Dreamdecay-Fern EP (2012)

Seattle's Dreamdecay stumbles, lurches, and crashes through five tracks of carefully-constructed-so-that-it-sounds-clumsy noise rock on "Fern." The whole thing sounds like one long nightmare, in the form of a sustained fight between the drums and guitar. Occasionally the singer gurgles out some sub-lingual background burble but mostly it's just the cymbals dive-bombing over the guitar, which responds with staccato, savage bursts of feedback. Sometimes the bass is audible, sometimes not yet this is a lot more coherent than most noise rock that crosses my desk. It's mathy noise, or noisy mathrock. Perfect for when you're in the mood for Billy Bao but can't deal with something quite that shrill.

Listen to "Fern" here, and check Dreamdecay's blog for tour dates, etc. They're playing Total Fest with Walls in August, which should be rad.

Miami Dolphins-Neon and Foam LP (2011)

Last time I was in Olympia, everyone was raving about Minneapolis' Miami Dolphins, so I finally decided to see what all the hubbub was about.

"Neon and Foam" isn't breaking any new paths, but it certainly is fun. I call this genre contortion punk, since the Dolphins and akin bands take 4/4 punk song structures, chop 'em up into strangled guitar notes and spastic drumming, and piece them back together in confetti fashion.

The Dolphins remind me of Chicago's late, much-missed (by me, anyway) Coughs: high-pitched female vocals, frantic guitar that usually doesn't go in for solos, and drums mixed well to the front. They're not nearly as harsh as Coughs were, though: this sounds like the sort of music noise scene veterans would play if you spiked their 4Loko with ecstasy, took 'em to an amusement park, and set up a 4track on the carousel.

But don't take my word for it, find out for yercelf.

Dirty Work-Demo (2012)

Kansas City's Dirty Work bashes out four tracks of bare bones, no frills American hardcore on this demo. They're about as subtle as a punch in the face, and the only image that comes to mind when listening to them is sweaty, gross punks slamming into each other in someone's parents' basement before the cops show up and cite everyone for curfew violations. If that image is a blast from the past for you (as it is for me), or sounds like fun, you'll dig this.

Check it out.

Cease to Exist-Heptaparaparshinokh EP (2012)

I first found out about the DIY hardcore scene (as opposed to being into punk as a historical genre of music) when I was 17 or so. One of the first LPs I bought after I started going to basement shows was Deathreat's "The Severing of the Last Barred Window." I can still remember the amused look on the woman behind the recordstore register's face as she rang up my eager young friends and I. "Oh, yeah. Deathreat. I'm a little too old for them now." Of course, being 17 year old kids, we thought this was preposterous-how could one EVER be too old for a hardcore band?!?

Much the same thought crosses my mind with Cease to Exist's EP. It's not bad: fans of His Hero is Gone, especially their first 7", will enjoy it. Brooding, downtuned guitars, spastic drum pummeling, and harsh, scratchy, growled vocals sprawl over the six tracks. I would have a lot of fun catching them at a basement show, and they actually remind me of some band I saw in Olympia last time I was there, which sounded like From Ashes Rise. I just think I'm pushing the maximum age limit as far as "ability to enjoy this on a visceral level" goes.

Check out CeasetoExist on facebook here. Download the EP here.

Layne L'Heureux/Blood Noize split CS (2011)

First of all, I apologize to these guys for taking so long to post this.

After several listening sessions, each of which left me more conflicted than the last one, I have decided that I like this recording. But it's a weird sorta liking, lemme tell ya....:
Layne L'Heureux's three tunes sound like they could have been recorded in a Seattle/Portland/Olympia basement ca. 1993. "Disease" is almost as good as the Dinosaur, Jr. song I think he ripped off. I will be listening to these for a long time.

-Blood Noize is a different beast altogether. The first two songs sound like each band member is playing a different song at the same time. It's hard to listen to music that's going in three directions at the same time. They almost pull together a real song on "Water Visions," and finally get it together for Billy Bao-esque noise slop on "The Eagle Strikes at Dawn." In fact, the singer gives Mattin a run for his money: he sounds like a goblin being kicked in the ass by a swamp witch while mucking out her privy.

 The entire Blood Noize side sounds like each band member came into the studio with a different idea of what each song sounds like, refused to listen to the others, and resolutely insisted on playing their own version, until they all lost interest and stopped playing. It's the most amusing piece of dumbness I've heard in a long time.

Dive in and swim. Check out Blood Noize's inspired stupidity here. Layne L'Heureux's rex live here.

Loose Dudes-Permanent Sex Vacation (2010)

 *Edit, 12.16.13: Re'up'd the file, get it HERE.*
Those of you who’ve spent time in my hometown Chicago's punk scene are surely familiar with the Lucky Gator Loft. I moved away from Da Mare’s (ex-)fiefdom before Loose Dudes got started, so I haven’t had the fortune of actually seeing them live, but they’re a quintessential Gator Loft band: it’s Friday night, your options are drinking yourself under the table at a hole in the wall or doing something interesting, so you choose a bit of the latter and a lot of the former. 

   That would mean stumble-slamming around the Loft (or some 18 year old’s basement) while ~5 bands bash out rudimentary garage punk: enter a drummer who’s the John Bonham of Tommy Ramone thudding, a guitarist who’s a past master at trebly guitar leads, a bassist who may or may not have bothered plugging in before downing a few Hydrocodone, and a singer who’s more interested in guzzling the Rebel Yell squirrelled away behind the amp than in actually hollering whatever pearls of wisdom accompany the cacophony. Anyway, Loose Dudes are your perfect soundtrack to said Friday night, or really any activity that involves screaming along to songs whose lyrics you don’t know while stealing someone else’s Icehouse.

In short: As a friend of mine said, wearing a Loose Dudes shirt totally woulda gotten you a date with Ben Weasel’s sister in 1995. 

If that sounds awesome to you, then chug some Old Style and FREAK OUT!

Brought to ya c/o Priority Male tapes. 

This EP's sold out, but be sure to scoop the Loose Dudes/Running split!