Tense Men + Domestic Blitz = Cazenove Tapes

LAC from Sauna Youth has started his own tape label. It was a no brainer that a SY member would have some choice picks to start their label with. Go buy the first two fruits of his punk loom HERE

TENSE MEN

Tense Men = Ollie Fisher of Cold Pumas + Rich Phoenix of Sauna Youth.

The four jams on this tape are tightly woven and dense workouts of noise punk with occasional deep vocal swells that hint at their musical day jobs. Switching it up from upbeat locked grooves at the start of the tape, with zoned-out repetition and sweet guitar riffs before ending on blissed out kraut waves as the tape runs to its conclusion. The loop pedal seems to be the grounding force in TM, the 2nd guitarist or bass player who doesn't drop a note when drunk and keeps the song constantly driving forwards regardless of where the other two are in the wig outs, meaning they don't relegated to the being one of those two pieces who are good but would be better as a three piece. This little pink tape kills it start to finish, buy it.

1. A Gruesome Discovery
2. Tubular Swells
3. Killing Birds
4. Dawn Tourists

TENSE MEN by TENSE MEN

DOMESTIC BLITZ - TIME IS MONEY, WASTE BOTH

Who are Domestic Blitz? They are not the late 79-81 punk band or the Australian DIY televison show? Who cares though when you have an album of skronked out punk like this. Sometime they have some garage punk inclinations, then they come over all Killdozer or maybe a drunken Modern Lovers, and then slow down and do a George Harrison cover (the best Beatle, good choice). This tape is confusing in all the right places, and has followed me to work a lot recently and always seems to be top of the tape listening pile. Waste your money on this.

1. Property Development

2. A New Man

3. Strange Feeling

4. Ancient Scroll

5. The Heartstrongs

6. Thinker

7. Ben

8. Don't Eat That Please

9. Sincerely Complicated

10. Stay In Touch

http://www.domestic-blitz.com/

 
Domestic Blitz - 5 by Sound Savers

Good Throb - Demo 2011

Coming in the same package as The Love Triangle tape reviewed below and featuring a common member is as close to comparisons as you will get from the two tapes. Instead Good Throb deliver 9 tracks of noisey and atonal punk that drags and scrapes like the early Flipper albums.

The drums are super primal without being fast, the guitars are stabby in the right places, the bass is clangy and wire-y and the vocals grope at the song for dear life. It sounds aggressive but not macho, so maybe it is because 3/4 of this band are female that this demo shows a different side to aggressive and angry punk. The whole thing is pretty catchy too, unlike a lot of no-wave noise punk, and 'Toner Loner' has remained in my head all week, with it's office life critiques and screams of 'Paper Jams / Beyond Repair!'

Buy this tape HERE and check Good Throb out HERE

Side A

Animal Fuck

Bag

Culture Vulture

Detritus In The Kitchen

Drink 2

Sexual Pension

Side B

Shit Wife Day

Sick Party

Toner Loner

Animal Fuck by Good Throb

The Love Triangle - Tape # 4

I totally love this band and love this tape! Their 7" on Dire Records last year was incredible, and the fact that 2/3 of this band are also in The Sceptres and The Shitty Limits only makes it better. These 4 new songs are not as blink-and -they're-over as previous recordings and make me hungry for an album of The Love Triangles paisley garbage punk.

This tape is only £2, it has 4 catchy as hell songs that mix garage rock and 80's punk perfectly, no reason not too really. Look out for their new 7" dropping soon, again on Dire.

Tracklisting:

Empty Head

Take Me To Bed

Simple Language

When We're Alone

The Hipshakes - Sounds We Found (Scotch Tapes)

The second album from Derby garage punk kids that was only released on tape by the lovely Scotch Tapes a year or two ago. It has been in my review pile for a while, and i had forgotten that they really speed through their tracks, no psych breakdowns here. I love the group chant vocals over chaotic and fast three chord jams, which sounds like a hardcore band who picked up a Pebbles Box set instead of the obligatory Black Flag / Dead Kennedys LP's.

I don't know if this came out on vinyl, some Internet snooping suggests not, which is a shame, as these speedy garage punk tracks would fit in with both fans of Black Lips and Circle Jerks. Time someone made a tape of all their out of print 7"s maybe?

Side A

Lets Get Acquainted
I'm Alright
Wasted Time
Real Woman
I Try
Days of Destiny
Searchin'

Side B

Not Like I've Had before
Five Years Time
T-Shirt
I hate Hipshakes
Stuck In This Life
Now We Know
Bruces Party Song
Rovin Down The River

Strike a Match - Demo (Self Released)

This little red and yellow tape arrived in the post this week from Norway, stuffed with gig flyers and a really cool hand written letter that made me wish this was how all packages were still sent, rather than a one line email and a link to a soundcloud account that drops into my inbox pretty regularly. Send stuff to my postbox please, not imy inbox.

