Finirà Mai?

When the new year starts, every record collector sets a priority list. You know it, your wantlist keeps growing everyday as soon as you discover new or old bands or you decide that you need back that record that for some unexplainable reason (aka making money to buy more records) you sold a few years ago. While in the pre-internet era it was all about what came across your path, now almost everything is virtually available if you got the money to buy it. In such an overflowed environment, you gotta set a list of what you need more urgently. For 2016 I've decided that it's about time to finally complete my Warsore and Wretched collections. I miss just a couple of eps from both bands. While of course during the first three months of the year I've managed to waste my money on other stuff, at least I've been able to secure one piece of the puzzle: Wretched second full ep "finirà mai?", self-released by the band in 1984. Perhaps not as iconic as the "in nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto", but still an essential piece in the italian hardcore history. Songs are a bit longer here compared to their previous material but the sound is still a raw wall of noise. The title track and "mai arrendersi" are the best tracks of the ep and classic tracks in the Wretched catalogue. Comes with the two original insert, alway filled with tons of anarcho/pacifist stuff to read. Got this copy for a decent price and it's in great shape so I'm quite happy with it. Now I just need a copy of "in nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto" 7" and then I'm done. (No, I don't own an original split with Indigesti and, unless I'll win the lottery, I'm fine with the recent bootleg).

L'indifferenza uccide...

Another obscure pearl from the excellent torino scene from the early 80s got the repress treatment recently. It's the one and only ep released by Bedboys "l'indifferenza uccide..." from 1985. Both lyrics & music are heavily influenced by Crass but you can definitely hear also a typical italian approach in the urgency of the music. Perfect reproduction of the original with the big fold-out cover full of stuff to read (something I'm definitely not gonna do, ahahah). There's also the extra insert with lyrics translated in english for all ya non-wog speaking punks out there. Solid job by No Plan Records, a german based label run by italian expatriates! Please do the Declino ep next!!

OUT COLD interview 2002

Legendary boston band that doesn't get the recognition they bloody deserve. Taken from finnish zine Downsided#6 from 2003.

 

Forward To The Caves

I won't play the cool guy pretending that I was already familiar with Psycho Sin. Before their "forward to the caves" lp was reissued by General Speech a couple months ago, I've never heard this band before and didn't even know of their existence. Hailing from New Jersey, they were around in the second half of the 80s' and during their existence they self-released a fair amount of tapes, an ep and this lp. The original vinyls sell for a small fortune nowdays. Somehow the label description intrigued me, so I decided to give them a chance and ordered this without even listening to it before. For some reasons I was expecting some anti-PC proto-noisecore but I couldn't be more wrong. Psycho Sin were a very political oriented band. From the interview featured in the insert, I got the feeling that they were more interested in politics than music. And you can definitely hear it. This band indeed falls perfectly in the "good bad music" or "shit-fi" category. They were loud and fast but they could barely play their instruments. Their music is neaderthalesque in its ultra primitive approach. If hardcore/punk usually is not renowned for musicians virtuosism, well these guys sound like they had no clue in how tuning their equipment. But luckily the lack of playing technique is compensated by a ferocious approach that makes the final result quite interesting and entertaining. Throw in some keytar, some weird industrial parts and you got Psycho Sin. I still have to figure out if I like this band or not, for sure an unique band worth checking out if noisy & primitive music is up your alley. I've read somewhere that one of the member of RAPT  was part of the band since he was living in NJ in that period. That makes perfectly sense since their "caos non musica" approach is quite similar. Superbly packed with a zine full of pics, flyers, artworks and a couple of interviews, some stickers, a poster and a cdr featuring 73 tracks (50 of them were never printed on cd before).

Generation Gas

In an era where everything is available with just a couple of clicks, you gotta be extremely dedicated to find something really obscure. Today's 16 years old kids have a musical knowledge that I could only dream of at their age. Everyone knows everything in these days (well, they suppose to do). But apparently there's still something that needs to be discovered out there. The two uber-dedicated nerds behind Not Very Nice & General Speech managed to find a totally obscure recording session from the 80s that almost nobody has ever heard of. Of course there are tons of obscure demos out there, but this one has that peculiar characteristic that makes it totally worth: IT DOESN'T SUCK!! G-Gas is indeed an extremely good band! How the hell two kids from the midwest ended up discovering it is beyond my comprehension. Anyway, they hailed from Sapporo, Hokkaido and managed to record the 9 songs on side A around 1984. And now, for the very first time, they've finally been released to the masses. Side B has a live recording. They shared members with Tranquilizer & LSD. They indeed sound like a bit slower, less fuzzy and more controlled version of the first mentioned band. Well, at least on the studio session, the live material is indeed way closer to the Tranquilizer first flexi chaotic approach. An extremely well done release (that comes with pics, fliers & an interview), support Zach & Tom and the detailed and passionate job behind their releases!

Coups Et Blessures

I know next to nothing about Oi! and generally I find it quite boring if I have to tell the truth. So I'm not even sure how I ended up giving this ep a possibility. Probably 'coz everyone and their grandpa were mentioning it as the best ep released in 2015? Well, it bloody is. Rixe debut ep "coups et blessures" (which roughly translates as "hits and wounds") contains 4 tunes that will get stuck in your brain immediately and won't left soon. I've been basically listening to it for a whole week now and I still want more. These three parisiens have been able to mix perfectly the traditional catchy approach of french Oi! with the more brutal sound of bands like Nabat and Blitz. The final result are 4 skinheads anthems perfect for drunk singalong. As a result of being slow, I've ended up with 4th press with red cover. Previous ones have blue cover. Can't wait for more material by them. Another winner by LVEUM. 

MELLAKKA interview 1984

Here's an early interview with one of my fave finnish band. Not the best interview ever but still quite informative and interesting. Taken from Phoenix From The Crypt#4 from 1984.