Bad Breeding: Abandonment 12” (One Little Indian) Abandonment is the third time Bad Breeding has graced us with a record, and just as Divide confounded many of our expectations after their great debut, Abandonment refuses to give us more of the same but remains just as gripping. While the core of Bad Breeding’s sound has remained relatively stable across the three releases—their rhythm section and vocals are grounded in the anarcho/hardcore of bands like Flux of Pink Indians and Crass, while the guitarist does something extremely inventive and freewheeling over top of it—the production has been fairly different across each release, which has substantially changed the overall vibe of each record. The first record had an almost retro-sounding recording, very raw and analog-sounding in a way that made it sound like a lost artifact from the Thatcher era (an impression reinforced by the record’s very handmade packaging), but the second record had a much more abrasive sound, with everything pushed really hard into the red. I suppose the production on that record isn’t a million miles away from some of the later Disclose stuff, but it also reminded me a lot of harsh noise and power electronics music, particularly since Bad Breeding are one of the few current hardcore-type bands whose music feels as inventive and forward-thinking as the best stuff that comes out of that noise scene. Anyway, that brings us to Abandonment, which (to me, at least) seems to have a totally different production style than both of the previous records. The sound is big, clear, and uncommonly heavy and powerful. Clearly the band are not hiding behind raw production… they are confident enough to want you to hear every note they’re playing, and the combination of density and clarity reminds me of the best-produced records from the 90s noise rock / AmRep-type scene. Those were records that had a lot going on musically that you wouldn’t want to get lost in an overly compressed wall of sound, and that is definitely the case with Bad Breeding as well. Despite the relatively high production value, there’s still a very organic quality here that sounds like a band playing together in a room (and, indeed, the liner notes confirm that it was recorded live), which contrasts sharply with the very processed sound of Divide. Despite all of the comparisons, Bad Breeding remain a band that is worth hearing because they’re great players and composers, not just because they do a good job of mining a certain style, and the fact that all three of their records are so powerful is a testament to how well fleshed-out and articulated their vision is. For my money, Bad Breeding is one of the most exciting bands going, and if you like underground punk the band—and Abandonment in particular—should be on your radar.

Pro Patria Mori: Where Shadows Lie 12” (Demo Tapes) This vinyl version of Pro Patria Mori’s 1986 cassette is about as comprehensive and carefully produced as any punk reissue I’ve ever seen. Before we get to the packaging, though, let’s talk about the music. The years around 1986 seem like a very interesting time in the UK punk scene as the whole Crass / anarcho thing seems like it was very much on the wane and a new, more metal-influenced sound was on the ascent with bands like Sacrilege, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, and Axegrinder getting started and/or hitting their stride. Pro Patria Mori strike me as very much a product of that transition. Their incorporation of poetry into their music and their aesthetic feels very grounded in the bohemian world of Crass, as does their tendency to experiment with what sounds like tape loops (or at least very repetitive song structures and super open arrangements). However, Pro Patria Mori have no problem transitioning from this bohemian experimentation into some of the most brutal and primitive thrash-punk I’ve heard… one minute Where Shadows Lie might sound like Wire’s 154, and just a few minutes later you’re listening to something that sounds like Side A of Napalm Death’s Scum. Occasionally their punk can be a hair more tuneful—occasionally approaching something like early Upright Citizens or maybe Legion of Parasites—but the first two modes that I mentioned are the predominant ones. Yes, it’s kind of a jarring combination, but it’s an exhilarating one, and one that I can’t imagine really happening at any other time or place. Oh, and this isn’t some mega-raw demo-quality thing either… the sound on this reissue is full, clear, and powerful in a way that bands nowadays would kill to sound like. All of this adds up to something that is both a historical curiosity and a genuinely ripping punk record. Now that I’ve argued that the music is really interesting, I should note that this comes with one of the most extensive booklets I’ve ever seen in a punk record. It’s basically a full-size zine collecting what seems like every scrap of information relating to the band… you get everything from zine interviews, photos, and flyers to copies of the band’s correspondence with Peaceville Records (though, unfortunately a release on that label or any other never came to fruition). I love reading about this era of punk, but this booklet makes me realize that most of what I know comes from secondary sources and after-the-fact reflections, and the wealth of primary source material here is a real window into the time and place as well as the rich culture that operated with this music at the center. So, whether you just want to hear a criminally underrated slab or whether you’re an amateur scholar who loves learning as much as possible about a release’s context this reissue is totally essential.

