No/Breaks- No/Breaks demo review

No/Breaks- No/Breaks demo review

This is hill-bombing, Natty Ice-guzzling, Kools-smoking, J-rolling hardcore punk straight out of the 1980s, in spirit if not in reality.  This is the kind of demo tape you buy at the age of 17 and just listen to over and over and over again.  What this lacks in tunefulness and snappy catchiness, it more than makes up for in simplicity and pure energy.  Much like Pokemon or the first two Terminator movies, the replay value on this is about as high as one can get.  That is, unless you’re Snoop Dogg or Sublime, and then you’re probably not all that into hardcore punk.  High or not, this is the music of the bored, anxious, misanthropic Midwesterners with attitude problems and crappy jobs they don’t like.  Just how we like it.

-Aunty Social

Eyesore- demo tape review

Eyesore- demo tape review

What if Murphy’s Law and Infest met, had angry flippant sex, and birthed a child on a shitty motel room floor on 8 Mile and Woodward next door to a guy getting pissed on and a guy who just got kicked out of his house in a messy separation?  That’s Eyesore.  Sonically, like Extortion, lyrically a lot less serious, this band knows what the old adage “less is more” means.  Sixteen songs, eight minutes; this is for those who lack the attention span needed for good music.  I love that.

-Aunty Social

Out of Hand- Visions of Death EP review

Out of Hand- Visions of Death EP review

These guys have two parts of a traditional hardcore song down- the riff, and the breakdown.  The problem is that that’s all their songs are, a killer riff played over a minute long breakdown (90 seconds, whatever).  Imagine a rubric for some kind of school project- there are five areas judged on this rubric, and this band completes three of them, passing with flying colors (the vocals are pretty good, lyrics are alright).  But the other two are just… absent.  It’s like they aren’t there.  I’m all for asymmetrical song structure, but I can’t help but feel like there’s a verse or chorus missing here.  It reminds me of forgetting to videotape something but remembering midway through the show and having to catch up on what you missed, or maybe a mixtape that gets cut off mid-song because the tape ends.  Three out of five elements are there and good, but it’s incomplete, and I can’t shake that feeling.  Keep writing those heavy metal riffs, though.

-Aunty Social

The Gulags- demo tape review

The Gulags- demo tape review

Another one of the many bands consisting of a similar group of around 7-10 people (who have had or do have members of Scum, Payload of Atomic Warhead Nightmares, Marrow, Cloud Rat, Live to Kill, and Ishtar), this has a different element to it not present in the other ones.  Extremely raw and underproduced, there’s no question these guys are DIY.  This is fast and loud, but Madison’s lyrical input is a welcome difference here- it makes a band that would otherwise not stand out be worth a look.  A bit more production value would do them good- the songs are good enough for an EP, but it sounds like it was recorded live rather than in studio or tracked separately.  A demo is a demonstration- now that you’ve done that, engage and act.

-Aunty Social

Crisis Unit- The Tape review

Crisis Unit- The Tape review

This sounds like what California’s Media Blitz was trying to do, but better.  Crossover-ish hardcore with an emphasis on tight drums and only slightly deeper than average vocals.  Not exceptional, but good.  Worth seeing where a four song 7” would go.

-Aunty Social

Spitback- Skate the Streets demo tape review

Spitback- Skate the Streets demo tape review

Mid-tempo hardcore a la Bridge Nine circa 2006 with basement quality production (this is a good thing- hardcore is not meant to sound overly slick).  What if the U.S. Bombs were a hardcore band?  What if the Faction or JFA grew up in the Midwest in the 2000s rather than the west coast in the 80s?  It’s a very fun band, the kind that would play a house destruction party in exchange for a 30 pack and a couple blunts- very punk rock attitude for a hardcore band.  It’s a hardcore band for everyone- crowd-killers, two-steppers, circle pitters, push pitters, posi-jumpers, all are welcome in Spitback’s music and at their shows, and none are out of place.  The music isn’t amazing, but it’s what you’d expect a hardcore demo to be.  These cats have the energy and the mentality; I think the songs are forthcoming.  Not a bad demo tape.

-Aunty Social

Kontrasekt- s/t 7" review

Kontrasekt- self-titled 7” review

Primitive, raw, noisy, fast d-beat that is equal arts Disclose and Discharge.  Not a fantastic EP, but if you like simple, this is indeed simple.  Norden’s Hammer is probably the best track, though all these songs sort of blend together, and it’s over before you know it.  It will either leave you relieved (that it’s over with so quickly) or leave you wanting more (because it’s over with so quickly).

-Aunty Social

Kontrasekt- End of Destruction 12" review

Kontrasekt- End of Destruction 12” review

Drenched in reverb and apocalyptic overtones, this diabolic d-beat trio is at first glance rather simple and cookie-cutter:  “Oh fuck,” you think, “Not another goddamned Discharge/Confuse/Totalitar rip-off!”  Not this time, true DIS-believers.  There is something subtly sophisticated and differently dissonant about this band- maybe it’s lyrics, a more intelligent approach to cacophonous music, or an unidentified attribute to the entirety of the band altogether.  Whatever it may be, it takes the seemingly drab and done D-beat raw punk sound and enhances it, makes it seem fresh and new once more.  The guitar tone is just right, the vocals akin to a B-12 bomber over Berlin, and the drums the thundering crash of the bombs as they hit- war time music for anti-propagandists, to be sure.  Suitable music to be played at the nearest Gathering of the Crusties, though these cats aren’t rank and file- they outrank and take cuts, and it’s just as well, for they should.

-Aunty Social