DESBORDE

 

What if LIMP WRIST and PURA MANIA made a weird Argentinian synth / egg punk band?

What if they sounded like Slash Records circa 1979 and had one part that was kinda NIGEL PEPPERCOCK and THE CARS circa 1979 even though those things shouldn't overlap?

What if that band was really fukkn good?

DESBORDE

COVID SS

 

I don't want to start talking about isolation and it would be disingenuous if I tried to talk about Covid-era isolation, but suffice to say that 2020 was a weird time. Some people shut down, and others felt the spark of opportunity (or desperation?). The result of that reality was....some killer recordings. This is one of those recordings. Punk rules, ok?

COVID SS

ATAUDES

 

I don't even know (or remember) how this one came to me, but I am glad it's with me now. Black infused blasting death metal from Argentina presented with a powerfully determined focus, ATAUDES will lay waste to your earholes and calmly remove all hope from your heart. Shit sounds that bleak because shit is actually that bleak, and ATAUDES are the soundtrack to that reality. It's dark and determined, listen to "Nos Merecemos La Extincion" if you have any doubts. And when you listen to "Nos Merecemos La Extincion" you will surely have additional doubts. 

MERECEMOS LE EXTINCIÓN

MARÍA MARTHA SERRA LIMA

 

Don't ask too many questions, okay? Just.....don't. Keep those questions to yourself, even though the answers are right here. MMSL is (was) an absolute vocal powerhouse and the opener "Soy Como Toda Mujer" is a perfect '80s pop ballad on a tape packed with perfect '80s pop ballads. "Amor Secreto" is like a telenovela put to song, and Plenamente will transport you to another world if you simply allow yourself to be transported. A world for lovers indeed. Un Mundo Para Amantes. See? I told you not to ask. 

PLENAMENTE

INYECCION

 

I remember having a hard time putting INYECCION in a box that made sense when this bomber dropped a few years ago. By the time Porqueria came out I think the collective punk world had more or less figured out what do 'do' with them, but this demo was a complete head scratcher. You know the sounds - raucous Japanese pogo, Latin American anarcho/DIY hardcore and fierce UK punk are all here in spades - and INYECCION make it feel like you haven't heard them all together like this. Full force dupa-dupa with ferocious shrill vocals trading off with a sharp bark...and that guitar. GAI caliber sonic damage giving these riffs the fukkn business. I figure folks probably lumped them in with THE WANKYS and the like (right?) and they weren't wrong if they did. For me.....? I'm gonna lump them into their own fukkn world. 

INYECCION

PARA CUANDO EN MI TE MUERAS

 

While it would be great (and easy) to dissect this comp, it might serve the reader (and listener) better to simply refer to the subtitle: 20 Unearthly Sissy And Sassy Hits and say that the twenty songs contained inside are all (inter)stellar. Focused on queer and femme punks, Para Cuando En Mi Te Mueras drags you from the UK to Argentina with stops in Mexico, Brazil and the US - from nasty squirmy hardcore to walls of disconnected noise...and literally evert track grabs me. A few bands I was already familiar with (ARGUMENT?, HETEROFOBIA, HEX) but most of the sissy and sassy shits here were new to these ears, which is an extra bonus. Your week sucked, and it's over anyway.....so what's stopping you?

PARA CUANDO EN MI TE MUERAS: 20 Unearthly Sissy And Sassy Hits

DEGOLLADA

The most gloriously snotty raw punk I've come across in ages; ramshackle lo-fi hardcore manifested in a basement in Argentina. Five songs here...and all you're going to want is five more. You can't have them, so you'll listen again.

DEGOLLADA

 

DISCOS CORROSIVOS

 

Regional comps rule, okay? So here are 42 punk and hardcore freak songs from the Buenos Aires metropolitan area and after a couple of listens I think pretty much every song on this tape rips. BARDO, NO CALLES NUNCA, SUGGESTION, LOS CAIDOS, MATA 7, FACASSO and sooooo many more. File under all sub-genres of DIY punk and hardcore and file under "bands I need in my life" and fukkn devour this shit. You're welcome. 

NO SABIAMOS COMO HACERLO, PERO LO ESTAMOS HACIENDO​.​.​.

