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,

DOWNLOAD HERE

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