GEIGER COUNTER // ZUDAS KRUST

 

It's hard to know what to say when something is executed this perfectly. GEIGER COUNTER harness '00s epic crust, Burning Spirits, face melting fastcore and DISRUPT and create something that is so instantly infectious that....it's hard to know what to say. So you flip the tape to blast ZUDAS KRUST. Epic and apocalyptic crasher crust borrowing from the classics but delivering with wild thrashcore energy. Two tracks from ZK, three from GC.... and every single one of these five tracks is an absolute berserker. 

GEIGER COUNTER // ZUDAS KRUST

FAGGOT

 

Look...FAGGOT were legends. I never even saw them play, but I celebrated the band and their mission openly. I met Jason in '94 when MULTIPLE CHOICE and his band RESIN opened for TOTAL CHAOS in Mankato and I met the Profane Punks for the first time. I met Saira in '98 when ARTIMUS PYLE played with DETESTATION at the Wasted In The Woods festival in Tenino, Washington. And then sometime in the mid '00s they were in Minneapolis....and there was FAGGOT.  You can dismiss them as a schtick if you want, and you'd be forgiven because the name and the song titles bend the needle towards gimmick....but listen. The subject matter is real, the compositions are advanced and FAGGOT just don't hit like. a regular band - or any band for that matter. You take this demo a few steps in another direction and you're on a whole other trip - it jams, it grooves, it's just......different. I don't think FAGGOT would give half a shit about my opinion though (then or now), but I do think that FAGGOT would be happy to know that someone is (still) listening, you know? Check the LP on Profane Existence to be sure, but check this tape and know that FAGGOT were revolutionary punks. 

FAGGOT

DIRTY JUNK

 

I love one that's hard to nail down...and DIRTY JUNK is very hard to nail down. Imagine a show with MILEMARKER and GODHEADSILO and STILLSUIT....who would you get to open that bill if you lived in Minneapolis? I'd suggest DIRTY JUNK - because you want a band that fits with the sounds but tweaks them (all) and makes you re-hear things that you already know. DIRTY JUNK does that...and more. It only takes two people to create this mood-by-way-of-racket, and I spent some serious time with the rest of their catalog after On Yr Knees was finished with me. It's Wednesday, so why not? Right?

ON YR KNEES

DELETER

 

Both of these songs should be commercial hits. There are only two songs on this tape, and both of them are worthy of large scale appeal and (dare I say) success? Carefully rafted and expertly delivered dark indie pop - I dropped Franz and Interpol references when I posted their full length a few years ago, but lazy comparisons do a disservice to a track like "A List Of Demands." And "Mention You" is even better for fuck's sake. 

DELETER

WILD CHILD

Someone's gonna know what this shit is (and I hope they tell the rest of us?). Don't know how it ended up on my shelf, don't know what the band is (there's a W and a C so I'm going with that until further information becomes available), don't know what the song titles are (or if there are song titles). That doesn't leave very much space for things that I do know, so let me tell you this: New Century punks injecting '70 D. Crash fire and '80s D. Yow danger freak energy into hard and fast modern hardcore is a really good idea. Guitar on the dreary third track. The drugged out vocals on the fifth. Hell, the drums on the fifth too. The B side collage that hits like MILK CULT minus the beats. This tape is a total killer, and all I've really got to offer you is a W and a C....

W C

UPDATE: The band is called WILD CHILD. They were from Minneapolis. 

COUNTY Z

 

I feel like I encountered COUNTY Z at exactly the wrong time (for me). All I wanted then was faster and louder - and I definitely didn't want violins. In 1996 I would have eaten this up. Today I listen with intent curiosity. But in 2001...? Nah motherfucker, I wanted blistering drums and sonic tonnage...thankfully these sounds were patient and they waited for me to come around. I'd file them alongside KREAMY 'LECTIC SANTA, THE EX and SUBMISSION HOLD for fans of outsider experimentation within the loose confines of DIY punk will be at least intrigued (if not enthralled). I still like sonic tonnage though. 

TRIUMPHANT SONGS OF UTTER DEFEAT

BEST MIX TAPE (EVER?)

I realize I've kinda been beating The Lost Decade to death this week, but goddamn can you image this dose of fire in the mail when you were 17 years old? I'm sure some of you can, but this shit would have melted my face - because it was all of the cool-at-the-time shit that I loved (at the time), but it was, like, the cooler iterations of all that cool shit. You've got LUNACHICKS, BABES IN TOYLAND, L7 (Peel Sessions from all three - the LUNACHICKS shit is just unstoppable), MAD SOCIETY, RAMONAS (they only had this one fukkn song, right?), a Darby Crash interview from 1980, REVILLOS, and HÜSKER DÜ audio from their appearance on The Today Show in the Warehouse era and 1979 demos that later appeared on the Savage Young Dü box). Oh yeah, and SOUNDGARDEN playing the two best songs on UltraMega OK live in Germany. This would have been gold to 1991 me, and I have to say that 2021 me is well chuffed. I swear I'll post some cool tapes (again), but it's just that these tapes are so....well, they're just so fucking cool. 

