FACE TOMORROW

Perfectly executed and determined positive Y2K//SXE hardcore from Seattle. Of course, you would have guessed that if you had read the "Rain City Straight Edge" thing on the cover. Moshes on point, breakdowns on lock, cheat beat fastcore parts dialed in. It's all of the things, you know? And some of you....some of you know exactly what I mean. 

RAIN CITY STRAIGHT EDGE

HERE

TAPE #55

You should just be able to read the spine on this one and know what's up. The HOMO PICNIC and 7 SECONDS sets are from around 1985 (they play "Just One Day" from New Wind, but it definitely seems like a new addition to the set), and it's good to hear HOMO PICNIC taking some jabs at the headliners between songs...7 SECONDS are straight fire on this recording by the way, positive and earnest and very fukkn real. CRO-MAGS demo has made the rounds forever (I honestly only included it here in the interest of presenting the cassette in its entirety); the URGENT FURY tracks are from the 1985 demo, one of the most underappreciated NY bands that I know of (these five songs were the A-Side of the Demos 1984-86 10" that Broken Rekkids reissued in the early '90s - highly recommended and still readily available in bargain bins around the US); and the BORN WITHOUT A FACE tracks will save you a cool $50 unless you need to hold the OG wax in your hand (and I kinda do). A relic from the tape trading days of the 1980s, collections like this used to be how people found new bands...you got one of these bad boys in the mail and you listened front to back, soaking everything in a mentally categorizing what clicked and what didn't to help guide you deeper into the unknown. The Unknown is good - it's full of wonder and discovery. And its way better than brainlessly filling up your hard drive....

TAPE #55

TIMELINE

From the north shore of the Black Sea in Ukraine....hard hitting midpaced SXE hardcore knows no boundaries, no borders. Melodic and melancholic, TIMELINE create tension with their almost casual approach, never unleashing but always teetering right on the edge with spoken/shouted vocals expectant and fierce. There are only four tracks here, and I confess that it took two of them for me to really lock into what TIMELINE were up to...but the power of technology makes repeat listens effortless, and I've listened to "Fume" five times this morning. So far.

TIMELINE

PUBLIC SUICIDE

This 2013 demo is the most glorious collision of early '00s fastcore, ugly '90s SoCal powerviolence and boys making dogpiles all over other boys in the spirit of East Coast hardcore. PUBLIC SUICIDE hit all of the buttons, they flip every switch. And they turn all of those switches to the "ON" position. Five tracks, 4 minutes and 14 seconds - and 64 of those seconds are the instrumental intro. It's so simple, there's no reason it should be this good.....and yet it is totally this good. 

PUBLIC SUICIDE

MOON BLOOD

Yesssssss punk. Get ready. Tighten your shoe(boot)laces, because you are about to go fukkn wild. Straight for the throat feminist pogo hardcore mania from Las Vegas with vocals that'll make you rip your heart out and die for punk. This is what the shit is about, motherfukkrs, I want more and more and more. Fast, raw, serious fukkn punk. 

CRAMP

SUPPORT

Early '90s Canadian straightedge mosh with overt influence from then-contemporary METALLICA. I can't really justify this thing without context, but the only record I could find of the band band was their inclusion on a cassette comp with EARTH CRISIS and BURST OF SILENCE. My old band played with BURST OF SILENCE at SitCom in Indianapolis in '94 and we chilled outside watching some gutter punk inject alcohol while they were playing...because it was weirder to us than watching a Canadian straight edge band. What is this band about? I have no idea? I remain intrigued after several listens...

SUPPORT

Sorry about the screeches - tapes are killer, but sometimes The World wins.

WE ARE ALL POSITIVE

1999 compilation of four Russian bands with varying degrees of association with the then-new straight edge scene. Extensive liner notes (in English and Russian, all included of course) address which members are (and were) edge, and give a little background on the bands and their scenes...all of which compliments what is already a pretty strong collection of tracks. The opening eight bangers from ОТКАЭ ОТ НАСИЛЯ are probably my favorite on the comp - unhinged hardcore punk with overbearing gruff vocals and a perfectly tinny fuzzed out guitar...the tape is easily worth holding onto for these tracks alone. ПОСАДИЛ ДЕРЕВО play more straight up metallic hardcore, chug riffs, guitar wanks, all presented in moderate fidelity (can I start calling things mod-fi?) and passion. Another eight from CITA ATTIEKSME, the most basic punk outfit of the bunch, flirting with earnest DC hardcore. The tape closes with an ominous offering from SKYGRAIN - fast, heavy, inadvertently distorted hardcore made more bombastic than it actually is simply by the presentation. A compilation that's good for the tunes, but surely made better by the context.

WE ARE ALL POSITIVE

FIGHTINGxCHANCE

Quintessential early '00s SXE hardcore. Melodic guitar leads, earnest lyrics, circle pit parts and dogpile parts...shit is all here, kids. FIGHTINGxCHANCE was a short lived project made up of Detroit and Toronto punks...captures the era perfectly. Members went on to play in NO WARNING and, if the internet is to be believed, this.

FIGHTINGxCHANCE

I've never fucking done it, never fuckin will

drink a fucking substance, I know can fuckin kill

social status, do it because it's cool

do it to be accepted, you're plain [sic] the fucking fool

-----------------

you say he made you do it, you try to shift the blame

but who drank the liquid? you're all the fucking same

too weak to take control, too weak to quit the game

drinking's not a "disease," it's just fuckin lame!

CRUCIAL YOUTH

Here's hoping that your 2016 is full of positivity. 

THE UNITED WAY

TIED DOWN

Just look at that motherfucker in his straight edge letterman jacket and his CHAIN OF STRENGTH hoodie and his index finger stretched out and ready to indicate when you need to sing along....yeah, look and that motherfucker and know that his band is called TIED DOWN and they sound exactly like you think they might, except they are better. This is the 2012 six banger repacked two years later (that's last year, if you're keeping track) with two bangers from a different studio session. Initial demo tracks are heavier, but "Step Back" is the bangingest track on the tape (dude, the drum fills that open that track make drip a little in my pants and the breakdown will drop you to your knees - and the fukkn thing isn't even 60 seconds long). Brutally poignant edge/core from Buffalo, these kids do more in seven minutes than most bands do with their entire discographies. Get ready to be a little tougher than you were before you listened to this....and also to mosh. Yeah, get ready to mosh. Hard.

DEMO +2

you think you're the only one

the only one with problems

take a fucking step back, man

look at this world we live in

YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE

ODD MAN OUT

Devastating Washington state hardcore combining vigilance and determination with intelligence and serious riffs. Fists clenched from start to finish, aside form a portion of "XXX" this is a pure primal churn from start to finish. From the Olympia/Seattle family that's brought you a bunch of bands that you already love...now listen to "Pound For Pound" and punch a hole in the wall.

ODD MAN OUT

UNIT PRIDE

I heard about this band not long after I moved to San Francisco, but they were a band that had existed WAY in the past, an entirely different era. I moved to SF in 1995, so that distant past was really just a handful of years (which of course seemed like an eternity at the time). UNIT PRIDE dropped a demo in '87 that deserves to be placed on the same shelf as countless more revered contemporaries - the thing is rough, but I'll take "Wide Awake" over half of YOUTH OF TODAY's output, and the energy here is just right. But then they recorded an EP the following year, and that thing bangs! No qualifiers, no "well, it's pretty good considering they were from San Ramon and not somewhere cool" bullshit, that six song piece of wax is deadly. The hesitation from the drums is gone, the tones are honed, the pace never lets up (except for the breakdowns - this is a straight edge band, after all), and "Wide Awake" sounds even better than it did the year before. Members of UNIT PRIDE would later play in more famous Bay Area bands REDEMPTION '87, SCREW 32, and NERVE AGENTS, and the internet tells me the guitarist moved to Toronto and played in WOUND UP and PINK EYE (good bands, records readily available in the cheap bins). 

Today's link has the '87 demo, 11 tracks of rough and intent hardcore, and a plainly packaged cassette from 1988, which seems to be the same recording session as the band's sole vinyl release - six tracks here, and "All In The Head" sets the shit off right by letting you know that these kids upped their game from the demo. Maybe there are many bands like this in many pockets of the world...but monkeys keep listening to the same shit over and over instead of searching for the gems. UNIT PRIDE is one of 'em.

UNIT PRIDE

TIME X

Screaming political straight edge (obviously) fastcore - this was the shit that turned me on my ear in the early '00s, and Portugal's TIME X were way ahead of the curve (and the pack) with this 2001 demo. Nine blasts of fierce and uncompromising hardcore played with maximum intensity. The excessive samples are also an indicator of the time, but here they make it clear where the band is coming from and provide welcome breathers instead of killing the flow. Listen early and listen often. 

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT

WIDE AWAKE

I mentioned this pickup a few days back, five WIDE AWKE tunes dubbed on the backside of the DIASPORA's killer 2001 demo. You've seen the cover of their Schism Records EP forever (slightly different from the homemade art on the cassette version that came into my life, included above), and you figured that you knew what they sounded like, even if you didn't know a thing about the band. You were basically right. Just killer 'core, file alongside UNIFORM CHOICE, early 7 SECONDS, positive NYHC and the like....I'm not exactly sure where this recording falls, some are on that first  EP, some on the 1987 demo....but they all made it onto the discography CD that you can probably snag for cheap. But really, once you hear "Friendship," you might not need the rest of the tracks: "just one simple word I'm sure you've all heard...it's called FRIENDSHIP!!"

WIDE AWAKE

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

COUNTER

Makes you want to lean back, crouched with one foot way up in the air and stomp the floor while you propel yourself across the room...and do it over and over with fists clenched tight. Shit is really good.

COUNTER

COMING BACK TO HAUNT YOU

Early '90s European rough and tumble edge and 'core comp - from the hyper speed chugs from PROFAX that open the tape to the chaotic live X-LARGE track that wraps things up 90 minutes later, Coming Back To Haunt you is a killer glimpse into the less celebrated world of hardcore. THE CLOWN, LAST STRAW, X WOOLHEAD, HAMMERHEAD B.T., VITAKORN, ALL IN THE HEAD, and a slew of other bands you've never heard of....plus two rippers from MAN LIFTING BANNER. A heads up that a lot of the content here is live (or just generally raw), but personally I think that adds a little charm - the tape hiss just goes up with the volume. BETRAY (harmonics right out of the gate and straight into a whirlwind), ALL IN THE HEAD (pre-fastcore mania!) and POINT OF NO RETURN (best/worst bass tone ever) offer up my favorite tunes, in case anyone is keeping track.

COMING BACK TO HAUNT YOU

CADENAXO

I've been in several bands and played lots of different shows in different places. It would be impossible for me to say "this one show was the best show I've ever played," or been to, or seen, or whatever, because there are so many different factors that make shows appeal to different parts of the ears, the brain and the soul. But the show RITUAL CONTROL played in Mexico City in December was right up there....everything was right, it was an awesome night, and CADENAXO was a huge part of it. We knew we were gonna play with TERCER MUNDO and MUERTE, so obviously we were stoked, but the criminally short blast from the final ESPECIE FALLIDA song when we arrived (we were late) let me know that this night was going to be extra good. ANTI SEX were stellar, SACRIFICIO shredded...and then there was CADENAXO. I mean, perhaps it's just hardcore...right? But sometimes there's something different and, maybe it's just because you aren't expecting whatever it is you're about to get (and for whatever reason, we were NOT expecting CADENAXO that night), and everything just clicks. These kids bash out perfectly executed US hardcore, nailing all the breakdowns, all the guitar breaks, the harmonics, the intros, the fukkn power of hardcore - and never once do they feel, sound, or seem like they are going through the motions. Sink your teeth into the breakdown in "Prejucios," and then dig the simple (perfect) bass in the intro to "Reaccionar" (naw, bruh - peep that whole damn track, cuz the mosh in that one melts the whole rest of this tape, foo!) - these fukkn maniacs know exactly what they are doing. I'm not telling you that you have to get into this shit, because you are your own human and you will get into whatever the fukk you want to get into...I'm just telling you that this tape is really good if you like hardcore. And I'm telling you that when I saw them play in DF....? That was sick.

CADENAXO

ONLY TEN BETWEEN US

Positive hardcore doesn't necessarily have to be all slick and polished...in fact, I kinda prefer the shit to be a little rough around the edges. Iowa's ONLY TEN BETWEEN US can maybe use a little sanding (and a little tuning), but fukk their raw ass '80s guitar and constantly cracking and creaking teenage vocals go a long long way towards making me not give half a shit how rough this demo sounds.  The riffs are basic but good, the attack teeters on chaos in (almost) the same way as a certain late '90s LA band did on their first EP, and the melodic leads are endearing (even if they put a time stamp on the demo). "INAA" is the killerest track - "I'm not afraid anymore!!!" is a great way to open a track. Get into it, sing along, jump on the dogpile in your mind while they sing about the joys of believing in positivity, even when staring at life's of grim realities like in "Yeah Right, That Kid Fucking Jumped". It'll put a smile on your haggard ass face.

YUOUTH POSI SNACK ATTACK

I don't care if you're from the other side // All I care is that you've got HARDCORE PRIDE

NO MORE

No more brutality. No more murder. No more getting away with it because you're a cop. We keep saying the same things over and over again, yes....but we keep saying the same things because the things are still fukkd. I'm a grown ass man, and I teeter between complete disillusion and complete fury. This demo is really good, and I need this.

XNO MOREX