FLIPOUT A.A

CONQUEST FOR DEATH has toured with these monkeys twice now, so I am totally biased....but Tokyo's FLIPOUT A.A are one of the fiercest and most fun live bands I've seen in the last decade. Or two. Light speed Japanese fastcore featuring current and former members of LIE, HAMMER, NAMASTE, THE FANGS and many others...you can taste the sweat. All energy, all go...their name for our tour(s) pretty much sums it up: FASTCORE THRASHCORE HARDCORE CORE-CORE PUNK-PUNK ANNIHILATION. Looking forward to our trip to Brazil in 2017, you fukkrs!!!

SOUTHEAST ASIAN TOUR TAPE 2015

HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS

Anyone who has ever met me knows that I'm going to jump at a band called HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS without hesitation. I confess that the intro almost made me regret that decision, but thankfully that disintegrated into "Must Go Faster" and then it was off to the races. Heavy on the tongue in cheek everything (especially dinosaurs), they thrash relentlessly and almost certainly drink with equal fervor. Get ready.

WHEN YA GOTTA GO

TRIUMPHANT

I was drinking beer in a Los Angeles record store a few weeks ago, perusing the cassettes and chatting up the store clerk about what's hip with the cool kids these days because I like to stay on top of the latest trends. I snagged a few tapes that will inevitably make their way onto TE for your ears in the coming weeks (current faves: S. MOODY and ALEXADRA ATNIF) while we discussed metal, punk, noise and the Pump Up The Volume soundtrack that he tried to give me for free (I passed - does anyone actually need circa 1989 ROLLINS and BAD BRAINS brutalizing "Kick Out The Jams" in their life? No. No one does. Ever.). At some point we started talking about NSBM creeping into good wholesome underground metal and he told me a story about a one man (boy) band from LA, they're called Satanic something or other, and the tape was pretty good (kinda funny) and he said how off-putting it was when the kid's dad came into the store and expressed pride that his 15 year old son was in a NSBM band. OK dude, that's just weird. So anyhoo, dude casually plopped the case for this TRIUMPHANT tape on the counter after I was ready to pay my money and take my tapes and leave $100 poorer (and happier), and I was all like, "yo buddy, what is THIS?!" And he was all like "damn that shit is grea.....wait a minute, I think they might be bad people." DAMMIT! Why does the meaningless racist ideology of some sweatpants wearing hillbilly who happens to be able to shred the shit out of a guitar have to keep fukking up my distant and unattached appreciation of knuckle dragging heavy metal music?!? BUT WAIT: after some internetting, Record Store Clerk Dude determined that TRIUMPHANT were NOT in fact bad people and so we plopped that shit right into the deck, both realizing that we were two (plus) hours late to meet our respective women, but nonetheless reveling in the random connection based on little more than a mutual love for getting weird and getting down. And he pressed play and those jams banged HARD so we kept listening, both pleased that bedroom nazis hadn't soiled all of the good metal. Blackened thrash soaked into our earholes, a band that seamlessly and effortlessly moved from melodic black metal to ripping speed metal to inverted claw in the air pure power heavy motherfuckkn metal with ease and grace. And they sounded evil as shit and I loved it. So I bought it, along with a bunch of noise/synth tapes and some punk shits...and I left the store two and a half hours after they "closed." What's the point? well, there are two of them:

1) This TRIUMPHANT tape is a certified banger.

2) I like telling stories.

3) Good record stores are a thing to be cherished.

4) I can't count.

HERALD THE UNSUNG

These dudes like to party.

N.E.K. // SEPTIX

Raw and chaotic fastcore/grind from Nagoya. SEPTIX are more primitive, while N.E.K. are a little heavier (and a little more heavy metal). We played with N.E.K. in 2007 at a weird upstairs rehearsal studio - some kids busted out some ALL YOU CAN EAT covers and had Devon sing but I missed it because I went to the store with Kiku. Also, all of the people were very very wasted.

N.E.K. vs. SEPTIX

THE ACCÜSED

1987 recording of tracks that would be included on the More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral full length. Fast, anxious crossover thrash from a band at their absolute prime - when these dudes were firing on all cylinders the result was scary. Worth noting that this is presented as a four song promo, one of which is scrawled out by hand on the cover...but there are five songs. Hey man, beer helps.

