Personality Cult: New Arrows 12” (Dirtnap) North Carolina’s Personality Cult released their debut record on Drunken Sailor in August 2018. While those of us in NC know Ben Carr’s songwriting from his previous bands Last Year’s Men and Natural Causes (whose killer 2017 LP on Sorry State is still available BTW), Personality Cult felt more ambitious, with Ben pushing his songwriting toward a punk-infused take on pop classicism, frequently garnering comparisons to the almighty Buzzcocks. Since the first Personality Cult LP, Ben has put together a full band (having played most of the instruments himself on the first record) and doubled down on his commitment to his craft, and New Arrows is the result. Once again, comparisons to the Buzzcocks are apt, but besides the punk classicism of tracks like “Nothing to Do With It” and “Telephone,” there’s also an adventurous streak that I also associate with the Buzzcocks’ early album tracks and b-sides. The angular rhythms and unexpected timing of standout “Pressure Point” is one example, as is the epic closer “5-30,” which borrows the Krautrock-informed, evolving repetition motif the Buzzcocks explored on tracks like “Late for the Train” and “Why Can’t I Touch It.” I should stop referencing the Buzzcocks, though, because New Arrows doesn’t come off like an imitation, but an attempt to rise to that level. Personality Cult plays hard and fast like a punk band, but when you listen to these songs they’re arranged meticulously, brimming with little bits of ear candy in the fills and transitions without detracting from the immediacy of the hooks or the relentless forward momentum. New Arrows is the furthest thing from the unimaginative genre exercises that plague modern punk, reminding me of an era when bands and songwriters put everything they had into making the best songs and records possible.
What follows is a series of questions that Daniel from Sorry State Records posed to Fitness Womxn, who answered via email during the winter of 2019-2020, just as their LP New Age Record was being released on Sorry State. New Age Record is out now and available on vinyl directly from Sorry State as well as digitally through BandCamp and all of the major streaming services.
Fitness Womxn is Ditch Witch, Trash Bag, Dirt Diva, and Volt Vixen.
First of all, can you tell us when and how Fitness Womxn came together?
fw: Yes and no? It began as a non-serious cover band. DW, TB, and DD wanted to learn to play instruments, write music, and have some fun while doing it. For the first few months or so of playing together, we would pile into TB’s room and jam on covers from a variety of ~rock~ stuff: the Cramps, Delta 5, Gang of Four, Babes in Toyland, the Supremes, feedtime, … Fall Out Boy...., among others >:}. Eventually, we got more comfortable with our instruments and writing our own stuff. After releasing Macho City, we felt like it was time to branch out from the three-piece and so VV joined on synth to help us achieve final form. We all knew each other from doing college radio in the Triangle (WXYC 89.3 and WXDU 88.7) and this project felt like a great way to get further into our interests in music/creativity as well as the local scene.
It seems like Fitness Womxn is more than just a name--it seems to be a concept that ties together a lot of the subjects you address in your lyrics. What have you learned by diving deep into these concepts over the past few years? Does the name Fitness Womxn mean something different to you today than when the band started?
fw: The name originally came from a goofy reference—it was just a placeholder. We thought we would change it eventually, but by the time our first show happened we couldn’t think of anything else that really worked. It also efficiently conveyed our trans, queer identities. It grew into being a great metaphor through which we could articulate the pseudo-robotic and program-based reality we try to address in a lot of our lyrics. In that sense it did evolve over time. Expressing our weirdo, manic, put-on-but-quickly-cracking aesthetic in the Fit Bits was a very natural thing. It’s hard for even us to tell if the name just fit (ha…) what we were trying to do with project or if our sound molded into the name itself.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to stop playing together as Fitness Womxn for now because bandmates moved away and it was time for other projects to come to life. We love to joke about a "Wellness Womxn” tour in 40 years, though! It would probably be less on the dumbbells and squats and more on the herbal tea and like… listening to actual new age records.
Speaking of lyrics, I wonder what your lyric-writing process is like. I think Fitness Womxn's lyrics are incredible. Like a lot of my favorite art, as soon as I think I'm starting to get a handle on what it might "mean," that meaning seems to slide out from under me, opening up new possibilities for interpretation. Do you usually have a topic in mind that you write lyrics about, or do words or sounds or snippets come first? Do the lyrics usually get composed before or after the music?
fw: It's different for everyone. The process of writing any of our songs starts with one member bringing a small piece of a song to the group, whether that's an instrumental bit or a lyrical snippet. From there, we would just fool around with stuff and record a lot of jamming out. After listening back on some of the recordings, we normally we find a thing or two we liked and grow from there.
DD: I can never write lyrics before music. I focus a lot on how the words work with the music. I'll try a ton of different lines until I hit one that feels good. I never intentionally pick a theme before I write lyrics but I always end up one by the end of it. I learned a lot about what is important to me in the moment when I wrote lyrics.
TB: The lyric writing process was always morphing for me, whether lyrics happen before or after music. But almost always, I came out on the other side of writing lyrics feeling some sense of relief about something. So, ya know - Art Therapy, Baby!!!! A general theme for me when writing for FW had to do with relations to dissonance. I often tried to capture a visceral physicality of struggling to find resolution for an internal conflict. Using some version of humor frequently played a part in that. As for finding the lyrics, sometimes I had to sift through a pile of word vomit and other times, phrases just appeared in day-to-day life. It never felt forced.
DW: One of the arguably best things about FW’s lyric-writing process is writing something that doesn’t start as lyrics at all. There’s no topic. And maybe they should never become lyrics, but by the time practice is over, these words you had to get out regardless of the project are taking on new contours, new intonations, eating up space in someone else’s brain. Having someone else sing the words you write to the rhythm of your own inner experience completely changes what they mean in the best way.
