Ronald Ruck - 88-89 CDR 2006

Blazing Belgian thrashcore-grind from '89 (with clean vocals). The band was competent (and arguably tight), resembling Filthy Christians during their thrash sections, or a heavier and full blastbeat Larm in overall intensity. There's many microsecond/bullshit songs scattered about as well, with both guitar and bass distortions hellishly pleasing in tone. Studio (?) production was disappointingly buried under massive tape hiss and overall low sound (and this was an official release). There's rehearsals and boombox quality mixed up between the tidier sounding tracks. Very fun (and speedily brutal) band who I wish could have found their real masters for something less half-ass than a CDR (I do admit it's packaged "cutely"). I might have the studio tracks in better quality on tape, but I'm slugshit lazy, so this is how we do it...
 


  

Chemotherapy - 7" 1983

Jesus Christ. The epitome of inept (amazingly not the shittiest thing I own). These want to be songs, there's rough coherency in what SHOULD be songs. If I twist my brain to absolute torsion, I could say they wanted to sound like DRI...or SOA...then complete blurrcore (making them a very warped footnote in the history of fast music). I...I can't figure it out. It's bizarrely recorded, but not awful. Notably (though not adequately) performed on time, it's better than Psycho Sin. It's just terrible, but the enthusiasm that far exceeds the playing ability also shines through like a nuke. Songs range from 18 to 47 seconds (an AWESOME ratio). Get ready for no distortion on the guitar.

Massmedia - The EPs 1979-1980

Pre Headcleaners. Zero thrash, but well executed jangly KBD P-U-N-K with sizzling hi-hats and overall trebly production (some of this shit's gotta be recorded on a boombox though). "Kent Agent" from "Ingen Hets" and "Jag Vill Ingenting" from "Das Jazz" are my fave tracks. "Ingen Hets" overall is my preferred EP. There's still a level of competency here that...given time...they would have easily veered out of Shit-Fi territory (the self-titled actually exemplifies Shit-Fi). But then, we wouldn't have Headcleaners now, would we? :) Shout-outs to Katz Seki for taping me "Das Jazz" literally 20 years ago. That nigga deserves a statue more than Lemmy.

https://www.mediafire.com/?pm0d8761n1a5bfu

Brain Cancer - 2008 Demo

Shockingly, a western-noisecore band I not only liked, but bothered to keep! They have that generically "epic" (but simplified) Framtid energy with a "Monarchy Zoo" era Doom speed/song arrangement. I think ENT's Phonophobia may have been a fave record of theirs. Guitars aren't irritating and seem to have a shape to them. This sounds like a well recorded 4-track (room ambiance is great too), but some power (and bass guitar) is lost. I wish they could've gotten more material out. I received this tape in a trade, lack of any info on the cover and all (I don't think the spine is the title, more a proclamation). 6 nameless songs in 10 minutes, and they're all...memorable! I want to say I got this 2008-ish and would place the band in that same timeframe (I somehow never emailed them, and would feel retarded as fuck to attempt it now). As terrible as this sounds, I really love their name!

https://www.mediafire.com/?c0zp237451ourog

Christfall - "187 The World" 1993 Demo

Suffering Luna's original name. Psych-sludge at hardcore length (think Pain Of Mind, not Larm). It's almost like the guys didn't have the patience for doom, but still wanted to acid-trip you as hard as possible in the shortest time possible. The tracks average between 2:55 to 3:40, yet have an urgency to them that belies their sonic whirlpool of heavily looped tv samples (interwoven into the tracks like an instrument unto itself), torturous shouting and semi-singing that's drowned pleasingly in reverb AND delay, multiple guitar effects mercilessly engaged (some effects become integral to certain tracks), commandingly deep bass that never gets lost in the mix (minus the crap tape degradation/generation), and a professionally captured yet characteristic recording. My rip, and the billionth time I've uploaded it...



