Staff Picks

https://publicacid.bandcamp.com/album/pay-no-more

https://invertebrates.bandcamp.com/album/accosted

Hi and thanks for reading. I can’t remember when the last time I wrote was and I can’t remember what I wrote about, haha. Jeff is officially on the road as of yesterday though, so I really need to get back to my contributions to the newsletter. I know he wrote about the upcoming PUBLIC ACID / INVERTEBRATES tour last week and shared the dates. I could be out of the loop, but I don’t often see bands doing tours this length anymore. They are covering the bulk of the US in about three weeks. They didn’t tour nearly as far, but I think BRAINWASH VICTIMS toured a pretty decent length, which is also crazy cos they have only released a tape. The tape definitely got my attention enough to travel up to Richmond to catch their gig though, haha. Anyways, if you are in or anywhere around any of these cities the tour is hitting, you would be a complete fool to miss them. I am spoiled for being able to see bands this good on a regular basis. The sound is perfectly dialed in, the songwriting is not boring for even a second, and the live performances are never shy of explosive. INVERTEBRATES and PUBLIC ACID both have 7”s coming out very soon on Beach Impediment. They both released a preview track from them like yesterday or today actually. Something very cool they did to coincide with this tour was releasing a special split 12” with both bands’ upcoming EPs on it. I think the 12” is limited to 300, and you can only scoop it on this tour. (I’m sorry if you’re just now learning this, and you are an insane collector who can’t go to any of the shows.) I imagine these are guaranteed to sell-out, so if you are a fiend I would definitely hit that merch table as soon as you walk into the building, haha.

Besides this being a cool record from like the “collector’s limited availability” standpoint, I think the record symbolizes something very special this group of people has brought together through their years of everlasting friendship. PUBLIC ACID has been hard at work for so many years now, going back to their roots in Greensboro, NC as HOLDER’S SCAR. I know INVERTEBRATES doesn’t have as much of a foundation, but of course the bands share members. I have spent so much time in a van with these fools, and they still love me regardless of my flaws – which is, to me, true friendship. It means a lot to see them putting out records and touring, especially together as a crew.

It’s funny, when they first announced the tour, I was outta town. It was like a week later and I actually noticed they start the tour in Charlotte, NC. You basically have to pass Raleigh to get to Charlotte from Richmond. I was upset to say the least. I wrote them an angry message in a group chat… haha. (See what I mean about loving me regardless of my flaws?) I was confused as to why they wouldn’t play Raleigh and pass over us to play another city. I then learned they originally were going to start their tour in Birmingham, and last minute got a Charlotte gig thrown together to split up the drive. This makes complete sense. I mean yeah, I would have absolutely loved if they had played our city on this tour, but they didn’t choose Charlotte over Raleigh like I had interpreted it. In addition to my confrontational message, I made some cry-baby comment about not being able to buy their silly special record since they weren’t playing my city. To which they replied they had already saved me a special version… and then when I got back to town, there was a fucking test press sitting on my desk at work. Yeah, I felt like an idiot for sure for talking shit. Then full circle, I caught a ride to the Charlotte gig last night and it was fucking sick.

I was really looking forward to seeing this local band FUCKIN’ WARHEADS. My friend Joe had asked me about the tape a while back, and that’s how it got on my radar. Later, I saw a quick live video on social media and I was like holy shit, these mofos can rip. I got a contact in the band from a Charlotte friend to see about tapes, and I learned they just make them by hand and they had to make more. Maybe we will get some one of these days. I love when I meet young punks who actually still do this. There is the other side of the young punk mind that I have noticed where they just release stuff digitally and do not give a shit about releasing an actual tape. I was talking to the drummer, Levi, a bit last night and learned they recorded themselves straight to tape on a Tascam. So fucking sick. I was really impressed when he said they only used one microphone as well, haha. Like, what? I can hear everything and actually tell what’s happening. Well done. Watching them live gave me some serious SHITLICKERS vibes. I look forward to what they record next. Anyways, that’s it, I’ve written too much about basically nothing. I’ll write something better next week, my bad. Cheers and thanks for reading. Much love to my friends reading.

Hi and thanks for reading. I haven’t written a staff pick since November. I’m not sure if anyone really noticed, haha. This year has been by far the worst year of my entire life thus far, but yes, thanks to the support from my loved ones, I am still here. Today I am writing about Finnish hardcore (surprise). When it comes to Finnish hardcore, KAAOS is one of the first bands that comes to mind for me. I remember the first time I heard the Totaalinen Kaaos EP. It blew me away. I couldn’t stop listening. I still can’t. I didn’t know hardcore could sound like that; completely unhinged but still somehow grooves. Don’t even get me started on how many tracks they crammed on the sucker, too. KAAOS was from Tampere and had line-up changes on like every release. I think Jakke, the vocalist, was the only consistent member in the band. It’s funny, I think of him being the iconic front person of KAAOS, but he originally started on guitar on their split with CADGERS. I remember seeing their Nukke EP around and it took me a while to listen to it. It was released in 1993, so my foolish ass thought it might suck. The thing is, while this was not released until 93, it was in fact recorded in 1985. I didn’t understand why it was never initially released, but today I was reading they broke up in December 1985. Maybe that explains why this recording didn’t see the light of day back then? I know they didn’t reform until 1999, so it’s interesting Fight Records picked it up in the early ‘90s for a proper release. Also, in 1996 Fight released Valtio Tuhoaa Ei Rakenna. This was another 7” I foolishly passed for even longer than Nukke due to the release date. Later I discovered this session was originally from 1983. Just a handful of years ago Fight released Ei Enää Kipua Ei Tuskaa on a 12”, and this record is the entire session from 1983 I just mentioned. The 7” from ‘96 was only eight of the sixteen tracks KAAOS recorded. These recordings have become some of my favorite shit from KAAOS. The acoustic guitar bridge in “Elektroninen Xtaasi” and the piano on “Syytön Sivustakatsoja” is so fucking cool, totally unexpected and executed with absolute taste. The latter appears on their 12” from 1984 as well. Funny, writing this now I realize that this session, as well as tracks on Nukke, were probably just practice recordings for the real deal that would follow later. Maybe that is actually why they were not initially released? Sonarize did a US pressing of Ei Enää Kipua Ei Tuskaa, and if you don’t have it, I would highly suggest you pick one up.

Anyways, back to Nukke EP. This record has a similar line-up to their Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos 12” from 1984. I think the bassist is the only difference. Nukke used to be available for cheap as hell like everywhere thanks to Havoc Records, but in recent years it seems to have become a bit harder to find. Perfect timing for Fight Records to get this sucker back in print! In Fight tradition, this pressing is limited to 300 copies on color vinyl. I’m sure once it’s sold out it will be repressed on a different color. I was really excited to hear this beast on 12” format cut at 45rpm, as the original was a 7”. This pressing was also mastered analog from the original mixdown tape. Sounds like a perfect formula, yeah? Well, unfortunately, this shit is cut so quiet. It’s a bit disappointing. I’m also not a huge fan of the cover art. When Havoc did their pressing, they used the band picture from the back of Fight pressing as the front cover. I like that look much better, but this reissue is staying true to the original. Knowing that “nukke” translates to “the doll” in English gives a lot more context. The artwork was done by Nappi, who played bass on their debut 7”. I think he may have been in RIISTEYT for some time as well, but I don’t know that for sure or what he played on. OK. So regardless of my critiques here at the end, if you don’t already own a copy of Nukke EP I would suggest you grab a copy of this reissue cos this material is essential. And to keep it real, if you already have a previous 7” pressing, I’d say you can do without this 12” version. That’s all for today then. Maybe you’ll hear from me next week. Cheers and thanks for your support.