You've said in a few different places that you're inspired by the no wave movement. When I think of no wave I tend to think of music that's noisy or skronky--stuff like DNA or the Contortions--but I find Fitness Womxn's music quite tuneful. Can you elaborate on what inspires you about no wave and how that manifests itself in your music?
fw: There are quite a few genres that heavily-influenced the written music of FW - mainly post-punk, disco, and no wave. Why we started leaning towards the “No Wave-inspired” descriptor later in the game was to loosen up some potential genre boundaries for us. And while we are definitely inspired by No Wave, we didn't try to be a No Wave band.
We love the playfulness and tongue-in-cheek elements that No Wave uses in distorting and deranging familiar themes. We wanted to channel a similar energy into this project. Easy was written explicitly with the Contortions in mind. Creatures sounds the way it does because of DNA. But many of our songs drew influences from other genres. Our writing process was always super loose. We ended up writing stuff that was influenced more by the moment in time when we wrote it over a particular style.
For lack of a better term, there's an "artiness" to Fitness Womxn's music. I think some of you might also have backgrounds in and/or be involved with the art world currently. Would you agree with that assessment of your music? Do you have any opinions on how the art world and the underground punk scene do or should relate to one another?
fw: The way we wrote music didn't feel any different than the way we make anything else, performance, visual art, etc. All of it came from a similar energy and it always came from collaboration. Almost all of the artwork we made for FW was made in a similar spirit of our music writing process. It’s always been mashed together bits of time and feelings from each of us.
We talked about No Wave as an influence because, in some ways, it felt like a chance for us to have no rules. Maybe that’s our interpretation of how No Wave stuff exists in context of a larger “underground punk scene,” but this project was always more about an energy rather than a tangible sound or genre. We guess that’s art or something? Besides, didn’t genre die?
On the whole, New Age Record seems less angry than your previous release, Macho City... at least there aren't any moments as venomous as "Tastemaker." Do you think that's the case? If so, what would you chalk that up to?
fw: There are many ways to express anger. We think that New Age Record is actually a lot more venomous than MC. There's a lot of really deep anxiety in NAR that didn't manifest in MC. This probably has to do with the fact that MC were the first songs that any of us have ever written. Yelling, being visibly angry was a new cathartic experience.
But no outburst is eternal. With time, we found a way to interact with these emotions in a different way.
On New Age Record you redo a couple of songs that appeared on previous releases (like "Easy" from American Idylls" and "Rag" from Macho City). The versions on New Age Record are substantially different and it's easy to see why you'd want people to hear them, but as someone who's played in bands over the years, I'm wondering how you came to the decision to re-record them. Where you trying to capture something in the new versions that didn't come across on the earlier recordings?
fw: We got a new band member! These songs didn't feel "done" the first time we recorded them. VV added new parts to these tracks, rearranging them into new songs. The new forms needed to be shared on record. The original versions of some of these songs were so tightly wound that it presented an interesting challenge to contribute to them. Others had a clear opening for more elaborate synth parts, it felt like finding the last piece of a puzzle hidden behind the cardboard flap of the box.
Also, those songs still felt very important to us. They were what we related to and what we worked on in that moment. All of the songs for NAR were written closely together. We wanted to put out and finish a record before DW moved away and so we took what we had and committed to it. It's a special record to us because it so completely captures the energy of that moment in time.
We think a lot of the strength of the record is that we didn't work on it over a long period of time. We forced ourselves to make quick decisions, which kept us on our toes during recording. We hope this record keeps listeners on their toes in turn.
Sirkka: Kuluttava Kone cassette (self-released) Four-track demo cassette from this band out of New York, but with lyrics in Finnish. The music also has the frantic yet sophisticated vibe of a lot of classic Finnish hardcore, but not in a way that cops any particular band’s style. “Onkalo,” the opening track (and the longest on the tape) reminds me of Rattus circa their LP for Ratcage Records, while “Lopeta Illman Myrkytys” seems inspired by Discharge’s classic mid-paced tracks by way of Riistetyt’s Valtion Vankina album. Sirkka isn’t one of those bands that just reminds me of other bands I like, though; these four tracks have a timeless, classic quality. I hope Sirkka isn’t one of those flash in the pan bands that drops a great demo and disappears, because I could use a lot more of this in my life.
Cometbus #59: Post-Mortem zine (self-published) Since Cometbus is a long-running punk institution and I’ve never written about it before, it’s probably appropriate to mention my personal history with the zine. In a word, I have none. While, at some point, I purchased Despite Everything, which compiles material from their first twenty years, this issue, #59, is the only one I’ve ever read cover to cover. While those early issues look cool, the tiny, hand-written lettering never agreed with my eyes. I suppose I also associate Cometbus with corners of the punk scene that I’ve never felt at home in; I’ve never squatted, never hopped a train, and Crimpshrine’s music never grabbed me. However, I couldn’t tear myself away from Post-Mortem, devouring its 130-ish pages in less than 24 hours. This issue's title is Post-Mortem because Cometbus is attempting what he calls a post-mortem of the underground. What that means is that he looks at a bunch of different punk institutions—a mix of record labels, squats, magazines and publishers, leftist / anarchist bookstores, DIY venues, and even one vegan donut shop—interviewing their founders and the people who keep them running and reflecting on how those institutions got to where they are today. Calling this issue a post-mortem seems to imply that these institutions (or perhaps even the underground as a whole) have died, but most of them are still alive and well. Some of them have gotten bigger and some haven’t, but all of them have gone through difficult periods. While I wouldn’t be so bold as to rank Sorry State alongside Cometbus’s subjects, I feel a kinship with many of them, so the subject hits close to home. And while it doesn’t have the intellectual rigor of a scientific study (as evidenced by my fuzziness on exactly what this issue’s project is), Cometbus is a thoughtful person and a capable writer, making this a joy to read. So, while I can’t predict how this issue might play with the Cometbus superfans, you don’t have to be one to enjoy it.
