FOIL

 

I ripped these thirteen minutes of wild style mutant hardcore when I got home from a frustrating fourteen hour day and it was exactly what I needed. First few tracks are muddy and phased out (because DIY punk, punk) but the shit clears up just about the same time as the after-shifter starts working and I'm feeling the fukk out of FOIL because hi-NRG punk rules always, you dig? The Wonder Destroying Machine tells me that there is even more and I make a mental note to include more FOIL in my future but before I delve any deeper I hear the murk starts to clear and oh snap these fools are gloriously ferocious treble rebels and I swear I am paying full attention because bands like this don't swing through very frequently and FOIL is sounding like something I need more of. A lot more of. Sometime around "Drawing Blood" it becomes apparent that FOIL are one of those essential bands and then.....then "Tale Of A Rat Race" starts and I feel like the Universe is speaking to me. 

"...,when do we get to relax / every day feels back to back / working at your stupid job...."

So I'm just gonna go to sleep now and this will post in a few hours around the time I get up to go to work again. Actually, I'm going to set this to post at the same time I'm setting my alarm, which is something less than five hours from now. Foiled indeed, right? The entire fukkn thing is a scam and it's all a lie except for the part that's real and super duper important. But no one is gonna tell you what that part really is, you dig? That's what sucks. You know what doesn't suck? Foiled by FOIL.

FOILED BY FOIL

CRUDE DRUGS

 

You like BLACK MARK? You American hardcore punk? You like KEINE KLASSE? All of these things are connected to KC, MO rockers CRUDE DRUGS. Seven minutes of hardcore from the end of the first decade when fukkn everyone was cranking out the serious no bullshit shit. CRUDE DRUGS was first, then BLACK MARK dropped the same demo with a different cover, then two of the dudes did the NO CLASS thing. And it all ripped. The same thing is happening now, somewhere. So pay attention. 

ORANGE SODA TAPE

DESTROY ALL MASTERS

What a fukkn great way to fill up a C90, the kids from Fucksafe Tapes outdid themselves on 1987's Destroy All Masters. Mostly under the nostalgia's radar, this comp is a glorious relic from the tape trading days - BHOPAL STIFFS, CRUCIAL YOUTH and SCREECHING WEASEL are the most notable contributors, then throw in STRAIGHT ARM, HARD STANCE, FLUORESCENT CONDOMS, CURIOUS GEORGE, TREBLE KING, N.H.C. and WARLOCK PINCHERS and you've got yourself an example of why people fetishize the pen pals and mix tapes era of DIY punk and hardcore...because fukk a playlist. Not band for some kids from Iola, Kansas. 

DESTROY ALL MASTERS

BRAIN OF STONE

Come on, do we really need to have a discussion about the importance of BCT in the '80s? Or a discussion about the impact that the OG tape traders had on the spread of music and scenes around the world? We should not need to have this conversation, so instead here's BCT-11: Brain Of Stone. 

A couple of standards on this one (ACCUSED, CANCEROUS GROWTH, YOUTH KORPS), and a healthy dose wild ass under the radar bangers (DIET OF WORMS, ÄMIVÄX, WILD HAIRS, KANALKOTZER, BILL OF RIGHTS, KILLING CHILDREN and loads more) who never received attention, much less accolades. Like the subtitle says: 23 International Bands, 58 Cuts. 

BRAIN OF STONE

Louisiana's contributions here are SNUFFLIX and TOXIN III, both rippers (I'm in the market for their split tape if anyone's holding). And while we are on the subject of Louisiana, check out this 1978 New York City set from New Orleans first wave power pop punks THE NORMALS over at Escape Is Terminal. There's a good New York radio interview in the file as well, and some general shenanigans. Who doesn't like shenanigans?

BLACK MARK

Why is it called Orange Soda Tape? I dunno, punk, maybe it's because they like orange soda - weird beverages are popular in the United States Of America (y'all ever heard of Big Red? But then again, Germany has Schwip Schwap, so maybe I shouldn't point the finger solely inward). But the real thing is that when you crank the tunes on this 2007 BLACK MARK demo, you're gonna stop caring about the title of the goddamned demo and start wondering why you aren't moshing. Hard. Because "Shut Down" is a mandatory banger and the rest of these tracks fall right the fukk in line. This band is (was) pre KEINE KLASSE for those keeping real careful notes....for the rest of you punks, this is is ripping straight edge hardcore demo tape. 

