V/A Counter Culture Ep

 Alright, I made it back to town from my travels abroad and it's time for more tunes.  This week's record is an international hardcore compilation 7" from 1999 which features some heavy hitters.  The "Counter Culture" comp. came out on Coalition records and has exclusive tracks from Canada's The Swarm, Japan's Slang and Swedish thrash legends D.S.-13.  I think my copy is a promo edition or something because the official version featured a different cover and came with a huge booklet that mine lacks.  Regardless, the music on this one absolutely kills.  This record features possibly my favorite two Slang tracks ever.  The Swarm and D.S.-13 rule, as usual.  Also included is an Indonesian band called The End 32 which I know very little about.  Their three songs fit right in, though, as they serve up some raw, fast, brutal hardcore.  A flawless collection of HC.

V/A Counter Culture Ep

Gnosis - Disunion Ep

Alright, time for another band from my hometown, or close by anyways.  Gnosis were a short lived group from Raleigh, North Carolina that played some heavily Neurosis inspired noisy HC.  This 7" came out in 1994 and is their only official release, as far as I know.  As I mentioned, there is a definite early Neurosis feel to this record.  The opening track is a noisy intro which is followed by two quick HC songs and the final track is a longer, dirgy number laden with samples - not too unlike fellow North Carolinians Buzzoven.  All-in-all, a great slice of mid-90's hardcore and a hidden gem from the Southeastern USA.  Jaime from Gnosis now plays in Devour, who are great in their own right.

A side note about the blog, I'll be heading out traveling next week, so I may not be able to post again until I return in late November.  So download and enjoy and I'll be back in a few weeks with new records to share.

Gnosis - Disunion Ep

Active Minds/Petrograd split Lp

OK, finally some time to upload a new post.  Going off the last 12" I posted, the record this week is a split which features a band who took their name from a Cringer song and actually does a Cringer cover on this record.  Petrograd was from the tiny country of Luxembourg and evolved from a melodic punk group into a more of a DIY political pop band.  I like all of their material, even though the later stuff is more mild musically.  Still, the lyrics and intent were good and their later records are packed with good songs.  This early record is more on the pop-punk side of things.  As I mentioned, they do a Cringer cover and they are definitely heavily influenced by that sound at this point. 

On the other side we have quite a contrast in Active Minds.  A thrashy, low-fi duo (only guitars, drums and vocals), Active Minds is pretty much legendary at this point.  They've been around since the late 80s and still play manic HC to this day.  Their side of the split features their usual quality material - great lyrics and blistering tempos.  One of my favorite AM songs is on this one: "Walking Billboards."  A little slower and longer than most of their tracks, but it's got a great melodic sound to it.  Overall, a great split and interesting pairing of contrasting styles of punk.

Active Minds/Petrograd split Lp

Cringer - I Take My Desires for Reality...

Today is the 4 year anniversary of Lance Hahn's death.... Lance was the driving force behind Cringer and J Church, two bands I can unequivocally say influenced who I am today.  His bands introduced me to the more melodic side of punk and HC, as well as Kronstadt, the Situationists and Baader Meinhof.  "I Take My Desires for Reality Because I Believe in the Reality of My Desires" was one of the first Cringer records I bought and contains some of their best material. 

A collection of singles and compilation tracks, this 12" was issued for their U.K. tour in 1991.  Cringer's sound was decidedly melodic, ranging from quick HC songs to tracks which bordered on "pop-punk" (before that was a dead genre).  There's a definite U.K. punk influence, which along with the lyrics leaned them towards anarcho-punk in my opinion.  Lyrically, this record starts off with an ode to the revolutionary sailors of Petrograd (Kronstadt) who challenged the Bolsheviks in Russia, several Situationist inspired musings, a ballad to the Baader Meinhof gang and a couple staunchly pro-feminist songs.  All very influential to me when I was young... it's safe to say that this record helped me get through college the first time around.

Cinger's discography isn't in print anymore but I looked around and the CDs are still fairly readily available online.  Their first LP "Tikki Tikki Tembo..." was reissued on CD with their early Eps and another CD was pressed called "Greatest Hits Vol. 1" which contained all the tracks from this record with the rest of their Eps and compilation tracks.  Still, this collection 12" remains on of my favorite records 20 years on, despite having all their stuff on CD.  Hopefully you'll get a fraction of the inspiration I've gotten from it..... R.I.P. Lance Hahn.

Cringer - I Take My Desires for Reality Because I Believe in the Reality of My Desires 

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

Warning - Protest and Still They Die Ep

 Here's a classic 7" from short lived NYC hardcore/crust band Warning.  Their one and only Ep, this band featured Neil of Tribal War Records and former vocalist for Nausea and Jesus Chrust.  This record has a definite early Discharge feel to it, down to the title and cover art.  A bit derivative maybe, and not quite the power of the early Nausea recordings, but still a solid Ep.  Neil went on to form Final Warning, probably his best post-Nausea project and a more evolved take on the Discharge sound.  Still, Neil's vocals are very distinctive and this Warning Ep showcases them perfectly.  Worth a listen for sure. 

Warning - Protest and Still They Die Ep

Terminus - Going Nowhere Fast

 Well, judging from the download statistics, last week's Terminus post was fairly popular and since it was requested I will go ahead and post the band's first Lp.  Still not sure if Boss Tuneage is working on the CD reissue of these records or not but I have faith the folks who download these versions would still want to purchase the re-mastered and re-packaged collection when/if it is released.

Anyway, this 12" also came out on Words of Warning records, back in 1990.  It collects songs from various recording sessions in different periods of the band, so the sound is a little uneven, recording quality-wise.  This record features a mix of styles - faster numbers similar to the 2nd Lp, mid-tempo rockin' punk tracks and some more somber, anarcho-punk type songs.  One of my favorites is "Hey Little Girl," a bouncy punk track with venomous lyrics aimed towards apathetic fashion punks.  As with their other material, the lyrics are overtly political and thought provoking.  While I don't enjoy this one quite as much as "Back Among the Blind," it's still a great record from a band that really did no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

Terminus - Going Nowhere Fast Lp