Evoken - "Rotting Misery" Flexi 2012

ULTRA DOOM!!! I refute all mankind's perceptions on the silliness of posting a lone MP3. Paradise Lost's most loved track is given a shockingly majestic megaton upgrade! This is one of the best goddamn covers I've heard of the song (there's a couple out there, none bad at all), bringing honest contemplation if it trumps the original. It certainly trumps the other covers. It's slower, deeper (the ambiance immerses you to the blackest fathoms), heavier, and slightly improves a couple timing issues on the original track. It's mindblowing to me, so of COURSE I'm hoping you have a similar experience!

Schismopathic - "Kharkharamaphatic Regurgitator" Demo 1989

Why do I have this on multiple formats? It's not (just) because I'm a nerd, it's because I'm fuckin' senile. I'll give you the superior version, which was the first version I received a few years back: a simple and nicely done rip of the band's demo. Basic grindcore, and completely pure at that (no goreporn or metal in their style). It's tight (enough), mics are cupped, drums are pleasingly fast with notable "wrist power", it's good...just typical of the time and place (all the ex Eastern Bloc bands pretty much cloned Napalm Death but ended up sounding like Agathocles). I gotta extra-credit them with the feel that they could have been on a Chris Dodge comp. 9 songs, 10 minutes, cross between large rehearsal space and live mixed production, and it's old. Old shit's cool. Click the cool link nigga...

Laibach - LP 1985

Highly prolific in their formative years, Laibach's cinematically totalitarian tone and attention to song craft (as a psychological experience) was spread heavily across multiple releases very early on in their career (sometimes several a year!). The self-titled here falls more into the "tortured" camp then the militaristic sound collages and deep horns stuff, though the sci-fi Eastern Bloc propaganda anthems have their cameos. This might be their darkest album, all the early releases bro-down for that throne...but this one feels the most "robotic", "machine-like", "paranoid", "cold"...and fascinatingly experimental. It's industrial as it used to be! The "dance floor classic" (I've seen this) entitled "Panorama" closes the disc out too. :)

https://www.mediafire.com/?74q0q4pw5apg65l

DJ Tron - "Chrome Padded Cell" CD 1999

Classic speedcore with a simplistic edge (Tron's homage to industrialized groove) while also maximizing aural depth. In the 90s, I was very well versed in Tron via his 12" EPs and prolific mixtapes...so when this CD just casually showed up one day at TOWER FUCKIN' RECORDS it was immediately snatched up (that still trips me out, Tron did pressings in punk numbers and held no allegiance...nor a bankable style...to mainstream distribution channels).

Though there's no information in the booklet beyond generic production credits, the CD is somewhat of a collection of comp/12" trax mixed with new material...all original compositions where he was a genre-definer in the 90s speedcore sound: "Just" fast, but not breakneck (yet), with protracted segues into mid-tempo and intentionally monotonous bass kicks that are inherently deep and infused even heavier with sickly distortions. Over and under laid in this robotic tank of doom are surgically edited horror samples of dialog, agonized and tortured female screaming, and fuckin' daaark electronic loops and other synthy buzzings. Everything's entombed in reverb as well. I love it. Tron will grind you down and...I can't lie...rape your soul. Rape. Your. S-O-U-L!

Slime From The Nose Of Texas - "Slaughterhouse" 7" 1986


Speedy '86 Texas thrash (hardcore, trust me it's very punk) that's so forgotten this lone release STILL goes for low-dollars decades later. I never bothered to pick them up (before) because my brain just decided it wanted to tell me they sounded like generic "opening band" hardcore. It took a rip on 7inchpunk to inform me how dead wrong I was, which concluded with an eerily timed opportunity to purchase it via a message board set sale. This EP sat (and on Discogs still sits) for yeeeeeears in nearly every record store I'd been to in Southern California. ANYWAY: It's up tempo, upbeat, shrill guitars (ice your boner, it's not braindrill), stop-on-TWO-dimes arrangements (shortest song is 13 seconds, longest is 2 minutes), spastic and snotty party-guy type vocals, and someone from D.R.I. drew the cover. Efficient low-rent studio sound that is another giveaway to their era. All the thrashier 80s hardcore bands had noticeably "adequate" productions, yet retained highly unique and enjoyable acoustical nuances for whatever goddamn mystery reasons. Usually it'd come out that the engineer didn't know how to mix punk, but somehow didn't fuck the mix up and even made the bands sound semi-distinct and "otherworldly". I think S.N.O.T.'s solid, a few of the homies think they're solid, come do the gooble-gobble with us yo...


