CLOSET WITCH

 

Almost hard to believe this Iowa outfit has been kicking for a decade now, but I was blown away by Chiaroscuro when I checked it out last week and fukk is it cool to listen to the band in their infancy. All of the power is there on Ergot and Black Salt (both released in 2015, and combined on this tape), but CLOSET WITCH are absolutely primal and unpolished on these early recordings - no less devastating the than the band they became, but some of the power manifests as passion here and I am all about it. Check the new recording of course (and everything in between), but the roots are fierce. The roots are beautiful. The roots are ugly. The roots are pure. Choice cut: "Secane" - if only as a reminder that the grind is driven by internal forces.

ERGOT // BLACK SALT

GHOST IN SALAD // MOON CLIMB THE WALL

 

Mindfuckery from two disparate but complimentary entities. GHOST IN SALAD hit like a horror soundtrack trying to escape from a plastic bag at 16rpm. MOON CLIMB THE WALL are irreverent primitive electro-punk clashing with monotonous and ominous noise churn. Neither act is even remotely pleasant to listen to, which should be precisely the point.

UNCLE LOUIE AND NEPHEW MATHILDA

MODA RIDICULA

 

Absolutely raw fist banging late '90s Mexican anti-fascist hardcore - MODA RIDICULA were complete off of my radar until Lalo downsized a couple of years back, but it's been blasted to death since it landed at TEHQ. Thirteen studio tracks recorded in 1994 and a scorching batch of live songs from the following year - fiery, in/tense, uncompromising hardcore punk.

REBELION CONTRA LOS MALES INJUSTOS Y EVITABLES

CROSS STITCH

 

If I wanted to create a bratty, snappy punk band with '00s indie undertones, that band would sound like CROSS STITCH. Take DIY punk energy and UK post-angular stiffness, but make it sound like the people creating the sounds entered the punk vortex via STROKED and FRANZ FERDINAND instead of MINOR THREAT or THE CLASH. It's a stellar creation, even if my imagined assessment is completely off base. 

THE EARLY YEARS

SURROUNDED BY GOLD AND DEAD

 

Criminally limited SICK LLAMA adjacent project from the turn of the (last) decade. This crew was so unbelievably prolific, and the constant urge to disseminate is enviable even while the actual output is (was?) consistently engaging. So yeah...thirty plus minutes of quasi-improvisational electronic noise for your earholes. You deserve this. You also deserve more, but you deserve this also.

SURROUNDED BY GOLD AND DEAD

THE GOVERNMENT

 

Stunner of a debut from SF's THE GOVERNMENT - four doses of classic American punk that sounds like meeting an old friend. Guitar like Agnew clashing with East Bay Ray and vocals delivered with an irreverent adolescent sneer - you feel like you know the band before you even hear them. It's rare to find a band that gets you excited about the present and the past, and that's exactly what THE GOVERNMENT does. 

FIGHT THE TIDE

PIG DNA

 

And here you go - years (literally...eight years) since the last timer PIG DNA graced the digital pages of this virtual publication, here are PIG DNA destroying your throat once again. Maybe this is two songs and maybe it's less than six minutes. But this tape is a reminder that there was a time when music didn't matter - a time when punk was more important than sound and when 'noise not music' really meant "noise is music' ands we all fell for it. The cycles are real, and I can't wait for the kids to get back on this train....

NUCLEAR BOMBS ARE FUCK ALL NEW

YOU BETTER START RUNNING WHEN THEY DROP ON YOU