Busó-Five Songs 'Til the Spring Wakes Our Hearts Up EP (2013)

 Opening with a sparkle of gusting synth, Buso's

second EP starts off on just the note expected for an EP released in February. The ambient hush of "My Summer Camp" segues into "Sweet Clouds Will Blind Me," which is another inert, almost static, piece of warmth slowly forcing itself through glacial gloom to take a place somewhere close to your heart, or what's left of it.

This EP confirms the promise of Buso's debut EP, "3E."His work reminds me of early-Oughts ambient heroes such as Mum, Sigur Ros, et. al., minus the histrionic, slightly saccharine self-consciousness of above-said acts. Those bands had a sort of aloof, ethereal distance to them, whereas this guy's music is up close and personal-no doubt due to the lo-fi recording.  The heavily processed guitar  is fantastic, conjuring up the icy remoteness of Latvia; followed by "Lie Down," it kinda makes me wanna smile through the ice.
Anyway, the hollow, tunneled out synthwave vibe that made Buso's debut EP a success is at work here. But dude's gone back to the drawing board, studied up on his computer programs, maybe scooped out a bit more of the iron ore of anomie at the center of his heart, and produced a bit of music I'll be listening to for quite a while. I recommend you do the same.
Get into it!

Padkarosda-s/t LP (2012)

From what my informants tell me, Padkarosda is doing its own take on a sound originally carved out by first-wave Hungarian punk bands in the late '70s/early '80s, when Sex Pistols and Clash bootlegs started filtering into Budapest. Whatever, I came lurching home late on Saturday night from one of those "I only wanted to have one beer at five in the afternoon, and here it is midnight and I'm blackout drunk" sorta benders and popped this on. After spinning this LP straight through, I wouldn't go so far as to say I felt rejuvenated. This LP, however, definitely made me wanna slamdance, pogo, and indulge in various other punk moves I haven't busted out since I was young enough to rock circled A's on my shirts and earnestly try to talk to other people about identity politics and stuff.Yeah.

Padkarosda plays urgent, hard driving punk that puts to shame a lot of what passes for said genre in the U.S. these days. One of the cool things about Padkarosda is how much mileage they get out of not cranking up the distortion to the max: the band's rhythm section is a lot cleaner, more distinct, than most punk bassists and drummers ever were; the result is a frantic, impassioned sound that doesn't sound like horseshit, if y'unnerstand. In an era when most bands are ripping off Disorder or Lebenden Toten for all they're worth, these guys are just keeping it real with tight song-writing and melodic singing. The guitar is top notch too. Given their songcraft and musicianship, this band could develop into the sorta group Pitchfork would deem worthy to interview, but I'm guessing they're content to swig 3 Horses lager on the Danube, listen to '80s Hungarian punk, and replicate the riffs they hear therein. Lord knows i can't fault 'em for that....

Hang out with Padkarosda HERE. Thanks to Gabor from Fuseism for telling me to check out this band.

Buso-3E EP (2012)

"All Alone. No one to talk to. Come over here so I can talk to you."-Lou Reed, Please Kill Me

 It's been cold, rainy, and gray all day. That means I'm finally in a suitably depressed mood to bang out a review of this piece of synthesizer blues from Hungary. This EP opens with a metronome-like beat that bangs away like a hammer as Buso gradually adds layer upon layer of warm synth texture, resulting in a glacially soothing concoction that sets the tone well.

The absolute lofi recording standard results in a mix that's completely muddy-yet this makes the EP flow well, focusing and compressing each song. "Heart and Shadow" is a dark reflecting pool of your own misery: there's a weird delaying or echo effect on the synthesizer that gives you a sense of claustrophobia before Buso starts intoning in an Ian Curtis-esque monotone. Of course, the recording's too muddy to make out the words, but that's part of the charm: it sounds like he's singing from the bottom of the ocean, deep in his cave, inviting you to come in. His vocal style throughout is muddled and distant, yet simultaneously warm. "Cry, Dance, Celebrate" is a killer tune that all you goofballs reveling in the goth punk revival will love: put on yr mascara and dance the night away.

