ÄSS

 

Maybe this should be on the live blog. I say that when I post things here that I really dig and I don't want them to get lost because there are probably something like 46ppl in the world who check the live blog. It's a shame on the one hand, because....only 46ppl? Seriously? There's shit-hot fire on there, updated erratically but shit-hot nonetheless. On the other hand though, who fukkn cares because the shit is out there and 46ppl id way more than "forgotten in a box in some Gen Xer's closet for eternity" you know? So yeah, this is live and it's supposed t be over there at the live blog but really I make the rules here and here is ÄSS. The dude from Tee Pee, a dude from WFMU and two other dudes playing some drunk ass garage punk covers (DEVO, SQUIER, FLAG, NUGENT, LIZZy) and I can't tell you why I like it - but I like it. Check the live blog though....ager you blast some ÄSS.

LIVE IN NEW JERSEY

ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE

 

Recorded in 2011 like a throwback to 1994 New England political crust, ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE are a band I would have loved to have seen in the early '00s when that era was still fresh on my mind. Hell - I would have loved to see them in any era, but I feel like 2002 was probably the sweet spot for these tracks getting under my skin. Churning metal-tinged ferocity with perfect guitar tone/s, and there's something about the way this dude barks that really makes me want to crank some MANKIND? this morning. Then again...isn't there a part of me that wants to crank some MANKIND? every morning? We got this tape (likely available in your local bargain bin in 12" vinyl format) and a two song slammer a few years later and then....poof. That's all, so appreciate what you've got. 

ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE

DEADYELLOW // BOBAK

 

Every time I check in on the folks at Wet Cassettes it seems like there's something new and disgusting waiting for me. You know what I like? New and disgusting things. Unbound pairs two exceptionally raw black metal acts, fans of fidelity and/or professional sonic presentation will want to look elsewhere while the rest of us revel in the filth. BOBAK (whose The First Key tape pushed the boundaries of lo-fi USBM) offer three doses of lumbering fury - a collection of dissonant riffs trying to not stumble over manically flailing drums. Two more traditional black metal blasts from DEADYELLOW on the flip - still raw but polished by comparison. "Aporia" is a 6+ minute dirge in the classic warmarch tradition and is worth the entire cassette on its own...but you should already be covered in evil before you even get to it. 

UNBOUND

SWATH OF...

 

I suppose this is quintessential death rock in a way....specifically in the way that emphasizes the rock part of that oft misused descriptor. Much like LOST GOAT (don't get me started - again), New Jersey's SWATH OF... inject darkness into smoky hard rock, and are also fronted by a set of formidable femme pipes. From the full throttle power rock of "His Demise" to the blatant ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN vibes on "The Changeling," from the strained Iommi riffing on "Threads" to the brooding acoustic BUDGIE cover, SWATH OF... are clearly pulling from wherever their interests take them, and it works. I hope this (apparent) Covid project continues into the new world, because DIY '70s goth doom needs to be a thing. 

LAMENT

ALTAR OF GORE

 

Truly one of the more putrid contributions you'll see to these pages. Churning, ignorant, guttural death metal from the demonic depths of New Jersey. Vocalist and lyricist (read: sole member) Acolyte Of The Foul Ones takes you on a filth ridden journey on tracks like "Foul Dwellers In The Sacrificial Pits" and "Descent Into The Charnel Depths" and closes with a very appropriate IMPETIGO cover. Basically - you should know exactly what you're getting into here, and ALTAR OF GORE is one worth getting dirty for. Brain cells grow back. 

ALTAR OF GORE

METAL DEMOS

If you asked me (and if you're reading then you kinda did), this is absolutely the way these recordings were meant to be circulated. First wave US thrash assault from some of the greats collected on cassette, copied by die hards, and passed by hand to thirsty kids in school hallways or sent across the world to pen pals from the classified pages of underground metal rags. It's not supposed to sound full, the shit is raw and primal and that's why it worked. Schuldiner's guitar on Reign Of Terror is just wild (extra points for the hard pan on the rack toms), and Thunderstruk makes it hard to understand why WHIPLASH weren't more of a household name. Bay Area royalty is represented (early pre-thrash DEATH ANGEL is really hard to fukk with - more in line with NWOBHM but with serious teeth), and EXCITER's "World War III" is an absolute killer. The kid who put this beast together knew what was up, and I thank them for it. 

METAL DEMOS 

Probably a decent time to revisit a couple of earlier posts with the same spirit. An unmarked tape of (more) metal demos (check the comments - some excellent sleuths have done good work but there are still mysteries to solve) HERE, and a magical collection of early Bay Area killers HERE. If your ears ain't bleeding, then you ain't listening properly. 

SÖFT DOV

 

I completely missed this one in real time, and was definitely not ready for the sonic assault that started when SÖFT DOV dropped in out of the past. Cavernous, in your face DBeat hardcore, noisy and demanding with clean yelled vocals that last land somewhere between Cronos and CLITBOYS - which is to say that this full on distortion attack is puuuuunk. You know when you finish listening to a release and you can kinda feel yourself unconsciously exhale when the sound stops? Yeah, SÖFT DOV is like that. 

SÖFT DOV

TH' GUNK STUNK

 

Absolutely killer collection of psych and doom and noise and electronics from a cadre of artists primarily from and around New Jersey. This is a chilly fall night when things (in the night and in your life) are slowing down and maybe getting a little weird. Almost creepy enough (WASP, TRIGAL) for proto-Halloween celebrations, definitely twisted enough (FILTH GARDEN, BONELIST, SPECK, TOADS) for sloppy drunken punk slogs around a fire, and other worldly enough (BROWN CHRISTMAS, MAXIMUM ERNST, IVOR BLAHA) to make you really glad that everything kicked in when it did. It's going to be a good night...just wait until it gets dark.

TH' GUNK STUNK

JOY CLEANER

 

A complete divergence, because there's just something about this tape that I can't escape. Three tracks of sweet and sappy indie/college alt with a dash of Alex Chilton. It's a blissfully simple formula, really, and as much as the description should make me puke......? Well, I like it. 

EASTER TUESDAY

xATMx

 

There might be a guitar in there somewhere, the kick drum drops out when the blasts kick in, check the singer gurgle "LET'S GO!" before the stomp that closes "Hit The Trash" - I'll take these five minutes of raw straight edge power violence all day long over mindless bullshit destruction presented as rage. 

ALL THIS MURDER

==============

I'm fine with ignorant hardcore.

Ignorance in hardcore is a different matter. 

If you know better, do better. 

If you don't know better...then that's separate issue entirely. 

Keep the ignorance in the riffs, and out of the scene. 

=================

ORGASMIC TOILET BAND

 

As far as I can gather, this little box of genius was only available through the classifieds in MRR sometime in the early 1990s. I'm sure that friends of the band had an inside line, but the general public? You just had to be in the know...or willing to gamble. Dug was willing to gamble back then and Dug is eager to share today, and so am I. Which brings us to: ORGASMIC TOILET BAND. Twenty two doses of freak funk, joke punk, noise rock and hardcore schlock - fans of SCHLONG and YOUR MOTHER in particular will want to pay attention, if only to see what you missed. But anyone who misses the parade of oddities that marched boldly through the first half of that lost and mysterious decade will find themselves comfortable here - even while (or perhaps because) their eyes are rolling. Maybe growing all the way up isn't really the best move. 

ORGASMIC TOILET BAND 

AMMO

 

Center yourself before you press play, because AMMO are going to put you through it. Eight tracks in ten minutes, screaming USHC with the kind of pre-crossover metal punk breakdowns that make my teeth hurt (I'm really talking "Known Unknown" here - likely the best single moment on a tape filled with best moments). Brutally fast, a guitar that's crunchy and tweaked with a hint of flange, just pure power from every piece of this short slab. Picture DIE KREUZEN from NYC...or remember the way you felt the first time heard the first SICKOIDS 12". Volume and intensity. 

AMMO

THE GOOD BOOK

I've said it countless times, but I've thought it countless more....one of the best perks about dragging this out of date cassette blog (because, I mean, who even writes or hosts or curates these anymore - much less bothers to read them or use them as anything approaching a resource? That's what discogs and googletube are for, right?) is the random donations. The promo-esque stuff is swell, don't get me wrong, because who doesn't like free stuff? But when someone is like "I think this rips and I want people to know about it but it seems like history and punk's short attention span relegated this to the shadows" and then they offer up a cassette for the archive? Well....it's fukkn rad, and that's what today is. Post-TEAR IT UP Dave on vocals, these five songs are rock 'n roll tinged US hardcore that I honestly think could have been huge had they gone a slightly different route (or perhaps if they had simply stayed together). Crazy melodic noodling on one of the guitars while the band charges full force at all times, and an instantly comfortable listen because it's a sound that you already know....but THE GOOD BOOK offer just enough of something to hold you tight. 

THE GOOD BOOK

SPAZZTIC BLURR // REGURGITATION

A slice of essential blurr that some helpful thrasher put together some 30 years ago, these two demos back-to-back are a superb taste of what life as a DIY hessian was like in the late '80s. Portland's SPAZZTIC BLURR are easily dismissed as a joke band, but fuuuuukkkkk they were fast (I presume that they still are). The humor of STIKKY and YOUR MOTHER...but way faster and played with the proficiency of actual thrashers (the band started in the shadow of WEHRMACHT).  But perhaps tongue in cheek isn't your thing....maybe you don't seek high energy Flintstones theme songs? If you need your reprobate thrash delivered with windmills and guttural early-Araya yeowls, then look no further than this primal dose from REGURGITATION. As with many tapes I come across that are relics from the trading days, this one may not contain the Bathrooms Rule or Organic Backwash demos in their entirety...but it contains seven absolutely steaming doses of breakneck death thrash. When I think of hungry, pimply faced 15 year olds getting shit like this in the mail it still blows my damn mind. 

SPAZZTIC BLURR // REGURGITATION

WALL BREAKER

I've frequently expressed a nostalgic affinity for the Y2K fastcore/thrashcore scene around the turn of the century...the shit was legitimately positive and supportive and the bands were full of energy and even though there was, in retrospect, a lot of darkness lurking in the shadows of that pasty white sausage party, it was pure and genuine fun at the time, and I will always appreciate my connections to it. There's a dude in New Jersey named Ken who feels the same way, and he's putting together a goddamned oral history book about the whole fukkn scene and its far reaching influences. Also, Ken sings for a band called WALL BREAKER....and you can probably guess based on my lumbering preamble what kind of goods they deliver. Ripping, tough as nails and fast as fukk hardcore crosses everything off the checklist in just under seven and a half minutes. For example, you can see the breakdown in "Damaged Mind" coming from a mile away...then when it drops it still catches you by surprise and you want to break shit. This is far from a retro novelty act, WALL BREAKER feels it 100%, and the difference is palpable. 

WALL BREAKER

STINGER

A flaming hot staff thrust to the sky: STINGER is ruthless hardcore manifested as war metal.  There's a ripping split with MAULER that came out earlier this year, but I still think I prefer this 2014 cassette release (and not just because I'm trying to be contrary). I just listened to the last 45 seconds of "By The Fang" and my day is pretty much downhill from here. 

STINGER

HUMAN ADULT BAND // PENIS IN VAGINA

I haven't forgotten about you, but I was in sunny Southern California for a few days and the time that I had planned to spend (at the very last minute, naturally) stocking up daily posts for you to enjoy I instead spent on the phone with lawyers and bankers trying to sort out the mind numbing shitshow that is the estate of my dead father. And then I went to LA with FUTURO and it was fukkn great, but now I'm back and you can have your tapes again. Every day. The way you like it. 

HUMAN ADULT BAND (still active) play weird drugged out/drawn out noise rock, their side was recorded live in 2005. Don't really know too much about PENIS IN VAGINA on the flip....I tried using the internet to search for their name. I suggest you try doing that as well, and let me know how it works out for you.

GOD'S WORK

TEAR IT UP

From the ashes of DEAD NATION came TEAR IT UP. We had seen and played with DEAD NATION already, and their Painless EP is as close to flawless as anything from the era....so I admit that I was skeptical. I shouldn't have been. Six songs, five minutes. Ripping new millennium US hardcore punk from fukkn Jersey. Shit holds up, y'all. 

TEAR IT UP

KANTUTA // ANTI ARMADA

Two NY/NJ raw hardcore Spanish language powerhouses. Both bands are blown to smithereens and ruthless. Get ready to put your Noize Not Music tattoo to the test. Tu-pa-Tu-pa-Tu-pa? Meet pure distortion...I think you two are going to get along great.

SPLIT K7

WORKING STIFF

2013 New Jersey mutant rock, represent. In a limited run subculture inundated with self indulgent hardcore acts, something about these kids stands out, and instead of being coy I'll just blurt it out: the fukkn guitars. Nearly constant single note dementia playing two step with some animal just pounding out chords and the combination makes the band sound really....off. The tracks are solid, meaty hardcore burners with a dash of brooding midtempo dark punk, all topped with distant, distorted vocals....and then they just drop a lead in your lap ("Ownership," for example) and you remember why you're still listening (because you've heard solid, meaty tracks before): the fukkn guitars.

WORKING STIFF