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Outta Style Vol X




Jeff summed up the fact that things around the record store have changed lately and the blogs have kind of fallen to the side. Since the last blog the No Love's LP finally came out! It's a relief to finally have it done and I'm personally ready to record the next one. I have some other things in the works but they're probably a little premature to really talk about.
Anyways the theme for this round of blogs is touring. I'm reminded Rancid's album "Let's Leave", I'm always a fan of getting out of town and exploring new places. Tour just happens to be a good way to do that. I haven't done a lot of tours, but one happened to be a very lengthy one, including Europe, a week or so in England and a giant loop around the US. I wish I had a scanner to add some of my favorite flyers from it, maybe I'll figure out how to do that and add them later. Anyways here's a couple of stories from that time.
So fun life thing. Me and my wife tried to take a mini-vacation the other week down to the beach. It's not a super far drive but halfway there my A/C compressor literally exploded. So now I'm just rolling around in this terrible weather with no A/C. It's kind of a living hell. I do not do well with heat. Which reminds me of playing this show on tour. It's crazy to think this was 9 years ago. This was during the big Shitty Limits/ Logic Problem tour. I think this was my third or fourth time seeing Dark Ages who always ruled.
It was super hot and I remember we got into town fairly early. Our van had A/C but there were like eleven of us in there being gross and sweaty. We found out that there was a public pool near by and decided that was the best course of action. If I remember correctly we had a problem of not being able to go in wearing cut-off shorts and so we had to go find a thrift store for swim trunks.
We finally get in and have time to jump in once and then are immediately asked to get out because apparently a child had defecated in the pool. We sat and waited for them to clean it up and give us the ok to get back in. During this time another kid comes by and explains to us that this is like the 5th time that had happened that day. Public pools are gross and children are gross. It was so hot though that I overcame my distaste for both. Due to this I didn't get to actually check out Love Garden (I think I did some light browsing really quick). Very few things actually trump record shopping for me but swimming on a hot day after living in a van for a couple weeks probably will every time.

Couldn't find the flyer for this one but this show was with Stranger, Compassion Fatigue, Old Lines and Wet Brain at Sidebar in Baltimore March 15th 2015. The show was really fun and that was my first time at Sidebar. But yeah the best part of touring is record shopping and we got to go to one of my favorite record store Celebrated Summer. I sometimes feel bad for the rest of No Love because I know me and Daniel could spend a whole day in a record store and the rest of them got like 5-10 minutes. Anyways Celebrated Summer rules a lot and I picked up a record I had been hunting down for a while, The Cigarettes Will Damage Your Health LP. Not super rare but it has gotten harder to track down. (I just checked and the price has almost double to $75 since I bought this so maybe it is kind of rare). This album is everything by The Cigarettes and is awesome. I'll post the album below. It's always an amazing feeling finding a record on your wantlist while on tour.

Can't remember the exact date of this show but it was 2009. Probably one of the coolest shows I've played. It was an abandoned lot in LA that we had to help clip the fence to get in. The show was Shitty Limits, Logic Problem, Rough kids and Wet Reckless playing in this giant abandoned parking lot with pallets of institutional sized bags of macaroni all around. There was also a cute little mangy trash kitten wandering around that was adorable (someone did end up taking it home with them). Each band played 3-4 songs and then switched till either the cops came or they ran out of songs. It was a blast and every band was great and no cops were seen. I think the same show (maybe minus Wet Reckless) happened again later that night at a club whose name I don't remember. It was a real cool show and luckily was captured in picture format by the great people at Razorcake.

WHAT SETH'S LISTENING TO

Outta Style Volume 9

So before we get into the negative, let's focus on some positive. No Love's LP is done being mixed and has been sent off to be pressed. We should be getting test presses any time now. We're all super excited about it and decided to share a track and the artwork. I'm very proud of it and can't wait for people to hear it. Here's the opening track Choke On It.



Sometimes I wonder how much thought goes into certain albums. Whether it's the music or the artwork sometimes it seems like little thought goes into certain albums. Sadly I know that a lot went into the first albums visual aesthetic but it doesn't completely do it for me.


Devo: Are We Not Men?
How many times have you gone into your record collection only to see this face staring back? Something about him and his Sears catalog style just really puts me off. This is going to get a little crass compared to the usual comprehensive and intelligent critique you expect from Sorry State. This guy realy looks like he just ripped the worst fart though and is trying to pretend not to smell it. "Oh really it smells like someone farted? I don't smell anything." Something about his smarmy face just really puts me off. Sadly the rest of the design (minus the golf ball, well actually maybe I would enjoy that without the face) of the album is amazing and top notch. Also I've already gushed about how much I love the music on here. There are other records that fall into the same category of Faces Seth hates to constantly look at but the albums are nowhere near as strong musically, well let's face it few albums are.
Atleast their choreography and outfit game was strong.



The Adverts: Crossing The Red Sea With
I think I actually posted on Instagram recently about how this is one of my favorite albums ever. Every song on it is amazing. I don't think there's a snoozer on here. It is amazing. Sadly I don't think the artwork comes anywhere near the music. Really I think it's just the colors that really throw me off initially, it's a really bad combination with an even worse composition, all just kind of smeared together to frame a barely interesting picture. My amazing wife took me recently to a new art exhibit based around light and sound and it was amazing. Some of the pieces there might have been my favorite pieces I've seen in any gallery.... except for one. It was seriously a twig hanging in front of a screen casting a shadow. On the screen there was a 3D model of the tree it was taken from being shown. It wasn't visually appealing in any real way. I'm sure it had some deep meaning about nature and technology and whatever but I'm shallow and go to an art gallery to see things that are visually appealing to me and that I find pretty. I know that's not everyone's taste or choices on why and how they consume art but it's just me (I don't go to art related things often). ANYWAYS, this artwork might have a point and be saying something but really I just think it's ugly and it bums me out to see.
Here's the cooler version from the Fire Records reissue -



Really both of these albums are top tier and maybe I just wish for more from them. I'm still going to listen to them non-stop though even if I have to look at artwork I hate.

Hospice: S/T Cassette
Mr. Green has never let me down with any release he's been involved with. I am probably officially on fanboy level by now. This is how to mix synths and punk correctly. Also mixing in some low level nerd nostalgia with the song Dungeon Level Four. I was increadibly excited today that there were not a lot of people hanging out at the store for extended periods today because it let me listen to this on repeat like 3 times. Maybe I'll have to do a "Cassette of the Week" post just so I can gush on this in long form.

RIKI: Hot City
If Hospice is a lesson on how to mix punk and synths than Riki is a lesson on how to write new-wavey post punk and not be as boring as a pet rock. Lots of great melodies and songs that seem to just go. Although Chubb probably wouldn't agree this definitely rides that "Slap Wave" (tm Sorry State Records 2018). Riki definitely feels like they're living in the 80s and not just wishing they were. Lots of very Depeche Mode feels and a heavy hand of early Madonna, maybe some Bananarama tossed in. It's super catchy though and totally worth checking out.

Uranium Club: Live at Arci Taun 12"
No matter what you want to call them it's evident that Uranium Club are a force. This serves up songs from their two lps with even more of a bite than on their studio recordings, along with some silly banter. I've talked about how I'm not super huge into live records but I've really been diggin this one. Maybe it's due to them never coming to NC and never having gotten the chance to see them. Anyways this is silly and great and I recommend it.

RECORD OF THE WEEK FOR A REASON! (that's a link and you should click it and go read Daniel's awesome write up)

Outta Style Volume 8

It's no secret that I like punk that is either from the late 70s/early 80s, the Midwest or is goofy. My mind instantly thought of two split albums that fill all three criteria, The Bizarros and Rubber City Rebels split and the Gizmos and Dow Jones & The Industrials split. While I really like the Bizarros and Rubber City Rebels split I think it really doesn't compare to the Gizmos and Dow Jones split.
I couldn't tell you when I first became aware of this. I never know. I'm sure I came to it due to loving Dow Jones' Can't Stand The Midwest (from here on out refered to as CSTMW). The Dow Jones songs here are definitely more akin to the rocking weirdness of their song Indeterminism than the punky and super catchy CTSMW so I'm sure I was initially turned off by this, but have come to love it (along with the rest of their 7"). Songs like Set Yourself On Fire and Hold That Coed have become just as essential in my life as CSTMW. Even the goofy Rocking Farmers is still pretty awesome.I feel like Mr Science's synths seem to pop in a little more here also than on the 7". Here's a clip of DJ&TI playing Hold That Coed, this came on the bonus DVD with the Dow Jones Discography that came out a while back.
The Gizmos side doesn't slack. It is actually probably more so non-stop hits than the Dow Jones side. It definitely has an innocent teen feel to it. Especially on songs like Bible Belt Baby. Progressive Rock is silly as they come but still rocks and makes me laugh (and gets stuck in my head constantly). Pay is probably the hit though, it's one of those tunes that bops hard and makes it hard for you to not nod your head back and forth to the beat. It sounds like a Pointed Sticks outtake without any synth. All the songs feel like they could have been the A-side of some unknown 70s punk 7" that's worth hundreds of dollars now. Here's the Gizmos doing a silly lip synced version of Pay.
It's funny because really I couldn't think of many good punk splits. Hardcore has a plethora of them (most featuring Totalitar or Disclose) which I guess makes sense since if you have ten songs that don't add up to that many minutes it's hard to fill up a whole record. I'm sure if I dove into split 7"s I'd think of a ton but I was trying to stick to lps for some weird reason.
Anyways for my sake post your favorite punk/weird splits in the comments. I'm sure I'll feel like an idiot for ones I forgot.

Here's a quick run down of what I've been listening to lately.

Outta Style Vol 8

I think I have a weird definition of a wantlist. I did all of this and after looking back I think my wantlist is comprised of things that are not balanced in price and quality. It seems to be things that I would enjoy owning but am not desperate and can be patient in waiting to find one for cheap. Like Daniel I'm more of a take what I find kind of person. I'm usually just kind of searching for genres rather than specific artists. Maybe its a hold over of shopping in stores wheere it's silly to go in looking for a specific thing. Typically though my main record buying goals are 77 and kbd punk, and usually the weirder the better. I'm also pretty regularly looking for cheap goth singles for my dj night. But there are a few records that I'm usually keeping an eye out for.

1. Mizutama Shobodan - 1st 12"
I don't know how I found this band. I play them on the radio show a lot and just recently acquired their second LP which also rules. This record is from 1981 and Mizutama Shobodan (which translates to the Polka-dot Fire Brigade) is an all female five piece from Japan. This doesn't really fall into new wave, punk or post-punk easily. There's an aggressiveness to the songs that really catches me but it all just feels kind of bizarre. There are what feels to be endless vocals layered on top of each other that makes the whole thing kind of feel like it's spinning out of control. There's some synth I think, that or the bass tone is just super unique. Unique is definitely the best word to describe this because while it holds some similarities to Kleenex maybe (I think that's a stretch but if I had to say a band) this is really just something in a league of its own. I've been listening to their second record a lot and obsessing over this one too so here's one of my favorites


2. Fatsy Wataire: Chimene Hovelicot 7"
A constant on French punk comps for a good reason. This definitely has some of the pop aesthetic of Plastic Bertrand and other French Punk. There's a kind of disco bounce to it. Especially in the first song the rhythm section kind of holds it down while they seem to just add everything they've got laying around on top of it, some fuzzy guitar, sax (which is definitely more prominent in the b-side)and even a piano that seems to just do a slide down the keys and that's it. Really this record isn't super rare but I just always have a hard time pulling the trigger on international shipping. You'll notice that I'm not going to just post bonkers stuff that I know I'll never afford. I try to stay kind of grounded. Here's the A-side

3-5. Ramones: Brain Drain/Acid Eaters/Adios Amigos 12"
I'm not big into collecting whole discographies but sometimes it just happens naturally. These are the last three Ramones albums I don't have. It's hard justifying Adios Amigos and really in the end I probably will never own it unless I find it on the super cheap since the price tag does not match the quality. Brain Drain has been difficult to track down a good copy of weirdly, not the worst Ramones album by far but not great, it has a couple hits (mostly Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) and I really like the cover of Palasade's Park. Acid Eaters is definitely the best out of the three just due to the cover of 7 and 7 Is. I've gotten every other Ramones record in the wild so I've been trying to do the same with these last few, but to be honest also not in much of a rush since I'm not dying to have these three since I am not a die hard completionist.Really it seems like I just might have convince myself these shouldn't be on my list.

6. The Stains: S/T 12"
Probably the most expensive record on my list. I am totally fine with reissues and bootlegs of which there are none of this record. I heard a while back that Frontier was in the works of reissuing this but for some reason that never came to be. This is definitely up there in my list of favorite USHC records though. Maybe something about it being pretty unavailable makes it seem cooler. This definitely has a Black Flag feel and sort of reminds me of Bl'ast in their choppy rhythms but feels a step above to me. Maybe it's the silly amount of guitar tremelo. Here's the whole album to enjoy since lord knows if this will ever get reissued.

7. Devo: B Stiff 12"
Not insanely hard to find but this compiles Devo's first three singles. Also it's hard to resist an Obi-strip. Be Stiff and Social Fools are two of my favorite Devo songs, and while they are on a single together I just really love the cover art of this and having all of the singles together. If you ever see No Love or Crete you'll probably hear me warming up with Be Stiff.



8. Count Vertigo: X Patriots/I'm A Mutant 7"
I somehow missed the Mississippi Records repress of this so am now on the hunt for it. I'm probably not going to go for an original because paying $50 per song is not appealing to me. X Patriots is a meld of Devo and The Sex Pistols but the B-Side I'm A Mutant is the real highlight, super buzzy and obnoxious. Definitely have been working on this one for my solo sets because it's such a weird cool song.


9. Takumi: Meat The Beat 12"
Not a great album all the way through but man the couple of songs that are good are REALLY GOOD. Very reminiscent of the first few Ultravox records. Really there's two songs on here that I love which sadly aren't available as singles making it hard to justify the price of this one. A lot of the reason for my want list is finding something thats price does not seem to match it's quality for cheaper. But for real, the song Reproduced Funtional on this one has made me almost drop more money than I should on this because it's that good of a song.

Ok well on to some new records that are on my wantlist (as in I think they rule and need to buy them).

BB EYE: Headcheese Hearthrob 12" - Super warbly and buzzy, off kilter at times xylophone driven “punk”.  Definitely for those who are looking for something a little less conventional.  This isn’t super outlandish though, If you appreciate Warm Bodies quirkiness then you should definitely check this out.  Poke U In The Eye is definitely the jam. 

Machine Gun: S/T 7” – Super punchy low end driven hardcore. The artwork reflects the music in that it's straight and to the point. When one song ends the next one just blares right in at full force.  This is like Negative Approach at their fastest and meanest with some better playing and a more modern approach. Possibly the hardcore rager of the year. 

Gee Tee: Death Race 7” – This is so damn catchy.  Still a little on the weird side, but mostly in how much they are able to layer and cram into a space.  Lots of depth and weird noises on top of some straight up just good catchy punk songs.  This definitely sits well in the Neck Chop catalog and seems to kind of take a lot of things done on earlier Neck Chop releases cram them together and amp them up. 

Outta Style #7

I'm a socially anxious mess most of the time but do enjoy a good party. We all know the wrong music can really kill the mood at a party. Of course this changes depending on party attendees but here's a few of my favorite songs made about parties, for parties.
First up is the song that inspired this blog prompt. I picked this 7" up randomly for like fifty cents and it i sone of the best purchases ever.

I mean I can't think of the last thing I bought for under a dollar that has brought me this much extended joy. This may be the coolest concept single ever. The A-side is an instrumental soul/funk song with the sounds of a house party going on over top. At the end of the song Ruby's neighbor yells for Ruby to shut up. Flip to side B and the song keeps on going along with the party. Now though you get to hear the shouting match between Ruby and her neighbor. Really just a silly fun time, which is right up my alley.

Really there's so much good soul music about partying. Also there are way too many weird song/video mashups on youtube. Another great party song with a weird clip of David Schwimmer from some movie being a little too lecherous.


While not party appropriate content wise I feel like it's hard to get a bunch of punks in a room drinking and not end up singing Cock Sparrer.


Anyways all praise to the God of party

WASH: S/T Cassette - This recording is super dirty and big. It reminds me a lot of the early Henry Fiat's Open Sore LPs in production and slightly in style. There's a ton of melody buried under the distortion and grime. Everything feels so intense and almost oppressive, even the songs that shy away more from being hardcore songs. There's a lot here to satisfy most everyone's tastes.

No Sister: The Second Floor 12" - No Sister seem to amp up the New York No-Wave sound on their second release. A lot of the guitar stuff might as well be magic to my mind, I can't even fathom getting some of those sounds from a guitar. It's a very dynamic record that goes from screeching guitars from hell to a tightly wound bass and drum break and guitars that seem to more so mime chimes. It still feels very of the time and concurrent with a lot of post-punk coming out but with a little 90s aftertaste. This record just oozes that feeling of cool, like this is the record you show your younger sibling to blow their mind.

Andy Human & The Reptoids: Kill The Comma 7" - The A-side is a typical Andy Human song and is there much left to say about Andy Human? The b-side definitely steals the show for me. I'm sure I've talked about my love of the continuous single piano note in a song, it's like the simplest most brilliant thing in music. Match that with a killer chorus and some good sax and you've got the b-side Do The Mole, which might have taken the place as my favorite song by him and his Reptoids. It's so Stooges yet still holds that Andy Human charm and style.

Cankro: Demo Cassette - Raw and nasty hardcore. This band played here last week and it was pretty amazing. The demo kind of reminds me of the last Direct Control LP. Pulling from a lot of areas within hardcore it manages to still sound fresh. It rages while feeling still feeling bouncy (not quite d-beat not quite pogo punk). Killer tape all around.

The Uglies: Keeping Up With The Uglies 12" - Blistering fast punk from Australia. It definitely brings a lot of memories of the 00's to me, maybe kind of like a more sophisticated Rabies or something while still managing to be juvenile and funny. Definitely a banger and a fun one at that.

PTSD: If You See Something Say Something Cassette - If you had a ven diagram of Goth, Post-punk and New Wave PTSD would be right in the middle. Feeling fairly misanthropic and forlorn, there's still a bounce in their step. The easy go to is probably later Blitz with the drum beats and bass and especially with the vocal effects. This doesn't have the energy of punk but still kind of has a punk feel. This one's for all you sad spooky punks.

Radiation Risks: Headless Horseman 7" - God do I like a ska song? Headless Horseman is such a catchy song overflowing with sax and energy. The b-side is a little less frantic and switches out the sax for an organ. This whole thing is just too much fun and really appeals to my sense of humor. The cover art is just rediculous and beautiful at the same time. True proof that it doesn't have to be serious to be art since these are amazingly crafted songs.

Lumpy & The Dumpers: Those Pickled Fuckers 12" - This album could easily be called The Many Faces of Lumpy & The Dumpers. There's a lot of variety in the seven songs provided here. Starting off with possibly their darkest and gritiest so far with Passing Glass. Hair On The Inside is your slimy stomper. And then what the fuck is Attention, all of the sudden there's some of the gnarliest sounding synth screaming in from nowhere. They continue to prove that they don't have to just pull out the same tricks and will procede to do what they want.

Anyways that's it for this entry. Next time I think I'll be going over the top records in my wantlist. Hope everyone's enjoying the seasonal change to the cheat sheet.

Outta Style: Vol 6-6-6 (The Gates Are Open)

It's October so of course everyone is freaking out. Maybe it's the weather (it's still barely cool enough to wear a jacket of any sort) or lack of definitive plans but I just am not feeling in the season. A couple years back my wife set up a thing that has been a standard in the music community for a long time, the Halloween Cover Show. At that one show I played drums in a Weezer cover band, sang for the first time in front of a crowd in a Discharge cover band and played guitar for the first time in front of people in a Bikini Kill cover band. It was a wild night and I honestly remember little about it do to being a nervous wreck and coping with that in unhealthy and self-destructive ways as I tend to do. It was a blast though. Sadly it kind of died off the next year (we still had one and it was fun but not nearly as wild as the first) and nobody's really picked up the torch to make it really happen again.
Me singing for "Discharge"
How is this relative you ask? Well our prompt was flaws on great albums and a flaw a lot of people fall into is bad covers. I love cover songs, I think they're fun and can really help people progress as musicians, but not all cover songs need to be recorded. I actually came up with this prompt while listening to My America by the FU's, which is twelve minutes and thirty three seconds of perfection and then just falls flat on it's face with the cover of We're an American Band. Yes I'm sure it's meant to be funny but still it's just a painful listen. They could have fit a couple more songs in the two and a half minutes this cover takes up. It doesn't really even stray much from the original. It really just serves as a view into the future of the FU's and the much more rock oriented Do We Really Want To Hurt You? album, which has some rippers but definitely has a lot of hard rock influence. Here's one of my favorites from My America to wipe my mind of having to listen to American Band
Obviously bands of an older vintage didn't have as much of a back catalog of hardcore and punk songs to cover and probably identified more with their peer bands and the songs they heard on the radio. This didn't stop some hardcore bands from finding interesting things to cover (like Minor Threat's cover of 12XU) but a lot kind of just ended up offering up something bland and rather uninspired (we've all done it before). Some times the source material is even a good song but really the performance is nothing new. A good example is Battalion of Saints' cover of Ace of Spades on their Second Coming LP. It's not bad but really kind of brings the energy to a grinding halt and their version is pretty by the books. I'm sure at that point everyone wasn't sick of hearing that song and I'm sure they had a blast playing it. I listen to it sometimes but usually just am done with the record when it gets to that point. Let's also be honest and agree that the 7" version of second coming is better also.

One last one, kind of an under the radar rager is Conflict's Last Hour. A not well known LP from Tucson Arizona that just rips. These past two examples have ended with a cover. Conflict sadly puts theirs next to last and it's a pain. They cover American Woman by the Guess Who. God this song is just sooooo obnoxious. They manage to make it their own and kind of cool and punk but really I can't get past my hatred for the original. But the ultimate problem is having to sit through the cover to get to the last song You Choose which is an amazing song. Rarely do I pick up the needle and skip a track but this one makes me do it two out of every three times I listen to it. Sadly I have no video from the LP but there was a repress on Pukenvomit records well worth seeking out. Here's a track from their demo.



Time for some new records!

This tape ruled! So glad it's now on a 7". Super catchy punk from people who are no strangers. Drenched in reverb and lots of crunch on the guitars yet still manages to be super melodic. This is more of a jump up and down kind of thing than a full on raging kind of thing. This crew is in a million other projects and bits and pieces show through but really their song writing abilities shine more.

First Lp from this already fairly acclaimed band. Take everything from all your favorite UK DIY, Post-Punk and 77' punk bands. This definitely has one of my favorite guitar tones, buzzy and tinny. Lots of sax and upbeat drums make this an instant dance party. Highly recommended for those that like catchy tunes and a good time.



Cool art punk from Portland. Shrill choppy guitars with bouncing bass lines and a snare that pops straight at you. This has a tendency to kind of hang on parts like the Modern Lovers but with a much more Television Personalities tempo and charm. Definitely digging hard on this one.
I've been really digging on everything from Big Dunce Records lately too. This last batch of releases has been fire.
Bore Hole: Demo Cassette
Resource Group: Demo Cassette
Smooch: First Kiss Cassette
Cruz Somers: UV-B Cassette

And that's it for now. I leave you with the world's only satanic 00's house group the D-Devils
I know that's probably a lie but man is this ridiculous.

Outta Style #5: Into The Unknown

So if you haven't figured it out yet, to kind of kickstart us writing more we've been doing prompts. This is just to kind of get the juice flowing and get us all in the habit of writing more (since we have been seriously behind lately). The kind of loose prompt we have is misconceptions about an album, genre, artist we had and what changed it. I've talked a little about my kind of never ending quest to try and be cool growing up (well I kind of skirted around it). Trying to find acceptance and trying to fit in where I just didn't kind of made me a little shit at points in my life and probably somewhat intolerable, constantly basing my opinions on what I thought others would approve of our shrink back at. I'm not proud of it. This lead to my definition of what's "punk" to be fairly small and close minded. Really when I look back now I basically lived in complete contrast to how I probably actually felt and to who I've grown into as a person. With my personality shrinking back in to pleasing myself and not others my music taste broadened and so did my definition of what is and isn't "punk".  

I've never really been one for that "AH-HA!" lightbulb moment where everything suddenly clicks and the clouds part and the sun is shining and IT ALL MAKES SENSE SUDDENLY! I don't think that really happens, or at least it doesn't for me. Usually things take a lot more time and regular exposure. Usually there is some sort of catalyst that starts me down the path though. Here's two albums that helped me down the path of thinking about music differently and usually more critically.


Devo: Q: Are We Not Men A: We Are Devo

I have no clue when I first heard this or why.  Ignorance is easy, especially when pertaining to an artist with a mainstream hit.  For a long time to me, Devo was that band that did that obnoxious song Whip It, totally not punk.  Devo may be the comparison to throw at any band that shows any quirkiness these days but for a long time I wasn't surrounded by the level of fandom that I am now.  To be honest I don't remember anyone growing up that was super into Devo, or if they were they never brought it up when talking about music.  This album kind of floored me though with how raw and aggressive it was under all that "weirdness".  Of course the songs that appealed to me first were the faster songs like Uncontrollable Urge and Slap Your Mammy but eventually I started to find myself gravitating to the more airy songs like Space Junk.  On top of making appreciate things that weren't just you know blazing fast power chords it helped me to start exploring into new wave a little more and finding the punk gems in there, stuff like the first B-52's album and Adam and the Ants' Kings of the Wild Frontier.  


