KUSTA PÄSSÄÄ

Filthy '90s Brasilian grind/crust. Ripping fasts, searing blasts, multiple vocals and pure raw attack. Choice banger: "Gasolina," if only because when they scream the word it sounds like a very real threat. 

DT '98

CIBORGUE

Absolute outsider punk. You know you're in for it while the three minute title track slogs endlessly forward, but nothing can prepare you for the shit-fi noise core that follows. Neurose Digital makes the VACCUUM Space-Fi tape seem sonically imposing, this is the thinnest and weirdest sounding cassette on my shelves (or in my boxes, for that matter). But it's not just blundering....it's actually and actively weird, almost as if there is a collective vision at work here, and this is what sets CIBORGUE apart. Apart from what, exactly? Well, I'm still not sure...but can you imagine watching this shit live?!? I need to go back to Brasil.

NEUROSE DIGITAL

O.V.E.C.

Criminally limited reissue of O.V.E.C.'s 1989 demo from our friends at Outprint. Raw and furious hardcore punk that rips through six tracks in seven minutes, including the 0:20 title track. The band hisses with intensity as much as the tape itself hisses with infidelity, these tracks are pure screamers. Number one banger: "Sem Proteção."

IDIOTAS DO GOVERNO

WHITE CHRISTIAN DISASTER

I hope that at least some of you visit Terminal Escape for the shit you've never heard before...right? This tape comes from Curitiba, the capital city of Pararná, sometime in the '90s (I'm assuming). Heavy US hardcore influence, up front political lyrics (translations included in the .zip file so you can learn more things) and unhinged fast parts. Top banger: "On Your Knees."

COCA-COLA NÃO É DEUS

DUÄS NÓTÄ

Raw HC/grind lacking anything approaching on the high side of fidelity. The blasts fall apart, there is no low end, the riffs are indiscernible...it's basically a complete racket. These are the sounds that people who dig "extreme" things will listen to and just go...."what?" because these Brasilians were out there. And they did not give a shit. So if you want chaos and mania (and, of course, riffs - because DUÄS NÓTÄ got riffs), look no further than this 2001 demo. As always, you're welcome.

DT-ENSAIO

TUM-TÁ-TÁ DE UM E DIOS TUM TÁ-TÁ

DIÁSPORA

That box of tapes I got from Brasil last year just keeps on delivering. Chaotic and high energy early '00s fastcore/crust from São Paulo with a singer that is even more off the rails than the frenetic drummer. Seven songs in a hair under ten minutes - shouts, screams, blasts and moshes...pretty much all of the things you need.

LIBERDADE

CONSTRITO

I posted the 1999 demo from these São Paulo heavyweights last year, and now here's the bomb that dropped the year before. Fierce mid tempo mosh, crew backing vox that sound like an actual testosterone dogpile, this shit makes me revert back to the adolescent that I never was...and when they lurch forward with the uptempo sections of "Mídia" or "Respieto" I feel like even the casual listener should lose their marbles. CONSTRITO appeals on a very base level, and maybe you take a peek over your shoulder before blasting this in 2015 (there are cool kids lurking everywhere!), but once you get the shit into your earholes? Fukk it man, cool kids need to learn.

CONSTRITO

INFECT

I consider myself pretty lucky to have seen many of my favorite bands over the years. I don't count missing out on bands that hung up their hats before I knew what punk was, but I've crossed paths with most of the bands that have really kicked my ass since I started listening to DIY punk...which is obviously one of the best things about this scene and the bands in it. In 2002 when WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? went to Brasil, São Paulo's INFECT and DISCARGA were probably the band I was most excited to see, and we were touring with DISCARGA so that one was easy. We played just one show with INFECT (a scab lineup with the bass player singing and Pedro playing guitar, if my memory is correct) and the energy was fukkn great. Things I remember about that show include: me wearing shorts (a rarity even then), Mozine drunk on wine (not really that rare), and a balcony surrounding the stage that was jammed with kids. INFECT were all female straight edge thrash, but beyond whatever niche appeal that garnered, they fukkn ripped. I strongly recommend the vinyl discography to all interested parties, and offer thins 1999 demo in the meantime.

SENDO FOGO

PLUTO!

If you thought I was going to start back up with some crucial piece of Asian hardcore history that I unearthed on my recent journey, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hit Flower Records in Nakano (a hotbed of weird demos, I snagged the SEX one song banger there in '09), I passed on the handful of rare Japanese tapes I came across (wisely deciding that my Yen would be better spent on records), and cassette culture was a thing of the past before punk culture took hold China or South Korea. I did scoop a couple of Mongolian tapes that will intrigue the open minded and bum out punk purists, but those are for another day. Today you get noisy, raw, disjointed and irreverent Brasilian hardcore dished out by a crew of teenage punks and weirdos in the late '90s. The attitude here can be found in a lot of current Midwest HC rehash, the 6th unnamed track in particular would sit quite nicely amongst the pile of gold currently plopping out of Northwest Indiana's backside. Sharp, smart, and unabashedly filthy hardcore punk. Welcome back.