Razorblades and Aspirin #8 zine We’ve carried previous issues of the Richmond-based zine Razorblades and Aspirin, but #8 is a near-total reboot, shifting from a photo-zine to a more traditional mix of content, including interviews and record reviews alongside the eye candy. It’s also been scaled-up to full-size rather than half-size, and the beautiful photography (much of it full-color) that has always been the zine’s trademark looks even better. The writing is also excellent. While the reviews aren’t critical (sounding more like the descriptions I write for Sorry State than opinions or analyses), they are informative, and the interviews are very strong. They speak to a few photographers (which makes sense given the zine’s focus) as well as Radio Raheem Records, Dropdead, Integrity, Mark from Youth Attack, and several more. The questions and the answers are both thoughtful and interesting, a cut well above your typical DIY punk zine. I just got an email notification that their next issue is already in the works with a plan to publish quarterly, so I look forward to devouring a new one of these every few months.
Liquid Assets: SNC Lava Lamp 7” (Schizophrenic)This debut 7” from Ottawa’s Liquid Assets has a different vibe than their demo from last year. Like the demo, SNC Lava Lamp dances back and forth over the line between hardcore and ripping fast garage-punk, but these tracks are more unhinged. The two short tracks on the A-side both sound like Angry Samoans’ snot-punk filtered through the sensibility of later-era Gauze, with unexpected changes that keep you on your heels, struggling to stay upright. The longer b-side track, “Never Enough,” also defies expectations, starting off as another ripper but transitioning into a breakdown about four times as long as the fast part of the song. The big riffs and occasional lead guitar flourishes might be tongue in cheek, but maybe they’re just fun, immediate, and not over thought. At any rate, this is a wild little ripper with more than enough weirdness to make it stand out from the pack.
F.U.P.: Noise and Chaos 12” (Bitter Lake) Bitter Lake Records offers us another slice of obscure Japanese hardcore, this time from F.U.P., who were active in the late 80s and early 90s in Sapporo, on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. I wasn’t familiar with F.U.P. before this release; they only released cassettes and two tracks on the Sapporo City Hardcore flexi on MCR Records while they were around. The insert is a little confusing about which of these tracks come from which sessions / releases, but assuming that the tracks on the LP are in chronological order, F.U.P.’s earlier material had a strong 80s Japanese hardcore influence, with the Discharge-inspired rhythms and gruff vocals reminding me of many classic 80s Japanese hardcore releases. While many of those bands suffered from primitive and/or idiosyncratic recordings, all the tracks on this LP sound fantastic, revealing a band who executed their stark compositions with power and precision, much like S.O.A. was doing in America a decade earlier. While F.U.P.’s early stuff is strong (and recommended listening if you enjoyed the Secretors flexi we wrote about last week), for me the real treat is the later tracks. On the latter part of the LP, F.U.P. is a three-piece with drummer Oichin taking over vocals, and his percussive style reminds me of Fugu from Gauze. As with Bitter Lake's last release from Kyosanto, fans of classic Japanese hardcore won’t want to miss this one.
No Blues: A Collection of Love Songs 12” (Schizohrenic) A Collection of Love Songs is a discography release from this Canadian band, bringing together their cassette on Blow Blood Records together with their two 7”s and five new tracks. If you didn’t catch any of those releases the first time around, No Blues plays raw, poppy punk with big hooks. The “underwater” vocal sound will remind you of their fellow Canadians Booji Boys, but No Blues’s big riffs and sunny melodies sound like they’re culled straight from MTV’s 90s Buzz Bin. Many of these tracks sound like they could have evolved into Weezer or Nada Surf songs, if only they were four times as long and recorded with something higher than kvlt black metal fidelity. The overall vibe is similar to Tony Molina, but again, much noisier and more primitive. If you like your melodic punk with a layer of grime to balance out the sugary sweetness, you’ll be all over this. Better act quick, though, because only 100 copies exist.
Detractors: S/T cassette (Desolate) Before I heard Minneapolis’s Detractors I saw them described as an “American Paintbox,” which had me intrigued. It’s hard not to see the resemblance, as Detractors also marry a classic Japanese hardcore style with elements of melodic, west coast-style hardcore, edging almost uncomfortably close to the more ripping and shredding end of the Fat Wreck spectrum. Aside from the weird vocal thing that introduces “Crickets,” you won’t find any of Paintbox’s zaniness, though; consequently, the overall vibe of these six tracks reminds me more of Forward’s catchiest material (like, say, the Fucked Up album) with a big helping of Chelsea-style shredding added in for good measure. While it’s unfair to evaluate this tape based on how much it sounds or does not sound like Paintbox, there isn’t much else out there with a similar combination of heaviness and melody. As with Paintbox when they were around, that combination might alienate less open-minded listeners, but I’m loving the big production, adventurous songwriting, and powerful, almost virtuosic playing.
Lithics: Wendy Kraemer 12” (Moone Records)
Portland’s Lithics have been around for a few years now, having released two full-lengths and an incredible single on Thrilling Living, which featured one of my favorite songs of the past several years, “Photograph, You of.” Wendy Kraemer, though, isn’t a new full-length but a vinyl re-release of an earlier cassette. Lithics’ sound on their other records is stoic, precise, and maybe even a little cold, but Wendy Kraemer is different, collecting practice tapes, home recordings, and other less polished audio artifacts. You’ll recognize many of the songs from the versions that appeared on the records, but these versions are loose, warm, and intimate. It feels like looking through a great artist’s sketchbook, and I love it. If you’re a fan of Lithics, this is a must-hear, but there’s no reason that unfamiliarity should stop you from sampling this lo-fi gem.
Sacrifice: Total Steel 12” (Bitter Lake)
I’ll start with first impressions: When I first saw the artwork on this record, I thought to myself, “Wow, this literally looks like a 90s-era Motörhead record.” -- both by the artwork and of course Sacrifice also being the title of a 90s Motörhead album. Funny enough, after listening to “Total Steel”, I don’t think I was too far off.
Sacrifice is a metal band from Japan that was active from the mid 80s into the early 90s, and to be honest, they really weren’t on my radar until this reissue. Bitter Lake has done some killer reissues of Japanese bands over the last few years, but until now, they’ve seemed to mainly tackle post-punk and hardcore -- so a thrash metal album from 1990 was a bit of a surprise. I came to learn that Total Steel is actually Sacrifice’s 2nd album, and that their debut Crest of Black is considered a Japanese metal cult classic. I went back and checked out Crest of Black, which has a much rawer and darker sound, almost like Venom or Possessed. To my ears, Total Steel is a huge leap from their first record. It feels more ambitious in terms of musical execution, tightness and amazingly heavy, but crisp production. The guitarist’s lead playing on this record is absolutely blistering.
One of things that Bitter Lake’s description discusses is that perhaps part of the reason Total Steel isn’t held in as high of a regard as the first album is that in 1990 it was only released on CD. Crazy to think that 2020 is the first time this record has ever been available on vinyl. Hopefully now all you punk-metal degenerates will get hip to this Sacrifice record because I think it’s a monster.
Dark Thoughts: Must Be Nice 12” (Stupid Bag) Dark Thoughts’ 3rd LP is out, and I think it’s their best one yet. If you heard the first two, this one is a little different, with less of a stylized, Ramones-influenced sound. There are very few bells and whistles (except for the literal bells on the climactic closing track), and an apparently simple formula: take some smart and heartfelt lyrics, find a 3 or 4-chord progression that goes along with their tone, and bash it out as power chords with Ramones-style drums playing at an appropriate tempo (mid-paced to super fast, depending on the tone). For most bands, that would be a fast track to a bunch of generic and boring songs, but for Dark Thoughts the minimal ornamentation highlights how great these songs are. The lyrics give me all the feels (as the kids were saying in the not-too-distant past), and every track has the fist-pumping, energetic and anthemic sound that makes Dark Thoughts one of the few pop-punk bands it’s OK for hardcore folks to like. The overall tone and vibe is similar to what I consider the peak period of Screeching Weasel, i.e. their run of LPs from My Brain Hurts through How to Make Enemies and Irritate People, but if you whittled those records down to the faster, darker tracks like “Hanging Around,” “The Science of Myth,” “Every Night,” etc. Like most of the individual tracks, the LP is short, but it's such a thrilling listen that I often play it a few times in a row, something I rarely do with other records. I’ve been playing Must Be Nice since the digital version first went online back in December, and it shows no signs of leaving the “current listening” pile any time soon.
Dolly Mixture: Other Music 12” (Sealed Records) The UK’s Sealed Records is establishing themselves as one of the foremost punk reissue labels on the planet, and this latest LP from Dolly Mixture continues their hot streak. Dolly Mixture is a pretty obscure band—they never released a proper LP, which didn’t help their legacy—but they’re the very definition of a cult band, with a passionate fanbase who keeps prices on their hard-to-find original vinyl releases sky-high. Their self-released Demonstration Tapes double LP compilation, in particular, is many a collector’s holy grail. Musically, they sound to me like a missing link between the homespun UKDIY pop of bands like Television Personalities and the early shoegaze bands. Like the TVPs, they’re rough around the edges but have great pop songcraft (and awesome bass playing!), but on their later material they’re somewhat darker and more influenced by the Velvet Underground. Other Music collects eleven tracks that have never appeared on vinyl before, ranging from across their original time as a band, which ran from 1978 to 1984. I’m no expert on the band, but if you’re interested in Dolly Mixture, I don’t see why you shouldn’t pick up Other Music. If you’re a die-hard fan of the band, you’ll want these tracks on vinyl, but if you’re a newcomer, Other Music offers a more digestible introduction to the band than either Demonstration Tapes or the Everything and More compilation, both of which are so long as to be unwieldy. You’d better make your choice quickly, though, as demand seems to be exceeding supply on this release.
Zyanose: Total End of Existence 12” (Distort Reality) Zyanose is winding down their time as a band, and Total End of Existence is their send-off, with 7 new tracks on the a-side, re-recordings of 6 older songs on the b-side, and beautiful packaging, including a Crass Records-style poster sleeve and obi strip. Zyanose has an imposing discography but Total End of Existence is a fitting capstone and an ear-splitter that’s worth your time whether or not you’ve followed them closely. If you aren’t familiar with Zyanose, they come from the noisiest and most aesthetically radical end of the hardcore punk spectrum. Descended from anti-music forbears like Confuse and Gai, Zyanose’s songs have no trace of melody and rarely lock into a consistent rhythm. This isn’t music to dance to; it’s music that’s meant to hold a mirror to an ugly, corrupt, and decaying world. Not that I don’t enjoy listening to it; like the best noise-punk bands (the aforementioned and my modern favorite D-Clone), Zyanose’s music is dynamic and exciting, even more so since it generates its power without ever straying into the cliches of pop or rock music. Basically, this is the gnarliest shit out there, and it feels like they’re leaving everything on the field with Total End of Existence. We hear lots of “noise not music” here at Sorry State, but this is top shelf, one of the wildest, most radical slabs of wax I’ve heard in recent memory.
