Flesh World - s/t (La Vida Es Un Mus)

La Vida Es Un Mus now have a bandcamp page.. Expect DIY punk related things.

No back catalogue stuff yet but this new Flesh World mini LP is good. Kind of fuzzy, melodic post punk that's kind of tuneful. Here's the blurb:-

On their debut MLP, San Francisco, CA’s Flesh World plays ice-soaked punk rock led by dark and infectious guitar flourishes and a just-under-the-surface pop sensibility that makes each song an immediate stand out track. Featuring band members who are all veterans of the DIY punk scene — from bands including Limp Wrist, Brilliant Colors, Needles, and more — Flesh World brings influences from a host of punk sub-genres together, calling to mind the tense moodiness of classic British post punk, the sneer of the 1977 school, and just a hint of C86 flourish and feedback. Most importantly, this MLP includes six hopelessly catchy songs that will work their way into your skull like an infection without a cure.

Tyranny Is Tyranny - Let It Come From Whom It May

Think 90s Ebullition/Crimethinc putting out a noise rock/Amphetamine Reptile type band. Maybe something like Torches To Rome crossed with Ire but with more Hammerhead than hardcore in the riffs. Lots of rhythmic guitar stuff, a few 'twinkles', some heavy bits. Seriously good stuff.

Dirtdrinker - s/t (noise rock)

If you like stuff like Unsane, Ken Mode, Kowloon Walled City and Coalesce then you're going to be into this. It kind of exists in the grey area between noise rock and the good offkilter end of metallic hardcore (ie Hydrahead, Kiss It Goodbye, Botch, Deadguy etc). In some places the vocals even reach Steve Austin of Today Is The Day levels of intensity. They've got a good sense of dynamics and song structure as well. Certainly not one dimensional.

Fucking great stuff. So good I'm going to track down the vinyl rather than jsut buying the flac.

Snowblood discography (Super Fi)

Super Fi released 3 albums by this lot over the years. DIY doom stuff from Scotland. Heavy and a bit odd.

Criminally underrated.







oh, and some of them have a new band called OMMADON who are well worth checking out. More bleak doom.

Satanic Threat - In To Hell (Hells Headbangers)

Basically rips off a load of Minor Threat and Uniform Choice songs/riffs but adds on ludicrous satanic lyrics. Vocally it rips off Minor Threat and Uniform Choice as well.

Personally I think Minor Threat's lyrics are fucking crap. Satan is just silly though.

Musically, it's just as good as most other retro hardcore doing the rounds.

Appropriately, the download will cost you $6.66

Slomatics - The Future Past

New Slomatics jams is always a thing to be welcomed. We only get 10 minutes this time but I guess it's always best to leave the audience screaming for more.

They channel Bullhead/Lysol era-Melvins and fuzzed out doom-psych. Just riffs riffs riffs riffs.

Slomatics really know how to construct a good song as well. It's not just a collection of reasonable sounding riffs. There's real craft going on. They've been going for years now and they know exactly how to do it.

They really need to come back to the UK and do a tour.

Also, someone needs to put these two songs onto a 7".

Belgrado - Panopticon/Vicious Circle 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Nice short slice of goth-y post-punk dreariness. Dreary like bleak early 80s UK anarcho punk. Wearing all black clothes & black makeup. It's freezing cold and pissing down with rain.

Quite how a band from Barcelona can evoke that is anyone's guess but there you go.

There's been quite a refreshing micro-trend in the DIY punk of bands like this and the likes of Arctic Flowers bringing back goth punk type stuff.

La Vida Es Un Mus is selling the vinyl but Belgrado are offering up the download for a euro. Bargain. Especially as their album is also a euro.

Fingers crossed I don't miss them next time they come to the UK as I've already managed to miss them twice somehow.

Prolefeed - Murder Rob For Cult Status

Raw, fast, thrashing d-beat hardcore punk in the UK DIY tradition. Ex-members of Flat Earth bands like War All The Time, Boxed In, One By One and all that. Although it does also feature folk steeped in the Geordie noise rock tradition who played in bands like Marzuraan and Orrin De Forest (and current Tide Of Iron who are also fantastic).

It borrows from all that Scandi stuff like Totalitar, Anti Cimex and Mob 47 and all the other old band you see on patches on crusty jackets. And all the raw Japanese stuff as well. Of course, it all goes back to the early stuff of some band from Stoke On Trent.

Punk fucking rock.

