Youth Korps - Live (unknown, but early recording)

Chris Pellow taped this for me 20 billion years ago (probably around 1997). I eventually ripped/uploaded it 10 years later, and here we are again because I love redundancy. The sound isn't bad, soundboard and listenable, but there are noticeable mixing shifts every few songs (whoever was manning the console was either drunk, unfamiliar with punk, a fucking douchebag, or all three). Fairly lengthy (16 minutes), so you get all the hits. Oh yeah, proto basic fastcore from '82, predating Siege's rage assault by 2 years (they even did slow dreary jams too). As a bonus you get to stare at Chris' wonderfully resourceful cover. When in doubt: Porn.

Killed By Seanocide & Killed By Fuckin' Japcore CDRs 2006


Roughly a decade ago I compiled a couple of CDR comps to give out to friends or whoever wanted free shit at shows. I snail-mailed a few copies as well as uploaded them (of course) several times over the years. I put in 3/4s of an ass in choosing the bands and presenting the tracks in a "flow" that appealed to me (and possibly you). Long story short, they were just glorified mixtapes. I never sold any copies (Jun Kato may have) and I never presented them as serious releases...but still they wormed their way onto Discogs and Youtube, and STILL needlessly contrarian people took them way too seriously. If you like ebaycore...and aren't a bitch about it...or "rarities" new and old, OR have a mild curiosity in the forms of music I used to incessantly spin all day long, there's the download link you ungrateful piles of shit...



Sshe Retina Stimulants - "Some Whores And A Camera Zaibatsu" CD 1995

Traditional dark industrial and power electronics from the middle of experimental music's 2nd golden age (it R-U-L-E-D!). Organic (and inorganic) samples rhythmically morph themselves with semi-organization through a long spectrum of pitch, tone, texture, and of course hypnotic noise. Layers are easily deduced, themed, and crafted with great compliment to one another (each new layer is allowed it's own time to breathe and build within the tracks). More trippy than frightening, but that's part of the point...no shock value for pretension's sake, just honest explorations into the musicality of amusic regardless of the edgy theme.



Asmorod - "Derelict" CD 1999

Damn, this one goes back to when I still drank (shit, I still get high to it). Classic dark ambient that received universal acclaim upon first release. Oft billed as "medieval ambient", Asmorod's deal...not schtick, REAL deal...is creating feelings of paranormal places unseen, fused with the type of (equally as dark) soundtrack such realms would inspire. He's essentially making art films in his mind and sharing what the complete audio would sound like: intense slow repetition, the deepest and darkest synth, strange samples of intimidatingly mysterious tongues, corrosive explosions of distant feedback-texture or percolating swash of lost Lovecraftian lakeshores (at 4 a.m.), Derelict is incredibly rich in stories that each soundscape conjures. VERY enveloping, VERY enjoyable, VERY downloadable...


Proletariart - Discography 2005-2013 (minus the EP)

Get ready to get screamed at. Proletariart's singer is gonna make you feel like shit, about the system, about the system again, this dude excels at making you feel like you're getting cut at the knees verbally (with a heavy threat of it happening physically). This hatred-aneurysm is aimed at...the system...of course, but there's an intensity to it that makes the listener deeply grateful he isn't vomiting this nuclear rage at YOU! This ordeal in emotional battery is spoken (screamed) in their native tongue, which I found completely refreshing from the usual weak death metal poser vokes of most discore (or the horrifying engrish of most jXc in general). There also seems to be an element of classic protest punk within them, with extended intros of ranted social statements, semi-clean instrumentation and ultra clean (but fuckin' awesome) crystal-meth-clear production (the high-end guitar, while noticeable, is heavily kept in check in their mixes). Not the most game-changing thing you'll ever hear, but it has a sort of familiarity to it that long lingers in my mind...that or it's PTSD from the singer's head exploding all over me. Phil provided the debut demo, and as usual thank you deeply for that my (our) friend.