Mental - "Complete Mental" CD/DVD 2009

1989 adrenalin burnout Japanese thrashcore that busts S.O.B.-speed blasts and riffing (on occasion, mostly I wanna say it's like an early anthemic Poison Idea on...adrenalin burnout). I think it's their semi-simplicity that draws me in like the tentacles of one of their country's rapetopus'. There's precision playing and plenty of energized changeups, it's just not the usual tech/mosh race that their peers at the time were pro-filming fucking cockrock concert videos of. Great clear but DIY (?) production on both the eps (one unrl until now/then). Demo is a decently placed boombox, while the rest of the disc is littered with comp and live tracks (none needless, band was consistent in song craft). They totally rip off Septic Death's "Daymare" with their own track "Drive To Death" haha! Oh yeah, this is just the music, I'm not uploading the dvd portion for you lazy fucks too (just buy one on Discogs, Christ everybody acts like they've never heard of it).

Master - Reh '85, Live '90 Aalst, "The Final Word" Demo '95

Well Fuckin' A yo, if this doesn't rock your balls off...that's okay, normal people don't care. First wave proto death-thrash that is incredibly (i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y) neanderthalic in composition, yet performed with surprising professionalism. If Venom was simpler and heavier (and faster) is probably the cheapest descriptor. Terrorizer named themselves after one of Master's tracks (and sped up Master's own style of riffs). I'm enticing niggaz here. Master had a deeeeeep influence in the underground, with their style (and occasional guitar & bass tones) payed noticeable homage by bands such as Disharmonic Orchestra, Defecation, and even Napalm Death.

As for the tapes: Sound across each recording is tolerable, with trebly definition (and tape hiss) on the higher end. I don't think this is a ripper's error, just a nuance of very old cassette tapes. This is ubiquitous, even for the cleanly recorded "The Final Word" demo, which the title track is just...it's just sick as hell nigga, sick as hell. Pic (and tape/s) isn't mine, I don't front!

Excruciating Terror - "Legacy Of Hate" 7" 1991 & Interview w/Victor 2013

...or 2012. O.G. 2nd-wave ultra-hater grind from Los Angeles. All the stories are true, and if you question them you'll become a story too! :0 This band was basically the philosophical continuation of Terrorizer, but still took a majority of cues from ENT's song structures. You get some legit triggerless blasts and inhuman cupped-mic vokes (the shrieks can get close to Mick Harris wipeouts too, always a welcome aural accoutrement ), though they could write a doom song that would destroy you. This was a thing in L.A. for awhile, where everybody worshipped Godflesh as much as Napalm Death, so they mustered their best to fuse that Swans-inspired sound into their own bands. It always came off as "doom" though. Dirty sound, hard to deduce the ineptness of the studio, but it's still somehow "professional". The ENT influence (in riff segmentation) became more striking the further the band went. I'll eventually upload the demo and live KXLU set. For now, this is my rip because AS USUAL I couldn't stand the other rip out there. I also edited Victor's interview to where it's just his actual interview and not hours worth of hair metal or Municipal Waste played between each question.

Hyperstoic 1-5

I scanned the German bootlegs, and here we are. These are an in-depth look at Pushead's art (and some of his homie's art too!) covering every era of his work up until that time. Given the context of the series' run (hipster artbooks), it still feels like an unfinished document (he just has so much MORE art out there!). Until the man decides to conjure a Taschen-style Interdimensional Definitive God-Edition that's actually retail friendly, these will do generically "okay". The same with Septic Death too, what the fuck BRIAN! L-A-G-G-E-R! Anyway...I've always liked this image here. I'm lazily seeing it working for Fear Of God.

