lol WELL. You can certainly tell I am well behind schedule because I'm writing an August distro update at midnight on September 5th LOLOLOLOL. I'm so behind. To be clear, I am really behind in mailorder, things are going out at a steady tempo but there's a lot, so thanks for your patience and understanding.
So much to say about the past month.
Anal Butt annual recording session in Cleveland! Complete with swimming pool and a movie appearance!
The burgeoning Minneapolis generator scene! I swear to god we are making this a thing between my gig at Studded Pickle and Jake's at the Cave. Ending the summer STRONG.
Extreme Noise anniversary gig, which brought about a lot of reflection in me as I considered 20 years of Iron Lung in my life, what it means to be in "a flyover state", seeing my old friend Kevin for first time in 10 years.
Sending my dad a video of my pogo punk/street punk style band playing in a vacant lot and he said it was "boring" because it is "not as fast or as noisy as my other bands".....then sending a video of my power violence band in the recording studio, which got his seal of approval because "this is fast" THANK FUCKING GOD LOLLLLLLLLLL. Love you dad, you are a legend and I know you're reading this.
But what deserves the most focus is a more somber topic.
This has been well covered by other people on social media, but Nira, best known as No. 6, the singer of Chaos Channel, tragically passed away on August 14, 2024. I've got a lot of thoughts and feelings about this, anecdotes that I've shared within our respective friendgroup, some nice phone calls, e-mails, Miyachi was kind enough to send all the pictures from Chaos Channel/Wankys/Merciless Game/Lotus Fucker tour back in the day which was a real flood of many different emotions for me, and I sent him pictures of the gig flyers from that tour I have framed on my walls, and the art No. 6 graciously did for my old bands.
I'm very fortunate to call No. 6 my friend. He was often the life of the party and was very quick to make friends everywhere he went. He was a social butterfly, one of the friendliest people I've known, he talked to everyone, seemed to know everybody, treated every person as if they were his childhood best friend. This level of friendliness and warmth can be difficult to find in the world, and when I think of No. 6, this is one of his defining features in my eyes.
His other defining feature to me, and probably to most people, was his visionary artistry. His band Chaos Channel, for me, is one of the all-time greats of punk music, and I've always been a fan of No. 6's visual art as well.
On the USA tour we all did, we talked a bit about the making of the Chaos Channel LP, and No. 6 and Uno describing the recording process, the gear (very expensive and particular shit!), the artistry of it all etc etc, kinda mind-blowing stuff. No. 6 put SO MUCH THOUGHT into everything he did, everything was intentional. I remember he gave a big spiel about the error in the drum machine programming on "(Fuck!!) Religion", which at the time I was like, man wtf are they doing that shit is WRONG bwahahaha but hearing No 6 talk about it, I walked away feeling like, oh I see now, actually it is ART LOLOLOLOLOL. And same with No. 6 discussing his lyrics and vocal arrangements, his sense of 'it's not about the meaning, it's about how the syllables and enunciations sound together', how this played into "Shi.Ri.Me.Tsu.Re.Tsu", etc etc. I've kept that in mind forever going forward.
A few years after our tour together, we agreed to do second LP on SPHC, and No. 6 had a whole spiel about this too, about how it was going to have a long experimental/noise type intro with female spoken word, he referenced Crass "Reality Asylum". He told me he was really into harsh noise/experimental type stuff at that moment, and he was doing a noise-type project with some famous Japanese hardcore persons, wow! Well, this second LP never came to pass of course, but fuck, would have been another classic I'm sure. No. 6 was always cooking up something cool, a crazy mad scientist of noise.
As it stands, the Chaos Channel 7" I released on SPHC is, for me, one of the crown jewels of my little label's discography, and I'm happy to pull that record off the shelf and remember this mad genius I was so lucky to have in my life. Last time I saw No. 6 was after the Thisclose/Sludge Japan tour in 2017, we had a few days hanging out together (and a particularly chaotic and memorable night at the Rocky and the Sweden gig, I'll never forget it!) but I figured I would see him again this fall on the Terveet Kadet tour. But I guess not in the end, and that's very depressing.
For me, it's a somber reminder to strive to be present in the moments we have with the people we love, to continue to strive to make time for people we care about, because it's impossible to know when these people may be forced away from us.
No. 6, fuck, I miss you already.
-Dan
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AUGUST NEW ARRIVALS
Following up on the 'all fast all the time' round of SPHC releases last month....we got tons of fast shit for the speed freaks.
If you need to GRIND, you really can't go wrong with classics like Cripple Bastards first 7" reissue or a collection of 90's Seven Minutes of Nausea material. I can't wait to dig into a new Final Exit LP, one of the best bands ever in my opinion, and I am just so tickled by this IRF discography LP.
Without going too deep down this rabbit hole, my introduction and evolution through punk was totally backwards compared to most people I've met. Thanks to being chronically online, the power of Napster and Limewire with a good internet connection, message boards, etc, I went from nu metal to grindcore almost instantly when I was 12, 13, in my quest to find "the most extreme shit"....when I was 15 I got so into Tragedy, started digging more into hardcore, "Burning Spirits" became my thing.....when I got into college, Leatherface became my favorite band and I finally started listening to pop-punk.....in grad school, Marked Men was always on my turntable and I was hunting down Firestarter records....now I'm 37 and more apt to throw on Blink 182 or Jimmy Eat World than I am most DIY punk records.
