God damn, was the last time I sent a mass e-mail really back in July?? Guess that makes sense, because the second half of this year has been so full-throttle, I've been everywhere but at home dealing with my distro LOL. It's all a bit too much to succinctly write about in one e-mail opening but I'll include some narration below as I describe the boxes and boxes of stuff I've brought back to the USA from all over the world.
I managed to sneak in a distro update in September, when I was home for a month....but bless all y'all, I got so many orders so quickly that I decided sending out a mass e-mail at that time would create more problems for me, cause I only had so much time before I'd be back running around for all of October, I didn't want to overload myself and leave a lot of unfilled orders. I'll cover all this stuff below too.
Now, the mass e-mail returns! Because currently I am funemployed, furloughed due to our government shutdown, so now I got all the time to get all orders out the door quickly enough. The government shutdown is stressful and difficult but I know I speak for my cohort down in the trenches that we are willing to tough it out for the public benefit, we don't want the Democrat Congresspeople to give an inch, we want them to fight for affordable healthcare for the common person.
Our union made a statement basically calling for Democrats to give in and reopen the government through passing a clean CR, really fucking annoying because that is NOT how us rank and file workers feel, and I hear several Locals are thinking to release their own statements independent of leadership. I can sorta understand what leadership is thinking, that they are supposed to advocate for us workers' interests first and foremost, buuuut we are government workers, we work for the good of the country at large, we have solidarity with other working class people, and our collective interests are more important than any singular individual interest.
I am sensitive to my fellow Feds that are struggling and just want our paychecks to return, and I wouldn't blame another Fed worker for feeling that way. And obviously I don't blame the exempted employees that got paid through illegal funding misappropriations last month. I don't not want my fellow Feds to get paid, even though my feeling (shared by many) is "EVERYBODY GETS PAID OR NOBODY GETS PAID", and the administration's illegal financial shenanigans are more to do with stifling our voice and dividing us than any meaningful interest or empathy in the current plight of Fed workers.
Well I don't have any easy answers or grand slogans, I just hope those sick fucks in the dictatorship start to reel and flinch against the popular momentum of liberal and progressive electoral victories. So hyped on the Mamdani victory, I definitely do not care about NYC politics but I'm happy to see someone fresh, energized, and idealistic having so much momentum and success. He's the kind of politician I like to see on the playing field. (Side note, fuck Democrat party leadership for not supporting him appropriately. Guess "vote blue no matter who" only counts if it's in the good graces of billionaire donors.)
I worked as an election official in our own Mayoral election earlier this week. Personally I think everybody should take a turn as an election official and help facilitate democracy, participate in civil society, see how all the gears of democracy grind. I think it's an incredibly insightful and thought-provoking experience.
As for the results, the generic moderate Democrat incumbent beat our own progressive candidates with a healthy margin. Oh well, the people have spoken I guess.
Records!
-Dan
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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER/NOVEMBER NEW ARRIVALS
In July I went to Finland for a bit for my friend's wedding. Was a tremendous little trip, quality time with friends is what makes my world go round, the wedding was soooo fun (can't go wrong when Crude (Japan) and Kohu-63 are your wedding bands!), the timing worked out that I could hit Puntala Rock Fest which lived up to the hype, and I even got to fill in on drums for a gig with my friend's band LOL.
Puntala Rock Fest was an amazing punk experience, super different than the way we think about 'fests' here in USA. I was most impressed by the level of infrastructure and sophistication. It's like a little punk town existing for one weekend only: food vendors, bars, housing and neighborhoods, marketplace, security, admin, regulated swimming in the adjacent lake, etc etc. I'm a bit more used to the "people partying in the club" vibe of fests in the USA and of Kappunk, and the generalized low-level chaos of Sao Caos Fest, so this sort of formality at Puntala Rock was really interesting to me. I totally get how some of my friends feel a bit at odds with it, but I enjoyed it.
Speaking of Puntala Rock, I saw Diskelma there and learned there's a new Diskelma LP that I simply didn't know existed, fuckin hell, so of course I got a stack to bring home. Vaguely Japanese hardcore style but at this point, they're really more leaning into 'rock and roll bad boy' territory, sunglasses and wild solos and the axe-guitar LOL, that made me chuckle.
And speaking of me filling in for my friend's band, I made sure to bring back plenty of their new LP. This Hullu LP is a GREAT slice of chaotic Finnish punk, sloppy and full of attitude and charm, and also extremely limited and I think not available anywhere else besides the band directly (but now I'm part of the band, so, here you go world!).