"The Fall" is a simple, dirty guitar pattern with a bare coat of synth ambiance: it reminds me of a lofi version of Neil Young's Dead Man soundtrack.  Really, that's the tone of this whole album: claustrophobic soundscapes bursting with emotion. Like the Thorir Georg EP, Januar, that came out in January, this is a beautiful piece of loner music, for a community built around isolation.

Download here.

Summer Schatzies-Take me to Bohemia EP (2012)

New from Budapest, Summer Schatzies write songs in five minutes, and it shows. No, wait, don't take that as a diss! The instantly disposable, trash aesthetic is part of what makes this EP so much fun.

Featuring Zsofia from Piresian Beach on vocals, the Schatzies are, simply, a surf-garage band: gone are the weird warblings, tripped out guitars and druggy vibes of PB, in favor of crude-to-the-point-of-parody guitar and drumming. The closest "Final Solution" gets to complexity is the counterpoised vocals and drumbeat. "Take me to Bohemia" sounds like a punk song your favorite bar band would play if it was 1976, the Ramones LP had just come out, and this band's only other reference point for "punk" was the Ventures: it has a crude, thudding beat with suitably trashed surf guitar.

I'm guessing "Spooks in Love" took ten minutes, not five, to write, and anyway, they made a video for it! "Spooks" slows things down a bit, with no distortion, and has a certain whimsical charm to it. "Fall in Love in Naples" is more garageslop, with male vox, giving it a slightly sleazier vibe than the other tracks. Needless to say, it works.

Summer Schatzies is great for acting like it's a lot warmer than it should be in the Northern Hemisphere, given that it's November: spin it here, then buy the fucker.

Opus Null/Szijj Ferenc split LP (2012)

You're probably getting sick of all the Opus Null albums and obscure Hungarian bands I review for Drug Punk. Fine. I'll post nothing but ABBA reviews from now on, how 'bout that? HA! Gotcha! Go tell MOTHER I'm lowering standards!

Half the reason I keep coming back to these guys is that I never know what an Opus Null release is gonna sound like: they started off last year with a handful of badly-recorded, thrash-y demos that sounded like the Germs dragged through a dumpster east of the Berlin Wall.

On this split LP with Szijj Ferenc (more anon), the boys have evolved (is that the right word?) in the direction of the spaced out freakrock that featured heavily on the guitarist's solo EP from June. Opus Null can still smash it up-witness their cover of the UK Subs' "Imposztor," which ends up sounding like The Standells-but there's a lot of instrumental stuff where they work out sonic landscapes, with varying success. Their side is split evenly between louder, noisier punk-style tunes and weirdo instrumentals that bring them ever closer to space- or math-rock territory.

I didn't know what to expect from Szijj Ferenc's side, but it wasn't highly processed soundscapes a la early Krautrock like Popul Vuh. Dude gives us five tracks of elaborate, orchestrated long-form jams that don't sound like much that I'm familiar with. It's really fucking good, in a totally left field sorta way. Imagine King Arthur and his knights serenading ladies of the court while popping acid, drinking Three Horses lager, and tooling around with synthesizers.

If you check out Drug Punk chiefly for the noise, garage or punk I post, you prolly won't dig this, but if you're willing to take a chance on some pretty idiosyncratic stuff, get into it. If not, fuck off and get back to buying whatever Pitchfork tells you is good.

Listen and download HERE.

Fancy Dress Party-Letting Things Go LP (2012)

I started working at a record store when I was 17. Mebbe the 2nd-3rd week there, one of my co-workers did me the foolish courtesy of giving me the store copy of the third Pedro the Lion LP, Control. A courtesy, 'cause he was doing himself and the customers a favor since I was probably playing something equally awful, like Filth, at the store that day; foolish, 'cause that was all I played during shifts for the next six months or so. I think he actually gave me the store copy 'cause he wasn't allowed to play it himself, by general consensus of everyone else concerned. It definitely spoke to my narcissistic 17-y.o. self, who was undoubtedly crushin' hard on some uninterested girl at the time. I dunnowhateverit's been awhile.

Oh, uh, Fancy Dress Party. Yeah. They don't have much to do with Pedro the Lion, except the mainline of each band's sound is more or less similar: clean, undistorted guitar and snappy, crisp drumwork that frames the vocals. The vocals are kinda mopey, which I should condemn but actually, as anyone who's read a few entries here knows, I love mopiness. "Mind is Gone" almost gets into Monkees territory: cutesy harmonies and jangly melodies (or vice versa? I dunno I'm tone deaf). "Under Ground," which delves into psychrock territory, features Zsofia from Piresian Beach on backing vocals-it's probably the least straightforward song here.

To summarize, I probably should dislike Fancy Dress Party but I actually think this album's pretty damn good. In fact, people who dig Pedro the Lion will prolly dig this (no offense intended to those behind Fancy Dress Party!). Find out for yrself, dear reader.

A Part-Iranyitott Lovedek EP (2012)

Budapest's A Part [sorry for the lack of macrons, blogger doesn't let me input  diacritical marks] specializes in the doom 'n' gloom, bass-heavy glum rock that's real good for dancing and/or crying yourself to sleep to.

The drums anchor A Part's bass-heavy sound, with scratchy guitar lines sprinkling themselves around and about the rhythm secton, like so much broken glass in the night. The sound is particular effective on "Dobjatok Le!", the opener, equal parts Leeds Class of '79 dance punk and goth'd-out, church bells 'n' black rain coats glumcore.

"Interlude (Uzenet FEntrol)" reminds me of little-known Greek band Ora Miden, as far as song structure goes: the band uses drop out effectively, with a limping beat punctuated by throw-away guitar fuzz, and the singer mumbling, either apathetically or in a drugged fog, take yr pick.

The title track brings it all together with swirling guitars and despondent vocals. The band deliberately takes the song apart midway through and reassembles it into desultory, chiming white noise.

You'll probably dig this band if, like this author, you spent significant parts of your youth listening to Joy Division in an apathetic mire, interspersed with dancing to Gang of Four when you could find uppers.

Download the EP here. Last year's LP, also available for download, is quite good. Check out the video for one of their other songs-it has some sweet natural disaster footage!:

Piresian Beach-Alle Falle EP (2012)

Piresian Beach spirals further into the psychedelic ether on "Alle Falle," the follow up to the 2011 LP "Fuck Yr Mind." Zsofia and co. have been refining their sound for awhile (well, Zsofia has, anyway-I think the band is new 'uns), and moving away from rambam garage rock pummeling. "Alle Falle" is the most coherent Piresian Beach release, from the fucked up, seance-induced(?) cover to the freaked out guitar layering.

"Easter" is built around a fairly straightforward strummed acoustic guitar and drumbeat, with Zsofia intoning about, ah, Easter (I think). "Play Today" deploys tightly controlled guitar squall over a stuttering drum beat, and marks the true beginning of the EP. "People Know Nothing" almost drifts into raga territory, although I think the only instrument is a heavily pedal-addled guitar. The eponymous track, "Alle Falle," deploys guttural, sleazy guitar pulse under a rickety kick drum and echoing sound effects. "Keine Falle" is my favorite track:urgently strummed acoustic and whining electric guitar frame Zsofia's sultry moan, which is essentially another instrument.

As any Drug Punk reader probably knows, garage has been experiencing a renaissance in the last few years. Piresian Beach is part of this, but with each release Zsofia moves further away from straigthtoforward, 4-4 time rock 'n' roll, and the results are more interesting with each release. Perfect tunes for summer sun 'n' fun.

Download "Alle Falle" here.

Opus Null-Alkotmanyos Anarchia LP (2012)

Following up their slew of 2011 demos, Opus Null's debut LP successfully synthesizes their previous work, while hinting at new directions for these bruising Budapesters.

Featuring some re-recorded songs from the Vas Nepe EP, Alkotmanyos Anarchia features several new songs, my favorite of which are "Melyseges tisztelettel," "Ciklus," and "Perdulet," which can serve as a survey of the album as a whole.  The former brazenly rips off an old Partisans guitar line for a mid-tempo romper-stomer, and is typical of previous Opus Null material.

"Ciklus" gets kinda math-rockesque: chiming drums and molasses-slow guitar rapidly transition into rapid-fire, slamming choruses and drunkenly slurred vocals.

"Perdulet" is more of a departure. Opening with disorienting guitar and chant-singing, minor notes interspersed with synthesizer make for a  mindfuck-this is the sort of stuff hinted at in previous ON work, but here they achieve a spooky, engaging piece of psych-punk.

I'm sure that Opus Null is referencing homegrown Hungarian traditions and sounds, but to me this sounds like a bunch of punks slowing down, freaking out, and exploring the limits of guitar haze.


GET RAD, DOODZ. Download includes cover art and lyrics, in Magyar. Opus Null lives here. If you don't know Magyar (like me), check 'em out on Facebook.

Opus Null-Vas Nepe EP (2011)

I should start this review by apologizing to Opus Null for taking so goddam long to post this....life has a way of kicking you in the ass when you think you're gettin' ahead, y'dig?

This is the second Opus Null release to grace Drug Punk's pages, and it's a marked improvement. Their demo felt like an energetic but sloppy gesture at first-wave LA punk (that's my main reference point for synth-driven punk-aficionados of the history of Hungarian punk, contact me). This is a lot more polished, in a good way. The album opens with a spaced out synth bit ("Prologus") that throws you off balance for the second tune, a mixture of desperate, churning hardcore and shambolic good-times rock.
The rest of the songs showcase a similar mixture of influences, making good use of synthesizers to offset the 1-2, 1-2-3-4 thrash parts.

This still feels like a demo, but there's a great debut 7" lurking in Opus Null's sound, and they deserve international attention.
Really, this is a shitty review that doesn't do justice to the band, so I'm gonna wrap this up by saying that this is a good collection of tunes, so check it out!

For shows, release info, et. al., go here.

Amstetten Bedroom Punk-vxcfsxa

I don't know if this is a joke. I don't know if most people would like this (well, that's a lie. Most people would hate it). I don't know if you wanna read this.

I do know that this is the sort of stupid, pseudo-surf-noise I like to listen to when I get home at the end of the night, and am stuck in a limbo between stimulants and downers. I do know that those of you who like your surfiness mixed in with some pulsing noise, but are a bit too stoned to get into Brainbombs' groove, will dig this.

Atrociousnoiseholocaust.

That is all. Stay tuned for a Pink Reason interview, Hermanestra, Acid Kicks live, et. al. reviews. Y'know y'want it.

Fuseism-Keep Movin' 7" EP (2011)

I should start this review by saying that I'm not an expert on contemporary emo, and certainly not the international scene. I was a bit surprised that emo (in its original, Revolution Summer, post-harDCore sense) caught on across the pond, since it seems like such a quintessentially  bourgeois, American indulgence.

That aside, this 2-song EP ain't too shabby. One of the things I couldn't stand about Rites of Spring was the whiney vocals that were mixed way too high. Fuseism (is this a new ideology? Budapesters,let me know) thankfully keeps the preachy/confessional stuff to a minimum, and bangs out some good mid-paced punk. The singer certainly sounds like RoS/Embrace-era Ian MacKaye, but his voice is more one of the instruments than the show-stealer, which gives this EP a leg up on some of their mid-'80s influence. The opening guitar riff on "Believers of Fuseism" especially caught my ear, although the song drags a bit at the end.

Are you a believer in fuseism? Check out their bandcamp page for more info, and on how to pick up a physical copy of this. I really dig Fuseism's aesthetic sensibility.

Opus Null-Dagasztott semmi demo (2011)

Yes, the cover is incredibly retarded, even more so that whatcha usually see here on Drug Punk. Moving past that, this ain't too shabby at all. I know very little about Opus Null; this turned up in my inbox a few weeks ago.
These ten tracks are standard lo-fi punk fare: basic drums, fuzztone guitarlines, chanted lyrics in Magyar. Starting with "Vasutas," they throw in some wicked synth riffing that fleshes out the thrashing quite nicely.
Opus Null isn't the most original band I've ever heard, but so fucking what? I'd listen to this over Youth Attack! mysteriousguycore any day 'o' the week.

Magyar misery. For more info on Opus Null, go here.

The lyrics and song titles are in Magyar, but someone (thank you!) very kindly translated 'em for me-here they are in English, for those who care:

1. Fucking Thomas Joseph

2. ( roughly: someone who participates in public life / something that is a part of the public life )

3. Railroad worker

4. Dear Rousseau

5.Antiage

6.Hello Furkó dot

7. Youngster

8. Fucking Fat ( geci means "cum," but in slang Hungarian uses it as "fucking" is used in English )

9. Szijjas (Proper noun? Roughly it means: someone who has a belt or something that has a belt )

10. Angular momentum

Das Nembutals-Like a Raging Lebensborn EP (2011)

"I was a teenage zombie..." pt. 1

I spent much of the years 2003-04 drinking bad beer and getting into trouble with a punk crew I shall refer to as the Kids of the Black Hole. Mid-way through the winter, I fell in like with one of the anarchapunks in the crew. She had everything! Silly-colored hair, a bad attitude, and serious drug problems!

The first time we hung out was at a bad loft party somewhere on Chicago's north side. Halfway through a terrible Screeching Weasel cover band, she dragged me into the bathroom. Assuming we were gonna makeout, I was happy as a heroin addict with a fix. That's when she sprinkled some crushed Valium on a bowl fulla weed and started smoking, then handed it to me. After a few minutes of this madness, my head started spinning. As we emerged from the smoke-filled bathroom, we fell over each other and arose to find the cops busting up the party.

My head felt like this EP when I climbed out from under said anarchapunk gal, blitzed on bad weed, worse beer, and crushed downers, to be confronted with some of Chicago's finest: fucked up and painful in a way that made perfect sense. It's a side project from the fine folks who do Piresian Beach.


LISTEN TO IT HERE, fux.

Catholic Spray/Piresian Beach LIVE, Budapest, 14.10.11

This is easily the dumbest-coolest show flyer I've ever seen. I wanna send it to my anarchist friends back in Chicago to finish burning my bridges with the political punk scene.

More important, however, is the event it advertises-
Catholic Spray is playing with Piresian Beach in Budapest tomorrow (October 14th) night. It's by far the coolest thing going on in the Danube River valley, I assure you. If I was in Hungary, I'd start my booze binge now so as to be ready for this thing.

Info for those who can't read the poster:
Trafik Klub
Mikszath ter 2.
1000 HUF

See RNR666 or foldalatti.eu [both in Magyar] for more info.

GO!

Nohopekids-s/t EP (2011)

So this whole Olympia punk thing is starting to wear a bit thin. All these teen punks in heat actin' like it's 1995 all over again with their lifestyle politics and horrible B.O....boy howdy, dear readers, it's enough to make this senior citizen wanna crack an Old Style, load up on Klonopin, and zonk himself to death on yonder sofa.

Bring on Nohopekids, Budapest's biggest, baddest scuzzfuckers. Despite being recorded closer to the Kremlin than Ford Motor Works, this cat has the mid-60s garage thing down pat. Relentlessly monotone sheetmetal drumming! Almost-melodic guitars! Hollered, indecipherable caterwauling! Yes!
The highlight is "The Lonely Surfer pt. 2" where Mr. Nohope cuts the sonic squall for some truly pretty guitar work.
If your week has been as freaked out as mine, you'll dig this as you sink deeper into your Thursday night spiral of booze 'n' pills.

Don't be told about what you want.... Check out dude's bandcamp page for his other releases. I'd totally buy the physical product if I had a clue as to how to do so.

Piresian Beach-s/t EP (2010)

The flophouse I've been crashing at for the last few days is called Poopy Pants. Given the serious disconnect between reality and my current condition, I figured some drugged down, fucked up Hungarian shitpsych was in order.

There's a hazy, phantasmic quality to these songs. Despite a bruising, dominant drum track on every song, the EP is rather free-form. The keyboard/drum beat of "Lost" swaggers along, with the Zsofia's husky voice just strong enough to sustain it.

"Lazy" opens with a stuttering kick drum and shimmering guitar notes. Zsofia's at the bottom of the Coral Sea, with the guitar swirling in and out of focus. It's what smoking hash on Tahiti must be like: everything is so pretty, this must be a dream, right?

Then the frenzied, moaning synth note and pummeling beats of "Filthy Dreams" drag you through the late-night scuzz. Throw it on to accompany sloppy, sweaty fucking after a hot August night of drinking cheap gin and popping any and all pills come your way...gross, but kinda fun!

Don't be told what you need! This very talented lady has a new album, "Fuck Your Mind," out; check out her bandcamp page for samples of it. No idea of how to acquire a physical copy of this EP, try emailing her at the address given on the bandcamp page.