This is all to say, when I think of being a teenager, it's sitting by myself in my parents' basement being chronically online and blasting Rot, Cripple Bastards, Agathocles, Unholy Grave....and IRF. Random band to grow so attached to but man I fuckin LOVED IRF when I was a little kid. And, you know, I still do! Have every record. Just, to me, these records are permanently attached to nostalgia, teenage moodiness, the excitement of discovery, my world expanding, etc. Anyway. I'm really happy that the IRF material is easily accessible to people again.
Moving on, if you don't like grind for some reason and need to keep it HARD CORE, then I can't recommend the Nuclear Cult LP enough. I was a little late to this scene but the real ones know, German fastcore/power violence is a thing, and Nuclear Cult LP is arguably the best record to come out of this scene in my opinion. Phenomenal work.
Also of interest is a new Seein Red split 7", one of the GOATs and a band that I NEED every record by. This one is a particularly interesting concept to me, a split between an old guy band (Seein Red) and a teenage band (No Way). Very cool pairing that speaks to the community vibes and all-ages-ness of punk.
And finally, I want to advocate for the new Ohjus demo tape I simply couldn't live without. Another great example of why I keep saying Finland got the best current punk scene. Ohjus got that speed noise attack, that off the rails feeling, that fits right in with Kuolema, Sorto, etc. Ohjus ain't as shit-fi as these bands but the fundamentals are the same. GREAT shit.
Oh yeah, by the way, while I was in Cleveland I picked up a little stack of Scab Mag books from Steve Eggs. This is a fantastic read for freaks like me. A collection of 3 issues from 1991-1995, featuring everyone from Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death to Gut and Exit 13 to The Earwigs and Extreme Hair Stench.
If you need a different kind of brutality, then we got fat stacks of Euro crust to keep you going....and more on the way!
I feel like most of the great crust scenes are represented here lol. Greece? Downwinder new LP is a splendid Hellshock-worshipping crust annihilator. Poland? Take your pick, Chujoza debut LP is a fine slab of brutality from a young new band, or Sanctus Iuda/Disaffect split 12" is a lovely soundtrack to smashing the state if you only have faith in old veteran bands. Russia? Is Russia on this level now, because of how good Fatum is? Add Step to Freedom LP to that list. And they're headlining Varning for Montreal this year so get hip to the new Terminal Filth LP now.
We got healthy stacks of reissues. Zyklome A discography 2xLP is a personal favorite, I LOVE the drumming on the album, super underrated ripper. But Declino/Negazione split 12" sure ain't underrated, it's a straight-up classic that you know you need. Crash Box demo LP also from the Furious Years of Italian hardcore, but I've never spent much time with this band so I'm excited to check it out. Same with Ocho Bolas LP, a Chile 1989 demo tape that I guess the Oi scene lays claim to, but to me this sounds too good to be oi....
But of course we live in the now and we got fat stacks of all manner of contemporary punk from around the world.
Top 5 highlights for me:
1. Rebel Riot first LP - The most exciting Asian punk band these days. We've carried their CDs but finally landed a pile of the first album on vinyl. Musically I think this would fit in with 90s Profane Existence, kinda mettalic but kinda street punk, vaguely crusty, super political. Very refreshing to my ears. But most interesting is the story of Rebel Riot, their political actions and dedication to punk in their country, Myanmar. Inspiring shit.
2. Active Minds/Sanctus Iuda split 7" and Dark Harvest Commandos EP - A new Active Minds record will always pique my interests, cause they're one of the GOATs, basically everything cool about punk wrapped up into a neat and tidy 2-person package. But I also want to throw a line to this Dark Harvest Commandos EP, because I got a soft spot for this sort of crusty political punk from Scotland, and I find this record so refreshing and fun. From the same crew as Disaffect, Quarantine, etc, fuck, they still got it!!
3. Kokeshidoll LP - I can't front, I was NOT familiar with this record prior to this reissue. Had only heard the name in passing. But yowzers, this is FANTASTIC, as the description states it is very straight-forward Stalin worship. If you dug the Sarushibai LPs I've released in the last few years, this is a no-brainer.
4. Indikator B EP - This one totally captured my attention with its distinctly eastern European style and vibe, in a time when not even bands from that part of the world bother to sound like this anymore. This could be zapped straight from Hard-Core Ljubljana comp LP, like you could file it alongside TZN Xenna and Tozibabe 7"s. TERRIFIC.
5. Black and White new 7" single - Can't help it, I just LOVE this band these days. A little street, a little power-pop, a little 77, and a whole lot of attitude and catchy songwriting. I kinda wish I was playing in bands that sounded like this.
5 round 2. Noche debut EP - Want to give a solid mention of the vinyl debut of Costa Rica's current crowned kings of HARD-FUCKIN-CORE. This is right in line with what most contemporary American bands sound like at this point: bouncing tempos into the big mosh. I just think they do it better.
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coming in September:
boatloads of Euro crust and d-beat and fastcore and grind
Japanese hardcore CDs
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan