CRIMENES DE GUERRA

 

The ferocity on CRIMENES DE GUERRA's Alto A La Viviseccion is undeniable...brutal, raw Mexican political hardcore not at all suitable for folks searching for subtlety. Multiple vocal, tuning optional, intensity guaranteed - listen to "De Igual A Igual" and tell me you've heard three chords delivered with this level of determination. 

ALTO A LA VIVISECCION

REALM OF TERROR

Raw crust ain't dead, but the stench is real. Six bursts of low end hyper speed mania, a complete blur fronted by desperate throaty vocals interrupted periodically by filthy churns. From the DISRUPT/DEFORMED CONSCIENCE school of brutality - with determination, without nuance. 

ACCELERATED EXTINCTION

RECOPILACION PRO-VEGETARIANA

 

Pretty fukkn self explanatory today - twenty eight blasts of pro-animal rights mid 1990s crust/hc from around the world. INTOLERANCE, EXCREMENT OF WAR, HIATUS, FLEAS & LICE, SEDITION, HELLKRUSHER, ACTIVE MINDS, , NATIONS ON FIRE, CONFRONTATION, INTESTINAL DISEASE, MEDIA CHILDREN, SCRAPS....do I need to go on? Because there's more. 

HARDCORE PO EL DERECHO A LA VIDA, A LA LIBERTAD Y AL RESPETO DE L@S ANIMALES

BENCHMARK

For the thousandth time: 1990s DIY hardcore rules. Bands took their influences and used them instead of aping them, and sounds spread as slowly as the letters mail so those influences had time to develop. And in places like Arkansas (or, in my case, Oklahoma), those influences were more spread out, more varied, and they were simply harder to come by...so bands had to make it happen. And often what the made was a whole far removed from any of its parts (or even from the people who made them). BENCHMARK were all of those things, and the result was fierce, emotional and personal hardcore - hoarse screaming about animal rights and sexual assault and they left everything in the room when they played. The chugs are formidable and the vocals are deadly (check "Tickle" in particular), and it all just feels fucking honest. For folks concerned about such things, three dudes in this band would later form BURNED UP BLED DRY, and one was in FROM ASHES RISE for the first two full lengths....yeah, the '90s weren't half bad.

 THANK YOU

SOCIETY'S PUPPETS

Midwestern suburbia in the late 1980s was a motherfucker for punks, and probably even worse for hardcores who were in touch with the progressive politics of punk's perceived heyday that was a half decade in the rearview mirror. But some of them persevered. SOCIETY'S PUPPETS were punching way above their weight in 1990s when they recorded Time To Care, and it's that earnest attack that makes it so good 31 years later. Let the rough recording settle in and tracks like "Your Country Kills You" hit even harder, shades of late '80s UK anarcho/thrash filtered through a blatant affinity for NYHC. Positive, honest hardcore with a raw guitar chug ripped straight from the clutches of Sgt. D - anti-violence, anti-nuke, pro-animal rights, straight edge suburban hardcore from the conservative lily white streets of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Members went on to do stuff like TEN BOY SUMMER (the band) and/or normal life and/or moving into VIOLENT FEMMES house. 

TIME TO CARE

In case you're wondering (and I was): 

WAHC = Waukesha Area Hard Core. 

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES

There's a weird collision here. It's like DIY '90s "melodic hardcore" guitar parts and there's '00s posi hardcore vibes and the lyrical content is vehemently focused sxe and animal rights. The title, Too Punk For Myspace implies a mid-'00s release, which you would think is a bit too late for any of those references, and then the thing is inexplicably packaged in a printed cigarette pack? That's just weird. 

 Sometimes just trying to figure a thing out is a bigger part of the process than actually enjoying it.

