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



Monday, November 30, 2015

Christi California Mailday Extravaganza


In all reality two of these I copped at Not Dead Yet, but one of them came in the mail last week so it makes it easier w/e. However, the point is I'm kind of surprised some of this hasn't made it to the blogspot circuit yet, but then again everyone is fucking lazy so yeah. These are three new tapes from Northwest Indiana's cesspool of insane riffage and unending music from the same five musicians. Rips are from the tapes and all are still available from Christi's mail order distro at the time of posting this.


Dagger-Live 10/20/15New fast, and I do mean fast, punk from Indiana featuring the drummer of The Coneheads. Barely any breakdowns and just some, no-nonsense punk. Side B is a sampler of future releases to come from NWI.
DOWNLOAD


G.S.B.-Goldman's Beat
I don't know much about this one aside from it's just Mark. Kind of like the Hot Beef stuff but more along the lines of Coneheads songwriting. Telephone Bore is more of a poppy song and it's catchy as fuck.


D.L.I.M.C. - Mushrooms On My Ass B/W (I've Been Livin' In) Macaulay Culkin's Brain
New Cassingle. Jam it.

Beta Boys - II HC Tales


Beta Boys are a band from KCMO, if you don't know already then you've probably been under a rock since 2014. It's slippery, gooey mid-west punk drowned out in drugs and feedback. 

Just spent a weekend rolling around Texas with these guys and Seattle's Lysol and copped this tape, among others. Rip is from the second addition which was dubbed over thrift store tapes. Get stoked for the upcoming 7" that's coming out in 2016. The thing is a beefy monster recorded by a punk and mastered by a hip-hop producer.




Monday, November 2, 2015

CALL OF THE VOID-November Mix


Being the dumb ass I am, I forgot to post this the other day when I intended, but you know, better late than never. But I'm going to start uploading mixes online, around a monthly basis. This is the November mix which is centralized around Noise, Ambient, Black Metal and "Evil" punk and hardcore with a little bit of "other" thrown in. Two hours of festering filth. Track listing is included in the download.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/84vy93yu91rb7cr/CALL_OF_THE_VOID.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/84vy93yu91rb7cr/CALL_OF_THE_VOID.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/84vy93yu91rb7cr/CALL_OF_THE_VOID.zip



Saturday, October 31, 2015

The Shards-Summoning


Considering that it is Halloween, I figured I would throw up some spooky music to fit the mood. The pick is Summoning by Denton, Texas' The Shards.

The Shards was a solo, studio project by Erin Vernon of Near Neptune/Fierce Band! and was written and recorded in the summer of 2013 and released online around that time. Last Fall I put the mini-album on tape and the copies have dwindled up at this point. The Shards was one of Erin's deviations from her prog metal roots into experimentation. Several times she veered off and made some incredible music, such as a one off Raw Black Metal project in 2011, a Noise/Drone Band I helped participate in in 2012 called Ancient Machinery, and in late 2014 her and my friend Theo had began dabbling in Post/Ambient Black Metal. The Shards however was her take on dark ambient/dungeon synth done in the vein of classic horror soundtracks. Whether Erin realized this or not, the John Carpenter influence is sometimes glaring on this. 

It's sad that out of all of her solo material, side projects only one survived her computer's hard drive crashing. But I want the world to hear this tape. I'm happy to have put this out for her and I'm immensely sad that she's gone from this world. This tape shows the creativity of an insane genius, who's voice has now been silenced. Rest In Power.

An additional note, Fierce Band and Near Neptune's bandcamps are still active, I'm not sure how much of my follower base is into Progressive Metal, but they're worth the listen in my opinion.



Tuesday, October 13, 2015

2015 Near End Cool Punk Bands You May've Not Heard Yet Round Up.


Okay so 2015 is not over yet, but goddamn this year has been lit with new releases and bands. So bellow is so new stuff that came across my radar this year I feel some of you nerds need to hear. 


I saw this band play at J&J's in Denton back in June and they blew me away. Super heavy Japanese Influenced d-beat with a wry sense of humor. Super fun band to see and chill with and my god do they love The Coneheads.


Bib is from Omaha, Nebraska, aside from that I know nothing else about this band. But this tape is so fucking sick. Turbo Joe described it as a mix of S.H.I.T. and Hoax and I feel that is an appropriate description. This tape is for the slammers.

I was really excited about this band before I even heard one note. My good friend Tommy of Innards and Father Figure fame is playing drums in this with ex-members of Hatred Surge and Mindless. I don't know how many of you know this but Hatred Surge is one of my favorite bands so yeah stoked. Super heavy and super moshy punk, I caught their first set opening for G.L.O.S.S. a week ago and needless to say this tape is sick.


I got to see Burners' first show on the Baby Blasters tour and I was pretty stoked on it. Members of Q and Nos Bos playing something kind of different than the stompy weirdo punk both bands play. This band is just fun and Jammy. All of us were bummed because lil Austin was telling us they were going to break up after the show, obviously wrong now, but stoked to see what they do next.



Sometime ago I posted about an old Denton band named Depths and how I was lamenting that they were gone. Weep no more, Depths has reformed without their old guitar player and a line-up shift as Burning Moon. It's as if Depths had never stopped and swung into a more Ildjarn influenced territory. 


So when this came out I could not stop listening to it. It's so addictingly catchy and well written. But anyway Dame is from Boston and is one of the better bands out of this post-punk uprising thats been happening this last year or so. 



Trae Brown is fronting a band again, half of Dirty Work and half of Beta Boys joined together to make a Rock n Roll band. That's all that needs to be said, listen now.



Digi Boys is from McAllen, Texas, if you don't know where that is, it is as far south in Texas as you can get before hitting Mexico. Digi Boys plays real fun pogo punk kind of stuff with Synth thrown in. They played the Blasters tour kick off and covered Devo and it was sick as fuck. Also shout out to Josh for being a real pimp, luv ya bby.


When we got back from tour there was a general consensus that Lard Boys was the best band we played with. It's fast and dumb pogo-ish punk from Minneapolis. They kind of reminded me of Warthog but Lard Boys' music is a lot more fun imo. LB also played a Sugar Ray Chopped 'n Screwed loop in between songs and had a dude show up with pizza during their set so yeah, bets band I saw on tour.


Manneqin is a studio project of Judah of Zap that got released as a cassingle by Not Normal. It's just as bizarre as the Zap but a bit weirder. Very minimal and creepy at times but in all the right ways.


Naamahk is from Hamilton, Ontario, I first heard of them when my friend Michelle from Toronto was talking about them when she was in Texas. I got to see them at Not Dead Yet and was blown away. Anyways Naamahk is blackened punk/raw black metal band playing in the vein of Ildjarn/Bone Awl and this tape is sick. Stoked to see them in Houston next February.


When the Noids started appearing on shows around North Texas people were stoked and curious. Because most of the punks didn't know who the kids were in this band. They were a trio of Art School weirdos who picked up their instruments and started playing something like the Urinals meets Flipper. I think they're going to tour this winter and I'm expecting them to take over punk.


It's been a while since I've been really stoked on a powerviolence band, I really burned myself out on it in early 2013, but this band is a breath of fresh air to me. This band is a bunch of metalhead dudes from Dallas who heard Spazz and Charles Bronson and went with it. What we got from it is some of the most air-tight, goofy Charles Bronson worship that I've heard. This band has not stopped since they started and I'm pretty sure this is their fifth or sixth tape. 


The Pose is probably my favorite new band out of Houston. Members of Back to Back, Dress Code and Paranoid Chant (among a plethora of others) playing Mysterious Guy Japanese D-Beat sounding stuff. 


I love this band and these people so much. The first time I saw Q I saw someone take half of a step ladder to the face, the third time I saw them, Austin was beating people with Baguettes. It's dumb, it's stompy, and it's fucking sick. 


Slimy Member is from Dallas, I reviewed them as a band in my DFW bands list thing and they've gotten better, oh so much better. This two song EP is evidence and the stuff they're working on now is even better. Get Stoked.


I booked Slouch in 2014 and the band was good, a little green around the gills but a solid band. Back in July they hopped on the Sudor show at 1919 in Fort Worth and it was like a different band entirely was playing. The band had tightened up their set and sound and become a viscous beast. this tape reflects that entirely. Get this and mosh hard.


Smear finally up and moved out of the country and into Denton. And with that move comes a tightening of their sound and craft. The riffs are harder and mosh parts moshier. Smear's doing an East Coast Jaunt in January. Catch them and punch your friend.


The synth punk weirdos from Canada do it again. It's goofy as ever and features a sick The Who cover. Still bummed I missed every opportunity to see them at Not Dead Yet but I hope to catch them one day.
















FALL '15 MIXTAPE


I made a mixtape and it's stupid as I am. Track list in download

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8vb7jxpysfz3i36/fall_%2715_mix_tape.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8vb7jxpysfz3i36/fall_%2715_mix_tape.zip
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8vb7jxpysfz3i36/fall_%2715_mix_tape.zip


Sunday, August 9, 2015

Rule Of Thirds-Demo


This demo has been out for sometime and the band is now on to a monster of an LP, but I couldn't find it outside of the label's site so here you go world. Rule of Thirds for the uninitiated is an Australian Post Punk band busting out some gloomy and atmospheric music that you can really dig in and dance to. I got the see them last April in Denton at what I consider to be one of the best NTX shows so far this year. 

The download is a rip from my copy of the tape (thanks to my good pal Tad for selling me his copy), when I get a new turntable expect a rip of the LP.




Monday, August 3, 2015

Soy Babies-Demo


Soy Babies are a new band from Fort Worth, Texas made up of kids ages 16 to 21, for half of the band this is their first group to play in. The group plays a weird mix of Flipper-esc No Wave with hints of Post Punk thrown in here and there. It sounds weird, but it works. 

This band came at a perfect time, formed and started playing shows around the time both The Noid and Baja And The Blasters forming the third in the triad of new NTX bands. Check them out when they go through the midwest in early September with the Blasters




Thursday, July 9, 2015

Mass Sterilization - Punk Sounds


Mass Sterilization was a band from Fort Worth/Denton that was around way before I stumbled into punk. Made up of dudes who would be in bands such as Wiccans, Teenage Cool Kids, Institute, Sin Motivo, Collick and more. The band's style is the blown out, messy, My War worship that was around in the day akin to bands like Cult Ritual, White Wards and SQRM. 

I don't really know why or when Mass Sterilization folded, but many times Jeramy has babbled about how they played an early show in his living room and how stoked he was on it. People seem to have forgotten about this band, or never really heard of it to begin with. It's worth the listen as well was their split with No Man's Slave from OKC.