Localized Noise Volume 1 Out Now

Localized Noise Volume 1 has finally arrived. This is a production of the blog, and thanks to a number of generous people, the 20 page zine is printed and ready to go. Included in the first issue are interviews with Raw Nerve, Weekend Nachos, Iron Rain, and Poison Planet, as well as reviews of various releases and photos from Futurebreed and others.

The main focus of the zine is on one particular city, and we begin with Chicago. The initial run is limited to 100 hand numbered copies, and available for $2.50 ppd. Paypal as a gift to nalfonse@gmail.com (please include your shipping address), and for wholesale rates please email me first. Thanks for the support and I hope you enjoy it.

Defile - Demo 2010

Yes, it's more Chicago hardcore. More mind numbing, ear splitting, stereo smashing music from the Midwest; another soundtrack to crash your car to. Another opportunity to annoy your friends and turn girls off, while simultaneously falling down the stairs after being stricken with vertigo from the crashing, sloshy seven song, three and a half minute demo by Defile. Pro tapes with black on black print splattered all over and J cards featuring the lyrics scrawled out in one big stream of consciousness mess.

Defile ratchets up the noise level on this demo a few notches, blasting through each song with complete abandon, as the raspy, snotty vocals shout over the band at an overhauled volume. You still can't actually understand most of what is being said, but they certainly wanted to make sure you at least heard the full seven songs of yelling, which culminates during "Swollen" with coughing and gagging as the whole thing comes to a nauseous end. The music follows suit in relatively simple fashion, staggering through each quick burst with distortion while the drums attempt to keep the madness stitched together.

For a demo, this definitely deserves some credit for being completely unapologetic and carefree in its raucous punk approach. Also, the abbreviated song length and rough recording style makes this tape a breeze to listen to, even if it isn't your cup of hardcore tea. At times, Defile musically reminds me of early 80's UK punk rock such as Discharge or Chaos UK, with a twist of earlier NYC bands like Urban Waste. I haven't been able to find out too much information on the band, other than someone from Raw Nerve sings, but hey, it wouldn't be "mysterious" then, right? Don't be fooled by previous Youth Attack distro updates, this is still available for consumption.

Lifetime Problems Webstore

RazorXFade - Demo

One of the latest in a growing line of aggressive Chicago hardcore bands, RazorXFade, recently released a demo on Not Normal Tapes, ran by Ralph of Raw Nerve. This baby comes with pro black tapes, fold out insert with lyrics, and j-card all in a slick black and white color scheme. Don't let the name fool you, this is straight-up, no nonsense, balls out hardcore.

The demo wastes absolutely no time, firing six potent bullets of musical fury from their magazine that rip through you like a .45. Reaching high speeds, but in a maintainable fashion, RazorXFade combines different tempos in each song to keep you waiting for the next track. Influentially, the band smacks of Jerry's Kids or other old X-Claim bands, along with some Antidote-era NYHC. Carlos' rough, shouting vocal style fits the grainy music pretty well, ranting through the lyrics at a nearly inaudible pace at times.

After the first two songs, it's crystal clear what this Chicago four piece is shooting for. A quick 56 second song to kick it off, followed by a little intro riff which leads into the second song, as Carlos growls "Straightedge!" right before "Last in Line" explodes from your tape deck. Building guitars and drums leads into a nice mid-tempo breakdown before the vocals gasp "This world thinks in dollar signs/If you don't prepare to be last in line." My personal highlight is probably "Choke," which threatens to completely spin out of control while the guitar mashes its way through chords in between screeching harmonics, to your ear drum's dismay.

Each song seems to attempt to raise the bar from the last one, resulting in an exciting listen from beginning to end. There's an interesting element of social consciousness to the lyrics, touching on kidnapped children, war, greed, scene preachers, and more. I was a bit amused by the 17 different X's on the tape and packaging (yes, I counted), but thankfully these dudes don't waste half their demo screaming about the edge. Find seven minutes to set aside in your busy day and rage with this tape, you won't be disappointed. The first run of tapes is sold out already, but expect a second press soon from Not Normal.

RazorXFade Myspace
Not Normal Tapes Myspace

Raw Nerve - Live Tape

A live recording documenting the madness that is Raw Nerve's live performance. Raging guitars, pounding percussion, and roaring vocals put down at ear-splitting volume that barely manages to stay under the blown out level. Recorded live at the Legion of Doom in Columbus, Ohio on 10/02/2008; features stickered tapes in a vinyl case with art on both sides for those that care. If you've seen them before in person, this is a pretty accurate cross section of what your ears would experience.

Opening up with a popular favorite "Stay Staid," the set essentially mercilessly blazes on until abruptly coming to a quick end. Raw Nerve mixes it up with a decent assortment of older and new songs in an order conducive to receiving everything in a short, but sweet manner. I'd like to think the second half of the set was deliberately this well thought out and put together, with "Weeds" ending almost as quickly as it starts, then leading into the brooding, building "Crosses." Once the song bursts towards the end into a manic hardcore explosion, they plow through three more tracks with the force of a jackhammer, crashing to a halt with "Cold One."

