Thanks for everybody's patience this past month as I kinda underestimated how long it'd take for me to deal with Pestigor LP pre-orders, and then I was out of the country for a little bit. But now everything is caught up, the webstore is up-to-date, and I'm here for the next month working on getting all orders out the door expediently.
Some housekeeping, I will be gone for most of August between tour and pet-sitting. There won't be any updates to the webstore, and any orders coming in at that time will ship once I return. Probably I won't be as on-the-ball as I normally am with stocking new releases either.
Earlier this month I returned to the United Arab Emirates, to visit my best friend Chris. He and his wife just had their first kid, makes me so happy! So of course I had to fly out and see the baby! And I timed my trip to coincide with Choke Cocoi women being in town on vacation, so I had some quality time with them too, perfect.
I want to skip the discussions about how UAE is actually a fucked up place (which is true) and just focus on the things I like about it LOL. I totally adore the hyper-capitalist man-dominates-nature novelty spectacle of Dubai. I think I've talked about this in the newsletter before hahaha. I love shit like, it's 100+ F outside and there's an ice skating rink in the shopping mall. In this way, Dubai is very similar to my favorite American city, Las Vegas....and it's only going to get more similar, cause rumor has it the Emirates will soon implement off-shore gambling.
On this trip, I went to Abu Dhabi for the first time. One night I borrowed Chris' car and drove myself down there from Dubai to go on a date, another day the entire Craver family team (me, Chris/Karen/baby Noah, Chris' sister and her kids) went to Abu Dhabi Sea World for the day.
Abu Dhabi gets a bad rep locally. "It's so boring!" "Nothing ever happens. All the action is in Dubai." Sure! Not like I'd know. But now that I've been to Abu Dhabi....I think it's very underrated. Even beyond the fact that it's got plenty of bright lights and big buildings, which is normally enough to get me hyped. The downtown area was poppin off on a Friday night, a buzz in the air with tons of people floating around loads of interesting-looking places to eat. Sure there's Sea World Abu Dhabi, but what about Ferrari World? the White Mosque? Did you know Abu Dhabi has the world's only falcon hospital??? That's cool!!!!
In this way, Abu Dhabi reminded me of St Paul here in the Twin Cities. I still don't totally understand the demarcating line between Minneapolis and St Paul, but apparently I'm the only one because Minneapolis people always tell me they never go to St Paul, it's too boring and stiff, and then give me a blank stare when I hype Cecil's, Hmong Village and Hmong Market, Ax-Man, even Can Can Wonderland! I can't relate at all lol, St Paul is awesome and I go there all the time.
What does it mean for a place to be "boring" or "exciting"? I've started to think that has more to do with the individual than the place. But then, I've been to some indisputably boring places before, little towns with minimal signs of life. I mean, imagine one of those isolated towns off the highway in NV when you're driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, there's no way that place qualifies as "exciting", right?
Where's the threshold? What does it take to make a place "exciting"? Maybe someday I'll figure it out.
For now, I'll keep advocating for St Paul and Abu Dhabi LOL.
-Dan
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JUNE NEW ARRIVALS
This month I want to first highlight some SPHC fam action on another label, the true noise hero operation Black Konflik Records.
We got a stack of the CD version of the new Sarushibai album. Maybe you remember their LP on SPHC from a few years ago, their moody and artsy take on ADK Records-style punk like The Stalin, Kikeiji, Sekiri. This new album is even better to my ears. There's an LP version on SPHC currently in production, and you'll be able to get it straight from them on their USA tour this fall.
We also got a stack of the Sludge collection CD, featuring their LP on Crust War, one of their demo tapes, and their two SPHC releases, the split 7" with Thisclose and the EP that I play drums on. So I'm low-key beaming a little over here, my lifelong fantasy of being on a CD has finally been fulfilled LOL. SPHC gonna release another record for Sludge later this year, keep your eyes and ears open!
Yeah you got all this stuff on vinyl but can you listen to records in the car? I'm def keeping one of each for this reason LOL.
June is all about reissues apparently! Good golly miss molly there's so much hot shit from the last 40 years that's in stock this month.
The most interesting of all these reissues, to me, are:
Los Invasores demo 1987 LP - Uruguay obscurity previously partially released on a 7" on Lengua Armada (I think? I don't have one to compare), this is scorching PUNK with a subtle hint of goth/death rock, similar to how earlier Los Angeles bands kinda leaned in that direction.
Betrayed first LP reissue - As I've written about elsewhere, I'm a Pinoy punk guy now, and I cannot get enough of the soulful and catchy sounds of this straight-up classic
For Japanese shit, everybody is fiending for The Stalin unreleased recordings EP, and we got a little stack of another previously fiended-for release, repress of Aburadako - ADK LP, for those that missed it the first time.
I'm always so hyped on Polish stuff, so I'm pleased we FINALLY got our copies of Zbombardowana Laleckza LP on Warsaw Pact. And I'm even more pleased with Homomilitia first LP reissue, an essential slab of 90s crust from one of the countries that was doing it best.
After some miscommunication we finally got an enormous box of Euro reissues from Larmattacke, ranging from the extremely hyped, sold out everywhere Varaus LP reissue and the less-hyped-but-equally-relevant Mellakka discography LP to personal favorites like Larm/Stanx split 12" reissue (the stuff of legends! mandatory punk music! My mom says "the crazy cow" is my favorite band shirt of mine! LOL) and the Zmiv EP reissue, arguably the best Dutch punk record in my opinion....yeah I said it lol. Perfect punk shit. Anybody got an OG they can sell me?
But more than any of these, I've been spending time with Skeezicks discography 2xLP, a German band doing USHC-style that I just never spent any time with prior to now, and Maggot Slayer Overdrive collection LP, total Bristol studs/spikes/acne, grab your gluebag and put two fingers in the air PUNK for people like my bandmates LOL.
Reissues even includes more Alchemy Records reissues. Crimson Voyage LP is a brand new one to me, an enjoyable abstract soundscape. And while this first Hijokaidan LP reissue is not technically an Alchemy Records release, it's in the spirit of things, and it is a totally essential work of art for anybody with a taste in extreme music. Shout out to that time I saw Hijokaidan play a hip-hop gig at The Crown in Baltimore LOLLLLL.
If you're all caught up on old punk shit, all good, we got plenty of contemporary hardcore as well. Top of the list, for me, is new Pinen EP, one of the only cool punk bands left in the world, they have my utmost respect and admiration. I'm also thrilled by the new Domestics LP, best work yet by this UK band putting their own blunt and minimalist twist on USHC. I know lots of people are into these younger bands like Drill Seargent EP and Subliminal Excess EP, if you need more of that tougher USHC angle.
For the studs and spikes crowd, I'm excited to check out Terribilis debut EP, this is the new band of Skitklass crew, who were a personal favorite of the last little bit. And we scooped up a scant few copies of the mysterious Zouka demo tape.
And finally, METAL.
We got a big spread of metal, from total death/thrash for white high-top rocking heshers like Death of God LP to the most kvlt, tr00 'bumble bee guitars and doo doo drums' southeast Asian black metal (my favorite!) like Tombcrusher demos LP, from Luxembourg's first black metal recordings: the Black Candle demos LP to the latest Chilean "Satan metal": Bafomet/Devil's Poison split CD.
We also restocked Voidd demos 2xLP and Rosenfeld - Pigs of the Empire 2xLP cause I clearly underestimated demand for those the first time around.
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.
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on the way for July:
POP-PUNK AND NOISECORE
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan