I have returned and am almost recovered from jetlag/internal clock differences and am very close to functioning like a normal human being again LOL. Thanks everyone for your patience and understanding as I was out and about for the entire month of October. As a reminder, the times I'm out of town are always written in big bold letters in the "Before you contact us..." section of the website. Hint hint.
Along those lines, I'm home just long enough to ship out everybody's orders, and then I'm gone again from November 19 to December 3. Returning to Baltimore for Thanksgiving this year. So any orders placed at that time will start shipping when I return.
I could write a novel about my last month in Asia. It's like a blur, I was running around all over the place, I can't believe I managed to have quality time with almost all of my friends and do almost everything I set out to do LOL. No wonder I came home so exhausted.
The Terveet Kadet Japan tour was a HUGE success. To see bands like Gudon and Bound was super affirming for me, singing along to my favorite Warhead and Forward songs, hell I couldn't help it I even moshed to Zone. But even more than that, to see Terveet Kadet, Sun Children Sun, Illya, Military Shadow, Sarushibai, to see my friends be simply the best bands in the game, to jump on stage with Terveet Kadet every night and sing these songs that have meant so much to me for so many years, it all made me fall in love with punk and doing a little label all over again.
I won't spill any beans yet but between a lot of handshakes, big hugs, and one of my favorite bands ever giving me the original DAT tape of their 1998 first album so I can remaster it for a reissue (!!!!), next year will hopefully be an exciting one.
Actually I think my favorite gig-related moment of the tour was watching Reality Crisis' reaction to Miyachi (Chaos Channel "drummer" and founding member of Reality Crisis) rolling up to Nagoya gig with me and asking him on the spot to pinch-hit as their second vocalist. Melted my heart to see Miyachi going for it, leaping into the crowd and belting it out as loud as possible after such a long time away from that corner of punk.
My biggest takeaway from the SPHC gig in Manila is the true power of Crepuscular Dawn, in a live setting I think second only to Deathcharge as this genre of band goes, tight as a whistle and god must have created Kirk just to front this style of band. I will tip my hand that we'll do a second LP for them next year, how could we resist.
But my biggest takeaway from my time in Philippines in general is that The Hows of Us is the best KathNiel work and She's Dating the Gangster is the worst, but I don't care anymore because now Bea Alonzo/John Lloyd Cruz is my favorite love team.
Only thing to say about Hong Kong after my 1-day side adventure is that I need to get back there and explore more LOL, I want to eat them pineapple buns and egg tarts all fuckin day and party at Chungking Mansions all fuckin night!!
Okay, I think that's enough rambling for now. Maybe next month I'll talk about working as an election judge and the doomsday scenario we've apparently chosen for ourselves.
-Dan
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NOVEMBER NEW ARRIVALS
First up, we got big big stacks of Japanese hardcore CDs.
You'd think, given that I was traveling around this part of the world for a month, I would have accumulated TONS of shit to bring back for distro. But it's actually the exact opposite, because I was running around so much, I wanted to carry as little as possible, so I intentionally didn't acquire very much.
But there was one release I couldn't help bringing home a fat bag of. Big respect to Anton and Tetsuya for helping me out here.
I'm so hyped to have copies of the new ?????? CD for all my fellow American aficionados. For me, this is probably the #1 best hardcore release of the year and I CANNOT RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH!!!!
?????? played Kappunk and, given that my American eyes didn't recognize the kanji, I probably would have missed them had Tetsuya not pointed them out to me. Fuck, they were TERRIFIC, totally brilliant and all the things I love about Japanese hardcore. They've had some slight evolution in their style since that blazing 7" single on HG Fact back in the day, but this new CD is perfect traditional Japanese hardcore in the style of early Paintbox, Blowback, Just Be-era Judgement. If you know, you know, and you know you can't live without it. "Clear Autumn the Sky" might be my favorite hardcore song of the year. (Also didn't know half the band plays in Bring Arrow too, whose debut CD is one of my favorites of recent memory.)
All the latest Black Konflik releases have arrived, which is basically a tremendous spread of old and new Japanese hardcore stuff.
If you want old sounds, I am so fucking hyped on a Crusty Hi Charge discography CD. Maybe I'm posing out, I've never heard the demo prior to this (also didn't know they went on to become SAAG), but of course I have the 7" single and it's a total ripper, mandatory for Japanese hardcore freaks.
For more contemporary bands, I'm really interested in the debut Yemen CD, for being the newest band of some of the Gouka crew.
Also in this vein, the new Vietnam discography LPs are up now too.
