Lipcream as interviewed by Pushead (for Thrasher)


Obihiro Street Punks Tape 1987 (320)

Authentically fun "back in the day" wizard-hat compilation tape of Japan's more obscure noisecore and "trash punk". The demo / live / rehearsal triumvirate is raped to full exploitation, though I can honestly say most recordings remain bright and legible. Unlike MCR's thousands of comps, each band retains it's own uniqueness and memorability, with my faves falling to Traicy Rose's chaotic thrash and Genocide's garage rock. Oh yeah, the complete bands are Jisatsu, Stali-nism (their most complete document thus far), Human Gas, Traicy Rose, and Genocide. For those who have psychotic episodes on the O.G.ness of ones and zeros, this rip was shit out directly from God's gaping Goatse asshole.

Obliteration - "This Is Tomorrow" 7" Master 2009

Exceptionally produced, pit-exploding "Japanese" hardcore from Bastan (their 2nd / best EP). Arrangements are kept to a semi-minimum while not being minimalist, solos scream, guitar tones are fucking demolishing (no braindrill, the "Japcore" is traditional), and the extremely hoarse vocals utilize reverb so tight they nearly feel double-tracked. This is an MP3 conversion of the master for the EP, which was "secretly" uploaded as is by the band itself. The only negative to this entire review? Members are gemini as fuck.



Chaos Channel - Interview 2007 (?)

Before Damaging Noise was a blog, it was a micro-zine/newsletter. Right when Chaos Channel got going again (which took fucking forever, even when first announced), their singer Chatter / No. 6 was temporarily more social with the fanboys online. I managed to wrangle this admittedly half-ass (on Chatter's end) interview. Language barriers aside, he could have done a LOT better (a fact depressingly accentuated by Jun Kato telling me "he doesn't even make sense in Japanese"). So yeah, I released it as a front/back one-sheet to whoever I was trading with, and I believe it made it in as a supplement to another zine or two. This is nearly 10 years old, but have at it (or not). Clicky-clicky = biggy-biggy...

  

Disastrous Murmur - Rehearsal '88, Live '89, 2nd Demo '91

Decent to "good" sounding rehearsal, live soundboard, and the 2nd demo from Austria's cultest death-grind legends. The band has always displayed to me a dichotic medley of incredibly simple (and simply incredible) ugly death-grind that is then augmented with surprisingly virtuoso soloing. I'm not that hot on the 2nd demo, since it wanders into Roadrunner-tech territory, but overall this is one of the very few remaining O.G. bands that embodies "timewarp" in continued style and mindset.

Painkiller - "Collected Works '91-'94" 4xCD 1997 & "50/12" CD 2005

Shakily debuting as a dramatically stripped down (and much sloppier) clone of Naked City's "hardcore" phase, Painkiller rapidly transmuted into an aural odyssey of Middle Eastern dark ambient, industrialized dub, and sludge-jazz coincidentally similar to the Swiss band 16-17. The effect/loop experimentation on the instruments (mostly a dry bass, drums, and sax) is impressive not only for it's atypicality, but for the hallucinatory depth it achieves in each session's ambiance. I don't believe there's been any document of the band's collective mindset or goals, anything Harris or Zorn have ever said of the project were terse references to generic jamming...but the strange uniqueness they concocted refuses to show any hint of age or age-induced cringe. As Mick would have called it: "Proper". P.S.: And goddamn do their layouts still impress me. Stunningly beautiful morbidity!

Korpses Katatonic - "Sensitive Liberated Autistiks" Cassette 1983

Pre Zero Kama (ritualistic industrial supposedly made with human skulls and bones...I still can't tell). Quite a variety of electronic sounds can be found on this tape. Hypnotically looping Throbbing Gristle cloned creep-drones share (or overlay) equal time with arhythmic low-bit beats. Unlike Zero Kama, it actually resembles TxGx a great deal, but seems to rely less on improvisation than the interplay of preconceived sounds (electronic OR vaguely organic). I found it to be slightly indulgent, aging noticeably worse in that regard than other projects endemic in mindset to that era of industrial (faux intellectualism, forced shock value, art students in berets et al), but it still offers some fun timewarps back into what makes that same era so continually endearing: exploring minimalism at it's maximum to trigger the pineal gland.

Death Rattle - "Noiz And Peace" CDR 2015

Professionally recorded rototom noisecharge. It's heavy as fuck, with the (still noisy) guitars having a thick body that belies the band's overall crashing approach (there's also a slight similarity to Nerveskade, at least in speed and apparent song arrangement). I really...really...dislike modern noisecore, but this is a project that impressed me enough to attempt to remember. Five anti-songs in 12 minutes (with full scans...you can thank Phil for ALL of this by scoping out his very un-hipcore label).

Phil-anthropy 4: Japsnore

"Deserve To Die - Demo 2015
New grindcore band from Japan. Touches of PV. I predict this band will be getting heavy radio play in 2016 and selling out the House Of Blues." [They have a surprising resemblance to Endless Demise...with way weaker vocals.  --S]

"Fortitude - Resist Til Death And Resisting After Death CD (2008)
One of the best Japanese grind releases i've ever heard...this and their 7" are superb. Love this Osaka band. Shame their not more prolific. Anyone who's not heard them and is into grindcore will blow their nutsack."

"Assembrage - Demo (2012)
Only demo from Assembrage, put out about a year before their 12" "

"13th Moon - CD-Single & Witch Hunt CD (2011)
Death Rock. [Not bad...but not Bauhaus.  --S]"

"Chiba Last Warrior - Compilation CD (1993)
Highly obscure and seldom seen compilation from 1993 featuring a mix of bands, some known, some lost to the mists of time. The band Parasite on this is a different one to the metal punks that people know. Scum Blast songs are different to the split 7" with Ghoza, Gestapo also feature on the Museum comp tape series and are pretty cool,although why they sing about fucking dogs is anyone's guess.They come across as a bit of a joke band really. Their songs on here are different than on those tapes also. My favourite band on this comp is probably Soltic, never heard anything else by them other than these songs though. The Beni Tsubaki songs are better than on their 7" releases, but that's not saying much."

"Clown - Deadly Drive Demo CDR
4 track demo from Nagoya City (Traditional) Hardcore outfit Clown. It don't get more Japanese than this."

"The Epidemic - 2nd Demo
3 tracks of hard edged pogo punk from Japan. Sounds like a mix of Last Survivors and The Erections."

"The Geros - Demo (2014)
[Loud traditional garage in Friction's semi-fi style, with vocals not far removed from Watch's more controlled moments.  --S]

"Humongous - Thrashing Punk Attack (2002)
Good shit, I'm drunk...make your own shit up." [VERY energetic traditional Japcore that doesn't mire itself in technicality or too much metal. I actually liked it.  --S]

"One River - Demo CDR (Year?)
5 track demo that sounds like it was recorded in someones bathroom. Shame, because it's pretty cool ripping hardcore. This band also had a 7" release and an appearance on the MCR compilation 'This Is The Life Volume 3'."

"EVE - 2nd Demo (2004)
5 song demo CDR recorded a couple of years prior to their release on Blood Sucker Records. Everything is in Japanese on the packaging (except the date)."


Anathema - "All Faith Is Lost" Demo 1991 & FLAC Live 1991

This one's for the nigga Carlo. Dizoom from The Isle (not the Koala one). Contemporaries of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, Anathema brought absolutely nothing to that table other than being just as precociously talented, and rising in similarly high arcs (Classique!). What you get here is the second demo, which isn't my rip because the one I own(ed) has seemingly disappeared from the miasma that is my collection, coupled with FLAC files of a live appearance from 1991 (where they perform the first demo). The live show's sound isn't worthy of a lossless rip, but niggaz trip and nerd...

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