FRENTE ARTISTAS EN LA RESISTENCIA

 

The only band I was familiar with before popping this tape in was CUCSIFAE, and by now you surely know me well enough to know that I'm gonna be stoked to dig into ten new (to me) turn of the century Argentinean political hardcore bands. Frente... is all over the place in the right way/s - catchy punk with razor thin guitars (and reggae breakdowns) from LAGRIMAS DE SANGRE, metallic hardcore chugs from O.D.R. and chaotic snarling fastcore rippers from PASO DEL REY. There's the aforementioned CUCSIFAE, whose dreamy punk is still infectious as hell to me, DISIDENCIA (ripping metallic 'hc), MATERIA FECAL who land like KILSLUG by-way-of NIRVANA (and might be the nicest surprise on the tape, and MOVIL VISSION. See....? This is exactly what I want in a compilation - and especially a region (or country) specific comp. JUAN PEREZ (melodic street punk), ASESINATO EN MASA (metalcore churns make another appearance), and addictive punk from TERRIBLES YE YES wind down Frente de Artistas en la Resistencia and then two wild hardcore-meets-RATM tracks from ANALISIS finish the job. To pop in a twenty plus year old comp filled almost entirely with new (to me) bands is still fukkn exciting - and when they're all good? Well, that's the shit that keeps me coming back.

FRENTE DE ARTISTAS EN LA RESISTENCIA

BACTERIA

 

Gloriously weird outsider goth which is...apparently a thing I made up. Imagine moody '80s Spanish punk as interpreted by GALLON DRUNK. Imagine something that sounds familiar but....new. 

TRIZAS

EL FUTURO ES NUESTRO

 

A beautiful time capsule from the turn of the century featuring twenty five DIY hardcore and punk bands from Latin America (and the Latin American diaspora in the United States). For those who were in the mix in real time, you'll recognize ACCION DIRETA, AUTONOMIA, FUERZA X, KONTRAATTAQUE, ABUSO SONORO and perhaps a few more. Lurking just out of the range of most North American ears were bands like PERSONAL CHOICE, LUCHAR POR VIVIR, POLIKARPA Y SUS VICIOSAS, ANFO, PIREXIA, and LLOKALLA FEO. Then there ar the bands that were new discoveries altogether: 7'31, LA SANTA INQUISICIÓN, PUTREFACCIÓN, NUESTRAS SEÑORA VIOLENCIA. The 'first world" punk blinders do such a terrible disservice to punks, so start digging.

EL FUTURO ES NUESTRO: 25 BANDAS LATINAS

MORE SMOKE // TOTAL CEREAL

 

Noisecore Argentine vs. Noisecore Utah in an eight song, four minute grudge match. 

MORE SMOKE // TOTAL CEREAL

AUTOAGRESION

 

Let's go back to Argentina. Please. Actually, I've never been...but I would like to go. And I wold like to see AUTOAGRESION when I visit. Please and thank you. Hopefully their set will be longer than this five minute detonation of harsh hyper charged light speed hardcore...but I feel like even just the five minutes would be worth the trip. 

BAJO CONTROL

MØRE SMØKE!

 

Strap yourselves in, motherfuckers. 90+ tracks of relentless nosiecore, recorded over the course of 2020 by a group of Argentinian freaks who call themselves MØRE SMØKE!. There's a line in noisecore, much like in free jazz and experimental electronics, where the chaos itself becomes an instrument. Where the oppressive brutality becomes a comfort. This is really an unrealized piece of commentary on the state of our Humanity, where utter disarray is a thing that brings us peace...but here we are. In this experiment, inner peace can be achieved in less than twenty two minutes. I present: Una Sonrisa a la Musica Ruidosa.

DISCOGRAFIA COMPLETA

CUTRE

Buenos Aires' CUTRE has been quietly and consistently cranking out hardcore rippers since their 2018 debut. Well, it's only quiet if you're listening wrong...or not paying attention...but the quality is definitely consistent. The four slammers here are a perfect deconstruction of a (perfect) hardcore band, from the maxxxed out downstroke guitar attack that starts ""Furioso" to the scaled back two riff stomp "La Negacion" - the longest track by far at a whopping 1:37. The only problem with this self titled demo is the length, because when something hits you this hard and winds you up this tight, you're gonna want more than four minutes of action. 

CUTRE

5 SENTIDOS

I've said it more than a few times in these pages, but pop punk and then-known-as "melodic hardcore" gets a WAY bigger pass when you start including DIY punk and hardcore from non-North American regions. Not only were more kids simply running with influences from the music they had access to, but it was a time with far fewer internet-dictated norms and mores...so punks were just playing what they fukkn wanted to. And here's a brutally honest newsflash....pop punk can be pretty damn fun. Doesn't mean it's not pissed, doesn't mean it's not political, doesn't mean it's not important...and is definitely doesn't mean it's not good. 5 SENTIDOS fall more in line stylistically with last week's ALL YOU CAN EAT post than with any of the commercial pop punk that might come to mind, further exemplifying how the lack (or absence) of rules simply results in better sounds. Period. It's like DESCENDENTS and WHITE TRASH SUPERMAN...and "La Puerta," even as a mostly instrumental track, is on a short list of unheralded and likely forgotten classic songs. I mean...you aren't too cool, are you?

LA ULTIMA CENA...?

ASALTO

Ten tracks in as many minutes means I am probably interested. Ten hardcore tracks filled with intensity and hooks and '80s SoCal swing delivered with turn of the century US hardcore intensity means I'm definitely hooked. Take "Lo Arruine," a track seamlessly introduced by SUN RA that launches into a kick drum heavy B'LAST pace and comes to a halt after an infectious ass shaking mosh starts to really settle in....and then it's as if ASALTO is like "nah....we out - we feel like playing a different burner right now." Urgency often reserved for harsh blasts is manifested here in midtempo, in your face hardcore, and this listener couldn't be happier. Also - what the fukk is the guitar doing in the main riff on "Dualidad"? I don't know, but it's the kind of shit that keeps me coming back to this tape over and over. 

ASALTO

7 MAGNIFICOS

I love/d this band. Even though these two recordings are older than half of the crowd at an EXPLOITED gig in 2018, I was extremely pleased to see them repackaged together for redistribution to the masses. 7 MAGNIFICOS are weird, trippy, fast, snotty, catchy, and just simply brilliant. Added sounds and samples breathe life into the midpaced burners and there's an energy to both recordings that just can't be faked. SPITS level irreverence applied equally to Latin American '90s melody (which I've come to believe is just a love for RAMONES filtered through a reverse cultural appropriation, but I digress....) and feisty USDIY hardcore. Brilliant and weird punk music. 

DICTADOR AMOR

I posted a version of many of these tracks that was released as Per I Qualche Dollaro Piu (Por Un Punhado De Dolares Mas) during the early days of The Escape, and I keep that link live because the band is so fukkn good. 

MALDITO FLANDERS

It's pretty amazing how totally pervasive high energy melodic punk was in the '90s. All over the damn world for sure, but I feel like it hit South America particularly hard. And the thing is....if you listen without the cloud of assembly line LAGWAGON clones throwing shade on your good taste and self respect, then bands like MALDITO FLANDERS from Buenos Aires just come off like good, catchy punk. Dated, to be sure (but this was recorded 22 years ago, so "dated" seems reasonable), but "Sin Fronteras" is still a ripper and the slow part in "Un Rincon" suits me just fukkn fine...even (or especially) with the painfully out of tune guitars. 

MALDITO FLANDERS

LOS CAÍDOS

I was excited to see these Argentinians when they finally made it to the USA earlier this year, and was please (but not surprised) to find that their high energy dual vocal hardcore translated perfectly to the live environment. As concept releases go, their Somos Latino America cassette from 2015 is prime material - twenty covers of bands from all over Central and South America, and LOS CAÍDOS go pretty fukkn deep, taking care of the obvious spots (Brasil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru) and also hitting Honduras, Panama, Bolivia, El Salvador, Uruguay and others. It still sounds like them, which is the cool thing, and means that it bangs from start to finish...and it means that you are likely to find a handful of new bands that you'll want to know better. GUERILLA URBANA track is possibly my favorite, but that could change tomorrow. 

SOMOS LATINO AMERICA