BornDead/Consume split 12" (2003)

Anarchopunk is a drug like any other: You come home feeling like shit. As you do every day. So you put on that [insert bad, vaguely political band name here-"Riot _," "Anti_" will suffice] record. As the trashed guitar notes and d-beats begin, you start to feel a rush of pure, self-righteous anger. It's a sea change from that futile, impotent fury usually following a normal day.

This self-righteous anger feels good. THEY are the enemy, it's THEIR fault, fuck THEM! We're gonna FUCKING OVERCOME, COMRADE! After all, you're just an oppressed wage slave tryna make it through the day, right?

Pretty soon, you're dancing around your room in a paroxysm of self-righteous indignation, shakin' yer fist and promising yourself you're gonna finally sit down and read that Bakunin reader gathering dust under your Aus-Rotten LPs.

But all good things must come to an end, and when the needle lifts on side B, you start to come down...aw, man, you've still got all those boring, non-political, very un-self-righteous problems you had before putting on your studded leather jacket-bills to pay, girl/boyfriend troubles, hate yer parents...fuck man...

Oh, this album? It's great. Easily one of the best political hardcore albums of the '00s. Fuck it. Anarchopunk is a great drug. I just prefer crushed Adderal and cheap beer, these days.

God save the queen.... This should still be available from here. Will, from Born/Dead, does a really sweet blog, Cold War. Check it out.

Ora Miden-Demo CS (1988)

This is easily the most exciting demo I've heard recently and, go figure, it was recorded over twenty years ago by a band that released only this cassette and one EP, "Mona Lisa."

Oρα Μηδέν*, "see nothing/see zero", easily puts most late-80s punk to shame (YoT, this means you). I was hesitant when I first heard the ska guitar arrangements, especially on "Το Καλοkαιρη," but ska this ain't, and the band's unique

take on glum rock quickly grew on me.

Oρα Μηδέν were remarkably talented at creating an atmosphere of anxiety, especially on "Κόλαση" and "Πιρελλη Ελλάς Α.Ε." On "Κόλαση," "Hell," a swelling bassline and drums usher in the singer's sonorous hum, broken by sparkles of guitar strewn across the beat, which quickly switches back into a churning, anxious cycle. "Πιρελλη" comes close to industrial noise, with its chugging drumbeat and scratchy, reiterated guitar note. It's suffocating, and for the whole track you're just waiting for an explosion- it never comes. The gorgeous, mournful guitar lick opening "Αφιέρωση"alone makes the demo noteworthy. 

 Ώρα Μηδέν produced one helluva demo, and it's a fucking shame they only recorded one more 7". On the strength of this demo alone I'll put them up against any of your deathrock idols. Do yourself a favor and download this.

A fascist regime! // Κατεβάζω Ευχαριστώ πόλη /thank you very much to the guy at Social Subproducts blog for putting me onto this band. Check out that blog and this for some great Greek punk. 

*Thanks a lot for the correction on the band's name and translation! The demo didn't come with a picture, so I provided my own of Athenian graffitti. It reads "Class hatred." *

*EDIT, 9.8.12: Reupped the file. Get it HERE.*

The Proletariat-Marketplace 7" (1985)

Most people first heard Massachusetts' The Proletariat on the This is Boston, Not L.A. comp, where they stood out from the largely hardcore roster with their jagged, staccato guitar and prominent basslines-Gang of Four, not  DYS.

This is probably my favorite Proletariat record. The two songs are typical fare from the band: the guitar's mixed a bit more prominently than on the Soma Holiday LP, but the bass and drums still lead the band while the vocalist intones about the usual Reagan-era enemies. The production's a bit better than on previous efforts, but glossy it ain't.

The Proletariat all too often gets dismissed as simply a Marxist curiosity amid a sea of crypto-fascist straight edge Boston HC, but they really go beyond that-they were one of the only worthwhile American bands emulating British post-punk, and they've aged much better than most of their hardcore brethren.

They made you a moron.... Taaang released a complete retrospective awhile ago, Voodoo Economics, which is well worth owning.

Darvocets-Are New Wave 12" EP (2008)

Since the Electric Eels' John Morthland used to go into steelworker bars in the early '70s, dancing with bandmates just to start fights, Cleveland, Ohio has turned out some of the, ah, most animated rock around. From the Dead Boys to the Inmates, Cleveland bands are infamous for their loud, trashy, proudly ignorant brand of noise, usually accompanied by beer-bottle-throwing fans and/or fireworks.