And speaking of things I've done, there's a new issue of Garbage Fountain zine out now that includes an interview I conducted with the extremely obscure Filipino noise heroes ADA. Garbage Fountain continues to be the zine that excites and interests me the most, with Mikko's earnest enthusiasm and critical ears making the most fun reading about noise currently in the game. We're also fortunate to have stocked up on all back issues, so if you're missing anything, now's your chance!
I spent nearly the entirely of August on a comprehensive Asia tour with my crew Dirty Wombs. It was simply too long and amazing an experience to talk about for less than a book, although Dino does a great job recounting everything here. Making this tour happen was my big project this year, and I couldn't be more pleased to see so many friends new and old, share all these experiences with Dino and Kostas and Aris, experience all these amazing bands and communities and foods and landscapes and god damn, punk is the best!!!
I want to specifically highlight the Dirty Wombs tour 7" released on SPHC for this tour. Not just because it's fuckin AWESOME and is easily the best thing Dirty Wombs has done, but because when I see it now, it reminds me of how special it was to watch a band I love so much, as a band and as individuals, to watch a band like that grow and evolve before your very eyes.
When we started in Tangerang Indonesia, Dirty Wombs was already an excellent band, and playing through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, for 2.5 weeks, tightened them up, sharpened them up, refined them to as good as they could be at that level.
And then a week of gigs in Japan, playing with bands like Weaks, Gudon, Voracious Soul, Agony AD, being in that sort of environment where all the bands are so objectively GREAT, playing with bands that are better than you are lol, it can force you to evolve. By the time Dirty Wombs got to their Tokyo tour finale, playing with whom I would consider the top live bands in punk today (Illya and Miliary Shadow), they were simply a categorically BETTER band than when they started in Tangerang. They had evolved to the next level, and were able to go toe-to-toe with the best. Amazing. The pride and joy I felt, that alone made all my efforts worthwhile.
Now I can safely and confidently tell you....Dirty Wombs is among the BEST punk bands in the world right now.
We sold most of the tour single on the tour itself. I brought one box home and Dirty Wombs brought one box home. This record isn't getting the standard distribution, it's only available from me and from Dirty Wombs.
I also brought home a box of their Japanese tour CD, which includes Accursed to Overcome LP and split 7" with Sludge (Japan). If you're a big enough fan, you know how convenient it is to have all the good stuff on one tidy collection CD.
And lordy gordy I brought home A LOT of stuff from Asia. I'll describe the main highlight of each country:
Indonesia: Genosida demo tape. Raw and crusty grindcore from these young Jakarta guys, their set made a big impression on me.
That being said, I was most impressed by Tersanjung 13 and Peace or Annihilation at our Jakarta gig. Tersanjung 13 was probably the best performance of grindcore I've seen in years, and Peace or Annihilation LOL, I dunno I guess given the records I thought they'd be a bit more 'tight and powerful' but they were a fuckin noise chaos of the highest order. Sloppy, nothing but attitude and energy, fuckin PUNK. I absolutely adored it. File them alongside Thieving Bastards, Academic Worms, Cunts, and Godstomper as bands that can create a true uncontrollable "chaos" in a live setting. Incredible.
Singapore: Topsy Turvy/Putrid Scum split tape. Topsy Turvy are minor classics of Singaporean crust, fronted by the man, the myth, the legend, Hasib. Yes Putrid Scum side is cool with its proper mettalic stench crust style, but Topsy Turvy is essential, holding it down since the 00s with their Japanese raw punk/crasher crust-influenced style.
Also playing Hasib's shop in the basement of a dilapidated and desolate shopping center is arguably my craziest gig experience of this year lol. Fuckin PUNK.
Malaysia: Gotta give it up to the new generation!! I deeply appreciated that we got to do a stint with my crew Osmantikos, new record on SPHC next year!, but Malaysia scene really poppin off right now with young people doing raw punk styles! Negative Kvlt tape made such a big impression on me in Batu Pahat, picture-perfect crasher crust CHAOS, from young guys out of a small town....it's like they were tailor-made to my tastes LOL, love this band. I was equally shocked by Slakt tape in Kuala Lumpur, so tight and energetic, so much attitude and power. I'd kinda compare them to early Life (Japan) actually, or Frigora (Japan), insofar as it has fundamentals of Swedish hardcore a la Mob 47, Shitlickers, Disarm, etc, but executed in that raw crasher crust style.
Philippines: I was REALLY happy to bring home a stack of this Philippines Violators collection LP, kinda random collection of deep cut recordings from one of the GOATs of traditional Filipino punk. Essential for Pinoy punk fans.
