Japanese CRUST (compilations) Against the Millennium (part 4): "Yotsuva - Japanese Noiz Cruster Comp" Lp, 2009

When a kid gets into punk, he or she often makes it very loud and very clear through dodgy hair dye, randomly drawn circled A on still pristine denim jackets, typically shit early attempts at a mohawk or the sudden disappearance of every safety pins in the house. Parents aren't exactly excited and not too chuffed to have to tell your grandparents aka their own parents - rather embarrassingly - that you're "going through a phase" and that they shouldn't pay too much attention when their once adorable grandson or granddaughter now cannot stop ranting about how the final bloodbath is coming and is just around the corner or some shit. Know what I mean? 

When it is indeed a mere phase, you can all laugh about it years later when the former snotty little punk has finally accomplished his or her destiny and become a mediocre accountant in a boring shithole and spawn two horrible children. Mum would be so relieved that you quickly dropped the bondage trousers and the torn Exploited shirts (although nothing could be done about the still half-infected tattoo of an oddly shaped skull that your mate Paul did during a party while on mushrooms) and became presentable and proper enough to be introduced to her own old high-school friends who grew up to be much more successful. When it is not a phase (meaning when you're still rocking the haircut by 25), well, things are more complicated, aren't they? Parents often beat themselves up, convinced that they must have done something terribly wrong and have basically failed dramatically at parenting. If not, why would their beloved offspring wear what can only be kindly described as a bum's rags, play in a dreadful band called The Riot Cunt Boys and stop eating meat. By that point, the grandparents would have already blamed the mother repeatedly (because in a patriarchal society it's always the mothers who take the blame) for the revolting hygiene of their grandkid and the neighbours gossiped relentlessly about the parrot-looking youth living next door who often gets bullied by "real men".

Why such subtle sociological analysis you might ask? Well, have you seen the cover of the Yotsuva compilation 12" Ep? What would the gran say? It has to be the crustiest picture of a human being that you have ever seen. There's so much hair you can't even see the face of that punk and he probably can't see shit either. It looks pretty much like a scarecrow who lost his comb or the hidden punk baby brother of Cousin Itt, the opposite of presentable. And isn't the creature a little scary as well? If I bumped into that crusty punk at midnight in a poorly lit dark street, I would maybe think that Sadako, instead of dicking around in old wells, just got into Deviated Instinct and is on her way to haunt fake punks who like shoegaze and Turnstile. In any case a mere cursory glance at the cover of Yotsuva is enough for even the least discerning of us to understand that it is an unhealthy, unmitigated slice of crust-for-crusties (noise-not) music. To make sure everyone got it the subtitle Japanese Noiz Cruster Comp was added. Just to be safe.

There are only four bands on this compilation (or would it be more accurate to call it a four-way split?) but the lineup is fantastic and I personally see the record as something of a classic Japanese crust record and a highly relevant snapshot of a time period. One of the most chaotic and noisiest bands of a subgenre already based on chaos and noise opens fire first: Tokyo's Isterismo. It did take me a few years before I understood what the hell they were trying to do first and second to genuinely enjoy them. Emphaticalness might be the key word here. Imagine early Gloom and Frigöra teaming up to create a band doing covers of Plasmid and Asylum and then make it noisier, faster, blow it out a bit more and add an obsession for the amusical side of Italian hardcore like London 77 or Fottutissima Pellicceria Elsa. An intentional fucking racket indeed from a band known and sought after precisely for that. Like Tantrum, Isterismo sang in Italian and these three songs belonged to the early years of the band, my favourite era as I always thought the later Lp was rather disappointing. These Tokyo crusties went on to play in bands like Solvent Cobal or Haava. I recommend the compilation Lp Tokyo Crusties (duh) which you can still find for quite cheap if you want your senses to be assaulted by the band's early period.

The humungous Death Dust Extractor grace us next with three horrendous noise cavecrust songs and it sounds exactly like it should. Do you love early Doom and Sore Throat? Have you always thought that Japanese bands Mindsuck or Abraham Cross did a magnificent job revering Doom and Sore Throat? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you threw a bit of Terminal Filth Stenchcore into the mix and a spoonful of unhinged Osaka crasher crust? Well, it's your lucky day and these three songs are tailor made for your sick tastes in music. A pretty unique band indeed.

Lastly are the third band to enter the crust arena and they are possibly the lesser known of the four stenchmen of the apocalypse. They were from Hida-Takayama, in the Gifu prefecture, a region known for its mountains and I wouldn't be surprised if the members of Lastly were all actual feral kids living in the wilderness of these mountains, eating roots, throwing shit at each other and communicating through noises before they learnt how to speak at age 20. In fact they might have learnt how to play crasher crust before the linguistic skills. This is savage relentless noizy crust praying at the altar of Gloom and Collapse Society and must clearly be seen in the same light as Isterismo, D-Clone or Zyanose. Nothing new here, it's all very well done, by the book, but you might argue that Lastly missed that bit of personality that would have helped cement their spot in the Japanese crust pantheon. You could say they were a mid-table crust bands but then the Japanese league was perhaps the best in the world at that time so it is already remarkable. These four songs (one is not listed) were the first appearance of Lastly on record and they pack a serious punch, I actually like them better than their first cruder more noisepunk Ep while the second one was closer to Contrast Attitude. 

Finally the listener is rewarded for his or her persistence with three songs of noise insanity by the mighty Zyanose. Thanks to a serious and globally solid discography Zyanose have definitely become a reference in the Confuse-meets-Gloom-at-a-crust-convention-held-in-a-mental-asylum. It's still pretty much a musical freak show but one that has become more respectable with time. I have written extensively about these Osaka nutters and I don't feel I need to reiterate because, by now, you know what I am talking about.

