A HANDFUL OF DUST

 Mystic drone meets with cacophonous improvisation, urged forward through a sonic mist by hesitant percussion. A dark industrial churn emerges with strings mingling with electronics and....and those drums that seem integral to and completely separate from the rest of the sounds. Sometimes the coordinated swells and breaths are the only thing holding A HANDFUL OF DUST together at all, but most of the time it feels like 'togetherness' is the furthest thing from their collective conscious. The artist and its two members (Bruce Russell and Alastair Galbraith) were both new to me before I scrounged this tape, but discovering their world/s of sound has been wonderful. Pull up a chair, you know? Stay a while. 

TOPOLOGY OF A PHANTOM CITY

OTHER OZ/NZ HORDES

Ripped a real banger set from Sydney's HITMEN a while back (check Escape Is Terminal for that magic) and someone was nice enough to cram a few bonus cuts at the end so....here you go. HENCHMEN, MUSHROOM PLANET and a gloriously brooding number from MELTING SKYSCRAPERS - it's a short little mix, but damn it's a good one. Thank you...and you're welcome too. 

OTHER OZ/NZ HORDES

LAND AND LANGUAGE

 

Absolutely devastating collection of underground and experimental hip hop from indigenous artists based in all corners of the globe. Instead of dissecting tracks, I'll give you a (partial) list: NUUK POSSE (Greenland), AMOC (Sámpi), SERHADO (Kurdish rapper based in Stockholm), UPPER HUTT POSSE (Aotearoa, NZ), TJIMBA AND THE YUNG WARRIORS (Australia), HATHUR ZOO (Buryatia), ROLLIN 'N LIL SPADE (Navajo Nation), BANAISSA (Moroccan based in Germany), X PLASTAZ (Arusha, Masaai), LO CUT A SLEIFAR (Wales), M.A.K. (Basque Country)...and that's just the first side. The sounds are all over the place (literally and figuratively) and the delivery is overwhelmingly intense. You can feel the intensity and the isolation in every track, and that is exactly what makes this compilation so essential. The flip features artists from Cherokee Nation, Mongolia, Nairobi, Tajikistan, Chile, Bolivia, Mauritania, Norway, Palestine.....in case you need to be convinced. All praise to the folks who put this compilation together. 

LAND AND LANGUAGE

CLAY MAN IN THE WELL

 

For those needing help finding directions towards (or from) introspection, I suggest opening the door to Kupe's Sail from CLAY MAN IN THE WELL. For residents of the Northern Hemisphere who are settling into the season/s of depression, these sounds recorded in New Zealand might do little to lift the darkness, but may serve as a reminder that someone was here before you. Haunting, innocent and honest sonic meditations give way to utter cacophony and then all coexist and then the cycle repeats. And again. 

KUPE'S SAIL

TENTACLES OF DESTRUCTION

 

TENTACLES OF DESTRUCTION deliver a wild (and awesome) collision of whirlwind '80s USHC and jerky early Japanese punk, fronted by a gravel voiced motherfukkr who sounds like he's itching to go skate. Check "All Grown Up" in particular - a straight up whirlwind should-have-been skate hardcore essential. That slammer is just 59 seconds long, but you've got nine minutes left before you have to (get to) flip the tape and do it again. After that there still a bit more, but TENTACLES OF DESTRUCTION left us with just a few sessions to session to (see what I did there?). Fans of DIRECT CONTROL, Haunted Town and THE STALIN take note.

TENTACLES OF DESTRUCTION

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

Repost from 2010, Death Pays All Debts is a crucial collection that deserves revisiting. Read the original post here is you're so inclined, but mostly just start consuming these late '80s New Zealand bands: CASUALTY, STENCH OF THE WOUNDED, COMPOS MENTIS, WORLD WAR 3, BONER and ARMATRAK. 

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

ROGERNOMIX

I don't know how many different ways I can describe them, but ROGERNOMIX is just unbelievably brutal. Raging dual vocal Scandinspired hc/crust delivered with an unrelenting intensity. It's gonna be tough to get geographically "privileged" North Americans to pay attention to a band from New Zealand, but I'm pretty sure that last year's SE Asian tour (from whence this tape came) was a smashing success....and again, these songs are just devastating. 

AOTEAROA ANNIHILATION

For your enjoyment, my computer farted and turned the entire B side into one erratic four minute shamble...so of course I included it here. You're welcome. 

SLAVEDRIVER

Excessive words can sometimes dissuade potential listeners, so I will keep it brief. SLAVEDRIVER are massive, filthy, intense, and relentless. That should be all you need....it's certainly all that I need. 

SLAVEDRIVER

SHORTLIVED

Seven minutes of complete and utter annihilation from New Zealand.  Riffs are killer, attack is ferocious, people are cool as shit to hang out with, and I fukkn swear that if this band were from somewhere cool then people would have lost their shit. Well, it's been a few years, and no one's looking, so feel free to let yourself go, motherfukkrs. Also - they pressed a 12" in criminally limited quantities, but a lot of them made it off their island(s), so I suggest you start looking.

SHORTLIVED

Notes: 

**The breakdown in "I Don't Pray, I Think" is so short and so unbelievably sick. 

**I want to visit New Zealand's southern island someday. 

**This band makes me want to listen to '00s fastcore forever. 

**The riff that starts "Fundamentalist" is so simple and so simply perfect. 

**Punks should wear shoes....I mean, I'm not wrong here.

TREPANATION

The noise intro is ominous but, even though you pretty much know what's coming, it's hard to not get your socks blown off when New Zealand's TREPANATION drop. I guess they call themselves War Metal, but I decided to create a new all encompassing subgenre for them: Grinding DBeat Death. Devastatingly heavy churning old school death metal going to battle waving the ScandiCrust flag with healthy doses of blast to keep things uncomfortable. The sound is evil, the presentation is nearly flawless, and the vibe is one of pure punishment. 

HIDEOUS BLACK ABYSS

And their new split with SABBATIC GOAT is even better...

SID VISHNU

'90s political hardcore, not far removed from their American counterparts like BROTHER INFERIOR and AUS ROTTEN, but with more of a street punk tinge than either. New Zealand's SID VISHNU are an aural time warp, and I can only imagine how much more I would dig these sounds had I seen them at the time. Through process of elimination I've decided that the singer has made me food on more than one occasion, but I liked the tunes before I did the math, so my affinity is unbiased...

COLLAPSED & BLEEDING

SEASON OF EVIL

I'm not going to try to convince you that this is awesome....but SEASON OF EVIL are awesome. Totally ridiculous mid '90s, mid tempo straight edge mosh metal from New Zealand - listen if you dare.

PURIFIRE

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

I find it curious how islands that had punk scenes in the '80s all seemed to have their own little thing going. New Zealand is relatively close to Australia, and it would stand to reason that the two would share major musical components in the early stages of the (then new and exciting) punk scene...but not so. While the Aussies were making musical whoopie on the coattails of the garage drenched punk of RADIO BIRDMAN, their Pacific neighbors were recreating imperialist punk sounds from the UK, but played through filters clouded with the hazy mist of isolated artists and drug addled individualists lost in the lush rolling hills. Flowery praise for a tape that starts of with a track from BONER, eh? This comp, released by Battery Hen Cassettes in 1988(?), is more considerably straightforward than the other NZ mixes that have appeared on The Escape, and this kiwi diversion away art punk means that you get absolutely killer jams from STENCH OF THE WOUNDED (the most rudimentary of the bunch, plodding, awkward and pedestrian), COMPOS MENTIS (brilliantly noisy female fronted punk bathed in high end distortion), CASUALTY (perhaps the most typically UK sounding band I've heard from New Zealand), ARMATRAK (the most melodic and accomplished musicians on the tape), the aforementioned BONER (another UK influenced attack, especially on "Babies," but the comp opens with a beautifully discordant dirge that sets the tone for the next 45+ minutes) and WORLD WAR 3 (distorted and chaotic anarcho noise). COMPOS MENTIS and CASUALTY both have vinyl releases I would love to get my hands on, but most of these bands only released tracks on this and other cassette compilations.

DEATH PAYS ALL DEBTS

LIVE NERVE

Live mix tape glory for your early fall Friday. GRUNTMUSCLE is the only band that I had even heard of before this tape, so get ready to tuck into some random jams from some late '80s rockers from New Zealand (I think that's where the tape is from, and I am open to correction and/or confirmation). BIG ED'S USED FARM sound kinda off kilter with a really clean guitar - sounds like Jasper Thread (DEAD MILKMEN) playing for THE FALL and I kinda like it, but I'm glad there are only a few songs. MORAL FIBRE are more straight up UK punk, fast and catchy with great bass lines (especially "Black + White"), while DODGE WEIRDOS slog through a plodding bass heavy 4 minute dirge. In case that wasn't odd enough, THE STRAP-ONS spend twice as much time making three times the racket on "Do You Swallow Cum?," which is art/noise/improv weirdness at it's finest. NERVOSO close out the first side with two raw rippers - sounds like they might have been a pretty basic female fronted UK styled punk outfit, but this live treatment makes them sound absolutely fierce. The flip side starts with STENCH THERAPY, who are pretty awful. I mean awful as in they sound like shit, but I kinda think it rules. More NERVOSO and BIG ED'S USED FARM (seriously, what the fuck were they thinking with that name?), raw snarling madness from GORSE, and the aforementioned GRUNTMUSCLE wrap up the tape (slow and noisy, like FLIPPER delivered by arty post punks). The sound quality ranges from satisfactory to really noisy, so prepare your ears for a serious workout.

LIVE NERVE

NZ PUNK // PUNK, INFL BANDS!!!

Apparently, New Zealand punk in the late 70s/early 80s fukkn ruled. DESPERATE MEASURES' opening tune "1984" with its simple droning repetitious riff might be the best song of the next 90 minutes (a bold move when making a mix tape), but the entirety of their 1984 EP is included here, and it's a fucking winner start to finish. Five tunes from UNRESTFUL MOMENTS follow, classic snotty punk with killer HUSKER DU-esque guitar leads set to brooding music with bizarrely affected (with effects, no doubt) vocals. THIS SPORTING LIFE appeared on the last New Zealand mix that I posted, brilliant post punk that mustn't be missed, and side A closes out with a phenomenal female fronted, horn laden track from INSTIGATORS that gives their British namesake a serious run for the money. The flipside is packed with goodies from JOHNNIES, 1ST IV (whose quirky jams like "Fascist Tango" are entirely too infectious), NEOTERIC TRIBESMEN's post punk arty goodness, two tracks of excellent JOY DIVISION worship from CHILDREN'S HOUR, straightforward punk from AFTERSHOCK and FINAL SOLUTION, plus two songs from RIOT III that question my theory that DESPERATE MEASURES take the prize on this mix....the song "Move To Riot" by RIOT III might just surpass DEAD KENNEDYS' "Riot" as my favorite riot song ever (and for the record, the word 'riot' appeared in that sentence quite a few times). As with Australian punks from the same era, there's just something tweaked about most of these recordings - something that makes them strangely kiwi, even though I don't quite know what that means. Hats off to the fellow and/or lass who crafted this mix, because I'm completely smitten with the music in contains...as you will be once these bands enter your musical database. And for the record, I am referring to the database in your brain, not the silicon one on your desktop.

NZ PUNK/PUNK INFL BANDS

CAPITOL CHAOS

This 8 band, 29 song mix tape features some of the best that New Zealand had to offer, and whoever put this bad boy together did a stellar job.  There's really no sense in giving a rundown of how this thing plays out, because everything on this tape is fukkn amazing.  From the Oi tinged scorchers from NO TAG and FEATURES (both of whom were on the equally killer New Zealand Mix I posted back in September) to FLESH D-VICE's UK82 styled punk jams and angular distortion free BUZZCOCKS tinged shits from TOY LOVE.  THE HENCHMEN do an excellent job of conjuring up RADIO BIRDMAN and while TERRORWAYS only contribute one track, "Never Been To Borstal" is an absolute gem.  Two UK worship burners from PROUD SCUM and dreary sinister post punk from UNRESTFUL MOVEMENTS round out the roster and make this one of the best 90 minute mixes I've ever had fall into my hands.  Side 1 is pretty much all raging ("Mistaken Identity" by NO TAG might quickly edge it's way into my favorite songs ever list - it's that good), and side 2 slows it down a bit (but THE HENCHMEN's 7+ minute "We've Come To Play" is a perfect way to start off a flip side). How does the saying go? "All Killer, No Filler!"

CAPITOL CHAOS Side 1

CAPITOL CHAOS Side 2

And here's the scant info that was included inside the tape...obviously the internet can fill in a few more holes if you're so inclined.  The internet is pretty good at filling in holes.

NEW ZEALAND MIX

Friday. Last week was an "official" compilation tape from Germany, this time it's a mix tape from New Zealand. The songs on this mix are from between 19878 and '84, and their styles are rather varied. Five killer songs from Y.F.C.'s Between Two Thieves 12" take up side one; angular and quirky, almost post punk, almost arty anarcho weirdness. The sample that makes up the otherwise instrumental track "Lynch" is top notch, and the only bad thing about these tunes is that upon hearing them, I needed to find another record (meaning: I need to find this record). Five bands on side two: SKEPTICS (rather straightforward UK82 style punk from, no surprise, 1982), NO TAG (raucous street punk from their 1983 Oi Oi Oi 12"), two tracks from THIS SPORTING LIFE (rough and dirty punk, reminds me almost of the Australian band X, maybe my top tracks on the mix), and FEATURES (awesome '77 style punk from their 1978 EP).

As you can read on the cover, this was a tape that someone ("S.C.") made to highlight the bands from his/her area, and expose them to someone else halfway around the world. Far be it for me to wax nostalgic for the "old" days (though the days on this tape are way before my time in punk), but there was something more exciting about "finding" or "sharing" a band that you love, as opposed to the modern version of trading URLs. That said, this tape can be downloaded by going to:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jjjykdjmdz4/NZ Mix Tape.zip

SPERMICIDE

1989's self titled debut release from SPERMICIDE sounds years older than it really is. Disjointed and awkward feminist anarcho punk from New Zealand with a militant anti-baby stance voiced in nearly every song ("Big Dick Mother Fucker" being the exception, that song is just anti-man). These girls are not exactly technically proficient, but they are clearly ferocious, and their enthusiasm in evident even in the liner notes of the cassette, where they band proudly states, "This very short tape is SPERMICIDE's first offering to the masses!!! (there will be lots more!)," and inside they take the time to thank me for buying their demo and encourage me to write them letters: "We will reply!!! (try and send a stamp?)". While it's true that maybe they didn't need to record a second reprise version of "B.D.M.F." (though of course I've included it here for your pleasure), I think that Dunedin (south island), New Zealand produced some serious feminist rockers. Like ANTI-SCRUNTI FACTION and BLATZ vacationing in the South Pacific!

"I wouldn't have your baby, not if you paid me to//I wouldn't have your baby...'cause babies make me spew!!!"

(that is the last line to the fourth tune on this demo, the blatantly misspelled and terribly punk "Steralize." I like this demo even more the more I listen to it.)