PLUTO!

AJUNDATI DI PAPI NOEL

Man, all you monkeys that want to hear new sounds of blown out chaos? You need to be looking to shit like this, because these mutants were taking noise not music to new levels twenty years ago. I'm not talking about "distortion as adornment" hardcore, I'm talking about a relentless freak frenzy of grinding, tuneless Brasilian mayhem - shit that would be revered if it were from somewhere that people thought was cool (and for the record, at the risk of embarrassing myself with a sweeping generalization, most of Brasil is infinitely cooler than the town where you live) but instead it's some '90s band from a place you've never been. For the select (and wise) few who like to have their faces melted and their minds blown, I give you AJUNDATI DI PAPI NOEL. As always, you're welcome.

DEMO TÄPE 2

GRITOS DE ÓDIO

Brasilian hardcore circe 1996, raging and raw. The first time I heard this is wanted to rip holes in everything; anything the band might lack in presentation is more than made up for with the deadly delivery. Hooks when you least expect it, giving the tape an early Italian feel, but the majority of this demo is full on rage that would have melted people's minds if the band had been from North America. 13 some-odd minutes of magic -great shit.

GRITOS DE ÓDIO

DISCARGA

A 13 song demo in less than 11 minutes? OK, sign me up. Raging São Paulo fastcore from 2000? OK, sign me up. Relentless and politically fueled hardcore punk played at a breakneck pace with breakdowns that are faster than most bands can muster up for their "fast" parts today? OK, sign me up. Throw "three really good dudes" into the mix and I will ask you again to sign my ass the fukk up for more DISCARGA. Their vinyl releases on 625 should be mandatory listening for fans of this era of hardcore....and it's an era that I miss more and more, so I'm gonna just say that DISCARGA is mandatory.

DISCARGA 2000

PARENTAL ADVISORY // NO PREJUDICE

Screaming raw fastcore/grind from PARENTAL ADVISORY - this outfit would have been completely at home on one of the Cry Now, Cry Later comps. NO PREJUDICE are next level dual vocal raw hc/grind (light on the low growls though), and their tracks from this split are live which accentuates the "raw" part of the description. "Festa Da Exploração" and "Não Seja Um Robó" are the standouts if only because NO PREJUDICE slow the pace to a steady BONE AWL paced stomp. Zero nuance from either band, just an all out blast, which is exactly what I needed this morning. These sounds come from Brasil, sometime in the late '90s.

ATTACK THE OPRESSION

NO STAND CREW

Hyper posi late '90s youth crew from Brasil. Two demos here (I've been pretty generous with the jams this week, no?): the slightly more produced and clangy bass guitar driven Live Fast Di Young from 1998 and the previous year's Barulho Tapes Songs which is rougher, tinnier and way more awesome. This band is like an intercontinental bridge between 7 SECONDS and OUTLAST.

LIVE FAST DI YOUNG // BARULHO TAPES SONGS

TROPICAL VIRUSES II

Typically when people talk about punk comps as "starter kits," they mean: "here are some important bands from a particular region or genre." In this case, "starter kit" is actually referring to the very start of hardcore punk in Brasil. Included on this volume from the swell gents at B.C.T. are the seminal Sub comp (only the tail end, unfortunately, the rest is on Vol. I), the brilliantly rough O Começo do Fim do Mundo (recorded at Brasil's first major punk festival) and the debut EPs from OHLO SECO (Botas, Fuzis, Capacetes) and INOCENTES (Miséria e Fome) - unhinged power, legendary recordings. And I figure this will compliment the Virus Tropical post from a few months back....

TROPICAL VIRUSES II

I don't have Vol. I to share, but I bet the internet does....

TEST BAN TREATY

Somehow when TEST BAN TREATY screams "I've Got The Straight Edge!" at the 0:49 mark of the second track, it hits a little harder than your average 'core act. Brutally harsh blasts of hardcore that give off nary a hint of youth crew aside from "Trademark," a blistering and rough mangling of the clean cut paradigm. Classify this 2001 Brasilian demo as you like (and I confess that the final track is a head scratcher that falls in line with something a North American basement HC band might have done a few years earlier), but shit rarely sounds this forceful...

8'51"

The anti-CorelDraw missive might date the band even more than the musical content...