As a conclusion, Yotsuva (I haven't been able to find where the name comes from so information is welcome) will delight the most monomaniacal of us and if you are looking for variety then I suggest you keep away from it. However if you crave for your dose of crasher crust it is the perfect choice and a high quality product from the best noise dealers around. A perfect compilation as far as its intentions are concerned: in 15 minutes it succeeds to do perfectly what it claims to do on the cover. No bullshit, just crust pants. Another winning endeavour from everyone's favourite supplier Crust War Records.

YOTSUVA!

  

Japanese CRUST (compilations) Against the Millennium (part 3): "混沌難聴大虐殺 (Konton Damaging Ear Massacre)" Lp, 2005

Osaka. Third most populated city in Japan, legendary punk spot, historical epicenter of the crasher hardcore style and home to that massive plastic red crab. I only stayed there for a couple of days in 2018 for the All Crusties Insane Noise Victim festival because of its smashing lineup, along with rather cheap plane tickets, that prompted me to go there on my own, like a nerd armed with determination and resolve, with the desire to spend far more than reasonable in notoriously busy record stores. Before I traveled to Japan, I had been told Osaka was supposed to be a place where people were rather outgoing and a bit rough as well, something of a raucous, boisterous city as opposed to the more conservative Kyoto. It was described to me as the Marseille of Japan and you'd know what it means if you have been to the South of France. And of course, I had very good time, got absolutely plastered at the Konton bar (a very apt name for the place), got lost on my way back to the hotel, found a fellow punk randomly who kindly took me there (to my great embarrassment I realized the next day that he happened to be Framtid's drummer...) and obviously forgot to take off my boots when I came in the building. Proper French class.

But let's get back to more interesting matters. Beside the great music that everyone knows, I often associate Osaka punk with elite crust pants, vast knowledge of punk and with words, very specific neological phrases created to describe the sound of a band. These are combinations of familiar word commonly used in the punk world, that are, strictly speaking devoid of literal sense, but very rich in evocations and pregnant with meaning if you "speak punk". Know what I mean? This linguistic practice cannot be restricted to Osaka, of course, it's a national phenomenon and most crust or d-beat bands do it - they could be legally bound to for all I know. A quick glance at the Inferno Punx photo book published in 2003 and edited by influential Osaka punks, Jackie (Framtid and Crust War), Mitsuru (Gloom) and Jhonio (Gloom, Defector and others) illustrates what I mean: Deconstruction's sound becomes "Ultra collapsing noise crust", Collapse Society are referred to as "Ultra-scandi Tokyo crusties", Frigöra as "Scandi-magnum crusties torpedo" (I like that one) or Condemned as "Primitive blast crust core". There are many other telling examples of such imaginative portrayals in reviews, fanzines, on record's inserts and of course on bands' logos themselves, like the iconic Gloom logo for instance and Contrast Attitude's "Dis noise attack survivor", Effigy's "Grinding metal massacre", Death Dust Extractor's philosophical "Destroy death energy" and plenty more. In fact, this phrasing was adopted by a lot of bands outside of Japan, notably Physique and their "Disbones crasher" or Fragment's "Total noise fuckers". It can arguably get very redundant, if not lazy at times, but I like how cryptic it really is as these nonsensical phrases are coded for punks. It's fun, folkloric and validating I suppose. In my tiny mind it is very associated with the culture of that place.

And all that for some noisy punk bands. 混沌難聴大虐殺 (Konton Damaging Ear Massacre) (the word "konton" can be translated as "chaos" and it's also the name of a tiny punk bar where I lost my usual sense of moderation, so that gives you an idea) was released in 2005 on none other than Crust War Records. A pretty close knit affaire indeed as Jackie also provided some art, Framtid Takayama the text and Defector Toyo and Jhonio did the design. I have said it many times but I will reiterate because it is my blog: I love town-based compilations. They provide a fair but biased (there's always a curator) view of a specific scene at a specific time. The theme of the Lp is crystal clear: noisy hardcore punk for noisy hardcore punks. All the songs were recorded in 2004 so I imagine it had been planned well in advance to make time for the bands. The artwork reeks of classic crust punk imagery so the more timid listeners might be willing to avoid this one but it'd be a mistake because the Lp is more diverse than it literally looks like and claims to be. 

The opening band is Framtid and I don't really need to introduce them at this point. In the second part of the 00's, they just sounded unstoppable as they maximised the traditional gruff scandicore formula, making it sound more aggressive than ever thanks to triumphant guitar arrangements and riffs, this manic ultra energetic Osaka crasher drumming style and intense vocals. Like Gloom covering Svart Parad and Asocial. Excruciatingly good. Framtid are a tough act to follow and Poikkeus have been picked to take this tricky spot. Poikkeus is the kind of bands that I am familiar with but never really cared for at the time. Japanese punks never show restraint when they get involved and like Frigöra sang in Swedish because they loved Mob 47, Isterismo in Italian because they took "Chaos non musica" very seriously, Desperdicio in Spanish because they overplayed Destruccion and Voco Protesta in Esperanto because they romantically believe in the power of language as a tool to unite people, Poikkeus went for Finnish because they revered Propaganda Records. It does take a lot of courage and dedication to try to sing in Finnish, I'll give the band that, and their distorted take on the traditional Finnish hardcore sound of Kaaos, Melakka or early Bastards must be commended. I like the amount of energy they put in, especially with the first song, but it is sometimes too punk-rock oriented for my tastes and the songs are a little long. I prefer my Finnish hardcore fast and furious with generous pints of snot but this is well-executed enough.

