No rambling thoughts from me today - just a reminder that if you are interested in prints of my photos, don’t hesitate to reach out. I recently lost my day job so any doing things like kicking some casfingh for this newsletter or buying photos goes an extra long way for me right now. Enough of my begging - now onward to the earslaughter!
Bullshit Detectör - Violet Crown EP
Jangly, almost airy sounding, mid-tempo street punk from Texas that takes some of its melodic flourishes from the current wave of French close shave rocknroll - but then its upended by the vocalist, who has this deep guttural approach. It’s a nice counterpoint and really works. Sensitive thug music.
Initially, this Boston stomping street punk through a hardcore filter act was given me BATTLE RUINS vibes but its lacking the same level of commitment to epic power metal vibes. That said, this is really great thudding hardcore in the Boston tradition of bands like THE TROUBLE or STARS & STRIPES (musically) and probably deserves a vinyl release rather than festering in the vast wilderness of streaming services.
Roughly produced and a smidge sloppy, thrashy Spanish hardcore but in a totally endearing sort of way. It takes a minute to get going but once it does its worth the ear damage.
Quick paced, tight and cleanly produced Italian hardcore that takes a lot of cues from 90s SoCal punk - this feels like a band you would find opening for STRUNG OUT or LAGWAGON in 1997, and thats not a bad thing.
DISAFFECT/SANCTUS IUDA - Fuck All Borders LP
Two classic and long running diy punk bands filled with lifers - it’s always exciting to see these sorts of bands still kicking around after 20, 30 or more years. DISAFFECT hail from Scotland and continue to play a classic UK pogo punk meets anarcho crust style that harkens back to days of road protests, squatting, tasty anarcho pie and the like. On the flip, Poland’s SANCTUS IUDA offer up six tracks of blazing hardcore thrash that rages away against the mountains of the bullshit we find ourselves up against. A really great release and a reminder that there are still some out there who believe that this is more than just music.
This is really cool, total weirdo rock from Amsterdam that takes the lead from SCREAMERS/DEVO with detours into a few drinks with the FALL - its keyboard driven and soaked in with random beeps and bibbles while moving forward in this almost trance like state. Listened to on headphones, at a maximum volume its a totally auditory cocoon that just envelopes you with a slight sense of unease while taking you on this twisting journey.
Musically, while they would probably cringe at the notion, there’s a lot here that reminds me of those early Fat Wreck years of bands like PROPAGANDHI. Fast, taut, hardcore punk with big breakdowns and thrashing albeit controlled riffing. It’s missing the dominating vocal harmonies of those bands, making it more appealing to me.
Three songs, three and a half minutes - chaotic, noisy, sloppy trashed out USHC from Wyoming. Sounds like it was recorded using a boombox in a practice space. This sounds like a really great band to catch in a very small room.
More quality punk from my friends at Mendeku Diskak - this time, HAREN from Murcia playing simple but powerfully anthemic straight forward 1-2-1-2 punk. Sure it takes a fairly straight froward and moderately sloganistic approach both musically and lyrically but in the current state of things in the world, do we really have time for more coded messages in slowed down songs? I love this.
Blown out, thick hardcore punk in all the best possible ways - it still amazes me how many great bands are just creepy crawling around Richmond these days. This rampages through seven violent blasts of mid-paced hardcore with interesting twists and turns. Just outstanding.
Thudding, blown out hardcore that just hammers away in this syncopated fashion before sliding into grooving breakdowns. Cool stuff from Indonesia.
Delightfully snotty hardcore punk from San Francisco that gives off heavy SICK PLEASURE meets THE LEWD vibes. It’s not blown out or driven by d-beats which is a nice change of pace, to be honest. Some really cool, fun guitar work and vocalist that sounds like they’ve been up for a week on speed - fans of the No Way Records thing or moreover that 90s Clevo stuff on Non Commercial Records would be doing themselves a favor to party with this.
Parisian punx with a heavy toe dip in the BIKINI KILL/SLANT SIX pool. Simple yet effective, fuzzy garagey punk riffing with vocals that are this sorta sing-shout combo. It’s almost like if you take the BIKINI KILL AntiPleasure Dissertation EP and made a whole band around the feel of that record. Aggressive, assertive and powerful punk - super down with this record.
METDOG - Questions and Answers Regarding Computers And Screens LP
Nerd punk? Is this egg punk? Synth punk? Who fucking knows - just total Australian weirdo rock that leans hard Killed By Death style freak rock. Its like they spent a lot of time with THE FEMS and Hardcore Devo while smoking a lot of weed.
Utterly ferocious Polish hardcore - 1000mph thrash that collapses into mid-paced stompers with most track coming in around 30 seconds. Killer.
POTERE NEGATIVO - Benvenuto All Inferno 12”
Thick slabs of rampaging Italian hardcore - it might be a cliche to invoke NEGAZIONE when talking Italian hardcore but this has the same sort of feeling as those later records, albeit with a thoroughly more modern recording style. It careens and batters you about, especially when it drifts in high speed blasts before taking sidebars into these dissonant guitar breaks. Killer release.
Four über raw blasts of blender through a distortion pedal recorded via a transistor radio primitive noise not music punk. This is perfect in its execution but obviously not for everyone.
SUSPEX - Technically Deficient
Full on UK82 worship from Nova Scotia - more in the GBH/EXPLOITED camp than say the thudding sounds of the more follicley challenged side of things. Quick punches of driving powerful punk.
Burly raw hardcore in that raspy, deep throaty style made popular by DOOM - thick walls of guitar and bass bulldozing over a relentless drum onslaught. Total hammer to the face attack.
Two bands from Indonesia, two from Vancouver - the Canadians (HOLLOW POINT & BAD BEAT) are a bit more in line with the 80s Boston hardcore thing - short fast songs with dog pile inducing singalongs. For their part BOTTLED VIOLENT does a jangly MINOR THREAT thing a la Japan’s MILK while SPAD is a bit more rampaging and fuzzed out. Great way to learn about these bands spread across the globe.