Black Magician - Nature Is The Devil's Church

Black Magician seem to have cast a spell taking doom back to the time when it meant folk with long hair and flares listening to Cathedral. When mushroom freaks like Acrimony would be given column inches in Terrorizer. Y'know, when being into doom meant you were into 70s rock by default.

This sounds like it could have been released by Hellhound Records many moons ago. Or Rise Above for that matter.

The thing that really sets Black Magician apart is their use of the organ. Come on, who the hell doesn't like a good bit of fuzzy 70s organ? Brings to mind things like Jacula and other obscurities.

They're not afraid to break out of the doom crawl tempo either. The end of Four Thieves Vinegar brings the tmepo right up for a head banging march to the end. The organ is going full pelt as well. Doesn't sound much like Deep Purple but it does kind of remind you of the way the organ goes wild on things like Highway Star.

Basically, this is the real deal when it comes to doom. Loads of Black Sabbath and other old-fashioned doom riffage, fuzzy organs, long hair, hammer horror-esque lyrics about medieval england, flares, skulls. The song writing is spot on and so si the production.

It's everything you want in a doom album.

Art Of Burning Water - This Disgrace (Riot Season/Super Fi/Swarm Of Nails)

"AOBW channel the prime noise-rock of vintage Zeni Geva and Godflesh with the more complex rhythmical riff obsessions of the Melvins, Keelhaul and mid-period Voivod" according to the press release. I don't think I've ever read such an accurate sentence on a one-sheet before.

Basically, Art Of Burning Water are the UK's best kept secret. For over a decade they've been bashing out top notch noise rock riffs. In the past couple of years they've really been stepping it up quite a bit and this 4th LP has come along while their last one is still hot. I'm not arguing though because it's great to hear these songs that have absolutely killed live finally being recorded.

Although most of the riffs are pretty complicated they have a raw, fluid looseness to them which keeps them on the punk side of things. And, despite some odd time signatures, there's a swing and a groove to the music. Your head will be banging constantly although onlookers might give you strange looks due to your odd movements.

Art Of Burning Water also have that other vital element - hooks. You can't really whistle the tunes but you will get riffs stuck in your head.

And they don't mind repeating a simplistic riff now and again or chugging away on one note. Very satisfying.

Generally it's that style but Since His Collapse is a bit of a change. Gets a lot more intriciate and math-rocky. Perhaps like their old touring partners American Heritage. Weird time signatures and abstract guitar lines all over the place. They do finish it off with a cheeky e-chug riff (although it's completely un-moshable).

Fingers crossed they stick around for at least another decade.

Needles s/t 7" (Iron Lung)

As far as I can tell this is pretty much Talk Is Poison with the guy from Crudos/Limp Wrist on vocals.

It's on Iron Lung records and there's folk from Talk Is Poison/Crudos/Limp Wrist. Yes, it's hardcore punk of the finest quality.

I definitely preferred Talk Is Poison to Limp Wrist as the music was dirtier and had more savage riffery in it. This is a good mix of the two. The music is just more ugly and pounding than Limp Wrist.

There's maybe a slight Boston 82 sound creeping in. Some of those nice staccato snare rolls and occasioanl stompy guitars.

Not much more needs to be said really. Total stormer of a hardcore punk EP.

Sauna Youth - False Jesii Pt.2 / Oh Joel 7"

I know exactly what's going through your head right now. You're wondering why in the name of fuck a band has done a Pissed Jeans cover. And a recent Pissed Jeans song as well. Weak as fuck right?

You'll be surprised. I was. Sauna Youth have turned that Pissed Jeans banger into a shambolic mid-80s indie pop song. And it works. Pleasantly surprised. Always a good thing when a band totally puts their own stamp on a cover version. Honestly, who needs another d-beat band covering Discharge or other bands doing similar pointless covers.

The other song is more rough tuneful indie pop stuff. The label likens them to the Fizzbombs, The Flatmates or The Rosehips but I've never heard of any of them. Sounds a bit like Kenickie or Helen Love to me but my knowledge of this stuff is pretty much limited to whatever Peel would play in the late 90s.

Definitely reckon Peel would have played this release though. That's as good a recommendation as any.

Peachfuzz - We Are Solid State

A few years back a bunch of Leeds/Bradford punk types launched the first DIY Stadium Rock Band, Threads. Full on 70s rock with no pretensions of 'making it'. Happily turning up to play with shouty crust bands in the backrooms of pubs. Just doing the usual DIY punk band thing but playing 70s rock.

Peachfuzz seem to come from a similar place. They're on Bombed Out who are stalwarts of the Yorkshire DIY punk scene. Bombed Out's 15 years of plugging away doing the DIY thing is certainly a big 'up yours' to all the dullard crust punks that bemoaned the 90s post greenday/fat-wreck generation.