I had absolutely never heard of Kruw before playing this Lp and a damaging ear massacre they are certainly not. The band was active for most of the 00's and played tuneful, old-school hardcore, but the first number sounds almost like a late 70's punk band (like Anarchy maybe with the lyrics in Japanese). The second one is much faster, with still a clear guitar sound which makes quite a contrast with the rest of the lineup. High-energy hardcore with a slightly crazy punk vibe. I wouldn't listen to Kruw all night but I welcome these fresh songs in this context. Adixion are next, a band with an interesting history. They had been active since the early 90's and used to call themselves Addiction back when they were a very different animal. Originally, up until the mid-00's, Addiction played excellent UK82 influenced punk-rock with singalongs and great spirit and you could argue that they were one of the best bands - not to mention one of the earliest - working on that sound around in the 90's (let's remember it was the heyday of bands like Tom & the Bootboys, Discocks, The Kickers and the whole Pogo 77 Records scene). Their switch to Adixion was also a musical switch as they started playing a more experimental and dissonant, not as regulated you could say, kind of hardcore music. I am a man of recipes and while I can really enjoy Addiction, Adixion are not my cuppa. This said I appreciate the fact that they were included on this compilation and this is exactly what makes such endeavours interesting and even challenging.

The other side of the Lp is, undeniably, much more in line with the Osaka crust orthodoxy. And we start off strong with Zoe and their groovy blend of Amebix and Zygote. Zoe was very much Taki's (from Gloom and Defector amongst others) baby and a grand opportunity to rename himself "lightning baron" which makes him sound like a crust superhero I suppose. I have always loved Zoe and almost twenty years after their demise I realize how genuinely original they really were and I cannot think of a band really working with the same Amebix-as-language predicate. As for the songs you have two rerecorded numbers that originally appeared on The Last Axe Beat (that I covered extensively here), the very Zygotish "New world" and the supremely Amebixian "Zygospore". It's good stuff. Did I mention they loved Amebix?

The listener is then brutally attacked by two songs of Ferocious X, then still a relatively new Osaka bands immersed in a relatively old Osaka tradition: playing emphatically furious käng hardcore with a lot of distortion. If Poikkeus decided to sing in Finnish because they revered Riistetyt, Ferocious X went for the Swedish language because they dreamt of Disarm and Mob 47. Or - much - closer to home of Frigöra, the Japanese hardcore band that pioneered the notion that hardcore could very much be used as a second language in the 90's, that substantially singing in Swedish (or in any other languages tied to a legendary hardcore scene) was a way for you to sound closer to the source material. I think that it does make sense conceptually but it also does make for some odd syntax moments and I cannot wait for a Japanese bands to sing in French because they like Les Béruriers Noirs (they won't dress as clowns hopefully). To get back to Ferocious X, I only got into the band rather recently (by which I mean 10 years ago) and was unaware of them in the 00's. They are one of the oldest - if not the oldest - bands doing the blownout crasher käng thing still in activity, have produced some solid records throughout the years and even though they may not be as popular as other Osaka, these two songs are absolute hardcore tornadoes of anger, distortion and just plain dementia in the pure local crust tradition. The drumming, courtesy of Takayama from Framtid, is insane and the vocalist (formerly doing similar noises in Reduction) sounds like a howling rabid seal lion. If you know, you know as the kids say.

The second Suomi band of the record comes next under the guise of Laukaus and I actually like them better than their brother in arms Poikkeus. Laukaus were snottier, with a touch of UK82, maybe just punkier, with a clearer guitar sound and overall less effects. They are very reminiscent of Bastards and Kaaos (just listen to that bass sound) with a spontaneous sense of fun and a "two fingers in the air" attitude. This is hardcore to pick up your nose to while drinking cider outside of the venue if you know what I mean. The song "Poisiukaa" even made me want to pogo (briefly and just metaphorically but still more than usual). The band's three Ep's (on Distort Label Records, Putrid Filth Conspiracy and Pogo 77) are also very strong and let's just hope that someone will have the grand idea to release a discography because Laukaus could rightly be considered as one of the very best Finnish hardcore of their generation. Not a mean achievement when you're from Japan.

Finally Konton Damaging Ear Massacre ends on a very crusty note with two songs of Defector, the band vastly known as being "post-Gloom". There are elements reminiscent of Gloom of course but you could always tell that Defector craved to create something a little new and different, not to the extent of going free jazz as they still very much want to destroy your ears and the little sanity you have left. There is precisely an atmosphere of insanity, chaos, lunacy in their music as the band plays with song structures and paces, maybe not unlike Confuse's latest period but with still Osaka crasher crust tools. It might be a bit too chaotic and loony for some but I have always found the band very endearing and an interesting sequel to a legendary band whose legacy permeates the compilation textually and paratextually. 

Is this a must-have, a classic, a compulsory record to own, a genre-defining moment? Not really. There are some brilliant moments indeed - the whole side B actually - but other songs leave me a little cold. However the album must appreciated for what it is, a snapshot of a portion of the Osaka scene at a given point in time so that it reflects what was happening there and then. Beside the bands included are quite diverse for a Crust War Records production and the album must be given some praises for it. 

As much as the unreasonable part of me would have loved to be punished by crasher hardcore crust bands playing the exact same thing for 30 minutes, the reasonable one also appreciates some variety and the discovery of bands I did not know. That's what's called wisdom apparently.

Konton Konton Konton

    

 

  

Last Week's Trend is Now Passé (part 7): "Shall we dance?" compilation Lp, 1987

Here we go again. The valorous Terminal Sound Nuisance team is still on lockdown but more than ever determined to spread the good word about punk etiquette to my confined brothers and sisters all over the world. Unfortunately, since I will not be able to engage in my second favourite activity - the boastful display of my exclusive and high-class collection of crust shirts - for a couple of weeks more, at least, I shall focus all my energy on the blog in order to educate my fellow punks about the respectability of decent punk tastes, for the common good. I mean, it is either that or wasting your few remaining brain cells watching some dross on Netflix, so I suppose Terminal Sound Nuisance is almost like sending humanitarian aid. Thank fuck I have been graced with the gift of prolixity.

