Various - Four Corners Lp

Building on the theme of my recent posts, here is a great early 2000s compilation Lp of posi thrash and fastcore bands... "Four Corners" came out on 625 Records in the U.S. and featured 5 bands - Life's Halt from the U.S., Dead End (Sweden), Razlog Za (Croatia), German straight edgers Highscore (from the last post) and Holland's Point of Few.  Each band contributes at least 3 songs, giving each about a split 7"s worth of material...  The entire is record is killer, with Highscore and Life's Halt doing what they do best.  Dead End were short lived and didn't release much else, but their tracks are some of the best and showed a group with lots of promise.  Razlog Za are perhaps the weakest link - mostly due to the recording quality of their songs - but their contributions are by no means detrimental.  Point of Few comes out the winner, though, in my mind.  Their short, heavy and ultra-fast tracks bring to mind compatriots like Lärm and Seein' Red or perhaps a more muscular version of U.K. thrashers Active Minds.  Overall, a great collection of fast, pissed off youth crew influenced hardcore.

Various - Four Corners Lp   

Various - Iron Columns 2xLp

Time for another compilation... here is a double Lp of late 90's hardcore, crust and grind from Mind Control Records.  I've posted a few Mind Control releases before, and pretty much everything this label did was great.  Iron Columns features a bevy amazing punk and hardcore from this time period and many of the greats are included - Los Crudos, Forca Macabra, Ebola, Counterblast, Extinction of Mankind, Krigshot, Disclose, Cress and one of my particular faves, Black Kronstadt.  Beyond the heavy hitters, most of the lesser known bands contribute strong tracks as well, making this a solid collection overall and a great glimpse at the state of international DIY hardcore at the time.

Various - Iron Columns 2xLp

Various - Four Two Pudding

OK, so I've been on a bit of an early 90's California punk and hardcore trip lately - playing some tunes I used to love but hadn't spun in quite a while, and the recent blog posts have reflected this.  I think I'm going to do a couple more before I move on, so sorry if you're not into the recent diversion...  Anyways, here is a CD compilation that Very Small records issued in 1993 - it represents kind of a "best of" the label at the time, culling songs from the myriad of other compilations the label produced, along with tracks from other bands' proper releases.  Very Small compilations were my first introduction, back in the day, to a lot of the California scene - bands like Samiam, Jawbreaker, Nuisance, Logical Nonsense, etc.  This compilation, bizarrely titled "Four Two Pudding," features all those bands as well as the great Corrupted Morals, 23 More Minutes, Fuel and an early effort from the Offspring.  Also, California transplants Econochrist and South Dakota greats Dissent contribute tracks.  One caveat with this selection is that Very Small did do records for quite a few weird bands that I never got into - Plaid Retina, 3 Finger Spread, the Lizards, Nar, etc., that sporadically interrupt the flow of great tracks on this collection.  Outside of those odd interjections, classic tracks are provided by Jawbreaker, Samiam, Screeching Weasel, Sleep, and others... ultimately, this CD contains some of my favorite tunes from bands like Nuisance, 23 More Minutes, Logical Nonsense, Fuel and Dissent.  Well worth the download and the inevitable skip past some filler tracks...

Various - Four Two Pudding CD

Various - Music for the Proletariat

This time out I've got another compilation - this one comes from the great early-90's label Allied Recordings.  Based in the Bay Area of California, Allied put out records from a diverse spectrum of bands - from Antischism to J Church to Neurosis and all points in-between.  Music for the Proletariat reflects that diversity and collects 26 songs from 90's punk and hardcore stalwarts like Resist and Jawbreaker, to lesser known, but still great in their own right, groups like Friction or Radon.  There are quite a few international bands that, at the time, were little known here in the States that received a bit of attention from their inclusion on this collection - bands like Seein' Red, Nations on Fire and Political Asylum.  This one featured early tracks from bands who would continue on to produce their own legacies (J Church, Jawbreaker, Buzzoven) as well as short lived groups who managed little else other than their contribution to this record (Schedule, Strait Up, Dogs on Ice, etc.).  However, there are hardly any missteps on this collection and that makes it one of best from this time period, to my mind.   

Various - Music for the Proletariat

Various - They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard Lp (Repost)

Here is a repost of that great compilation from back in 1989 I referenced in the Dissent post.  Put out by Maximum Rocknroll records, here is "They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard".  14 tracks of U.S. punk and hardcore... a very representative sampling of the U.S. scene at the time.  This one has some crust (Nausea and Apocalypse),  a lot of  straight up hardcore (Christ On A Crutch, Detonators, Dead Silence), a little pop-punk (Cringer), even some ska-core (Downfall), which was all the rage at the time.  This compilation has a special place in my heart ever since a buddy of mine in high school gave me a tape with this record on one side and Christ On Parade on the other.  A very formative cassette to say the least. 