Bedwetters Anonymous: Have U Experienced Discomfort 7” (Neon Taste) This 5-song debut EP from Canada’s Bedwetters Anonymous is one of those rare records that feels as well-crafted and powerful as the best 70s punk. Much of contemporary punk rock is primitive and raw, but Bedwetters Anonymous—despite their low-brow name—isn’t afraid to display their musical chops. The label’s description mentions the Weirdos as a point of comparison, and that’s the reference point I keep going back to. Besides the vocalist’s similar vibrato, these tracks have a balance of speed, power, and anthemic melody that likens them to the Weirdos’ best stuff. All five tracks are strong, but “Heistville” gets my vote for the standout anthem. As well as having great hooks, Bedwetters Anonymous are great song arrangers, building loans of cool fills and transitions into their songs to make sure everything hits with maximum impact. Have U Experienced Discomfort is so catchy that it could appeal to fans of a band like the Briefs, but it’s gritty and fast enough for a hardcore guy like me too.
Lux: New Day 7” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Lux hasn’t changed much since their full-length debut two years ago, but you won’t find me complaining. Their double-tracked vocals still sound uncannily like Vice Squad, but as before I think Lux is about a million times better. Their riffs and rhythms seem simple on the surface, but Lux packs these songs with subtle touches that keep them moving at an exciting clip. A lot of punk bands make records that are sonically dense and crowded, but New Day breathes. I’m often attracted to music that sounds very noisy and chaotic but makes sense as your ear unpacks it, but this is the opposite. New Day feels like a dumb punk record with big riffs and anthemic choruses, but when you listen closely you realize there’s nothing simple or obvious about these songs.
Membrane: S/T 7” (Byllepest Distro) Debut vinyl from this Oakland hardcore band on the Norweigan label Byllepest. Stylistically, Membrane reminds me of the Invasión / Destino Final school of hardcore, influenced by Discharge and Disclose (the recording here is particularly Disclose-esque), but without the mannered attention to stylistic detail of a clone / worship band. This EP isn’t the rawest, the fastest, or the catchiest thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s a solid slab of noisy, fist-pumping hardcore.
Celluloid Lunch #3 zine Latest issue of this old school-style zine out of Montreal, with at least one member of the Protruders serving as an author / coordinator. This kind of zine is nearly extinct nowadays: a thoroughly old school affair full of cut-and-paste layouts and heaps of interviews, tour diaries, record reviews, comics, and other content. One thing I like about Celluloid Lunch is that it doesn’t seem confined to one scene; there are interviews with Toody Cole of Dead Moon, John Sinclair (manager of the MC5), Christina Pap from Vanilla Poppers, and tour diaries from Puzzlehead and Cement Shoes. There’s a little something for everyone in this thick, square bound zine.
A.T. Det: Last Child Has No Power 7" (More Records)
There were so many good new records in the shop this week I didn’t spend a lot of time listening to other music, but I spent one evening sitting on the couch putting together a YouTube playlist of obscure Japanese punk EPs that I’ll never own. One EP I was listening to that I’ve never heard much chatter about is the Last Child Has No Power EP from A.T. Det. I know essentially nothing about the band. As far as I know this 1985 EP on More Records is the only thing they released. According to Discogs, More Records only had four releases, including another incredible, underrated EP by Headless and the infamous State Children EP Bomb Shelter for Money Making. Anyway, Last Child Has No Power is a killer slice of metallic Japanese punk with the crazy guitar leads and gruff vocals we all go crazy for.
Lux: New Day 7” (La Vida Es Un Mus) This Barcelona punk band return with a new 4-song EP, following up their 2017 full-length, which I was a big fan of. Lux’s sound brings to mind other contemporary bands like Exotica, where they fuse UK82 style pogo punk with the interesting rhythms of anarcho punk. The catchy basslines are drenched in chorus, bringing a gothy sensibility as well. The drummer Louis, who has played in Fata Morgana, Good Throb, and a whole bunch of other bands, brings a powerful but primitive approach to the drumming, almost tribal, where it basically sounds like he's muscling through it. The vocals, which I believe are sang by the same vocalist as that band Sect, are super up front in the mix and have an interesting vibe being double-tracked all the way through. I feel like the vocals are the focal point of the band. They almost have a shrieking, banshee like quality at times, but what makes them distinct is the great sense of melody and vocal hooks, which are hard to pull off tastefully in hardcore punk these days. Killer EP.
The Temptations: 1990. Motown 1973
Perhaps at first glance this may seem like an odd choice but really it isn’t, so stop all the snickering at the back. Firstly, The Temptations are legends and their greatness doesn’t need debating nor does pretty much anything that came out on Motown and secondly this record kicks ass and is worthy of your time and investigation.
I am a huge fan of records that are common place, cheap and good. The type of records that if they had come out on a small label by an obscure artist would be a collector’s piece and fetch big bucks. This is definitely one of those. We sold the copy I was playing in the store for $5. Two customers almost got into a bidding war with each other to buy it but I assured them that it wasn’t a rare record and another copy would be easy to find.
So why all the fuss? Well the record was titled 1990 and it seems that that The Temptations got into a time machine and visited not only the 90’s but present day America too. The title track “1990” and “Ain’t No Justice” both sound ever so appropriate today, with the lyrical content of “Ain’t No Justice” really hitting the present day mood of the country.
A big reason why this record is so great and why other Temptations records are also just as good is down to their producer Norman Whitfield. One of the Motown producers that helped shape the sound of the label during the late sixties and seventies and introduced psychedelic rock and trippy funk sounds to the label. His work with not only The Temptations but The Undisputed Truth is so revolutionary for the times and really brought the Motown sound up to date and indeed into the future. Just like at Chess/Cadet records where Charles Stepney was creating magic for The Rotary Connection and at Capitol & Reprise where David Axelrod was producing future sounding records for himself and acts like The Electric Prunes, at Motown Norman Whitfield was the man. He used The Undisputed Truth as his experimental band and often tested productions out on their records before having other bigger names like The Temptations record their versions.