Imagen - '87-'89 7" & Demos

T-O-T-A-L T-H-R-A-S-H!!! I could say this is the South American R.D.R., with a Cool Whip dollop of Larm's slop or Rapt's blubbery bursts...though plenty of Imagen's peers were abusing that scrapier end of hardcore simultaneously. All those late 80s Colombian bands kicked culos, but tonight we're focusing our electron microscopes on Imagen...

From the demos to the lone EP, the band maintains a confusing stylistic consistency. One song will be thrashcore, or an efficient Psycho Sin, or a s-i-m-p-l-i-s-t-i-c 1-2 punker to get you dolphin flippin'. Production values are a mystery. It's not boombox...but if it's studio, it's the kind of studio available to late night public access TV shows of the early 80s (there's still decent mixing and reverb). The EP sounds the most (noticeably) plugged-into-the-console of all the recordings, yet ironically has the sharpest clarity. None of these are black marks, the recordings are resourceful and charmingly fitting to a band of Imagen's ilk. Why they never received an authorized discography is beyond me. 

Maho Neitsyt - "1981-1989" (EPs and Demo)

Brutish, repulsive, and mean-drunk MEAN, Maho Nietsyt has always anthropomorphized the specific type of surly nihilism I enjoy in Finnish punk. There's something so...ugly about the presentation to their music. It's very well played, with a noted simplicity and repetitive nature throughout their discography as a whole (studio sound is always good, though low-budget). Kinda like a rapunk Ramones...but shittier. Singer Petri is one of my favorite voices within punk or hardcore. As a very young man on these records, he had the most piss-raw and hateful delivery, like a 45 year old chain smoker who gargled the modeling glue he was supposed to be huffing. He sounds amazing, just take my word for it. The band was so consistent throughout their discography, choosing a favorite EP might be by your own production preferences (it can swing distinctly per release), and not by quality of tracks (they're all sick in their own VERY snotty fashion). My all time fave is off the demo, the track "Ydinasse".

https://www.mediafire.com/?k94aa1m1937yan9

Tranquilizer - "History '85-'87"

Fuck a poser, NO ONE knew of this band until ancient (but godly) as fuck 7inchpunk blog posted it (good rip too!). So ya know something? Let's all stand up out of our computer chairs and applaud enthusiastically to 7inchpunk's memory? Okay?

Not as Chaos U.K. as one may be led to believe, Tranquilizer is almost thrashy, yet 1-2 enough to remain chaos-punk. They're not completely noisecore either (minus the shittily boomboxed demos), the guitars buzz as traditionally as their historical brethren in Yugoslavia or all those other fucked up Orwellian type countries. Songs can be abruptly short too, with noticeably shorter sharp shocks pleasing the Larm-admiring areas of my brain. They change it up somewhat. The second flexi costs 1/4 to 1/2 of what the first flexi commands on the wizard hat market, if that's any indicator to how drastically they switch genres (or competency). If you want my dead honest opinion, they were probably barely out of high school doing this, probably their first band, and as such projects usually go they just sonically vomited out whatever was on their little kid minds. In places wild and enthusiastic, but not mindblowingly essential. Ehhh...I'd still nerd the fuck out and wear a shirt, why lie? Oh, I'm not buying the "date" on the cdr discography, freaks fucking lie and fuck around too much with the Japcore scene.

Innocents - "Masho + 25 Tracks" CD 2009

Sovie-Homie Paul's second bday gift (wow, how sad, mp3s as gifts :p )!

One of the few bands I can hang with in the "traditional" Japcore style (anything that isn't influenced by Chaos U.K.). Clug-chunk early Agnostic Front up-tempo tough guy hardcore meets hard rock...that all of a sudden busts straight into blastbeats (band was around in '88, S.O.B. beat them out a few years prior). Don't get too excited, those moments are relegated to their demo. But still, there's that typical melodramatic sing-along vibe that the Japanese mastered at birth, and everyone else goes nuts for. Not essential, but fun nonetheless. Fave track: "Mammy". No one else ever noticed the O.G. Nintendo on the cover? No one?

http://www.mediafire.com/download/sl2g8a9dk6258cb/innocents-masho_plus_25_tracks-jp-2009-gen.zip

Blackhouse - "5 Minutes After I Die" Cassette 1986

I don't think one needs much exploration into Blackhouse beyond this particular tape. They had a few preceding releases, and a slow trailing ooze (up until 2015) on other formats, but "5 Minutes..." seems to have caught one of their more continuously engaging sessions of weirdtronics. The first tape easily delved into Broken Flag's style of brutish noise (in places), with most other releases (including this one) exploring a Throbbing Gristle inspired softer side (they're nowhere near as sloppy as TG, but that quaint creepy ambiance still lingers).