Today's post will address a compilation Lp entitled Shall we Dance?, released on the classic label of Dan's Ian Armstrong, Meantime Records. Now, with a title like Shall we Dance? one legitimately expects to be properly entertained and see his or her anxieties about that bloody virus mollified and one will not be disappointed. Let's first tackle an aspect of this record that has divided the punk community since its release in 1987, tearing families apart, breaking lasting friendship, destroying marriages, sparking riots at distro tables: should this album be called a compilation Lp, a four-way split Lp or even a four-way-split compilation Lp? More than thirty years later, there is still strong disagreements on the issue and it seems no consensus in the punk academic circles will ever be reached. As a respected self-proclaimed scene veteran myself, with solid punk credentials, receding hairlines and all that, I personally consider Shall we Dance? as a compilation simply because it is curated as such. I know such a bold statement might stir controversy but I like to live dangerously.

Four bands are included on the Lp, Joyce McKinney Experience, Decadence Within, Nox Mortis and Incest Brothers, two of which - JME and NM - were part of that grandiose article about UK anarchopunk from 1988 to 1992 that we did with Erik Negative Insight and, were it not for a corrupt jury, would have got the Pulitzer Prize (so make sure you read it so that I don't need to repeat myself). Besides, my beloved JME also had their 1990 12'', Cuddle This, reviewed here so they are not exactly newcomers to the blog. My oft fabled astuteness leads me to suggest that the purpose, the driving idea behind of Shall we Dance? was to offer new, interesting bands a record opportunity. In that light, it makes sense that the Lp was JME, NM and IB's first vinyl output. DW's 1986 recording is the odd one out because, as the band points out on their insert, by the time Shall we Dance? hit the DIY punk distros, they not only had a new lineup but had also changed musical direction so that the DW songs did not reflect what the band was about in 1987 (another example of how staggeringly quick bands moved in the 80's). Still, in spite of this slight discrepancy, the compilation should be described as a relevant introduction to four young English punk bands at a crucial time. Indeed, the year was 1987, and the shimmering crust, thrash punk, UK hardcore, grindcore waves were all ready to erupt in a spectacular fashion and officially supplant the older punk generations. In that light, this humble Meantime Records album, basically compiling four early recordings (three being actual first recordings!) from four up-and-coming punk bands, also embodied the new blood of the scene at that specific moment, notwithstanding the fact that two out of these four bands would eventually sink into obscurity.

Let's start with JME, an old favourite of mine that I also got to encounter through a Boss Tuneage double-cd discography from 2006, that I initially did feel like buying but, just like with the Dan one, still got in the end (so thank you boss). As a result, I often tend to associate both bands and, after all, there are meaningful similarities between them: beside being contemporaries, they both started out with strong dual female vocals, they had a very upbeat vibe, catchy tunes, a songwriting versatility, without mentioning very odd band names and colourful artworks which, because of the religious crust cult I belong to, makes it impossible for me to ever wear a JME or Dan shirt. Bummer. However, I guess JME could be said to be even more pop-oriented than Dan, but that is a heated debate I am not getting into, although I should point out that, by the end of their career in the early 90's, it certainly was true as they had essentially become a Britpop band. The band was from Leamington Spa (hometown of Bad Beach, Bolt Thrower, Varukers and Depraved with whom they shared a member, drummer Gigs) and although my preference goes to the delightfully melodic Cuddle This, I presume it is not far-fetched to claim that their 1988 Lp, Joyce Offspring, is what they will always be remembered for and only the most obtuse punk could remain insensitive to the pervading catchiness of JME's tunes. The four JME songs on Shall we dance? were part of a demo recording done in early 1987 (a fifth song from this session, "Slaughter in the Faroe Islands", was not included on the Lp) and, although it was just the band's first endeavour into a studio, the songs epitomised, albeit in a rather punky and raw fashion, what the band was genuinely proficient at: writing potent but melodic punk songs. The dual female vocals really complement themselves meaningfully, jumping from pop harmonies to a more aggressive raspy style with ease, displaying a wide variety of emotions that the songwriting really highlights. And it is no basic punk-rock either, there are some proper basslines and original guitar hooks and clever tempo changes and it never sounds generic. If you really think about JME may have been the catchiest UK punk band of the mid/late 80's (with Blyth Power). These four memorable songs would be rerecorded with a better production for the aforementioned Joyce Offspring Lp, a true punk classic that managed to combine the energy of early hardcore, the snottiness of anarchopunk and the melodies of pop-punk. Essential band that sounds a bit like a pillow fight between Bad Brains and Lost Cherrees.

The second band on the first side is Decadence Within, yet another one with a rather questionable moniker, although not for the same reasons as JME (at least it didn't refer to a priest-raping teenage girl, but it reminds me too much of Decadent Few for me to validate it completely). As they freely admit it themselves in Ian Glasper's Trapped in a Scene, DW may have been one of the hardest-working and longest-running UK hardcore bands of their generation, their run spanning from 1984 to 1995, but they were also one of the least popular. Apparently they played their first gig in 1985 with Shrapnel and a mysterious band called Discarded Remnants of an Age No More which goes to show that DW was not such a bad name after all. Because of the band's longevity and prolificacy, it is only logical that they already appeared several times on Terminal Sound Nuisance for their participation on punk samplers like the tragic Oi! Sound of UK (where they are referred to as Decadance Within on the cover!), A Vile Peace, Hiatus and Endless Struggle. I must admit that I never really got into DW that much and I first became acquainted with them through the Soulwound cd on Peaceville that also included This Lunacy. I vaguely remember buying this second-hand for really cheap on ebay at a time when, naive and impetuous, I was still very much exploring that corner of the UK scene with a heart full of idealism. And I did not like the cd at all as it sounded like an American crossover hardcore band and I was hoping for a metallic UK crust punk one. I did not eat for a whole week and the scars have never truly healed. As a result, I promptly discarded DW as a hopelessly US-styled hardcore act and did not play the cd again (I still have it though). And then, Overground Records started to release its grandiose anarchopunk tetralogy - the so-called Anti compilation series - that certainly encouraged me to dig deeper and expand my epistemological stance toward anarchopunk. I realized that DW were included on the second volume, Anti-State, which was a little baffling to me since DW were fundamentally tied to "that late 80's crossover sound" and I did not expect them to rub shoulders with The Mob, Disrupters or Subhumans on an anarcho-themed compilation. The DW was "A breath of fresh air" and it is a brilliant song, close to the old-school classic anarchopunk sound indeed and I had trouble linking that song with the Soulwound cd. But bands moved really fast at the time and could take radical turns in a matter of months.

All this to say that the DW you get on Shall we Dance? is the old-school anarchopunk one, not the jumpy hardcore one. As I mentioned earlier, this DW recording was not new and not specifically done for the compilation. In fact, it was the band's first demo, recorded in July, 1986, and as a warning they tell the listener on the insert that "we hope you enjoy these songs but bear in mind that they are OLD!!". About one year-old to be accurate. The warning is fair though since at the time of writing DW had a new lineup with a new guitar player well into thrashing hardcore and the female singer was gone, without mentioning that the band already had a record out, the very enjoyable Speed Hippy Ep released in late 1986. As the band reveal in the liner notes, the inclusion of older DW songs on the Meantime compilation is the result of the band wanting to do something with a good recording that was gathering dust and of Ian Armstrong's opinion that the old songs sound better than what DW were doing then! So how do they sound then? The songwriting is quite ambitious actually with song structures focusing on narration, daring mood changes, over-the-top soloing (the guitar player was a massive Hendrix fan apparently), crazy drum rolls and even some vocal effects. Not everything works and there are moments when the drummer should have gone for something a bit simpler and when guitar solos were not necessary, but while they remain firmly in the anarchopunk camp sonically, they were not generic. The sound is very clear for a demo recording and the dual male/female vocals work fine, with Am's potent and deep singing style contrasting with Kev's angry snotty shouting, and the guitar riffing is strong. Try to imagine a blend of Civilised Society?, Conflict, The Sears and The Instigators and you will not be far off. The Speed Hippy Ep builds on the same inspirational drive and thanks to a groovier production can be said to be a superior work that I personally really like, although the accomplished guitar player does tend to venture into classic rock territories a bit too much for his own good at times and the cover is very ugly. DW's lyrics then dealt a lot with animal rights and two out of the three songs on Shall we Dance? are about this topic. Classically trained, with an interesting twist, unfairly overlooked anarchopunk.

The first band on the B side are the magnificent Nox Mortis from Southampton. I have already raved about NM on two occasions, in the article about 88-92 anarchopunk and in my review of Spleurk, another Meantime compilation Lp which includes their most glorious anthem "In memoriam". Incidentally, "In memoriam" was originally supposed to appear on Shall we Dance?, as it was part of the same recording session as the other three songs, but could not fit on the actual vinyl because of length issues. As a result, they ended up leaving that song out but their lyrics sheet was ready so they just indicated that "The above song isn't on due to a lack of time... sorry". By no means was it an unusual mistake in the amateur realms of DIY punk and I also love punk for such imperfections. That NM never got reissued, or even acknowledged at a time when so many claim to be into 80's anarchopunk, remains an abstruse enigma in 2020 and I spare no effort in spreading the gospel. I can think of other such deserving bands equally worthy of attention, and ideally, reissues like The Assassins, Systematic Annex, Awake Mankind or Polemic but none of them quite as much as Nox Mortis. The three songs on the Lp were recorded in 1987 and highlight the band's remarkable talent for writing moody, intense, poignant, melancholy, beautiful and dark punk-rock songs. The concept behind NM was to adapt the so-called war poets, poems written on The Great War's frontline, into punk songs and they managed to work on poems by Ewart Alan Mackintosh, Wilfred Owen and John McCrae. NM's singer and bass player Simon died tragically in April, 1988, after a long illness and the Spleurk Lp was dedicated to him. The band's first recording, a rawer but still fantastic demo, also comes very highly recommended if you crave for soulful and passionate anarchopunk music reminiscent of The Mob, Omega Tribe, Naked or Kulturkampf. In memoriam.

The final band, Incest Brothers, on Shall we Dance? is infinitely more jocular than NM. In fact, they were what you can call a joke band, a punk subgenre that is not uncommon in Britain, a country reputed for its peculiar sense of humour. Surprisingly - and terrifyingly - enough, there was an 80's Swedish punk band with more of a late 70's vibe also called Incest Brothers which, if anything, proves that there might be such a thing as a "punk sense of humour" after all. I do not dislike joke bands but am a rather picky eater when it comes to them. With extremely silly and puerile songs about farting "Breakwind", undies "Dungarundies" or naturism "Naked city", I guess IB must have been a fun bunch to hang around and drink with if one is to believe their interview in Trapped in a Scene. This Leeds-based crew never took themselves seriously and their first gig took place at the Totally Crap Festival - that also saw pre-Intense Degree band System Sikness or Skumdribbblurzzz "perform" live - which they headlined. The Brothers recorded seven songs for Shall we Dance? two of which are just Sore Throatish bursts of hardcore noise. Sonically however, IB were not the wall of unlistenable chaotic noise one would normally associate with a band that had a member claiming that it was morally wrong for a punk band to practice. In fact, they were capable of writing some pretty energetic, catchy, if chaotic, US-flavoured hardcore punk tunes of their own, a bit like a goofier and sloppier Stupids, Youth Brigade or Doctor & the Crippens. A silly but not incompetent band that believed in the power of doing silly dances so that's always something.  

Shall we Dance?, as a record, looks brilliant. The four bands contributed a lyrics sheet as well as an additional piece of artwork that are all part of a big foldout cover and you can tell that each of them took their role seriously. All the pieces are not merely well executed, they also meaningfully convey what the bands stand for and how they see themselves aesthetically and lyrically. The relation between how the artworks look and how the bands sound is a close one, pregnant with signification. It therefore comes as no surprise that NM's pieces are evocative and mournful when IB's show inept drawings of silly punks. The cover of the record itself, drawn by Mick from Chemical Warfare zine looks ace a,d I enjoy the Crumb-influenced style. Four punks from four different schools (you've got the US hardcore kid with his skateboard and baseball cap, the dirty crusty missing teeth with wheat in his hair, the high as fuck spiky punk and the anarcho punk with her feminist badges) all united in the perspective of dancing together. Cool shit.      

We shall dance!!!

   

      

Summer comps not summer camps (part 5): "Spleurk!" compilation Lp, 1988

There you go, here is the fifth installment of my unseasonal series about lovely compilations to listen to in the summertime. Some argue that I should have picked at least one record that includes jumpy, shorts-wearing Californians - usually wannabes - singing in nasal tones, but I just did not find it in my heart - and in my record collection - to do it. I suppose you can consider yourselves lucky for that discrepancy since I have never been into melodic hardcore from that side of the pond and writing about it would have been very challenging indeed (not to mention ripe with gratuitous negativity). So let's stick with the comfort zone of UK punk, although, it has to be pointed out, some bands on this one certainly looked up to American melody makers.

OMG! A barcode! :'o

I guess a compilation Lp called Spleurk conjures up images of nasty, distasteful, gore-oriented grindcore bands or numbingly deafening one-man noisecore bands, but you would be wrong. If the onomatopoeia is indeed used to convey the sense of something slimy and gross splashing on a surface (like a fat smoker's phlegm or a slice of your granny's sunday cake), the lineup of Spleurk has more than a few tunes in its bags and sounds decidedly more melodic than other late 80's UK compilations like Hiatus or Digging in Water (but about as much as Airstrip One if you need a point of comparison). But then, I suppose it makes sense since Spleurk was released on Meantime Records - the label founded by Ian Armstrong, who played in the tuneful Dan and then Sofahead - an entity that illustrated two coexisting sonic faces of the UK punk scene of the mid/late 80's. If Meantime did put out some illustrious gruff crust works by the likes of Sore Throat, Hellbastard or Mortal Terror, it also promoted the more melodic, US-influenced part of the scene with records from HDQ, Exit Condition or Leatherface, which certainly showed that there was more variety to the punk scene then than what is officially thought. As a result, the Lp sounds very diverse and, if it would be far-fetched to claim that it is packed with unforgettable punk anthems (the epic claim is often found on the cover of corny streetpunk/oi compilations and it is pretty much never true, I mean, who really needs live versions of Anti Nowhere League or Anti Pasti?), there are still some genuinely brilliant songs that will surely make your punk day. Besides, the Lp includes a thick booklet with artworks and lyrics from - almost - all the bands and that, faithful readers, is what a top notch comp is all about.

The first band of the Lp is Exit Condition, who hailed from one of punk's most sacred places: Stoke-On-Trent. Now, I am sure that the band is revered in some dark, badly ventilated corners of the punk scene but I am not that familiar with their discography (especially their 90's period). What I do know however is that their late 1988 Ep, Bite Down Hard, was not only a prime example of energetic and fast melodic hardcore but also ticked three incredible boxes for the time: it was released on Pusmort, produced by Bones and had a cover drawn by Squeal. If that does not qualify the Ep as a classic, I don't know what would. The song "Twisted tracks" is taken from EC's first demo tape, Impact Time, recorded in early 88', which was rawer and snottier than the Ep (works for me) but already contained the formula the band were great at, fast hardcore with great tunes, reminiscent of Hüsker Dü, Minor Threat and The Stupids. This is a perfect opener from a solid band that, I'm guessing, must be held in very high esteem by some segment of the punk population.

Next are Gold, Frankincense + Disk- Drive but first, that we will refer to as GFDD from now on for the sake of decency. I don't really know them that well but they had a song on an early Peaceville sampler and their first '87 Lp was also released on the label. I think they were from the Leeds area since Mavis and Harry from Chumbawamba (and Passion Killers for the former!) collaborated with the band on the aforementioned album. Musically I suppose you could say GFDD (who were really a dynamic duo) played progressive punk. Or something. Their songs had a lot of variations and variety and included drum machines, samples, weird sound effects. Interesting, creative stuff for sure but it's not really my cuppa. "Necessary extremes" sounds like a trancey, darkened, demented bend of GBH, NoMeansNo and industrial punk (?).

Cowboy Killers then follow with the song "Your dreaming" (a spelling mistake since it should have been "You're dreaming" as is indicated on the CK's first Lp, Koyaanisqatsi, for which the band re-recorded the song). This number is a sarcastic critique of anarchopunk's idealism and naivety (more often than not, their lyrics were often humorous and tongue-in-cheek) and Terminus even wrote the very serious song "We're dreaming?" in response to it. Anyway, CK were a fast, energetic and tuneful US-styled hardcore punk band (not unlike Bad Brains maybe) from Wales with great singalong chorus and a Biafra-esque singer who was famous for his stage antics. This early song was recorded in 1988 but the band kept going until 1999 which is quite an achievement. 

Sore Throat are next with a...let's call it a noise contribution. Technically, the band has four ""songs"" on Spleurk but three of them are just two second long bursts of savagery while the fourth one is a crunchy Frost-like cavemen stomp with a filthy metal riff and over-the-top gruff crustier than crust vocals. Yes, I love it. Misaaaarrrrrrggghhhhhhey! I'm sure you already know about Sore Throat so need to dwell upon them. Let's just say that your dad won't probably like them too much.