Decree - "Wake of Devastation" CD 1997 & "Moment Of Silence" CD 2004

Excoriating power-noise/industrial that wages attrition warfare on your ears. Everything about this Front Line Assembly related project is total loudness-wars meets full dynamic range audiophilia. The outstanding (and professional) home production, arrangement, performance, and capture of the notably cinematic vibe is...well I just don't have the adjectives to describe how awesome it all is. Topically it's the expected stuff, melodramatic angst vocalized with disturbingly alien distortion or ultra reverb (or both). With Decree, I feel like I'm trapped in a city-size, severely malfunctioning robotics facility that's also flooding with radioactive gas...while the entire structure is on fire. This is 2/3rds of their complete discography (3rd album sucks, and I don't know how that happened), with the first CD sandblasting your soul, and the sophomore effort disinfecting that soul with fallen angel tears.



 

Z - "Gag Hardcore" Demo 1986

I highly prefer this to the debut flexi (which I feel is unremarkable for it's hype). Sieg Heil-ish, Gai-ish, Tranquilizer-ish, standardized UK82 influences, it's only brutally noisy because of the boombox-as-fuck recording methods, but still ridiculously engaging. Musically it prefers a mid-pace, with multiple tracks experimenting with insanely repetitive and hypnotically catchy arrangement (you'll get it Gai speed enough, don't worry). The vocals are S-P-A-S-T-I-C higher-end shouts that have a complimentary tone to the rest of the band (they're the most memorable aspect for me, though I did straight lose my shit to their absurdity on a track or two). Phenomenal stuff, so why was the flexi...kinda boring and whack? Looooong demo, 25 songs in 36 minutes.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/47ysevcjbueq4b6/Z_-_Gag_Hardcore_Demo_1986.zip

Venuux - "The Beginning Is Always Outburst of Cricket Chirping" CDR 2008

Total 80s Eurocore-obsessed Japanese dynamo-thrash. This discography (of demos etc) wastes no time with 48 songs in 13-100 seconds. The overdriven guitar tone jangles like early Italian hardcore, yet overlays additional aural agony depending on the recording session. The tracks mostly remind me of the faster 80s Swedish bands smoking cones in Manic Ears Records' office. "Mid paced" and "slow" are not terminology the band understands (no blastbeats though). Production seems captured with a laptop sort of presence, yet it's usually mixed with clarity and an ear for the mid-rent vibe of 80s thrash. Even the cover is a Britcore piss-take. One of the most memorable "forgotten" bands of very recent years.

The Loken Tape '85

Rip of a trade-tape that Mikael Karlsson of Rosvett had compiled for a homie in the 80s. It came into my possession nearly a decade ago via a private tape-lot purchase. I've upped it before and it was subsequently scrutinized at academic levels that poked me in the cringe too damn hard, so I'll just lazily list off the goodies contained within and leave it at that... 

Anti-Cimex: Soundboard '85, G-Anx: Practice '86, Headcleaners: Live '82, Missbrukarna: Live, Raped Teenagers: Demo, Disaccord: Demo.

YOU GET TRACK TITLES!!! :)

Jack Lucifer - "Console From Hell" 12" 2001

"That Guy": Spun this at the techno shop upon first release and was immediately blown away. Epically-minded basic death metal composed strictly with menacingly gloomy synths and hXc kickdrums. The entire kit uses dark-hXc drum samples, yet arranges those samples as surprisingly humanoid beats. The synths as well, while not being able to replicate the intricacies of downtuned guitars, make a dramatically bold effort at approximation (they have a waver to them, a vibrato of sorts that gives me the creeps...a feeling I enjoy). Slightly perverted sounding lowered shouts nihilistically rant about post-nuclear landscapes, and the home studio production pleasingly doesn't hold back on the reverb.

Creator Miro was respected for the project well before he 180'd the fuck out of everybody with this 12". His earlier hXc EPs would use samples from Pungent Stench amongst dark synths and kicks that sounded like they were emanating from hell, so...well I just wasn't shocked with the new direction. You're still going to laugh in sections because of the musical dichotomy (it can get "circusy"), but to me it's a fascinating journey that was rendered with authentic inspiration and passion.