U THANT - Bugeilio.. LP

I share with you something really obscure today. I don't know much Welsh punk aside from ANHREFN and Y SEFYDLIAD, but I spotted this in a clearance bin a few years ago and it looked worth the risk. Luckily this 1988 LP contains the right balance of spunk and driving post punk-edge to get my toe tapping and wondering what their other records are like. The kick drum obnoxiously clicks away, but the melodies are good and there's enough texture and originality to the overall sound to save this one from falling victim to my routine record purges. 

U THANT

BEYOND POSSESSION - Tell Tale Heart EP

Let's stay in Canada for another post for Calgary's BEYOND POSSESSION. This is their first EP before they went more metal. It's mostly catchy punk with snotty vocals, but some speed-picking, solos, and thrash elements are prominent on some songs. Somewhere between THE FARTZ and ACCUSED? They got tagged "skate punk" a lot due to their mentions in Thrasher, but this is more raging than most skate punk I've heard. Another often overlooked but awesome old EP. 

TELL TALE HEART EP

LOS LAXANTES - No No No No EP

LOS LAXANTES formed in Argentina back in 1979, and this very high quality live recording was done in 1981. This 7" includes seven songs of upbeat and fiery punk, chock full of charismatic vocals in Spanish. Great choruses, great guitar and bass licks. The early Argentine punk scene remains much less documented than many other early scenes, but this recording is evidence that there was surely some compelling stuff going on there. Other highly recommended Argentine releases include the first LP by LOS VIOLADORES, the INVASION 88 compilation LP, and MASACRE PELESTINA EP. The first two have been reissued/bootlegged on vinyl, and the early M. PALESTINA stuff has appeared on CD collections and shouldn't be too difficult to find for download somewhere. 

LOS LAXANTES

OSTROV P - Neverte EP

Great hardcore from this Slovakian band. Don't really know anything about em, but I bet my Slovakian buddy Miso over at Muzika Komunika could school us. Fast and pummeling hardcore punk with strongly hollered vocals and rapid bass picking.  "Beznadej" breaks up the flow with it's mid-tempo and jagged rhythms, making it the catchiest of the bunch. An EP that's likely considered classic in the region it came from, and deserves the attention of any hc punk fiend. First release on the long-running Czech label Insane Society Records. 

OSTROV P EP

SDT - Eleven Parts EP

A pretty random hardcore EP from Iowa from 1987. An internet search tells that they also had an LP a year earlier, and members went on to IOWA BEEF EXPERIENCE - I've heard neither. All I know is that side a is instrumental, "I'm Allright" is hard to fully support because of the opening drumbeat, but "In A Groove" is an unsuspecting blazer of a midwest hardcore treasure. And look at this guy airborne on the back cover! Intriguing, mildly exciting. 

 

SDT - Eleven Parts

SIDE BURNS - All Skinhead Cons

Here's a great random find plucked out of a daunting and unorganized bin of 7"s at Rockaway Records in LA back when I lived there. I mean, look at the cover...if you were digging through hundreds on non-punk records and came across this, you would pick it up for 99 cents just to see what it's like, right? You wouldn't? Okay, I don't blame you, but I had to leave the store with something, and as it turned out, this single is fucking great. Two strong, insanely catchy, gruff and melodic Japanese punk songs. I never would have even thought of any Oi/Skin connection based on the sound - but the art and photos say it all. "Mad Chess Play The Fasten Ghost" ??? Puzzling, but soooooo good

SIDE BURNS 

MOTORBREATH - Rock N Roll Band EP

MOTORBREATH didn't do anything groundbreaking or new. They didn't come from ex-Soviet Russia, South America, or Southeast Asia, but from a land with a bountiful history of raging hardcore and punk bands. The artwork isn't eye-catching or memorable. It's boring. So why would I post this EP, you ask? Because it rips so hard that all of the aforementioned generic qualities are blurred out in a ruckus frenzy of relentless hardcore! Yes, the obvious comparisons are undeniable, but this band was cranking out searing MOTORHEAD-fueled hardcore before the dubious trends, and with a much greater ferocity than most of em do these days. The urgency in the drumming and vocals give this EP the extra push, accomplishing an effect of complete panic similar to bands like SKITKIDS. If you only bother to enjoy the very best or stand-out examples of this style, you really ought to check this one out! I wouldn't waste your time, and couldn't pass the chance to share it! 

MOTORBREATH EP

PYLON - Cool/Dub

I was skimming the dates under the "labels" list over on the right hand side of my blog there, and noticed that there were a few years missing from the list. So I selected today's post with the sole purpose of creating a "1979" label. Pretty neurotic huh?

Ok, it's not the only reason. A better reason would be that the debut single from this Athens (Georgia, not Greece) post punk band is infectious and amazing! "Dub" is a great repetitive but swelling and angular answer to GANG OF FOUR, and the like. The flip is the more appealing track to me, and it's made many of my mix tapes in past years. Featuring some similar characteristics as the A side, "Cool" further incorporates the classic punk (well, rock or pop too I guess...but this is a punk blog) "verse-chorus-verse-chorus" structure, and highly memorable and catchy one's at that. Such a strong post punk classic from such an odd location. From the same scene as the B-52's! 

PYLON - Cool/Dub

FLIEHENDE STÜRME - Kaleidoskop/Blauer Mond 7"

I love finding a record in its country of origin. There's a neat little record store in the Zorro squat in Leipzig, and I was delighted to find this single along with a few other goodies there.

Fliehende Stürme formed out of the classic German hardcore outfit CHAOS Z, intending to mix dark wave elements in with their style. They've been at it since 1988, released an album back in 2011, and presumably are still playing. This single comes out of the gate with a stabbing synth line that slowly fills out into a full on dark deutschpunk dance-floor hit. On the flip, "Blauer Mond" reminds me of a more punk version of a JOY DIVISION song - droning, and depressing, but it still gets your blood flowing and you can still bob your head to it. This is just a small taste of the massive amount of awesome material FLIEHENDE STÜRME has released over the years, much of which has been repressed, all worth tracking down (though I haven't heard some of the new stuff). Some recommended albums to start with are An Den Ufern, Fallen, and Die Tiere Schweigen. 

FLIEHENDE STURME - Kaleidoskop

AGEN 53 - Ich Wünsch Dir Für Die Zukunft Etwas Mehr Glück Junge Welt EP

I just got back from a walk to the market, and it's a rainy and dreary morning here in the SF Mission. I'm a huge fan of clear blue skies and warm sun, but sometimes the gloomy grey climate feels appropriate for my puffy-eyed morning mood, especially when paired with the right punk EP. AGEN 53's sole EP has just the right amount of coldness found in many of my favorite German punk bands from the 80's, but with upbeat driving rhythms to keep it from being considered anything close to deathrock or gothy. The instrumentation is superb - bumbling basslines rumble up front while the guitar is set back in the mix, sort of creating a dark backdrop for the whole sound. The vocals are rarely tuneful, mostly a constant monotone blabbering, but not without a strong hook here and there. Overall it's a really interesting and overlooked EP. They also had a couple tracks on the totally essential Keine Experimente II compilation, and a 12" in 1988 (that I'd like to hear!). This one just feels right today, until the fog burns off...

AGEN 53 - EP

HALCION.25 - Corperation EP

My pal/bandmate Bryan and I were doing some nerdy record chatting the other day, and he brought up old New Zealand punk, which I know very little about. This was the only record I could recall even owning, and it's a complete mystery to me. Such a weird little record - the center labels are larger than normal, and the vinyl is of the lowest quality. The first track is a drawn out, brooding, dark, mid tempo punk tune with a keyboard. It kind of reminds me of some of the early UK anarcho stuff like FLOWERS IN THE DUSTBIN. The two tracks on the flip are fast hardcore blasts, maybe taking cues from the same time period as the aforementioned comparison, but more in the pogo-punk style. It's all catchy, and moves along really well, but the recording quality is really raw, like a rehearsal recording. It would be exciting to hear what else this band did after this, as this feels like more of a promising demo than something that needed to be pressed onto vinyl. Anyone with any more info on this, it would be much appreciated! Ima Hitt Records.

HALCION.25mg EP

DEUS EX MACINA - Execute/Iraq 'N' Roll 7"

Excellent first single from this Greek band formed in 1989. This band is still active, but I get the feeling they are more a part of the "rock club punk" scene than the DIY/squat scene, though I recall seeing older flyers from the early 90's with them playing at squats with bands like NAYTIA. Both of these songs are strong mid-paced jammers with great guitar leads and gruff vocals. "Execute" is darker and more memorable I think, but the catchy chorus of "Iraq ' N' Roll" keeps me flipping this thing back over and over again. I don't know much else about this band, but I have also heard their first album Motorpsycho, which is also really good and in the same style as these songs. Anyone have a spare copy they'd like to sell for cheap??

DEUS EX MACINA - Execute/Iraq 'N' Roll

FARCICAL / FATAL FEMALES - Split 7"

I pulled this EP out of the dollar bin at 1234 Go! Records store in Oakland a couple months ago. As far as many important things in my life are concerned, my memory is often unreliable, but as for information about punk records/bands? There seems to be a special compartment in my brain that is designated specifically for retaining this type of punk information, and when I saw FARCICAL's name on this 7", that part of my brain revealed to me that I knew there was some relation to the kings of eclectic Swedish hardcore, G-ANX. That's worth a dollar for further investigation to me...

                                   

So I got it back to my loving partner's house, threw it on the turntable, and if you've listened to G-ANX as many times as I have, it's pretty evident that FARCICAL shares a drummer and bass player with them - quite possibly the guitar player too. They dish out 2 unconventional tracks of bleak hardcore with weird parts, much on the vein of G-ANX, but in my opinion, not quite as convincing as G-ANX did. But okay, cool. Flip it over...I hadn't even considered the band on the other side. I may not have even realized it was a split when I bought it. Guess what happened? Sweden's FATAL FEMALES came through as the score of the find! The first track, "Life," creeps in with a rather generic and slow bass line, but wait like 15 seconds and the guitar darkens it up a little, and then after everything kicks in it's a full on noisy + melodic + dark + tupa-tupa beat with awesome controlled female vocal attack! If you are familiar with TOZIBABE, they are a great reference point. Then the next two tracks are driving mid tempo tracks much more akin to 80's UK anarcho like LOST CHERREES or DIRT, with a laid back but great and catchy vocal delivery that for some reason reminds me of NOG WATT. See, with all these awesome and unique band names in ALL CAPS screaming out on the page, I've certainly lured more of you to read about this and hopefully download it, cuz this band was AWESOME! Well, I could see many people finding it boring, but it's the sort of sound I tend to get really excited about, and I'd like more info on FATAL FEMALES if anyone has it?? A long lost demo or something maybe? Oh, and those comparisons I made - I do truthfully stand by them. 

FATAL FEMALES / FARCICAL split