After this much-needed break of neanderthalic music, let's get back to some cracking tunes with the mighty Cold Vietnam from Redditch. Actually, I have already talked about them in the past for the 8 Years Too Late article about melodic UK anarchopunk circa 88/92. This is what I had to say about them. And yes I am literally quoting myself:

"This was an obscure band from the same area as Joyce McKinney Experience that only released one demo and appeared on a handful of compilations between 1988 and 1989: Cold Vietnam. Based in Redditch, the guitarist and singer, Andy Forward, had also played on Visions of Change's final LP, My Mind's Eye in 1989. Cold Vietnam formed in 1986 after the demise of several other local bands. They were apparently not too active for the first year but, in 1988, they managed to record a demo, Blast Into Action with Hunt the Man, that should have taken them to much greater things. Despite a cover reminiscent of the cheapest crossover music, the demo tape is an incredible effort. Carried by the singer's powerful and tuneful voice, "Blast Into Action" is a unique collection of political punk hits (with a strong emphasis on animal rights) and displays a wide variety of genres, from moody anthemic post punk, to passionate melodic US hardcore, to mid-tempo anarcho punk, to melodic UK punk rock and even a punky reggae number. Perfectly produced, this demo is one of the most underrated recordings of this era. Two songs were lifted from it and landed on the brilliant "Spleurk" compilation LP in 1988. Released on Meantime Records, it saw Cold Vietnam rub shoulders with bands like Sofa Head, HDQ and Cowboy Killers. It was not however Cold Vietnam's first vinyl appearance. Indeed, earlier in 1988, their song "Rock Stars" was included on a compilation LP entitled "Vinyl Virgins" that was aimed at providing a first vinyl appearance to promising rock bands! It was released on Mighty Sheffield Records and Cold Vietnam even contributed another song on the label's second compilation LP, Lemonade and Cyanide."  

CV have two songs on Spleurk, one on each side, "9-25" and "Hunt the man", both taken from their exquisite Blast into Action demo tape. "9-25" is an intense yet melodic hardcore number with catchy chorus reminiscent of this distinctly British, very tuneful take on hardcore that was rampant in the late 80's. "Hunt the man" is a hard-hitting, rocking mid-paced anarchopunk hit about animal rights. If Omega Tribe had been into heavy rock, it would have produced something close to this gem. A cracking, versatile band that had tremendous potential. 

The Fine Arts of hardcore

Trench Fever from Brixton, London, are up next and I must admit I have never really paid much attention to the band (though I really dig the name). Trapped in a Scene tells us that TF was made up of former Bad Dress Sense and Destructors (yes, Destructors!) members so you can already guess that they - also - played fast and tuneful UK hardcore influenced by Bad Brains and the likes, not unlike what Cowboy Killers or Depraved were also doing. Not bad but maybe a bit thin. I like the backing chorus and the cheesy drawing of the punk lad though.

People who are fortunate enough to know me will all tell you the same thing: I am a huge sucker for Dan. Of course, the name is terrible and the band's aesthetics rather peculiar but Dan bridged the gap between classic UK anarchopunk and melodic hardcore with maestria, one cracking tune after another. I don't like Sofa Head quite as much, probably because the vintage anarcho influence was more in the background, but I see them as the logical, diachronic continuation of Dan. Hailing from Darlington, SH had Meantime boss Ian on the bass and Wal on the guitar (both previously in Dan), Claire on vocals and Laing (from Hex, HDQ and Leatherface) on the drums. However, the SH songs included on Spleurk were not recorded with Laing but with former Dan's drummer Jim, so you've basically got Dan with new compositions and a new vocalist. The two tracks, "Ugly" and "World", are raw but potent melodic hardcore punk anthems with top notch guitar leads and bass lines, reminiscent of other Northern bands previously mentioned but with anarcho-tinged female vocals, not unlike Indian Dream or... Dan. Really classy stuff though you can tell that the band was still in its embryonic stages. I particularly like the moodiness of "World" (the full correct title is "A world fir for nothing") which would be re-recorded for the first album. Ace! 

Next are Chopper, who also have two songs on the Lp, "Mr Shitface" and "Workout!". Now I know nothing about Chopper but from what I can hear, they were a humorous, fast, snotty hardcore band. The playing is a bit sloppy and the songwriting fairly generic but the energy is there and the lyrics to "Workout!" are pretty funny indeed. Works well enough on this compilation for me. 

The aptly-named Why? follow with the very good song "It could be better". The band was from Brighton and had a demo tape with the ineptly-named Immolato Tomatoes (Why?'s drummer would join Sleep afterwards). Why? were, judging from their aesthetics and lyrics, an anarchopunk band but they were certainly influenced by the tunefulness and speed of US hardcore like many other bands at the time included on Spleurk. I guess they retain a punkier side which reminds me quite a bit of an '87 Revulsion jamming with an '87 Hex in HDQ's shed. I really like it! The riffs are very melodic and the singing almost too happy-sounding at times but there is an undeniable drive and sense of tunes here that I find most pleasing. I wish I knew more songs from them. How catchy can punk get?

And now let's have some half-demented, weirdo, surrealistic punk-rock in the guise of Shrug, a long-running theatrical band from Middlesbrough. They are somehow difficult to describe and I suppose that's the whole point of Shrug anyway. I can hear bits of All the Madmen type anarchopunk like The Astronauts or Blyth Power, some dirty psychedelic rock (especially with the garage beats and the organ) and an absurdist sense of humour like a more adult Wat Tyler. It is actually really good once you get into it and the song "Donna and the Daleks" (about Doctor Who obviously) will make you move your hips in a disorderly situationist fashion. If Beckett or Barthelme had been into punk, they would have listened to Shrug I'm sure. An entertaining and interesting bunch.

Next are Doom. Yes, Doom. Need I say more? Actually, yes, I kinda do. This version of "Agree to differ" was recorded in May, 1988, a few months after the War Crimes sessions and was part of an unreleased demo - their third one - entitled Domesday that you can listen to in its entirety on the retrospective Doomed from the Start (I recommend the cd version, for once, because it has a fourth demo as well). Ironically, "Agree to differ" was one of the only slow songs from Doom's repertoire, not to mention the longest. It was Doom at its rawest and most juvenile and I just love the dark tones and the threatening simplicity of this number. Unselfconscious crust. Lovely.

Following up, City Indians, from Derby, contributed one of Spleurk's most memorable moments with their song "Hanging by a thread". In spite of their well-meaning but rather awkward and cheesy name (but then, Flux of Pink Indians had opened that gate earlier), CI were a solid anarchopunk band around in the mid-80's whose drummer Andy would join the mighty Concrete Sox in 1986. Their first demo Spoilsport was enjoyable but pretty generic however, 1987 Root of Freedom was a much more accomplished, versatile anarcho work that was both hard-hitting and moody, somewhere between Conflict and Ad'Nauseam for their fast and angry side and The Mob or Omega Tribe for the mellower, more introspective, darker vibe permeating the songwriting. Very classy stuff and "Hanging by a thread", having been recorded just a few months after Root of Freedom, displays the same attributes. The song starts as a heavy, angry mid-paced number, not unlike Icons of Filth or Stone the Crowz, before going into a soft, poppy, almost hippyish moment with delicate harmonics and tuneful vocals (Omega Tribe really springs to mind), then the punky mid-tempo resumes before ending with rocking dissonant guitar solos. Quite a ride. The riffs are great, the vocals are pissed, low-pitched and adequately expressive and the conception of the song itself shows that CI certainly had original ideas about songwriting. Unfortunately I cannot say that their 1988 Ep lived up to what they displayed earlier. Still, someone should reissue the recordings from 1986 and 1987. For my birthday for example. Just saying.   

Anarcho Fine Arts 101

By comparison, Upset Tummy sound quite basic but no less enjoyable if you are into parodical anarchopunk spoken words. The song is called "State oppression" and it pretty much ticks all the boxes which makes me think that it is some kind of joke band (assuming it is an actual band). The address is from Gipsy Hill, London, where some well-known farcical jokers lived (and still do to my knowledge) so my best guess is that Sean Wat Tyler had some fun in the studio with a mate and send these 30 seconds of self-righteous anarcho outrage to Meantime. But I could be wrong.

Nox Mortis were of course much more serious - not to mention gloomier - and, like Cold Vietnam, I have already touched upon the band in that quixotic article about late 80's anarchopunk (here). If anything, our current decade can be defined as a very nostalgic one, to the point of goofiness at times. Not only are 80's punk-rock bands being reissued at a crazy pace, but even new bands tend to do little more than worship and refer to 80's punk-rock bands, often branded with the essentialist seal of "authenticity". And to be honest, it's not just punk-rock, it's pretty much a global postmodern urban thing. But anyway, I am dying to see the day when there will be a NM reissue. In fact, along with Awake Mankind, The Assassins and Polemic, NM is THE 80's anarchopunk band I would love to see reissued (and my opinion is gold so if you want to be seen as one of the cool kids, you should at least pretend to agree with the statement).

NM were from Southampton and formed in 1986 from the ashes of another local anarcho band called Suicide Pact (I unfortunately know only one song from SP but, based on that one number, they played moody female-fronted anarchopunk, just how I like it). Musically, the band was absolutely brilliant, tuneful and dark, passionate and desperate, angry and sad, reminiscent of Omega Tribe Kulturkampf, Naked or The Mob (or even Demob actually), with great emotional, bittersweet vocals, moody guitar leads and the catchiest of tunes. However, NM were not your typical punks: they were into poetry. To be more specific, into WW1 poets. Some of their songs ("Arms and the boys", "Flanders Field" and of course "In memoriam") were adaptations of poems from WW1 poets Ewart Alan Mackintosh, Wilfred Owen and John McCrae and the very name Nox Mortis referred to Paul Bewsher. Pretty grim and moving at the same time, I admit, but then it was a clever and original way to express your opposition to war and it certainly conveys an appropriate sense of hopelessness and loss. War-poem-turned-anarchopunk "In memoriam" is maybe the band's best songs, intense and profound, with that typical anarcho sensibility. It was recorded in 1987 during the same session as the Shall we Dance? split Lp. Top drawer, definitely.

Next are HDQ, a fairly well-known and respected band from Sunderland that included three members of Hex (and of course, Leatherface). I am not sure when "Bridges & walls" was recorded (1987? 1988?) but I guess it was with the same lineup as the You Suck! Lp that was also released on Meantime. So basically it was the melodic hardcore HDQ, a prime example of the British version of US melodic hardcore bands like 7 Second or Hüsker Dü. I like that song and I can definitely hear the similarities between this HDQ and late Hex. It's a winner, full of energy, passion and tunes (of course). 

The last band of Spleurk is Inside Out, the only non-British one on the Lp since they were an all-female trio from Detroit. I am not really familiar with them but I guess they fit well in this context. I suppose you could describe them as a proto-riot grrrl band, with that typical grungy rock sound and garage tones. I've never been much of a sucker for that specific early 90's American sound, precisely because it sounds too American for my ears, but this Inside Out's song does it for me. Quite poppy and punky at the same time, like cross between Androids of MU, Joyce McKinney Experience and US bands like The Gits. Fun and liberating.

To wrap it up, I have got some good news for you: you'll be able to find Spleurk for pretty cheap. I am not sure why, since it is a solid compilation from a significant label with some very strong songs and an ace-looking booklet, but there you go. If I were a cynical bastard I would venture that the reason is that the hipster fringe of the punk scene does not care for that sound (yet?) and prices haven't been inflated (yet?). A second volume of Spleurk was released in 1990 but I don't think it is quite as good, or maybe it's just not punky enough for me. Yet?     

Spleurk!