From the Peanuts style ink drawing on the front, i didn't think i would be getting the Norwegian Revolution Summer style Hardcore that fills the two sides of this cassette. It kicks off sharply with the self referencial and titular track of pure anthemic Strike Anywhere esque melodic hardcore with its Anti-Capitalist lyrical content that is begging me to point my finger in the air!

Then the mood changes and the hints of Rites of Spring and One Last Wish creep in with a slightly screamy drawl which stays on the right side of not being screamo. I would put his scream closer to that of the JR Ewing vocalist when he was pushing it rather than some generic screamo band.

I dont know if there is something they put in the water in Norway, but there seemsa to be a stylistic sound that flowed from JR Ewing to The Team Spirit to Kaospilot to I.O.U and now to Strike a Match. It's the non macho approach to hardcore music and the angular lines that cut through, with a nice dose of killer rock n roll riffs which is probably why it sits in the Dischord camp.

I dont know if they still have any copies of this tape left from its 50 copy run from 2009 but you can download this demo from http://www.strikeamatch.no/ , and finger point at the guy opposite you on the bus on the way to work!

Tracklisting:

Strike a Match
1000 Eyes
Dead Time In The Living Room
You Don't Have to Fuck
Sleepers Awake
Let's Be Human Beings


http://strikeamatch.bandcamp.com/

Cum Stain - S/T (Burger Records)

Another great cassette in a long line of Burger Records releases. I think a third of all the tapes I have bought in the past 2 years have come from those guys, putting to tape some of my favourite records from bands like Ty Segall, No Bunny, Traditional Fools, King Tuff, Shannon & The Clams and also a whole load of bands I have never heard of before, which are generally pretty damn good due to the Burger dudes impeccable taste in music!

Cum Stain sit firmly in the second category for me, a band I have never heard or heard of before. The artwork definitely plays on first impressions, along with it being cased in a nice yellow (pee coloured?) case, with the fez and belt wearing penis hinting that these guys are not using this tape to attract the attention of one of the big boys.
The music throws up some snotty garage punk, heavy on the snot, with some good old Ramones-esque punk. Tracks like 'Slip It off/Slip It In' throws in some slight surf vibes with a nice line in caveman stomp, not too unlike some of Ty's early bands like Traditional Fools and Party Fowl. 'I Want It Now' speeds through amazing back from the grave riffs if played by The Germs and is my pick for stand out track.

Over before it gets started, this album understands that youthful exuberance and fun time garage punk doesn't need to drag ,or hang around. Get in and get out before people need to refill their drinks.

Tracklisting:

1. Bachelors Life
2. Broke My Dick
3. No Hearts
4. Big Mean Maniac
5. Just A Kid
6. Vicdumb
7. Slip It Off / Slip It In
8. Shoker
9. I Want It Now
10. Suckher 4 U
11. Jack Shack
12. Cum Stain

Coleen Green - Milo Goes To College (Suffering Jukebox)

Posted simultaneously on Ghost Panda Digital

Ok, good news or bad news first? Bad news right? This amazing tape is now long gone, totally sold out and is unlikely to made again, sorry! The good news is that Coleen Green is now recording for Hardly Art Records, the Sub Pop offshoot label that has dropped some killer records in the past few years, with new CG records on their way.

This orange slice of tape starts with a downbeat cover of The Descendents 'Good Good Things'. Although not from their namesake debut album, this is a great cover, with slowed down drum machines and fuzzed out palm muted down strokes replacing the full band original. Carrying on the punk tributes comes 'I Wanna Be Degraded', on obvious take on The Ramones 'I Wanna Be Sedated' which adds a certain sacharine quality that continues throughout the rest of the tape.

I remember when the market was flooded with the vast amounts of punk bands covering classic pop songs in the mid 90's, and in particular Me First & The Gimme Gimme's making a side career from it, but now it seems that the table has turned with dreamy indie versions of punk classics like these getting their dues. Although not all of the 8 tracks on this tape alude to a classic punk song or reference, i feel like i have heard these songs before and they become memorable instantly. Tracks like 'I Will Follow Him' have become stuck in the part of brain that usually reserves space for tunes that i hum and then take an hour to remember who it is. Thanks Coleen.

Congrats if you can find a copy of this tape and thanks to Jack from Suffering Jukebox/Mazes for finding a copy for me.

Side A

Good Good Things
I Wanna be Degraded
Goldmine
I Will Follow Him

Side B

Always On My Mind
Nice Boy (I Want A)
Worship You
The Day I Fell In Love With You

Colleen Green - Worship You by berman1125

Sauna Youth - Planet Sounds (Self Released)

Serious no brainer here. My favourite UK band delivers a tape which is comprised of a 5 song radio session on Side A and 2 new covers on Side B given the SY treatment by members Pines and Boon respectively.

