Crudia - Self-Titled CD & Demos 2006-2015

Hard siege of d-beat (and c-beat, and generic-beat because that's what 99% of d-beat is: just a generic beat) noise. While the global ubiquity of that style may induce yawns these years...I dunno where to go with that, I just like Crudia. The band tends towards the energetic side of discore, but doesn't move entirely into Crasher Crust speed. The guitars on the CD especially are outstanding, totally sandblasting with a mid-range depth that reminds me of proper power electronics. Production overall is dry yet sharp. The demos sound typical, neither good nor bad minus the annoying digital-crinkling of the guitar on the 2nd demo. Fun stuff. Period.

Excruciating Terror - "Vision of Terror" 1991 Demo & Live 1994 KXLU

I've spoken so much about the band each time I've uploaded this that I'm ready to puke. The shortest story is: O.G. 2nd-wave L.A. grind, bought from Wild Rags, ripped/upped decades later, upped again to compliment the much earlier post of the debut 7" / Interview with Vic. The band was always robotically consistent, so there's no profound difference in style nor delivery on this demo (other than some sick tracks that never made it to the LPs). Pointless trivia only I think is cool: this was recorded the year we all graduated (at different) high school(s). Bonus is the live appearance on KXLU in 1994. Blame the static grain on the fact I was recording that at midnight all the way from Whittier.

Svarta Tankar - "In Combat For Survival" Demo 2007

Socal's first authentic "Crasher Crust" band (a little punkier though). Solid stuff and well emulated (Sweden, Japan, Finland, pick all the "cool" countries), the band had enthusiasm and talent (to a degree). A few of the mid-paced trax have a classic street punk vibe, which may be an indicator of their probable roots (ur, street punk seems to be "the" gateway genre for today's crusties), though it's well composed and bar-anthemy enough. Mostly, this is speed and fuzz in all the right places (4-track recording too!). Surprisingly long demo, clocking in at 12 songs in 20 minutes. Wish they woulda stuck it out.

Disastrous Murmur - "Where The Blood Forever Rains" MCD 1992

Total death-swirl mosh action! The '89 demo / 7" re-released to CD with two additional tracks recorded in 1990 (which I wasn't hot on, they get kinda Roadrunner death metal). Otherwise...definitively neanderthalic, inhuman 1-2 beat Gore Metal taking heavy inspiration from Master/Deathstrike. It's slower and shittier than that, but capable of speeding up to Terrorizer's exacting mach-level (pretty fast too). It's also poorly studio-recorded (but not performed, some of the solos are surprisingly proficient), with noticeable speed-warbles and hiss to the master tapes. It's incredible! Why is the 7" cheaper than the CD? WHY? Who makes these rules? A-S-S-H-O-L-E-S?!

Bizzy Killer Gedbenz - "Spittoon" CDR 2007

Very much in the Dr. Gunni mould. Ultra-minimalist no-fi (but not shit-fi) one-girl Japanese drum machine weirdcore that sounds like it was recorded over several sessions. It has an airy rehearsal vibe with distinct track separation, though the vocals are glaringly plugged in. Stylistically, she's everywhere. Some songs are noisecore homage, other songs are...country-punk? I'd say stadium punk with a few other tracks if it wasn't so beyond simplistic. Still other songs seem to be her version of Japanese light pop ballads. Least surprising is how damn well composed, performed, and captured it all is (Japan yo. That simple.) with a grittiness to match her apparent audio-resourcefulness. I'm not sure of the genre for projects like this, or if one is even possible...they just "are": weird, mysterious, and pleasurable.


Massenslavement - "New World From Hell" CDR demo 2014

Sickeningly killer black grind from Japan. It's a blender of styles really, as I'm also hearing what Confuse and Framtid would sound like tuned to A (the entire BAND's tuned to A), or if Death Dust Extractor listened to Paradise Lost (I love my analogies, fuck you). Great live/semi-mixed production with Impetigo-sounding vocals slathered in dark reverb. I'm jealous as fuck that Phil owns this, but thankful as all hell that he shared it with us. 5 songs, 6 minutes, exquisite.

Lull - "Dreamt About Dreaming" CD 1992

Essential dark ambient from Mick Harris, masterfully produced with a semi-analog depth of production to rival the Marianas Trench. Not one to fuck with much metaphor (unless it was contemptuous as shit), Mick brazenly explores the theme of dreams in general, from the melancholy to complete night-terrors. While every song is fully realized with a complex life of it's own, all the usual feels of isolationism are still exhaustively toured: lost in black holes, stuck in the actual Marianas Trench, flying the clouds of Mordor and all that other goth stuff the kids are into these days. Several tracks adopt a primitive rhythmic quality and hypnotic use of samples that reminds me of the earliest industrial, like Ramleh (a project even Mick has stated admiring). Though the compositions may possibly borrow from that and are highly eclectic, this is really dark ambient in it's purest form. Peep some listens yo...


Phil-anthropy: Altruistic noise from across the pond

The homie Phil / Imminent Destruction Records hooked it up with contributions to Selfish Few. He's been piecemealing me (us) megatons of stuff, so we'll all slooowly lag it out together as it gets re-upped. Below are his own words on the projects, with my fan-art of his label to the side. :) Yes you get covers.

"Mass Collapse demo is from 2012. It was their first recordings. They're from Fukuoaka, Japan. 3-piece that play astonishingly good grindcore. They also feature with two songs on the 'Divine Wind' EP on Imminent Destruction Records."

"Noisehead From The Bath Hate are from Japan and this was their only release, from 1999. Quite hard to get now, even inside Japan. They have obvious influence from early ENT and bands like DOOM, Abraham Cross etc. This is just as punk as it is grind. Anti-Multinationals and pro-Animal Rights being just some of the themes on this album."

"Museum Tape is a compilation of stuff that was released on that label [Late 80s --S]. Other bands released by Museum Records include Kyojinbo, Tsurezuregusa, Chudoku, who all had vinyl out on this label. There was a series of tapes (up to Volume 5 I think) which appeared, I'm guessing before the vinyl releases. They're all pretty similar with some songs on this tape featuring on other tapes in the series."

K2 - "Molecular Terrorism" CD/CDR 1996

One of my fave Power Electronic / Junk-Collage releases from Japan. Shit gets LOUD here, but instead of a blast-furnace of non-stop screaming feedback, there's noticeably sourced sounds of clanked-on metal pieces, metal dragged on concrete floors, rattling, banging, rending, with the "natural" noise provided from such behavior further filtered through a surprisingly complex array of pedals and 4-track recorders (I saw him live in the 90s, and can anecdotally back up his methods). Things are very "cut up" here, with jumps between noises appearing every 30 seconds or so (or less...all cuts are CLEAN). K2 was noted for recording in abandoned and utterly stripped parking structures, taking advantage of natural ambiance and reverb...though I can't lie, everything else about this release will only appeal to those who stay at coffee houses till midnight pretending they're lost philosophers or poser nihilists. Great release...if you're psycho for this stuff.

Taatto - 2008 Demos

T-O-R-T-U-O-U-S Suomi noisecore-thrash from just a few years back. Sometimes it's early Disorder with Sakevi screech-singing, other times it's industrialized sludge. Sometimes it ultra-skanks, ultra d-beats, ultra whatever the fuck it wants to do (all with Sakevi screech-singing). It doesn't come off as sloppily composed OR performed, the short correspondence I had with Terska (this was a one man band) verified that he was exploring "sameness in diversity" or some other mentally masturbatory thing. Trax are pleasingly simple with distortions laying in the fuzzier camp. It's amateurishly produced, but well home-recorded (all digitally, but it has a crazy oversaturated-tape edge. I think it sounds great!). Oh yeah, I did a bullshit download-label in Damaging Noise days, so I re-released two of his demos (authorized). I included that cover only for completism (and pride). Great, GREAT stuff. What happened? 

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