Okay, now that I think about it....Dirty Wombs + Banana is the Bastard + all friends fuckin PARTY BUS might be the craziest gig experience of the year for me LOLLLLL.
Also big respect to my crew Crepuscular Dawn for bringing out the 'American Kirk' to sing "Whirlwind" lolllll, that was fuckin fun. I thought I did so well but when I watched a video after....good lord I can't sing LOL. And Choke Cocoi was easily the best live band I saw in southeast Asia as a whole on this tour.
Japan: Okay, so to be fair, the big winner here is Bring Arrow CD. This is one of my favorite Japanese hardcore CDs of recent years, so I made sure to buy a fat stack off them at the Tokyo gig so I could spread the good word back here. This is totally from the Paintbox, later Judgement, Good Morning, etc school of upbeat, tuneful Japanese hardcore....and it shares the primary songwriter of Mikazuki-Bakuondan, whose Silver CD was my favorite punk release of 2024 (this may have actually been an older release but whatever, new to me).
But Bring Arrow is way more ROCK than any of this stuff. Not that it doesn't have that high charge, but it's a bit more oriented towards grooving rock than it is raging hardcore. Not that this makes it any lesser!! It's like comparing the first and third Tetsu Array albums. This CD gets THE HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
I was really surprised how fucking awesome Weaks new EP was at our Gifu gig. Their fascinating mix of traditional Japanese hardcore with NYHC tough guy mosh groove was a bit eyebrow raising for me at first, but especially after seeing them live, it's really clicked for me. Coolest band, coolest dudes.
Not as relevant to the tour but I've also returned with copies of new Padlock EP (you already know! One of my absolute favorites! Illya's senpai band!), the new AI discography CD (can't really put into words how much this band means to me, but it's fundamental to my view of punk, and such an unquantifiable part of the soundtrack of my life), and the new Mushizu CD (fuuuuck this RIPS, I haven't been able to track down their earlier CDs so I'm happy I could get wholesale copies of this one. Exactly what I want out of punk!).
Last month I went on a splendid UK tour with Kuroishi (Finland). And when we think of 'the best bands in the game right now'.....that conversation has to include Kuroishi. Bands that are so normatively, correctly, objectively GREAT in the DIY sphere are kinda rare in my opinion. DIY punk has always had its tint of raw, unfiltered, spontaneous, off-the-cuff, "amateur", and I love that, but it's a real treat to see a band as blindingly polished, intensely focused, and disarmingly 'professional' as Kuroishi. Their hard work is immediately evident; they are so consistent every night, so tight, sound perfect, know exactly how to use the space they have, how to roll with any circumstance thrown their way....they could just as easily destroy a stadium as they could destroy a basement.
As is my style, when we play with a killer band, I try to grab some of their latest releases wholesale, and as such I have returned with:
Feral State new LP - I would say they play a more contemporary and modern sense of hardcore, but I like them WAY more than comparable American and European bands because of the loose drumming (gives it a killer energy), faster tempos, and the vocals just sit better for me (our driver Jon said Feral State had his favorite vocalist in UKHC right now and I can believe it)
Thumbsucker LP - POWER VIOLENCE. No surprises, just a ripping genre exercise.
System of Slaves new LP - this Welsh crust band made a big impression on me with their Nausea style of crust. While most modern crust is basically a Hellshock sense of death metal, or a Sacrilege or proper Amebix worship band if we're lucky, I felt like System of Slaves have way more personality. Made me think of Nausea or Contropotere with its significantly more dynamic and exciting songwriting. Heavy and crust as fuck, not afraid to speed up, just more musically ambitious and thoughtful than their peers.
Barren? tour tape - really enjoyed their stomping anarcho-punk style in Nottingham so I grabbed some remaining copies of their tour tape. Contains the first LP backed by comp and live tracks.
Also brought back copies of the acclaimed Crow People discography 2xLP, did not know this band previously but glad I do now, and I couldn't help but snag a couple copies of Baby Silverskins discography LP (a Snuff side project I was also totally unfamiliar with) and new Crocodile God LP (wait why the fuck is this so good????).
On the complete opposite side of the musical spectrum, I couldn't resist bringing home some of the CSSO first LP reissue, one of my all-time favorite goregrind masterpieces, and Dead Infection - A Chapter of Accidents picture disc reissue, another one of my all-time favorite goregrind masterpieces, finally on the picture disc we didn't know we needed but I'm now certain all great goregrind albums must be on.
While I was out and about, the world kept turning....and I tried my best to keep up. Of course we got all the latest from our allies RSR and FOAD.
