Review: Personality Cult - Personality Cult

If I simply said that if you like the Buzzcocks you will like Personality Cult I could pretty much sum up the general idea of the band. However, then you might say, "Sloane, why don't I just listen to the Buzzcocks?" I'll tell you why! Bees might come out of your anus if you don't! Wait, no, because of the songs. Personality Cult might remind you of power pop records of yore but there is enough idiosyncratic writing here that will keep you from turning back to your old Briefs records.

The a-side kicks thing off with the one-two punch of "Burned" and "Hot Head", the later of which has a squealing intro and slinky lead that make the 60s sound like they didn't suck ass. "Functioning Fine" throws in some throbbing saxophone playing that accentuates the anxiety rock at play for a darker tinge than you might expect.



Towards the end of the album, Personality Cult start to edge out their comfort zone (I say this without knowing much about them as I have never heard any of their prior releases not do I know where to get them). "Doing Worse" glides along at the band's typical frantic pace but comes crashing to a minimalist half-minute noise wall before returning to the song's repeated refrain. That mix of bitter and sweet makes things all that more satisfying. This sets up the oscillating stop-start freakout of "Fashionably Late", which makes me feel as though I've already contradicted myself as the exceptions to straightforward power pop on Personality Cu;t prove to be the rule.

Unfortunately, the band allegedly has some tapes and a Euro compilation of some kind but I can't find any info or links on any of it. They also allegedly share members with Natural Causes from Carrboro, North Carolina but I can also not confirm any of this. The two bands don't really sound alike though so who gives a heck, anhwho? So, if you want catchy pogo-ready tunes to clean the gutter to clean you eavestrough this fall, this may be your only option that isn't Personality Cult - but why would you want that?

Review: Spiritual Cramp - Police State

This is one of my favourite records of the year so far. If punk is supposed to be for the freaks and weirdos, Spiritual Cramp's Police State is your soundtrack. Their eponymous track is all kindsa garage caterwauling with some backup vocals that are on some straight up Scooby Doo but that ain't doo doo, you feel me? The police violence tale of "850 Bryant" shuffles along with some dub reggae, which I'm usually highly skeptical of on a punk record but Spiritual Cramp manage to pull it off in a surprising way. The b-side of the record smartly transitions into a plodding rhythm that is reminiscent of "London Calling" on "I Feel Bad Bein' Me". Reggae and "London Calling"? I know what you're thinking, and no this isn't some flaccid '77 revival with wankers wanking it to Captain Oi! reissues. Police State is wholly a product of the thoroughly messed up world we live in today and wonderfully builds on what Spiritual Cramp started with last year's Mass Hysteria. I hope that the risks they take keep paying off.

Review: Piper Maru - Most Of My Friends Died In Space

Since I've followed it for the past 15 or so years, Toronto has had a particular D.I.Y. hardcore scene that produces exciting new bands all the time. It is in a constant state of rejuvenation and Piper Maru is serving up the latest batch of  rejuve-a-juice™. Most Of My Friends Died In Space serves four wonderful and weird bits of fast and catchy hardcore punk that seems both comfortably familiar and yet lacking immediate comparison. "De-Escalation Tactics" has a lengthy intro that would make a straight edge band proud but also contains rapid blast beats that weave in and out and ends in a catchy breakdown with jagged little bits of noise peppered liberally. This isn't the kind of song bands usually knock out on their first release but hey here we are. The repetition and frantic stop-start rhythms of "Control" is something I can only really describe as what sounds like a modern post-hardcore band writing an 80s hardcore jam. That might not sound appealing to you but it totally works, this is truly essential stuff.

Review: Eteraz - Evil Hardcore

Eteraz's (Eteraz'?) bandcamp reads:

With your borders, your walls and towers, your armies in every street, your methods of keeping us divided, broken, and imprisoned - we are the evil ones? We are condemned when we choose to fight back; when we reject gender, sexual, and social norms; when we have dark skin; when we reject your ideologies; when we subvert your systems of power and domination.

So we claim this mark you have put upon us, we claim EVIL as a symbol of power and defiance. You better believe we are your worst nightmare. We are coming for you, and will not stop until ALL has been avenged and reclaimed. We will show no mercy because none has ever been shown to us. Your fears of all you control and oppress coming to devour you are coming true. These cries of rage will be the last sound you hear, haunting you forever!

LONG LIVE EVIL, ANARCHY, CHAOS, AND VENGEANCE!

What you read is kinda what you get, Eteraz sound heckin' pissed off - and with good reason. Evil Hardcore is ten minutes of washed out (I mean that in a positive way), break-neck hardcore. However, it would be pretty off-base to say they are an entirely singular minded in their pace as there is an entirely sick breakdown in the second  track "جاهانام (کهظظنامظ معکهائ؟" that is worth mentioning.

Even though I don't have the lyrics in front of me, even if there was no manifesto, the energy pouring from my speakers says it all: "Fuck your bullshit". This certainly ain't no bullshit. Hit their bandcamp and pick up Evil Hardcore at a PWYC price:

Review: Deseos Primitivos - Demo Tape

Oakland's Deseos Primitivos play a style of mid-paced early hardcore punk with a definite debt to Posh Boy Records, as well as bands like the Rezillos. I gotta say that their three track, debut demo showcases these bi-continental influences with a confidence the belies a first offering.

The opening track "Boba" flirts with almost surf-like guitar parts that speak to early Agent Orange and a subtle sense of melody that recalls the Avengers or early Social Distortion. "Crecer" switches gears to equal success with a jangly guitar tone and style that is reminiscent of a harder edge version of something like the Close Lobsters. Deseos Primitivos return to a more aggressive style for the final cut of the demo, "Pueblo". "Pueblo" manages to even sneak in some proto-death rock moments which suits the reverb heavy style production of the demo immensely.

If you dig the style of early L.A. hardcore and punk I cannot recommend this demo enough. I will say it is a Spanish language release and as someone whose closest foray into speaking or understanding Spanish was taking high school Latin, I still find a lot to enjoy. I am excited to see what Deseos Primitivos is gonna do next. Check out their bandcamp to cop the demo and a live set for a PWYC price:

Buy A Physical Tape Here

Descendents - Enjoy! Sessions + Mixtape

The Descendents inhabit a weird space for me and indeed in the 80s hardcore punk canon in general. Their sophomore effort, I Don't Want To Grow Up, was one of the first pieces of vinyl I went out and bought when I started collecting and I had already fallen in love with Milo Goes To College and Everything Sucks when I was in my teens. Yet, the phrase "I don't want to grow up" sticks out as a title when I think about the band. Their songs of alienation and a desire to be desired rang true for a young outcast, even when the band veered into the bitter and self-centred on songs like "Sour Grapes". Right or wrong (definitely wrong) those juvenile sentiments were real. The band themselves has disavowed much of their youthful insecurities as time has as gone on but not denied the songs themselves. The songs themselves? Well, when they land, they end up as some of the best written pieces of pop music there is. The band not only has this double edge sword of naivety and quick temper of youth, but that youth played out on their records in toilet humour and experimentation that made their direction suffer.

Descendents' 1986 lineup, photo courtesy of punkygibbon.co.uk

The album that suffered the most from these youthful indiscretions in my opinion was the band's third, Enjoy! from 1986. The album artwork features a roll of toilet paper but the artwork isn't the only thing associated with the toilet as the song "Orgofart" graces the album which is essentially a full-band two minute fart sesh. Brand new band members, Doug Carrion and Ray Cooper also bring some new dynamics to the table with all kinds of metal influences, that given the year, aren't all that surprising as crossover thrash was starting to become big in hardcore circles. Today I'm sharing a few outtakes from these sessions that never made the album and in my opinion are superior to some of those that ended up making the final cut. One song, "Shattered Milo" is the real highlight of these sessions and I guess the band thought so too as it ended up being re-recorded 10 years later by the band's current line-up for the Everything Sucks LP. It didn't make that album either and ended up as a b-side but despite the 80s production techniques I much prefer the Enjoy! sessions version and the back-up harmonies found there-in. I left these bootleg sourced recording as is, with no attempts made to adjust volume or clean up noise in keeping with my desire to provide as close to a "primary source" as possible. The key will be in the comments.

Here you go:

Descendents - Enjoy Sessions


I've also posted a mix re-imagining Enjoy! as a different album that I dub Shattered. I've made an effort to remove the fart joke songs "Enjoy!" and "Orgofart" as well as much of the metal tinged tracks save for "Hürtin' Crüe" which actually works, unlike the other moments. Instead of opening with the wet plurp of "Enjoy!", the album now thunders to life with "Shattered Milo" whose tail-end harmonies flow perfectly into the Beach Boys' "Wendy". In my opinion, this is a much stronger 25 minute album that highlights the strengths and none of the weaknesses of the Enjoy! sessions.

Second Wind - Security LP + Demo Tape

I thought that a fitting inaugural post for a blog of this kind would cover a band that spun off from one of the most iconic American hardcore bands of all time. You see, while not as notable as Meatmen, Dag Nasty or even Embrace, Second Wind featured Minor Threat alumni Steve Hansgen on guitar. The band was rounded out by vocalist Rich Moore and bassist Bert Queiroz who had played together in both the Untouchables and Double-O, and drummer Mike Brown who sang in United Mutation.

(Security LP cover)

Given the pedigree and time-frame, there are a few things you might expect from Second Wind’s sole album Security. However, the album arrived at an interesting time for harDCore, as the city’s stop-start formula been codified into predictable template but 1985’s “Revolution Summer” had yet to completely break the mold. Second Wind most often gets compared to Minor Threat (it could be a similar accent but Richard Moore sounds a lot like Ian MacKaye) but Second Wind are more the product of a small but significant shift that began in 1983. Minor Threat’s Out Of Step LP was recorded in January of ‘83 with Hansgen and released in June of that year, it acted as a sort of culmination of everything that had come before it in DC hardcore - but it was also a book end. Listening to Marginal Man’s demo, Scream’s Still Screaming, The Faith’s Subject To Change and Minor Threat’s Salad Days recorded less than 12 months after Out Of Step (sans Hansgen, shit that rolls off the tongue) and you start to hear the beginnings of what makes Second Wind tick. You get more tuneful songwriting, longer song lengths more indebted to 70s classic rock, british post-punk and reggae than the straightforward thrash DC had come to be known for (Bad Brains not withstanding). I’ve seen a few reviews of Second Wind online saying that they sound exactly like Minor Threat, but the band they share most similarity with to my ears ends up being Marginal Man. Take side A for example, "Bitch" and "I Don't Like To Have To Fight" you get some squealing guitar leads that the DC crowd hadn't really been messing around with in the early days. The slow sorrowful opening and chiming flourishes around the 1:35 mark in "Knock On Wood", hint at something that hadn't yet been declared but was soon to come.

(show flyer from 1983)

While personal politics had always come into play in the lyrics of the harDCore scene, Security along with Marginal Man's Identity is really the first point where you began to see the kind of vulnerability that would characterise the late Revolution Summer bands. If you listen to the lyrics of the title track it certainly what one might call "emo" slightly before anyone didn't want to be called that. After reading Steve Hansgen's interview with Noisey I can't help but wonder if some of the experiences he had in Minor Threat helped influence some of the content of this LP, the breakdown of the relationships that formed the original foundations of the DC scene. Now I must throw a content warning for the misogyny on "Bitch" as they are lyrics written by a heartbroken teenage boy and are truly cringe-worthy. It is my belief you can still enjoy an album like this while being critical of content like that at the same time. Anywho, misogyny and teenage lyrics aside, the rest of the album rips. So if you are a fan of sub-sub-sub-genre breakdowns you might wanna call this record proto-Revolution Summer….maybe.

The second bonus item I am posting is not an original source but my own rip of Second Wind's demo tape sourced from a bootleg and ripped by me in .wav format. Details are sketchy and the band allegedly recorded two demo tapes, one in 1984 and one in 1985. The sound on here is a lot more clean and melodic and keeping with 1985 harDCore than anything, a bit of a lost Rev Summer record. If anyone happens to have the other demo, a better rip or an original tape they are willing to part with, hit me up.Enjoy the songs:

Second Wind - Security
Second Wind - Demo


***flyer from http://oldpunkflyers.tumblr.com***