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Hello and thanks for reading. Today I am not writing about a record, but a book. I haven’t really been listening to records lately. I listened to a C.O.C tape this morning, and I listened to this KOHTI TUHOA LP the other night when HELL IS HERE stayed over after their gig in Raleigh. I think KOHTI TUHOA is easily one of the best bands I have seen live. I am lucky to say I have seen them four times. They play so tight. They can maintain pummeling speeds with super catchy riffs, alongside some of the hardest dancing grooves on other songs. Obviously I am already a fan of classic Finnish hardcore, but I can genuinely never get enough KOHTI TUHOA. If for some reason you haven’t yet checked this band out, listen to their last LP. They’ve got a decent amount of studio output, with their first record coming out in 2014. We have a few of their 7”s in stock at the moment. I was pretty drunk in Finland, but I think I recall them saying they will record for a new LP sometime. I can’t wait for that. Speaking of Finland, if you haven’t ordered a copy of the new LAMA boxset—you without a doubt need one!! I will probably write about that at a later time, once my limited version arrives from Svart Records.
Moving on to my staff pick. I am kind of ashamed to admit that I don’t really read books. I have only read two proper novels this year, and that’s more than I’ve read in the last ten years combined probably. When I was a kid, I used to love reading. I remember there being some shit when I was in elementary school where you would get little rewards for each book you read. I think it was just like little stickers on a sheet, haha. I am kind of competitive, so something like that would definitely give me motivation to read more. My housemate has been reading heavily this year and he’s been suggesting books for me to read. The first one I read that he suggested was Inferno. I forget who wrote this one, but it’s related to Dante’s Inferno in some way. The author references it, at least. It was a pretty good book. There was a good twist near the end, and the author did a great job at actually projecting images into your mind.
I started Animal Farm the other night. It’s a pretty short read, so imagine I will finish it next time I sit down to read. I remember we were forced to read this one in high school. Like the majority of my schooling, I paid little to no attention. We watched the movie afterwards as well, which I can also barely remember. George Orwell’s 1984 is kind of renowned in the world of punk, or at least it used to be. I wonder if the young punks these days would know what “big brother is watching you” would be referencing? It’s been a very long time since I’ve read that book. I think I will re-visit it after Animal Farm. George Orwell wrote both of those.
George Orwell was an Englishman who went and fought fascists during the Spanish Civil War. I read that he was shot in the neck and lost one of his vocal cords, but luckily, he survived. Animal Farm was written in late 1943/early 1944 as an allegory of the Russian Revolution. But it is, in many ways, what is happening here and now. He had difficulty getting the book published initially due to its political nature. It was feared the novel would upset the alliance between Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. It was finally published in August of 1945, the same month that the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If you haven’t read this book and you would like to, you can read it for free online.
So, I just finished Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. This book was originally entitled Cadáver Exquisito and it was written in Spanish. It was translated to English in 2020 by Sarah Moses. My housemate gave me a pretty brief introduction before reading, so I went in kinda blind. I figured it would be fucked up though, since he seems to gravitate towards bizarre or gross topics. This book is set some time in the future, but it doesn’t describe what year it is supposed to be. In this future, all the animals (besides humans) have been killed. This is due to a virus that infected all the animals, which made them unsuitable for human consumption. Some believed it was a government conspiracy to decrease the human population. They believed this because cannibalism became a standard practice after the transition. There were regulations on which humans could be eaten, and humans were bred in captivity for human consumption. It’s a pretty horrific book to be honest. The processing of humans for meat they describe is shocking and revolting. But in reality, these processes and procedures are virtually the same for the animals led to slaughter right now in the world as we know it.
The book focuses on a main character who works at a processing plant. He recently had an infant child die, and his wife left him. His dad is in hospice care and suffers from dementia. He seems to just be going through the motions of life while continuing grieve the loss of his child and seemingly hating his job. At some point, someone brings him a gift. The gift is a “female head.” Which is a woman who was bred in captivity. She has no vocal cords, so they cannot communicate. Most people would eat her or sell her. Some people even kept humans alive as they slowly eat them in their own home, as this was the freshest meat. Instead, the main character befriends her and gives her a name. I don’t really want to describe more of the book cos I don’t want to give any spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read it and would like to. While the book is really sad and about a dystopian future, I think it was a captivating read. There was a huge plot twist in the end that totally caught me off guard and fucked me up. I found a free version online that you can read if you want. Alright, I think that’s about it for today then. Thank you for reading, and thanks to everyone for your continued support.