ANTI-CORPOS- Contra Ataque (2014)

So I will admit this now, I've been listening to Anti Corpos for a little while now and I do not speak any Portuguese. I always trusted my guts when my brazilian friends told me that the lyrics were about really rad topics, but now with this EP I can speak with my own certainty of their incredible-ness

I had no idea that Anti Corpos was coming out with another record until I just so happen to stumble on their bandcamp. And HOLY SHIT this EP is maybe one of the best EP's I've heard in a long time. Plus for all you non Portuguese speaking folks out there (which is probably most of us) they posted the lyrics in english as well. The first song, "Sororidade" or "Sisterhood" not only has the best and most enticing sound clips but speak incredibly eloquently about heteronormativity: " our desires are constructed to fit the heteronormal standards//they imprison us, they mold us//reproducing this model would be to ignore all of the so many victims and using straight privileges" Listening to these three songs make me not only want to just jump out of my seat and not finish any of the work I have to do for the rest of the day, but they are just so incredibly powerful and empowering as a whole.

Anti Corpos describes themselves as an all lesbian hardcore band. which is honestly my dream band come true. Please buy and download everything from this incredible band. (queer hardcore bands that aren't from North America FTW). They sound in some ways really straight up hardcore (except not straight up if you know what i mean), although I'm having a hard time figuring out who they sound like? Someone help me with my punk musical description abilities.

FFO: Permanent Ruin, Sin Orden, Force Quit, Coke Bust, Manipulation, I don't know i'm just picking bands randomly probably.

LISTEN/DOWNLOAD HERE

No Time - DEMO (2013)

I don't remember the last time that I had heard a band describe themselves as street punk. But when I was in high school I was really into that label. I remember being really proud that I was dating someone who loved cock sparrer and I would wear my blitz t shirt and it was just overall a pretty funny sight because i was/am such a poser.

Flash back 10+ years later and I still like both of those bands, a lot. No Time kind of pushes me back to those years but with a lot less leopard print. The song that sounds most street punk is track "Reprobate" where they end up yelling OI in unison at the beginning of the song. But really after that song the demo kind of traces back to some more post hardcore punk roots.I suppose, also,"City Dying"'s into and outro kind of sounds like something that would be in a Blitz song.

Anyways, No Time is upbeat and pogo worthy. With some combo of a bit of kitschy street punk/oi sound and aesthetic with post hardcore melodic punk, they rip through six songs. The vocals are screechy and tough as fuck and makes this demo come together in a really great way. I could only picture this band being hella fun to see live. Check it!

FFO: Warrior Tribes, Fucked Up,Blitz

DOWNLOAD HERE

Warrior Tribes/ Distract SPLIT (2013)

Distract and Warrior Tribes are two of Chicago's very own punk outfits that came together to make this split. Distract has been on my radar as by far one of the best bands to come out of Chicago's current scene but I had not actually taken the time to listen to this split until recently. Which is funny because now I would say that this release has probably my favorite Distract song of all time ("fresh air" has the best sound clips and meghan's voice is just so sick as hell. total mosher).

While Distract and Warrior Tribes certainly have two distinct tones to them, their styles accompany each other super well for a split such as this. Listening to both sides of this split just really works. While I'm always about bands who come together and sound nothing alike (like the Peeple watchin/ hits split!) I also get really excited when bands can release something that just blends in a really great and catchy way. I definitely feel like this split goes above and beyond in that category.

Warrior Tribes can be described as a kind of post hardcore/ kind of melodic catchy punk. They remind me a bit of Fucked Up and Paint it Black but with a bit of a warmer tone that is slightly reminiscent of some oi. All of those things together make for a super catchy band that can easily get stuck in your head (specifically "what we get". I keep singing that chorus to myself for days now!).

Additionally, the recordings are just really well done. I don't know much about that stuff, but I do know that Will at Dead Air is fantastic and has yet to go wrong in any way. And hearing these recorded songs makes me really want Warrior Tribes to re record their demo with better sound quality! (maybe thats not very punk to say).

Lastly the cover art is SO good. I wish I could have it on a shirt or a back patch. Someone convince these folks to make that!

FFO: canadian rifle, fucked up, distract, no truce,

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Anti-Zen S/T (2014)

Since every punk has decided to up and move to Philly, so many other cities have been left to hang in terms of new sick outfits to jam out to. While I have no idea if any of the members of Anti-Zen live in Philly or are planning on moving to Philly (at this point I wouldn't be surprised. Every band has at least one member thats planning on moving to Philly), for all intensive and categorizing purposes I am claiming Anti-Zen to be a DC band.