Impalers: Beat Session Vol 5 cassette (Shout) The latest Beat Session cassette is from the almighty Impalers! As I’ve noted before, the Beat Sessions are kind of an updated, modern take on the Peel Session… quick and dirty, but still studio-quality recordings that balance the immediacy of a live performance with the fidelity of a well-done studio recording. Here, Impalers give us a blistering 6-song set that spans their entire catalog, from the latest LP all the way back to the first 7”. As with the Peel Session versions of your favorite classic tracks, it’s fun to play “spot the difference” and listen closely to how these songs might sound with a slightly different tempo or how a different instrument might pop out of the mix in a way you’re not used to, though there are also more substantive differences, like the much-abbreviated version of “Psychedelic Snutskallar,” which shaves the 10+ minutes of the original down to less than 3 and a half. The Impalers’ latest LP is one of the best hardcore records of the past several years, and if you like raw hardcore punk you owe it to yourself to hear it. Beat Session Vol 5, on the other hand, may not be the place to start with the band, but fans will eat it up, as once you’re turned on to the Impalers you’ll want to savor every moment of music that they release.

Riña: Aquî No Eres Nadie 7” (Thrilling Living) Proper debut EP from this Mexican band (their previous one on Cintas Pepe was their demo pressed to vinyl), and if you thought that they couldn’t keep up the blistering pace of that first recording you are dead wrong… Aquî No Eres Nadie is a perfectly scorching slice of hardcore punk. I often talk about bands who sound like they’re teetering on the brink of punk and hardcore… what I mean by that is that they retain the catchiness and the forward momentum of punk, but play it at the blistering tempos of hardcore. I’ve always been partial to bands like Teen Idles or the Middle Class who have the vibe, and Riña do as well. They also have one of the most perfect guitar sounds I’ve heard in a while, dense and heavy with more of a vintage fuzz sound than a full-on, blown-out overdrive/distortion type of sound… in other words, kind of like the first Minor Threat EP. This record is just a brilliant explosion of raw and passionate punk energy… forget the genre clones, this is the real shit. Highly recommended.

Destruct: Human Failure cassette (Agitate) Demo cassette from this new band out of Richmond featuring members of Firing Squad. However, there really isn’t much of a trace of Firing Squad’s USHC sound in Destruct, which is pure Scandinavian d-beat worship a la Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers. Of course there are a million bands going for some variation of that style, but for my money Destruct is one of the best I’ve heard. Seriously, this tape just absolutely rips for all 6 and a half minutes of its runtime. I’m not really sure what else to say about it as there’s not really anything terribly new about the Kawakami-esque vocals, Discharge-derived riffs, or blown-out (but still very dense and powerful) production, but every single last detail is executed absolutely perfectly. In that respect they remind me a lot of Impalers… while Destruct are a lot more straightforward in their approach, there’s a similar sense of every detail being labored over, but not so much that it sucks the life out of it. If you’re into what bands like Impalers, Sunshine Ward, and Fragment are doing I really wouldn’t hesitate to pick this up. It’s a real gem.

Brown Sugar: Long Strange Drip 12” (Feral Kid) Man, I was just searching the Sorry State site to see what I had written about Brown Sugar in the past, and I was surprised to find that there hasn’t been a single Brown Sugar release for sale on the current version of the Sorry State site. Has it really been six years since Brown Sugar broke up? I would have sworn it was only 2, maybe 3 years ago. Beyond just the whole “time flying” cliche, it’s particularly interesting that Brown Sugar’s heyday was nearly a decade ago, because that’s pretty much the deepest trough in the “pop culture life cycle.” In other words, shit that happened ten years ago is generally seen as super uncool (the 80s were super lame in the 90s, the 90s were super uncool in the 00s, and so on as long as there is a popular culture). However, Brown Sugar seem really, really cool in the year 2018, all the more so because they were doing something that was so cool and inventive back when most of us were at band practice trying and failing to rip off the Mecht Mensch EP. Brown Sugar had a little bit of that in their sound for sure, but they also had a lot of other stuff as well, and their musical eclecticism would foreshadow (or maybe even influence?) all of the weird, quirky punk of today, particularly stuff from the Coneheads / Liquids / Lumpy & the Dumpers universe of bands. This collection starts off with a cover of “Hey Joe,” one of the band’s earliest recordings, and it’s telling. For some reason I always thought of Brown Sugar as a hardcore band who got kind of weird toward the end, but the very fact that they did “Hey Joe” at the very beginning shows that they were looking at hardcore way, way differently than most bands were in the 2008 heyday of the No Way Records era. Over the course of this compilation (which encompasses just about everything the band did save the Sings of Birds and Racism LP) they get better at incorporating their unique stew of influences into their faster, more hardcore tracks, but it’s amazing how much of that was there right at the very beginning. Anyway, there’s so much here that it doesn’t really make sense to go through it all bit by bit (and the liner notes do a pretty killer job of that anyway, albeit through a similarly fractured lens as the music), but it all sounds really, really great today. This band was clearly way, way ahead of their time, and it’s awesome that they finally seem to be getting the recognition they deserve. Now, let’s see a repress of the LP!

