Wild Joe - Oose CS

A handful of tapes were sold to unsuspecting victims in Toronto. A, now old, installment to the enterprise. I probably listen to this a lot more than I should. Hot Beef as a Shrimp.


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Power - S/T 7"

I often neglect how good of a release this is but when I revisit I immediately remember. Early 2000s inspired hardcore with a fun Bremerton flair. Something like if No Warning was just an honest band about getting rowdy with your friends and hating the world you live in. Bremerton took a big shift from the early days of 05 and straightforward hardcore punk to a more modern sound and took the same energy they've always had and made it ten times more menacing. Since this release Power has been quite prolific; another 7", an LP, and the just released Heavy Muscle I'll put up soon. This is my favorite power release of all time. Holy grail for me with these guys. Got the honor of singing one of my favorite songs they've written the other day. Thanks boys. SSS Forever The Best.






 



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C.C. Dust - EP

So this thing isn't out but I very often just boot my own copies of things I love. Hayes is releasing these five songs as a mini LP on his label Perennial records but at this time there is no official release for these songs. I was living with David at the time this music was conceived so I got to hear it all come to life, it's was pretty fucking cool to look back on. Two people I really fucking like making music together is bound to be inspiring to me and this definitely is. David has a natural ear for composing music and put together all of these songs kind of out of nowhere. Just started fucking around and it all culminated into five amazing tracks. I dare you to not fuck with the opening track which I once saw them perform after a member of our community died and it was fucked up compelling, "Tonopah" consistently holds a first or second place as my favorite track on this release I remember David playing the bass line in his room all the time, "Baby Boy" is a powerful slow ballad that demonstrates the high to low volume control so key to this genre (saw them open a couple gigs with it and it was beautiful), "Abra" comes in and annihilates bearing resemblance to some mid-era Cocteau Twins with heavy percussion and driving bass lines and leads you right out the same way it took you in then "Mutiny" brings it all together with a somber New Order vibe. Mary Jane brings the band together with her poetics and heartfelt live performance. I can't think of anyone else I've seen recently that holds a candle to how Mary Jane can command an audience. It's also very cool to hear her sing, it's really fucking great. This is A+ material and probably my favorite thing I've experienced coming out of Olympia in years. If you want to communicate with me music is the way to do it and fuck, C.C. Dust is speaking to me.








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Milk Music - Beyond Living

Sorry my scanner is tiny and I can't email myself the picture of the record I took with my phone so here goes anyway: My initial relationship with Milk Music was tumultuous and disdainful and eventually bloomed into deep musical appreciation and multiple friendships. Being very politically aggressive my entire life has made me difficult to get along with which is more than fair. My friend Steven was always someone I shared this disposition with and around 2008 we started Red & Black together. We recorded a demo tape played a few shows and were having a lot of fun being very aggressive and antagonistic. Our sophomore release "Taste Da Rat" was being recorded around 2010 and I had just received the new issue of Nuts! Magazine. I read the interview with Milk Music and found it to have a certain pompous air about it. The band talked about being "record collectors" and why that caused them to make great music. Alex criticized music with political lyrics or standpoints and called for a more ethereal, whimsical and incorporeal approach to music. He talked about how a feeling you have walking down the street has more reality to him than the political sphere and I took this to mean that he entirely neglected that realm and lived an altruistic life with intentional blinders. After meeting Alex I came to find that he is very much in tune with the idea that 'personal is political' and that all personal reality is a construct of a political realm we are born into. In this discovery I came to find a deep personal connection with the band and this record in particular. I found myself being pushed into thought by this record and also using the record as a decompression in times of serious contemplation and feeling run down. Personal feelings aside this record is great and I feel like publicly recognized as such. To say that I love it would be an easy way to communicate a lot of feelings about it at once. Since those early days we've gigged much together and Milk Music has made quite the impactful dent in the Olympia music scene. After a short tour with GAG and Milk Music I came to find that these guys were very cool and I was very into what they were doing. You probably already know what this is but if you don't I would seriously consider jamming it.