Kraftwerk: Die Mensch-Maschine/The Man Machine

I don't know if this is exactly what started my obsession with synths or not.  Again it's always hard to pinpoint where certain obsessions start but this album definitely helped break me out of my idea of what a band could be.  I know I listened to stuff that wasn't traditional rock band set ups but usually did a good job of sounding like it.  Listening to the trends in mainstream music in the 90s it felt like the rock band was dying.  The idea of having a drummer, a bass player, a guitar player, and someone doing vocals seemed to be fading away and I think this lead me to dislike a lot of electronic music.  My sister was really into house music and other edm at the time and while I kind of found interest in it, straight out liking it would be betraying myself as a musician (or so I thought).  These people are just pressing buttons and there is no real musicianship in it (I told you I was insufferable).  I've realized that guitar music isn't going away anytime soon and that keyboards and laptops and everything else is not a threat and not the enemy.  I feel like The Man Machine is definitely the most accessible Kraftwerk album without any background to krautrock and electronic music in general.  It's more feels more constrained within the realms of the idea of a pop/rock "song".  This falls a little into what Daniel mentioned when talking about Amon Duul II, while there are moments of less concrete music and more soundscape feelings, there are an awful lot of melodies to latch onto and beats to nod your head rhythmically to.  The Model is still my favorite Kraftwerk song, the synth lines in it are all beautiful and constantly stuck in my head.  A lot of the other Kratwerk albums definitely took me longer to wrap my head around and appreciate since there wasn't always a melody for my mind to latch on to.  I do think it was this and Tubeway Army/ Gary Numan that really did start my interest into synthesizers and a lot more synth based music.

Anyways that's enough of the past, let's talk about the awesome records of the present!

  

Nachthexen – S/T 10”- A collection of their Other cassette and self titled 7”. A good way to get caught up with this band before their new 7” on Harbinger Sound. Nachthexen switch out a guitar player for a synth player who is pretty much playing leads the whole time. The drums propel everything with a super kick and snare heavy approach, super stompy yet upbeat and all around powerful. The bass rumbles on through filling in all the gaps and the singer gives a rather mordant delivery. Definitely killer stuff and highly recommended.

Spray Paint W/ Ben Mackie – A true meeting of minds. Spray Paint team up with Ben Mackie of Cuntz and it’s a dark moody mess. Reverb and feedback seem to seep out of every pore as you’d expect. I definitely like the B-Side Dumpster Buddies a little more due to it’s shifts in dynamics and very kind of droll vocal delivery. If you’re a fan of either band then there’s a pretty good chance you’ll dig this.

Chew / Rash: Split 7” – I was thinking that maybe I use the word scathing too much when I talk about bands. Scathing might be a little too light of a term when talking about this 7” anyways. It’s more so scalding, like getting a pot of boiling water thrown in your face. Hyper-aggressive and mean from start to finish. CHEW just blaze through leaving a trail of destruction and blown ear drums. Rash keep more of a middle pace but are not any less gnarly. High points – The scream at the beginning of Submission and the little guitar squeals on Bleeding Pigs.

Flesh World – Into The Shroud 12” – I have a hard time with this album because the song title Destination Moon just makes me want to listen to B-52s. Anyways this seems to be like the missing link between Flesh World’s more punky Self Titled EP and the more shoe gaze feeling The Wild Animals In My Life LP. This manages to be upbeat yet has that airy feel to it while not loosing it’s edge. It definitely has some Killing Joke vibes, especially the song Problem In The Youth Bulge. It’s hard to knock that first EP out of my favorite material by this band but this LP is slowly nudging it off.

Outta Style #3 or 4. I've already lost count. Turned Out A Punk Edition

This is kind of the rough story of how I became a punk, or maybe I was always a punk at heart? Well this is how I became involved with punk which lead to me being involved with Sorry State, which then lead to me writing this.  A warning, my memory is complete garbage and the fact that I was able to remember this much impressed me.  I tried to fact check dates but yeah some stuff might actually be out of order.  Also maybe this isn't exactly how things happened but it's what I remember. 

1994-1997

The first real memories I have involving anything with "punk" go back to the early 90s.  My family had huge parties every labor day that were just insanity.  Hundreds of people at the tiny three room a-frame house in the middle of the woods that we were residing in at the time.  Most of the time I was too young to really partake in a lot of the fun minus the pinewood derby racing tournament that happened every year.  Somehow I remember meeting a kid who shared a name with a famous baseball player and we became friends.  He lived like two towns over so we didn't hang out a lot, but every once and a while my parents would drop me off over there to hang out.  I remember seeing MTV for the first time at his house (I'm pretty sure this must have been late 1993/early 1994 because this was the fist time I had heard Snoop Dogg's Who Am I).  Anyways I remember him making me a mix tape that had a bunch of more alternative stuff on it, most of which I can't remember.  I do remember that Green Day's pre-dookie material was on there (I think he had gotten it from his cousin or something, the specifics of how he got it are just all together not there).  I think having access to MTV definitely kept him way more up to date than me and he was always showing me new music.  The tape got a lot of rotations along with my other tapes I remember having (Tom Petty, Foreigner and a lot of other classic rock).  The next year the greater Charlotte area got its first "alternative" radio station 106.5 The End WEND.  This was a huge impact since all we had before hand was classic rock, I remember waiting for the day it actually went on air excited to hear something new and more current. The station also held its first end of year festival called The Weenie Roast that year.  I didn't go to that one but did attend the next year which had Space Hog, Stabbing Westward, Luster the Verve Pipe and more.  This might have been one of the first music related things I went to on my own volition and not just because my parents were going.  Anyways this is diverging too much into how I got into bad alternative music in the 90s.  I went to the Weenie Roast a couple more years and spent all my time obsessively recording songs off the radio onto cassettes since there wasn't really anywhere in town to buy CDs or tapes.


 

1998-2002

'98 was a big year for me.  I had just started high school.  High school was terrible for me. I grew up in a small southern town that was slowly being invaded by super rich families and really I just didn't fit in anywhere.  My sister is two years older than me and due to my inability to talk to people I would kind of hang out with her friends, who were your typical late 90s alternative crowd, ranging from nu-metal to punk and even juggalos.  I had been buying more punk stuff (real starter stuff and a lot of compilations) from the mall whenever I could, along with the typical mainstream stuff which seemed like real cutting edge underground compared to everyone at my school who listened to hip-hop or Dave Mathews.  The biggest influence though was my sister dating this guy from Philadelphia (which at the time seemed like a whole different world).  He explained a lot to me about music and I would wait till he forgot his cd book in my sisters car and steal it to rip it all to cassettes.  This was how I first heard a lot of classics like Minor Threat and Black Flag.  Black Flag was definitely one of the ones I remember playing a lot because it didn't make sense to me. It just kind of didn't sound like music in the way I knew, because at that point the most punk thing I owned was probably The Offspring (which I let someone borrow and they lost it and gave me a Skankin' Pickle CD in exchange which started my hatred of ska).  Yeah so now I had a very shaky foundation in underground music but really nobody to share it with.  There weren't any bands at our school, there was one punk guy, everyone else was just kind of weirdos but older and so I still didn't really fit in anywhere.  Not until I oddly went to church.  My family didn't ever go to church after we moved from Chicago in 1990 but my mom decided we should try this one church up the street.  We didn't go for long but while there I met these two brothers Paul and Mark.  They were more into punk and alternative stuff and I think I bragged about how I played drums to them at youth group (my dad had a drum set but I had no clue how to actually play it).  A couple months later they called up my house telling me that were starting a band and needed a drummer. I panicked and said yes even though I had no clue how to play.  So then we started our first band Stereotype.  Influenced by everything terrible in the late 90s.  The brothers parents were super Christian to the point of not believing in contraceptives of any sort (resulting in like 8 children) so we had to say I went to church and play more Christian oriented events which mostly meant at local Christian Youth centers which were abundant at the time in the area. The cover picture is from possibly our first show, putting me at 14 or 15 I think.  The other big turning point of 1998 was going to my first punk show.  I remember very little about it but I do remember the lineup being Snapcase, H2O and Boysetsfire.  I knew all of them probably from a Victory Records sampler or something.  I went with my sister and her boyfriend, I don't remember having any life awakening epiphany or anything like most people describe, I just left thinking it was cool. Well maybe it wasn't as big of a turning point as I thought?  I do remember this is my first time experience "hardcore dancing" though.  From there till college I drifted around a lot going and seeing really just anything I could.  I'd go to any show that seemed underground and cool (even though most of it with my current wisdom I would have deemed bad).  Once I got my license in 2000 I stopped spending as much time in my home town and more time down in Charlotte.  One of the biggest things was Manifest Records where I spent lots of time buying CDs and then Records.  It definitely wasn't the best store but always felt cool, with all of their weird little junk around and it was huge.  Sometimes it seemed more like a Spencer's Gifts than a record store but it was home base for a good while (of course until FYE bought it out).  

 

2002-2007

College was kind of a blur, mostly I have very few memories that stand out.  I still played in bands a lot, usually falling a little more on the bro-mosh side of things.  I would go see multiple shows every week, hang out with punks, skins, hardcore people, scenesters and whoever was around.  I wasn't too happy in the scenes I hung around or the music I played.  I had a roommate who felt the same way, we wanted something that didn't feel like such a shitty dude fest (even though I've come to realize most music scenes are this on some level) and more punk.  This all changed when we got the first Government Warning ep in 2005.  It was everything we wanted, super punk and fast and seemed seperated from all the bullshit we were getting tired of.  We started coming up to Raleigh NC for house shows, buying all the No Way, Sorry State and Grave Mistake releases and worked on starting a band that we liked.  Eventually in 2007 it was time for me to move so I picked up and moved to Durham (which is like 20 minutes away from Raleigh).  This is where I feel like I finally was into punk; everything beforehand seemed like obstacles to get to that spot. I was finally happy with the people around me, the bands I was in, and finally felt like I was part of a group of people who I could identify with.  I felt free to be the giant dork that I am instead of trying to be cool.  Here's a picture of Logic Problem (my first band after moving to Durham) being a collective bunch of dorks in front of a castle in 2009.

____________________________________________________________________________

Records Records Records

I probably care more about punk now than ever. Getting to hear so much awesome stuff on a daily basis is pretty amazing. So here are a few things I've been stoked on lately.

 

Natterers: Toxic Care Cassette- This reminds me a lot of Night Birds in a way.  It has that good pop sensibility with a foundation in great punk.  It manages to be ripping while still being super catchy.  Their demo was great and this is a step forward even.  If this band isn't on your radar then get with it so you can say you were there before they blow up.  

 

 

 

 

ISS: Endless Pussyfooting 12" - I'm sure I've said enough about ISS by now.  penISS Envy might be one of the best songs ever.  Every time I listen to this I catch another lyric I hadn't heard yet and usually it ends up making me laugh.  But yeah this is essential so don't be an idiot and miss out.

 

 

 

 

 

Reptoides: Nueva Especie 7"

The cover art on this one fits super well. The music is dark and raw and a little on the weirdo punk side. Are these the reptilian overlords everyone keeps talking about? If so then sign me up for this new world order.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Booji Boys- Sweet Boy 7"

Raw power pop that still has a punk edge in a way most bands are never really capable of pulling off.  Much like The Carbonas' second album which is a blown out mess but some of the catchiest songs written ever.  Part of the song Sister reminds me of the intro to Sweet Rot by Hubble Bubble.  This is a solid ep front to back with 5 hits and then an Undertones cover to top it all off.  

Here's a video for the song Peace Chuggin'

 

 

 

 

Neo Neos: The Hammer of Civilization 7"-

Chalk up another one for Connie Voltaire.  This powerhouse of prolificness treats us with 3 new songs and a new recording of the great Puke Girl's Class.  All the songs are super twitchy and blown out.  It's a beautiful thing really.  No Dancing is a frantic burst that makes me want to dance around like an idiot.  It's hard to say if this is Neo Neos best stuff since they have so                                                   many great things but it's definitely up there.

Outta Style version ??? sometime in Sept. 2017

Blah Blah Blah.. busy busy busy.. jokes that probably went rancid in the 90s.  Y'all heard enough of that in the newsletter. Hopscotch is right around the corner so we've been restocking the store and moving things from one place to another place and what not and trying to get as much new stuff on the floor as possible. So there's that, if you're local come check it out.  Also we have redone the counter and the front is now covered in show flyers and looks V PUNK (it is featured partially in the photo for this post).  Come to the store and admire our work. Just another step into slowly making this place look more awesome. 
I probably won't make it out to much Hopscotch fun this weekend (I do highly suggest seeing Das Drip play at Legends on Friday if you can) but on Sunday Sorry State is sponsoring this awesome show with some Sorry State bands and new band De( )t which features some people from some things but that doesn't matter much because they rule enough on their own merit.

