- September 2024
- August 2024
- May 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- December 2023
- October 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- December 2022
- October 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- December 2021
- October 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- August 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
April 2023 New Arrivals
Posted by -Kamikaze Dan on 4/25/2023
Kinda small, all-killer-no-filler update. There's still so much stuff in transit, but perhaps a little too far away to list at the moment. Expect a big May update relatively early in May as a lot of stuff starts to trickle in.
But a fair warning, I'm going out of town May 6-18, so any orders made around that time will ship after I return.
I had a goofy anecdote from my job all typed out but decided to scrub it. At the moment, I am so fucking busy, cause all 3 of my bands are recording this week. In the end it took me 4 days to write this damn thing LOL, cause I only got a few minutes at a time each day before I need to run out the door to something. Then I figured I'd do it last night but instead I wound up at a metal gig at a motorcycle club until 3 AM, a brutal twist considering I was up at 8:30 AM this morning to hit the gym (big gym event for me, my gym bestie Leslie is finally back in action after being out with an injury for 10 weeks). I got one hour until I go into the studio with Up Against the Wall so I'm gonna finish this up, let's goooooo!!
-Dan
--------
APRIL NEW ARRIVALS
This month I want to highlight a new release by one of my all-time favorite bands, Dezerter. Coming in with 15x 12"s, 3x 7"s, and 5 compilation appearances, this is the band I have the most records by in my collection. (And I'm looking to add two more, if anybody got an OG Blasfemia LP or that live LP from a few years ago, please hook me upppp!!)
Underground Out of Poland LP is a top personal favorite and holds the status of being the only record I've spun so many times I wore it out and had to buy a second copy. A near-daily listen for me for many years, for me it's a pinnacle of a certain vision of punk, the spirit of rebellion and the power of the human spirit to persevere. Incredible songs played with a lot of heart, captured with an ideal raw recording.
But the real treat is this unreleased 1986 LP. I give this record a BIG RECOMMENDATION for even the casual Dezerter fan. The story, as I understand it, is that after recording their two tracks for Jak Punk to Punk comp 12" with government approval, Dezerter snuck back into the studio a short time later and did a quick 'live in the studio' recording of 8 songs without government knowledge, much less approval. This 1986 session contains a lot of the same songs that are featured on Underground Out of Poland LP, but rather than raw live recordings, these are clean and powerful studio recordings. For this style of punk, it's equally reasonable, and personally, I am just loving these versions of some of my favorite punk songs, to hear them clean and tidy and at maximum power.
1986 Dezerter is a liiiiitle before they hit their signature sound. I love Underground Out of Poland LP of course, but my favorite records are Kolaboracja and Kolaboracja II, when they really blossomed into their signature style of mid-tempo, dynamic, catchy, slightly artsy PUNK that they'd continue with for the following 35+ years. Underground Out of Poland, and this 1986 LP, still see Dezeter playing blazing fast, basically a hardcore band, although there's hints of the sorts of dynamics and interesting songwriting that would come more into play a few years later. See: that slap bass in "Kolaboracja", that funky breakdown in " Polska Zlota Mlodziez", the emotional crescendo of "Tchórze".
In my mind, even if you're a casual fan, you ought to appreciate hearing Dezerter at their most clean and most HARDCORE. I know I do.
Another one of my all-time favorite bands just released a new LP as well. Equally near and dear to my heart, a new Terveet Kadet record is always a cause of celebration for me. This new LP sees Lene back on bass, great!, and a young guy on drums I haven't met before but Anton tells me he's a cool guy and I believe it! The new drummer is a metal guy so maybe that's why the new LP is metal as fuuuuuck LOLLLL. It's super heavy and thrashed out, mean riffs, busy guitar arrangements, evil guitar solos, Ilari is really going for it! And it has that signature Terveet Kadet momentum and brevity that I'm looking for, the attitude, the craziness, the attack. Laja is in top form. In 2023, I think this is the kind of heavy, mean, evil type of record that Terveet Kadet ought to be making.