Peachfuzz are more of a pop rock thing than Threads though. I swear to god i just heard a riff that plain ripped of Cheap Trick. If you don't like Cheap Trick then you and me are going to have to have serious discussions about your taste in music.

The blurb mentions stuff like Soul Asylum and Sugar and all that 90s jazz. Pretty much bang on.

It's definitely reminiscent of that lost sound without being pointless retro fetishists. Think it kind of comes from that punks that like Bruce Springsteen thing that seems to have been fairly popular recently. I'm going to come out with one of the most controversial things I've written on the internet. I don't really like Bruce Springsteen. Possibly more controversial in some punk circles than my opinion that The Clash only have a couple of good songs. Maybe the Bruce Springsteen thing comes from the occasional bits of harmonica. I'd mention Bob Dylan but I'd only start ranting again.

This is really good though. Peachfuzz have a total grip on writing actual songs with proper hooks and choruses and all the rest. It's a neat little blend of 70s power pop stuff, pop rock and the bands that came from post-major label Husker Du.

Here's the label blurb which is a fair assessment of Peachfuzz's sound:-

Determined not to simply re-trace their steps and release Everything Takes Forever Part 2, Peachfuzz have instead turned everything up to 11 and thrown caution to the wind with 10 tracks that somehow manage to bridge the gap between balls-to-the-wall rock and roll and their softer, more measured power-pop sensibilities.

This is all neatly illustrated by the opening track, a Social Distortion styled punk rock anthem that straight away sets the stage for what's to come.

Only it doesn't. Not really... "Like I Do" comes across like Screaming Trees at their best (Adam even goes a little Mark Lanegan as he repeats the song's title at the end), "If It Makes It Easier" harks back to the Teenage Fanclub influences that have been a part of the Peachfuzz DNA since day one and Nowhere Calling gives definite nods to Neil Young. The album ends with the epic Oh Cordeliah! - the longest track ever to appear on a Bombed Out release which ends things in style with a coda the aforementioned Fannies would have been proud of back in their Bandwagonesque days. Oh, and we've not even mentioned the solos! Dear God... The solos!

Yep, make no mistake - Adam Jones and the lads have gone and done good. We seem to be going through a 90s alt-rock resurgence and 2012 has already blessed us with a great Soul Asylum album and Bob Mould returning to his Sugar-y best so perhaps it's fitting that Peachfuzz have chosen so confidently to push onwards and upwards with We Are Solid State. To put it bluntly, it's a fucking beast.

Battle Of Wolf 359 - demo

Just started to upload a load of old UK DIY demos onto a bandcamp. Here's Battle Of Wolf 359 who have recently called it a day. Lazy description is 'screamo' but that term doesn't mean too much anymore. Well, it means lots of different things to lots of different people so it's useless as a description. If you like stuff like Systral and Shikari then you'll be more than happy listening to this.

Abul Mogard - s/t

This is some pretty interesting stuff. It's kind of experimental noise/synth stuff. However, it's all done by a retired Serbian factory worker with synths he's made himself.

The Outer Church have an interview with him here - http://theoriginalouterchurch.tumblr.com/post/30388556632/abul-mogard-was-born-in-belgrade-an-ex-factory that is well worth a read.

The album is available as pay-what-you-like digital download but also in a really elaborate wooden/plexiglass handmade edition.

Here's the blurb:-

Abul Mogard approached music in old age. He was born in Belgrad and spent most of his life working in a Serbian factory.

When he retired, he felt that his accustomed environment with all the acoustic noises he had been listening to during his working years, was gone.

Music was a way to somehow recreate these surroundings, and not having a formal musical education he realized that using electronic musical instruments would make this possible.

These machines could also make similar sounds to the ones he remembered. He started working with synthesizers and other devices, some of which he has built himself over the past few years.

Slomatics - A Hocht

Was checking this out a while back but at that point you couldn't do a paid download. Now you can, so I'm telling you now to get it. I'll be getting it at the end of the week when I get paid.

This lot are from Belfast and play some stellar doom/stoner rock stuff. The folk behind Roadburn Festival put this out so you know it's going to be be top notch stuff

They've been plugging away for years and are grand lads. Saw them years ago in Leeds with Like A Kind Of Matador and then a few years later in Belfast with Gruel. Banging both times.

Definitely the real deal.

Mean Jeans - On Mars

Most of the stuff I post about is either skulls/death/brutality hardcore or chin-stroking electronic stuff.

