BULLDOZED

Late '90s metalcore was all the rage everywhere is seemed at the time, and SE Asia was no different. But there's something about the pure and vicious don't give a fukk vibe about these recordings that makes me almost nostalgic for knuckle dragging monotonous E chugs and beat down mid tempo moshes. From the brief liner notes on this tape, I gather that BULLDOZED may not have been the most savory or supportive dudes in the Philippines DIY scene ("we never claimed we're the good guys") but they were certainly fierce, and growing up surrounded by poverty and a flourishing economy based on drugs and prostitution that funnels profits to foreign nationals and organized crime while leaving the local population to fight over the scraps....? Well, that might throw a little shade on your outlook. Even on these rough recordings - a 1998 demo and a live set from the following year - you can feel the power....and the hate. 

BULLDOZED

RUSH IxDx

On the recent CONQUEST FOR DEATH tour, I was lucky enough to not only spend time with heaps of old friends and acquaintances, but meet a long list of new punks, metalheads and ragers and see a pile of bands I had never heard of before our trip. That's the point for me, and it's the main reason most of us keep doing this shit...I want to get floored by LAI SEE in Beijing, and I want to have brief heart-to-hearts that will stay with me for years, even if our paths don't cross again. These punks from the Philippines provided me with similar experiences in 2008, even though RUSH IxDx was a side project on hiatus when we were there. We played with members' other bands in Lucena, and got floored like we wanted and had the heart-to-hearts like we hoped...and the encounters are still with me years later. This outfit reassembled in 2009 to make this recording (A-side is their studio output, live versions and some extra covers on the flip), and fans of The Fast Shit will lament that this handful of tracks is all you're gonna get. Good times, kids...but good times with a point. That is what this thing is all about. 

RUSH IxDx

INTOXICATION OF VIOLENCE

Early Filipino hardcore has an indescribable energy. I confess that I have heard very little, but every time I come across a release from Twisted Red Cross I get excited all over again and typically lost myself in an internet hole for a few hours. INTOXICATION OF VIOLENCE is no different, and this might be my personal favorite '80s Philippine punk artifact. Raw and hopelessly infectious, I.O.V. have the vibe that thousands of bands have been trying to recreate and manufacture for two decades...it's just real.  Closer to hardcore or thrash than contemporary labelmates like G.I. & THE IDIOTS or DEAD ENDS, the parts of this tape that aren't insanely addictive ("Stop Being An Ass," "Lebanese Child" are absolutely raging ("Demoralized Ideas," "Snap Election," "Gorbachev Attack"). This is a scene often overlooked and well worth your time, so start here and then go here and get stuck in your own internet rabbit hole...after you listen to Another Destructive Century. 

ANOTHE DESTRUCTIVE CENTURY

THRASH METAL SUPERSTARS

This is filthy, loud, live and raw thrash metal up your ass for 30 painful minutes. PAGAN FIRE from Philippines start the massacre, just a horrific racket. Japan's ABIGAIL follow with "Satanic Metal Fucking Hell" and "Hell's Necromancer" - I swear that this band is the modern incarnation of VENOM. And BLACK SISTER close out the tape with four tracks more searing but even more lo-fi than the rest of the tape. For raw purists only, I probably should have put this on the live blog, but I didn't feel like depriving you fiends any more than I felt like frightening the people who downloaded the THROWING MUSES set I posted a few weeks back.

ALIVE LIKE A NIGHTMARE!

DEAD ENDS

After releasing some of the most seminal underground Philippine punk in the late '80s, DEAD ENDS were quiet for several years before their final release in 1995. Mamatay Sa Ingay definitely shows the influence of more commercial '90s punk and metal, but the vocals are searing and undeniable, and even the influence of western melodic punk cannot reign these fools in. At one point I considered suggesting that it sounded like Paul Baloff fronting early NOFX on crack, but then I figured that would turn some of you off so I decided not to say it. "Ngunit Walang Umintindi" could be lifted from the self titled FACE TO FACE debut (what, you didn't know? that record is fukkn brilliant) but tracks like "Madaling Sabihin, Mahirap Gawin" are just blistering proto-fastcore and "Pulis! Pulis!" is a mandatory circle pit banger. Bassist Jay (who founded the band along with his brother, guitarist Al) passed away shortly after this release and DEAD ENDS subsequently disbanded, but it's clear that the eight year gap between 1988's Damned Nation and this killer swan song were well spent - even if the result is more proficient than their early releases, none of the power is lost and it absolutely kills start to finish.

MAMATAY SA INGAY

NO RACISM, NO AUTHORITY!

A cooperative effort released in 1997 benefitting Dare To Care (a human/animal rights collective from Philippines) and Callus Collective (an anarchist leaning group from Malaysia focused on helping the underprivileged). Not surprisingly, this tape is made up of bands from Philippines and Malaysia, places where dishing out raw hardcore punk was way fukkn different than it was for me in the late '90s. There's something special about punk made in a time and/or place where just being a punk is/was a political statement, and I think that No Racism, No Authority! captures that brilliantly. BAD OMEN (blown out but still kinda melodic punk), N.S.A. (excellent 7 SECONDS styled posi-HC) and A.D.A. (ripping gruff ramshackle raw punk) from Philippines on one side with SILENT MAJORITY (accidental '80s Italian worship, easily the coolest songs on the tape), KHESOM (raw, sinister and borderline inept - this is high praise coming from me actually maybe these are the best songs on the tape), and F.S.F. (fast irreverent hardcore with killer vox and perfect guitar leads - So Cal fans rejoice, especially on "Tolerate No More," an undiscovered classic jam) from Malaysia on the flip. Tapes like this frustrate me, because I want everyone to listen - but I can only say "you need this" so many times before the words become meaningless (and I'm afraid that happened sometime in mid-2005). But there's something different about punk that means something - and whether geographically, ideologically or musically, this comp nails it.

NO RACISM, NO AUTHORITY

G.I.+THE IDIOTS

GEORGE IMBECILE AND THE IDIOTS could have shared stages with any number of high profile '80s hardcore bands - the irreverent approach utilized by bands like THE STUPIDS, ADRENALINE O.D. and DEAD KENNEDYS shines on this 1986 release. "This Time For Real" and "Bury Yourself" are legit scorchers with shrill teenage vocals (and an occasional shrill trumpet), while "Nine Years In Service" combines that manic chaotic thrash attack with a warped guitar that modern day noise punks would die for. Most of the tape falls basically in line with the feisty skate punk of the era - not taking themselves too seriously but clearly serious about partying hard and playing fast. Listen to "Uncivilized" - a perfect marriage of snotty US hardcore and driving UK82 punk...and the guitar intro is absolutely unparalleled. But G.I.+THE IDIOTS were from Philippines, so they never shared a stage with JFA or DESCENDENTS, even though they were more than worthy.

FASCINATING WORLD OF GARBAGE

NEVER FORGET THE CAUSE

Nine bands, 14 songs, and music from all over the punk spectrum. After an admittedly slow start (SCREWHEADS and ANAK NG KAPRE are charming, if rudimentarily inept and traditional ska from the brilliantly named TOILET SCANDAL follows), things really get rolling with the chaos thrash of DRASTIC NOISE and killer catchy street punk from DEAD SPERM. Then on the flip side the tape kicks into high gear: metallic motorpunk (BIOFEEDBACK), amateurish political street punk (BAD OMEN), gloriously incompetent Oi (PUTANG I NAS) and my two favorite songs on the tape: chaotic ragers from the female fronted MONGOLOIDS. These two tracks alone are well worth the whole tape, but a document like this is valuable on so many different levels....being punk in Philippines in 1993 was a world apart from the zine trading and workshops that were taking place in the US, and had little to do with the black clad anti-goverment crusters roaming Europe. Never Forget The Cause highlights bands on the first wave of DIY punk in Southeast Asia.

NEVER FORGET THE CAUSE

DEAD ENDS

It is very possible that many of you will not bother listening to this tape because you are not already familiar with DEAD ENDS, or perhaps because they are from Philippines instead of some hotbed of punk brilliance like England or Sweden. Maybe this 1986 tape from a country ravaged for decades by war and imperialism (Western and Eastern) just doesn't interest you, and that's fine - but it makes you a jerk. I'm not one to point fingers or call people names, but every person who reads this and does not choose to listen to the music to which I am referring is a jerk. Not a douchebag or an asshole or a pig or even a bad person...just a bit of a jerk. At least for today, tomorrow you can be swell again. DEAD ENDS will likely never be emblazoned across the backs (or sleeves) of the cool kids leather jackets, but these songs are earnest punk at its finest. There is a distinct DEAD KENNEDYS vibe, especially with the vocals (despite the singer's plea: "I don't wanna sound like Jello Biafra" - I guess someone mentioned the similarity after the release of their first tape), the whole cassette pulls liberally from catchy '80s California shits and the result is top quality punk. Awesome stuff, and while it's possible you might not agree with me, it's also possible that you are jerk. If you aren't a jerk, then clearly I am referring to someone else.

SECOND COMING