"5 Minutes After I die" does contain buzzing rhythmic pulses, but nothing ear-dissolving. There's plenty of found sounds, and looped sounds, and scraping in metal barrels and other pretentiously-named stuff, but Blackhouse has a talent for precision and a near compositional feel to the tracks. Basically, there's no improv cheater bullshit here masquerading as "art". I have to prop them for their production and design ideas too. The tapes all look clean...um, Broken Flag in feel to the layouts (I'd swear up and down they had access to one of the earliest desktop publishing programs...that or they were O.C.D. as fuck with a Letraset sticker sheet). Just all the usual visual cues that tell one "industrial", but "in the cool way". As for the noise, I have no clue the type of equipment they use to make OR record, but through the mild tape hiss it's sharply defined and...kinda pleasantly...mixed with attention to detail.

This is the first of two posts celebrating the Sovie-Homie Paul's birthday. I don't want him to be the only one who clicks that lonely link...

Magus - "Ruminations Of Debauchery" Demo & 7" 1992

I never let go of this demo/ep, they survived decades of purges! Eeeaaarly 90's pre-Absu grinding death and FUNERAL DOOM. Seriously, screw Absu, Magus could have been a straight up FORCE (the dark side of it) in the death metal scene. But no, we have to suffer with boring ol' Absu :p. Onward: Inherently grotty sound, the band went to a real studio but there's a muddiness I'm having trouble pinpointing (mastering? master tape? it doesn't feel like it's coming from the mix). The performances are outstanding. As far as the songs, it's typical fused death/grind of the time, but intensely played with an experienced ear for composition. The tuning and distortion (and deep room ambiance) is just beyond heavy, it's in megaton territory for me. They then 180 the fuck out of you with mindblowingly majestic doom! Black hole darkness nigga, synths 'n 'lins yo! They were so equally skilled in both genres, it woulda been the craziest ride to follow as a fan...if they didn't break up very soon after. The ep is just 3/4 of the demo, but is included here both for redundancy and the vaguely clearer sound.

Hardcore Milano - "Like A Train In Your Brain" 12" 2001

Fuck all y'all! Yer gonna listen to some speedcore, and yer gonna LIKE IT! This sick wop drops beats like Siege on yer mom's ass cheex (yer moms is a slutbag who L-O-V-E-S it!). You will not avert your eyes when I now and forever into the future utter the words "hardcore-techno". This isn't the hippy-rave kind...it's not the video game kind...it's closest relative is (and oddly remains) industrial. Amusical yet utterly rhythmic, It's very fuckin' fast, and very fuckin' loud and still (mostly) written in bedroom studios. No one seems to get this. But whatever, let's get your ordeal over with...

For the softcore fags and those vaguely familiar with this "other" hardcore, you get plenty of speed metal guitar samples, rudimentary distorted synths, and P-U-N-I-S-H-I-N-G low-tuned and enveloping distorted kicks...claps...samples...it's ALL distorted. But mostly...it's fuckin' F-A-S-T, a heart-stopping barrage of punishment. I admit SOME samples hover close to Tidebox-Backpack sorts of things, but...I got nothin', you either deal or you don't (I don't just deal, I embrace!). This record was a throwback even when it was released 15 years ago, evoking hXc's sound from many years before THEN (I'm old, I was there for it...by the way, hXc got even faster and more vicious and actually STUNNING in production values, you'll get plenty more posts of all it's eras in time). There's the link yo, see how it sparkles...just...for...you?