Mean Jeans are the total polar opposite. Beer, pizza and Ramones.

Dead simple pop punk is surprisingly hard to do. Or I guess sit must be as there's a billion shitty 7"s littering sale boxes in record shops and free boxes in distros. Mean Jeans seem to have that little bit extra that makes it work.

Army Of Flying Robots - Discography

Essential.

Vilipend - Inamorata (A389)

First heard this because the folk over at Elementary Revolt compared them to Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye and Botch. It's definitely in that ball park sonically. Obviously they're not quite as good as those bands. Honestly, if you managed to combine those bands and make even better music then you'd probably instantly become my favourite band of all time. It's unfair to judge any band by that standard.

Repeated listens have changed my opinion on them though. First listen I thought it was alright, not too bad. Slowly but surely repeated listens have made me think that actually this is some pretty killer stuff.

It's definitely more Botch than KIG/Deadguy. I could well imagine this having come out on Hydrahead.

I mean, these guys can really play their instruments. They don't wank off into a noodlefest but it's subtly there. Just occasional tasteful flourishes. More importantly, it's really well structured. It moves and shifts and does stuff.

The more I think about it the more I think of Botch. The tone of the guitars, the tempo shifts and the kind of discordant riffs used.

At this point their still students of Botch. But they're students that have got an A* in their exams. It's definitely something you should check out. The more I listen to it, the more I enjoy it. And definitely keep an eye out for them in the future. There's the seeds of a band may well truly smash their way into the level of the aforementioned trio of bands. Here's in hoping.

Night Birds - The Other Side Of Darkness

Night Birds were probably the best punk band I saw last year. Completely off the hook. Singer crawling through the crowd's legs. Guitar and bass players running around everywhere. Actually, yeah, it was the guitarist going through people's legs now I think of it. His rather fetching white Gluey Porch Treatments t shirt ended up a a brown, soggy, torn mess.

Of course, if someone likes the Melvins you can generally trust them musically.

And punk bands that aren't completely and utterly myopic musically are also a good bet.

Night Birds hit the spot musically as well. Surf punk is the best description. Surf-y guitar lines mixed up with some of that post-Observers snotty tuneful punk rock. Some super catchy tunes. And they sound like they're going a million miles an hour and about to fall apart at any second (but actually being mid-paced and far from being an all blur - they just have that feel if you see what I mean).

Before State Icons got asked to play the Brighton date on their tour I'd never heard of them. Found an illicit download and ended up playing it on repeat for a few weeks. Still gets plenty of spins. I might even go so far as to say they might be the best current punk band. Obviously, my opinion on that position changes frequently but they're always up there. Honestly, highest possible recommendation to check them out.

That brings me to the nit-picky bit of this review. You can buy the whole album digitally. And that's great. That's kind of the whole point of this blog. Making stuff available to buy digitally in a DIY manner is awesome.

However, you can only stream two songs. You can't even stream the song I reckon is the best one. The total headshot tune that'd instantly make you fall in love with the band. That'd be Neon Gray if you're interested. Doesn't seem to be on youtube either. Guess you'll have to find a dodgy mediafire link or fire up soulseek. I'd definitely recommend it. And fuck it, no-one has got the LP for sale in the UK anymore. I want repeat my rant about the stupidity of the limited nature of vinyl records. Especially as they've got it up for sale digitally. But it's a bit daft that I'm sat here screaming at you to check them out because you'll definitely love them but for some reason you can't listen to it properly. I can understand why people do it because someone might rip the stream and bung it up elsewhere on the internet for free. But that's already happened. It's already out there. And I'm telling people to go out and find those dodgy rips so they can listen to it. Instead, they could listen to it easily and they'd be a great big button saying BUY in their browser.

Plus, virtually no one buys music on spec anymore. They only buy stuff they've already heard. I know I do. Bought enough crap records in my time that I really don't feel the need to buy records I haven't already heard anymore. To the labels that complain about that because no one buys your records I'll paraphrase Dead Kennedys (who Night Birds get compared to quite often), maybe you put out one too many lousy records.

Night Birds is far from being a lousy record. Genuinely a fucking great record. Night Birds need to damn well make another record and come back over here and tour again.

UPDATE: Grave Mistake records mentioned in the comments that they've got the whole thing up to stream on their bandcamp here - Grave Mistake records bandcamp



There's the whole album to stream so now you can listen to Neon Gray and fall in love straight away.

Put Grave Mistake up in the recommended labels in the sidebar as they've got all their stuff up for streaming and download. Genuine DIY punk labels are well worth supporting so get on it.