"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

ANOPHELI

File under: "epic"

Five tracks filled with the kind of stadium crust that is so permanently identified with the mid/late '00s that it's almost impossible to believe that this project was recorded in 2014. While I do not miss the time when half assed versions of this music were seemingly represented at every show, I certainly miss the opportunity to see the good ones with devastating frequency. And ANOPHELI, dropping their cello drenched mid paced dual vocal action years after the cool kids started worshipping at the dupa-dupa altar. It's a nice altar - but come the fukk on.....sometimes you need power. Sometimes you need emotion. 

A HUNGER RARELY SATED

DIFFERENCE

One of the early installments from the Building label was this sub-five minute explosion from DIFFERENCE. Filthy and raw California hc/pv with desperate vocals in league with (gasp) deliver songs structured more like forms of punishment than anything approaching music. "Again" is a magical piece of devastation, as close to perfect as you could ever expect to find. I would ask you to enjoy this tape, but enjoyment is not the point. 

DEMO #1

FUNDAMENTAL

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you stopped publicly backing and pretending to listen to blistering ear torture distortion with light speed neanderthal beats. I guess I'll try to post some en vogue and/or currently cool things soon. You'll have to suffer through this until then. But on the up side, the THE BOYS cover here is next level awesome. 

6 SICKLY TRAX

TRAPPED WITHIN BURNING MACHINERY

Snagged on a complete whim on a recent trip to Southern California, I basically thought this thing looked like it might be cool and figured it was worth a $5 gamble. Live loose, man...let it roll, you can't take it with you, right? So might as well shove some jams into your canal before you move on down the line. And so I gambled, and I was treated to 66 minutes of bleak atmospheric metal. Slow motion heaviness interrupts periods of carefully constructed quietude, with searing vocals that demand as much attention as the morose wailing guitars that permeate the interludes....interludes that create The Fifth Element's aura, but make up a substantial portion of its content. Get dark.

THE FIFTH COLUMN

THOUGHT PATTERN

Outta sight Southern California garage mutants, THOUGHT PATTERN dust up old and well worn vibes from bands like '90s SF warehouse denizens GAY BARBARIANS while harnessing the energy and irreverence of THE SPITS. "Kimberly" is either the creepiest or the sweet love song ever (why do I have to choose?) while 4-track missives like "The Sound Of One Hand Clapping" are straight out of the 50 MILLION catalog (more under the radar Bay Area references here....I would say I'm sorry, but if you know, then you know) and "God's Country" is a full on guitar frenzied psychrock freak out a la DEBRIS and I hear SPARKS seeping through the tracks more than a few times. What I'm trying to say is that if you want to make it weird, then make it weird....but it helps if you also know how to make it right.

THE BRADFORDS

CELL BLOCK

The (way) Northern California scenes in Chico and Redding have been killing it the last few years. VEXED, OUTSIDE LOKING IN, CRIMINAL WAVE and a host of others have been churning out punk and hardcore in the oft overlooked dead zone between the SF Bay Area and Portland...and it's time to stop overlooking. Add CELL BLOCK, dreary and lazy vocals clash with an affected guitar that lumbers awkwardly through distortion, settling into a comfort zone behind the rhythm section. It fits nicely under the "goth punk" umbrella, though at times ("Half An Hour" for example) CELL BLOCK are really just goth...but most notably they don't really sound like anyone else, and that's a huge plus. You can probably guess what bands they celebrate, you can probably guess what people will compare them too....and I'll just keep listening to "Bedroom Floor" and that damaged guitar, and I'll keep smiling. 

EIGHT

OIL THIEF

OIL THIEF are dark and anxious, migrating from sputtering ambiance thunderous demented beats with a calculated precision, descending into disorienting mechanical psychedelia at will. Two tracks here, sixteen minutes of bliss. 

THE FIGMENT // UNDESIRE

VOLAHN

Even visitors who only casually dip their toes into the overwhelming and mind melting world of USBM will sure know the name VOLAHN. At the center of the incestuous Circle of Southern California artists who have been consistently cranking out some of the continent's most unique and compelling sounds, VOLAHN share members with countless other acts and are responsible for live performances that defy description. Epic and introspective black metal, spread out over almost 60 minutes....Aq'Ab'Al is their opus. Ancient souls and modern desires will hold you over...until there is more. 

AQ'AB'AL

In case you have any doubts....see VOLAHN in the flesh. Whenever possible. 

HEAT

Deep breath, punks. Concentrate, relax, and prepare yourself for pure filth. San Diego's HEAT harness the fury of first wave SoCal powerviolence and inject it with calmly chaotic nail biting make-you-want-to-break-everything modern hardcore fury. Listen to "Shades Of Blue" and try to keep your ass in the chair. You cannot. The mosh parts are unreal, and HEAT gets so damn ugly when they blast....this six minutes had better be just a teaser. More please.

HEAT

GENEVA JACUZZI

Blind purchase here (what's $5 to an uppity dude with a job, right?!), but the second I heard that weird digitized voice from the past pretentiously groaning something about "eating your sex"  I knew that I had made the correct decision. Lowest common denominator primitive proto-electro (techno?Italidisco? house? who knows?!?!) presented with what I can only assume is blatantly calculated precision and an aspiration for something resembling actual and real "success." My assumption here is that this outfit is highly regarded in some alternate universe (read: cocaine users in their 20s), but I confess that on more than one occasion since that blind purchase, GENEVA JACUZZI has filled my home and my earholes. Choice track: "Macho Island." You're welcome. 

TECHNOPHELIA

CYCLOSARIN

I don't want to live my life 9 to 5, 9 to 5 // I just want to live my life my way

These Southern California punks bounce on top of a bombastic and destructive low end to create one hell of a racket. I'm reminded of early '90s US political hardcore - PIST, AUS ROTTEN, SUBMACHINE (ok - the latter mostly sings about beer, but you get the idea). It's simple, it's to the point, and some days that's all I need. Like today. 

CYCLOSARIN

HONEYBATH

Someone want to tell me how I completely missed this shit? It's like that late '80s college rock rehash stuff that's popular these days, but force fed meth and HICKEY. This Bay Area band fukkn cooks, and they sound legitimately unhinged...maybe there's more than this demo. Maybe I could use the internet to find out. I probably won't, because I've got more tapes to rip. Thanks $1 bin, for this little jewel. 

NEXT

RUT

They've got it. The thing. That something that grabs you right out of the gate and spins you around until you don't want to do anything except go harder. The singer....her eyes when she rages, fukkn full. Fukkn fierce. Even when you see the breakdowns coming they still shake you to the core and the hardcore (mind you, "the hardcore" sums up the entire release) is on fire from start to finish. Check the subtle and flawless downstrokes on "contempt" - shit goes from killer to DESTROY! in the blink of an eye. I'm sure there's more to come from these kids, and I wait eagerly....in the meantime I'm gonna keep watching them play and feel good about the future of punk. 

RUT

THE DARK

Could listen to this band endlessly. Want to listen to this band endlessly. LA's rockers THE DARK have, to date, only given us eight recorded tracks (four here and four included in this post), but ughhhhh those eight tracks are head and shoulders above just about anything. '80s Japanese punk, AMEBIX, MOTÖRHEAD....and constant drive. Listen to "Badge And Gun" and try to not clench your teeth. The shit doesn't have to be hard, y'all....it just has to be right. THE DARK is right. 

THE DARK

SHATAAN

This one got lost in my mental shuffle during the deluge of Black Twilight/Crepusculo Negro related releases during the first wave from 2009-11 or so. Thankfully, I hoard shit, so SHATAAN was waiting patiently for me last week, waiting to me to open myself to sounds of primitively reproduced and musically advanced discordant bleak metal. And I was opened. I certainly would put this in the same category as VOLAHN or GLOSSOLALIA, but there's something about the vocals and the howled desperation...it makes up for the almost casual delivery of these relatively complex tracks. Listen to the guitars, let the tracks sink in...it was worth the wait.

WAR CRY LAMENT

SICKO

Welcome to the gnarliest 216 seconds of your Thursday. The Free State Of Jefferson keeps cranking out some monsters, and these four tracks from SICKO continue the trend with bursts of ferocious adolescent hardcore. Check "Ghosts," and listen to the drums and know what is like to listen to someone else destroying everything. Fast, short, to the point, and pushing some serious tonnage, these kids just sound juicy. Get juiced. All men die, and the world keeps spinning...

DEMO '16

PURE GROUND

Rarely does modern synth driven music completely capture the warmth of The Originators. PURE GROUND does. I feel like I am stepping into the comforting arms of CABARET VOLTAIRE circa Voice Of America and it never feels contrived. 2013's Protection is a dark force, simplicity as intensity and a constant underlying buzzsaw of distorted electronics...it occurs to me with almost alarming frequency that Chondritic Sound does not seem capable of slipping up...

PROTECTION

The recent "Giftgarten" and last year's "Standard Of Living" are obviously essential once you are up to speed...but whenever possible, I like to make sure all of your bases are covered. 

KROFFT

I don't understand why this exists. And how this is an actual thing. I feel like KROFFT probably have some weird cult following amongst underground doom freeks, and I celebrate the entire SOCKEYE catalog, so I'm not one to talk here...but...wow. And it would seem there's a Medieval Funk vol. 1?!? Someone want to explain this shit to me? 

MEDIEVAL FUNK II

BLACK SAND DESERT

Even casual visitors will notice my affinity for the Chondritic Sound label...the nearly flawless and utterly relentless onslaught of noise and electronic sounds is dizzying, and the level of quality is consistently high. Weighted Ghost is a decade-old effort from an earlier incarnation of label empresario Greh Holger that leans on the oppression and kicks the anxiety into high gear. 24-plus minutes of harsh electronics fighting for space on the sound frequency....it may be a challenge to some, but let this one take you away....because that is the intent.

WEIGHTED GHOST