Terveet Kadet is a band that means a lot a lot to me, for being a band I've spent a lot of time with as people all over the globe, several releases together, several tours together, fuck they're in Brazil now and I'm texting Ilari like "send me pics of Skarnio and Detesto!" and texting Mauro and Wallas like "send me pics of Terveet Kadet!" LOLLLLLLL.
But TK has also been such a fundamental influence on my own vision of hardcore as an art form. I spent 10 years writing songs and singing for a band that, by my count, was my own spin on Gauze and Terveet Kadet. Their sense of hardcore, musically, is closely aligned with mine, and the records really resonate with me at my core.
I know it's not the same given line-up changes and relative artistic progression, but when we discuss how Gauze is the best band ever, should give a moment to acknowledge that Terveet Kadet and Dezerter been in the game basically as long and are each still exquisite to this day.
This month we got a cool worldwide spread of hardcore. From the pacific side of the world, I know there's a lot of hype around the new Extortion 12", their first record in several years and they haven't slowed whatsoever. And I suppose there must be some hype around the Rosenfeld 2xLP reissue that I'm just not seeing, cause this shit is flying straight out the door. I will get some more soon. Serious collectors may have an interest in Sabazz LP because of the Gauze connection.
But for me, it's all about this Warhead LP. One of my absolute favorite bands ever, I own every record, a shirt for every day of the week, seen them live plenty of times and they've always left my heart racing and my soul inspired. I've listened to this particular release countless times (thank you Ugly Pop Records for that vinyl reissue I got in high school!), and fuck knows I'm keeping one of these FOAD versions for myself and I will continue to listen to it countless times in the future. Some of my favorite music ever.
I was also pleasantly surprised by this Zagio Evha Dilegj LP. The only thing I knew about this band was the short live clip of them on the Penis Geyser first Japan tour DVD. But actually, this LP is killer Japanese grind, appropriately heavy and tight yet also dynamic and wild. Good shit!
From South America, I am absolutely thrilled by the new Inyeccion EP. One of my favorite bands in the game right now. This is the sort of South American punk I'm into. But there's plenty more ripping hardcore coming from South America at this exact moment, like Caverna LP, out of Colombia, and Pus LP, out of Peru. And maybe you remember Primer Regimen EP from their USA tour a few years back?
In my world, European punk in April 2023 is all about one thing and one thing only: NEW SEEIN RED LP. This would have been the record of the month if there wasn't such a one-two punch of even older bands to discuss. I file Seein Red with Active Minds, Noise, Industrial Holocaust as superhero bands that encapsulate the best parts of DIY punk, without compromise, without fashion or trend, only some of the most powerful and engaging and provoking punk music ever created. Bands where, yes they mostly sound exactly the same but yes I do need every record thank you very much. In that way, I definitely needed this new Seein Red LP, it's a hard smoker, nothing but speed and brutality in all the right ways. Also Seein Red still ranks as one of the best live bands I've EVER seen.
I think most people are interested in Rattus EP reissue when it comes to Finnish punk, but if you got that big need for speed, I also recommend Sick Urge LP. I think we are almost out but I will see about getting some more.
I see Pols LP is getting a big global push too, with vinyl and CD versions coming out of Spain, Japan, and Mexico. If you're wondering if there will be a new Accidente LP, get your fix here!
And finally, from our part of the world, we got some terrific reissues: Abscess LP putting Iowa on the map for more than pork loin sandwiches and Life Sentence demo EP putting Chicago on the map for more deep dish pizza and weird hot dogs. But we also got some ripping contemporary stuff: Butchers Dog EP is making some waves, and Bosque Rojo LP is extra interesting to me for having some SPHC connection, being the latest band of the drummer of Malokio.
For more commentary on this stuff and more, please scope our Instagram page, where we review choice new arrivals as they come. If it sounds cool when we talk about it, it'll sound even cooler when you hear it streaming on the online store, and even cooler still when you buy the record and slap it on your turntable.
--------------
on the way for May:
2 new SPHC releases
1 new BiP release
big box of Euro crust/d-beat
big box of Italian hardcore reissues
all the latest Japanese punk and hardcore
all the greatest Finnish punk and hardcore
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan