JOCK CLUB

I still sometimes think about that MARSHSTEPPER show at The Lab in SF a bunch of years ago, when I showed up on time (stupid) and waited for HOURS before anything happened and then when something did happen it was a fucking laptop techno DJ kid and I was silently fuming because I'm old and sometimes I get cranky and sleepy and I just wanted to fucking see MARSHSTEPPER and then after a few minutes I was like "damn, this laptop DJ kid is fukkn banging" and then I was really happy and MARSHSTEPPER was super good too. Yeah....been a JOCK CLUB fan ever since that night. Good job, laptop DJ kid. 

IN THE JUNGLE

J.S. AURELIUS

The title pretty much sums this one up perfectly, and the source pretty much ensures quality. I suppose I could say a lot of things, but I will leave it here: this is mandatory, my friends. Headphones and volume strongly recommended.

FOR LUXURY OR THERAPY? MEDITATIONS ON DRUG USAGE

GLOCHIDS

Beautiful and peaceful collection reinterpreting nine different GLOCHIDS tracks. Remixes by JOCK CLUB, SØREN, J.S. AURELIUS, DEEP PILL, SANDOVAL and others. Perfect listening today, for a myriad of reasons. 

REmI-X

DEALING & TROPICAL BODY

A quarter hour of dark electronics and tortured manipulations from DEALING (for the more curious, I believe this outfit is associated with the decidedly more filthy SACRED FOLLOWERS).  Four tracks from TROPICAL BODY on the flip, and as much as I dig the entirely of this tape, the distant rhythms and high end hiss of "Minimal Structure For Aircraft Travel" is the piece of work that keeps me coming back. Check the 4:25 mark, when that hiss peels back to expose the rolling swarm of synth pulsating under the beats...this is the shit that I want. Don't get me wrong here, all four tracks of lo-fi psychedelic techno are stellar, I don't want my affinity for that one song to imply that this is outfit is only good for one track - quite the opposite. Our Love Was Real is an excellent pairing and deserves repeated listens (as expected from Ascetic House), and I expect that you will be very pleased to give this tape the proper attention.

OUR LOVE WAS REAL

JS AURELIS

Sit down. Breath deep. Look inward. Get weird. 

This is a world that is mysterious to most (myself included). You want to ask (yourself? someone? anyone? and expert? the authorities? The Artsit?) what is happening. what is the motivation. what do you want from me. WHY....why do I keep returning? But I return. To sounds of digital collisions and audio manipulation. And I don't leave...because I can't. And I don't want to leave - (headphones recommended) -  I want to return.

SLIME OF THE CHASM

DISMAL LIGHT

Crazy addictive, and far more upbeat and animated than 2014's Commute, this offering from DISMAL LIGHT combines hypnotic repetition and subtly inventive beats to create a mysterious minimal techno/psych/trance hybrid. Get way deep into this one, punks...the mastery of The Simple Things is something to marvel at all times, and only emulate when appropriate. 

FERTILE SPORES

This was a part of Ascetic House's "January Program" project in 2014...would love to have the entire series if anyone's holding.

BULLYRAG

There are times (as on "In Eager Mess") that I find BULLYRAG too self indulgent, too...well, too emo. But "With Jupiter Rising" follows that track and it's even more '90s emo (and when you hear this tape, you'll find that hard to believe), but it's got teeth. Mostly this tape doesn't have teeth, but that makes it even better when they are bared, you know? And it's like a time warp...I swear I claimed to hate this shit at the time, but I also toured with BOY SETS FIRE once and I genuinely dig the CHRISTIE FRONT DRIVE single on Freewill, so maybe I was always just posing. There's something so adolescent and innocently masculine about this era....dominated even more by male voices than most punk scenes, it always seemed (and seems even more so now) that many were struggling to shed their very maleness by stepping out of the traditional trappings of gender based stereotypes. But maybe it was really just a bunch of boys in the playground...regardless, the soft spot grows as my age advances, and "But There Are Brighter Dreams Than Those Of Fame" is a solid jammer. 

VITAMINS FOR TROUBLED HEARTS

PLEASURE KORPS

The opening track sets an ominous tone, and from there Blessings confidently swerves between ambience ("Here Comes The Warm Piss," "Jamming Efficacy Testing Ordeal"), drug induced(ing) industrial slogs ("End: The Machines Are In Motion," "What Is Where Of Here?"), and what I can like to think would have happened if DJ SCREW had ever gotten his hands on some CLOCK DVA (shit is weird and really really good). The Nostilevo family never disappoints, and considering this project comes from the mind of JS AURELIUS I wasn't surprised that it was good....but still I am blown away. 

BLESSINGS

APRIL WALKER

A seemingly nice grandmother type from Arizona belting out endearing versions of your favorite '70s/'80s pop/country faves. Her rendition of "Could I Have This Dance" (Anne Murray) sounds like a high school talent show version of the original, while "Why Have You Left The One You Left Me For" might swing even more than Crystal Gayle's version (wait, who am I kidding? but April manages to pull this one off nonetheless). I wonder if she had a backing band? Session musicians? Regardless, finding a crew to belt out Tanya Tucker's "It's Only Over For You" and make it sound authentic is no mean feat - right down to the drum fill into the initial chorus. "Talkin' In Your Sleep" sounds almost fresh from Walker, feel free to file this track alongside legends Crystal Gayle (several reworkings of her hits in this collection) and Reba McEntire, who both had good runs with the same simple (and simply perfect?) song. Some of the instrumentation is admittedly hokey (take "Somebody Loves You" as a prime example), but this is a solid collection, crafted by an obvious fan...enjoy.

SINGING THE HITS

DEEP PILL

Another selection from the dizzying array of contributions from the Ascetic House family, DEEP PILL implants a half hour of trippy minimal techno into your body with 2013's High Dose. Building up and cooling down throughout the five tracks, this tape seems to settle into the background at times...until you realize that the rest of your day has receded and you are paying attention to nothing but these sounds (the 4:10 mark of the second track is where this really starts to take hold, and it never lets go). This label never disappoints.

HIGH DOSE

MARSHSTEPPER

I first saw MARSHSTEPPER at a place called The Lab in San Francisco a few years ago. I don't remember why I wanted to go to the show, because I didn't really know anything about the band, but I had convinced myself that it was gonna be a thing...so I went. I didn't know anyone there, and it was a big weird open art gallery, so I sat in the corner and drank....and I waited. A long time. And nothing happened. I texted Karoline something to the effect of "I am an idiot. Why am I waiting for something to happen? There's no way that whatever is going to happen is going to be good enough to justify all this waiting once it actually happens, which might be quite a while from now." And still I waited. Alone. I mean, there was one dude that I kinda knew, and we said "hi" but that was it because he had actual friends there....and by "there" I mean The Lab in San Francisco, where exactly nothing was happening. Apparently there was a fellow from AVON LADIES in the band, because I saw him walk in with some equipment, but we had only met that one time in that really hot warehouse (I mean, most things in Phoenix are hot) so after we said "hello" I just kept waiting. I went to the store and bought two beers, drank one of them on the way back from the store and then went inside with the other one....and I waited. Seriously, either I was really early, or the show was really late, because I waited for a long ass time. No way a show could be good enough to justify the waiting, but I kept waiting because of a thing called FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). What if it was really good? What if it was worth the wait? So I waited....and then a band played. By "band" I really mean "dude with a laptop computer and he was called JOCK CLUB and it was pretty cool (actually very cool) so I kept waiting, encouraged by optimism and FOMO. And then it got dark. And there were candles. And there were robes. And there were naked men. And it was transcendent. Perfect. Awesome. Everything I hoped plus so many things that I never dreamed. It was the thing you wait for. It was the thing you are afraid of missing. It was the reason that FOMO exists - because you do not want to miss what I saw. I've tried to see MARSHSTEPPER several times since, and every time something has gotten in the way. I like to think that this is the universe telling me that I saw the perfect show, and that I do not need to see another. Maybe, for once, the universe is right.

MARSHSTEPPER

SACRED FOLLOWERS

Sometimes punk music (and I'm talking about the large umbrella description of the genre/scene) is scary and menacing because the band is giving off the impression that they are outside of society and don't give a fukk. SACRED FOLLOWERS is absolutely terrifying because, while it's obvious that they don't give a fukk about you, it also sounds like they do not care about themselves. These sounds are destructive in every sense of the word - pained, filthy, churning...and really really heavy. Arizona, man....the brighter the sun gets, the darker the people become. 

DARK GREASE

METHRA

Sometimes this is exactly what I want...not often, but sometimes. METHRA is the perfect band for those times, expertly crafted stoner/doom with tonnage for days. There's a higher, almost OZZY-esque voice that appears in "Blessings" and "SBS" and you realize that these kids are doing their own thing because it's almost funny....almost. The pace quickens for "Slumscraper," but the closer that follows is an exercise in deliberate delivery and patience. Heavy doesn't begin to describe METHRA; they can rely successfully on the riff or on the presentation and either way they win. Sometimes this is exactly what I want.

IV-RONKONKOMA

RUINACRE

Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado were not necessarily prolific in the '90s, but the bands that came from those states were overwhelmingly excellent and I can assure you that those lucky enough to see Flagstaff, Arizona's RUINACRE have not forgotten them. With nothing but this cassette and an LP on Satan's Pimp that suffers mightily from a poor recording as a legacy, the world can be forgiven for skipping them over, but holy shit if this demo doesn't contain fifteen of the most intense minutes of your listening life. Grinding, blasting, fukkn exploding hardcore with dual vocals and a nauseous low end that churns through manic bursts of rapid fire drums that only seem able to play a beat when the band occasionally slows to an excruciating crawl. The guitars are crushing and relentless, except for that one almost clean track that sounds like it's scraping a hole in your brain while RUINACRE ascend on tracks like "Rotten" and "Most Difficult Test." Pay special attention to "Desperate Persuasion," especially when the bass and drums take it at the 0:49 mark: that's what face melting sounds like. Fast, heavy, difficult, filthy...this demo is the very definition of intensity, and there are few documents from this era that can hold a candle. If you missed them (and you probably did), you can be forgiven. But if you miss your opportunity now? Well, that one's on you.

RUINACRE

GAY KISS

GAY KISS are pretty well documented on the internet, and the LP that dropped earlier this year is among the fiercest things to pass through my ears in a while. The vocals are unparalleled, and they somehow stick tenderness into music that is so relentlessly intense that I'm convinced that any hint of sensitivity must be an accident. This three track demo was released for their tour a few months back (obviously), and I wish I could tell you to listen to it and think of happy summer times...but this thing is every bit as bleak as the winter. It's hard to believe that the enthusiastic fastcore kid I stayed with in Phoenix on tour in 2004 has turned into the beast that is even partially responsible for this filth...

SUMMER 2013

CONFLICT

I pulled these tracks off of a mix tape packed with crucial demos and lifted the cover scan from Kill From The Heart, all so you could dig on one of my favorite under appreciated early '80s hardcore acts. The guitar is screaming, a buzzsaw on top of a furious drum attack that is a little more unhinged on this recording than on their LP (which is mandatory listening in my opinion). And while the vocals that "Nurse" belts out might be a little bouncy, there is an attitude and a ferocity that no melody can hide. "White Skin," standout track, and "Chronic" sounds like the hardcore song that X never wrote. This shit rules so hard, now I need to get myself an original...

AMERICA'S RIGHT

CELESTIAL INDIFFERENCE

Nauseating swarms of disjointed pulsating rhythms treated with almost unimaginable cruelty. This is the  soundtrack to an urban avalanche of monumental proportions.

MOLEHILL WITCHCRAFT

NUCLEAR DEATH

After four demos (according to Encyclopedia Metallum), Phoenix's NUCLEAR DEATH dropped this bomb on the metal underground in 1990. Just under one half hour of insane blasts and manic riffing, this is aggressive death/thrash played by people who were obviously well capable of playing complete crap but instead selected nonstop speed and schizophrenic mania as their delivery method of choice. Much of this demo requires full attention - this is not an "in the background at the keg party" metal record, it is instead more of a "sitting in me bedroom wearing sweatpants trying to decide if I am going to kill myself or other people or just let myself go completely insane" metal record. The first 45 seconds of "Cremation" make up some of the most bizarre and frustrating sounds I've come across in many moons....NUCLEAR DEATH will challenge you both musically and mentally. You don't want me to talk about the lyrics. Trust me.

BRIDE OF INSECT

EN CAHOOTS

Filthy desert baked bass/drums grind violence. After six minutes of blown out insanity, Tucson's EN CAHOOTS launch into "Pierda," a dirge of noise and anguish that lasts well over eight minutes. This is the result of a painful existence...or perhaps this just will result in a painful existence.

EN CAHOOTS

OPINION ZERO

The speed and intensity from the first MDC record with harsh and articulate vocals a la NOTA, 23 tracks in all, and there's seriously not a dud among them. As is too often the case, if this band had existed four years earlier or in a punk mecca like SF or DC then you'd see their name scrawled across the leather jackets of legions of teenagers trying to relive glory days that may or may not have ever existed. These songs are taken from the 1987 Storm Und Stress demo, one of three recording sessions crammed onto one CD a few years ago. This is well worth your time (would I lie to you?), and I challenge you to not sing along to "Fuck You Shut Up" when the mosh breakdown/chorus kicks in.

STORM UND STRESS