Featured Releases: January 5, 2023

Organised Chaos: Still Having Fun 12” (Sealed Records) Sealed Records brings us the collected works of this early 80s punk band from Wessex. While Organised (or Organized) Chaos never had a record of their own while they were around, they appeared on the Wessex ’82 compilation (alongside their fellow Wessex punks Subhumans and A-Heads) and the Riotous Assembly compilation on Riot City Records, so if a couple of these tunes seem familiar, that might be why. Stylistically, Organised Chaos fits in well with the Riot City crowd, with driving beats, simple riffs, and chanted choruses, the most memorable of which appears in “Mary Whitehouse,” a tirade against an early 80s conservative talking head who often appeared in the UK media (some things never change). A few tracks, particularly on the second of their original cassette releases, bear some resemblance to the Subhumans thanks to the somewhat more ambitious musicianship and the singer’s accent sounding quite a lot like Dick Lucas’s. As with most of Sealed’s releases, Still Having Fun comes with a thick booklet that compiles what seems like every scrap of information relating to the band, including tons of flyers, fanzine interviews, and direct communiques from the band to their fans. It’s a treasure for those of us whose idea of a good time is contemplating the artistic oeuvre of a bunch of drunken teenagers from 40 years ago. If you enjoyed the recent Sealed Records releases from Karma Sutra and Dominant Patri, you’re definitely part of this camp.

Subvert: A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem 7” (Janku Land Records) A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem is a vinyl reissue of this Seattle, Washington band’s 1987 cassette. This is a new one for me; I’d seen Subvert’s name on flyers and heard their name in passing, but I can’t remember ever checking out the tape before. I think it’s killer, which is unsurprising given it touches so many other interesting things I love. The list of bands Subvert played with includes late 80s heavyweights (and personal favorites) like Poison Idea, Final Conflict, the Accused, and Christ on Parade, and like those bands, Subvert’s sound liberally mixes punk and metal, particularly thrash metal. It’s certainly of a piece with the above-mentioned bands, but it also reminds me of early New York hardcore, particularly Cause for Alarm, and Jeff said it reminded him of New York crossover (by which I assume he means bands like Crumbsuckers and Leeway), and I can see that too. Oh, and speaking of other famous things Subvert touched, A Simple Solution to a Complex Problem was recorded by Jack Endino (who recorded fucking Bleach!) and Subvert’s logo on the cover was drawn by Neko Case. Wild! Maybe some of you will find this too thrashy, but I think it shreds, particularly since the gritty, lo-fi recording keeps this sounding more like a hardcore record than a metal one. This version doesn’t come with the bountiful packaging you see on a lot of reissues these days, but the straightforward presentation suits Subvert’s music.

Lama: Onks Marko Täällä? - Live cassette (Finnish HC) The archival label Finnish HC (the same label with whom Sorry State is co-releasing the H.I.C. Sisteemi cassette we announced this week) brings us this reissue of Lama’s 1982 live cassette. Onks Marko Täällä? was recorded in November 1982, the same year Lama released their one and only album. The set here is based largely on the album (they even start the set with the same two songs the album starts with), but they play tracks from the earlier 7”s too, including my personal favorite “Paskaa.” The sound is rough but good enough, and while there are a couple of shaky moments toward the beginning of the set, Lama unsurprisingly reveals themselves to be just as capable on stage as in the studio. It’s a different side of the band than their live album Tavaista, and their studio recordings too, for that matter. This isn’t where I’d start with Lama, but if you’re a big fan and/or you love great live recordings of hardcore bands (there aren’t a ton of you, but you’re out there!), you’ll get some mileage out of this.

Violin: S/T 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) La Vida Es Un Mus brings us the debut release from this London project masterminded by Lindsay Corstorphine, who handled everything here save the drums, where he gets an assist from Jonah Falco, who needs no introduction. I am a fan of Lindsay’s band Sauna Youth, and while Violin’s angry hardcore doesn’t have much in common with Sauna Youth’s eclectic sound on the surface, there are high levels of skill and artistic ambition apparent in both projects. Not that this is prog or anything—the intro riff to “Empty Mind” is about as straightforward as you can get—but by the end of that very song there’s a synth whirring out a sinister melodic line where you’d expect the Ginn-influenced atonal lead to go. Moments like that and the off-kilter harmonized leads on “Chaos at the Seance” are my favorite parts the record, though even when Violin is in kill mode they have an artsy undercurrent that reminds me of Hologram or one of the other noisy and brainy fast hardcore bands on La Vida Es Un Mus or Iron Lung Records. Those of us with a taste for that approach will like the way Violin puts new wrinkles in old sheets.

Nukies: Can’t You Tell That This Is Hell cassette (Adult Crash Records) Demo tape from this new band from Stockholm, Sweden on the primo Danish punk label Adult Crash Records. I heard a lot of chatter about this one from the Bunker Punks corner of the Sorry State industrial complex, which makes sense given there’s a lot of Totalitär evident in the mix here. Like a lot of excellent Swedish bands (Totalitär, Skitkids, Axe Rash), Nukies isn’t afraid to add a little rock vibe to the mix, with bursts of lead guitar and big, catchy riffs that might have some AC/DC deep in their genetic history. Mostly, though, it’s just plain old ripping, with the top-notch songcraft and playing that goes hand-in-hand with so much great Swedish hardcore. If you dig this style, you’ll eat this up.

Sluggo: S/T 12” (4Q Records) 4Q Records brings us this top-shelf reissue from 80 Cincinnati, Ohio hardcore band Sluggo. I was familiar with Sluggo’s 1983 EP, Contradiction, thanks to the reissue it received in 2001 (though we’ve had a few original copies come through our store as well). Even as a fanatic for the type of 80s US hardcore that Sluggo played, Contradiction never got its hooks in me. However, this retrospective album on 4Q changes all that. After hearing this version of these tracks, I realize the problem with Contradiction is a weak mix. Thankfully guitarist Karl Meyer kept the original multi-track masters, which made this new mix possible. Contradiction now crackles with brightness, rivaling Don Zientara’s early Dischord recordings in their balance of clarity and power. No doubt Sluggo was indebted to those Dischord records, and they’re all the better for it. Like Minor Threat, Sluggo wasn’t the fastest, meanest, craziest, noisiest, or heaviest, but they wrote great songs with the catchy choruses of ’77 UK punk and they delivered them with power and conviction. While Sluggo wasn’t Minor Threat, this fresh coat of paint puts them in the league of the best bands who followed that template. Speaking of following Minor Threat’s template, this album features a second Sluggo recording from 1984 that finds the band, Out of Step-style, expanding to a 5-piece lineup and attempting to add a little more complexity and variety to their songs without losing their trademark intensity. I think they nail it, and while (as with Minor Threat), I slightly prefer the more aggro early material, I’m happy to live in a reality where I can experience both. Besides the brilliant new sound (which was all done at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio in Chicago), this album also features a thick booklet with the requisite photos, flyers, and liner notes. It’s beautifully executed, and deepens my understanding and appreciation of the music, as good packaging design should. If, like me, you’re a sucker for ornately packaged 80s hardcore punk reissues, you’ll love this.