The quality of the recording isn't half bad, especially considering some of the other noisy hardcore live tapes that are floating around these days. If you haven't been able to catch them in person, give it a try for sure. This is long sold out, blah blah, whatever, find a rip of it on a blog instead of wasting $25 on eBay. It shouldn't be too hard to find, there might even be a link on this blog...

Raw Nerve Blog

Youth Attack Bounty

The internet hyped, bursting at the seams hardcore label from Brooklyn has been busier than the subway during rush hour over the past few months, churning out releases and distro items for the "masses." The joke is on us though, as most of these items are highly limited; especially live, tour, or special mail order only releases. Even the quantities of the label's own material doesn't seem to be enough to satisfy the insatiable appetite for Youth Attack Records or their related bands, labels, or distros. Having bought items from them before, and followed some of their bands for years, the unusual activity surrounding these particular artists is approaching a level of questionable phenomena.

As with most popular labels or bands, maniacal message board chatter and mailing list news bulletins generate incredible amounts of essentially free publicity for underground music. Of course, I 100% support bands and labels promoting themselves, but the unique nuances of buying these releases is unlike anything I've seen in a long time. Unless the bands are touring in your area, attempting to pick up some of these records, tapes, or zines has become a ridiculous task of spending hours on the computer while feverishly hitting the F5 key until you're ready to rip it right out of your laptop. Youth Attack has a mailing list which will alert you of an incoming update, but this isn't necessarily fail safe either, as some of the items will literally sell out in a matter of a couple minutes, or even seconds. As each item pops up in the store, they almost instantly run out, forcing you to place upwards of four or five different orders if you want more than a couple items (refunds are given for combined shipping later but, still.) During the update that contained the Veins cassette, the Big Cartel store basically crashed, wreaking havoc through internetland and generating endless complaints in the Jerkbooth.  

There really wouldn't be so many aggravating factors about this, if it weren't for the fact that an inordinate amount of copies immediately end up on eBay, sometimes with outrageous "Buy it Now" prices approaching $75 to $90. Occasionally, you can hunt down copies in distros, or even at places like Interpunk (yeah, really), so the willingness to search will definitely help to avoid being ripped off by flippers. Right after Raw Nerve went on tour, a landslide of copies of the LP's tour press went up for sale, turning the entire purpose of buying it into a relative joke. The obvious response is "Well, just go to a show and buy one for yourself if you don't want to pay triple or quadruple the price." This would be great, but many of the Youth Attack bands don't visit a large part of the US, leaving many people out, especially on the West Coast.

Am I willing to sit through another pending update refreshing my browser for a couple hours? Probably. Will I consider buying ridiculous industrial noise or power electronics cassettes I don't even want so I can attempt to resell them for five times the asking price later? No chance. I'm not complaining about the rarity of the material, the difficulty currently buying them, or even having to place multiple orders to get the music or shirts I really want. However, fighting mobs of people on the internet to buy noisy underground hardcore or live powerviolence tapes seems like an oxymoron to me. I'm aware of my support of the label, and not interested in beating the dead horse that's the SQRM trash bag shirts, these are just some thoughts. My apparent irritation and criticism is derived more from the people who have no interest in supporting the bands, not McCoy, his label, or the groups fortunate enough to be on it. 

Pending reviews and more pictures of the items above will be up soon.

Raw Nerve/Vile Gash/Nomos/No Coffin @ Ava House 3/26/10

First off I'm going to have to start this one by saying I REALLY liked this venue. It's been way too long since I went to a house or basement show, and this spot reminded me of some of the grungy punk venues I used to frequent in high school. It took me a few minutes to find the place, but once I found the door, the location was actually pretty obvious. I was really psyched on all the bands, and for $5 this is easily the cheapest thing around on a Friday night in Philly.

Walking up the stairs, the hallway was littered with empty PBR cans, tagged in graffiti, and smelled of stale cigarette smoke. Upstairs, everything opens up into a large, empty space, except for old couches most likely found on the side of the road, and band equipment. Kids are skateboarding around the hardwood floors, while people crack open 40 oz's and light up Camels. The place could actually be a really swank apartment for some rich dude, but this is a far better use of the space.

Locals No Coffin was starting to play just as I came upstairs, along with other people filtering in for the night. Their sound was definitely unpolished, with a slightly unsure feel, but still decent for a first show. They have a somewhat droning, yet pleasantly noisy approach to their songs, and I'm looking forward to a demo so I can hear it better.

Raw Nerve. If you don't know about them yet, you've been sleeping too long. Fast, raw, frantic hardcore from the Midwest. These guys set up and roared through a set in probably about eight minutes, playing songs from all of their releases, including some new stuff from the LP on Youth Attack Records. The vocals were a little low, so the singer wasn't very audible, which could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. People raged back and forth during their songs, smashing from side to side as beer sprayed onto the ground. Their singer writhed around while howling the lyrics, while the rest of the band thrashed their instruments into submission. Great stuff; short and sweet.

