OSCAR WILDE

 

Been sitting on this one for a minute because I pledged to read the 1890 novel before I posted the 1980 book-on-tape. But alas.....here's the novel in audio form, perhaps we can all enjoy together. Enjoy the tale of a young and beautiful man who chose to trade his soul for continued youth and beauty while his sins and his years were cast upon a portrait. A bizarre concept (especially considering the time) and Wilde's only novel....I really wish I could share an educated and/or intelligent analysis here, unfortunately I can only say that I recognize its importance. 

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
Read By: Peter Egan

NATHALIA BEYLIS

 

Just put it on and go about your day. 

You won't be the same when you finish.

LIBRARY OF STICKS

NATALIA BEYLIS

CONTORT

 

A few days ago I woke up and I thought everything was pretty chill. I was dealing with the eternal fallout from some difficult decisions, I was putting one foot in front of the other and everything seemed basically okay. Hesitantly and cautiously okay but....still okay. And then it wasn't. And then I wasn't. It was fucked up. I was fucked up. It was disappointing. I was a disappointment. It was ugly, awful, damaged. I was damaged. I still am, and I don't anticipate a change in that status. This life is a fukkn mess, we humans only make it worse - and these sounds do nothing but reinforce this reality. I'm not sure what you though was going to happen when you woke up today....but it's this. 

ENDLESS MYOPIC BASTARDS

WOVEN SKULL // NACHT UND NEBEL

 

From deep in Satan's Pimp comes this two track offering from two previously unknown to me acts. Twenty minutes of live psychedelic expanse from WOVEN SKULL with a crushing low end minimal noise experience from NACHT UND NEBEL on the flip. Both deserve more time than one can give...but that's what repeated listens are for.

SUMMER TOUR TWENTY THIRTEEN

HARD BODIES

More dreary proto-goth please. Early UK synth drenched dark wave from Ireland circa 2016, HARD BODIES leave us with a scant four tracks...perhaps they stopped there as a symbolic mic drop to imply that perfection had been achieved, or perhaps they got too depressed to write more after the dreadful monotony of "Getaway" and decided to actually get away. As is often the case when something hits me this hard right from the start, I am not nearly as concerned with how or why HARD BODIES created these sounds, I'm just grateful that they did. 

HARD BODIES

OVERBITE

There's a moment in  the opening track "Napalm" where it actually seems like this is all you get. Like OVERBITE's six song demo is just going to be noisy, anxious torture with no release. It feels like they are never going to to unleash, and you are going to be listening to forced midtempo noise for the entirety of their demo. But...they do let go, and I can assure you that it is fukkn glorious. Unpretentious outsider hardcore from Ireland, and it seems that they added a member (most likely just a track) just for noise and feedback. Tinged with the same vibe that kvlt black metallers harness, this one is dark and weird...choice track: "Burning Forever." We used to do this every Monday, y'all.

BURNING FOREVER

ŻONA ZŁA

This band is simply brilliant, and I should just stop there and (strongly) suggest that you listen. However, I will add that their approach to Eastern European punk is cold, relentless and deadly; their presentation is cold, deadly and relentless; they will make you want to break everything. Polish ex-pats making life in Dublin...this is their second tape, and it's offered here with the highest recommendation. 

SESJA 2

SURGE

Noisy and demented hardcore sounds used to dominate Mondays at The Escape, and sometimes it's nice to take a deep breath and dive back into the chaos before your week begins. Like today. Closer to the S.H.I.T. school over over bearing bombast that DBeat mani, the double snare tap on "Avalanche" is, on its own, enough to keep this tape in heavy rotation for a while. But the desperation in the vocals, the buzzsaw guitars and the sheer mania of the whole recording seal the deal and the brief but ferocious leads in "Fractured"  put the damn thing over the top. Related information: I've never been to Ireland. I wonder if SURGE would let me sleep in their floor.....?

AVALANCHE

THE BLOW INS

This one struck me immediately - a crew of Polish punks living in Dublin and bringing Eastern European punk sounds along with them. Take the jangling guitars of NEON PISS and the stiff approach of INNOXIA CORPORA and the like, and present both with an energy that somehow seems reserved for bands from the Eastern Bloc. Gruff, desperate vocals and impossibly excellent songs, this is a tape that needs to be shared repeatedly, and hopefully there's more to come...

THE BLOW INS

PARANOID VISIONS

Snarky Irish button pushers PARANOID VISIONS sometimes get lumped in with regional anarcho punk acts but, appropriately perhaps, they don't really fit in with most of their contemporaries from England. Bluurg released a cassette, All The Madmen had a hand in an EP in 1986 and there's an association with CRASS, but during their 10 year run starting in 1982, these kids mostly released their own stuff and did their own thing (including a pretty hilarious anti-U2 campaign in the late '80s). Halo Of Phlegm was recorded near the end of their initial run and circulated only on cassette until a recent CD reissue (that included other material recorded around '89/'90) and it's all over the place in a glorious way. "Afraid Of Life" has an early MISSION/SISTERS vibe, "AIDS" might be presented as an interlude but acts as a chill inducing quasi-industrial track, while "Autonomy," "Cycles Of Christs" and "Vandals" are pretty straight forward punk numbers and "Death To The Poor," "TV Ads" and "Lies" are hardcore punk burners. Combine this with the drawn out art/goth/anarcho title track and the full recording is more than a little scattered - which is a bit of the charm.

HALO OF PHLEGM

GAZE

That guitar. Total HELIOS CREED level manipulation, topped with high pitched manic vocal lurches instead of angst ridden screams. But....that guitar. Shit is just wrecked. I want you to pay attention to the snare roll that leads into the breakdown in "Fuck You, Fuck Off," because that is exactly how good a simple thing can be when everything is on point. I want to go to Ireland someday, seems like it's nice there, and maybe I can see this band.

GAZE

WORLD CLASS PUNK

Jakke handed this gem off to me when I was in New York a few weeks back, a brilliant picture of international early '80s hardcore and punk. Compiled by Mykel Board and released by ROIR in 1984, World Class Punk gave a peek into scenes in corners of the world often overlooked, especially in the pre-interweb infancy of punk. COPULATION (Switzerland) dish out a dark post punk dirge that might steal the whole tape for me,  POP GUNS (South Africa) sound like JOE JACKSON - just brilliant pop, WARRIORS OF THE LAST DAYS (Columbia) slog through a wholly inept number with a determination that cannot be faked - though France's NÉVROSE make a case for being even more brilliantly chaotic while CCM (Italy), BASTARDS (Finland), BGK (Holland), RATOS DE PORÃO (Brasil), PURRKUR PILLNIKK (Iceland), DEZERTER (Poland) dish out the kind of quality they are famous for. Sweden's DANSA SKIRKER blew me away and Spain's SLIPS Y SPERMA are raw hardcore brilliance. File this one in the mandatory column, and read Mykel's liner notes here or buy yourself a copy here.

WORLD CLASS PUNK