 

    




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Vexx - S/T CS (Repost)

It's been almost two years since I initially posted the Vexx S/T which you can read here. Since that time they have done a shitload and are now on a hiatus. I actually have two newer releases to put up from this band which I will do when I have a little more downtime to rip. Reposting the full length but this time the cassette version because it is fucking awesome. If you never got to see Vexx I feel very sorry for you. Their set at OHC last year was absolutely incredible.

 

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Mongrel - Demo CS

This was initially a recorded project between Joey and Branden from LA done for fun but ended up playing OHC last year. I was enlisted on drums and we played the fest and one more gig in Seattle before Branden flew home. The songs follow the formula of early AF with a blown out mix to boot. A recipe for success. I'm not sure when and if this project will play again but it was definitely fun to do. Found the cassette in my stack and had to put it up. It's actually insane to think of how many bands have come out of such a small town (Olympia) in the past ten years.

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Violent Future - Demo CS (Repost)

Here is the cassette version of this wonderful demo. Reposting because it's just that fucking good. You can find my original write up on it here. I miss this band. See you in April Greg ;)

  

 

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Red Death - Demo CS

I received the Red Death demo tape in a care package from Nick along with the Protester demo, Misled Youth 7", Across the Pond comp and a bunch of other goodies you will see shortly. My first impression of the cassette was damn the first track sounds like Crumbsuckers. I even think I heard a Ludichrist riff in there but I may be wrong as it's been a very, very long time since I've jammed that band. This band does 'crossover' style hardcore and they do it damn well. Since listening to this cassette a long ass time ago I've had the pleasure of touring with and gigging with Red Death a few times and they are lovely people. Little did I know we'd all become such good friends after receiving this mystery cassette from a care package. Nick also has long not been in this band haha. Good stuff, thanks boys! The songs fucking go. Also, damn, the vibe in the picture is so good. Connor and Nick are my brothers in Bold.



 
 
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JJ Doll - Demo CS

We had our hearts set on playing with Vanity on this last GAG jaunt but unfortunately they can only swing weekends. Ben did inform me that he had a new band called JJ Doll that would be more than happy to play. Of course anything Ben does I'd be very excited to check out as he is the longtime (ultimate) homie and once an Olympia punk resident. Their set was chaotic and unstoppable, blasting through what I assume were all the cassette songs then culminating into a noised out cover of Void's "Who Are You" which I rarely am burned out on seeing. The demo is six tracks of cackling noised out rock n roll influenced hardcore punk. I could see this cassette fitting in well with some late 70s early 80 LA bands. Definitely going into my playlist of hardcore bands that laugh in their songs. While you're at it grab a copy of the new NUTS magazine.



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Stand Up - Demo CS

 Don't let the goofy cover fool you, this shit is cream of the crop Hardcore. Before Mirce even moved to Olympia I talked to him about starting a band together. He relocated and we started several (Odd Man Out, Turtle Neck, Cowboy, Bad Blood, etc.). He always talked about doing one where he sang. It started as wanting to be kind of rock n roll and oi influenced, maybe something like 4-skins with a little more soul and its first incarnation was me on guitar jamming songs Mirce wrote in our basement we shared under the title Civil Unrest. This then lost steam and months later me, him and Joey jammed what was soon to be the Stand Up demo. I was gone on tour and didn't make the cut for the final lineup which I was initially bummed on but it all worked out because now I get to pit. Stand Up sounds like a more HC oriented Iron Cross. Like if they ever learned to play fast. The last track is the anthem (which I love when hardcore bands do) that boldly proclaims to do what the name suggests. The fast part cranks in at Deathwish speed and has the same feel. "Police Violence" kicks it off with the classic 80s American Hardcore feel. Oi tempo to blitzing fast part to break to rolls. "Working Class Abuse" is a straight Madball riff. "Step Aside" might be my favorite track and clocks in at 28 seconds. Sounds a bit like a lost NA cut. This band is perfect hardcore to me. Everything I want in it. Just meat and potatoes. Well done Mirce. Well done. Olympia hardcore fucking rules.



