JACK ENDINO

 

I consciously avoided Jack Endino's recorded material in real time because I wasn't really grooving on the shit frequently associated with him.  What I thought of as 'the C/Z sound' always seemed like the lighter side of the burgeoning grunge subgenre (even though most of of the big dogs were associated with either the label or Endino as an engineer at some point) and SKIN YARD's material kinda reinforced that general, if incorrect, conclusion. I figured the solo stuff would be more of the same so I just never bothered....and these are the losses that are almost guaranteed by validating assumptions, punk. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and a still-in-the-shrink copy at Ragin' Records and I made my move. There are surely some tracks here that land when I thought they would and that's fine ("Big Seth," "Find The Key," "Angle Of Attack" all land somewhere in the MOTHER LOVE BONE realm but less butt rock), but it's the diversions that are blowing my middle-aged mind. The quiet patience of "Time Is Running," the Nik Turner inspired meanderings in "Create What You Fear," the fIREHOSE energy in the opener "Salvation." The instrumental interludes give subtle SAVAGE REPUBLIC vibes (especially "Folks, Let's Nebulate") and the entire recording listens like a journey; the way entire recordings are supposed to be listened to. Even the closer "Post-X" (a reprise on "X-Echo 1" and "X-Echo 2" naturally) feels like it's laying you down gently after your trip. Maybe I wouldn't have fully appreciated Angle Of Attack at 18? Maybe it's better that I waited? Maybe I just needed this one at this moment? Regardless, I'm glad it's here. 

ANGLE OF ATTACK

SOLVENT

 

Bombastic, raw Covid-era DBeat from Seattle. Six minutes of insistent distortion drenched urgency punctuated by a 55 second manipulated missive that sounds like you're standing at apocalypse beach watching studded jackets wash up onto the shore. That's how I want the world to end. 

SOLVENT

PEASANT YERMO

 

Q: Is there a place for vaguely funky outsider hippie cult oldies music?

A: Yes. Here.

==================================
I don't know how to describe PEASANT YERMO, and typically when that is my conundrum I tend to blather on nonsensically. I'll try to avoid that today and simply suggest that you listen for yourself and draw your on conclusions and comparisons. I hear East Side Story comps, Krautrock, GONG, 4-track bedroom improvisations....and a San Francisco band from the '90s whose name I cannot conjure and thus I will spend days and (hopefully not) weeks trying to remember. I saw them at Kommotion and gave the guitarist free bagels often and they had a lot of amps. Anyway, this is really damn peaceful music and I love it and please focus on "Bullwinkle Sutra." You're welcome. 

HOMESPUN DANCE

TIME ADDICT

 

Free form improvisational misanthropy, presented as experimental free jazz noise shit.
And some days all I ever want is cacophony. 
TIME ADDICT delivers (again). 

U.S. BLUES

MAX NORDILE

 

God/s this is beautiful. You've heard me talk about Max and his compulsions on these pages over the years, and these comments are no different.......it's that this one hits just right as I type these words. Free jazz mixed with boundary-free experimentation and ambient bliss. (Pharoah) Sanders, (Shane) Embury and (Genesis) P'Orridge embodied in sonic freak skin. There's really nothing like Sir Nordile in the current realm. 

THE VIVID HISTORY OF THE CAPITOL EGGS

HARSH R

 

Channel late '80s dance club angst in the modern era and you're going to get... HARSH R. God/s this recording is simply beautiful - I could dissect this shit (with a lot of words), but it would really just be me using a lot of words to say the obvious. Physical World is the embodiment of the obvious, and sinister primitive industrial sounds that are (obviously) critical to our....well, these sounds are critical. That should be all that you need. 

PHYSICAL WORLD

EATING

 

I do not know how to (best) describe EATING, because EATING defies description. Sure, it's avant-improvisational jazz/punk......if you want. But it's something else even though it's also not. All of the sounds are here, punks - the foundation of everything that you do is here in one form and/or another. So listen and learn and fucking create everything that you are compelled to create, because that is exactly what makes the Music For People punks very very special punks. 

