Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Erik Nervous - Shipshewana Swimming


What the fucking hell is this??

So this is a tape out of the newest batch of weirdness from Marty Dumper and Marky Cone's labels. The story to my knowledge is this is a kid from Northeast Indiana who showed up to the Lumpy/CCTV show in Kalamazoo after NDY handed off this tape to the Dumpers/NWI dudes. According to the Spotted Race store this kid taught himself how to play all the necessary instruments and how to use a four track recorder. What came out of it is some total fucking weirdo punk shit. The first comparisons I can make to this, and these are vague at best, were Devo and Uranium Club. This tape is energetic and fun and features covers of The Urinals and The 2x4's. Check it out if you haven't already and good luck scooping a copy of this Midwestern gem.

Smear - Live In The Lion's Den/Tour Post



Hello there! If you're new to this blog well, this is Smear. Smear formed in 2013 in the small town of Denison, Texas as the bedroom project of guitarist Austin Waymire. That year the band was fleshed out into a three piece live act and sparsely played shows from August of 2013 to late 2014. 

Smear, among the punks of North Texas, are widely considered to be the hidden gem, or the most under-appreciated band of the scene. The band takes the stompy hardcore style of Gag and Q and blows it out into a noisey, d-beat influenced mess that rarely ever fails to get kids moving. 

So what we have here today is a live recording of the band performing in Denton's only basement based house venue, The Lion's Den. This set was recorded direct to cassette and has not been altered at all. In an essence, this is Smear at their purest. 

I'm going to be putting this tape out for their upcoming east coast tour. Dubbed over thrift store tapes, it will be housed in oversized, soft vinyl cases featuring a poster. Tour dates are bellow, if they are coming to your town, I urge you to step on out and see these boys. 





Thursday, December 10, 2015

Sin Motivo - El Desierto

Considering that the release show for this monster is a week away, I think it's time to talk about Sin Motivo. 

Sin Motivo has been around for about three years now, starting in the summer of 2012 when Completely Fucked was breaking up. The, then-four piece, debuted in October of 2012 to unanimous acclaim in the North Texas scene and quickly grabbed up momentum, putting out their demo, online, in January of 2013. Sin Motivo appeared at a very prosperous time in North Texas, during the era of Taqueria El Picante and Bruiser's Dojo and helped foster young punks to get up and do something. The band embarked on a tour in July/August of 2013 releasing a tour tape and drafting Cody P (then of Blotter and Glue) and upon returning swapping out Cody for The Sentenced's Daniel Davis.

So with as quick as the band had moved everyone expected an LP to come out quickly. In late 2013 and through a majority of 2014 Sin Motivo stepped back and began writing and cooking up what would be El Desierto. Some of the songs in their fetal forms were debuted in that era, but were often altered from set to set. 

The full beast was unleashed in its live form at shows in December of 2014. 

So a year after hearing what would be the LP for the first time, the LP release show is coming. Now 2015 has been a crazy whip of cool and some, somewhat disappointing releases. But after I saw Sin Motivo the Breakout show in Denton last year I said that their new LP would be at the top of 2015 and goddamn right it was. 

Drawing in cues and influences from every angle of punk, from Hardcore, to No-Wave and Noise, El Desierto not once gets boring in all of its 30 minute run time. By contemporary punk standards, it's ambitious and the risks it takes are well worth it. It's not terribly often you hear something shift between No Trend influenced dirges and Cult Ritual based controlled mayhem. The title track captures every aspect of this, especially with it's hypnotic middle section and anxious final build (also check out the use of a piano in the climax!). Even more astoinding is seeing the different ways the band presents this music from show to show, no one performance is like another, from a band that is not like many other contemporary bands.

So if you haven't checked this LP out yet, I urge you to do so. This alongside, the Uranium Club LP and the Dame Demo have been highlights of 2015. Sin Motivo is having a release party for this record on December 19th in Fort Worth with OKC's American Hate and later in the month is touring Texas, Mexico and Louisiana. Check them out.


Lars - Demo


About a month ago my friend from Saint Louis, Marty, and I set up a tape trade. His end was delivered to me by Beta Boys in an envelop with Trev telling me "marty said 'give this to that mecca kid". This tape was an unexpected extra and Trev told me that it was a new STL band that Marty played drums in and left it at that. 

What it is, is fast and tough punk not unlike other STL bands The Warden, Ruz and Sweet Tooth. It's a fun and short affair and I'm interested to see where it goes.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Tempe SS - Heroin Heaven


So I guess somehow the old post got deleted?? I don't know what the fuck happened. In any case, download this tape. Lord knows I listen to it too much




Nosferatu - Solution A


I know very little about this aside from that Albert from Recide is the mastermind behind this, so you know this is quality shit. Kind of sounds like Recide a bit. Hope this band actually comes to be a reality.

Nihilistic Fit -2015 Demo


Things sort of always move in waves and what-not here. There will be these ghastly dry spells and times of unprecedented creativity. I don't know what's been going on here but it just seems every minute a new band with a new face pops up out of nowhere. Nihilistic Fit is apart of a new wave of bands flowing free in North Texas, along with Ekzum, Elix-r, SSTD and the already established newcomers The Noids and Soy Babies.

Nihilistic Fit's demo was written and recorded in studio by Ryan Richie of Clear Acid, amongst other NTX bands. But the live roster features James of Clear Acid and The Sentenced, Jeramy of Sin Motivo and The Sentenced, Joey of Baja & The Blasters and Ekzum and Keaton of Smear and Ekzum. But what the music is is hardcore how I like it, noisy, fucked up and well, evil. This demo brings to mind bands like White Wards, Latisha's Skull Drawing and Cult Ritual. In short, the band I've been waiting on North Texas to produce. 

Word on the street is that they will be playing shows in January and I'm excited. I just put in the order and will be releasing the tape around that time.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

December Mixtape





A holiday themed mix, centered around the Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Christmas Special. For fans of cold weather and moods, playing in hardcore mode to protect the black soul stone, Tears For Fears and my own pure, unadulterated stupidity 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8a0wmyg47lorkkj/dec_mix.ziphttp://www.mediafire.com/download/8a0wmyg47lorkkj/dec_mix.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8a0wmyg47lorkkj/dec_mix.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8a0wmyg47lorkkj/dec_mix.zip