Play Fast and Lot's of Noise (Cogs and Sprockets, Arms for the Poor, 2011)

With thousands of media and cultural impression of Las Vegas on any given individual, we more or less all know it to be a flashing neon hub of  idolised excessive vice of industrial proportions amongst the vast bleak and harsh desert of the Mojave, Las Vegas never sleeps, life there is fast, loud, hectic and sinful.
Transposing this Vegas experience is its very own native Cog's and Sprockets, who offer's a one man music crash course into the world of sleaze economics in a relentlessly fast paced noisy sonic abuse.
Racking up a grand total of 2 and half minutes, this little release sure does pack quite the punch, it noisecore twanging and hissing is non stop, and progresses in such a fashion you might very well think the entirety of the EP is in fact just one song. Quite on the short side of things, I hear you say, maybe so, but subjecting myself this to this certainly left a rattling noise in my ear, of which repeated loud listening to I am sure will subject you to some level of damaged hearing.
The cover itself being a grey scale reality of the growing homelessness problem in Nevada, which has spawned the infamous Cardboard City, and an uncanny vegas reference with the site to purchase their merchandise being Waste Your Earnings. Instant inspiration is once again the infamous Agoraphobic Nosebleed approach this time round with a lo fi production value and I am not quite sure if thats a drum machine playing fast human pace percussion, or just an actual person playing the drums, too lo fi to tell.
There isn't really much one can say with 2 minutes and 30 seconds of material, other than its loud and humanely fast, and best of all its free on Grindcore Karaoke!

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A bit of the old Ultraviolence? (Kuntpuncher, Take Drugs and Eat Kebab 2011)

Had I not known better, then I very well might of guessed that Britain's very own happy hardcore grinders Kuntpuncher were non other than the violent youthful rapists and general troublemakers that  are Alex DeLarge and his fellow droogies. Blending in loud electronica abuse with grind, they offer a fast paced, aggressive, yet humorous and even sometimes trippy reality, to their mind boggling grind. Straight from the outset one can see that an Altered States of America era Agoraphobic Nosebleed are a heavy influence on the material, although not as fast nor intense, but more mellowed out, as if years of drug abuse have finally caught up with them, and thus either fucked up their perception of time, or it has impeded on their cognitive ability to process so much rattling noise.
Aside from the overtly politically incorrect and offensive choice of band name, Kuntpuncher offer an even more vulgar array of abuse in the form of merchandise and lyrics, in a manner befitting the Burgess' aestheticisation of violence in a  regressive dystopian urban youth culture. From the head cracking pounding fury to the mind screwing audio sampling of complete randomness of it all, your heads going to be giving you  "what the fuck is going on!" voice for the most part of it, and perhaps I think this may be one of those rare instances in art, where things actually make sense if you took drugs prior to exposure (perhaps drugs and kebab, maybe the title is instructional?) give the full picture to this psychotic cyber frenzy. Actually upon reflection, perhaps taking drugs to listen to Kuntpuncher isn't the best idea, as the band learnt first hand. From masquerading around in black face, fucked up videos and a rather messed up feel of Doctor Who crossed with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the rape of cultural innocence these drug fiend bastards offer, is going to be more than a sober you will ever tolerate! Highly recommended for those who just like to fuck shit up!

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OBSEEN EXSTREAM (Maruosa, Exstream 2011)

You know what riles my blood?

Poser chumps who claim to like violent sounds but actually are just following fashion.

Now Steve, I hear you say, surely all music has a fashion aspect to it? Even grind?

My response would be; of course it does, and don't call me Shirley. Or Steve.

However attractive a gateway to a scene, following something purely because you like wot the people wot like it like to look like makes you a glib effort vampire adorning yourself with the chance aesthetics of someone's genuine passion. Moreover it makes you into a soulless hipster (aside: if that upsets you it's because you are already a soulless hipster, sorry) and I suggest you direct your browser away from this fine blog henceforth.

Years of being this much of a cantankerous sod has made me seek some kind of voight-kampff test to determine which of my many, many, many acquaintances is a real human who likes music and

which are replicants.

The best method so so far discovered is to take SUBJECT A: grind fan claimant and make them listen to something like MARUOSA.

You see, this kind of abusive electronic music is the same as grindcore, but arriving from of different place altogether.

Freshly dropped from the consistently awesome GRINDCORE KARAOKE is the rather descriptively titled EXSTREAM, latest release from Japanese speaker-botherer MARUOSA.

It's brutanic, a hyper-confusing melange of digital blasts, aggro-style ranting and guitar slams and despite the overall 'digital feel' it's very song-oriented. In fact it's catchy! A lot of the tracks have a upbeat (as well as up tempo) feel, taken the terrorising nature of the music as a given you can tell it's maker is having an absolute whale of a time with this, which for me it totally refreshing.

Too much earbashing audio takes the easy route of covering itself with obvious samples in a tired attempt at attaining an oppressive sense of anguish (as recently covered HERE). The only thing oppressive about EXSTREAM is the square-waved 808 kick pounding you in the ossicles.

ABOVE: fuck you, y'know?

As far as this reviewer is concerned cutting up sampled beats and sounds is just as valid an expression of true grinding freakery as learning to play guitars (which we all know are for old men anyway) so before you all give me one billion comments about laptops aren't grindcore I invite you all to re-read my opening glop and take a long hard look in the shower.

And if that hasn't convinced you to give this a go then my name isn't Austin Derbyshire*

HAVE A LINKS:

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*it isn't

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That Crack is Some Bad Shit (Marion Barry, Black Power Violence, 2011)

I first heard this sometime last year when the band posted it up as a one-song demo to download on their MySpace. Recorded in 2008 only now getting a proper (re)release free to download (at the moment) from J Randells excellent Grindcore Karaoke label.

With mostly unintelligible vocals ranging from high pitched almost Japanische Kampfhörspiele style rants to the standard PV Grumpy Granddad Grunt and sounding like its been recorded in a dustbin, if you hate Power Violence this isn’t about to convert you.

Luckily I love Power Violence. This isn’t your everyday PV either, they seem a lot more playful than your average Man is the Bastard clone, not just with the obligatory silly song titles and samples. They often throw a curveball from the fast/slow (that they do very well) with the odd two-second lounge music breakdown and mid song laughing. If you heard them on last years ‘This Comp Kills Fascists Vol 2’ you’ll know what to expect.

I'll be honest, this release hasn't changed my life but they nail pretty much everything I love about this sort of music. Big meaty riffs come and go and all the all out blasting any fasthead could want. Songs are nicely wrapped up in under a minute and the rawness of the recording even adds to the experience, listen to ‘Counter Establishment’ and dare to disagree. Stick these guys in Foel Studios and I think you’ll lose the manic energy and spontaneous vocal sounds they come out with, I swear there must be more than two members.

Finally I’ve got to say the bands moniker is amazing! The possibility for stupid song titles based on Marion Barry quotes alone is almost limitless. Actually, here’s a few I just made up…'Bitch Set Me Up', 'Gravity is Racist' and 'It Was Not a Strip Bar, It Was an Erotic Club'. You can have those lads, on the house, no need to thank me.

This release includes the ‘Smoke You Out’ nine-track demo. FREE! You spoilt little blighters.

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A Collection of Disgust

So i'm gonna talk some about a few things that have caught my ear recently, some controversial in grind circles (maybe).

Firstly, INxDISGUST. These San Jose 'True Grind Fucks' have been totally slaying

my delicate ear-canals for a good week now, I can't believe this band aren't more well

known. They play storming, bass-heavy grindcore in the vein of Assuck and Excruciating Terror, with production values on par with 'World Extermination' era Insect Warfare. Short songs, infinite blastbeats and awesome thrash riffs, with a total west coast Cholo HxCx flavour! The 'San Jose Oldies Vol.1' compilation released

through Torture Garden Picture Company covers most of their material, although their most recent (final?) release, a split e.p. with Texan warlords PLF, is not included and is certainly worth your coin, if you can find it (was at one time on the Relapse webstore).

I finally heard the Low Threat Profile l.p.

Mindblowing.

If you caught my previous post on this band and checked em out, I strongly urge you to follow up your

investigations and get your hands on this, however you can. A slight step up in production has clarified LTP's sound, bringing Andy's vocals to the forefront. The guy sounds like Tom Araya! Lyrically, the record has some stand-out moments. 'My One And Only' is unbelievably up-beat, a love song to the punk lifestyle and playing music, and 'The Product #2' is scathing rhetoric seemingly directed at DeepSix.

Both Low Threat Profile records have been absolutely blinding, I couldn't recommend more.

Finally, OddFuture and GrindcoreKaraoke.

I think we are seeing the beginnings of true change in the music industry, and both these sites

exemplify this in my mind. I'm sure many of you have already heard of GrindcoreKaraoke, and i'm sure many have downloaded one of the 6 quality grindcore releases on offer.

I will be posting reviews on a few of these releases later this week.

I'm also sure that many of you dislike Hip Hop (although I could be wrong?), but to me

OddFuture is just as awesome and worthy of your attention: quality releases, free to download, pushing the envelope in their respective genres. OddFuture isn't your typical radio-friendly beats, this shit is dark, violent, criminal, funny and certainly not P.C. If your feeling curious, dip your toe and try the water. If you smoke pot, I would doubly recommend you get on this. Don't like it? It's ok, go listen to some nice, safe Death Metal and calm yourself down.

When the best beats, be they blast or otherwise, are being released for free by free thinkers, masterminding their own artwork, videos and 'records', I hope the record companies realise their polishing the brass on the Titanic. And we know where that story ends.

OFWGKTA.

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The Copenhagen Experiment (Chaos Surge, Kusari Gama Kill, 2011)

Having called the wonderful Eustachian the Euramerican joint answer to Japan's blazing Cyber Noise Act Deathstorm, I have greatly neglected to acknowledge Deathstorm's even more electrifying  Danish doppelgänger Kusari Gama Kill who flamboyantly dish out a terrifying blend of industrialised Grindcore warped by an ambivalent psychosis of egregious electronica and naiant noise, in a manner akin to entering the plot of hellraiser via the matrix.

Brace yourself for a 22 minute synthetic assault of epilepsy inducing crash course into the realms of noise and electronics. Heavy use of stop and start shell shock tactics emulate an aural crash course into a digital battle of noise as a continous stream of an insane quantity of beats hammer away at your cranial cortex. Almost paralysing in nature it will proceed across a splatter of 32 tracks to offer to kick your nerves into overdrive as it proceeds to shock your system at speeds and forces that were meant more for torture than for leisure. The only other comparison is detonating a dozen copies of pre Agorapocalypse era ANb through a black hole, recording the result and then playing it backwards via dial up tones.
Vocals are a sickening electronic bastardisation of a deep wrenching scream and coupled with the omnipresent white noise that relentless twitches, we get a filthy machination of heavy and scary of a thundering blitzkrieg of electronic cacophony.
As your local doctor I recommend some electroshock therapy in the form of Chaos Surge, collect it at your local Grindcore Karaoke pharmacist.

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Dystopian Punk (Robocop II, Robocop, 2011)

Punk has never been my forte, nor will it ever be despite my constant amateur dabblings in it, but even I appreciate a fine douse of Punk when I hear one, and Ryan and Co certainly deserve a thumbs and a pat on the back from my metal laden tastes.

Robocop's second instalment is one part Boston Hardcore, one part S.O.B and a healthy dose of Powerviolence, which all combine to unleash a storm of grim punk bordering and occasionally crossing  into the realms of Grindcore.  Robocop offer a relentless churning punk attack of attitude and music in a wittier than thou ethos of both words and chords. Featuring jibes left right and centre of both humour and wit in a self indulging genre mockery best seen in titles such as Feminism  Über Alles and Maine is the Bastard, yet somehow Ryan Page manages, to layer such lyrics and titles to at face value juxtapose each other, so what may have a funny title, is in fact lyrically a tirade of intellectual rhetoric or contemporary observation of issues clouding the scene. (check out the lyrics here)

Although never attaining supersonic levels of speed, they often click back a few gears and offer a nice cruising punk vibe build up, before letting all hell loose where they end throwing in chords here, riffs there all topped by a screams splattering forth arguments to and fro in a true homage to powerviolence. As the songs progress as well, mechanical machinations seem to get stronger and stronger, taking form and offering a dystopian alternative to the already grizzly guitar work and gritty feel to the rest.

Overall this has to be one of my favourite punk releases of all time, it has everything from humour, intellectualism, attitude, killer musicianship and best of all its free to download! Although I hardly feel my rushed review does it justice, come to your own conclusion and download it over at Grindcore Karaoke.

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Spreading the Dis-Ease: Eustachian, The Sphlagnum Bog, 2011

Eustachian are the transatlantic's co-ordinated answer to Japans destructive cyber grind act Deathstorm.Much like their counterparts they manipulate out of their helpless listener a sense of profound paranoia, through passages of uncertainty and digital madness, evoking a myriad of emotions; from fear, anger, bewilderment and torment.
Moments of Grinding destruction and strongarm metal-core are strangled out by various electronic manifestations, only to re-emerge again more horrific and crass form than before, as if subjected to the horrific experiments of a deranged digitally adept scientist.
The use of electronics is not as clean cut or perfect as one might expect, it has the human error factor to it, making the use of digital effects feel more like a natural progression of a descent into madness instead of an artificial forced one.
I really like this release, there something wholly unnerving about it, a atmosphere it retains consistently throughout keeping you on edge, but if you look beyond this dark tainted aura, one will find a highly calculated, skillful and mesmerising allure to its experimental temperament.
The tracks entitled Martinique, of which there are three parts to, are by far the most unsettling, any sense of music has been stripped out, leaving a collection of random noises and silence.
My immediate comparison was to that of the Ring (I have only seen the Japanese version so it could very well be a sample), it manifests fear through a feeling of unknown coupled with a sense of impeding doom.
Do not fall into faux pas of assuming this is a nintendo-core or sample overdose approach to Cyber/ Experimental Grind/Metal,this release is one of an atmospheric nature, where the use of digital effects are used for the sole purpose of being the corrupting element to the malay of sounds and noises.

I havent even reached the best bit about this all, this cacophonic collection of horrors is 100% free once again courtesy of J.Randall's record label Grindcore Karoake, at this rate with such quality first releases and unique ones at that, Mr.Randall is fast tracking his label to secure its title amongst the respected labels.

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(P.S sorry about the text rss subscribers, blogger seems to have a bit of trouble!)

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Spreading the Dis-Ease: Wadge, Grindcore Lu'au, 2011

Much debate has surrounded ANb and even more so with band member and notorious loud mouth J.Randall so much so that the rest of Agoraphobic Nosebleed made him put up a disclaimer on  his site stating that his outlandish blog posts only represent his own views and not of the rest of the band and affiliates.
Love him or loathe him J.Randall is a character that always creates buzz in the community, just look at the Magrudergrind Scion partnership, where Mr. Randall became a beacon for all those with the anti-capitalist mindsets. However his recent stunt and coup to re-surge Bovine Records (the blog post is removed, as is the Metalsucks post on it), has now pushed him to create his own record label; Grindcore Karaoke, with the first release free for all to download, so I ask you Grindcore elitists judge his label not by his character but by the content of the music.

Not only is this release a fantastic start to his record label, but a great start to 2011, Canada's own Wadge bring a fun brand of surfing Powerviolence infused Machinedrum Grindcore.
With people going down the ultra punk or the ultra death route for Grind, it is few bands that you can honestly say are fun to listen to from start to finish.
Whether or not this is Wadge's usual modus operandi, or just a concept I don't know, but I am willing to take the risk and try and get more of their stuff, because what I am hearing now I want to hear more of, lots more of.
Production quality is not that good, but gives you the feel that you are in a dingy dilapidated venue jumping around and shouting along to the manic moments, when the vocals, drums and guitars come together in a intense moment of raw expression. I am very glad that these guys didn't abuse the drummachine, and make fantastic use of both mid-paced and high paced sections. I love the vocals, they are a almost muted shout, that spews words in quick succession, and you can tell he isn't too bothered about screaming every last breathe out of his lungs.
So lads and lasses, start your decade off with a bang and get your Grindcore Karaoke on, Hawaiian style.

Grindcore Karaoke

J.Randall's ANBlog

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