Modern Howl-Jasco C.W. EP (2012)

Kaliningrad's Modern Howl, composed of Mssrs. Paul Von Aphid and Speed Wulf, are decidely not yr average Drug Punk group. In place of buzzsaw howl or gurgling bloody messes, they present us with a few tracks of heavily processed electro-synth.

I'm having trouble classifying this, which is probably a good thing. What I hear are sonic collages borrowing from several genres. This is dance music for drugged out losers like myself who wouldn't be caught dead in a nightclub (like Mssr. Byrne said, 'this ain't no party, this ain't no disco!') and would rather nod out on Percosets to a beat that's only marginally funky than shake ya ass to whatever the kids party to these days.

 In all probability that's not the case, and I'm guessing people do indeed dance to this stuff at nightclubs. I just dunno nuthin' 'bout 'em. The tracks feature heavy sampling cut up and scissored together in a confusing way approximating aural assault.

The only ambiance I can conjure up for this EP is as follows: nighttime in a major city (say, Chicago). It's five a.m., you've been out all night raging it, and the sun is almost starting to peek over the horizon hinting at another broken day spent convalescing from your own self-induced abuse. Yr walkin' down a dark alley contemplating where the next beer or sleeping pill is whatever and suddenly a fucking goblin jumps out from behind that dumpster, sticks a scimitar in ya, and vanishes. Ya dunno what to do! Take that! Haha!

Download "Jasco C.W." here. Mssrs. Aphid and Wulf's label has a sick amount of stuff up, check out the other releases if ya dig this.

Warsong-The Caravan 12" EP (2012)

...or, "come for the Wipers cover, stay for the chanted choruses."

With a name like "Warsong," I was expecting this Zaragoza outfit to burble through Discharge-clone songs about...uh, war.

Turns out they're a lean mean guitar riff machine. "Feel the Darkness' is a slow burning, guitar-heavy song that sounds like a Wipers outtake ca. 1979's "Is this real?" Warsong uses simple, direct guitar riffs and elegantly minimal bass, framing the infectious, chanted choruses.

This style was popular to the point of saturation in the States a few years ago, and I got burnt out on Wipers-syle punk around the time Portland's beloved The Observers broke up and the first Red Dons LP came out (ca. 2008). Warsong's pretty damn good, though, and if guitarcentric garage punk is yr cuppa tea, you'll prolly agree.

You can listen to and buy "The Caravan" EP from Zagreb's Doomtown Records or from the band's bandcamp page.

Also check out Doomtown Records' distro/online store, or their Discogs page.

Coyotes in the Room-Undress LP (2012)

Here's a friendly bit of advice for interwebs goers: Don't start your album with a cover. Especially if it's a song by someone as venerable as 'ole Dolly Parton.

That said, Kentucky's Coyotes in the Room do a  pretty funny pisstake on Dolly's disco jam "Baby I'm Burnin'". The rest of the album is a mishmash of styles, from the quiet bedroom downer "Animal Soup" to the ballsy swagger of "Deer Stand." Confusingly, these different styles are often counterposed right next to each other, making it hard to settle on one mood.

For my money, the best tracks here are "Precious Jolly Rascal" and "F-250." "Precious Jolly Rascal" is all about the slow-motion bass and psych-tinged guitar; the rhythm section engulfs the words so it sounds like dude's singing at the bottom of a well. Very effective. "F-250" is a convincing stab at a Neil Young-style folk ballad with a perfect balance between the murmured vocals and guitar.

Overall, my main problem with "Undress" is that it feels more like a collection of songs than a coherent album; the jumble of styles and moods breaks up any patterns that develop within a given song. But this is only the second outing by the Coyotes, and it's a good collection of songs, anyways.

Download Undress here, and also check out "Love Stuff/Cheap Smokes," which came out in June. The Coyotes also have a cassette out on Tent Revivalist Tapes.

Social Unrest-Making Room for Youth 7" (1979)

Raging it too hard last night=vicious hangover today, so nothin' new, just an '80s classic....

Social Unrest was one of the early East Bay (i.e. the cities just across the San Francisco Bay from SF, for non-American readers) punk bands. Their "Their Mistakes" was featured on the infamous MRR comp "Not So Quiet on the Western Front," and this is one of the best products of first-wave American hardcore.

 Social Unrest's work was incredibly economical: no pointless intros, wasted chords or unnecessary flash. "Rush Hour" is a moronically simple guitar pattern and stutter-step drumming, with Creetin K-OS (dontcha love those first-wave punk names?) hollering about....rush hour. The bridge features a sweet, lazy riff that veers into surf territory.

