Dystopian Dreams, Mexico City Hardcore, Split Records, Splitting Headaches
Megalithic Youth's first release for Neon Taste Records is 6 tracks of dystopian anxiety wrapped in a shroud of Ambient droning and reverberating echoes bouncing off concrete buildings turned to tombs. The blending of Post-Punk, Ambient, Noise and Industrial churns out a fresh take on traditions pioneered by groups like Nocturnal Emissions and Caroline K. This is the future hauntology where visions penetrate as aural static coursing through the air. It's the traces of lead that still taint the water long after the fatal mistake. It's the mycelium that wraps around you after you pass.
This is not a sub-label as Neon Taste was never to be tied to one style, function or aesthetic. Punk and Hardcore are our focus based on availability and our primary taste but we’ve always been wanting to showcase what we feel is good regardless of style. With that in mind, Megalithic Youth is the first of a series of releases we’re rolling out under the Minted Series. And I’m stoked to let it loose. You can grab a cassette preorder here or here.
Happy release day to Jug and Traumatizer! W’re just waiting on the Jug sleeves which will be here next week. I was worried about the record delivery as the couriers for my place are either completely daft or refuse to get out of the vehicle to attempt a delivery. I live in a slightly rougher area in Calgary but it’s nothing compared to Vancouver. Still, it makes me scream internal when UPS leaves a box of $2000 records on my doorstep which is one foot off the sidewalk. Anyways, complaining aside, Traumatizer records will be shipping over the weekend and Jug as soon as they’re assembled. They’re stamped and just waiting of their jackets.
In other news, we’ve added a tonne of cool badges/pins with many more to come. We’ve been getting bugged relentlessly for them so I’m happy to have em out there for the people again. Here’s a couple of record highlights you may have missed from the last couple of shipments.
Malcria - Fantasias Hystericas LP
Iron Lung released this fucking monster and aside from an MRR review (remember them?) I haven’t heard much from people about this release. That’s a damn shame. The Mexico City group has been around for a decade with a handful of releases but this is my first awareness of them. After checking out prior releases I can confirm that it’s been quality since inception playing chaotic, fast, classic hardcore punk. Good riffs, great drumming and killer vocals. This doesn’t hit the H-100’s or Delco MF level of velocity but what’s lost in total speed is made up for in absolute power and efficiency. Generally, I like my hardcore records to move from track to track with barely a second between them so as to not lose any momentum. Hardcore punk is a fight and there’s nothing worse than watching a couple people engage in some weird dance without throwing down. Gimme blood, gimme venom. Fantasias Hystericas does both but with some taste. They break up the blasts with spoken word samples (all in Spanish) and some cool, synth work just beneath the surface that gives is a brooding feel. It adds a bit of terror to the record instead of slowing it down. And when considered next to the monstrous cover art, propels the whole project into a particuarly uneasy and desperate mood. Each copy comes with a lyric book not that I can understand it at all. If you’re the great unwashed white like me, you can use your smartphone to translate the lyrics and further help AI distinguish whether or not humans are really worth it. Let the robots decide. Let the art of Malcria be included in the evidence for and against us. We are doomed. Probably.
Various - Screaming Death LP
Long has the split record been a maligned thing but that’s almost exclusively because record collectors would sweat their genitals off trying to figure out how to file it. It’s either that or it’s because it was traditionally executed by two bands that sucked. Don’t have enough cash to put something together yourself? Find a dumb friend’s band and commit half of papa’s cash and only disappoint him a little bit. You can shove the leftovers under the bed pretend you did the right, cool thing. I’m not even going to mention the Dischord split that everyone will bring up as the best executed example. I only want to talk about bad splits and there are billions.
Consider 90’s Oi. Fuck, consider Oi in general.
Anyways, there’s a silver lining to this and by the second paragraph we’re getting to it. This thing rules. Splits should be a competition. Too often, they’re just throwaway tracks tossed at a label to get rid of some tail-end recording session b-sides leaving the whole thing an uninspired mess. Screaming Death brings 4 bands at their absolute peak and releases a 12” that’s so hot 1/2 of the entire pressing melts as it’s played. That’s a fact. Just a couple months after their smokin’ 2nd LP, Rat Cage’s contribution is excellent. I’m a sucker forever when a D-Beat fucks around with Motorhead riffage and ‘Twist Of The Vice’ is right there in full swagger. Destruct, who honestly had me a bit lost on their first LP only to completely crank it up on their last release have their best material here, fully worthy of the praise they’re given. It’s great, Swedish style kang that only hints at slowing down before breaking into leads designed to peel the fingerprints off their pads and clear the wax from your ears. Scarecrow who are thankfully rereleasing their debut 7” are in fine form as well. I really dig everything about this band. The vocalist has a bit of a flat delivery that I usually find a bit…well flat but in this case it works really well. Dissekerad are the most crust-aligned group here and instantly identifiable as Swedish style D-Beat. I’ve seen the name around a bit but I think this is my proper introduction and they remind me a lot of early Disfear. They maintain a bit of the melodic, ever so slightly metal influenced guitar but the vocals aren’t quite as Death-Metal seasoned. This release has a lot to chew on and the variance between the bands that are all playing raw hardcore give it a lot of replay value.
To close things off, I’d like to write about another record that I’ve been revisiting lately. It’s another kind of split record. One in which one of the groups is merely another version of the real band doing something maybe stupid, maybe bad, maybe just filling the space on the flip. My personal favourite example is Nomeansno’s debut 7”, a “split” with Mass Appeal. Mass Appeal was just the Wright Brothers and a bloke named Ray Carter doing vocals. The NMN side is the creepy/crawlie track, ‘Look Here Come The Wormies’ that is an endearing and classic Canadian DIY artifact predating the groups descent into Art-Punk malfeasance. It could have been the soundtrack to the 70’s caecilian horror flick Squirm, had that film been later or Nomeansno been earlier. The Wright brothers other big-time rarity, Mama is legitimately a difficult record to listen to and track down. More piano than guitar and more art than rock. I’ve had more than one rabid collector hit me up for trades only to re-listen to that record and decide that after all, it’s just not for them. I’m of the same opinion. It’s an overrated piece of wax with a legitimately great cover. Look, I’m not a big NMN fan. I have both early 7” offerings and nice copy of Wrong but the rest of the catalog just doesn't move me. I will say that it’s good that they’re finally getting a reissue series by the perpetually distracted Alternative Tentacles (why has it taken this fucking long?). The Wormies split though, that’s a masterpiece. From the hand-made envelope style sleeve to the disjointed early punk muzik inside. The Mass Appeal side sounds like it could have been another Count Vertigo track (though certainly not as good). It’s got the same vibe. Declarative, adolescent manifesto lyrics about smashing people with guitars and artwork showcasing the soon-to-be-regretful SS lightning bolt artwork. Splits are fun if done with some care. They can be the wild and manic smash of something like Screaming Death or the DIY brilliance of NMN/Mass Appeal. Usually they just ain’t.
Til next time!
Free Palestine!