TOO PUNK FOR MYSPACE

THE LUMPS OF MERDE

I had a conversation about old tapes a few days ago, and someone asked me if I had any particular tapes that were really good that no one really knows about. Not necessarily "cool" tapes, or collectible tapes, or desirable tapes, or rare tapes...just quality tunes that exist in a vacuum. And I thought immediately of THE LUMPS OF MERDE. I first shared this in the infancy of Terminal Escape and, while I'm just as into now as I was then (more so?), I question some of my descriptors from that June 2009 post. Listening today, these four cuts are indeed somewhat amateurish in delivery, though the compositions themselves and the way the guitars play with the rest of the band suggests a band with a vision greater than their skill set allows. The vocals are drab, a distinct anarcho-come lately spoken/shouted determination, while hints of early ALARM (particularly on "Temperary (sic) Escape") sneak through some of the hooks and its clear that these kids would have evolved into a genuine force had they continued past this 1986 recording. Worth noting the drums...the classic UK anarcho straight forward plod, but some mental engineer tweaked the toms with overcompressed '80s pop triggers so that it sounds normal on the straight beats and then it's as if WHAM! pops in awkwardly just for the fills and rolls. It's awkward to be sure, but it's also part of what makes this tape so unique and so great. 

 THE 6 SECONDS DEMO

Physical cassette is pretty tortured, and was never exactly quality to start with, but when you reach down under the radar sometimes you get what you get....

HUMAN ERROR

I think you could easily argue that up front and in your face left wing politics are more necessary now than they ever were in the '90s (at least in the so-called "west" and/or "first world" countries), but I guess there's no harm in reaching back for a taste of that fire now and then. What HUMAN ERROR lack(ed) in proficiency, they more than make up for with grit, delivering 40 minutes of bulldozer hardcore (four studio tracks and a 30+ minute live set) assailing the rich and the corporations and abusers....you know, the same people who have been fucking the collective "us" for generations. AUS ROTTEN via DISORDER, with a Death And Pure Destruction-era DEATH SENTENCE guitar sound that is wholly endearing. Rough, forceful, unashamed....it's what we need in punk.

GET YOUR APATHY OUT OF OUR MUSIC

I want to thank people for turning up to the anti-McDonald's protests, and thank the people who turned up for the Rock Against McDonald's gig - we made $900 that night for the Global Support Campaign. 

RETHINK

Maybe this could have been released anywhere, maybe it could have been released anytime after 1994 or so, but there's something distinctive to me about US influenced hardcore from South America...which is exactly what RETHINK are. Heavy nods to DC and SWIZ, these kids pretty much nail it, and would have done quite well for themselves going back and forth across I-80 anytime during the '90s. The quieter, slower moments (specifically "Something Is Wrong") sound the most dated, but I look forward to midpaced melodic bands that sound like this...instead of GIVE or whatever new band that people say is the second coming of modern hardcore even though they sound like frat bar rock. RETHINK....? RETHINK just sound like thinking fucking punks. 

#2

Vancouver tonight, so I encourage all old BC punks to make the trek to the Rickshaw Theatre and bring me your old demos. You don't want them anyway, they are just taking up space. I have a bunch of spots on this guest list taking up space too....we can help each other out. 

RAW TOFU // AFTER THE MASSACRE

In the classic TE Monday tradition, and also in the classic '90s political hardcore tradition. Three dual vocal political crust rippers from RAW TOFU, eight guttural dis/crust bangers from AFTER THE MASSACRE (who sound essentially and/or exactly as they are supposed to, considering their moniker). These bands exist by the thousands, and it is our job to celebrate them. So celebrate. 

RAW TOFU // AFTER THE MASSACRE

Bonus points for the logos glued to the outside of the case and the cassette shell....

RAW TOFU

Unrepentant animal rights hardcore recorded in a fukkn toilet. The result is somewhere between noise punk and pure shit-fi madness, with politics louder than the voices shouting them and guitars that might be out of tune (the recording is so shitty you can hardly tell). Five "studio" tracks, including a CONFLICT cover (because of course there's a CONFLICT cover) followed by one uncredited anarcho track (it's pretty cool, any help here?) and six live RAW TOFU bangers...because after my enthusiastic assessment of their demo, I'm sure that you are scrambling to get to the lowER fidelity live recording. Right?

