KNÆKKEDE STEMMER

A foreboding collection of sounds from Danish aural collagist KNÆKKEDE STEMMER. Subdued industrial ominousity reduced to its most primitive form. The next thirty minutes of your life will be quiet, even temporarily peaceful, but there is nothing calm or reassuring about this release.

BETYNGET AF...

DEIQUISITOR

It took a few listens for Denmark's DEIQUISITOR to hook me, but reeling me in was easy once they did. Manic, chaotic and brutally fast grind/death metal shits...not for the faint. None of the slow slogs that can bog down death metal, this four track banger is pure bloodfucking evil from start to finish. Recent full length is worth your attention as well, in case four tracks isn't enough....

DEIQUISITOR

DANISH MIX TAPE

The spoils of 1980s adolescent postal communication and networking just arrived at your doorstep (or your inbox, or your RSS feed, or whatever). My pal Devon got this shit from someone a long time ago (he could probably tell you exactly from whom and when) and, instead of going into detailed descriptions, here is what's on it:

P.C.P. - rehearsal '87

WAR OF DESTRUCTION - one track

VI - two tracks

RAZOR BLADES - Plastic Messiah EP

WAR OF DESTRUCTION - Nazisvin EP (but with the B side first)

P.C.P. - Split Mind demo

P.C.P. was the real shocker here - both the rehearsal and demo tracks are stellar, while the RAZOR BLADES record admittedly drags a bit (hard to imagine all that girth on one EP, but I am certainly not paying for an original and the internet doesn't lie, so there you have it) and you should already be at least relatively familiar with WAR OF DESTRUCTION and perhaps even VI. This tape is a punk saying: "Hey person from the other side of the world, this is what is happening where I live....what is happening where you live?" And it was done with care and it took a lot longer than assembling a digital playlist. And also, the fool forgot to tape over the NAKED RAYGUN shit at that end, and NAKED RAYGUN pretty much rules....so you win twice today.

DANISH MIX TAPE

I know the tape says "Belgian HC" (inasmuch as Devon's handwriting can say anything at all) after "Sweden HC" was crossed out. All I can say is that those countries are basically pretty close to each other and maybe Devon was suffering from your basic geographical discombobulation that day...and that fools who make mix tapes should take care of cassette adornment (or at least handwriting) before the tape is sent to its new home.

MØNSTERRAPPORTEN

Do you remember ten years ago when København could do no wrong? I played there twice in 2003, and whatever either show might have lacked the town more than made up for by just being generally nice, accommodating and cool as shit. But it seemed like every band from that city was amazing - sure there was probably just a small percentage on our USAdar, but GORILLA ANGREB, AMDI PETERSENS ARMÉ, URO, NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS, YOUNG WASTENERS....you get the drill. And now there's MØNSTERRPPORTEN, who seem to be treating shoegazing garage punk with the same same domination that the aforementioned bands treated their respective subgenres. It's just...perfect. Refreshing even (especially?) in the context of a seemingly constant need to impress, these jams are just fukkn good. That is a fact, not something up for debate.

KUN SNORE

NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR

Cassette version (obviously) of this absolutely devastating 2006 release, Copenhagen's NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR blow the damn roof off of the bulldozer ScandiCrust pradigm. Fist banging kång meets rampaging dual vocal crust with gratuitous leads, heavy as shit and absolutely urgent seven years after it's release. Members of PISSCHRIST, URO, KROMOSOM and others, just in case you missed this one the first time around and still need convincing. The metal breakdown during "In The Shadow Of The Gallows" is the only music you will need today.

NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR

DOGMATIST

Bombastic and devastating, Denmark's DOGMATIST combine the punch to the gut of churning crust with elements of Scandi DBeat and an over-the-top presentation more reminiscent of modern blown out crasher crust acts. Whining vocals raise the hair on my arms, commanding attention and setting them apart from the flock. These dudes know exactly what they are doing.

OBEDIENCE

ZERO POINT

In case you need a little context, these Danes appeared on the World Class Punk comp tape a couple of weeks back, and these songs came off of the same tape that delivered the BÜLD recordings here and the KALASHNIKOV and L.U.L.L. songs at Escape Is Terminal. The ZERO POINT tracks that found their way onto the tape that supplied today's post are from the Murmur EP, tracks that would have made post-punk/pre-alt rock fans swoon when it was released in 1986. "The Preacher" is the standout jam here, dripping with post-SISTERS Wayne Hussey pretense...and ironically at just about the time Hussey parted way with Eldritch & Company. One instrumental number was on my mix tape that does not appear on the EP, and it serves as a nice cool down after these tunes - not sure if this falls into punk, post punk or proto something or other, but the tunes are great, and it means that there is yet another EP that I need to track down. Crap.

ZERO POINT

BÜLD

More information about this band (or this release) would be welcomed. It came to me courtesy of a 25+ year old mix tape with nothing more than the band name and these four songs (other Danish gems were on the tape too, including killer pieces of L.U.L.L. and KALASHNIKOV sets shared on Escape Is Terminal) that likely made up an EP that I cannot seem to find any information about. Glorious and forceful post punk rooted in UK anarcho almost teetering on the edge of more mainstream sounds. Brilliant stuff.

BÜLD

Footage of BÜLD covering THE MOB in 1986 is here, the entire set is included as individual songs if you want to dig deeper. I especially dig the dichotomy of the spiky belt punk singer leading a band of sweater wearing dweebs...I really need more from this band.

WORLD CLASS PUNK

Jakke handed this gem off to me when I was in New York a few weeks back, a brilliant picture of international early '80s hardcore and punk. Compiled by Mykel Board and released by ROIR in 1984, World Class Punk gave a peek into scenes in corners of the world often overlooked, especially in the pre-interweb infancy of punk. COPULATION (Switzerland) dish out a dark post punk dirge that might steal the whole tape for me,  POP GUNS (South Africa) sound like JOE JACKSON - just brilliant pop, WARRIORS OF THE LAST DAYS (Columbia) slog through a wholly inept number with a determination that cannot be faked - though France's NÉVROSE make a case for being even more brilliantly chaotic while CCM (Italy), BASTARDS (Finland), BGK (Holland), RATOS DE PORÃO (Brasil), PURRKUR PILLNIKK (Iceland), DEZERTER (Poland) dish out the kind of quality they are famous for. Sweden's DANSA SKIRKER blew me away and Spain's SLIPS Y SPERMA are raw hardcore brilliance. File this one in the mandatory column, and read Mykel's liner notes here or buy yourself a copy here.

WORLD CLASS PUNK

UNDERGANG

UNDERGANG are a part of the resurgence of old school death metal that some friends of mine rave about. Filthy, mid tempo churning insanity with gutteral vocals...this two song teaser for their next LP was released for their jaunt with ACEPHALIX earlier this year. Of course, I didn't see them on that tour because the night they played SF I waited in line to see KREAYSHAWN, who was just starting to blow up into a media frenzy of racially charged hipster confusion, at some nauseating 16th & South Van Ness flat hat and flavored blunt-o-rama (we didn't make it in, thankfully, and I honestly think that the two hour wait in line was more entertaining - and enlightening - than seeing the show would have been). Realizing we had skipped out on a sure thing (ACEPHALIX and UNDERGANG) for a random shot at ridiculous mainstream merriment, we jetted up to the Tenderloin just in time to miss the metal show at a tight pants,  coke in the bathroom (nah, fuck it, coke it the corner),  please somebody just fuck me before I pass out shithole popular with people younger and hornier than me. With no successes in two attempts, we went to a nondescript second story joint around the corner and strutted down the bar kicking over people's drinks, all three of us screaming karaoke "Holy Diver" while a room packed with norms got on their knees and thrust frat boy metal horns in the air. After last call, our host invited us over for BBQ on his roof (it was 2:30 am), and when we declined he promised that next time we would "do it right," and honestly that scared me a little bit. It was a good night, and I drunkenly listened to these two songs several times when I got home, wondering if seeing them live would have been as interesting as the night I had just experienced. I'm guessing probably not, but it would have been way more metal.

UNDERGANG

DSU

Just like the title suggests, these Danish kids play fast. Real fast. Light speed and ultra chaotic, DSU dish out 14 songs in a hair under ten minutes, blazing by in a whirlwind of blasting skate thrash insanity. Brasil's JÄZZUS is the closest reference you'll find on The Escape, but simply put: if you like your shit fast, then you like DSU. 