Hopscotch Hangover and Over  

If you aren't local don't fret, we haven't forgotten you. We obtained a bunch of stuff from another distro that they had laying about.  There are a ton of amazing 90s-10s reissues, bootlegs and dead stock of some classic punk and hardcore.  Lots of Japanese, Swedish, Finnish and other International Punk, Hardcore, Crust and the lot.  It's like going through a distro at a show in the 00s and all pretty great. On top of great records there's a bunch of great books and other various things.  A majority of it is up now but we'll be adding things throughout the week. That said here's a couple of my favorites I ran across.

Christ on Parade: Sounds of Nature 12"

An underrated rager, part anarcho/peace-punk part hardcore, holds a lot of similarity to Crucifix.  Never understood why people don't talk about this band as much. 

Here's a sick video of them playing live in '89


 

Gepøpel: Complete 1982-1985 12" 
The first time I heard Gepøpel was when someone showed me the great Beware the Wolf In Sheep's Clothing Compilation.  Killer fast 80s Dutch Hardcore. It has a very West Coast feeling to it because it's super fast but with the vocals more sung than shouted. Here's the song that first introduced me to them.



Various: Propaganda 1- Russia Bombs Finland 12" An all-star line up of Finnish hardcore. Really no way you could go wrong with this. Here's one of my favorites from Terveet Kadet. From the first two ep era where everything is just kind of an amazing mess with the distinctive snare drum 1-2-3-4 breaks. Attitude Adjustment: Dead Serious Demo 12" What a service it was when this came out. I had heard the Attitude Adjustment demo through some sort of blog in the 00s, I liked American Paranoia but really latched on to this demo because it sounded less like Anthrax and more like raw hardcore. Anyways yeah amazing USHC that has a lot of similarities to NYHC bands (especially similar to Urban Waste in it's speed and looseness).

 

Anyways ;TLDR Version- There's a bunch of cool stuff in the store. A small sampling is up above this. Go buy it because there's only one or two copies of most of it.

-Seth

Outta Style: Vol 2 - July 2017

Being sick and hurting my back has put writing on the back burner a little lately. I’m thankfully going on vacation this weekend so hopefully I’ll be back re-energized and ready to knock some stuff out. Thanks everyone for the positive feedback and discussion on the other blog Strange Obsessions. It was fun to write and to read everyone’s response. The next one should be up sometime soon discussing the current state of compilations and some of the ones that have come out lately that I really dig. There’s been so much stuff coming out lately that I was pretty lost on where to start and know I forgot a million things I want to write about but here we go anyways.

Wiccans: Sailing A Crazy Ship 12” - I feel like it’s been a while since we last heard from Wiccans. Their new LP is definitely worth the wait. A blend of psych influenced soaring guitar leads with stompy hardcore that’s somewhere between NYHC and Negative Approach. Wiccans have always managed to stand out from the pack and this LP puts them ahead of it. Here’s a video from the great Will Mecca of their entire set at EINOK this year. It starts out with the great opening track from their new album.

 

Marc Cone: Now Showing 12” - Another home run from Urochromes frontman Jackie’s alter ego. Super tight drums with simple bass lines mixed with some very 16bit sounding synth. The vocals are definitely the key to how great these songs are though, full of sass and wit. Definitely a fun album all together. Here Is a sick video of Mark Cone playing on the awesome Highland Park TV.

 

Process of Elimination 7” - Industrial punk? Punk industrial? I’m not super big on industrial music myself, if it sounded like this though I think I would be a huge fan. This is dark and heavy with super raspy vocals that sound like they’re being sung from another room. The drums are a very 1-2 drum beat and everything feels pretty raw, not in a poor recording way or anything. Everything just feels dark and dirty. Definitely cool and unique.

 

The Bug: Humbug Or So Many Awful Things 7": A pure cacophony of aggression. Super chaotic and unhinged. Before you can wrap your head around what’s happening the song is over and the next one is halfway done. Residual Mope is definitely my jam on this one.

 

Various: Horrendous New Wave 12”: This is definitely a weird but cool idea for a comp. It’s a handful of musicians and bands playing under fake band names. A couple of the bands are obvious or didn’t change their name (the great Natural Man song Tie Me Up makes an appearance here) and then some are a complete mystery since the album contains no information. The songs range from new wave to minimal synth and some that could be released as KBD singles and nobody would bat an eye (well someone would since you know it’s the internet). Here’s one of the Western Civ song that sounds like some art school punk band from the 70s in a way that I dig.

 

SBF: Double Blind 7” – Yes! Two new SBF tracks. Two tracks that are both just straight fire. Lots of additional weird background noises are littered through out both tracks. The recording is definitely clearer than the first 7” and this feels more aggressive. The guitars definitely have a more chugging metal feeling to them. Lots of crazy solos going on sometimes simultaneously. Remember Highland Park TV which was mentioned earlier? Well they have a cool set of SBF playing which is pretty awesome and I think the debut of the title track.

 

Blank Spell: Miasma 12” – Ever since their promo tape for this album I have been anxiously waiting for this record. The wait is finally over and totally worth it. This LP is blazing. Some of the best dark punk going right now. The guitar is a shimmering light of treble coming over the bass which feels super dark and oppressive. The drums are super tight and keep the momentum of the songs at a constant fist pumping tempo. The vocals have an intensity that makes them seem more like commands being yelled at you in short controlled bursts. This is definitely going to be a constant on my turntable for a while. Here’s Vines which might be one of my favorites.

 

Modern Art: Oriental Towers 12” – A cool reissue of Modern Art’s second cassette. A cross between minimal synth and the poppier side of post-punk, there’s a lot of elements of the music world of the early 80s. The whole thing while being super upbeat and poppy has a gloom that seems to hang over it. It’s like walking through a dying industrial town on an overcast day. Here’s a music video for the very Echo & The Bunnymen esque title track

Outta Style: Vol 1 - May 2017

Ok so as you’ve seen we’re changing things up a little around SSR, especially on the internet end of things. We’re all super excited about it and hope you all are also. This one’s a little long because we’ve gotten a ton of cool stuff in and because I’ve been super behind, but as far as right now goes the plan is that I’ll be posting a more condensed version of the newsletter every other Monday under the name Outta Style. While there’s always a possibility of it not making it up every Monday (for example this is being posted on a Tuesday) I’m going to try my best to make it happen. So with that said the next post will be on June 12th. But yeah there’s tons of stuff to talk about and I know I didn’t even get to half of what I wanted to write about.

Skull Cult: Vol. 1 Cassette - This is six minutes of manic intensity. Lots of lo-fi KBD feels with a midwest flavor. Super treble soaked guitar, cheap casio sounding keys and probably the tightest drums and super locked in, solid as they come bass. The vocals have a very Liquids feel to them, I think it's all of the effects/fuzziness of them. This features member(s?) of the great Buttzz who's great Summer Luvin tape I loved. While Buttzz were very Ramones-esque pop weirdness Skull Cult are more like a hyper-active Nubs. But yeah get in on the ground level before the hype whisks this one away because this tape is HOT! Also go down to your local recruiting station and get yourself enlisted in the cult, I know I'm going to.