Anti-Zen sounds nothing like most bands that are most associated with their scene. In fact they depart from most popular notions of hardcore to make a demo that combines elements of UK late 70's crust,some sweet ass solos, 90's dark Iapanese hardcore, and just totally insanely great vocals that are screechy and whiney (in a reallyyyy good way). Released off of Hesitation Wound Records, Anti Zen includes members of State Violence and Aghast. While the vocals definitely sound nothing like Nick Blinko, their over all sound definitely resonates with Rudimentary Peni (especially the bass lines). Which is just awesome because what bands these days can you really say sound like rudimentary Peni? Not many, my friend.

The song that totally sold me for this being demo being so fucking killer is "Mao II", specifically at 1:03. Then immediately it goes straight into "waves and Radiation" which is my other favorite song on the demo. Pretty much each song just kind of gets catchier and catchier. Those solos, man.

FFO: Rudimentary peni, Bone Awl, The Comes

BUY/LISTEN HERE

UPDATE: Just learned that two of the members of Anti-Zen live in philly. Proving my point.

LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS- 7" (2013)

So before I really started listening to Lumpy and the dumpers, I came across their music video for their song "sex pit". If you haven't watched it it kind of reminds me of if the makers of Ah! real monsters and Are you afraid of the dark? made an adult show.

I think the best way to describe Lumpy and the Dumpers is exactly what they put their tags as on bandcamp: "punk eel goo fuck you eat shit fucked up sic nasty meat slime Belleville". Coming from a town right outside of St. Louis, Lumpy and the Dumpers are just one of the many other bands holding down the fort for the midwest cranking in some bratty and sick ass punk. I personally am pretty into their schtick (I'm also a fucking weirdo) and think their name is randomly hilarious. Something that I assume most people have noticed by now is that US punk really loves snotty glue sniffing hella 1977 lo fi meets hardcore meets "I'm gonna fake vomit into this mic" sounding bands right now. Lumpy and the Dumpers are definitely in that category. It's cool, though, to see a band be kind of self reflexive of this and respond to it in an even campier/exaggerated manner. (Okay now everyone go read susan sontag's notes on camp and see how you can apply it to punk).

I just recently saw them with tenement in NWI and they definitely were maybe the most fun to watch. All their stuff is free on bandcamp. check it.

FFO: Nuke Cult, Vaginors

DOWNLOAD HERE

LEATHER DADDY- Demo (2013)

Currently there are two Leather Daddy's existing in the dull US punk world. One of which comes from Richmond and has some sick merch designs and I'm sure sounds tight and the second Leather Daddy is from Boston! So for clarity, this demo is referring to LEATHER DADDY BOSTON PUNK STYLE Y2K KCSW Band.
this demo keeps growing on me every time I play it. At first I was just like 'ok yeah this is sweet' but then after the fifteenth time listening, it turned more into a "frick this is fricking rad as hell'. They definitely have that super punk meets New York Hardcore sound with a lot of treble and audible but snotty vocals. Their riffs are really mid tempo mosh style and catchy as fuck. "Get Out" is sooo good.
Other things that make this band sick:
-the bassist is only 16 which is so bad ass because younger people playing in sick bands doesn't happen enough. If I was playing in this good of a band when i was 16 I'd probably be a way cooler person now then I already am.
-this is a non dude band playing a style of music (specifically that catchy punk new york hardcore style punk) that is OVERWHELMINGLY dudez. hell yeah!
They are playing at SMASH IT DEAD FEST 2013 in Boston. Get frickin stoked.



FF0: Birth Deformities, Twerps, Social Circkle
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BIG HUSH- Discography

Big Hush is what you listen to when its four in the morning and you can't sleep because the street light outside is too bright. Or when you go to a coffee shop to do work but instead you spend 30 minutes looking out the window at the ice patches that formed in the puddles of mud on the sidewalk.

Big Hush is like if P.S eliot and My bloody Valentine got married and then both had to go to couples therapy. Big Hush is from Washington DC and includes members from the infamous Pygmy Lush. Their music is beautiful and I kind of want them to write a soundtrack for some mundane indie film that tells the story of a man who's dealing with writers block by unforeseen reasons but then he's finally is able to write but in the end gets hit by a bus and dies.

Some of their songs range from being more DIY poppy/indie rock (like the incredibly catchy "I do the talking") to straight up shoegaze (like "winner" which I have been listening to on repeat while I procrastinate from work). "Overgrown" kind of combines all these elements into one and is maybe one of the best non-punk songs I've heard in a long time. The chorus/main riff which comes in at :51 is one of those riffs that gives me shivers while I listen to it (and the subtle harmony is so perfect).

They're playing a show with Parasol in Richmond on January 21. I'm so excited to be able to see them for the first time.

FFO: Weed hounds, My Bloody Valentine, Swirlies, Slowdive,You Me and Us, Cousin Brian

DOWNLOAD HERE

RADIATOR HOSPITAL- Something Wild (2013)

Someone on Tumblr wrote about how they love Radiator Hospital because they capture everything they love about pop music. I couldn't agree more. They are so catchy and make my heart swell in the same way that my heart swells when I hold someones hand for the first time. Radiator Hospital's Something Wildwas released on Salinas Records in the summer of 2013 and reside in Philadelphia. Something Wild is probably their best album to date and shows how much they have matured their overall sound aesthetic (is that a used phrase?). Not to say that Mall of America or Some Distant Moon aren't also great but I always just think its really cool when bands just keep improving and getting better and better. This album seems to pick up where Distant Moon kind of left off- with even more melodious guitar parts and memorable lyrics.

One time this person that I started swooning over put "Loose Sight of you" on a mix that they made for me. But you know how you might get a mix from someone you like but you aren't totally sure if its a crush mix or just a mix? Whether it was a crush mix or not is still a mystery to me but I don't even really care anymore because that mix was what introduced me to this band and I've now been able to listen to that song on repeat a thousand times in my car over and over again. Babes are chumps. I'm just gonna crush on this band instead.

"When you feel sad I wanna be the one that sings the song stuck in your head/ Yeah I wanna sing the song that makes you forget everything that made you sad."

FFO: Waxahatchee, P.S Eliot, Swearin, High Dive, Bad Banana

DOWNLOAD HERE//BUY HERE

NIGHTSHIFT- tour demo (2013)

There are a few things you should know about Nightshift. One of them is that they love weed. The second thing is that this band is absurdly attractive. They could cover ICP and people would probably still like it because watching this band play is seriously eye candy. Technically I've only seen them once with Boilerman and Peeple Watchin when PW went on tour back in september. After the show a bunch of us hung out and spent maybe thirty minutes swooning over all them trying to decipher if any of them were gay or not. Now, month's later, I can assure you that they all got some major flames inside them. But I digress.

Nightshift sounds like Superchuck and like a bunch of other indie power pop bands that people love. I think "Daley Plaza" is there best song particularly because they stray away from the common theme of most power pop songs (girls and more girls) and talk about rape culture and patriarchy. It feels rare these days to find indie rock/powerpop bands that make themselves explicitly political without coming off kitschy or embarrassing, but Nightshift is definitely doing something right if they can have shirts that say ACAB on them and also win everyones hearts over while they play too.

FFO: superchunk, cheap girls, promise ring, the valenteens, husker du

DOWNLOAD HERE

NECKLACING- I (2012)

The release of this cassette maybe one of the best things to ever happen to me. I don't even know where to begin with this because all I can think about is how every time I commute to school or work I put this album on and I'm nervous that everyone on the train is watching me fist pump like an idiot. but HOLY FUCK its so good! Favorite parts include: the first three seconds to "Disease", "Criminal"'s break down teaser , the subtle guitar slide at :11 in "Icepick", and "Moira" in its entirety (for some reason when this specific song ends I imagine Joe Denunzio's voice coming in and the sound clip of guns shooting off like at the end of "My world, My way"). ANYWHO- Necklacing is a powerviolence band coming from central mass. Certainly central mass isn't a hot spot for punk in New england but with acts like Necklacing and Cleansing Wave, it makes me think that maybe central mass can be given just a little cred. One time Necklacing played show with Twerps and Draize in Boston and I missed it because I'm the worst. One of the biggest regrets of my life really.

FFO: Vaccine, Brain Killer, Cheap Art

DOWNLOAD HERE

BODY BETRAYAL- split cassette with Disparate (2012)

In a world where "queer punks" love to play cutesy pop music, Body Betrayal is a god damn breath of fresh air. No offense to the pop punk babe queerdos out there (you know who you are) but god damn I need more queers playing music that make me feel like my organs are slowly being ripped out of my body. Seattle's Body Betrayal is certainly not for the faint of heart and thank goodness for that. Combining both hardcore and grindcore elements, Body Betrayal thrashes through this six track sided cassette. While I must admit I'm not the very biggest fan of grind (more so i'm very picky about the grindcore that I like), Body Betrayal makes a really great effort at fusing these two genres. While "Apologies don't mean shit with yr fingers crossed" feels grind a fuck to me (them blast beats yo) they return to a more hardcore sound with the song "Desert" which is personally my favorite song on the cassette. But now that I think about it maybe "desert" is grind as fuck too? Hell I don't know. I guess what feels the most grind to me is the vocal styling and recording. It's very screamo-y while also recorded well enough to almost slightly hear what they're saying. The lyrics are also phenomenal, such as in the 53 second song "My Gender is Queer"- "i am a dream that hasn't been dreamt yet/ everyone's got a stake in my identity/but there are no words/to match my lived complexity". Fuck yeah.

Body Betrayal's EP is to be released this coming February, though I can't find any information as to if it will be self released or not. Here's hoping that they play Fed Up Fest.

FFO: Rape Revenge, +HIRS+, Cloud Rat, Bastard Deceiver

DOWNLOAD HERE

FAILED MUTATION- demo (2013)

Failed Mutation is a new band hailing from Milwaukee. Personally, I think Wisconsin is one of the best states ever but it seems to never get any cred for its greatness. Maybe Failed Mutation will change that. Fail Mutation is compromised of members from Tenement, Bored Straight, Holy Shit! and Uh Oh and is put out on Chicago's almighty Not Normal Tapes. Failed Mutation is what I wish Bikini Kill actually sounded like. I usually hate drawing comparisons with punks bands who have female vocalists to riot grrl because its often almost always a cop out and made as a generalization for any band with female (assumed) vocals (similar to how everyone and their moms say that female fronted hardcore bands sound like Punch-seriously everyone needs to stop that) but I feel like songs such as "the greatest quest" actually do remind me of some fusion between something I could easily hear from Slant 6 or Tribe 8 while also taking direct influence from early 80's hardcore (specifically from their drum parts). Failed mutation kind of draws these bridges between punk and aggressive styles from the riot grrrl movement in a way that feels unique while also incredibly palatable. While I certainly would categorize Failed Mutation as a hardcore band, I would definitely recommend this band for people who aren't into hardcore as well. This demo is seriously flawless.

FFO: Libyans, Negative Lifestyle, Twat Sauce, Nuclear Spring, early Circle Jerks, Deep Wound (demo includes a deep wound cover), Necros

DOWNLOAD HERE

NERVOUS CONDITION- Invisible (2013)

Nervous Condition is a political hardcore punk band hailing from Boston. Boston produces some of the best bands in punk right now and Nervous Condition is certainly no exception. My favorite thing about NC is Lily's incredible lyrics which, in my opinion, is a good enough reason to like them. But thankfully their riffs and over all sound is great too. Track 3, "Invisible", seems to be the best example of that fusion (that fucking break down!!). Invisible was recorded by Will Killingsworth which should certainly come to no surprise by how well recorded this LP is.

Nervous Condition doesn't play as many shows as I wish they did because all the members are in 12,000,000,000 other bands (such as Parasol, Peeple Watchin, Disipline, Shrew,Rash Tongue,etc). One of my favorite moments when seeing them was when this guy was moshing like a jerk during their set and Lily just pushed him out of the crowd without even pausing. I will forever support bands that actively a have a no tolerances for chumps code.

FFO: Won't Belong, Terminal Crisis, Bad Idea, Deathrats, Mountain Man-(someones gonna argue with me on this one but yolo)

DOWNLOAD HERE

NANCY- LP (2013)

For the love of whats good on this earth please download this right now. I have no idea who is in this band but I hear theres some 5th cousin once removed shit going on and thats good enough for me. New York power pop Ramones-esque punk doing everything right. When I was a 14 yr old 77 wannabe I would have been obsessed with this band. Now almost 9 years later I am finally fulfilling my musical dreams by waking up every morning pogoing alone in my room while I listen to this S/T. Are you looking to finally add that perfect addition to that mix tape you've been meaning to give your crush for days now? Consider just giving them this tape instead. Or you can just put "I Want One" or "Midnite" on it if you wanna pose.

FFO: pogoing, ramones, the briefs, the richmond sluts, johnny thunder

DOWNLOAD HERE

THUMBSUCKERS- Baby I'm just a​.​.​. Thumbsucker (2013)

Chicago outfit THUMBSUCKERS are some straight up blown out sweethearts. With half of the members living in Chicago's longstanding show space Albion House, Thumbsuckers have been reigning the north side. Alongside almost always putting on great and goofy show, their album art is always on point and perfect. Lo-fi Hardcore for the weirdo masses that kind of reminds me of some combo of School Jerks and The Nodes. But what do I know.

FFO: punk

ALSO check out: WELCOME TO THE MIDWEST, a year in review zine that Jack and Max from Thumbsuckers both take part in! Anddd Max's Eat the Life Records is pretty gnarly as well

DOWNLOAD HERE

NEUTRAL FIXATION- Spatial Disorientation Countermeasures (2013)

Fuzzed out noisy lo fi 80's style hardcore from Western Mass. By far one of the best bands out of WeMA currently, giving just a glimpse of hope for all hardcore bands not existing within urban centers. Brian's vocals are simultaneously snotty while not overtly cliche obnoxious. While Neutral Fixation's garage rock/psychawhatever influences have been present since their inception, this cassette clearly shows it in its strongest. Put out on Tampered Reels Records. "Down in the Dirt" is by far my favorite song on the album. These nerds shred so hard.

FFO: The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Pissed Jeans, Nuke Cult, this is a joke I don't know what i'm saying.

DOWNLOAD HERE