I'm not gonna say that Darvocets don't fit in with their brethren, but Flyin' Tricheros they ain't. Midtempo, guitar-driven songs about aliens, Big Foot, and anti-gravity craft predominate over misogynistic drivel, and this album is more suited to getting zonked on acid than slamming Budweiser and starting fights at redneck bars. Fittingly, this LP appears just before Young, Loud and Snotty when I listen to it on itunes.

a potential H-bomb. Fashionable Idiots is out of these, but there's a whole bunch 'o' awesome stuff on offer, so check it out.

Neo Boys-s/t 7" (1980)

Portland's been producing great punk bands since day one: the Wipers, the Rats, and the Neo Boys. Produced by the Wipers' mastermind Greg Sage, and released on his label, Trap, this EP is a forgotten classic of first wave U.S. punk.

Usually overshadowed by the aforementioned bands, Neo Boys definitely did not fit in with the nascent U.S. hardcore scene of the early 1980s: i the ladies of Neo Boys offered bouncy, oblique tunes closer to what these folks were up to than, say, Minor Threat or The Nihilistics.

"Never Comes Down" opens with a spritely, echoing surf guitar line accompanied by a hyperactive rhythm section that never slips into thrash. "Give Me the Message" might be the strongest of the three tracks, though-

I really like how the guitar chord punctuates the vocals, and it has a weirdly sunny beat. " The husky, slightly sneering  quality of Kim Kincaid's voice appears most clearly on "Rich Man's Dream."

God save the Queen.... This is available as a bootleg from Bowery Records, no idea where to get an original-EBay? Peeps this for a good history of Neo Boys, and some live footage. Fuck PDX stenchcore, this is the real deal, folks!

Heavy Times-Dead LP (2010)

Boyhowdy, boppers,  is this a departure from the Priority Male Rex cassette I reviewed back in June, Sick Listens!
Whereas said cassette was a freeform jumble of tunes, "Dead" is a fucking statement. Starting out with the wicked bad raditude of "Welcome to the Graveyard," the Times immediately lurch into a different key with the lite crooner "Poison Ivy". The LP grooves its way towards the epic freakout jam of "Dead Lake," where all of Heavy Times' druggy brilliance is on display.

 Shit is fuckin' crucial, man. Perfect for sex on a mixture of Valium and Adderal. Totally.
...she ain't no human being!  "Dead" is still available from Permanent Records. Look out for a new Heavy Times LP in the near future-pop over to Tiny Grooves for a preview.

"We Are the Future...nothing can stop us!" mixtape

I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend a good amount of time last week smoking weed on couches. Some of this quality herb time was accompanied by an unheralded masterpiece of modern avant garde cinema...if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's your problem, Teacher Teacher!

There is no future....

Track list:

1. Tennis-South Carolina

2. Emily Reo-Metal on your Teeth

3. Grazhdanskaya Oborona-Na nasyh Glazah

4. Heavy Times-Poison Ivy

5. Alright Alreadies-Aquarium

6. Loose Dudes-Father’s Day

7. Mika Miko-Zombies take One

8. The Repos-Half a Hole

9. The Ropes-Down in Flames (Dead Boys cover)

10. Cacaw-Bye Bye Dodo

11. Pink Reason-Borrowed Time

12. Black Tambourine-I Was Wrong

13. Wipers-Return of the Rat

14. Whirl-Leave

15. Sun Kil Moon-Lily and Parrots

16. Cat Power-I Don’t Blame You

17. The Raincoats-No Looking

18.[hidden track]

19. Dead Moon-Unknown Passage

Crazy Spirit-I'm Dead 7" EP (2011)

I didn't want to post this, since it came out two months ago and Crazy Spirit is currently king shit of the DIY scene, making this readily available on the 'net. But goddamn! Since picking this up yesterday it's all I've been spinning (well, besides ABBA, but that's between me and those Swedes...).

The bizarrely superb drumwork; Walker's tortured gremlin snarl; the perfectly-timed, minimal guitar solos. All these set CS apart, But there's an undefinable something to Crazy Spirit such that they excel. Maybe the stars are simply aligned properly, but I don't get sick of them despite heavy listening over several months.

"I'm Dead" continues the strain of their first 7", but "This World is Not my Home" takes them a step beyond. Opening with a wash of white noise, the song really starts with CS's famous "galloping horses in the pit" drumming: here, a stutter-step beat crashing forward into a tale of existential alienation. I dunno if it's actually an old blues standard, but Walker nails the vocal phrasing and the guitar sounds like Blind Lemon Jefferson on amphetamine.
The other two songs are good, too, but "This World" is the centerpiece, and shows just how audacious Crazy Spirit is. What's next, a crust opera double 10"? I can't wait!

...in England's dreaming! BUY HERE!!! from Mata La Musica Discos. Big ups to ICDT blog, from whom I learned that this thing existed.

*EDIT, 9.20.12: REUP is HERE.*

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.