GREEN BERET

This one shouldn't be lost on any self respecting follower of current DIY hardcore....but maybe you missed a chance to snag their 2014 West Coast tour cassette? Here you go. Full throttle throaty DBeat hardcore from Boston, recorded live in the studio and sounding hot like fire. I don't think there's so much as a breakdown until "Concrete Nightmare" at about the halfway point of this sub-15 minute collection of creamers. They ripped that basement to shreds when we played with them in Oakland, and capturing that live fury on for a tour release was a class move. Even if you have the records, this one is worth your time. 

HARDCORE 2014: LIVE AT SIDE TWO

SIX GOING ON SEVEN

Perhaps only intriguing to fellow survivors of the '90s, this Boston trio cranked out three (personally? totally uninteresting) LPs that I completely ignored near the end of that decade. But this four song demo....? Why do I like it? Not sure...it's like TIME IN MALTA meets THE PROMISE RING or some other shit that I cannot even begin to understand, much less explain. Yet...I listen, and it works.

SIX GOING ON SEVEN

OPHIBRE

The tension that this tape creates is difficult to describe...you spend the first few minutes wanting it to go somewhere, the next few wondering if it will, and the few after that realizing that it won't - and then you really get tense, because you still WANT it to. And then the second side of the tape brings pure and blissful salvation in the form of a soaring 12 minute exorcism...and the first side suddenly has more meaning and context than you could have imagined.  Trance inducing psychedelic drone that sounds like it's from another time as much as from another planet...OPHIBRE is insanely prolific, and this 2010 release is just the tip of the iceberg. 

UNTITLED DRONES FOR IRON OXIDE

CINDERBLOCK

If a bunch of raucous hardcore dudes are going to start an Oi! band, then I want it to sound like CINDERBLOCK. It's smart, it's totally in your face, the guitars on "Disco Killers" alone are enough to remind you why you are a punk. I can only assume that these Boston creamers are not amateurs, and their lyrics suggest a band intelligent far beyond their riffs. This tape kicked my ass immediately, and has continued to please me since then....you are welcome to join in my enjoyment. I encourage listening to "Voiceless" until you are (inevitably) hoarse. 

NO FUTURE

I have been have file hosting issues for the last few days, and I appreciate the emails letting me know that all is not well in the digital World Of The Escape. It appears that things are good now (I mean, The Internet tells me that someone DLed the BRAINOIL tape a quarter hour ago...so that's one more lucky punk rocker), so I encourage you to go back to the CIBORGUE and BRAINOIL tapes (because they are both great, obviously). If you are having problems with today's post, please visit the CINDERBLOCK Bandcamp and enjoy their demo that way (actually, you should go to their thing either way, because that way you can actually make contact with them and tell them how much you love the tape), but please drop me a line and let me know that you are getting files successfully (or not) so that I can continue to serve you.

With Respect - The Management

CONTINGENT

When young punks draw liberally from the sounds of decades past, foregoing anything resembling originality in favor of trying to recreate an artifact, when young punks spend their time doing the new millennium equivalent of the kids in my high school jamming "Stairway To Heaven" ripoffs, when it seems like maybe there really is, in fact, nothing new....then I want it to fukkn sound like CONTINGENT. When the tracks are this good I don't give even half a shit if it's a rehash, and these young punks sound like they got plopped straight out of 1982. Three pogo friendly burners with perfectly gruff vocals, just enough flange on the bass, and "In The Wild" is the most gloriously ignorant track I've heard in ages. Well done, young punks, I take back everything I said about you.

CONTINGENT

SADIST

I mean, you punks already know about this one...right?

Because you should.

BLOODSONG

     

BAZZ

I think I can honestly say that the only thing I don't like about this tape is that it is apparently a "joke." A cruel joke, a deceitful joke...a joke that has relegated my favorite demo of 2016 that is actually from 2015 to the status of a piss take. This is legitimately brilliant fukk punk, and I want to believe that there will be more....and in the meantime I will just hope that I can have more. And If I can't have more then I will just listen to "Punk House" on repeat until I'm fifty. That's not really too far away, but still, you get the idea. The thing, as I understand the shit from Greg, is that there was a real comp called Destroy Poserton that was made up completely of fake bands. Then a faker band called BAZZ was invented just to be excluded from the comp...thusly scorned, they ran to the basement to record this Destroy Destroy Poserton cassette. Get it? Whatever. But the thing is that I don't care about the story. The thing is that I want to listen to "Boner Punks" all of the time. SO I WILL. Joke's on you, jokers.