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Cadenaxo - Demo 2014 CS

When I flew Tercer Mundo to the states for the first time the drummer Roger was wearing a Cadenaxo T-shirt. It was a UC rip off and I asked him who Cadenaxo was. He gave me the eyebrow he always does and coyly said, "You've never heard them?" I replied that I had not and he said "Oh, you would like it man. Mean straight edge hardcore from Mexico City." At that time the band had just formed. The whole weekend Robert and I talked about Cadenaxo as if we knew what it was and finally realized we didn't even know what it meant. We asked Roger and he frankly replied that there was no direct english translation but it was somewhat akin to 'being bullwhipped with a chain'. Robert and I were even more sold at that point. Flash forward a few months and my friend Pablo from Mexico City was staying at my house in Olympia for a bit and we skated together and talked about music. Flash forward a few more months (close to about a year now from my first hearing about the band) Pablo informs me that he is in Cadenaxo and is touring to the US with Volver from Guatemala. He asked if I could help with the tour (because I book band's tours of course and helped out the Tercer Mundo boys and Big Zit and Ooze the first year) and I said "of fucking course play the fest!". So there I was one year later with this band playing the second round of OHC. Very stoked. Great band, great people. It was awesome to see them all in Mexico City this year for Odd Man Out. Brother bands for sure. Extremely bummed someone lifted my Cadenaxo Tee at the aftershow of the fest :'(



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Eightball - Demo CS

New hardcore punk from Olympia, WA full of some of my favorite people. I think they were tracks Joey recorded for fun then it became a real band or something of that sort. As Olympia always does they choose a specific subgenre of music and do it absolutely perfect and add their own unique flare. Eightball sounds very Japanese (not quite as chaotic musically but definitely the peg that fits vocally) especially the first and last track but gets very 'late era D-beat goes rock n roll' ala Anti Cimex in the second track. This demo is great and the band is even better live. They play shitloads of songs live so definitely expect more from these guys. I believe Wartogspeak out of SF is doing the 7". Eiiightbaaall.



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I.C.E. - 4 Songs Demo CS

I had heard a lot about I.C.E. from Robin and Ace when they started it but hadn't heard it yet (I like to see bands live first if I can). With no impression of what it was like I got the opportunity to see I.C.E. play two songs at America's Hardcore Fest and I was sold instantly. This is my fucking shit. See my history in Trainyard and loving wack thugcore from the late 80s and 90s/worshiping the New York's Hardest comp and secretly listening to Dmize and Bulldoze on the daily. Although the band is much more on the 2000s end of this subgenre I get down with it so hard. Great lyrics, great music, great fucking band. Personal favorite of 2015. I can't count how many times I've listened to it at this point, I fucking love it and it's full of some of my favorite people. Download this.





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Los Monjo - Cobardes b/w La Peor Pesadilla

The last two times I was in Mexico (Glue tour and Odd Man Out tour) I had one thing on my mind... pick up the Los Monjo singles. I have always loved this band and tried multiple times to get them to play OHC but they are difficult to contact. This time around we hit End of an Ear in Austin before we left and I didn't even search through the singles. We spent a week in Mexico and I didn't find a single one. Disappointed I returned to Austin and browsed the singles at End of an Ear. There they were, three bucks a piece, both Los Monjo singles I didn't have. The LP is incredible but there's something about the singles... probably just how much I've listened to them. I'm so glad the people at the record store had no idea what these were, their loss is my gain. I think this band is absolutely incredible. With a lot of foreign hardcore for a unilingual American audience, much can be lost when you don't feel as attached to the lyrics or a language barrier prevents you from understanding what the band is singing about. Fortunately, similar to Spaniards Eskorbuto, Los Monjo writes some of the most catchy and interesting punk the country has to offer. Cobardes (Cowards) stomps the single off with a bass line that will stick with you all day. The music almost feels like a military call to action, not surprising considering the subject matter. The b side La Peor Pesadilla (Worst Nightmare) is some real dynamic stuff. Reminds me of a lot of UK 70s singles with the real oddball b side track that does something unique musically. In this case the song breaks down twice, two tempo changes that will get your foot tapping. Los Monjo, please let me book you on OHC I love you. Viva Rock Basura!




