EMBALMED SOULS

 

Old school death metal crashing into a vicious low end cacophony...and that's Brasilia's EMBALMED SOULS summed up in a sentence. Pay attention when these dudes get heavy because it's exactly what you thought you wanted - throw those guitar leads on top and you're just going to be staring at your speakers before "Hatred To The Sacred" is finished. Mouth agape, feeling ignorant. Like...why did you ever even think of listening to anything else? What a waste. "Poisoned Conspiracy" comes next, and your faith in humanity is restored. 

FIRE AND SULFUR SALTE YOU

"...to hell with your beliefs..."

GULLIVER

 

It would be easy to dismiss this band based simply on the title of their 1995 cassette, but I implore you to listen. GULLIVER opens with "I Don't Belong To You" and those nasal vocals that defined an era of melodic punk, and then the song kicks in and you hear '80s SoCal oozing out of the chords....and you know something is different. I hear '77 NYC on "I Don't Belong" and then they just settle into a groove that is, admittedly: Simple, Fast and Melodic!. It's also a groove that is really fukkn good.  "Country Man" is a would-be anthem for a generation of small town working class (pop) punk kids (they were from Barretos, the capital of Brasilian rodeo) while "Cog Of Gear" is lightning fast and conjures ROUSE vibes - hell, even the damn BEATLES cover (almost) works. None of the nine tracks touch the two minute marks while that simple, fast and melodic groove just keeps churning. These are the nuggets that will (always) keep me digging. 

SIMPLE, FAST AND MELODIC!

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

DISCARGA

 

Playing with DISCARGA in Brazil was something else. We spent a week with them in 2002 and they laid waste to everything. Every night. I posted this demo in 2014 but I've been blasting a lot of early '00s fastcore lately and DISCARGA just keeps coming up...because they were awesome. That's all. 

DISCARGA 2000

SCUM NOISE

 

In addition to having one of (if not the?) best band names ever, Brazil's SCUM NOISE were responsible for some brilliantly filthy stench/grind in the 1990s. I first heard them when Ben repressed the first EP twenty years ago (when it was a decade old) and I was floored - simplicity delivered with unbridled fury. The tracks here are from that record and the follow up live EP, their first full length Chaotic Distress, live CIMEX and SHITLICKERS covers and tracks from a 1997 demo that I only know about because it's listed on this compilation. This shit is raw and beautiful - listen to "Kill And Die" at least three times today. 

THE LANDLESS DEMO COMPILATION

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

PUTREFACTION SETS IN

 

I don't give two shits about goregrind....at least I didn't think I gave two shits until a couple of weeks ago when Clay sent me a copy of this fukkn masterpiece. Maybe it's not even goregrind (or not actually goregrind), but whatever the fuck it is I WANT MORE. I'm gonna blast "Putrid Deliquescent Mass" on the bus on the way to work this morning. 

REPUGNANT INCEPTION OF DECOMPOSING PAROXYSM

DEATHSLAÜGHTER

 

Raw and brutal Brazilian thrash attack. I could write more words....but why should I bother when that first sentence covers everything you need to know?

THE LAST GREAT WAR OF HUMANITY

ANARKO PUNK A LUTA

 

Twenty six blasts of raw Brasilian hardcore circa mid 2000s. You shouldn't need much more than that, so I'll list a few of the bands: ABUSO SONORO, NAUZO, ANTICORPUS, ESTILACOS DE ODIO, SOBREVIVIENTES, SEPTICIMIA, ROT, DEADMOCRACY, SEM ACORDO, EXECRADORES.....sure, there are more. So just download the shit and start screaming, because life after CONSTRASTE BIZARRO is far better than life before CONTRASTE BIZARRO. Trust me. 

ANARKO PUNK A LUTA: RECOPILACIÓN BRASILEÑA

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL. 1

The DIY Conspiracy folks spent the year of Covid cranking out some serious mix tape heat, and I was happy to get the first six installments in one hefty batch. Hardcore, crust, DBeat, punk, doom from Bulgaria, Brasil, Italy, Austria, Chile, Greece, Russia, Australia, Singapore, Portugal...this is the kind of conspiracy I can get behind. 

 

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.1

Defend DIY Punk indeed - especially from thieves and charlatans. 

But that's for a different post. 

THE PESSIMISTS

 

THE PESSIMISTS were a short lived project, and I believe that the seventeen minutes of music on this tape makes up their entire catalog....but be thankful for what you have folks, because it's perfect. With just one song approaching the two minute mark, THE PESSIMISTS deftly place pop sensibilities and stark, driving post punk hooks into these tiny little bursts. The vocalists trade stoic barks and adolescent melodies, the rhythm section is rock solid in their repetition while the guitar lingers lingers in the fog, occasionally sweeping in to blow over the rest of the sound. Every song is a hit (in the world that we all wish we lived in), and their ability to take casual ownership of well traveled sonic territory is uncanny. There are pretty obvious references all over this self titled cassette (which combines tracks from 2015's In The Beginning There Was.... and the Six Songs EP on Nada Nada) - yet all of the sounds belong to these two recordings as if they were reincarnated in their intended form. I'm happy to have seen them once, even once was magic. As you start your day, know that "Daily Suicide" and "Doomed Forever" are the two songs that will guide you. 

THE PESSIMISTS

NUNCHAKU MASTERS vs. D.F.C.

Thrashers - REJOICE!!! If you don't already know how fucking huge crossover thrash is in Brasil, then you might as well start here before making your way over to VIOLATOR, DAMN YOUTH, MACE, and...well, you should pack yourself a snack because you're going to be thrashing for a while. Long running veterans D.F.C. lay down a full throttle Bonded By Blood style madness, while NUNCHAKU MASTERS are a little more deliberate and lean more on the crossover/hardcore end of the spectrum (as opposed to the metal/thrash end...). I've used too many words already, just get to work. 

NUNCHAKU MASTERS vs. D.F.C. 

MILTON NASCIMENTO

 

This record was a dollar bin score several years ago, and this cassette version only set me back twice that much a few weeks back. On its face, Sentinela is just a really *nice* collection of peaceful sounds, and that vibe remains as you delve deeper into the layers of sound. But more than the general feeling of calm that the record (tape) presents, Nascimento presents a stunning collection of influences as one cohesive statement, making the saccharine '80s schmaltz of "Tudo" sound completely natural mingling with the film noir strings of "Cantigo (Caicó)" and the infectious pulsations of "Bicho Homem." Much of the record (tape) falls into a vaguely new age and/or easy listening crevasse, which is why listening closer, listening deeper, pays such dividends. The sweeping commercial orchestration of the seven plus minute title track gives way to an ethereal Afrofuturist close while "Peixinhos Do Mar" sends you to the dark corner, because it sounds like maybe you just stumbled upon something you need, but sometihing that simply wasn't meant for you at all. It's not so much that it all works, it's that it all works together.  And maybe it's not until you finish, and you take stock of your surroundings (literal and meta), that you realize what Nascimento has done. 

SENTINELA

GILBERTO GIL

I saw a samba competition at a music school that was associated with Gilberto Gil a few years ago, groups preparing for Carnaval performing in front of Gil and a panel of instructors (or maybe judges?). It was complete sensory overload, with people supporting different performers filling the room and singing/dancing along with the performers, calling/answering/joining the sounds from the stage from all directions in a venue that was just so unbelievably packed. And hot. And sweaty. It was one of the most gorgeous displays of complete chaos, with the surrounding blocks completely stuffed with humanity and everything just felt like you could fill up forever in that very moment. Gil was up on a balcony, the reverence displayed for him was impossible to ignore, even through the madness and my inability to understand pretty much anything that anyone said, you could see performers address him and all energy would shift in his direction while he just humbly smiled. It was really fucking cool, and I would totally do it again. 1984's Realce is...well, it's not that experience. You're not going to get Frevo Rasgado when you listen (you should check Frevo Rasgado when you're done here - I'm relatively new to this record but I'm digging it pretty hard), but the homogenization of styles into a kind of universal '80s schmatlz is nonetheless familiar and honestly kinda comfortable. 

REALCE

DAMN YOUTH

 

I jumped on this as son as I saw it pop up - when something is this good and there are only a couple of dozen physical copies, you gotta move fast. DAMN YOUTH hail from Northeastern Brasil just outside of Fortaleza, and have been honing their AntiFascist Skate Thrash Assault since the mid '10s...CWB Undead harvests the fruit of their efforts at a live show in 2019 (I think?).  The casual conversation between songs is without pretense - DAMN YOUTH let their performance speak for itself, and 'relentless' is the only word that seems appropriate. Ten doses of brutal head splitting nazi smashing thrash metal is what you're expecting, and that's exactly what they deliver. I spent my 45th birthday with these dudes...they slayed that night just like they did the night this set was recorded. 

CWB UNDEAD

EX LAX

 

I'm not sure what happened in South America in the 1990s, but in that pre-internet age in countries packed with rich and furious hardcore punk legacies....there were like hundreds of middle of the road "melodic hardcore" bands. And I know that this was a style of punk that dominated (or infected) virtually every corner of the earth in that decade, but RATOS DE PORÃO released Feijoada Acidente? in '95 and that shit rips (even if it was covers)...so what's up with all the fucking pop punk? I'm not really complaining I guess, I probably would have jammed the fuck out of this in 1995 - shit has a nice 'arm hanging out the window on a summer afternoon' vibe, but it's just weird, you know? Because there were a LOT of these bands down there. I'd say it was ALL YOU CAN EAT's fault, but they're the folks who brought so many of these tapes back to the states, so clearly the virus had started to spread long before AYCE toured there. I'm getting off track - six studio cuts here (one with really cringeworthy lyrics) and then live versions of five of them. No live version of "I'm Cumming." And "I'm Cumming" isn't the one with the cringeworthy lyrics, so now you've definitely decided whether you will investigate further or whether you will definitely not investigate further, so I can slowly back away from the keyboard.

CABONGUE!!

 

VISÃO SOCIAL

Rough and determined Brasilian hardcore, circa 1999. There's a healthy dose of NYHC imposing its will at times, but if you listen to how those parts are tempered by out of tune guitars and general sonic adolescence (specifically in "MMM"), it takes some of the sting out. 

QUERO VER AÇÕES

And while I'm selling you on turn of the century DIY hardcore from Brasil, I should mention that I re-ripped the RIDE 4 A FALL demo a while ago, replacing the butchered files that I initially shared. Killer late '90s Per Koro meets North American DIY anarcho mosh metal (yes, i just made that up, but I'm guessing you know exactly what I mean). Mr. Gatewood would approve....

CATACOMB VOICES

One man (or...one genius?) bedroom drum machine metal from São Paulo. Sole member Rudolf, The Proud offers up seven doses of full throttle black/power metal as CATACOMB VOICES with incessant leads and a song construction/delivery that almost makes it seem like this year's debut release was created as one long piece - many songs have no end, just a quick fade, and some start the way with no real beginning. High end and anxious, the solos border on comical even though there's nothing whatsoever to suggest that there is a tongue in this cheek. 

There's a fine line between innocence and brilliance, and I think in this case the purity of vision helps to blur that line. Repetitive drum machine stomps and relentless hammer-on sweatpants riffing isn't exactly most people's idea of a good time, but it feels real here....it feels honest. Most of the evil conjured by Rudulf's prior entity SOVEREIGN has been supplanted by driving metal power, though the vocals still serve up a demonic edge and CATACOMB VOICES seem to be in a constant struggle for clarity, which is part of what makes it sound so real. Basically...I'm in. 

CATACOMB VOICES

MASSACRE DIVINE

Relentless metallic DISCHARGE worship from Brasil's MASSACRE DIVINE - featuring Fofåo of BESTHOVEN fame on drums. In eight short minutes they make it clear that nothing short of strict adherence to the form will suffice...and they deliver as expected. 

DOIS SEGUNDOS PARA O FIM DE TUDO DUSAS BOMBAS NUCLEARESEM NOME DEUS

DOISEU MIMDOISEMA

There's a lot to unpack here. So much that DOISEU MIMDOISEMA almost come off like a piss-take, trying to see if you can swallow all of these pills at the same time. There's irreverent and feisty punk, sounds that would have sounded appropriate in any number of regional micro-scenes in the '90s, and it feels like this is the base camp from which these Brasilians start their excursions. But what about the lazy and comically dreamy "Espatifada," or the psychedelic freestyle funk/rap "Epilético?" These aren't tracks that come off like a band trying to make a joke, they sound like a band who are genuinely all over the damn place - "Chamegro Latrino" is an endearing bass/drum/keyboard track, the smooth 311-demo-by-way-of-the-Caribbean "Entre a Oferta e a Procura" and there's an untitled closer that sounds like an actual teenage garage band from 1995. Which is perhaps exactly what DOISEU MIMDOISEMA were....there were no rules, no internet models to follow, creativity mingled with concepts (however bizarre) and ideas were explored. Nothing was by the book, because we were (all) still writing the book. Maybe things were better then, and hopefully there are always more chapters in the distance. 

DOISEA MIMDOISEMA INVADE CAPÃO CITY