Brooklyn hardcore punk act, Nomos, were up next. They performed most of the songs from their demo EP, which is an absolute monster for a debut recording. Fast, hard, angry music, with well formed songs and some old school hardcore influence makes these guys one of my favorite newer bands around. Nomos rips it up live also, shredding through their set in experienced, confident fashion. Do not miss out on this band next time they're in your area.

The final audio assault of the evening was Columbus, Ohio's Vile Gash. Similar to Raw Nerve, they came on without saying a word and immediately launched into a song. Their singer looked like a man possessed, furiously spitting the lyrics and punching people that came within striking distance. The set was a bit marred by some technical difficulties though, as the guitar kept cutting out, and there also seemed to be a problem with his distortion pedal. Either way, I was stoked on this performance too, and Vile Gash put a nice cap on an awesome night.

Ava House is easily one of the best DIY house venues I've ever been too, with a PA and gear that actually works, and a chill, friendly environment to hang out in. The show was basically a party, with plenty of people hanging out, drinking, and listening to music. Also, I made some nice vinyl pick ups, including the Raw Nerve tour press, a live tape, and Vile Gash's new EP. Thanks to the Hartford dudes I met for sharing some of their beer with me, and thanks to the promoters and people at Ava House for putting on a top notch show. I'll definitely be back again.

New Preorders/Releases to Get Psyched On

There's been a slew of demos and new artists popping up in the hardcore scene, with a pile of exciting new material slated for release soon. Some of this is already out or up for preorder, but I've been struggling almost daily to decide what to spend my hard earned cash on. I only wish I was able to buy everything and support all the up and comers, but here's some of the latest vocal chord shredding and guitar smashing records available.


Mountain Man - One: I swear the first time I heard this demo I felt like throwing my laptop into the wall. Fast, heavy, aggressive as hell hardcore from Worcester, MA that reminds me of a mix between bands like American Nightmare and Internal Affairs. Their sound also seems to fit in well with many of their contemporaries in the Boston area. The only thing I'm not excited about is the annoying 10" format, which never seems to fit in anywhere. The record is for sale through Mightier Than Sword records on three colors with a limited shirt and poster also available. If you're in the dark on this one, the demo is available for download on their Myspace profile, and they'll be tearing up some venues in the Northeast soon.

Get the Most - Together: After a demo and two EPs, Get the Most is finally releasing their debut full length. Offering a fast, energetic throwback to late 80s style youth crew straightedge hardcore, the band has grown quite a following since forming in 2005. Preorders actually just started today on React! Records, available on 3 different colors, with a couple great looking four-sided longsleeves. This label has been on fire lately, so I'm not expecting anything less than great from this band's first LP.

Expire - Grim Rhythm: More explosive Midwest hardcore hailing from Wisconsin; these guys are releasing their debut EP on Hellfish Records. There's been a great influx of bands hailing from the Midwest playing a brand of straightforward, honest music, and I can't wait to hear more. The vocals also remind me a little of Modern Life is War during their first EP; unpolished and raw. Their demo is also available for download on their Myspace, and the EP is still available on two colors (preorder packages are sold out already).

Fire & Ice - Grim: A fun, NYHC and rock-influenced band from the ever growing Richmond, VA scene. Triple B Records will be putting out their second EP, although there isn't a date set on this one. Gods and Devils was a good effort, and I'm confident these guys will crank it up a notch on their upcoming record. It also looks like there should be three different vinyl colors once this drops.

Raw Nerve - LP: Like taking a baseball bat to your turntable, this blazing fast Chicago hardcore act are set to blow up with their upcoming LP on Youth Attack Records. No specific release date is available but there's been a couple vague updates on the YA website stating it should be out sometime in March (at press now). After a fairly popular demo and EP, people should look forward to another vicious, blistering effort from Raw Nerve. I'd recommend frequenting the YA website often if you expect to get a copy, as many of their releases tend to be very limited, selling out in a day or less sometimes.

The Rival Mob - Hardcore for Hardcore: Mob rules all! I seriously cannot wait for this one, and this band is catching on all over the country. This should be a great release on Six Feet Under Records, hopefully with some stellar vinyl colors and packaging. The Rival Mob has a gritty, raw style and demeanor that reminds me of the old school, no frills hardcore bands of the past. If you've been under a rock recently, go pick up a copy of Raw Life from Lockin Out to keep yourself entertained in the meantime, otherwise be sure to catch them in Philly or at United Blood if you're in the area.

Now that everyone's overdrawn their bank account, get back to work so you can afford more amazing releases. These are just a handful of what's coming right now, and I'll be anxiously waiting like a cat in heat for more.

http://mtsrecords.com/
http://www.itstimetoreact.com/
http://www.hellfishfamily.com/
http://www.triple-brecords.com/
http://ihateyouthattack.com/
http://www.sixfeetunderrecords.com/site/