"And If Thou Will, Remember"

Another mix tape that I made for a dear friend who lives far away. I haven't mailed it yet (I am bad about that, along with many other things related to procrastination and distraction and delay), but I know that they never visit The Escape so I don't really feel like I'm cheating here. I'm just sharing. Sharing is a thing I am pretty good at. This tape contains some long time favorites of mine, included in the hopes that they will perhaps become someone else's favorites if they aren't already (SLEEP CHAMBER, OMEGA TRIBE, WIPERS, GLENN BRANCA), a handful of relatively recent discoveries (PATRICK COWLEY, M. NAGESWARA RAO, ROSA YEMEN, JEFF BECK), and some with presence in both categories (or neither). And while the tape was very deliberately curated for one specific set of ears, it's of course possible that the sounds contained will never land there...so this is why we share. 

SFSP // 0617

TAPE #55

You should just be able to read the spine on this one and know what's up. The HOMO PICNIC and 7 SECONDS sets are from around 1985 (they play "Just One Day" from New Wind, but it definitely seems like a new addition to the set), and it's good to hear HOMO PICNIC taking some jabs at the headliners between songs...7 SECONDS are straight fire on this recording by the way, positive and earnest and very fukkn real. CRO-MAGS demo has made the rounds forever (I honestly only included it here in the interest of presenting the cassette in its entirety); the URGENT FURY tracks are from the 1985 demo, one of the most underappreciated NY bands that I know of (these five songs were the A-Side of the Demos 1984-86 10" that Broken Rekkids reissued in the early '90s - highly recommended and still readily available in bargain bins around the US); and the BORN WITHOUT A FACE tracks will save you a cool $50 unless you need to hold the OG wax in your hand (and I kinda do). A relic from the tape trading days of the 1980s, collections like this used to be how people found new bands...you got one of these bad boys in the mail and you listened front to back, soaking everything in a mentally categorizing what clicked and what didn't to help guide you deeper into the unknown. The Unknown is good - it's full of wonder and discovery. And its way better than brainlessly filling up your hard drive....

TAPE #55

VACATION MIX TAPES

The Escape is going on vacation and then going on tour and then going on vacation again. Please find me with RAKTA starting next weekend, then both STERILE MIND and NO STATIK will be playing Everything Is Not OK III the weekend after that....and I believe it will be the first time I have played in Oklahoma since 2002. Then it's off to Mexico for a week, just to make a general nuisance of myself before I trek back to SF through the desert. To tide you over, here are the second and third mix tapes in a series that I made for some dear friends. As I mentioned in the post of the first tape (which was Volume 2 when sequenced alphabetically) a couple of weeks ago, there are common themes through the tapes, several shared artists, and all three start with the same track, and I will likely listen to each of the several times on my drive to Austin which will start in a few hours. 

R4Rv.1//17•C

-----------------

R4Rv.3//17•P

Friendship is to be valued and treasured, and should be treated with the respect that it deserves. 

R4Rv.2//17•N

Recently, I made a series of related mix tapes for three friends that will be visiting later this month. I started them all with the same track ("Today's Modern Woman" by SUBTONIX - which is unquestionably one of my favorite, and one of the greatest, punk songs of all time) and kept a few common themes throughout the tapes while still trying to tailor each one my understanding of the tastes and interests of each friend. It's a challenge, but it's a fun one. So each mix has different tracks from HAWKWIND, PAUL SIMON, OMID WALIZADEH and SISTERS OF MERCY. On the one hand, this selection (version #2, in case you can't decipher my title) is a bit more punk than the other two that will all appear here in coming weeks, it also features a creamer from SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK and RARE EARTH's "(I Know) I'm Losing You" (which is to rock music what the aforementioned SUBTONIX track is to punk)....but diversity is what makes a mix tape good for listening. Right? Right. Punk is for meeting friends, mix tapes are for letting you know you love them. 

R4Rv.2//17•N

MALACHI TOUR TAPE

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned the MALACHI Europe tour back in 2009? Well we listened to this tape constantly on that tour, and it brings a smile to my face every time I put it on. The tour mix tape is an important thing, a thing mostly gone the way of youtube and podcasts and playlists I am afraid....I should give a shit about that, but I don't give a fukk.

TOUR TAPE

IZGUBLJENA ALTERNATIVA

If this isn't what you want, then I don't really know why you bother paying me a visit. 1985(?) Yugo comp featuring UBR, QUOD MASSACRE, DISTRESS, NECROPHELIA, SOLUNSKI FRONT and DVA MINUTA MRĆ»NJE.....if you monkeys want something better than this....? Fukk, I don't know what to tell you. 