 

Skull Cult: Vol. 2 Cassette - The second helping of Skull Cult's brand of keyboard infused punk insanity. This one somehow seems crunchier yet poppier than the last tape. Maybe it's the addition of a second keyboard allowing for more complex melodies? The keys definitely have more of an Ausmuteants vibe on this one and feel a lot more up front while the vocals get pushed a little bit more to the back. Skull Cult definitely feel free to skip around between the super tight high-energy punk and poppier tunes more akin to related band Buttzz (what that relation is I'm still clueless on). If you liked their first tape then what is there to lose on getting this one? I mean it costs less than your fancy coffee and will probably get you more ready to face the day and in the end make you a better person. Also after some intense research I have found some documentation that makes me assume that Skull Cult is possibly one person and also has live drums.

Nurse: Discography 12” – Let’s be honest, I’m not raking in the money at SSR. I make an honest living doing this but you know am not about to drop $300 on two 7”s no matter how great they are. And let me tell you the two records that make up this discography are pretty great. The first flexi is super raw and once you get past the endless cheat beat you can tell it’s something special. This has a weird feel of American hardcore in the riffs, kind of Negative Approach like in their simplicity. While a majority of it is pretty straight forward and fast the last song sounds like Part 1 or something, it has that slow stomping funeral dirge feel to it. The second Ep definitely is a little clearer in the recording and features a more prominent bass sound to carry the songs. The songs definitely are slower and not the straight 1-2 beat. Everything just feels a million times more competent and clearer. It definitely has more of a Stalin vibe in it’s kind of more mid paced rock riffs with the flanged (I suck at picking out guitar effects) out guitar? Also there’s some sick guitar fuzzed out guitar solos on this one. This big change obviously comes from Tatsu from Gastunk taking over guitar duties. Definitely a cool piece of history, especially if you’re interested in Japanese Hardcore/Punk and don’t have a wad of cash laying around to get the originals. Here’s some cool live footage of Nurse (not the best quality but still cool)

ISS: (Endless Pussyfooting) Cassette – Another bout of acerbic genius from ISS. If you aren’t clear on what ISS is well, there are two guys, one from Whatever Brains and the other from Brain Flannel, pretty much they sample drums and other random things (such as some X-ray Spex sax) from punk songs and then use it as the foundation for writing their own originals. Super catchy and original, I really can think of little to compare this to. If you checked out their great Studs tape you’ll recognize some of the songs on here like the amazing penISS envy which is a song comprised totally of Crass song titles. I can only imagine how hard putting these vocals was. With lots of weird little skits and samples this plays like a bizarre mixtape, all the songs have a similar core feeling to them but are all vastly different. Even the instrumentation on them is pretty all over the place. A really brilliant release all the way through and highly recommended.

Komplications: Human 12” - Whoa this is like everything I want right now. Super fuzzy synths with bouncy drums and very uk anarcho feeling vocals (I know it’s mostly just the accent but the delivery reminds me of The Subhumans) that also kind of remind me of ISS. This feels super light hearted and fun, no gloom to be found here. Everything just feels perfect on this as far as mix goes. This is a joy to listen to on headphones due to some cool panning stuff with the two synths. Punks with synths is a trend I can always get behind.

Kurraka: Otra Dimension Cassette – Every time I talk with someone about Kurraka it’s really hard not to just yell it like at the beginning of their LP. I was actually working at a record fair the other week and saw a person across the room wearing a Kurraka shirt and had to fight everything in me to not just be a nerd and yell it at them. This tape is definitely a little darker and more spacey feeling than their LP, a lot more brooding than raging. Don’t get me wrong though, this thing still rages. It definitely has a lot of ties into the darker side of anarcho-punk, the dark thick fuzzy guitar and bass definitely hit those Rudimentary Peni feelings. The drums pound away while the vocals go screaming off into the void with tons of delay. This one is definitely to listen to in a dark room with some candles lit. This one is definitely going to be played a ton around the shop.

Ataxxia: S/T 7” – Definitely drenched in Scandinavian Hardcore worship, this has some members of other bands but who cares because this rules without having to be legitimized with a previous work history. This is definitely a banger, even the slow stompy parts have so much energy and power. I really love the bass sound on this, it really comes through on the song Anxiety.

Nag – Files 7” – More Nag! Hot off their Total Punk single, this one’s a little darker feeling than False Anxiety, the whole thing seems to focus more on the sonic aesthetics of the group rather than the vocals and chorus like their previous work. The vocals are still there and still super catchy but feel more spread out. But yeah definitely still Nag meaning there’s no reason to not get this. This one still leads to more questions though, like what is the art on the cover? Is it supposed to be a snake (a very similar one is on the Total Punk single). Also is it pronounced Nag or more like Nog? I’m sure we’ll never find out.

Dream Probe: Demo Cassette – On their bandcamp this is described as “Cool Ass Tape” and I definitely agree. New band from Illinois, this is wild and blown out, everything feels in the red on the recording. This reminds me of circle pits at a house show on a beer soaked floor. Definitely super cool and has been getting listens when I’m home alone so I can rage out while drinking my coffee.

Mutual Jerk – S/T 7” – A better recording helps flesh out what was happening on their demo. With very talking vocals that remind me somewhat of Uranium Club or something but with their tongue sticking out at you while flipping you off rather than planted deeply in their cheek. This definitely has a post-punk feel but without the edges sanded down. There’s still lots of splinters and jagged edges to it. This definitely feels more rooted in hardcore than something like Total Control (which the guitar at points reminds me of a little). Listen to while loathing society and other people.

Punk Ekman: S/T 7” – I’m assuming this is at least Joni Ekman from the great Achtungs. Considering that he was one of the main writers of Achtungs stuff this sounds pretty much up that alley but a little more jittery feeling.

Various: Domestic Sampler UNYU 12” – This flat out rules. Lots of weird minimal synth/post-punk from Barcelona. Definitely hits on some of the more avant-garde side of things at points but it’s definitely a cool mix of stuff. The El Grito Acusador song is probably my favorite though.

Erik Nervous – Ice Cream 7” – I’ve been waiting for this one for a while. Erik actually yells on this one but really the guitar stuff on this is a dream and makes the song. But yeah possibly two of the best songs in a very impressive discography. Erik Nervous gets totally punk on this one.