DR. MOBRAL

It should surprise no one that, after a trip to Brasil, I am jump starting The Escape with some crucial Brasilian hardcore that you've never heard of. No need to feel slighted, I had never heard of DR. MOBRAL before a couple of weeks ago, and I'm guessing that most people outside of Brasil (or, dare I say, the state of Espírito Santo) still haven't...but holy fukkn shit do they need to. The connection between Finnish and Brasilian hardcore is well established, and it's painfully evident on these two tapes from the late '90s....discordant, damaged, manic hardcore that is equal parts VOID, TERVEET KADET and COLERA even though they came more than a full decade later. Both demos are included in the download (I've been gone for a coupla weeks, so I figure you punks are worth a double shot...right?), but I'm not picking favorites. The Onde Está Nossa Liberdade is a dozen songs, while the self titled banger makes its statement in less than half that many. I can assure you that these songs are not cool and/or hip in anything approaching a first world sort of way...but for those of you who like to have your ass handed to you by some unheralded maniacs that live really far from you? You know what to do.

DR. MOBRAL

For those who are interested, this band features Mozine from Läjä Records and MUKEKA DI RATO. He is a funny ass dude who was, essentially, exactly the same two weeks ago as he was when I met him twelve years ago. It's good to have friends like that.

VIRUS TROPICAL

Mateus brought a handful of these comps up on his last visit, and I owe him big for slipping one into my grubby paws. You should get real familiar with RAKTA if you aren't already, their recent 12" is an absolute stunner and these tracks are in the same department: demented and dreamy ethereal post punk drenched in fuzz and confusion. LIKZO take the bombastic bellowing hardcore approach - teetering on the edge of too distorted creates the right kind of tension throughout, and "Cornered Rat" is pure power. CADAVER EM TRANSE pleased me with last year's flexi, and I continue to be pleased with these goth/post punk tracks. The vocals are the hardest thing to pull off in bands like this, and the vocals are the strongest element here...I look forward to more. GATTOPARDO are by far the mellowest of the bunch, 17 Seconds-era CURE styled guitars lazily lead the band through subtly plodding tunes as suited for an introspective afternoon as for a drunken rager. All four bands are from São Paulo, and I would be quite happy if I get to see any one of them when I'm there in May....hint hint.

VIRUS TROPICAL

RAKTA tracks are from a yet-to-be-released EP, though with an alternate mix. LIKZO recorded their songs at their first rehearsal, which is very very punk. Two CADAVER EM TRANSE songs are from their demo and two are from the flexi session (though only one made it onto the flexi). GATTOPARDO tracks were originally released on their 2013 demo, and Mateus is pretty good at taking pictures.

LATINOCORE

I've toured a lot. I've played shows in places that many people might consider weird or off the beaten path, and I consider myself very lucky to have done so. But FUKK do I want to do an extensive tour in South America, and this tape comp only makes it worse. Well over an hour of raw and uncompromising sounds from Peru (SABOTAJE, AUTONOMIA, DISPAREUNIA, DISLEXIA), Ecuador (INNFELICES, LA DEMENCIA EXTREMA), Colombia (POLIKARPA Y SUS VICIOSAS, EX-KOMBRO, OPOZICIÓN - love the fukkn horns!), Chile (SIN APOYO), Uruguay (BASQUADE INCHALA), Paraguay (200 MUERTOS), Argentina (DISVASTACION, MIGRA VIOLENTA), Venuzuela (APATIA NO, KOLUMPIO BANKITO) and Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile, Brasil, Bolivia (I am racking my brain trying to remember is PSICOSIS SOCIAL was the band we went to see in La Paz in 2002, but I swear that band played DEEP PURPLE covers and not raw metallic hardcore)....fukk man, this shit is beyond comprehensive. The emphasis is on hardcore punk, and the level of quality is outstanding. 49 songs from 31 bands, fans of international hardcore and the world of underground DIY would be remiss to pass this one up.

LATINOCORE I

LATINOCORE II

In a rare diversion from the cassette-only format, today you also get the CDr comp Latinocore II. More of the same, 48 tracks from 36 bands. Several worthy repeats and some excellent new additions: EX-KUPIDOS (Peru), JUSTICA FINAL (Chile), INSOLENTES (Mexico), SIN PATRIA (Colombia), ATAQUE FRONTAL (Peru), RAMIROS (Panama) and a shitload more. What's even more awesome, all this shit was released by a dude from Slovakia.

SOLO SE OYE PUNK VOL. 1

Wanna know one way to make a scene? Make mix tapes. Wanna know one reason why so many killer bands keep cropping up from the overlooked enclaves of inner Los Angeles? Silenzio Statico. The first volume in the never ending quest to turn Los Angeles into punk utopia featured Mexican and South American heavyweights from the '80s, and I dare say that few people could have done a better job selecting tracks from that era/area. Side 1 is dedicated to Brasil (RATOS DE PORÃO, LOBOTOMIA, CÓLERA, OHLO SECO), while the flip hit Mexico (MASSACRE 68, AGROTOXXXICO), Peru (DESCONTROL, EUTANASIA) and Argentina (LOS VIOLADORES). If you feel like you need an introduction (or a refresher course), then you probably do - and this is where you get it. 

SUDAMERICANO/MEXICANO DE LOS '80s