On 1990 the music is handled by the Motown session players including Funk Brother James Jamerson on bass and James Gadson on drums. Detroit guitar legends Dennis Coffey and Melvin “Wah Wah” Ragin bring the heat with tasty licks a plenty and on keyboards Earl Van Dyke adds his sublime touches. Vocally the group sound on top of their game and on 1990 we get to hear them shooting the shit in the studio and chatting about the state of the world. It’s entertaining and sort of predates the whole skit thing and studio chatter that became a must have for hip hop records of the 90’s and 2000’s. In fact, I was playing the record at home and my girlfriend came in from the other room and asked whether this was Outkast that was playing. Actually, a perfect response and a tribute to the how forward thinking Whitfield was with his productions.
When you play the record, the first couple of tracks sound like the sort of funky soul you expected from the record. Third track “Heavenly” serves as a sorbet to clear your palette for the rest of the record. From then on, the time machine is fired up and we are in the future. It’s ripping soul with funky guitar on “You’ve Got My Soul On Fire” and then the previously mentioned social commentary of “Ain’t No Justice” and on side two “1990”. The record ends with “Zoom”, almost fourteen minutes of brilliance. A truly awesome listen and a record that you can pick up easily and cheaply. Go find your copy.
Reek Minds: S/T 7” (Edger) Debut 7” from this hardcore band out of Portland, Oregon on Edger Records, the same label that brought us Suck Lords and Putzfrau. Reek Minds plays a similar style of high-velocity hardcore, and if you were a fan of those bands I recommend checking this out. Reek Minds is one of those rare bands that sounds both mind-bogglingly technical and totally brutal. They have a tempo change about every 1.5 seconds, like you’re flipping as fast as you can between channels playing vintage footage of Septic Death, Pick Your King-era Poison Idea, the Abused, and Siege. You wouldn’t think something this frantic could be so catchy, but I find myself trying to cram in fist pumps and solo mosh moves before Reek Minds moves to the next part. A lot of that catchiness is down to their great vocalist, who sounds about as much like Jerry A circa Pick Your King as a human being can. With eight action-packed tracks, this one provides value for money without wasting a microsecond of your time. After playing this record, it’s all I can do to lift my jaw off the floor, flip it over, and play it again. Seriously, get this NOW.
Fuga: Sin Frontera Sin Nacion cassette (self-released) A few weeks ago we had the second tape from Santa Ana, California’s Fuga and now we have their debut in stock. While Fuga’s combination of Discharge-inspired chaos and UK82 bounce doesn’t sound super original on paper, their way of combining those styles feels fresh and unique. The killer opening track, “Orgullo Idiota,” is a perfect example. It’s built around a catchy, major-key riff that wouldn’t be out of place on an early Casualties record, moves to a simpler, more Discharge-inspired riff during the chorus and the guitar solo splits the difference, taking a simple street punk-style lead and imbuing it with a heaping helping of Bones-inspired chaos. It all sounds seamless, particularly given that the raw and desperate vocals provide a consistent through line. These are just the comparisons that pop into my head because I’m a giant record nerd; the bottom line is that this tape is raw and vital hardcore punk the way it should sound.
Subversive Rite: Live in Japan cassette (Chaotic Uprising) Just like it says on the cover, this is a live set recorded on Subversive Rite’s recent Japanese tour. It sounds great; everything is audible, but there’s enough room sound to make it feel like a proper live recording. More importantly, the band is on fire. I love how live recordings can show a different side of a band or a song, and that’s the case here. The songs are noticeably faster than the studio versions and the band feels more vicious, with a lunging, unhinged energy that reminds me of Poison Idea’s Pick Your King EP. That this is a live recording might turn some people off, but it’s their loss; this thing rages.
Acute: _ みだら_ 12” (Desolate Records)New six-song, 45rpm 12” from this Japanese hardcore band that has been kicking around for at least a decade now. The tracks remind me of back in the early 2000s when Hardcore Holocaust was importing every title on Blood Sucker Records and I was buying as many of them as I could afford. A lot of it was ripping, but some of it was off the wall, especially to a young person who just wanted everything to rage at maximum capacity all the time. Acute can rage, but they have that oddball quality that I love about so many Japanese hardcore bands. These six tracks are full of quirky rhythms and changes, odd and unexpected vocal performances (a la what Crow was doing on some of their later records on Prank), and interesting production touches such as haunting backing vocals lurking low in the mix. While it’s not as confrontationally eclectic as something like Paintbox’s Trip, Trance, & Traveling, it’s on the quirkier end of Japanese hardcore. However, if you’re a fan of that style I’d check this out.
Secretors: Antidote for Civilization 7” flexi (Roach Leg) The debut four-song flexi from this New York band is a treat for those of us who love the early Japanese hardcore sound. Secretors’ primitive but catchy riffing style and straightforward drumming are a dead ringer for the great G-Zet, so if you’re a big fan of that band you’ll want to hear this. However, Secretors’ blown out, dirty production and harsh, delay-drenched vocals also imbue it with the sinister vibe I associate with GISM and Zouo. It’s dark and creepy, but rather than pushing you away with aggression, it seems to beckon you toward it seductively. More than just another good hardcore record, the unique feel of this one makes it stand out from the pack.
Ramones: It’s Alive 12” (Rhino)
This week the Ramones’ legendary live LP got an official reissue on Rhino Records. I’ve owned It’s Alive for around two decades now so it’s not a new record for me, but I’m thankful this new reissue prompted me to revisit it. Critics have credited It’s Alive with helping to birth hardcore punk because the performances here are so fast… in most cases much faster than the studio versions. While, at this point, we’ve all heard music that’s much faster, It’s Alive is still a relentless record. Five years into their career when they recorded this show, the Ramones were master showmen, and the transitions between songs (or lack thereof) and legendary stage patter are a big part of the draw here. Since It’s Alive didn't originally come out in the US you don’t see the vinyl here too often, so I’d encourage you to jump on this reissue if it’s not in your collection already.