IZGUBLJENA ALTERNATIVA

For what it's worth and/or extra encouragement, there are eight tracks of primitive live/demo shitcore mania tacked onto the end of this tape that are not credited on the insert...to some ears, these might be the finest (read: shittiest) ten minutes on the entire cassette. So if you are feeling jaded but still think you are brave....? Well, then there you go.

CHAABI MUSIC FROM al-MAGHRIB

I just want to say that the motherfukkrs from Mississippi Records do the fukkn thing right. Keep dropping collections like these and fools like me will stay hungry for the unknown  and under the radar until the day I die. Featured artists include: NOUAS, L'FARKA CHAABIA, KHIRA BZIOUIA and  NASS al-GHIWANE (whose "O Human Being" is the most deadly track on this collection). I don't know fucking shit about this music, but I know what I like when I hear it, and I have listened to this tape countless times since I picked it up over the summer, and that is worth something...right? If this is what Morocco sounds like, then sign me up....

CHAABI MUSIC FROM al-MAGHRIB

11.11.16

I made this mix tape for a friend. I thought I did a pretty good job making everything flow, then got to the end of Side B and perfectly timed the remaining space to a weird CHARLIE TWEDDLE track (as any tape maker knows all too well, timing the end of each side is key, and we always keep an arsenal of short, poignant numbers up our sleeves for mometnts just like these). Boom. It was about to be done. So I dropped the needle, I unpaused the recording and I went to pop open a celebratory beer...because a good mix tape is an accomplishment worth celebrating. And then an enemy known only as "auto-reverse" reared its head, and before I knew it, the first 10 minutes of the Side A had been replaced with the gentle crackle of a needle knocking at the matrix...fuck. Normally, I could have just recreated the first few selections, but I had started this particular mix with a self-edit of PHAROAH SANDERS' "The Creator Has A Master Plan" (a controversial tape making tool, but one I am comfortable utilizing when appropriate) and it would be impossible to nail that timing again...so I started over. Many of the same tracks found their way back into the program, but offerings by SCREAMING TREES, PTARMIGAN and BEHAVIOR didn't seem as appropriate to the overall vibe and were replaced with WAYNE NEWTON, THE BODY and BRUCE GILBERT. I am very pleased with the tape, and have listened to it many times since (re)completion. While it brings me pleasure to share this here, and I hope that it brings you pleasure also...nothing can compare to the feeling of packing up a tape to mail to someone far away. Imagining it reaching their hands and then filling their ears...it's why we do this. And sometimes it's our very reason for existence. 

11.11.16

NEMA VOPIA NEDELJOM UVECE

Blistering 1986 Yugoslav comp featuring S.D.T., PROCES, YUGOSLAV SUN (this ska track breaks up the hardcore, and almost ends up being my favorite song on the tape), IDIOTI, OPASNE IGRE, PATARENI and others. Noisy, chaotic, raw bursts of punk and hardcore from a time and place that is long gone.

NEMA VOPIA NEDELJOM UVECE

JUDITH

Excellent mystery techno mix I snagged in LA a few weeks ago...chilled out, laid back and subtly psychedelic. You're down or you aren't. 

JUDITH

PUNISH OR BE DAMNED

I know that when I posted Vol. 2 a few months back I asked The Cassette Gods to place a copy of Vol. 1 in my hands. So anyway, Cassette Gods, I just wanna say thanks. Just like the (sub)title suggests...."38 AntiSocial Punk Songs With Synth or Keyboards"....I'm not sure what more you need to know. From C.C.T.V. (2015, Indiana) to ROCK BOTTOM AND THE SPIES (1981, Los Angeles) to MIZZ NOBODY (1979, Sweden) and KAOS (1982, Yugoslavia)....yeah, you shouldn't really need any more convincing. The shit is straight gold.

PUNISH OR BE DAMNED Vol. 1

ALIVE FROM INSIDE CHAPEL OF THE CHIMES

Nasty garage hardcore, noisy pogo punk, blown out distortion fests, angular no wave...what the fuck do you want that this compilation doesn't deliver? Sandwiches? Well those don't come in plastic shells (at least they shouldn't) so eat these tracks or no dessert. CUM, SPETSNAZ, FLEXIBLE AMMUNITION BELT, CHEMOS, THE OINTMENT, MPK, FRANKY...and some guy named Steve. 

ALIVE FROM INSIDE CHAPEL OF THE CHIMES

Link repaired...thanks to all who let me know I fukkd up. It happens sometimes....

BRANDON CONTROL // APRIL 2005

I stayed at Brandon's place on a tour in the spring of 2005. I had met him a few years earlier, just before he moved to Richmond from North Carolina to play drums for MUNICIPAL WASTE...when he was fukkn 17...and we had crossed paths a few times since that first encounter. Solid dude, a mental punk encyclopedia rivaled by few before or since (especially if you're talking USHC), and no joke kids: that motherfukkr could PLAY*. So that afternoon in 2005, I just let Brandon make the mix tape. I already had the DIRECT CONTROL shit (can I tell you about the only time I saw DIRECT CONTROL?**), and I loved it, but watching Brandon pull out pile after pile of records...watching some kid a decade younger than me school the shit out of me on that spring afternoon while I just managed the queue and lined up the thing after the next thing after the next thing for the mix tape, knowing that we could have made twenty and Brandon STILL would have had records lined up...it's one of my fondest tour memories. And this tape is the result. Don't even know what to say about the news of Brandon's death yesterday...enjoy your friends while you can.

HARDCORE DUDICAL

*In 2004 when SUNDAY MORNING EINSTEINS passed through Richmond, their drummer Anton (an absolute Swedish DBeat machine) told me "some American dude wants to have a DBeat competition with me." I laughed, because Anton is, as I mentioned, a machine. I said, "Let's get him!" and then Anton pointed at Brandon.....and I told him that Brandon might be the only dude on the continent that could beat him, and that maybe we should just have some beers and hang out. 

**I was recruited to drive a band to the airport by the organizers of ChicagoFest 2005 and I agreed. The band in question were friends, and I like to help whenever possible. Then I saw the lineup and the set times for the Sunday gig, and I realized that if I drove said band to the airport, then I would miss DIRECT CONTROL. This was not acceptable. Long story short....I gave the organizers an ultimatum: rearrange the Sunday show, or find someone else to drive said band to the airport. I mean, I ain't trying to be an ass here, but I came to see fukkn DIRECT CONTROL. Helping is one thing, but...come on. 
(Result: They rearranged the order of bands, I made the run to the airport, and I walked back into the gig as the fiercest USHC trio of the mid-'00s was taking the stage....and then I lost my shit)

ЯКУСКИЙ ПАНК // ĐŸĐ›ĐžĐ„ĐžĐ™ ПАНК

Three bands from Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Republic in Siberia - a city of 300,000 isolated motherfuckers who are starting to drop some really compelling punk and hardcore bands.  ĐšĐĐ Đœ ĐĄĐĄ were here recently, but this other shit....? I'm just saying you need to get amongst the Russia Train now to avoid being left behind, because that shit is leaving the station and it's standing room only. Đ–Đ•ĐĐĄĐšĐĐŻ ДИСГАРМОНИЯ, DEAD BIEBER'S, and йАРМ ĐĄĐĄ make some seriously engaging racket on this comp...raw and discordant punk and hardcore shits to share with all your friends. Can you believe that Matt just didn't want this anymore and gave it to me? Shit - I couldn't believe it either.

ЯКУСКИЙ ПАНК // ĐŸĐ›ĐžĐ„ĐžĐ™ ПАНК

YOUR KIND OF SOUND

Any frequent (or fervent) Escape visitors will know the name Dan Riffe. Oklahoma stalwart, member of ILLEGITIMATE SONS OF JACKIE O and former bandmate of mine in ANCIENT CHINESE PENIS and BRUTAL GARDENERS, and the source of my introduction to a lot of killer music. Perhaps I didn't fully realize how influential the dude actually was until I started doing this blog thing - between bands we were in together, bands he was in that I dug, and tapes he made me....shit, that monkey was responsible for a pretty huge chunk of my initial introduction to The True Underground. How can one man be responsible for turning a twenty year old onto WRETCHED and JAD FAIR? Exactly. In case you are wondering, only one of those two is on this tape - but he did drop an S.O.B. track from Gates Of Doom on this one, and who the fuck was blasting death metal S.O.B. in Oklahoma 1993? Seriously. That's my point. And this tape was my introduction to LAST EXIT, who are from another planet. So yeah - instead of telling you all the things that are on this tape, I'll just tell you that it opened my mind and my eyes to tons of shit (and helped me find other shit through that shit) and I still cherish it more than two decades after Dan made it for me. Thanks, dude.

YOUR KIND OF SOUND

PUNISH OR BE DAMND

Shit man, not really much to say about this one except that if you're gonna make a mix tape to open minds and melt ears...it should be like this one. 30 Minimal Synth Or Tracks With Keys jams through an hour of creamers from 1978 through a few months ago, and every fukkn song is essential. Starting shit with ALGEBRA MOTHERS sets the tone at weird, and that's where the tone stays - NERVOUS GENDER, BELINSKI ZID, SPITS, BLACK RANDY, SCREAMERS (duh), SM NURSE, THE UNITS....and an obligatory version of "T.V.O.D." because that's kinda where the shit started, right? It flows right, runs the spectrum of punk bands with keys through purely synth driven freak shows, and this tape holds your attention from start to finish. Also....cramming that BLITZ track in was such a sick move - this is a perfect mix tape. Someone send me #1 please.