Shatterbox: Strung Out on the Line 12” (Dig!) Official reissue of this private press power-pop obscurity from 1981 Seattle. Power-pop can mean a lot of different things to different people, and Shatterbox offer a particular take on it… rather than the polished pop of bands like the Cars or the Nerves, they’re more on the trashy, Stones / Dolls-influenced end of the spectrum, but with a pop sensibility that’s more early Lennon/McCartney than Jagger/Richards. I was listening to this in the store and Jeff noted that it reminded him a lot of the Exploding Hearts, which I can definitely hear on tracks like “Dance Tonight,” “Too Much Traffic,” and “Anytime” (which seems to borrow the main riff from the Beatles’ version of “The Hippy Hippy Shake”). For me, there are two dangers with this kind of power-pop: that it gets to sappy / syrupy or the band just doesn’t have the songwriting chops to deliver real hooks. Shatterbox have neither of these problems. Strung Out on the Line is exactly the type of raw, catchy, and aggressive music that you’re looking for when you head down the rabbit hole of private press late 70s / early 80s power-pop, and if you’re a fan of that style this is well worth checking out.

Daudyflin: Dauþiflin 7” (Iron Lung) I’ve been a fan of Iceland’s Daudyflin for a little while now, and this new EP continues to refine their manic, almost psychedelic hardcore. It’s funny, listening to this new EP I can’t get out of my head how much it sounds like Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers’ classic Furious Party EP—it has a really similar chorus-drenched sound and the singer is nearly as unhinged-sounding as the wild man who sang for CCM—but after going back and listening to Daudyflin’s previous records this doesn’t sound that much different. However, everything does seem to be pushed just a little bit harder here… it’s a little faster, the production is a little more in-the-red, and the whole thing just sounds a little bit rawer and wilder. It’s not every day that a record is able to capture that level of wild intensity, so if that’s the type of soundtrack you like to put on when you’re smashing everything in your house, taking too much bad acid and wandering around a post-apocalyptic urban hellscape, or standing in the middle of a demolition derby then I can’t think of a better way to spend $7.50 than making this record a permanent part of your life.

Nandas: EP II 7” (Toxic State) Second EP from these New Yorkers and it’s a notable upgrade from their first (which I already liked quite a bit). While Nandas don’t seem to get quite as much attention as some of the better-known Toxic State bands like Hank Wood & the Hammerheads or Crazy Spirit, in many ways they’re a quintessential New York band of this era. Not only do they sound a bit like Crazy Spirit and Dawn of Humans in places (particularly in their loose and jittery drumbeats and the way that the distorted bass dominates the mix), but also they have the art school vibe that I love about so much punk from this scene. It seems like there’s a real ethos of originality and self-expression in New York that makes a lot of the bands from there really special. In many other scenes copycats and also-rans seem to dominate the conversation, but (at least from the outside) it seems like there’s a heavy emphasis placed on finding and articulating your own unique artistic voice in this crew of people. And indeed, the more distinctive and original elements of Nandas’ sound that we heard and saw on their first EP are further explored and amplified here. Perhaps the most distinct are the whispered vocals, which sound like an evil witch whispering an occult secret into your ear, the sibilance that regularly overwhelms the sound only adding to the sense of mystery and tension. I should also mention that the artwork on this release is really stunning. The big 6-panel foldout and collage aesthetic makes me think of early 80s anarchopunk (and like a lot of those records, the lyrics are hand-lettered and beautifully incorporated into the layout), but the emerald blue screen print of a weird punk jellyfish creature pulls it into the now. It’s hard to imagine Nandas becoming a hype band because they’re so quirky and complex, but if one of the things you really value in punk is self-expression and getting to see how the world looks through someone else’s eyes I recommend checking this out. Nandas’ world is well-articulated here and it’s a world that’s worth exploring.

Noseholes: Danger Dance 12” (Harbinger Sound) Debut 12” from this German band that splits the difference between skronky no wave and grooved-out post-punk in the Gang of Four / Delta 5 vein. Noseholes’ rhythm section is really fierce, giving the funky grooves of bands like Shopping or Flasher a run for their money. However, where a lot of bands in this style are either overtly or covertly catchy, Noseholes are extremely angular, particularly in the way that the guitars and vocals (and occasional saxophone) grind against those big, fat rhythmic grooves. If you’re a fan of the aforementioned bands but are looking for something a bit more “out there” this will do the trick nicely, particularly the very no-wave-y closing track, “Aspirin Nation,” which starts as a loose, atonal saxophone jam and eventually dissolves into a big industrial crescendo. With a run-time in the 15-minute range, Danger Dance doesn’t overstay its welcome and practically begs for repeat listens, of which it’s already gotten a few from me.

坦克 (TANK): Demo EP 7” flexi (Symphony of Destruction) “Noise punk from Singapore” sounds like something I would play really loud in the store at closing time when there are a bunch of annoying, tipsy norms hanging around and I really want to go home, but here I am listening to it on my own time and quite enjoying it. Singapore has been producing a lot of great bands lately, and 坦克 features members of a number of them, including Lifelock and Lubricant. The label’s description mentions Japan’s Ferocious X as an inspiration and I can definitely see that… this is full-bore noise-drenched hardcore, like Shitlickers or Anti-Cimex stripped of their in-the-pocket rhythms and carefully arranged songs, and instead just high on a bunch of bad speed, at the end of a bad day, and with no way to vent the rage except turning up the amps as loud as possible. If you find yourself in a similar mood this might help exorcise some of your demons too. However, if you’re not in that kind of mood your time might be better spent looking at the gorgeous screen print on the back side of the flexi rather than trying to wring decent sound out of this hissing auditory assault of a flexi.

Itchy Bugger: Done One 12” (Low Company) Solo record by Josh from the Love Triangle, Diät, and Heavy Metal (among numerous other bands), and it’s quite an unexpected turn. I’ve spent a little time with Josh (I met him when I lived in London for a spell and he also tagged along on a couple of Shitty Limits US tours that I helped organize), and he’s always come off as extraverted and charismatic almost to an extreme degree, so hearing this record—which sounds strikingly introverted to me—is a real surprise. There’s a definite UKDIY sensibility here… it sounds a lot like the Homosexuals in places, but even more so than sounding like a particular band, it has the “made in a lonely bedsit” feel of early records by bands like the Television Personalities, O Level, and Cleaners from Venus. Even though Itchy Bugger’s melodic sensibility is nothing like Cleaners from Venus, that might be the most apt reference because like the Cleaners (as well as records like the Television Personalities’ The Painted Word), Itchy Bugger’s music sounds both very lush and very handmade at the same time. These songs are dense with criss-crossing melodies, with multiple guitars, synth, and vocals all pulling in different but somehow complimentary directions. Done One might take a listen or two to sink in as there’s no real “hit song” that grabs your attention right off the bat, but it’s the very definition of a slow burn. Ever since the second listen I’ve found it virtually impossible to take off my turntable. If you like any of the aforementioned bands or even if you’re a big fan of Pavement’s early material I highly recommend that you check out this beautifully intimate record.

Hargne: Reaction 12” (Seed Stock) I think I mentioned in the last newsletter that this LP is billed as a combination of Norweigan black metal, French industrial punk, and French oi!, and that I was completely enamored with that description. The description still kind of melts my mind even though I’ve probably listened to this LP ten times already and I know very well that this rather unique combination of influences works really, really well. Admittedly, the black metal and industrial punk are probably the two most prominent influences… every song is built around rhythms from a primitive drum machine a la Metal Urbain, and the actual riffs and compositions remind me a lot of Burzum’s early work with its epic, neo-classical approach to raw and primitive black metal. The oi! influence, on the other hand, only peeks out from the din intermittently at moments like the title track’s gang vocal chorus or the Trotskids cover that closes the first side (which is, honestly, the track that most fully fulfills the description’s promise). I feel like I’m casting this record as something of a goofy novelty, and while the weirdness of the declared influences might have been enough to pull me in, it wouldn’t have been enough on its own to keep me listening to this record over and over, which I have definitely been doing. Indeed, if you’ve been keeping an eye on Seed Stock records and dig the artsy, progressive black metal of bands like Golden Dawn and Wulkanaz this is highly recommended listening.

Pandemix: Rank & File 7” (Dirt Cult) Latest record from this Boston band. For whatever reason, it seems like Pandemix seem to fall slightly between scenes… their music isn’t really hardcore as such and it’s not self-consciously retro enough to get them into the peace punk costume party, but at the same time it’s far too confrontational, gritty, and uncommercial to push them to whatever level is beyond “appears on multiple MRR top 10 lists.” That being said, “Rank & File” in particular is an insanely catchy song that is every bit as earwormy as anything on Anti-Flag’s Die for the Government LP, but obviously about a billion times more legit. As with the UK Subhumans, though, that earwormy quality is balanced out by an uncommon level of musicality, occasionally reaching almost prog levels of rhythmic and melodic complexity. Honestly, I can’t think of too many other bands who are doing what Pandemix is doing, which is writing memorable, musically inventive songs with relevant and confrontational lyrics that address the issues of today rather than mindlessly copying lyrics from 30 years ago. If you want to keep listening to bands who rip off the classics I guess that’s fine, but to me Pandemix truly sound like Subhumans and Anthrax (the anarcho one, duh) updated for the world we currently live in.