ORANGE SODA TAPE

MENTIRA

Not to be confused with MENTIRA or "Mentira" or MENTIRA or MENTIRA MENTIRA, Kansas City's MENTIRA take the most recent wave of mutant effect ridden so-called hardcore and....well, they make it hardcore again. Furious and chaotic but absolutely in control, MENTIRA slam through six bursts of noisy fury on this 2016 demo, a reminder of what it's supposed to be like to be scared and still be able to scare. Speaking of scary, these kids gonna be on the west coast in a few weeks, and the sweaty flesh will keep this shell in its (justifiably revered) place. Sonic power realized. 

MENTIRA

MEAT MIST // MORSE

Awkward keyboard drenched French art punk lurches on one side, with frenetic no wave spastic attacks from Kansas City on the flip. This 2012 split is light years from anything I would consider "palatable" or a "pleasant listen," but check MEAT MIST (MO) simultaneously channel MELT BANANA, ISTERISMO, BLACK FLAG and MINISTRY on "TwerkUltra." Seriously...listen to it, loudly. Then check MORSE (F) on the flip lumber through "In The Grass" and wonder if you are listening to THE B-52's or some outtake from The Sexual Life Of The Savages. MORSE appear to have left us with nothing more than this and one two song demo (also from 2012), while MEAT MIST have been busy little beavers for the last half decade, amassing an impressing (and compelling) disc(tape)ography. Sure this one passed me by on its initial release, but sometimes the joy of missing the train comes when you get to jump back aboard, unhindered by urgency.

MEAT MIST // MORSE

CHASM

Saw this Kansas City trio last spring in the middle of the afternoon in a depressing bar on the south side of Oklahoma City while some gutter punks who I casually knew a lifetime ago played pool in the back. It was a churning and frenzied set that lacked all pretense, no small feat in the world of regurgitated SABBATH/PENTAGRAM riffs. Perhaps it's the vocals, or perhaps it's the lumbering pace, but CHASM also manage to exist in that decidedly retro world while exuding more than enough originality to separate them from the masses....and this is why I was excited to see them twice earlier this year. Still good. Still loud. Still chill as fukk to watch. I was pleased. 

CHASM

MR. AND THE MRS.

I ripped this little creamer just before I left for tour, and it got me pretty good. Many (many) listens during my month away, including one especially memorable one in the middle of a crystal clear and pitch black night in the southern Arizona desert. Something about this recording just draws you in...the tracks may be simple but the presentation is deep, and these two kids from Kansas utilize the tools at their disposal to make a compelling collection of sounds. You can call it garage if you like, and in the most literal sense you would be pretty spot on....I think of it as dark and sweaty full power rock 'n roll stripped down to the barest essentials. But I don't get paid to think, so there's that to consider also.

DEO VOLENTE

SUCKED DRY

I like hardcore, and within the realm of hardcore, SUCKED DRY are really fukkn good. Seriously, the slow part in "Human Smoke Stacks" is simple but astounding, and you are going to love it. Total rage in 423 seconds or less.

SUCKED DRY

STREET LEGAL

I know - the cover is probably the best thing you've ever seen, right? I was so totally prepared to ridicule the shit out of this release when I popped it in the player...I mean, BUTTHAND?! Turns out Butthand isn't just a snortle inducing name for a tape, it's a fukkn killer demo from Kansas City's STREET LEGAL. Female vocals, great bass work that drives infectious hooks deep into your subconscious so that tomorrow at work I'll be mentally humming "Fast & Free" but I won't know what the song is or where it came from - it will just be in there. Can we get back to the cover for just a moment? Yeah, that's an ass superimposed on the back of a hand flipping you off. Similar vibe to the equally killer NECRO HIPPIES demo, even though they don't really sound that similar...they feel similar, and that's what a vibe is all about, ain't it? Seven songs - great tape - get into it.

BUTTHAND