgrush

damn.  I haven't been this tired of everything in a while.  The world is shit, people are shit.  I'm sure I'll feel better soon, but I'm also sure that people will continue to be shit and I'll find myself back in this familiar, spiteful place sooner than I'd like.  Here's some more Noothgrush for you.










Sunday, January 5, 2014

La Fraction

I have a very deep love for La Fraction.  The music is so upfront and passionate, played with an intensity that cannot be faked or half-assed and a tightness that seems to be more prevalent on that side of the Atlantic Ocean.  My friend called them the French Gits and sonically, the bands are somewhat similar, but I don't think the Gits ever reached the triumphant and anthemic heights of La Fraction, nor did La Fraction ever plumb the loathful and desolate depths of the Gits.  I prefer to keep the two separate in my mind.  La Fraction played the record store in my tiny town many years ago and it was by far the best punk show I'd ever seen up to that point in my tender life.  To this day, it still ranks way up there in my memories.  I hope to see them play again one day.  If you haven't listened to this band yet, please do yourself the favor.

(the first two LPs are RAR folders, which I haven't done before.  You might need to download a RAR unzipping program.  I use 7-Zip File Manager.)


Lama

Early Finnish punk rock.  Lama were active from 1978 to 1983 and were a step above their contemporaries in my opinion.  This is their LP from '82.  Rage!

LAMA 




Friday, January 3, 2014

Accidente

Here's a band I fell in love with last year.  So much so, that I put out a cassette version of their self-titled first record.  They are called Accidente and are from Madrid, Spain.  The music is melodic, forceful and dynamic and the lyrics are impassioned, urgent and devoid of cliche.  They are also some of the sweetest people on the planet.  Their second record was just released on January 1st and is entitled Amistad Y Rebelion. The pop sensibilities are stronger and the songwriting is slightly more adventurous, yet the feeling remains the same.  It's a triumphant and impressive second record and I can't wait to see what these kids do next.  Bands like this are what punk is about to me...I love nerding out on long lost 80's hardcore records, but those are just artifacts, long dead and fossilized.  Punk is about the now, it is about the people around us and what we can create together.  Punk is about a better life for each other, or at least a life that is more our own. Bands like Accidente keep the flames of the present burning, shining light on the now and showing us that we still have so much work to do, that we are every bit as important as the "legends" that precede us.

You can download both albums for free on Accidente's bandcamp HERE

LPs are available in various distros around the world and if you want a cassette of the self titled album, they are only $4 and can be found at my label/distro's site HERE



Corrupted - Noothgrush split & El Mundo Frio

Corrupted ALWAYS brought the ultra heavy.  You get the fantastic split with Noothgrush (their tracks, too) and then you get the hour and eleven minute commitment to DOOM that is El Mundo Frio.  Personal favorite.







Nausea

Here's some Nausea for ya.






Rai Ko Ris

Rai Ko Ris formed in 2000 in Kathmandu, Nepal and have been bashing out their bouncy, catchy and aggressive punk ever since.  Kinda reminds me of a rougher Electric Deads.  Here's the Himalayan Frostbite EP from 2003 plus their track from the Underground Asia comp.  Very good stuff.



Post Regiment

Hands down one of my favorite punk bands.  They were just so much better than everyone else.  Get all of these, but know that the first half of Death Before Metal features the band before Nika became the vocalist and turned them into something entirely their own.







Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Crackbox - Plug It The Fuck In Tape

Crackbox ruled.  Tough, poppy, earnest, no-fucks-given punk rock from NOLA.  I dare you to shrug off "Dead Friends."  My copy of this tape got eaten, boo.  One or more of these folks were in Pray For Death and the singer is now in Violent Sects, who also rule.


I can't find an image of the cover :(
but this one's pretty cool



Grouch - Fuck The World As Soon As Possible

Hey you, hope you're doing well.  The first post for this new year is...my old pop punk(region rawk?) band.  Too bad for you!  We were called Grouch and we started a band even though we knew that two of us were about to move to the West Coast (I stayed here).  We were all about to explode from anxiety and life and whatnot and when I listen to these songs I feel like all that tension and panic is oozing out of the speakers.  That could easily just be me, though.  We hastily wrote and recorded this cassette tape, and it actually turned out well...but then some mysterious force got hold of the master tape and what we were left with is this warbly, trebley, scratchy and slightly sped up version of the band.  Oh well, it's what it is and somehow oddly appropriate.  I love these songs and I loved playing music with the other two people in the band.  One of them moved to the Bay and was in Neon Piss (Rest In Piss), the other you might know from his old band Shorebirds and he's in the Northwest somewhere, hopefully playing music still.  Enjoy maybe.