On RSR, I think there's particular excitement about the new Fuck on the Beach LP, they haven't slowed down a single bpm or lost one crackle of distortion in all this time. And I know people in my life that are thrilled on to see Diborce LP finally find its way onto the collector's preferred format. Deeper cut but great wild grinding madness.
On FOAD, I'm not as interested in the giant chunks of Japanese heavy metal and grindcore nor even the Singaporean black metal or Swedish goregrind reissues. Nothing wrong with this stuff but it's not exactly to my taste. For me, the FOAD stuff that's getting my blood pumping is this Mindrot demo LP, fuckin GREAT SoCal crust shit which is a little niche of punk that I've been more enthused about in the last year or two....actually I'd never heard this demo before, only got the Endeavor EP, still need the split 7" with Apocalypse gahhh.....Also totally loving this Psykoosi LP, my kind of grindcore, and revisiting this classic Rupture EP reissued on LP for the first time since high school was really fun. I know Rupture has such a kvlt following, I'm a casual fan for sure but I totally get why people love them so.
And finally.....everything else LOL.
I've had so many records coming in while I've been gone. Do you really need to hear more about Gauze final LP restock or Totalitar singles collection LP restock? You probably already know about super hyped records like Alienator LP and Subversive Rite LP, maybe you already got Contrast Attitude new LP and Sex Dwarf new LP on their east coast tours, and at this point Frigora discography LP feels like it's so popular all of the sudden that I ought to dig out my 20 year old Dance of the Plague Bearer shirt I got in college.
So I'll just call attention to these 5 that maybe weren't so immediately on your radar:
1. New DHK LP!!!! I've been a fan since the first 7" in 2012, and seeing them twice in Lima last year made me feel like, damn this one of the best d-beat bands going right now. I've been waiting with baited breath for this new LP to drop and it only confirms my suspicions. Raw, loose, primitive, PUNK, a picture-perfect South American d-beat record by one of the modern masters. GREAT. (and if you can't get enough d-beat, you probably already know you need Bombardement new LP.) (and if you can't get enough DHK, we also got copies of their near-complete collection CD!)
2. Speaking of Peru, I totally love the raw unhinged brutality of Dictadura de Conciencia EP, a deep cut of traditional 90's Peruvian hardcore that I'm so happy sees a brighter light of day. Not so traditional, but also South American, I love the weird little Psicodencia EP reissue (Mexico 1990) and I'm always ecstatic for a new Ignorantes 7" single, this one taking a different spin on their brand of two-fingers-in-the-air, tongue-sticking-out PUNK.
3. Negative Bias new EP has totally captured my interest. Easily my favorite fast hardcore record of this year. I'm a sucker for the Hellnation/Razors Edge school of upbeat, catchy fastcore, a very particular niche that so few bands seem to explore and that Negative Bias is making great strides towards mastering. Fucking AWESOME, BIG RECOMMENDATION!!! And if you got that need for speed, you already know you need this Seein Red collection LP, featuring my very favorite Seein Red material.
4. A bit random but I was super entertained by this new Sex Virgin Killer LP. A bit Gastunk-ian sense of Japanese heavy metal punk, mixed with some visual kei guitar acrobatics and vocal dramatics. I don't really pay attention to this band but this new LP is fuckin awesome.
5. I got a big box of obscure demo tapes from Distorted Sedition Records. I got big respect for this operation right now, I think they're doing punk in the same way as I think of it. Of all these tapes, I think Anomaly demo tape is the best, and Dissocial demo tape is the most interesting for being from a part of the world I'm always keen on (Malaysia).
Final comments:
-on one listen, new Hellshock LP is great, I think better than the previous one, for being a bit moodier and bleaker and less straight-forwardly death metal. Legends! Every record is a blessing really LOL.
-Disturd 10", blazing! man, this band really going for it these days, hitting fests in USA and Canada on what's probably their most aggressive and high-velocity record to date. Good for them!
-Psych-War LP, very trendy right now, I was out of town during their gig here so actuallyyyyy the first time I'm hearing them is through distro'ing this LP. Damn, this sounds suuuper Swedish in a way I wasn't expecting. I guess I assumed they'd be doing a more "Japanese raw punk" style, but this sounds like 90's Swedish kang a la Wolfpack or first Disfear records. Bludgeoning, monotonous brutality in the way I want, a bit raw and sometimes a bit more rocking but I think it all suits them well. GREAT record.
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coming next:
more from FOAD and Black Konflik
latest spiky hair punk shit from Japan and Lithuania
more Euro power-pop
GAZE LP (by my count, the only record that challenges Dart LP for AOTY)
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
FEDERAL WORKERS, HOLD THE LINE AND DON'T RESIGN.
-Dan
