- The Young "voyagers of legend" LP . - I reviewed this a couple of posts back, and I doubt I can top that one. So there you have it. The one thing that sucks about this record is how expensive it is, as much as it's worth every damn penny.
- Glam 7". - MRR gave this a great, wordy review. I'm a couple of steps below that intelectually, so let's just say it's just good, solid hardcore, with no gimmicks or cliché style allegiances. A turbulent mass of swirling vocals drenched in delay, fast thumping beats, and beefy guitar and bass. There's a sort of in-joke comparing Glam with dutch band Vogue, down to the (I guess, I hope) tongue-in-cheeky names. True that. But really, they are much better. And oh yeah, comparisons to Invasión are just as lazy as they are clueless.
- Deskonocidos "en la oscuridad" LP. - 'Death rock' sucks as a label, and is usually synonimous with boring sub-Christian Death crap played by dudes in vinyl suits. 'Death punk' while cooler-sounding, has been ruined forever by those norwegian bufoons that I won't name. Hence, I find myself at a strange situation where I'll actually have to describe what these guys sound like without easy/lazy tags. Basically, they've set the perfect example for how a punk lp should work: expanding the style presented on previous 7"s to suit an all-around longer record. Songs are big, catchy, well crafted, arrangement wise Vampis has reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a grip of well-flanged delicacies to layer upon the slithery bass lines, interesting drum patterns and uh, lyrics about various forms of death and related issues, which I fully back. I know this reads like a review of the latest Panda Bear or El Guincho or whatever, but Deskonocidos keep it real with blaring spazzy vocals, and the ocassional outburst of legitmate punkness like "Alemania". It's a great punk lp to listen to again and again. The only sour point could be the Paralisis Permanente cover, but I have to say that I've been listening to that poser punk band since age 12, grown to hate them, and find this cover pretty damn listenable. It's actually pretty good.
- Muerte A La Muerte demo .- See I have a problem with Spanish hardcore. On the one hand you got the shitty bands. Shitty, shitty, shitty bands that make a shitty mess with pieces of shit they've tried to pick up from their favorite bands and got lost in translation. On the other hand, you got a raging epidemic of Napoleon complex that usually makes me want to stay away (proximity, you see). That's why MALM rule: they suck, they know, and they don't care. They'll never pose, they'll never give out tailor-made interviews full of hard talk they'll never back in the real world, they'll never make 8 shirt designs after playing one show to a dozen of their friends, and they'll probably never even learn how to play their instruments. "And I luv it". Yeah, I just quoted Young Jeezy.
- Men's Interest "More war" 7" .- This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but with a creep and a crawl and a knife to the throat.
- Costa "Morfina"/Carmona "Actitud salvaje" .- I'm reviewing these two records together because it makes sense. Not only are they buddies and both feature on each others records, but both platters share production jobs by the one and only Sendy, who manages to spit out a bunch of his trademark beats, as flashy as they are grimey and as heavy as they are arranged and subtle. Seriously, great job. I could probably listen to these as instrumental versions, but luckily, we have two monsters on the mike, telling their tales of crime, money, sex, drugs and Madridian street life with mid paced, somewhat clunky, classic sounding flows and feature a bunch of their friends on their records (Ivan Nieto, Romo, Darmo, Kunta K), providing clever verbal wordplay, punch lines and metaphores that will probably fly over a bunch of people's heads, and enrage many others. This kind of shit is somewhat new to Spanish rap and people seem to have a problem with it. Me? I just happen to like good shit.
-Swans "My father will guide me up a rope to the sky" LP .- I'm afraid of not doing this record justice and making Michael Gira want to kill me. Or even just making him want to come up and talk to me. I admit I was expecting some kind of retarded cash-in comeback or simply an Angels Of Light affair under a different name but no sir, this is a bonafide Swans record, basically expounding on all of their sonic trademarks without actually falling into the trap of being a carbon copy of their old selves and it works perfect. It crawls, it lurches, it lunges at you and aims for the throat. Gira is as imposing as ever vocally and lyrically, and the whole thing is just so massive I couldn't have thought of a better cover image. I have dreams in which this LP takes the Best Coast record and fucks it up the ass.
-Integrity "We are the end" 7" .- As much as I tried, I could never get into post-Melnick Integrity. As a matter of fact, I refused to refer to them as 'Integrity', prefering instead 'Dwid and his mariachis'. It wasn't only the line-up change, it was also the fact that those records always seemed like crappy has-been attempts at past glory for hardcore dipshits to spout half baked Process shit over while typing in messageboards. However, maybe due to a good, hearty breakfast on recording day, they got it right this time, and whatever it is Dwid sings about this time, he does so over a d-beat and blazing solos that are so over the top they're ridiculous. Stop bitching about one sided 7"s and get on this shit. Oh yeah, d/l code didn't work.
- Cult Of Youth "Filthy plumage in an open sea" 12" .- The thing about these 'neo-folk' (or whatever) outfits is that you have to admit that you somehow take seriously all the occult/mysterious/sketchy hoopla they surround themselves with. The fact that they usually spend more time working on said hoopla and their fashion choices than on music usually makes it very complicated to actually find some worthwile stuff to listen to amidst the piles upon piles of GARBAGE that make up the genre. COY seem to have their shit right on and actually make good songs (an intriguing concept in current music if there ever was one, I know). Yeah, all the imagery, the spooky voices which can be either terrifying or comical, depending on your mood, the nazi summer campfire acoustic guitars, the runes and the sigils, but there's also songwriting skills and an attencion to detail on the production and arrangements that pays off. Another thing would be the fact that, gloom notwithstanding, they have a fiery, passionate energy to their writing and playing that totally makes it. 'Eiwhaz' (oh heck, runes!) has this totally cool drum beat and snarling electric guitar that somewhat reminds us all that these types come from the same cesspool of a town that birthed Sonic Youth and Teenage Jesus & The Jerks.
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