HOW MANY MORE LIVES MUST BE LOST BEFORE YOU OPEN EYES AND SEE THAT MEAT MEANS FUCKING MURDER???

Seriously though: I genuinely appreciate how shameless and in your face and idealistic bands like RAW TOFU were (and, thankfully, ARE). And I will take those out of tune guitars with a tired but earnest message of hope any fucking day...

CITY INDIANS

I originally posted this one in the early days of The Escape, and recently dug the tape out again to repair the dead link. But after blasting it a few times, I figured Spoilsport warrants proper re-posting instead of a fresh download buried beneath four years of posts. Either ripping metallic UK82 or rudimentary proto anarcho/metal/punk depending on their intent, these tracks are searing and fiercely (shamelessly) political in a way that bands just don't seem to be anymore. 

SPOILSPORT

For the curious, here's the blurb that accompanied the original post:

CITY INDIANS hailed from Derby, and this is the Spoilsport demo from 1986. Relatively basic, but super in your face UK82 punk, with a very serious animal rights angle. (It is sometimes astounding to me just how fucking political a large part of the DIY punk scene was in the UK, and equally bewildering how much a large part of the scene in the US today is just simply not.) Killer four song demo, that probably came 4 years too late for anyone to get really excited about it at the time. But now? This guy is excited.

COLOR BLIND

Intense and unashamedly political chaos from a mysterious three piece. Relentless and blown out noise (not music), but done the right way: by accident. I don't really think that COLOR BLIND were trying to sound like an inept and out of tune cacophonous mess, but they do it so much better than legions of bands who choose this sound as a calculated tool. Don't know when this is from or where this from (I feel like it's LA, though I don't really have any rationalization for that feeling, it's just a hunch), but I know that it pushes the limits of acceptable noise and that the motivation is pure and with purpose, even if naive. Sometimes (often?), that's all I need. Also, they are really bad at spelling...I mean, like, really bad.

COLOR BLIND

...(END ANIMAL EXPLOITATION BY ANY) MEANS NECESSARY!...

"Legal murder aproved by a blind world of hate, these inhumane crimes are organized by the human race. All products made for humans are tested on animals, we can't test them on ourselves we're to much of fucking cowards. A daily mass murder that you don't find disturbing, you contribute by wearing their dead flesh like it's some kind of fucking trophy. Us humans are free, shouldn't they be too? THEY ARE NOT SLABS OF MEAT, SLAVES OR MEDICAL TOOLS!!! All you libral jerk offs only see through conventions sigh, just cause it's a tradition doesn't right! YOU ARE ALL SADISTIC FUCKS, to pathetic to face it. That animals spend their whole lives in crates, gallows and cages, There is a solution, but first we have to know: how can you fix a fuck up that screwed up millions of years ago? DIRECT ACTION IS NEEDED, TIME FOR US TO CARE. NO ACCOMPLISHMENT WILL BE MADE WHEN YOU JUST SIT AND STAIR!!!"

DROP DEAD

Two decades later, and this still lays waste to most of the bands on the planet. This is DROP DEAD's first two demos from 1991, issued in Japan by D.I.Y. Records - the incredible live radio set on the flip side can be found at Escape Is Terminal. DROP DEAD are important.

DROP DEAD

CONCLUDE

Further proof that the Japanese have been doing the shit you kids love for way longer than you kids have loved it. Noisy and chaotic politically charged punk from the early '90s with nasal vocals that will make fans of WANKYS and SAD BOYS cream themsleves. Awesome.

MORE FULL LIFE WITH ANIMAL

NO RACISM, NO AUTHORITY!