Funeral Bitch - 1986/1987 Demos 7" 2011

Two demos...or most of the demos...of F-A-S-T vintage ('86) speed-thrash that fluctuates between Repulsion's clean style of blastbeats and rhythm-heavy riffing, to Slaughter's overall speed on the "Strappado" LP. The occasional SCREAMING solos are masterfully rendered...as they would be. This is yet another Paul Speckmann side band, so the musicianship is nothing short of professional (and incredibly well recorded...for being "demos" they still sound close to album quality). I think what surprises me the most about this band is the SPEED. Speckmann's usual Master riffs (there's an ultra-blast version of "The Truth" on this) translate VERY well over a speedier beat...which basically gives you Terrorizer. I think Oscar Garcia would even admit to that (these two demos were VERY popular with all the early Earache godheads, and I do mean ALL). In Speckmann's world though, the band was just playing crossover/hardcore. It's all a bit mindblowing really. The transfer is exceptional, and the choice of tracks well suits a 7"s inherent length. Speckmann oversaw the project apparently, and provided liner notes...but I'm still wondering why the demos were released in such a truncated form. The third demo is missing completely. This won't detract from YOUR enjoyment of this particular click, but from a wizarding standpoint it's just god-awful :p

Warfear - "Dig Your Own Grave" Demo 1989

I guess Rich Militia is the limey me, irritable, old, and talks shit on petty punk issues. I always felt I was the cowboy version of Erich Keller, but haters can't be choosers (I've been compared to Jon Chang too...by Chris Dodge). ANYWAY, good on Rich for doing this band. He wanted to do Japcore, didn't quite attain those heights, but still produced a discore-style demo that commands attention. The band is indicative of their region (U.K.) and time of existence (late 80s), so you won't hear anything different that Doom/ENT/Sore Throat didn't already press to wax years before (I mildly hear Legion of Parasites in their sound too)...but if you're a fan of that precise era you won't be disappointed. It's a bit faster and chaotic than those bands though, with more change-ups and non-stop raped-hag vocals. I'll probably exercise redundancy at some point and upload their complete discography LP (which Crust War put out if you need any more enticers). Production is shallow. It's well recorded but you can damn well tell it's a demo. There's the link, do you need me to click the mouse for you too?

Blood - "Spasmo Paralytic Dreams" Demo 1988

Killer title! My graphic mind summons atrocities like a morph between the ending of Altered States, the more gelatinous moments of From Beyond, and the goddamn Snakeman from Dreamscape. Casual daymares aside, this is the second-to-last demo before the Wild Rags LP. I still haven't heard the preceding FOUR demos, but I'm already assuming they're just as atrociously recorded (mundane boombox rehearsals with possible channel-splitting...that doesn't mean a nigga still isn't curious :p). Blood's debut LP was unapologetically untalented, yet cleverly resourceful, thrashy grindcore. "Spasmo Paralytic Dreams" however is way more thrash than grind, with a typical teenaged death metal backbone (it's actually neanderthalic as fuck, a factor in their overall appeal to me). There's still no denying the energy in the tracks, it's immediately evident and utterly electric. Maybe that's what caught Richard's ear to sign them, not the sophomoric riffs. An essential curiosity from history's most shining 3rd-tier death/grind band! The nerds will know what's up when I say Dogmatize is on here ;)


 

Varaus - "Requiem" CD 1996

Suomi hardcore is a difficult beast to speculate on. From punk's birthing days their bands have always seemed to exist within their own microcosm, never quite mimicking the influences of the Euro bands painted on their reindeer leathers, but taking those same influences into some surprising areas. There's always an undercurrent of dark melody beneath their collective fetish for heavy reverb (it's almost a "thing" with Finnish punk bands and their studios. I personally love it as it adds a layer of despondency depending on the genre being recorded). The bands aren't quite as neanderthalic as they appear upon first listen, with any musical proficiency often masked by an energetic tempo and often original sounding distortions. "Alien" is a good enough adjective to sum up those Arctic sounds. The bands are also legitimately nihilistic, quite often going to war with all life, let alone the usual topics endlessly railed against in thousands of 7"s across the globe. The exotic lilt of the Finnish language suits both hatred and punk rock very well.