PUNISH OR BE DAMND #2: 30 MINIMAL SYNTH OR TRACKS WITH KEYS

LOS LOCOS

Killer collection of Latin American punk rock and dark punk. Heaps of bands I was unfamiliar with (8 BOLAS, TODOS TUS ROUERTOS, POLO PEPO) and some that most studious punks will be familiar with (INOCENTES, AS MERCENARIAS, LEUZEMIA, ALERTA ROJA). Top tracks: LUXURIA's "Luxuria Insatisfecha" and the hopelessly out of tune untitled creamer from SIZE. First side is punk, and then the flip ventures into the new wave/goth sounds of the '80s...this is why mix tapes (still) rule.

LOS LOCOS - A Latino Punk Mixtape For The Punks

STREBERS // BLANDAD PUNK, HC & KÄNG

My introduction to STREBERS was on my first Euro tour, when RĂŒlle told me they were his favorite band and was more than excited to show me how great they were. Their approach is as infectious as relentless, starting with the impossibly catchy chorus to "Sanningen" inserted into the track's all out hardcore burn. Comparisons to contemporaries are not out of line, but the '80s Swedes had an uncanny ability to make that fist in the air hardcore that was still catchier than any of the pre-landfill pop drivel that denizens of the rest of the planet were regurgitating at the time. The 1991 collection Kaos & SkrĂ„l is a pretty perfect place to start, with EP tracks and some solid bangers from STREBERS' first 12" platter from 1986...and someone was kind enough to slap the thing onto cassette so I could share it with you.

KAOS & SKRÅL // BLANDAD PUNK, HC & KÄNG

And speaking of kind, that same someone filled the B-side of that STREBERS tape with a starter kit titled Mixed Punk, HC & Crust. Essential rippers from ANTI-CIMEX, EXTREME NOISE TERROR, YOUTH OF TODAY, NO SECURITY, and because so few homemade compilations are truly perfect there are a few tracks from the debatably interesting but often unlistenable then-future commercial juggernaut TEDDYBEARS from when they were just a kinda weird rock band (be careful, the internet suckhole related to this band can be detrimental to any kind of constructive activity and may adversely affect your opinions of humankind in general and pop culture specifically). But on a positive note, it had been a while since I had blasted ENT and that band still crushes so hard. The B-side of this tape is an excellent primer for the uninitiated and a ripping refresher for those already in the know. Quality.

BRITISH AIRWAVES

I think that my vinyl copy of this release was the product of an expedition to Tulsa in the late '80s (teenage Wizard was neither adventurous nor mobile) and resulted in my discovery of 18 then-new-to-me bands (which is precisely what a comp is supposed to do). That said, the 1000 MEXICANS track gets stuck in my head at least once a month (it's that damn bass line), THE RENEES are killer, THE THREE JOHNS track is mediocre but resulted in several of their records in my arsenal, and this JAZAWHAKI tune is as infectious as anything I can imagine.In addition, you get burners from THE GLOBAL INFANTALISTS, HAGAR THE WOMB (my first introduction was this track), THE MOODISTS, NIKKI SUDDEN, and THE RENEES ("Drink Problem" seemed so racy as a 16 year old...) among many others. I think the motivation for this comp was financial, as British Airwaves seems to have been compiled and released by a label hoping to break UK post punk/new wave acts into the US market, but I can't really see anything here that we Americans ever gave a shit about aside from NEW MODEL ARMY....though this is still my favorite NEW MODEL ARMY jam. But seriously, "Last Pop Song" is beyond devastating....turn and face the lights.

BRITISH AIRWAVES

Turn up the music, one last time // This is the last pop song, come on and sing // This is the last pop song, it didn't mean a thing...

NO JUSTIFICATION !!

"Be" by THE VERNON WALTERS is one of the coolest songs I've ever heard. It's all of the things that were great about tuneful and catchy punk when it was still punk as shit - even the lilting vocals are undoubtedly earnest and intense and the hooks just make me wanna play the shit over and over. No Justification II is packed with bands I've never heard of, but the whole hour is top fukkn noth international hardcore punk. Five bands on this 22 track comp - the thing is set up like others from the series, and the level of quality is similarly high. Metallic hardcore from FORTHRIGHT, snarky UK punk ala-BUZZCOCKS from HUMIDIFIER, while ALGKVARN can't shake 7 SECONDS comparisons. SEVEN SIOUX are kinda hitting that same VERNON WALTERS "remember back when melodic punk was cool" vibe ("Doubt" is an absolute killer), and I keep listening to this comp. Over and over. Not surprisingly, I suggest that you do the same....

There are other comps with the same presentation - all awesome and all packed with bands I was not already familiar with, which is exactly what I want They appear to all have been animal rights benefits (something else that I want) in the late '80s. That time was not a waste, my friends, so much quality like this:

NO JUSTIFICATION II