THE BLOW INS

This one struck me immediately - a crew of Polish punks living in Dublin and bringing Eastern European punk sounds along with them. Take the jangling guitars of NEON PISS and the stiff approach of INNOXIA CORPORA and the like, and present both with an energy that somehow seems reserved for bands from the Eastern Bloc. Gruff, desperate vocals and impossibly excellent songs, this is a tape that needs to be shared repeatedly, and hopefully there's more to come...

THE BLOW INS

PARANOID VISIONS

Snarky Irish button pushers PARANOID VISIONS sometimes get lumped in with regional anarcho punk acts but, appropriately perhaps, they don't really fit in with most of their contemporaries from England. Bluurg released a cassette, All The Madmen had a hand in an EP in 1986 and there's an association with CRASS, but during their 10 year run starting in 1982, these kids mostly released their own stuff and did their own thing (including a pretty hilarious anti-U2 campaign in the late '80s). Halo Of Phlegm was recorded near the end of their initial run and circulated only on cassette until a recent CD reissue (that included other material recorded around '89/'90) and it's all over the place in a glorious way. "Afraid Of Life" has an early MISSION/SISTERS vibe, "AIDS" might be presented as an interlude but acts as a chill inducing quasi-industrial track, while "Autonomy," "Cycles Of Christs" and "Vandals" are pretty straight forward punk numbers and "Death To The Poor," "TV Ads" and "Lies" are hardcore punk burners. Combine this with the drawn out art/goth/anarcho title track and the full recording is more than a little scattered - which is a bit of the charm.

HALO OF PHLEGM

GAZE

That guitar. Total HELIOS CREED level manipulation, topped with high pitched manic vocal lurches instead of angst ridden screams. But....that guitar. Shit is just wrecked. I want you to pay attention to the snare roll that leads into the breakdown in "Fuck You, Fuck Off," because that is exactly how good a simple thing can be when everything is on point. I want to go to Ireland someday, seems like it's nice there, and maybe I can see this band.

GAZE

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