DESTROY DESTROY POSERTON

These blasts from the handwritten(scrawled) lyrics are included to make sure you realize how important this cassette is to your life...

"Piss on your toothbrush, shit in your bed."

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

WASTE MANAGEMENT

No introduction needed here, right? But incase you missed them the first time around, here's second demo from Boston's WASTE MANAGEMENT. Folks from BOSTON STRANGLER, MIND ERASER and a slew of others were involved in this nonsense, and that should be reason enough to dive in. USHC, thick and beefy - the intro to "Too Much Unity" is an absolute steamroller that deserves repeat listens at maximum volume. 

TASTER TOO (with more Live Street Beef)

BAJA BLATZ

It's too bad this was a project band, but if we never get more than these nine tracks then I will still consider myself lucky. Feisty and furious in your face punk with high end guitars, snarling vocals (I'm talking that almost shrieking, early '90s kind of snot and venom) and an unabashed affinity for a serious hook. Apparently they never checked to see if it was acceptable to play lightning fast raw punk with teeth and make it catchy as hell...I'm not sure if The Rules say this sort of thing is acceptable, but I damn sure know that I say it is.

BAJA BLATZ

SUNSHINE WARD

Bombastic, bleak, blown out, raw ass hardcore from Boston. Genre worship offered with no compromise or apologies, SUNSHINE WARD knit fist banging Scandi DBeat together with modern filthy pogo beats and knuggledragging USHC...and it makes this really comfortable quilt that you can snuggle with. Or you can smash everything. It's up to you. I don't make the rules, but I am here to tell you that "Surrender" is an absolute creamer.

 SUNSHINE WARD

CHAIN RANK

There are a few crews in the world that can seemingly conjure up perfect hardcore riffs at will and execute them with terrifying precision...this is one of them. Pay close attention to the chorus of "The Grip," you monkeys, because that is what it feels like to get kicked in the face by a hardcore song. And the intro to "Turn Your Back And Run" that follows? That's what it feels like to get ground into the pavement by a hardcore song. You should already know this one inside and out since it came out in 2013, but I'm sharing it today to help the poor, sad souls who missed the boat. Those drums, man....fukk. Snap to it, you monkeys, get amongst it.

THE GRIP

STRANGER

Dark, aggressive punk sounds driven by a perfectly treated guitar and fronted by vocals that remind me as much of '90s political hc/crust as the death rock that STRANGER are likely compared to. The presentation and production commands those comparisons, while the songs themselves are straight ahead punk bangers. There's no faux morose vibe, no lurking in the corner, if this is death rock then the death is right in your face...you know, just like death will be.

STRANGER

RASH TONGUE

Raw, bombastic hardcore punk with a vocalist that sounds like KARP/THE WHIP. It's a combination of scenes that sounds fukkn delicious. It's like a buffet in your ears - a fierce, nasty and noisy buffet. Help yourself.

RASH TONGUE

CREAM OF THE CROP

Snagged this crucial comp in Portland a short while ago - it looked like it would be pretty cool and a brief glance at the included bands reinforced that initial impression, so I plunked down my $5 and got ready to party. As usual, I made an excellent decision. Apparently this is the product of a Portland by-way-of Boston resident, and the comp features mostly PDX and Boston bands as a result (a coupla jammers from France as well, though that fact confuses things in a geographical sense), but city/country of origin be damned because this tape is a total rager. MONGOLOID, BLOODKROW BOUTCHER, LA MISMA, SAVAGEHEADS, HAUTE COUTURE, SUNSHINE WARD, NO SIR I WON'T, LONG KNIFE, LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS...this thing is essentially a who's who of what's hot. Fave tracks, are THE HIT SENSATIONS' and the BLOODKROW electro cover by DIGITAL OCTOPUS (which is one of the best things I've heard all year). I can keep rambling if you like, or you can just listen for yourself.

CREAM OF THE CROP

Best Before '84 put this poster in my tape. It's too big to scan, so I took a picture of it. For you. Because I want you to have everything that you want. You're welcome.

VILE BODIES

The hardcore is off the rails. The riffs are killer. The tension is palpable when they slow it down (I'm talking the start of "Monotongue" here, or the flawless execution of the middle of "Host Becomes Parasite"). The vocals have an almost McPheeters quality. Vile Bodies are clearly on their own path, which is refreshing. And the tape is really really fukkn good.

VILE BODIES

EXIT ORDER

Paul gave me this banger last summer, and a quick peep at the personnel involved left no doubt that EXIT ORDER would be every bit as screaming as they are. The first thing you notice is that fukkn guitar - so totally tortured and adversely affected, but a tone expertly crafted by people who still understand the power of a riff (or even [gasp] a song), all of the hooks are there, and they are all in your face...they just sound like they are coming from Jupiter. Positively maniacal drums bash out a flurry of UK82 by way of DBeat and erratic methamphetamine abuse and the pace is pure power. Vocals are perfectly out of place, half shouted/half whined and coming off more like GR'UPS than anything riddled with studs and obscure '80s Euro hardcore patches, but oh man does it ever work. Reinventing the reinvented wheel? 

EXIT ORDER

You're a pretty one...aren't you?

FUNERAL CONE

My friend Greg said these dudes were the best. And then my friend Doug told me they were the best and sent me this tape. I'm not gonna say that a few months ago when I went to Oakland to see INFEST instead of seeing these dudes at Thrillhouse that I made the wrong choice, I'm just saying that this tape is really good, and that Greg and Doug are, as a rule, typically right.

PEEL BACK THE FOIL

Philadelphia: THE BROOD and ANXIETY HAMMER will be joining us at The Golden Tea House, which is something that I am excited about.

SEKA

I have tried to figure out which scene SEKA belongs in, but your guess is as good as mine (unless of course you have actual information). I'm not even going to give you any teasers, except to say that listening to this 1989 demo in 2013, I get the impression that I would have really liked it in 1989.

SEKA

DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED FOR DALE SHADBEGIAN

I can't exactly remember how or when we met Dale. It might have been in the summer of '94 while he was on tour with DALTONIC and we crossed paths in Iowa, both of us opening for AVAIL for a few days...but I can't really remember if the dude I'm thinking of was in fact Dale (footnote 1). It might have been in the spring of '95 at FAT DAY's house in Boston (Somerville, to be precise), meeting new friends on the strength of nothing more than a phone number on the insert of a record in a $1 bin (footnote 2). But I know that we hung out with Dale once and he was a total nerd in the most awesome way possible, just having a blast and not giving a shit about what was cool or how he was perceived and the absolute epitome of "down to earth." And then I know that we came to Massachusetts in 1996 (when we lived with FAT DAY for a full week, but that's a different story) and Dale was at the show in roller skates (true story) and that is likely where he gave us this tape. My point, though fuzzy at best, is that the dude was chill as fukk and super fun to hang out with and is a perfect example of the people you meet on tour, who make that tour better, and who then fade into memory. I have no idea where Dale is today, how Dale is today, or what Dale is doing today, but I thank him for being a friend to four dudes who needed one and didn't necessarily deserve it. I also thank him for this mix tape (footnote 3), more people should make mix tapes for bands on tour. If today's bands don't have cassette decks in their vans then that's their problem.

DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED FOR DALE SHADBEGIAN

footnote 1: While I do not know if the dude in question was Dale (though I am pretty sure that it was), DALTONIC's other roadie was the singer from CONVERGE. Fast forward to sometime in the mid 2000s at Gilman (half a country away from where we had originally crossed paths), I was selling books at a matinee CONVERGE show and said hello to the guy selling merch (it was the singer). He hesitated only briefly and then remembered precisely where and how we had initially met (and when we initially met I was clean shaven, which should give anyone who knows me an indication of just how long ago it really was). My mind was blown, I can barely remember people I met last week. Also, AVAIL was not the slightest bit excited to have us in tow for those few shows.

footnote 2: The Live Poultry Fresh Killed EP is arguably the wisest dollar I have ever spent. And that phone number was OAK-SAGA, some things stick with you forever.

footnote 3: About the tape: A lot of exactly what you might expect from a young, enthusiastic DIY punk in the mid '90s. A lot of political hardcore and crust with a predictable predilection towards the East Coast. Lots of classics that you need to listen to more often (seriously, how long has it been since you blasted DEFORMED CONSCIENCE....? What?! Fuck that. Time to dive in, kid), but among mandatory bands from that era of US DIY punk and blasts from lesser known (but no less awesome) contemporaries, there are plenty of tastes from starter bands that you might expect a younger punk to pepper a mix with - and who is going to complain when SLAYER and DEAD KENNEDYS come barreling out of their speakers? Dummies, that's who. Bonus points for the VENTURES and CHEECH & CHONG tracks and the field recordings from the psychiatric rest home, this is a brilliantly crafted mix, streamlined for road listening. Recorded with purpose, delivered with kindness, this is the stuff that is important.