EATING

BRICKLAYER

 

I can't even with the lineage here, and I can barely even think about getting into an honest analysis of the contents. You like intense, raw hardcore / punk? Then you like BRICKLAYER. I have a vague unfounded memory of CHARLES BRONSON covering HÜSKER DÜ's "Bricklayer" and slagging off people who worshipped at the altar of Zen Arcade on the lyric sheet, but it turns out they were actually covering "Punch Drunk" which doesn't change the fact that I felt slagged off when I read that lyric sheet. How does that relate to this band called BRICKLAYER? Well.....it doesn't, but somehow that anecdote felt relevant. You know what else feels relevant? This Washington band called BRICKLAYER. Apparently there's an LP that I need, several of these songs are on it. 

BRICKLAYER

VELVET MONKEYS

 

VELVET MONKEYS were so damn far ahead of the curve, and this collection of oddities and live cuts shines the spotlight squarely on that reality - even the shit they didn't bother releasing in real time blew the doors off of everything. "All The Same" is a picture perfect '80s college alt number that would have smoked TEENAGE FANCLUB except that this song came half a decade earlier. 1981 version of "Everything Is Right" fukkn screams. The damaged BEATLES mini-set is a thing you didn't know you needed (you do), and the demo version of "You're Not There" is Milwaukee DEATH caliber dark genius while "See You Again" is simply a perfect power-pop track disguised as garage punk. Even the damn TROGGS cover works.  So yeah - maybe you didn't know you needed VELVET MONKEYS in your life, but now you don't have an excuse. 

ROTTING CORPSE AU-GO-GO
(IMPRESSIONS VOLUME ONE)

CHILL PARENTS

 

This is what I want to hear when someone mentions "modern hardcore." What I actually hear is typically something closer to short-hair metal or re-packaged '90s alt; breakdowns instead of riffs and "punk" rooted in FOO FIGHTERS choruses instead of FLIPPER. This is what I want to hear though, so my ears were pleased when the filthy stomp of "Pissy" started dragging my sorry ass into the shit. It's earnest, it just sounds real, and it feels like it comes from a place that I recognize. You wanna get punched in the face? CHILL PARENTS can do that for you. It feels good, I promise. You're welcome. 

CONTENT // COLLAPSE

FREAK VIBE

 

I feel like I've been hitting these kids pretty hard lately, but that's because I've been jamming their tapes pretty often.....so you get what I'm getting, you know? They make 'em different in the PNW and FREAK VIBE were one of the differentest - it wasn't like you'd never heard the sounds before, it was like you'd never heard them quite like this. And you weren't accustomed to hearing them from DIY punks. And FREAK VIBE were punks of the highest order. No fucks given, leaving everything on the floor, punk. This might be my favorite one, but I'm glad I don't have to choose. Dark, slimy dirges that remind me of GALLON DRUNK, STOOGES or even a dusty desert raunchy BAD SEEDS. Of course you're going to get CRAMPS comparisons here (and they aren't out of order) but really what you're hearing is FREAK fuckingVIBE. 

PROTESTRATION

XYLITOL

 

For all of the hype about the PNW in the 2010s, can we take a minute to appreciate XYLITOL? It's that infectious, white pants wearing squirmy-squirm hardcore done up all sinister and urgent like...plus they're fast as fuck. Dangerous hardcore with no-fi dungeon gnome vocals - the Is Toxic To Pigs? EP is a straight killer and basically this is just a shit that you need. Period. That EP and their 2016 demo are included here, on a tape they made available in Oklahoma City in 2018. I was there. They ruled. Listen to "Punished" on repeat. Trust me....you'll thank me later.  

EVERYTHING IS NOT OK WITH XYLITOL

BOTCHED FACELIFT // MATURBATORY DYSFUNCTION

 

Three tracks each from California's BOTCHED FACELIFT and Washington's MASTURBATORY DYSFUNCTION. The former lurches through disjointed noise that refuses to settle into any kind of groove, punctuated by vocal outbursts and descending rumbles. The latter present an ominous interpretation of the harsh noise wall, opening with the aptly titled "March To The Graveside." Their sound is akin to large scale wreckage at sea - desperate creaks distorted to oblivion by the nature that consumes them, all set to the background of a deathly beauty. Appropriate.

BOTCHED FACELIFT // MATURBATORY DYSFUNCTION

WEAVING STONES

 

Gloriously haunting lo-fi drones captured in the PNW. Two movements of mesmerizing pulses recorded in 2023 backed by a live conjuring from 2024 that focuses on mangled low end guitar feedback. There might not be much to say, but there are layers upon layers of sound waiting for your ears. 

WEAVING STONES

ENGLISH SKIN AND PUNK // DC HARDCORE

                               

Here's the deal: If someone had given me this tape in 1985 then my life would have been different. Maybe? But that didn't happen, so I have this life. I didn't have "Barbed Wire" in my life in 1985, just like I didn't have (this) "Action Man" in my life in 1986. Instead I had "The Biggest Lie," "In Sight" and "Whatever" and I am certainly not complaining.....but as I take a breath to think about how this tape would have (might have?) hit my teenage self....? Damn. I had a copy of the P.E.A.C.E. comp, but it was from my friend Eric's older brother and the bands were listed alphabetically so it was really just a mess. Shit was important even though it was a confusion that lasted well into my 20s. This tape though? The shit is all right here - in your face. Flex Your Head and A Country Fit For Heroes are both mandatory comps that are both somehow more important when collected with a few era appropriate DC bangers (MINOR THREAT, MEATMEN, THE FIX) and UK essentials (DAMNED, SCEPTICS, AMEBIX). Make mix tapes for your friends, that's really the entire point of this post. Also, punk rules. I guess it would have been super cool if someone had given me this tape in 1986, but mostly I'm happy that I blasted it today, in 2025. UK and DC essentials, just as the scrawls suggest. The shit is important. Punk is important. 

HARDCORE BANDS // ENGLISH SKIN AND PUNK BANDS

VIDEO PRICK

 

Olympia punk rules, okay? They don't have a 'sound' and they never did - they have fukkn heart and honesty. VIDEO PRICK are (were?) no exception, just another band that reinforces the rule. The rule that Olympia punk rules. Okay?

VIDEO PRICK

ARDENT VEIN

 

Listening to ARDENT VEIN produces more questions than answers, and I suspect that's exactly how they prefer it. Two tracks here, almost forty minutes of deliberate and desperate ambient noise...it's a really beautiful release, but there's an intangible darkness that you can't put your finger on. Maybe you can't put a finger on it because you can feel it? And oh....you can feel it. Both ARDENT VEIN (the band) and Dead Accents (the label) have volumes more to offer - I'm almost scared to seek it out. Almost.

THE TRESPASSER'S GIFT // IRON DOORS ON FIRE

EATING

 

I've waxed on about Max Nordile in these pages many times, and I rambled about my low-key fascination with his creative compulsions on an episode of What Are You Listening To? a couple of weeks ago...and here I am again, doing the same. This collaboration goes by EATING, and it manifests as 94 minutes of bizarro improvisation and sonic mania. There's just something different here (and by "here" I mean "there"), something that makes me always need to stop and listen. And a thing that can make me stop and shut out the noise so I can pay attention to other and specific noise? That's a special thing.

ABSOLUTE PLEASURE

FREAK VIBE

 

Perhaps a more aptly named band has existed, but I dare say they have not crossed my path in my years on this Earth. Massive BAD SEEDS/JESUS LIZARD/GUN CLUB vibes crammed into a tiny package from the Pacific Northwest, and still they sound lkike they belong in a moldy basement. They were a sight live, and the recordings are essential - it's not a matter of whether or not the recordings "hold up" or if they are "as good" as seeing their glistening sweat, it's that each experience is, in fact, it's own experience. There are four songs here, I wish there were eight.

FREAK VIBE

MASTER BEDROOM

 

I don't want to fill these pages with reflections on un-lived past lives, but....a 1992 Wizard hearing these two tracks in Oklahoma would have lost his shit. The 2025 Wizard hearing these tracks in California is also losing his shit, but it's different somehow. I'm not exactly sure how.......not exactly, but it's different.  Whatever you are and/or wherever you are now, you need these sounds. This is SUICIDE for the new real(ity), this is Reality for the new Now. "Toxic Megacolon" to the future freaks....

CASSINGLE No.1