"Making Room for Youth" is a lot faster, closer to the Middle Class' first 7" than contemporary East Bay punk.  Danny Radio Shack and Doug Logic's guitar playing winds up and speeds through a typically naive punk call to arms for American youth: "The future of the world is up to us/but the older generation will only fuck it up..." Creetin chants, screeches, and lectures his way through the song. "Join the People that Join the Army" doesn't count as a song, really, more an afterthought-clocking in at 22 seconds, it flies by in a rush of stupidity and inspired succinctness.

MAKING ROOM FOR YOUTH. Social Unrest released a slew of albums throughout the '80s; read an interesting interview with a later member, not featured on this 7", here.

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.

Ramlord/Cara Neir split EP (2012)

Continuing my celebration of all things Punk, and the break from garage/lofi blather, I bring thee a split EP featuring New Hampshire blackmetal/crust masters Ramlord and Dallas wizards Cara Neir.

Ramlord's epic 10-minute "Affliction of Clairvoyance" is an ugly, multi-sequence track that alternates between heavy sludge and thrashtastic speed bridges. One of my favorite LPs this year has been the new Anhedonist LP and, while it's not really the same sorta metal, fans of Anhedonist will prolly dig Ramlord.

That said, I'm not an expert on metal and can't really comment much on Cara Neir's side. This sounds like speed metal to me: blastbeats, epic (like, running around lookin' like a Viking killin' motherfuckers epic) riffs, gremlin vocals. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I appreciate the contrast in styles on the split: I can't stand splits where the two bands sound the same. Smoke a blunt to this when you need a change from dub.

You can buy this over at Broken Limbs Recordings, or check it out before buying, here. Ramlord lives here,  Car Neir lives here.

Whipstriker-Midnight Crust EP (2012)

A few weeks ago I was hanging on a Portland street corner with a good friend, who made an important distinction between punks and Punks: the former listen to punk but dress like civilians, whereas Punks look like these guys.
Although I haven't spiked my hair or worn a bullet belt since I was 16, there's an enduring soft spot in my heart for Punks and the music they listen to. In an era where every asshole around, from my clueless fratboy students to the jackasses in the band you just saw wear tight pants, Buddy Holly-by-way-of-Rivers Cuomo-glasses, and "ironic" thrift store clothing, Punks is keepin' it real: if you see a dude walking down the street in a Discharge shirt, tight black jeans, combat boots, a bullet belt, and charged hair with studded bracelets, you know EXACTLY what that dude's into and what's on his turntable. Billy Bao might've said "fuck separation," but I sez, sometimes subcultural ghetto walls should be maintained.

Rant aside, Brazil's Whipstriker makes it very clear where they stand in the culture wars: no ironic art-punk or "whitty" social commentary here, just crushing Motorhead-inspired riffs and raw, growled vocals condemning warfare, Christianity, etc. "Bombhead" could very well be the Discharge song "And Children": the vocal phrasing is exactly the same. The musicianship is top notch: these fellas certainly spent a lot of time playing along to Discharge and Motorhead records, and the solos aren't boring or inept, just heavy as a bombload.

You'll dig this demo if, like me, you feel that subcultures are tribal for very good reasons or if you just like gettin' drunk and bobbing yer head along to "Realities of War."

Check it out here. You can also read an interview with Victor, the singer of Whipstriker, here.

Coma Nova-Insect Sounds LP (2012)

The important thing to understand about Kalamazoo, Michigan's Coma Nova is that these gentlemen enjoy smoking weed. A lot of it. Preferably rolled up in "Psychic Rolling Papers," whatever those are.

I understand that there's a heat wave affecting most of the continental United States right now, and this is great music for a lazy summer day spent sitting in yr parents' basement, smoking as much weed as your lungs and that DIY bong can handle. "Crashing Cars" develops around a swaggering, brash riff with suitably blustery vocals and steamroller drumming. I think they're singing about gettin' fucked up and feelin' like yr on Mars.

That pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album.There's a lot of weirdo acoustic interludes, maybe too many, and sometimes the band gets pretty self-indulgent (especially on "Pigger," a drawn-out stoner jam that has all the benefits and problems of Sabbath's extended instrumental noodlings). Nevertheless, they're indulging in the right direction, and that direction would be somewhere on a tribute to the legendary, all-mighty Sleep. I can safely say that these kids woulda loved Coma Nova, if CN was recording ca. 1976 and not ca. 2012. Toke up and freak out, people.

Coma Nova lives here, where you can also buy the LP. Check out their other stuff, too.

Recommendations for file hosting

So the writing's on the wall as far as file-hosting goes: Mediafire seems to be shutting people down as fast as they can, and I'd like to transfer the files I have up there to a different file host before they gut me completely.

Can anyone recommend file-hosting pages, preferably free, that aren't as trigger-happy as mediafire? It's in yr best interest to help me on this one, so please get in touch if you have any ideas. Thanks.