Enter Varaus: a band that once notoriously recorded a single-sided LP with the most god-awful lack of packaging ever. A record that commands a 1,000 zenny coin on the SECOND pressing (Katz Seki owns the first pressing. My god!). Ya know, I'm trying desperately to rail against that pricing, but due to the band's historicity (VERY early on, we're talking 1982-1984) and adeptness at creating the type of punk/thrash I wrote about in the former paragraph, I'm finding it really hard to talk shit. This is the '96 Kraklund Records discography cd, and as you can see by the picture, the packaging was again keeping in line with Varaus' "we just don't give a shit" aesthetic. Supposedly the CD commands several hundred bucks now. Whether that's a true testament to Varaus' tunes, or collectors are just severely delusional is still beyond me...but I like Varaus, and I'm hoping you like them too. Fave track: "Rastat Rastat".

Swankys - "Lifestyle" 7" 1985

Starting the inaugural music-post with LAZINESS. I did find it appropriate to bridge Damaging Noise's severely rotten corpse and Selfish Few's afterbirth with a noisecore post, but you'll probably see "old shit" you "already have" for awhile because REASONS (I have random shit on my mediafire account for whichever homies in Latvia or Siam, so why not just bust it all out for everybody). Anyway...

Japan's rousing answer to Sex Pistols...if they were minimalist...and Chaos U.K. Due to a slightly overlapping time frame with Swankys' own confusing formation, Pistols and earliest 'K were their predominant influences (comorbid with a healthy obsession for Chaotic Dischord's overall aesthetic, sonic or otherwise). The guitars are shrill (they're on the tingly end of braindrill, and not an all out h-bomb assault to hearing-as-a-concept), the songs roll around the deep and punchy bass, the well-mic'd drums speedily 1-2-beat and clunk on the toms with satisfactory efficiency, and Watch's ultra-engrish (and ultra-retarded) cloning of Johnny Rotten...somehow still works. I've always been at a loss WHY, but it works...to the point where I could never picture Swankys with a legitimately capable singer. The production is professional too, almost spacious. It's undeniably a punk recording, but closer to the standards of, well, Chaos U.K. and Sex Pistols than the usually expected boombox-worship. As snooty as it sounds, this is an essential record. Swankys and Confuse are to blame for the over-saturation (in rediscovery I'm assuming) of "noisecore" the last few years, so you may as well start out with the originators of it all...and Confuse (they're a post for another time).

My rip, the other rip out there isn't in stereo (thereby ruining the effect of Watch's multi-tracked and hard-panned vocals), and lyrics included (for once)...

For all intents and purposes...

...this is Damaging Noise Part 2.

I finally regrew 1/8th a fuck to attempt sonic altruism again. I chose the blog's current name to distance myself mentally from a specific collector type, as well as to contemptuously mock other subhumans who can't seem to parse the difference between people and inanimate objects (or bodiless noises). I'm just straight up admitting it. I did make one major existential modification though...

I've always felt I existed at the periphery of punk and other underground scenes without ever fully tribing up. I've always been too nazi for the punks (GOOD!), too p.c. for metal, too jock for goth, and (ironically) too punk rock for hXc-techno. I just feel most comfortable now describing myself as a fan of underground music as a whole, instead of using highly specified labels that only limit my state of being. I know I'm not stating anything revolutionary (nor have I ever subscribed to silly notions of labels as a blanketing descriptor for one's entire existence), but I've had a very...odd...love/hate dance with punk (specifically) over the decades. "It's Complicated."

As far as the downloads...

Same shit. Noisy hardcore, classic grind, death-industrial, hardcore-techno, strange soundtracks and other aural explorations...including punk...will be posted with equal aplomb. Expect power-lagging though, mixed with surprise E-P-I-C multi-posts. Bipolar rates of posted content are a "thing" with me, patience will be a virtue that will suit you well here.

SO! If you've got the ears, I've got the links...if you can hang with my terminal cynicism, I have a feeling you'll still enjoy this particular donkey show.

--S
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