FASTER THAN YOU'LL EVER LIVE TO BE

DE HØJE HÆLE // MIG & MIN VEN

For those who need further proof that the Danish are really good at punk, may I present DE HØJE HÆLE and MIG & MIN VEN, two bands who crank out a racket so familiar sounding that you would swear you already have their records, but so catchy that you will be too busy shaking ass to bother looking. Both bands hit the US in 2009, touring through the Deep South to places that no self respecting Euro would ever be found alive, and I'm sure that the sweaty stench of gyrating unbathed flesh that filled the dank bars in the backwoods of Mississippi on that tour is a thing of legend around those parts - tall tales of a van full of sharp dressed super models who unleashed a barrage of distorted garage punk on an unsuspecting handful of yokels and then vanished into the night. DE HØJE HÆLE lean towards the early '00s bands that came from Copenhagen, but with a lo-fi sensibility that will perk up the ears of the most discerning ironic moustaches. MIG & MIN VEN opt for pure and raw garage punk with no low end to speak of, drunk and ready to party. Plus, there are boobies on the cover.

DE HØJE HÆLE // MIG & MIN VEN

ENOLA GAY

This totally ripping 1982 recording from ENOLA GAY garnered the following review from Tim Yo: A 12-song studio demo that's well-produced. It's got that chunky drumming that I don't go for too much, but the guitar sound and vocals are real good, and it's real powerful overall. The main problem with Enola Gay is that they rely a bit too much on the basic repetitive thrash struture. More variation would help. More variation? Is the dude crazy? ENOLA GAY's disjointed drum attack makes rhythmic circle pitting a true challenge, but straying away from their 1-2-1-2 primitive thrash attack is the last thing they should do (and thankfully they didn't). And besides, "Systemets Vold" is a nice mid tempo respite from the breakneck pace of the rest of the demo. These are almost the same tracks released as the 317 Nitter demo that earned the above review, and later reissued on the ENOLA GAY 1982-84 LP released by Kick 'n Punch (several were also on BCT #18, I Thrash Therefore I Am), but this recording sounds much rawer (perhaps the LP was just cleaned up/beefed up and the between song banter was eliminated?), the songs are in a slightly different order, and "Guds Børn" is missing from this tape.  Whatever the source for this recording, the result is 19 minutes of brilliant shits from an essential band.

ENOLA GAY

NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR

In the mid '00s, when the town of Copenhagen meant nothing more that GORILLA ANGREB and NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS to most people, there were still Danish punks playing uncompromising political crust. Punks like NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR. Not trying to ape anything or recreate a style from the past, NDT just bulldoze through eight tracks packed with wailing leads and crushing riffs. An anguished dual vocal Scandi-crust assault recorded in 2005...and it's worth noting that the guitarist is an excellent cook. 

NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR

DANISH ROCK NEWS

A mix tape in two parts from Denmark....the sticker on the cover pretty well explains what you will find inside. Perhaps it might be a little silly to listen to radio DJs blabbering on in a language I cannot even begin to understand, but it's kinda funny to hear BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and SUBHUMANS on the same radio show with Danish KBD shots (though at the time I'm sure it was just punk rock) and UK82 burners. 30 minutes of killer early Danish punk on the flipside...apart from not listing the tracks, someone made a raging comp tape, one that is still worth blasting 29 years later.

Rock News In The Danish Radio // Danish Punk Rock From 78-82 

MORE SELF PROMOTION:

NO STATIK will be at The Morgue in Seattle tonight with WHITE WARDS and BONE SICKNESS.

MIXED COMBAT

One killer hour of bands recorded live on Portland's Life During Wartime radio show. A smattering of Europeans (LA URSS, GORILLA ANGREB, NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS), a couple of Canadians (BRUTAL KNIGHTS and FUCKED UP from when they still played punk), two token Texans (DESKONOCIDOS and SACRED SHOCK), but most of this shit highlights the current crop of punk from Portland Punk City: VIVID SEKT, HELLSHOCK, LORDS OF LIGHT, CRIMINAL DAMAGE, NERVESKADE, THE DISKORDS, DEAD SECTION and loads more bands ranging from balls out crust warriors to melodic dance inducing punk rock. One song from each band, just a great mix tape culled from the archives of LDW - top quality live-in-the-studio recordings that can only be heard on the show - or on this volume of Mixed Combat. This is Volume 1, I can only hope that more are to follow.

MIXED COMBAT Volume 1