To me, winter is when proper crust hits the hardest. Evocative music for those chilly winter nights. So the very hyped debut Axefear LP is coming at the perfect time, a phenomenal dynamic and atmospheric crust assault. State Manufactured Terror EP is a bit more brutal but also scratches this itch. And, in case you missed Cancer Spreading new LP when you saw them on their east coast tour this summer, you got another chance!
If you need something faster to warm you up, Retsu debut LP has been making some waves, the new d-beating hardcore band of Doom and Extinction of Mankind folks. Although for me, when it comes to old guy bands, we've had the tape version for a bit, but I am more fascinated by the comeback Cluster Bomb Unit LP, a band that is so overlooked despite being sooo coooooooool.
If you're more keen for young and fresh, I know there's a lot of hype around Alambrada LP, and a new Disease 10" is something to be excited about, but for me, there's only one record that matters right now, and it's new Yellowcake EP. I had the pleasure of seeing this band in Phoenix earlier this year and O M F G they were INCREDIBLE, absolutely devastating and leagues ahead of the zillions of other modern bands with this generic "we kinda sound like Totalitar but not really" style. Yellowcake is the real deal, one of the top current American bands by my count, get hip to it now or scratch your head wondering wtf is wrong with you later.
If you got that real need for speed beyond the average hardcore band, we have enormous nuclear stockpiles of all the latest Yacopsae LP releases. One of the best hardcore bands EVER and you really can't go wrong with any of their recorded material. But if I had to choose one, I thiiiiink I'd go for the split 12" with Agathocles, because all these raw and looser early early tracks are an interesting counterpoint to how polished they are now.
If you're a little Yacopsae'd out, your next step is this Massgrav 12". Old now but I scooped a few more copies because this one is a personal favorite. Blazing, pummeling, relentless, in a similar way as Yacopsae, but whereas Yacopsae is so brutal, Massgrav keeps their feet firmly planted in Swedish hardcore, like if Mob 47 came 10-15 years later and the arms race of speed had already progressed a little. This is the first two CD-only releases on one 12". I know this band is still going, I haven't realllyyyyy kept up with their latest releases, but I remember buying these first two CDs at the time and how big an impression they made on me, I don't think anything can top it.
For something more contemporary, get hip to Negative Bias new tape and Negative Bias/Deterioration split 7". Great shit from the school of Hellnation, that same mix of catchy + relentless blazing speed + BRUTALITY.
If you want to get even more off the rails, there's a new Sedem Minut Strachu split 12" with Abortion, you already know they are one of the modern legends of noisecore and it simply does not get any more intense. But I also sought out some copies of Kuttekop LP, a little old now but was totally new to me and I wonder if it'll be new to you too? More of a harsh noise-take on noisecore, less attack and more atmosphere and vibe. If you remember the Kolumbia LP from a little bit ago, maybe it's like a more harsh noise version of that? I'm really into it, personally.
If you want to keep tumbling down the rabbithole, we got a wide array of goregrind this time around. Did you enjoy seeing Pulmonary Fibrosis on their west coast tour but maybe forgot to buy a Pulmonary Fibrosis tape? Need to catch up on your Haggus tapes? Fascinated by Anorectal Ulceration LP because they're from India and it's rare to hear Indian punk/metal stuff? Maybe you like the old classics like Squash Bowels demos tape (great shit), or maybe you're more up on newer bands like First Days of Humanity tape (also great shit lol).
Lots of people into this Houkago Grind Time LP these days, and given the anime aesthetic you'd think this would be up my alley but.....for me, the new Vomi Noir LP takes the cake, I really prefer their more classic style of goregrind, straight from the school of Dead Infection. As a casual goregrind fan, I'd say Vomi Noir is one of the very few current bands worth keeping up with.
Speaking of Dead Infection, I'm thrilled we got a couple copies of this Dead Infection PDLP reissue of the first album. A total classic if you're into this kind of shit. And even more exciting for me, we got a stack of this CSSO singles collection 2xLP, wow! For me, a Top 3 goregrind band, and this collection is a great window into them for spanning all eras, from the more straightforward mastery of the early material to the totally tripped out psychedelic insanity of their later material. You never knew goregrind could rock like this! And what's up with the acoustic Carcass cover?? LOL.
And finally....WE GOT PATCHES AND PATCHES AND PATCHES.
We're fully stocked on Karasu Killer embroidered patches of all your favorite Japanese hardcore and crust bands. Totally official, totally quality, totally vegan. If you're into band patches, these are the Rolls Royce of patches.
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coming in December/January:
healthy stack of Outo reissues
healthy stack of Unlawful Hardcore Assembly LP reissue
healthy stack of Morbo LP reissue (PSYCHED!!!!!)
new Tiikeri EP (PSYCHED!!!!!)
new Scumraid EP (PSYCHED!!!!)
more Euro crust
more Japanese and Euro grind
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan