Record of the Week: Obsessió MLP 12" + Staff Picks

by Daniel Lupton

Obsessio: MLP 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) I’m thankful that I live during a time when I can experience records by bands like Bad Breeding, Kaleidoscope, and L.O.T.I.O.N. as they come out, watching in real time as hardcore expands and evolves. But ultimately what attracts most of us to hardcore is the first visceral rush of hearing Discharge or Minor Threat or Black Flag, bands who cut music down to the bone. I suppose it’s no coincidence that skeletons and skulls feature so prominently in hardcore artwork; hardcore is skeletal music, and as much as I love expanding my mind, sometimes (OK, often) I want a record that activates my prehistoric animal brain. This LP by Obsessió is one of those records. Like a lot of classic hardcore records, the emphasis is on the drums and vocals, the former driving your heart rate through the roof as the latter tricks your brain’s fight-or-flight response into thinking you're cornered by a crazed, bloodthirsty predator. With barely ten minutes of music and only a few minor variations in tempo and volume, this record is a dead sprint, like Group Sex infused with the raw and real vibe of early Wretched. I don’t know what secret sauce separates thrilling hardcore records from competent ones, but I can tell you that Obsessió has doused this one in it. 

Staff Picks: Jeff

So last week, I raved about the Obsessió record, which we now have at the store. Grab that! I’d also wager that we’ll have the new Loose Nukes and the US pressing of the Larma record by next week, so keep an eye out for those!

Irreal: Fi Del Mon 12” - New LP from this new hardcore punk band out of Spain. Featuring members of Destino Final, Barcelona, and a laundry list of other bands, it was pretty clear from the get-go that this slab would be crushing.  9 tracks of blazing and ferocious hardcore. The quality of the songs is masked by layers of searing feedback and distortion, pummeling drums, and cavernous vocals.  That said, the songs are put together very tastefully and are super catchy, but also explosive and powerful. A fresh, urgent and dangerous punk platter you need to grip quick.

Staff Picks: Eric

OBSESSIO: MLP 12" - Savagely nasty hardcore punk. This is the kind of riff work that gets me going because it sounds like the world is falling down around you. It also has a very modern intensity that put this band in the same ballpark as bands like Impalers, Glue, Idiota Civilizzato, etc. And the vocals are FIERCE. This might be my favorite release of 2019 so far.

Inepsy: Lost Tracks 12" - Maybe I'm outing myself as a poser by saying this, but this record was kind of my introduction to Inepsy. It sounds like Motorhead and Discharge did a collaboration album with the vocalist of Anti Cimex. It's perfectly crafted rock n' roll played by spikey degenerate punks. I'll be digging deeper into this band's discography in the near future.

Staff Picks: Dominic

This week my picks feature records that were released twenty years apart. One in America and the other in England. Both have been personal favorites over the years and it is great to have them commercially available again. First up is, The Index: Originals Vol. 1 1967-68 Lion Productions. The Index released two very rare records, one in 1967 and the other in 1968 on their own vanity label, DC Records. Only two hundred were pressed of each and both have since achieved legendary status amongst connoisseurs of sixties garage and psych. As originals are impossible to find and very expensive, they were bootlegged several times in the eighties and nineties but now thankfully Lion Productions have compiled both records onto one killer single package. On the original records, called The Black Album and The Red Album respectively there were some covers which have been omitted for this release but can be found on an additional double CD volume. Those tunes, Eight Miles High (Byrds), You Keep Me Hangin’ On (Supremes/Vanilla Fudge), Spoonful (Willie Dixon), New York Mining Disaster and I Can’t See Nobody (Bee Gees) are interesting and worth hearing but it is the original tunes that what makes this record special. The sound could be described as minimalist, very atmospheric with tons of reverb. Add some downer lyrics and killer guitar work and you have some highly original and enjoyable tunes. Fans of other obscure garage groups like The Bachs will find a lot to like here. Listening some fifty years later, the music sounds very ahead of its time, despite the slightly crude nature of the recordings. That might be a good thing to these ears. Tracks such as Turquoise Feeling, Shock Wave and Feedback should hit the right spot to anyone that hears them. Dig it.
Next up I am going for The Fall: I Am Kurious Oranj. 1988 Beggars Banquet. This was the eleventh studio album by The Fall and was written as a soundtrack to an avant-garde ballet produced by the Michael Clark Company called “I am curious, orange” that was celebrating the three-hundred-year anniversary of the coronation of King William of Orange to the British Throne. The majority of the tracks were written by Brix Smith and Steve Hanley and is an interesting addition to The Fall’s catalogue. On release, it received mixed reviews and is still one that not everyone can agree on but I have always liked it and the latest version released on beautiful orange vinyl is a worthy addition to any self-respecting Fall fan’s collection in my humble opinion. Complicating matters are the slightly different versions that have appeared. US and UK versions differed slightly and the CD version had additional tracks, including some live cuts recorded at the Edinburgh Festival. This 30th Anniversary version chooses to replicate the remastered CD version that appeared on the Five Album box and contains the studio and live cuts and is probably the definitive version of the project. It comes, as mentioned on orange vinyl and also contains a repro of the original ballet programSure, like other Fall records, there may be stronger tracks than others but the ones that shine, like the reworking of Hip Priest on opening track New Big Prinz, are more than worth the price of admission. Nice crisp production by Ian Broudie keep this one sounding fresh and current. Get it.

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