Cause & Effect - s/t Ep (Repost)

After last week's Légitime Défonce post I remembered that I never re-uploaded one of my favorite French melodic hardcore Eps - Cause & Effect's self-titled 7" on Panx records.  This group popped up in the mid-1990s and released only this one 7" and a few compilation tracks.  This Ep does remind me a bit of the first Légitime Défonce LP as well as some British and American groups of the same time-period; H.D.Q., Cowboy Killers, Pegboy, etc.  Newer bands like La Fraction or Inner Conflict, minus the female vocals, are good reference points also.

Cause & Effect - s/t Ep

Légitime Défonce

Alright, while I'm posting a spate of more melodic bands, here is a great French group from the 1990s, Légitime Défonce.  These guys played fast and catchy as hell punk with a strong U.S. hardcore influence.  To my ears, these guys remind me a bit of the U.K. wave of bands in the late 1980s that took their cue from 7 Seconds, SNFU and the like - groups like H.D.Q., Exit Condition, Snuff, early Leatherface, etc.  Légitime Défonce are not quite as classic as those bands but I think they are within the same realm.  This post collects their first two LPs, both on the great French label Panx.  The first LP, self-titled, was an instant favorite when it came out - fast and melodic with enough aggression to satisfy my more HC tastes.  The second LP, Ya Basta!, is a bit more 90s pop-punk sounding and with muddier production so it doesn't quite stand up to the first... still, its not a bad record per se, just not as good as the first.  Légitime Défonce had a few EPs and another LP that came out in the late 90s that I've not gotten around to tracking down yet, though I should have obtained those early 7"ers a long time ago... too many records, not enough time or money tho!

Légitime Défonce - self-titled LP and "Ya Basta!" LP

Undone

OK, sorry for the silence... its been fairly busy around here and several projects have been taking up my time as of late, though I'm trying to get back into posting more regularly soon.  For now, here is a quick re-post of some more French emo hardcore... Undone were another of those groups from France in the mid 90s who took their cues from Dischord bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace as well as early Ebullition Records hardcore.  On Stonehenge Records, along with the likes of Fingerprint and Ivich, Undone mixed chaotic tempos, quiet intros and bombastic crescendos with impassioned screaming vocals.  This post contains their "Dark Future" Lp and their two 7" Eps, the majority of their recorded output. 

Undone - Dark Future Lp and two Eps

Soar - Discography CD

Here is another French HC band that were attached to Stonehenge Records... Soar featured folks from Cause & Effect and a future member of Amanda Woodward.  Soar was quite different from both of those bands, however... they played a more metal influenced hardcore that stood somewhere in the nexus of screamo, metalcore and grind.  While each song seems to traverse these genres, the constant emphasis is on heaviness and power.  This CD compiles their self-titled 7" and a split Ep with Grievance, seven songs that are effectively the entire discography of this short lived band.  Great stuff.

Soar - Discography CD

Finger Print - Discography

OK, this post is a response to a request, of sorts, from a commenter.  Noisenoisetom wanted to see material from the great French HC label Stonehenge records posted... as I told him, Batguano over at Fugitive Equilibrium had already uploaded quite a bit of that stuff already.  However, when I went back to his site I saw that some of the links are now dead so, in the interest in keeping this great music out there I'm going to repost some of it - starting with perhaps the best band to come out of the 1990s scene in France; Finger Print.  Fugitive Equilibrium still has a great write-up of the band on the site and there's not much I can add so I'd suggest checking out the original post.  I'll just add that when I heard Finger Print for the first time in the mid 90's it was quite a game changer... "Emo" was definitely in the air (in its early form, more related to hardcore than pop-punk) but Finger Print had ratcheted up the speed and power in a way that a lot of the "screamo" stuff that came after obviously tried to emulate, however much of it couldn't quite reach the same heights.  That's my two cents anyways, download and check it out for yourself!

Finger Print - Discography CD 

Various - Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10" (Repost)

Here's the repost of another great compilation from the late 80s/early 90s... the "Beautiful Music for Beautiful People" 10".  This one features some great US bands, along with a spattering of international HC acts.  Libido Boyz and Dissent headline the US bands, but Crib Death and Tit Wrench have strong tracks as well.  Tit Wrench were bit of an odd-ball band.  Featuring Bob Barley of Vinyl Communications records, they played lightning fast techno like music with absurdly confrontational lyrics....think Pailhead or Lard.  "People Like That Should Be Spayed" is a good intro to their stuff.  I may post their discography some time since their stuff is fairly enjoyable in it's own weird way.  Anyways, the non-US bands on this comp. provide some great tracks as well... "Full Circle" is one of my fave Instigators tunes, the Scoundrels, Flitox, 16 B.U.H. also have strong tracks.  Australia's S.S.D.C. have a rousing number in "Free the Five."  The final track, from Denmark's President Fetch is the weakest, but not a bad song.  All-in-all a classic collection of HC from this time period.

V/A Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10"

Various - Stealing the Pocket Lp

This time out, I've got a relatively rare compilation 12" of mid-90s punk and hardcore called "Stealing the Pocket."  This record was produced by the very short-live Positively Punk label and, according to Discogs, was limited to 200 copies.  The covers were hand-made and consisted of a list of the bands glued on to old record covers salvaged from thrift stores... so each cover was unique.  The artwork accompanying this post and embedded in the tracks is my particular copy's.  The line-up on this comp. is a bit uneven - it includes 90s HC heavyweights like Los Crudos, Capitalist Casualties, Death Side, The Pist, etc. alongside relatively unknown and quickly forgotten groups like Chickita, Potato Justice and Bound.  A lot of these tracks made it on to discography releases of the more prolific bands - like Los Crudos, The Pist, Maximillian Colby, etc.  Others, like the Frail and Rye Coalition tracks, were left off any other release and appear to be exclusive to this obscure little record.  The stand out tracks are from Naked Aggression, Death Side, Cap Cas, Vanilla, Devoid of Faith, Los Crudos, Action Patrol, Frail, F.Y.P. and Maximillian Colby.

Various - Stealing the Pocket Lp

V/A Beautiful Music for Beautiful People

Up next is another great compilation from the late 80s/early 90s... the "Beautiful Music for Beautiful People" 10".  This one features some great US bands, including Libido Boyz from the last post, along with a spattering of international HC acts.  Libido Boyz and Dissent headline the US bands, but Crib Death and Tit Wrench have strong tracks as well.  Tit Wrench were bit of an odd-ball band.  Featuring Bob Barley of Vinyl Communications records, they played lightning fast techno like music with absurdly confrontational lyrics....think Pailhead or Lard.  "People Like That Should Be Spayed" is a good intro to their stuff.  I may post their discography some time since their stuff is fairly enjoyable in it's own weird way.  Anyways, the non-US bands on this comp. provide some great tracks as well... "Full Circle" is one of my fave Instigators tunes, the Scoundrels, Flitox, 16 B.U.H. also have strong tracks.  Australia's S.S.D.C. have a rousing number in "Free the Five".  The final track, from Denmark's President Fetch is the weakest, but not a bad song.  All-in-all a classic collection of HC from this time period. 

V/A Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10"

Various - Reconstruction Lp

OK, I've got time for one more post before the hectic holidays...  Here's one last record from France for now - the Reconstruction compilation from Stonehenge Records.  This one collects all the emo "heavy-weights" - Fingerprint, Vanilla, Undone, Ivich, as well as some grind (Ultimate Disorder, Co-Exist) and crust (Autonomia Indigena) to keep things interesting.  All the bands on this one deliver, with the exception of Cause & Effect... as much as I love their 7", their track on this one is little more than a throwaway.  A shame, too, since it's the only other song they appear to have released.  All tracks seem to be exclusive to this LP.  Check it out.

V/A Reconstruction

Cause & Effect - s/t Ep

Well, let's stay in France for a little while longer... up next is one of my favorite French HC 7"ers of all time.  Another one on Panx records, this is Cause & Effect and their one and only Ep.  This one is very melodic and fast, a combination that I just can't get enough of.  These guys remind me a bit of contemporaries like H.D.Q. or even Pegboy and perhaps newer groups like La Fraction or Inner Conflict, minus the female vocals.  This 7" came out in 1995 and garnered a lot of playing time on my turntable back then.  If you dug the Exit Condition Lp, definitely pick this one up. 


Cause & Effect - s/t Ep

Undone - Dark Future Lp

For this week's post, here's another French band - one which leans more towards the "emo" side of things I suppose.  Undone were one of a few groups from France in the mid 90s who took their cues from Dischord bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace as well as early Ebullition Records hardcore.  On Stonehenge Records, along with the likes of Fingerprint and Ivich, Undone mixed chaotic tempos, quiet intros and bombastic crescendos with impassioned screaming vocals.  Beyond their French counterparts, this record brings to mind pre-"screamo" groups like Frail, Angel Hair and Inkwell.  As much as I like those bands, the French groups were always better at this I thought.  Undone had a couple of Eps as well and you can find them for download at Fugitive Equilibrium.  All of their material is out of print but Stonehenge continues to put out "anarcho-emo-punk" to this day.  

New link with corrected files!
Undone - Dark Future

Enola Gay/Vomit Yourself split LP

 

...And now for something completely different.  I'm a little weary of posting U.S. punk and HC for the moment, so here is a split LP of French bands - Enola Gay and Vomit Yourself.  This one dates from 1995 or so and both bands play blistering hardcore.  Enola Gay, one of a gazillion bands with that name, remind me alternately of Doom and early Extreme Noise Terror - great Euro crust-core.  Vomit Yourself are even faster, with shorter songs bordering on grindcore.  Both sides of the LP totally rip.  This one came out on the great French label Panx.  Enola Gay had a 7" and a couple of splits which I never tracked down but this record seems to be the only output of Vomit Yourself.  Download and be destroyed.

Enola Gay/Vomit Yourself split LP