DILÖNIS

(stock blank tape image from the Terminal Escape archives)

DILÖNIS had one track on the Latvian Underground '93 tape I posted last week. In case one track wasn't enough, the flip side of that tape features 30 tracks of the same weird, abrasive hardcore. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, then go find the aforementioned comp here and then listen to DILÖNIS. Active with various lineups from 1990-94, this sometimes dual bass outfit often managed to practice with no equipment (during slow periods at the hospital where they all worked) and still cranked out a slew of recordings worth noting (I have no clue what recording/s these tracks are taken from). Fast, loud and seriously weird, this is the shit the Cold War kept us from hearing. So yeah, fukk war.

DILÖNIS

LATVIAN UNDERGROUND '93

I know more or less how you people work. Several hundred of you will stop by during the course of the day. You will look at whatever gem I have unearthed, and then you will move along in search of the latest black leather jacket shoelace headband band or perhaps some throwback to '80s death rock cranked out by kids who were not born until after that subsubgenre had long since turned into third rate college rock. But a few of you are smarter than that. A few of you will look past the poor penmanship on the cover of this mixtape and wonder to yourselves "What the fukk could this be?" and in this modern age, the answer is a mere click away. There is guitar damaged weirdness from SHINE ON (see earlier dis on college rock but insert the insistence and lack of pretension from early accidental no wave), PAGAN are unbridled frustration at 1000mph, while VS are noisy fukkd synth drenched dark dance friendly sounds. Several tracks here could make up a killer Bloodstains styled comp from Latvia: EJ DIRST, KRAMPI SARAVEJS, END OF CAPITALISM, M GVARDE and the angular Scandinavian sounding REZ GREZNIBAS to name a few, but the weird bands on this tape are ones that stand out to me...morose plodding sounds from PROJECT HALL, psychedelic downer TRUBAPSIHS, TUKSA MUCA (with a better recording this might be the standout song on the tape), glorious ineptitude from ULDIS DUMPIS, snotty old school Euro punk from NACIJAS URNIS (think TAMPAX and IVY GREEN), and a killer primitive death metal track from GRINDMASTER DEAD. But even amongst all this intrigue, curiosity and legitimate greatness there has to be a standout track, and that comes via TRANKVILIZATORS' "I Wanna Kill The President," a one note jammer that drips with attitude and screams "lost classic." But since they are from Latvia, TRANKVILIZATORS are just another creator of lost sounds, to be enjoyed and marveled at by the few dozen instead of the legions that they deserve. Naturally, this compilation cannot be all quality - there are a few clunkers stuck in between the gems, but the gems are plentiful and unknown (at least to these ears), and even abrasive acts like GATERA STRANDNIEKI and INOKENTJIS MARPLS and the surfing on Mars weirdness of KRUSTA PILS have still earned their place in my heart. I'd like to insert some pompous "whatever, you aren't even smart enough to listen anyway so why do I bother" statement, but that seems inappropriate...the question is: If you don't want to hear things you've never heard, then why do YOU bother?

LATVIAN UNDERGROUND '93

You change all the rules, and you think that we're all fools.