Secretors: Antidote for Civilization 7” flexi (Roach Leg) First release from this new band out of New York. This single-sided floppy record has 4 tracks of super raw hardcore. I’m pretty sure this band is people from Urchin and Subversive Rite, but they’ve scaled back the metallic/d-beat vibe from their other bands for just mean as fuck, primitive, mid-paced stompers. The recording is super blown out, but that really adds to the charm. The vocals are super up front and brutal sounding, barking like a damn rabid dog on attack mode. This thing is just over 4 minutes worth of music, so I can’t wait to hear more from this band.
Also, sticking with the NY theme, I heard the new demo by this band Sirkka this week and have listened to it like 10 times. I don’t much about this band, like who’s in it or who’s releasing the tape, but it’s some of the most killer punk I’ve heard in a while. Totally Finnish-influenced, right down to the vocals which are sang in proper Finnish. I don’t know if the vocalist is actually from Finland, but nothing about the band replicating this style feels forced. Great sounding recording. Love it.
(Note: we'll have copies of the tape in very soon!)
Secretors: Antidote For Civilization 7" Flexi (Roach Leg) Raw, powerful, good riffs, and just straight up scary. The recording is super blown out, which is something I really love in hardcore; I love when it sounds like the cymbals are clipping and it sounds loud af even at a low volume. Moreover, the vocal style as well as the mid tempo, bare bones nature of the songs makes this fall into a category for me that I playfully refer to as "Caveman D-beat" (for reference, other modern bands that fall into this category for me would be Bloodkrow Butcher, Bootlicker, Future Terror, Innocent, etc.). I hope this band brings it live, cuz this flexi is menacing.
The Moderns: Year Of Today 7" (Hosehead) Killer Swedish Power pop/mod stuff from 1979. Based on the little bit of research I've done, apparently there were only ~500 of the original self released pressing, which makes this single a power pop dork's holy grail. I had never heard this 7" until the reissue showed up in the mail the other day, but I have definitely spun it a handful of times in the past couple days. Very playful, catchy, and lo-fi sounding. Buy it nerds!
Tyrnaround: Colour Your Mind (Expanded Version) Guerssen LP
This week I would like to draw your attention to a fantastic piece of psychedelic music that has become more easily available thanks to the good folks at Guerssen Records in Spain. Originally released in Australia back in 1986 as a mini album, Tyrnaround’s “Colour Your Mind” is now expanded to include the single sides that came out around the same time, including a track that was available on a flexi that came with an issue of Freakbeat Magazine. The collection is a blessing. Not that originals are too hard to find, but combined you will probably have to spend well over $100 to gather all these cuts on wax.
Tyrnaround were a fairly short-lived band from Melbourne that played and recorded from the mid 80’s through the early 90’s. Sadly their singer Michael Phillips died prematurely in the late 90’s and the band officially came to an end then, although in reality their prime period was the mid 80’s during the great second psychedelic wave. The Colour Your Mind EP perfectly captures that period and surely must sit alongside other classics of the era such as The Dukes Of Stratosphear’s “Twenty Five O’clock”, The Moffs’ “Another Day In The Sun” and High Tide’s “Dancing In My Mind” to name three.
Being from Australia the band chose a more UK influenced psych sound as opposed to say the US and West Coast inspired Paisley Underground groups and the spelling of Colour should be your first clue. If the sound of Syd era Pink Floyd mixed with the Magical Mystery Tour & Yellow Submarine Beatles and Village Green Kinks floats your boat then you will be in heaven with this record. There’s lots of swirly organ and Acid Fuzz Guitar TM to get you off and the songs all have some kind of hook, whether it be musically, lyrically or both.
Another record that might have been an influence for these guys that I hear in places is the Nick Nicely “Hilly Fields" (1892) single which is an awesome record and apparently had an influence on XTC and their Dukes record. I highly recommend checking that out also.
So yeah, if trippy UK Psych does it for you then Tyrnaround should be on your radar. Nice reissue too from the Guerssen crew, coming in an old English style flip over cover with an insert of photos and information and a download link to more music with demos and live tracks. Cool.
Drill: This Is Not a... cassette (self-released) This Is Not a Drill is the debut cassette from this Philadelphia band and it’s a keeper. Drill’s sound is primitive and noisy, with simple and loose drumming, catchy bass lines, and squealing, noisy guitars and synths. While the sound is nasty, the songs are memorable. “Assimilate” sounds like Fall’s early singles, while “Predator” has a darker, more propulsive energy that makes me think of Warsaw, the early incarnation of Joy Division. Things get more abrasive and avant-garde for the next handful of tracks (the wild vocalizations in “Incomplete” being a particular highlight) before the tape finishes out with “Kate Bush,” whose melodic bass line and slacker rhythm make me think of Slanted and Enchanted-era Pavement. Rather than developing a particular motif and beating it into the ground, Drill sounds like a band bursting with ideas. Great artists and musicians slumming it in the world of noisy punk rock is one of my favorite things, and if you agree, this little gem should fit snugly in your cassette collection.
Dayglow Abortions: Wake Up, It’s Time to Die 7” (Supreme Echo) Wake Up, It’s Time to Die is the first vinyl release of a 1982 recording session from this long-running Canadian hardcore band. Recorded between their ultra-rare Out of the Womb 12” and their high-water mark, the Feed Us a Fetus LP, the raw recording and loose playing give these tracks a more traditional US hardcore sound than the band’s two official vinyl releases. I know about half the tracks from Feed Us a Fetus, but the others are new to me. These new-to-me tracks find the band pushing their satirical lyrics to the limits of good taste. It’s hard to know where those limits were in 1982, but some of this stuff wouldn’t fly in 2020. It’s more than just empty provocation, though. “Whiter than Hitler,” for instance, points out the absurdity of the very idea of racial purity. Some people will love this because it’s provocative, some will think it goes too far, and some people won't care either way and will just appreciate the ripping vintage USHC. The vinyl version comes with a big booklet and it’s already sold out from the label, so if you’re interested you shouldn’t wait around too long.
The Cowboy: S/T 7” (Drunken Sailor) New 3-song 7” from this Cleveland project that released an LP in 2017 on Fashionable Idiots Records. The label’s description notes that the Cowboy features members of Homostupids and Pleasure Leftists, and if you know those two artists, you can hear the former’s weirdness and the latter’s catchiness seeping in here. The two tracks on the a-side both hover around the 90-second mark and sound like dirtied-up outtakes from Wire’s Pink Flag. “Swimming with the Fishies” is a breezy punk tune whose combination of snappiness and hookiness reminds me of classics like “Mannequin” and “Ex-Lion Tamer.” There’s an intriguing dynamic between precision and rawness that gets flipped for the longer b-side, “Way Out Beneath,” which seems to drift in and out of existence over the course of its three and a half minutes. Like any good single, this is good for repeated plays, but also has me eager to hear what the Cowboy does on their next full-length.
Nylex: Plastic for People 12” (No Patience) Debut LP from this Australian post-punk band. If you’re a fan of Pleasure Leftists’ or Public Service’s Siouxsie-inspired sounds, I recommend checking out Plastic for People. Nylex isn’t a Banshees tribute band, but they’re good at the things that the Banshees were good at, particularly creating shimmering, spacious arrangements that bubble over into a swirling, psychedelic boil. So much music in this style sounds cheesy to me; when bands go for a big, anthemic hook it often ends up sounding like emo or pop-punk, but Nylex remains tasteful throughout. While there are punkier tracks like “Forces,” most of the pleasure of listening to Plastic for People comes from subtle contrasts in rhythm, texture, and tempo. The guitarist is brilliant, creating memorable melodies without ever trying to cram in too many notes. Plastic for People has the energy of a punk record, but its subtlety and refinement remind me just as much of classic 4AD bands like Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil.
Armor: Some Kind of War 7” (11pm) Debut 7” from this band out of Tallahassee, Florida. I probably don’t need to tell you what Armor sounds like because they’ve been blowing up, but I will confirm they warrant the hype. Armor has the fuzzy, blown-out production of a great d-beat band, but their riffs and overall vibe remind me more of the skinhead-infused hardcore sound of bands like 86 Mentality and Violent Reaction. In other words, it’s fast and punk, but also tough and includes the occasional big breakdown. The playing is also great. While there are a lot of precise stops and starts, both the fast and slow parts have a swing and swagger that makes you want to move your body. Another winner from the ever-reliable 11pm Records.
Corvo: Live at Artifact cassette (Artifact Audio) We had the demo tape from DC’s Corvo a few months back, and here’s a new 6-song session recorded at Artifact Audio in New York. While the band still sounds raw, the recording here is big-sounding and clear, which makes this band hit even harder. Corvo combines elements of raw USHC like Armor with moments of fast and loose hardcore in the Deep Wound / Septic Death mode. I’m a sucker for that style, but Corvo keeps things spicy and original with moments like the United Mutation-ish “Rechazo Colonial” and the quirky rhythmic accents in “Pérdida” and “Ignorancia y Arrogancia.” They close things out with a cover of Void’s “Who Are You?,” which makes perfect sense given they’re from DC and have a similarly loose and sinister style.
Alien Nosejob: Suddenly Everything Is Twice as Loud 12” (Drunken Sailor) New LP (their second) from this Australian project helmed by Jake from Ausmuteants. Jake seems like one of those gifted musicians who always has a ton of projects going (he’s also in Heirophants, my personal favorites Leather Towel, and a bunch of others). While most of those have a particular style, Alien Nosejob seems to have no boundaries, with genre, style, and instrumentation often changing drastically from track to track, though most everything on Suddenly Everything Is Twice as Loud falls more or less under the punk umbrella. Several songs recall different eras of another eclectic group, the Television Personalities, with the plonky bass tone of “Blending In” reminding me of that band’s earlier stuff and the darker, more baroque “Rainbow Road” evoking their Painted Word album. Then there’s the Hardcore Devo-ish “Spin Cycle,” the Heartbreakers / Johnny Thunders-esque riff to “Emotional Rep,” and the New Order / Total Control-style closer, “Alien Island.” That’s already an eclectic list of comparisons, but it barely scratches the surface of what’s going on with this LP. Jake’s instantly identifiable voice and melodic sensibility holds everything together, so if you’re a fan of his other projects, odds are you’ll like at least a big chunk of Suddenly Everything Is Twice as Loud.
Nervous SS: Future Extinction 12” (D-takt & Råpunk) 14-song LP from this new project out of Skopje, Macedonia. According to the label, Nervous SS started as a solo project, and while mastermind Seksi recorded the drums, guitar, and vocals for Future Extinction, he brought in a friend to play bass. To me, Nervous SS sounds like pure Totalitär worship. Worship bands (if it’s fair to call Nervous SS that) can often be one-dimensional, but Totalitär covered a lot of stylistic ground over their career and Future Extinction references nearly all of it. There’s the primitive brutality of the opening track, “Sick to Death,” the warp speed mangel of “Total Braindead,” the rocked out “Blindless Desire,” and the mid-paced and slightly melodic “Neverending Soul Scars.” There’s so much to love about Totalitär, and it’s clear that Seksi has studied all of it closely in order to pay tribute to it in such an articulate way here. And even if you aren’t some kind of Totalitär scholar, this is perfectly executed d-beat with a perfect balance of catchiness and brutality.
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