A cooperative effort released in 1997 benefitting Dare To Care (a human/animal rights collective from Philippines) and Callus Collective (an anarchist leaning group from Malaysia focused on helping the underprivileged). Not surprisingly, this tape is made up of bands from Philippines and Malaysia, places where dishing out raw hardcore punk was way fukkn different than it was for me in the late '90s. There's something special about punk made in a time and/or place where just being a punk is/was a political statement, and I think that No Racism, No Authority! captures that brilliantly. BAD OMEN (blown out but still kinda melodic punk), N.S.A. (excellent 7 SECONDS styled posi-HC) and A.D.A. (ripping gruff ramshackle raw punk) from Philippines on one side with SILENT MAJORITY (accidental '80s Italian worship, easily the coolest songs on the tape), KHESOM (raw, sinister and borderline inept - this is high praise coming from me actually maybe these are the best songs on the tape), and F.S.F. (fast irreverent hardcore with killer vox and perfect guitar leads - So Cal fans rejoice, especially on "Tolerate No More," an undiscovered classic jam) from Malaysia on the flip. Tapes like this frustrate me, because I want everyone to listen - but I can only say "you need this" so many times before the words become meaningless (and I'm afraid that happened sometime in mid-2005). But there's something different about punk that means something - and whether geographically, ideologically or musically, this comp nails it.

NO RACISM, NO AUTHORITY

XTILL I DIEX

Tough, churning metallic hardline bands were not unusual in the '90s, but in Japan they were certainly an oddity. Forged in the EARTH CRISIS mold, XTILL I DIEX rumble through four tunes on this 2000 demo, harsh and primitive low end SXE hardcore. Straight Edge in Japan tends to include smoking, sometimes drinking, and almost always eating meat, but these dudes chose the very straight and very narrow and were even nice enough to include a 'how to' guide. "Staight Edge is a modern rebellion//Straight Edge is the thing that keeps me free."

XTILL I DIEX

VIRUS

All of these songs save one ("Systematic Violence," arguably the best song on the tape) appear in different forms on the You Can't Ignore It Forever demo, also released in 1984, but Dorset's VIRUS are too fukkn good to let a tape slip by just because you have already heard the songs once before. Or twice. There's a MOB styled moodiness to their anarcho brilliance - the vocals have a mournful lilt even when shouting out the determined mantra of a 1980s UK peace punk band. Such a brutal shame that this band only managed to record a handful of songs before calling it a day, VIRUS were fukkn brilliant.

INFECTED?

The liner notes were typed on the back of the cover, not photocopied, and the cassette was done up by hand...both seemed worth including.

GET OFF MY LAND

A hunt saboteurs benefit cassette from the late '80s featuring a handful of bands you know (INTERNAL AUTONOMY, SOFA HEAD, AOS3) and heaps more that you are about to enjoy. BEDOOHA's first tune comes off like a killer WIPERS outtake, R.D.F. would have been a favorite of mine had I heard them at the time, and the B side of the tape is packed with lo-fi dub brilliance. HAPPY SHOPPERS' two drugged out tunes take the cake for my ears, while THE AK47s and a bedroom 4 track instrumental from MR. LULLEY are total winners.  A chilled out and not at all serious sounding comp, meant to benefit a wholly serious cause.

GET OFF MY LAND

ELECTRO HIPPIES

After an excruciatingly long intro and one track that leans more towards the crossover side of late '80s thrashcore, ELECTRO HIPPIES dish out heaps of killer fast hardcore on their second demo. A few added bells and whistles from the band came with this tape: One track from the split LP with GENERIC as presented on Radio One comes before the nine track demo, and versions of "Vivisection" and "Life" from the third demo come after it (the latter with a nice note requesting that these versions not be copied for anyone...I hope that it's OK by now to share these tunes). Essential UK political thrash - if you don't know already, then you need to start learning.

ELECTRO HIPPIES

And just in case you need more, these dudes were nice enough to throw part of a January 1987 live set onto the flipside of this demo, so here are ELECTRO HIPPIES having a well cool time.

LIVE JANUARY 22 1987