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Broken Water - Normal Never Happend b/w Faux King Vogue

 Another incredible single from one of my favorite Olympia bands. This is an older one from 2010 but I realized I haven't put up any Broken Water and that is absolutely criminal. I decided to start with one of my current favorites. "Normal Never Happened" gives you that quintessential noisy fuzzed out intro transition to a beautiful hook that demonstrates their understanding of the concept of volume control so important to the dreampop genre. They then reinforce that they aren't defined by any specific genre by breaking back into their grunge feel. Flip the disc and this continues with a B-side akin to 'Sister' era Sonic Youth. Love it. Can't wait to jam a new project with Kanako when I get back to Olympia.

 

 

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V/A - Across the Pond UKHC CS

I had been waiting forever to post this comp but never had a track listing! Tom had no idea and Nick was temporarily out of sorts touring and whatnot so I was never able to get it. The cassette just lists the band names and leaves you guessing at the song titles. Nick has relocated to South America years later after he sent me this cassette in a care package but he assures me I will receive the track list! Until then please standby on titles, I have waited way too long to post this and now all these bands have records! Well not all of them but at the time the comp was a lot cooler because the bands weren't as notorious. Wish I could hear more Blind Authority, Bang Bros (what a name) and Strong Boys tracks. Some serious bangers on here don't miss out on UKHC at its best.

 

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The Flex - Don't Bother With the Outside World 7"

Repost of the Flex Lock release because I picked it up on 45. See the cassette post here where I have more kind words to say. This release absolutely rips and if you disagree I will never understand. Absolutely honored to have been able to book these boys first visit to the Northwest and tour with them shortly to provide their return to the Northwest. Come back soon we miss you. Flawless HC, beautiful lads. The last two tracks breaks are actually so good it hurts.







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GAG - America's Greatest Hits CS

Yeeha! So our LP finally came out, but not in time for tour. We had the wonderful privilege of visiting the East Coast again to play America's Hardcore Fest and tour on our new LP. Unfortunately we only got 40 advanced copies to sell so we rushed day of to make 150 cassettes of the record in Joey's living room. Here it is in all its glory, the newest of GAG releases. In my opinion it's my favorite thing we've done to date and I had a shitload of fun recording it. We debated a lot of titles but my heart was with this one and it won the title, I find it to be tongue in cheek to the "American Hardcore" trend happening right now and also just hilarious because of the absurdity of an album by that name. Some other runner's up were "Understanding GAG" and "Passion of the Punk". I'll post the real deal LP with some inside scoop stories soon because the art is amazing and recording was dope. Tour was incredible but we all missed Scott who has moved on from GAG to travel and pursue visual art. We love you bud. Music Video for "Pretty Boy" coming soon.



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Convict - Barred Life Demo CS

Oh yeah, I actually forgot to post this. For the record, we had the name before the southern California Convict and played our first show on the Flex, Violent Reaction tour. Our demo finally came out on Painkiller last year and if you like mean ass, hard hardcore you will love it. We wanted to start a band that just sounded like "War All the Time" Poison Idea and out came this beast which is more akin to Citizens Arrest with guitar solos. Death Metal influenced hardcore if you're into that sort of thing. Since the release of the demo tape we did one short Weekend tour to Oakland and barely kept it together. We are quite a dysfunctional band and our frontman tends to rub people the very wrong way intentionally. Due to this we will probably be doing mostly studio work. Keep an ear out.

 

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