BEST MIX TAPE (EVER?)

TYPEWRITER

 

And to follow that comp with a sounds that could easily worm their way onto a future P.O.B.D. collection - introducing Minneapolis freaks TYPEWRITER. 2016's Songs From Space Station H is a four song injection of spasmodic space punk, teleported from the past and also timeless. Shrill guitars and robot dork vocals are along for the ride while the erratic snappy drums kick everything along in fits and starts. They clearly have the chops to drop into smooth and sultry pop (as on "Battery Life") which makes it all the better that they consciously choose not to...the listening experience is both confident and awkward (just how I like it). The synths aren't the focus - those guitars, they do the trick - but then they move in and dominate "Cutting Board" just to let you know what they are capable of. And speaking of capable, turning "Burning For You" into a jerk track stripped from the grooves of a never-was NY No Wave record to close things out is...well, it's a pro move. 

SONGS FROM SPACE STATION H

NOSE RING

 

This 2016 blast comes off like a crew of dirtbag hoods making some gruff and shitty punk music just to show the wimps how it's done. Clenched fist UK influenced head smashing pogo punk. "Fight Till We Die." "Concrete Block." "No Escape." "Never Change Me." I mean...you get it, and so did NOSE RING.

STOP BELIEVING IN THE SYSTEM THAT OPPRESSES YOU

THE AGENDA

Just some teenagers from Minneapolis shredding they way through eight tracks recorded live in 2005.  Like, I'm talking about complete and total shred. High end, raw, frantic hardcore punk.  

THE AGENDA

BURGER THIRST // SERENGHETTO

Utterly demented and borderline unlistenable shit-fi garage from BURGER THIRST. Sometimes sounds like an actual garage jam accidentally captured on tape, and everything just sounds so incredibly damaged....like not the kind of damage that you can capture or recreate on purpose. SERENGHETTO manage more fidelity on their side, but you have to remember that is "more" in comparison to "none." Atonal noise rock drones that would have appealed to fans of 1991 proto-grunge mingle with Japanese psych rock riffs and meandering vocal wail/whines and then they wrap up with a swinging catchy punk number. I don't even know what's happening anymore, but I'm pretty sure both bands are (were?) from Minneapolis.

BURGER THIRST // SERENGHETTO

THE REAL ENEMY

I remember how stoked we all were when we heard this demo from Max, and its hard to believe it was twenty years ago. They were tough as fukk, they were genuine, their energy was through the roof, and these edge kids were fukkn punk. It showed in the music and in the delivery, and it especially came out in the live shows. A gallop reminiscent of Japanese bands like EARTHQUAKE and REPAIR, with a positive straight edge 'core fury urging everything even faster. Also - THE REAL ENEMY had riffs. Two demos, an EP on 625, and a split (and tour) with HOLDING ON that brought them to the Bay Area where we played a couple of killer shows. I said it's hard to believe it was twenty years ago....but at the same time, it feels like a different lifetime. 

TRE2K

E.T.

Yes. While the underground/DIY world continues sinking deeper into synthesized pulsations and welcome a different '80s alternative genre into the fold. I like that the results keep getting weirder. Getting punker. Seizing ideal, shedding constriction and opening doors, sometimes these artists find themselves in a place that's very fucking similar to the people who gave me teenaged solace before the world of punk and DIY hardcore was fully in focus.....simply put, I welcome bands like E.T., and if these are the sounds that will make the basement walls shake moving forward then I welcome the future. 

PHONE HOMO

One, Two, Three, Four

What do you want....more?

LIFE DRAG

Likely the final posthumous release from LIFE DRAG, Unidentify You is an excruciating dirge. Thirty minutes of darkness and frustration, manifested through bass, vocal, drum and sound. The  assemblage here is interesting. The opener "Worker" is a disorganized cacophony, followed by "Farmer," which is an intentionally sloppy piece of brutality - awkward to listen to but also the least realized track on the tape. The trilogy that follows - "Polishing Hammers," "A New Trade" and "Unidentify You" - combine to make the most compelling twenty minutes of sound I have heard in a very very long time. It's a ferocious exercise in monotony and deliberation, a calculated assault on all senses and psyche, and it will leave you breathless. I'm not saying that the first two cuts aren't worth your time, but be aware that even when Schmidt and Benjamin shout bury you // one by one in "Farmer," they are just getting started. 

UNIDENTIFY YOU

DELETER

This one dropped at the same time as the NO STATIK What Did You Give Away When You Gave In? EP on 25 Diamonds, which is how I heard about it. I appreciate a label that is all over the place, releasing what they like instead of just focusing on moving units - because if you feel it, then surely it will show...and the units will move themselves. Or not. But I was extremely happy to have our hardcore slab paired up with this sonically advanced offering from DELETER. Cold future sounds with the same ear toward early Rough Trade that made even the most jaded perk up when those first INTERPOL and FRANZ FERDINAND records dropped in the early/mid '00s. Because good is good, and that's what these kids are. Levitate The Pentagon with stick to you like glue....if the soft Butler-esque rasp of "Kill The Comedian" doesn't resonate in some way, then maybe we need to talk about broadening your view a bit. Listen, and listen repeatedly. DELETER have earned it. 

LEVITATE THE PENTAGON

BURNING

Maximum volume yields superior results on BURNING's sole release. Heavy synth/mechanical industrial presented with depth and brutality. BURNING owe as much to IDIOT FLESH as to NITZER EBB, with a monotony that make you want to stab yourself in the eye more than hit the dance floor. It's awkward and painful to listen to...at least that's how it feels if you're doing it right. 

SILVER A.D.

AUTUMN

There's a contextual aspect of virtually any independent musical creation that can sometimes be every bit as important as the content. I saw a modern power violence band last night who had all of the chops, all of the riffs, all of the power....but does that make them better than CROSSED OUT? I mean, they were devastating to be sure, but what about the band who created the sounds, created their own neanderthal style of destruction...and did so in a virtual vacuum without the help of youtube or the internet. Obviously I think that history will judge the former more "important" than the latter, who was able to carefully study their forebears and hone every detail of their craft, which does not mean that the latter didn't level the joint last night, because they absolutely did...and I was wowed. But I think you get my point. Rewind to Minneapolis ethereal goth outfit AUTUMN. In 1992, there was no retro online subculture of misfits and inward punks looking to a bygone era of goth for inspiration. Aside from the true heavyweights, most of the '80s goth/new wave bands were playing way smaller clubs, if they even toured at all. The blurry lines between the sub-scenes became more defined, and I feel like dark wave and goth became even more insular...more isolated. Strict adherence to a bygone subgenre is a bold move in any scenario, and even more so without the digital connection to other outcasts as a crutch. But AUTUMN's four song demo tape is strong and proud, teetering between COCTEAU TWINS spareness and Wayne Hussey's bold guitars, a sound they were creating in Minneapolis at a time when DESTROY was dominating the underground basement scene. Drop AUTUMN in 1984 and they would have mesmerized the masses...instead they continue to create in the face of all of the obvious obstacles, feet firmly planted in a sound, permanently attached to a world that will likely never be theirs, releasing songs that have evolved into a sound that is truly their own after more than a quarter century in the mire. They switched singers before really hitting their stride (no criticism, but Renee's voice is absolutely the focal point of this recording), and in fact their own discography shows them starting two years after the release of this tape with a darker, slightly more aggressive eight song self titled demo, but the innocence and isolated conveyed by this tape might serve as a vote against comfort. AUTUMN did what so many are trying to do, and they seem determined to stand strong amongst the waves of youth and perspective crashing around them...I applaud them, and I listen to "And Deep Inside" with complete focus.

AUTUMN

The power violence anecdote was probably a stretch, but I think you get my general idea. 

PLOW BARREL

The things you find, man....I don't even know where to begin. Well, start with the outside - someone in a band thought that was a good cover for their demo...and the other band members agreed. Or acquiesced, but still. But if it's any consolation, the outside is a pretty good indication of the cerebral profanity that greets you when you press play. Like AGOROPHOBIC NOSEBLEED and ASS (link is dead, your loss), and then there's the epic misanthropic doom of "Pinch My Beef." I mean, it kinda makes sense when you look closer and see that Bloated Beyond Blasphemy was recording in Apple Valley, Minnesota in 1993. I'm not exactly sure why that gives PLOW BARREL the appropriate context, but somehow it does.  Ripping drum machine driven death/thrash metal in the CARCASS, CANNIBAL CORPSE vein, treated with adolescent isolation and copious amounts of weed.

BLOATED BEYOND BLASPHEMY

=========

TEMPLE

You know the goth thing has grown roots now, right? I feel like there is a generation now who are basing their sound on bands who based their sound on bands from other times - removing a layer of association, but perhaps allowing for more freedom within expanded confines. Whether or not this applies to this Minneapolis act is up for debate, but the excellence of this half hour of music is painfully evident regardless of which sphere/s of influence TEMPLE draw from. Dreary, plodding, with swarms of guitars and indulgent brooding vocals that dominate with confidence when they take over from the guitars, then find a way to coexist when they share the spotlight. It just works, so I guess where they get it from is a discussion for another time. 

TEMPLE

LIFE DRAG

LIFE DRAG have been nice enough to visit The Escape several times, and I think that each time they settle a little more into the weird reality that they are making their own. Forty minutes here, for fans of Mark E. Smith and Dilloway and Blixa and Branca and Gira and solitude and emptiness. Flawless. 

LIFE DRAG