TORTURE BY ROSES

 

This one slipped by me but Spencer came to the rescue a few weeks back with a loaner. Hypnotic monotony from the VEXX vocalist set to a robotic a primitive futuristic soundscape. "Growing Into Nothing" is the only upbeat moment, even amidst it's crushing frustration, these are synthesized sonic dirges provide a soundtrack for the future that we will never live through, and the past that we have missed.

TORTURE BY ROSES

ANTIBODIES

Yeah, I know...even more from Canada's Atlantic Provinces. They don't stop, so why should we stop listening? A dozen minutes of raw garage hardcore cranked up unbelievably high, ANTIBODIES are so wound up it just sounds like the are about to snap. All the time. Guitar is fukkn destroyed ATTACK SS style (check the Rat City, Baby" intro) and the vocals are manic garbled bursts that sound like they are coming from down the hall. The last cassette-titled-LP was good, this one is better, and I pray to The Gods that there's going to be an LP 2020 before we turn the page on this shit calendar. 

LP 2019

BASTARDS

 

There is a reason that this 1982 recording has kept resurfacing as subsequent punk generations dig deeper. The 23 studio tracks are pure high tension destruction. Relentless. "Turvallista Huomista" is one of my favorite hardcore songs ever - any era, any region. The live recording on the flip is just insane. 

HARHAA

CROSS CLASS

 

Oh, I'm sorry...did you miss this one? You'd be forgiven if you did, it was a blip in 2015 and they hardly (if ever?) played shows outside of Sacramento. But here you go. And don't snooze on the posthumous split 12" with RAD, because both bands make my jaw hurt. 

CROSS CLASS

ESTA SUCIA CIUDAD

 

By 2008 we all knew. Barcelona wasn't on the map, Barcelona was the sun that the rest of the raw punk world was orbiting. But this comp....this comp turned everything upside down for me. INVASIÓN, CRIMEN DE ESTADO, E•150, OTAN? No sweat. Got it. I'm in. Throw in absolute freak shit from EL ATAQUE DE LA BASURA RADIOACTIVA. Hook drenched K-Town rehash from ESCROTO DE RATA, raw slammers from PRIMARY ATTACK, NO CAOS and EPIDEMIA, ramshackle brilliance from FIRMEZA 10 and PATATAS FRITAS POR EL CULO...this is a snapshot of a scene so casual in its confidence and brutal in its brilliance. I'm sure it wasn't utopia...but it sure as fuck sounds like it. 

ESTA SUCIA CIUDAD

CLASSIFIED PROTEST

The thing that makes this one stand out is the nagging SoCal snotty punk comparisons. Even if accidental (and they likely are), these Welsh kids delivered UK punk with adolescent Agnew-level hooks and this 1984 recording is shockingly mature. Responsible parties formed RECTIFY a few years after this tape. 

 

MUSIC FOR THE STREETS

SOCKEYE

 

If you know, then you know. And if you don't know, then you need to. "Dear God, I Hate Christmas." "Lay Off, Dick." "Cut Off Your Arm." "Jello Biafra." "Fuck." There are no losers on The Loony Misadventures Of Your Dick, one of half a dozen (or so) releases from SOCKEYE in 1989. Serious question: What were you doing in 1989? In order to properly (and completely) contextualize North American DIY punk and hardcore, I think that knowing SOCKEYE is essential. You don't have to like SOCKEYE, some might even argue that you shouldn't like SOCKEYE....but you need to know them. 

THE LOONY MISADVENTURES OF YOUR DICK

SIAMESE TWINS

 

There's an alternate reality, a just reality, where I find myself in a public setting surrounded by civilians and I hear the opening vocal melodies to "Listless." And the normal people don't think it's out of place, just like no one notices when that CAMOUFLAGE song comes on the radio - no one knows who it is, but it's supposed to be there. It belongs. Because it's great. SIAMESE TWINS shouldn't be a secret, but I'm glad they are our secret. And last year's two song teaser single was a work of simple brilliance - the synths hold court with layers of vocals and flanged guitar melodies while the tracks are carried by a bass walking carefully, but with purpose, through the sand of sound. It's a brilliant thing...it's a beautiful thing. 

LISTLESS // SECOND SKIN

HATE PREACHERS

Got a devastating package in the mail from Suck Blood a few weeks ago. In various incarnations, this crew has been pumping out consistently incredible sounds for nearly twenty years now, existing in shadows and making their own environments in the process - HATE PREACHERS are no exception. Bombastic hardcore punk, rotted in the classics but breathing anxiously like an adolescent. Five tracks here from 2018...and there's more where this came from. 

5 TRACK DEMO 

BENICIA

Look at the two images, and you'll know everything that I knew when I popped this one in. It sounds like (far) East Bay punk from the '90s, and there's a really good chance that's exactly what it is. Twenty two cuts, including some on-air radio shenanigans... but I'll warn you in advance: the last one is the best.  

BENICIA

1) Benicia is a town in the East Bay.

2) On subsequent listen, I think the second song is the best.

3) I think the band name is misspelled in the file - you'll have to fix that yourself.