4-SONG PROMO

CRAZY FUCKED-UP DAILY LIFE

16 more tracks of mania from Nagoya's CFDL. A fukkd guitar to be envied and emulated, a blistering pace, and simplicity drilled into your brain with devastating intensity. You know this drill.

CFDL DEMO '91

JUANITO 4 GUNS

Killer comp of mostly under-the-radar hardcore/pv bands. CALLATE from Chile start out with three tracks of frantic grind with crushing sludge dirges, then Japan's FLAT SUCKS dish out ultra chaotic spastic bursts that bring to mind acts like FUTURES and DKs - hard to put a finger on what exactly  they are doing, but suffice to say that when I was playing the tape my lady friend commented "wow, that is awful" to one song and "who's this? I like it" to the next. San Francisco's VENKMAN are up next - eight tracks of fastcore and comedy (typically at the same time) before our Italian friends xDELOREANx drop four downtuned numbers influenced by West Coast pv/thrashcore. All four acts are quality, and will inject a healthy dose of irreverence into your serious consumption of sounds. It's good to be a little irreverent.

JUANITO 4 GUNS

STAN HANSEN

Face shredding early '00s hardcore, these six tracks fly by before you know what hit you. STAN HANSEN make sure to include plenty of hooks to keep you reeled in and tracks like "Affluenza" fall in line with more "traditional" Japanese Hardcore, though the bulk here is just chaotic, frantic hardcore of the highest order. Track of the day: "Faith In A Life."

6 ASSHOLE SONGS PINK DEMO

SHORTLIVED

Seven minutes of complete and utter annihilation from New Zealand.  Riffs are killer, attack is ferocious, people are cool as shit to hang out with, and I fukkn swear that if this band were from somewhere cool then people would have lost their shit. Well, it's been a few years, and no one's looking, so feel free to let yourself go, motherfukkrs. Also - they pressed a 12" in criminally limited quantities, but a lot of them made it off their island(s), so I suggest you start looking.

SHORTLIVED

Notes: 

**The breakdown in "I Don't Pray, I Think" is so short and so unbelievably sick. 

**I want to visit New Zealand's southern island someday. 

**This band makes me want to listen to '00s fastcore forever. 

**The riff that starts "Fundamentalist" is so simple and so simply perfect. 

**Punks should wear shoes....I mean, I'm not wrong here.

CHRONIC PLAGUE

There are rehearsal demos...and then there are rehearsal demos. This three song banger features a rough recording of CHRONIC PLAGUE raging while the vocalist speaks the lyrics over the rest of the band. Presumably this was just meant as a tool to prepare for a future studio session...but even the unfamiliar will appreciate the novelty here.

CHRONIC PLAGUE

SLAMBODIANS

More...uh, "refined" than 1987's You Know What I Mean?, SLAMBODIANS entered the new and exciting decade with a five song collection of knuckle dragging crossover thrash. I don't even mind the slap bass on "Livin' Large" (the lyrics are a different story...wow) when delivered with this kind of fury, and when they slow down to a subtle ska beat on "Never Better Than Late" to are without question listening to a band from a different era. But the thrash shit? These motherfukkrs could go hard, and even with the edges smoothed up a bit the rippers on Wot's Wtrong Wit Choo? are certifiable. Under the radar Bay Area thrash? You're welcome.

WOT'S WRONG WIT CHOO?

CRAZY FUCKED UP DAILY LIFE

You are all familiar with this Nagoya based band, yes? Active in the early-mid '90s, C.F.D.L. released a formidable array of noisy and chaotic vinyl slabs and a dizzying number of raw cassette demos like this one. With tracks like "Alcohol....Makes Me Happy" and "I Love DISORDER" I think that even the uninitiated can get a pretty good handle on what's in store when downloading today's cassette: noisy, chaotic, fast, raw, hardcore. Bristol noise filtered through Japanese energy.

NEVER MIND THE ATROCITY EXHIBITION, HERE'S CRAZY FUCKED UP DAILY LIFE

ACCÜSED

1987 collection of outtakes and live tracks from a band that should need little introduction. If you are like me and think that Martha Splatterhead is "fine" and More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral is actually not really essential at all, then I suggest you get into this cassette immediately. As the title suggests, these bangers all pre-date their first studio platter, and everything contained in this plastic shell is fukkn gold. The later stuff here flirts with the crossover/thrash they would become famous for, but way more punk tracks then I was expecting (foolish, I realize, given the timeline of these recordings). So yeah, I shouldn't have to talk about the band, because you already know them - you just might not have known that they were this good. That's why I'm here...you're welcome.

THE ARCHIVES TAPES 1981-86

Was it colored by hand...? Maybe.

STIKKY

I know that history somewhat relegates STIKKY to the joke-band category, maybe it was the lyrical content? Perhaps the artwork and/or hilarious liner notes? But take a minute to listen to those fukkn drums and find a hardcore band that was playing faster in 1987...or any year since for that matter. An absolute blur of teenage angst and fart jokes, these three kids from Santa Clara were relentless and the tracks hold up brilliantly today. So good.

"_______________________"

I was feeling generous and re-upped the "3D-and-a-half" demo, because if you need eleven STIKKY tracks, then you probably need 63 more. Also threw in a live Gilman set from 87. You're welcome. 

DEVASTATION

One of the gems I got from Daniel last summer, this DEVASTATION demo has gotten countless plays at TEHQ. Seminal '80s thrash/death metal from Chicago, these hessians released various versions of a relatively small handful of burners on two demos and self released full length (cassette) during their short existence. Unclear exactly which session this tape is from, since Daniel got it from the band at some point, but you get screaming renditions of "Cranial Hemorrhage" and "Beyond Fear" along with five tracks I couldn't positively identify...but I can declare that the (brief) mosh riff in the third (instrumental) track is unfuckwithable. Fretboard gymnastics are next level on all tracks, but DEVASTATION never sacrifice speed or intensity in the process, these dudes are hard as nails and unrelenting throughout. Collections of the demos have been released on CD and there's a vinyl box that includes a couple of live sets for the completists. But start here...

DEVASTATION

Definitely recommend listening through to the 0:46 live banter, your patience will be rewarded.

MASTERS OF EAR DESTRUCTION

Super tripped out German avant metalpunk from sometime in the late '80s (I'm guessing). The first track conjures serious Japanese thoughts (and thoughts of the highest echelon, if you know what I mean), and then the tape stands up and just kicks you in the ass. If there were a genre called "outsider thrash," then MOED would be the flag bearers, just super fukkn weird and manic crossover mania with songs like "Suck My Dick (your)," "Where's The Meat...." and "Fucking East." I have rarely listened to a band that gave a smaller fuck than these monkeys seem to give, and of course that's a quality that I appreciate and celebrate,. Get weird, my monkeys. 

REAL SHIT

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, SĂŁo 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

MUTANT

While the cassette overflow section at Osaka's Punk & Destroy was dangerous for a fellow like me, I was extremely happy to scoop a handful of previously unknown to me rippers like this 11 song banger from MUTANT. High energy Japanese fastcore/thrash along the lines of early RAZOR'S EDGE and FUTURES, a bargain at only ￥50. I win, you win.

DISPOSITION ACCELERATE

VX GAS ATTACK

Some people may have thought that the resurgence of metalcrust in the early '00s was some kind of passing fad. I can assure you that if more bands of that ilk were this good (or, dare I say if any of them had ever been this good) then the genre would never have viewed as passé. A juggernaut of dual vocal mania with screaming leads and a relentless pace. There are people in this band who are (or have been) in other bands that are also important, but such comparisons would only serve to cheapen VX GAS ATTACK. These sounds just makes me shake my head...rarely will your ears come across a thing done this right. Don't snooze, you're worth it.

POLITICAL SUBTERFUGE

ROMPER ROOM REJECTS

In a weird collision of worlds, I was searching for background on this demo beyond what my old SF buddy could share with me, and I found a post on the still (always) venerable True Punk and Metal blog about the very same demo. That's not really that weird, I suppose, since Nate knows his shit...but turns out ROMPER ROOM REJECTS was Nate's band when he lived in San Francisco nearly 30 years ago, so BOOM! on that one. You can read his description here, or you can believe me when I tell you that this ten song banger is classic late '80s shred. Irreverent, feisty, punk as shit, and unabashedly political while never seeming stodgy or unfun...just like you want a demo to be. 

ROMPER ROOM REJECTS

Worth noting that Nate's demo post has ten songs, but this tape has twelve (and in a slightly different order). Not sure what's up with that...it's one of the many mysteries of the internet. OK, the twelfth song is the theme from The Jetsons, so it's not really a mystery.