I think this radio session was recorded on their very first jaunt away and in the relative infancy of the band for a radio blog in Southampton, with 5 now classic tunes chosen including my favourite choice, 'Mild Horses'. Your also get cuts that have appeared on the new 'Lists' 7", the original Demo Cassette and 'Eurozone' that hasn't popped up anywhere else as far as i know? Its a good clear recording and is totally enjoyable, unlike a lot of live recordings that get thrown on tape for the sake of it.

The real reason for getting this tape though, is the two tracks on Side B. First up is SY guitarist, Pines, re-working of 'Teenage Summer' by Thee Headaches. The song is a motorik space rock journey of a song that recalls parts of Moon Duo's 'Escape' EP with minimal drum machine sounds, repetitive bass lines that could have come from a Stooges demo and some psych riffing on top. All of this is topped with a mantra of 'My teeage, my teenage, my teenage summer' over and over. That's a bong hit of a song for sure.

The second track is from Boon, SY vocalist, who remakes a track by The Magic Lanterns ( i think a mid 60's pop rock band) called Dreamlands. It definately has the hooks & chorus' that are typical of Sauna Youth records with a nice little major keyboard line that just screams summertime (in your face). In fact it makes me feel the same as when i listen to Eddy Current Suppresion Ring, wishing i could watch them on a sunny beach with a drink in hand!

Get this tape, even of you have most of the tracks already, you will go ape over the B side. Can i give Side of the year instead of Tape of the year?

Side A

Delta Caps
Pictures of Cats
Deal Castle
Eurozone
Mild Horses

Side B

Teenage Summer
Dreamlands



Teenage Summer from lindsay on Vimeo.

The Lowest Form - Some Horrible Bug (Low Tapes)

Man, this tape is good! Really noisey, feedback drenched hardcore that leans slightly to the crust side without ripping too much of a D-Beat charge. References to Sex/Vid, Void and Seige have been thrown around in the small amount of online attention they have, but 'Some Horrible Bug' seems tighter than those bands, stamping ahead with dense riffs and amazing breakdowns that prevent the tape from flying past in a blur. In fact, unlike a lot of hardcore records out there, each track really stands out on its own and don't just mesh into each other.

As the tape progresses, the noise  starts to creep in, and on one song in particular, a real black metal feel desends, but much more akin to the murkier USBM of Leviathan or Xasthur than their european counterparts. There is some really interesting guitar playing on this demo, maybe its the noise influence or a love of dark psychedelia, but whilst one guitar seems to hold it all down, the other grates out some amazing sonic scrapings. It made sense when you realise The Lowest Form is made up of people from noise duo Birds of Delay, psych dudes in Please and the man who runs Londons best hardcore label La Vida Es Un Mus. Fingers crossed for a vinyl release.

The Lowest Form - "Wrong Decision" by LOWRECORDINGS

The Lowest Form - "7.4.3" by LOWRECORDINGS

Coconut Coolouts - Cult Doughnuts (Scotch Tapes)

From the get go the Coconut Coolouts pile straight into some cretin rock that fuses a little of the Ramones punk stomp with some organ fuzz of the Mummies. The song titles on this singles collection also hints heavily to what you would expect with tracks like 'Pizzafest', 'Nerd Holocaust', 'Punk House Part 1' and 'Pizza Regret'. They definitely share ground with current bands like Mean Jeans and Personal & The Pizza's with some garage punk, some power-pop, touch of glam and a love for pizza and monsters.

I have had this on the review shelf for ages (along with a bunch of Scotch Tapes releases that need reviewing)and as soon as i put it in to listen to, i felt like i knew the songs already. I cannot have listened to it more than 2 or 3 times in the past year but here i am singing along whilst doing the washing up and humming the chorus' whilst playing with the cat. It is infectious to a fault and will no doubt be ringing through the mass of empty space between my ears for days to come.

The recordings are pretty primitive on some tracks, but then they list Captain Caveman as inspiration, and if he manned the mixing desk then it would make total sense, maybe only in my head,to get that authentic primitive cave stomp going on.

As there seems to be only a handful of 7"s and one LP to the CC's credit, this tape is a perfect jumping off point and is both good for social dance parties and bedroom hair brush/mirror sessions.
 
Also posted on Ghost Panda!


Tracklisting

1. Intro
2. The Spinaround
3. Pizzafest
4. The Monsters Crash
5. Do The Dolphin
6. Spell It Out Dummy
7. We Drink Blood
8. Pizza Regret
9. The Last Man That You Will Ever See
10. I Want To Come Back From The World of LSD
11. Mary Anne
12. Intro Part 2
13. Punk House Part 1
14. Nerd Holocaust
15. Yeah, Right?
16. Swim
17. Messed Up Man

coconut coolouts music video from craig downing on Vimeo.