Creation And Destroy

Haven't been to a gig for almost a year. These days I do not enjoy going to gigs that much but this one seems to be an unmissable one. D Clone are touring Europe in october and it seems like I'll have to drive 300 km south to catch the only italian date...I just hope they won't fill the gig with countless useless boring opening bands or, even worse, they put them as headliner of a bloody endless festival!! Oh yeah, I was forgetting to mention that they will also release their first full lenght on Agipunk in september...

Your Freaks Now Too...

You might have noticed that this year I've almost posted only about old records. Maybe it has something to do with getting too old and perhaps too jaded to pay attention to all the new bands around, but I must admit that I'd rather spend my hard earned cash in old records, being them originals or represses, than invest on new lame bands that mean nothing to me. That being said, along with the few decent aussie bands around, japan seems to be the only place that still unleash new bands that I want to check out. To make a long story short, here's a bunch of new japanese shit worth your money: 

Let's start with Tsuyama's Massgrave "your freaks now too..." ep that Detonate Records just put out. Originally released a couple of years ago by Hardcore Survives on tape (lamest format ever), now it has been finally repressed (with a couple of bonus tracks) on a more proper format for such a brillant release. C'mon, you can't ask more to a japanese band than Sore Throat rip-off, a cheesy artwork with a rotten crucified corpse and broken engrish titles!! If you've enjoyed bands like Death Dust Extractor or Asocial Terror Fabrication, you'll love this!! Limited to 250 copies only, act fast of cry later. Last stuff released by Detonate was so ridiculosly limited that I've missed most of them, but thanx buddha this time I've been fast enough to secure a couple of its last outputs.

The other one I've got is the super elusive "Part II" of a series of three 7"s by Sendai weirdest noise punk band ever, Exit Hippies. Limited to 100 copies only. Too bad 'coz this is one of their best releases and more people deserve to listen to it. Pretty minimalistic layout, plain black labels and just the small piece of paper you see as a cover. No insert, no information at all. What you see in the picture above is exactly all you get. Musically, side A starts with a nice Flux Of Pink Indians cover followed by one of their typical unique noisecore excellent tune. No shitty sound this time like on their "Record and Fantasy". It's bloody noisy of course, but you can still enjoy the music. Side B has a long techno/electronic track. I don't know shit about electronic music and I hate techno but I've enjoyed this mix of repetitive drum beats and street noise samples. If you want to get rid of your copy of "Part I", please keep in mind that I'll happily pay a fair amount for it. 

Last but definitely not least, the bloody Damaging Noise "Instant Death Noise Attack" ep that Noise Punk Records outta UK put out a few months ago. I've used the adjective "bloody" 'cos I've had to order it twice since the first time I've tried it has been lost in the postal limbo. Thanx Visnù, this time it landed safely in my mailbox. If you're even remotely familiar with 80s' Kyushu noisecore bands, you should have already understood from band's name and the font on the labels that you should expect nothing but blatant Gai/Swankys rip off. So yeah, you got clean bass driven tunes, repetitive simple drumming, buzzsaw guitars and high pitched crazy vocals. Fans of this sub-genre will definitely appreciate Damaging Noise accuracy when it comes to reproducing Swankys style. Of course nothing new but if you're a fan of the aforementioned bands, you shouldn't give a damn fuck about innovations! While in the picture I've done it looks red, I assure you this is on wonderful transparent purple wax. Limited as well to 320 copies only.

No Al Sistema

It has been exactly 30 years since this ep was originally released. Straight forward to three decades later, the most sought after and definitely most iconic italian hardcore record ever has finally been bootleged. And it was about time if you consider that way less important records have been already repressed a long time ago! From now on, you won't have anymore to shell out 8oo bucks or more to own the almighty Wretched Indigesti split ep on vinyl. It's an almost perfect replica of the original: it has the three inserts and it comes with a simple white dust sleeve with both bands logo printed on it (in the original version they were stamped). The only consistent difference are the label colours: instead of black and white, they're red and white. Oh yeah, I was forgetting to mention that on both sides, for some unexplainable reason, tracks order has been totally altered which is quite annoying but, honestly, I can survive with it.  

Now you're all going to hate me but, as I've already said other times, Wretched is one of those bands that everyone but me seems to love. I've tried to get into them many times in different periods but it never worked. The music is just ok, good hardcore tunes but way far from having the same urgency and hysterical approach of bands like Underage or Upset Noise, just to mention a couple of names that start with "U". My main problem is Gianmario's voice. I can't stand it. I've always found it irritating. Add that I've always found their lyrics pretentious, melodramatic and too militant/dogmatic (like most italian bands of that era), et voilà: that's why I don't like Wretched. That being said, I think this is their best material and there are definitely way worse bands from the '80s that now are unexplainably revered as gods. Just think at the whole NYHC thing, with the notable exception of Urban Waste, Nihilistics and Antidote, ALL the rest is just utter crap.

At this point you should have been asking to yourselves "so why did you buy it, you douchebag?". Good point, sir. For the Indigesti side, of course! I was introduced to classic italian hardcore around mid 90s', when Cripple Bastards used to cover quite often "Mass Media". To this day, Indigesti is still my favourite band from that era and no doubt the material contained here is their best stuff ever. These six brief tunes are indeed the best explanation ever of the wild and frantic sound that became the trademark of the hardcore/punk unleashed from this bloody boot-shaped penisula. Also, lyrically, I've always found them more sincere and genuine than that band on the other side...plus Rudy vocals are simply insane! I guess that not being from a city like Milano helped, too. I've always found bands from small and isolated cities way more interesting than the ones from big, fancy and trendy places...

ZYANOSE interview 2006

I was supposed to write something about a bunch of south american records that I got last month but it's too hot and wet for spending too much time in front of my pc, I've been too busy/lazy, add your favourite lame excuse for not posting too much lately. So I've opted for a quick post. A scan of the Zyanose interview that was originally featured in Warning 'zine vol. IV that came out sometimes around 2006/07. Insane noise raid!