Here's the full tracklist:

The Detonators - Denied
Amenity - Follow
Christ On A Crutch - Nation of Sheep
Nausea - Clutches
Apocalypse - Techno-Doom
Conspiracy of Equals - Is It Right?
Screeching Weasel - This Bud's For Me
Jawbox - Bullet Park
Dissent - Superman
Downfall - Long Way to Go
Dead Silence - Hope
Cringer - Pay to Play
Bazooka Joe - Phoenix
Libido Boyz - Mr. Greenthumb

Everyone of these songs is great... from the best tracks ever by the Detonators, Screeching Weasel, Christ On A Crutch and Apocalypse, to hidden gems like Conspiracy of Equals, Bazooka Joe and the Libido Boyz.

Various - They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid...

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

Various - Give Me Back Lp

 

Up next is one of my favorite compilation Lps of the 90s, "Give Me Back" on Ebullition records.  This one features a great mix of U.S. and Euro HC of the time.  In keeping with the theme of the record, many of the songs deal with gender and sexuality issues.  Among the bands featured, several contribute their best songs, in my opinion, to this record - the Spitboy, Suckerpunch, Struggle, Desiderata and Profax songs are a good as it gets.  Also featured are HC heavyweights Man Lifting Banner, Seein' Red, Born Against and Econochrist, along with a few other lesser known but still great bands from this era.  Overall, a great collection with a great message...

V/A Give Me Back Lp 

V/A War Compilation

Building on my last post and the excellent one recently done by Marc at Fugitive Equilibrium focusing on Dirt, Mankind? and Final Warning, here is the War Compilation.  Released by Tribal War Asia, the Japanese branch of the label, this one features two of Neil's bands - Warning and Jesus Chrust.  Also included are some great Japanese bands of the time - T.D.F., Battle of Disarm, G.J.P.B., Crocodileskink and a couple more.  Along with Japan, the New York/New Jersey area is represented with Neil's bands, Rorschach, Merel, Hell No, Bugout Society and the underrated Huasipungo.  Sweden's Warcollapse are the only non-Japan or US based band I think. 

Anyways, most of the bands lean to the crusty side of things, particularly the Japanese groups.  "Can You Smell the Dead" might be my favorite T.D.F. track - great metal-punk that pre-dates the glut of those bands that are out there today.  Battle of Disarm, Warcollapse and Rorschach are their usual brilliant selves.  The Warning and Jesus Chrust songs are among both bands' best.  Huasipungo, Bugout Society, Merel, G.J.P.B., Urgesnake, The Denied and Crocodileskink all contribute strong tracks.

One band I was really interested to hear when I picked up this comp. was Hell No.  They featured two folks from Citizens Arrest so I had to hear the new group.  Unfortunately they were a huge let-down.  The music had decent parts but the vocals were way over-the-top.  They made me think of Life of Agony or something.  Their song on this record is one of their better tunes, however.  I bought their first album based on the better parts of this track but that record totally ended my interest in them.  Download and check it out for yourself...

V/A War Compilation

Various - They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard!

 

Up next is a great compilation from back in 1989.  Put out by Maximum Rocknroll records, here is "They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard".  14 tracks of U.S. punk and hardcore... a very representative sampling of the U.S. scene at the time.  This one has some crust (Nausea and Apocalypse),  a lot of  straight up hardcore (Christ On A Crutch, Detonators, Dead Silence), a little pop-punk (Cringer), even some ska-core (Downfall), which was all the rage at the time.  This compilation has a special place in my heart ever since a buddy of mine in high school gave me a tape with this record on one side and Christ On Parade on the other.  A very formative cassette to say the least. 

Here's the full tracklist:

The Detonators - Denied
Amenity - Follow
Christ On A Crutch - Nation of Sheep
Nausea - Clutches
Apocalypse - Techno-Doom
Conspiracy of Equals - Is It Right?
Screeching Weasel - This Bud's For Me
Jawbox - Bullet Park
Dissent - Superman
Downfall - Long Way to Go
Dead Silence - Hope
Cringer - Pay to Play
Bazooka Joe - Phoenix
Libido Boyz - Mr. Greenthumb

Everyone of these songs is great... from the best tracks ever by the Detonators, Screeching Weasel, Christ On A Crutch and Apocalypse, to hidden gems like Conspiracy of Equals, Bazooka Joe and the Libido Boyz.  You'll be hearing some more from these lesser known bands on this blog in the future.  For now, though, check out this rad comp., one which introduced me to a whole new level of DIY punk and hardcore when I was a teenager. 

V/A They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid...