Rat Traps [2005-2006]

You all know Cheap Time, you all know Jeffrey Novak and you all know that he is great. Well, here you have a band that he had with his sister April and her husband. I give you three 7'' of this reatards/persuaders style garage punk goodness. Unlike in Cheap Time, where he plays guitar and sings, here he is playing drums and sharing vocals with April. Anyway,I'm at work and that's enough of writing so download and listen,it's great.

DOWNLOAD

M.M.

V.A. - This Is Good: A Tribute To Black Flag CS [2010]

This is probably the most interesting Black Flag tribute tape ever recorded. Land O'Smiles records release this limited edition tape in 2010. and it included artists like Unearthly Trance, Deathcrawl, Climax Denial, Pusdrainer, Fistula (to name a few). Practically every artist brings a new genre to the tape, so here we have styles ranging from typical punk and hardcore to untypical noise, power electronics, sludge, doom and experimental. Pretty obscure/hard to find on the internet these days, so enjoy.

RG

N.

Warsong - The Caravan 12" [2012]

Finally, Doomtown's fifth release aka Warsong - "The Caravan" 12" is out.

Here we go with official press info. Well, actually, it's a review written by Kalle Stille but this one describes this record perfectly.

“Here we go, from the ashes of INSOMNIO and NO ESCAPE comes WARSONG with their second release after their impressive “Ancient times” debut-LP. Five songs: all killer no filler (four original songs plus a Wipers song that hasn’t been covered to death – especially not in Spain). On a good day, this record will make out an instant classic, on a bad day you’ll have to play it twice to discover the depth and richness of this record, but you definitely won’t sell it to anyone else again, because real good records stay forever. If you want to describe the sound of WARSONG, put together a band with a young Clif Hanger (The Freeze) fronting an all star band with the best ingredients from DAG NASTY, ALL, THE WIPERS and the mighty ADOLESCENTS. Your wettest dreams come true, if their subject is pure melodic hardcore-punk in classic 80s style. The more often you play this record the bigger it grows…and it’s damn huge right now. Mastered by genius Hajji Husayn from the almighty Red Dons.”

Free download (feel free to donate us money cause we are pretty broke all the time:)) / Preview on Doomtown bandcamp page: http://doomtownrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-caravan-12

Buy the vinyl here: http://livinginadoomtown.bigcartel.com/product/warsong-caravan-12-doomtown

Follow Doomtown Records on Facebook here.

MF

M.

Wiccans - Teenage Cults 7" [2010] & Skullduggery LP [2011]

Denton, Texas' finest at the moment. Members of various Texan bands (Wax Museums, Minds Spiders, Video, Teenage Cool Kids...) have teamed up and created something pretty unique and refreshing. There's a lot of catchy hooks and melody, which is basically a trademark of the garage punk scene in Denton. However, the Wiccans vocalist seems to be pretty much into tough guy hardcore, so his over-the-top macho Negative Approach\YDI-style yelling is something quite atypical. At first I was confused, but now I can't get enough of this band. Also, the lyrics are covering some occult themes, which is uncommon for this sort of punk rock.

There's a 2nd Wiccans LP titled "Field II" in the works. Should be out soon on both Katorga Works (run by Adam & Colman who are also posting at the ever-amazing icoulddietmorrow blogspot) (USA) and Hardware Rec. (Europe). The new Wiccans songs are incredibly good and you can preview a few gems from "Field II" here. If Fucked Up were not that boring on the last few recordings, they might compete with these Texan crazies. There’s even some Blue Oyster Cult vibe in the “Field II” song, or maybe I’m just to much into BOC lately, so I'm hearing Buck Dharma riffs everywhere? And yeah, I almost forgot, there's also a 2nd Wiccans 7" EP in the works and should be out on Kevin's Pass Judgement Records. Kevin put out their 1st 7", Teenage Cults, and he is doing one of my fav blogs, Fashionable Activism, so thumbs up for Kevin.

Buy Teenage Cults 7" via Pass Judgement Rec.
Buy Skullduggery LP via Katorga Works
Preorder Field II via Hardware Rec. or wait for the USA press on Katorga.

Teenage Cults 7"
Skullduggery LP

M.

Skate Korpse - Skate Korpse Discography LP [2007]

Skate Korpse were insane skate punk trio reminiscent of days when skate punk was actually played by punx and was not all about Vans Warped Tour and shitty Epitaph Lagwagon alikes. Only band similar to SK that comes to my mind right at the moment are Angry Samoans but SK fellas are also heavily influenced by surf rock. There's a bunch of instrumental stuff thats totally reminiscent of surf pioneers Chantays. The guys quit playing and this record is sold out but hopefully Feral Kid Rec. will repress this. This LP collects all of their 7" EP's and songs from splits, compilations and some unreleased tracks.

MF

M.

Santa Banana - Santa Banana LP [2010]

This guys came from Italy and are from the same retro hardcore punk scene as fuck-ups such as La Piovra, Smart Cops, Ban This!, ED and Anti-You. In fact, I think some Ban This!\ED members are playing in SB but I'm not sure. This record is somehow overlooked but it's pretty solid. If you're into 80's classic italian hardcore punk, USHC skate trashers JFA / Faction or surf rock influenced punk you should give it a try. I really like garage-y production and crunchy guitar sound on this one. There's new 7" EP in works and should be out on Don't Need Rec. I had a privilege to hear the new gems and they are all killer no filler. If you like almighty La Piovra (Youth Attack put out their LP out in the States) you'll dig the new Santa Banana stuff.

Buy S\T LP and watch for the new 7" EP here.
All you americans can get your copies via Grave Mistake Records here.

MF

M.

Warsong - Ancient Times CS [2011]

Spanish punk bands Insomnio and No Escape may be defunct and sorely missed, but hey, we've still got Warsong, formed by members of the aforementioned bands. As for the sound they're after, not much is new - melodic and anthemic punk rock with an occasional rock 'n' roll touch. If you're into name-dropping, here's some: Adolescents, Hüsker Dü, Dag Nasty, Pegboy, Wipers and maybe even Turbonegro. This tape edition of Warsong's album has been professionally duplicated and is limited to 100 copies. Get it while you still can. You can see some photos of tapes and lyrics sheet on our friend's blog CleanXCut. And you should definetely check out Dankec's blog if you're in need of some great hardcore punk obscurity, especially if you're into european and ex-yugoslavian hardcore punk scene.

This limited tape was out last year on Doomtown Records. Questions concerning purchasing, wholesale rates, trades or whatever drop here. Doomtown Records is also a distro, see the goodies in stock on this blog or just scroll through Discogs page.

Also, Warsong's upcoming 12" EP will be out on Doomtown Records sometime during the summer. I'll post the record here eventually so you should check TL more often if you care about that. Peace out! 

Doomtown Records Distro page
Doomtown Records Discogs store
Doomtown Records Bandcamp page
Doomtown Records Facebook page

MF

M.

XAXAXA - Tango Revolucioner LP [2011]

XAXAXA hail from Skopje, Macedonia and feature 3 members of a group of post-punk enthusiasts known as Bernays Propaganda, as well as xFxPxOx, the legendary Macedonian hardcore punk thrashers. XAXAXA's agenda is to explore the melodic side of the mid / late 80's Dischord roster, so don't be surprised if they remind you of bands like FUGAZI, RITES OF SPRING and even DAG NASTY. XAXAXA's tunes also have a moody HUSKER DU/WIPERS vibe, so it's safe to say that these guys aren't just another copycat band paying tribute to the Revolution Summer days of DC hardcore. This was out last year on Doomtown Records and you can buy vinyl via Doomtown's Discogs store. For wholesale, trades or whatever write here. Doomtown Records is also a distro, see the goodies in stock on this blog or just scroll through Discogs page.

Doomtown Records Distro page
Doomtown Records Discogs store
Doomtown Records Bandcamp page
Doomtown Records Facebook page

MF

M.

The War Goes On - Demo [2011]

New K-Town hardcore punk outfit featuring No Hope For The Kids & Hjertestop members. If you're familiar with said bands, you probably know what to expect from these guys. It reminds me a lot of NHFTK stuff so not much is new here. This is early brit-punk worship delivered in a trademark NHFTK gloomy style. My favourite track from this demo is also the most catchy one, "Sodomized", and that's probably because it reminds me a lot of Cock Sparrer and lately I've been listening to Shock Troops a lot. 3 songs from this demo found their way onto a 7" EP which recently saw the light of the day and is out on New Dark Age Records. Single version songs have additional guitars and different mastering. See more info on that via NDA Rec. blogspot.

MF

M.

Nuclear Spring - Demo CS [2012]

These Americans sound like they've been spawned in dirty British suburbs. This is the best demo tape I've heard since the Crazy Spirit guys dropped their demo. I really like the production on this one, it's pretty raw but somehow manages to capture the atmosphere of early British punk. Also, catchy riffs also recall the era. If you're into name dropping, think of early Blitz, Partisans or Templars stuff or some new bands such as Criminal Damage or No Hope For The Kids and Hjertestop. And if you must know, NS members are also active in Natural Law, Creem and Nomos. This tape was out on Hysteria Records and it's currently sold out.

MF

M.

Amoebas - Amoebas LP [2011]

These guys send us their self-released 7" EP months ago, but since we were on some kind of hiatus we never posted the songs here. I remember that I was hooked on the 7'' and I wanted to hear more songs by these Michigan punks... and recently I realized that the Amoebas actually have an LP out. They've re-recorded both songs from the 7" EP and wrote 6 new ones. I really dig this record, it's a perfect mix of 77 style punk rock and Adolescents type of proto-hardcore punk. So if you're into Rikk Agnewish guitar picking and retro punk rock such as The Vicious, Brutal Knights, Regulations, Night Birds or even Jay Reatard's solo stuff, take note of these guys.

Buy the record from Modern Action Records.

Amoebas Facebook Page

MF

M.

Blasting Concept - Selftitled 7" [2011]

If i was not aware of Annihilation Time's departure from the world of punk rock and if someone would told me that this is AT's new record I would totally bealive that shit. This 7" EP is some great rock 'n' roll inspired hardcore punk record. Blasting Concept did well! This was out on Oxnard based label It's Alive Records.

Buy it here.

Blasting Concept on Facebook
Blasting Concept on Myspace

MF

M.

Dark Times - Dark Times CS [2011]

Norwegian noise punks from Oslo. Dark Times are like the most punkish reaincarnation of Sonic Youth and they are also inducing that fucked up \ drugged up No Trend \ Drunks With Guns \ Flipper vibe in their gems. This tape is released on both Ormeyngel Records (Norway) and Sacred Tapes (USA). There's also a new 7" EP out there. See the links below for more info.

Dark Times Bandcamp
Dark Times Facebook

MF

M.

Pol Pot - Whole Mystery LP [2011]

Total Warsaw \ Joy Divison worship straight outta suburbs of Zaragoza, Spain. If you're into recent post-punk revivalists such as The Estranged, Spectres or Arctic Flowers you shouldn't overlook these guys.

Buy from here or here.

Download it here.

M.

Titan Blood - Too Much Talk 7" [2011]

Another awesome piece of texas punk vinyl and this one is in Killed by Death style of garage punk with some hooks that remind me of early UK punk. And yeah, piano chords are thrown into some gems too and they do add some weird rhytm & blues vibe to the sound! Cool stuff, indeed! I think members are \ were also involved in Black Congress and Weird Party. Not sure thought!

Out on TB Collective.
Dwnld it here.

M.

Crime Wave - Savage Reaction 12" [2010] & Modern Lobotomies 7" [2011]

Houston, Texas punx featuring members of No Talk, PMRC, Bloody Hammer and so on. Both LP and 7" are total rippers. Straightforward punk rock tunes with a rock n roll edge and slight Oi! vibe now and then. Crime Wave remind me of both Dicks and british crusades Templars a lot. Both releases are out on Agrowax. Agrowax should also put out their new 12" titled "Nazi Sex / Convulsion Gospels" in May, so keep an eye on that.

Savage Reaction 12"
Modern Lobotomies 7"

M.