マクロスMACROSS 82-99 – ‘CHAM!’

Named for the J-Pop group in Satoshi Kon’s masterpiece Perfect Blue. This one has a truly frivolous sound, upbeat and fairly annoying if you’re in the wrong mindset, but with a less-than-singular vision of an animated future than マクロスMACROSS 82-99 is capable of. There’s a great deal of appropriation from 16 Bit sounding Video Game soundtracks, which I’ll admit is slightly lost on me. There’s a bit less cohesion here as there is on other マクロスMACROSS 82-99 releases, with various styles approached from track to track. The whole thing could be loosely described as Future Funk, but there are more original remixes and compositions here than we’re used to from this artist. This works to varying degrees; in losing the cohesion マクロスMACROSS 82-99 takes more risks, and to me at least the rewards are fewer as a result. For example, I find the appropriation of well-known bars and refrains from Hip Hop tracks to be rather detrimental to the work as a whole – but again, that’s just me. Overall enjoyable, just missing elements of that certain pointless high concept/low rent and recycled nature that makes マクロスMACROSS 82-99 uniquely interesting to me.

Bandcamp

FERMENTATIVE – ‘CATASTROPHIC DEATH’

Grinding Gore slop from Mexico. Dreadfully excellent recording quality, with retching shifted vocal sat astride caustic Guitar/Bass and a-bit-too-quiet tape recorded drums, which actually sound very competent for the most part. Lo-rent and extremely hazardous. Largely ploughs along at full speed but there’s moments of drop tempo Mince parts and Punk beats to keep things fresh (stagnant?). Largely unoriginal and very entertaining. 7 Tracks in 7 Minutes, for those of short attention spans and stunted social skills.

Bandcamp

DEVELOPER SELF TITLED

Developer’s Self titled Cassette, released on Brise Cul Records, is both hazard and healing, a conflicted spiralling collage of minimal field recordings and bludgeoning noise frequency terrorism. Lots and lots of cuts send the listener plummeting through layers of sounds, thrown to and fro from pitch to pitch, once-decipherable bird calls and landscape sounds lost in hideous delay, only to float to the surface once cataclysmic events settle in falling dust. Developer does this kind of cut-up assault in ways the masters would fear. Cool.

Brise-Cul

LIVING WALL DEMO

 

Living Wall is an incredibly accurate title for this project from the States. Dense fleshy walls of hyper driven binary blast beats, ‘Guitar’ and ‘Bass’ sounds with little point of reference to anything resembling music, mangling Noises as teeth in the jaws of an enormous flesh construct from a 16th dimensional reality. Gurgly, horrible, inhuman, almost fizzy sounding. Not subtle, not particularly reverent to genre, just an enormous wall of destructive, over-dense noise. Maybe this fits somewhere between Cybergrind and Gorenoise. Maybe this only fits in the nightmare plane from whence it spawned. Catastrophic, confusing and just a little bit silly. Excellent.

Bandcamp

UNDERGANG – ‘DØDEN LÆGER ALLE SÅR’

Danish Death Metal ghouls Undergang’s 2015 full length ‘Døden Læger Alle Sår’ is a delight of crusty, gory Death. Necrotic, largely mid-paced, massively greasy Death Metal done to perfection. Shambolic, gooey and corpulent with Autopsy style melodies, fast n loose rhythms and super low necromancer vocal. Undergang nails their own gruesome sludgy, doomy Death Metal with aplomb, keeping songs loose, sloppy and Punk. Savage! I was late to the Undergang party, don’t sleep on this record, or anything else on their bandcamp page for that matter.

Bandcamp

COMPASSION FATIGUE – ‘ONWARD TO BARBARISM’

Deathy Noisegrind featuring members of Captain 3 Leg and Dismembered Fetus, brought to you by good ol’ Mortville Noise. Crushing Death Metal slow riffs open up into grinding parts reminiscent of good Agathocles or Blood, Savage barbarian Vocals, grinding bass and slabs of fatty Guitar, working out movements from slow-slow death creep, mid paced head stompers, with flashes of all out BORT BORT Noisecore that serve to accent otherwise well structured Death/Grind songs. I find many of these riffs are real earworms, catchy and usually unexpected, and the compositions are shockingly coherent and excellent for a record with a Tardcore tag.  This is a totally hidden gem; I see very little praise anywhere online for this one and it’s a damn shame. It’s among my favourite Mortville releases of the last few years. Essential repeat listening.

MORT:096

INFERNAL SLAVE – ‘OPPRESSED BY INFERIOR’ CS

Filthy,  raw Black Metal/Punk tape. Disgusting and frankly rude production basically amounts to hissy, noisy ectoplasm all over rough, punk Black Metal. Hollowed out Guitars, hardly any low end in the Bass sound, reverb on everything. Stomping, echoing, poorly recorded Drums and distant Black Metal shrieking. Not exactly Bone Awl or Ildjarn rip-off, as with many bands in this style , but certainly within that realm. Manages to maintain a very caustic, modern ‘Raw Black Metal’ sound but with a sleazy Bathory streak still present throughout. Raw, nasty and utterly horrible.

Bandcamp

PURGIST – ‘SYSTEMATIC FAILURE’ EP

A short collection of used and unloved Ambient tracks from Poland’s Purgist. Dread inducing canvases existing as background tracks for live performances, as described by the artist himself as having been designated for deletion from record and memory. Largely quiet, moody tracks with building tones in ambient registers, building melancholy in moments . Bleak, sombre, brief, listless, quietly menacing. This is a nice deviation of sound within Purgist’s work.

Bandcamp

 

REST IN PIECES 2017 and GK!?

So THAT was something, wasn’t it?

2017. Let’s NOT reflect on it. Some of you had a great year I’m sure. Some on the other hand, didn’t. This final send off is absolutely not how the blog was intended to end. It isn’t even my blog. I’m the helper. And we haven’t done a thing on here for over a year. But doesn’t that just encapsulate everything about this past 12 months? Shit isn’t going to go the way you planned. And I think a lot of people are starting to get that.

I didn’t plan to do something like this until a little over a month ago. I’m one of those assholes on twitter who shits on everybody’s lists about whatever & says they’re too awesome to do that. But of course I do my own lists in my brain because i’m a dumb fuckwit who loves music like everybody else. No matter how cynical or stressed out or depressed I get about whatever, I’ll always love it. Of course it’s a total bummer sometimes. All the little side dishes that come from music and the internet and creepy cringe-worthy fandom, it’s become a necessary part of that world for most people, and maybe just an annoyance for others. But if you really are a genuine fan of music then no part of any scene or circumstance is going to prevent you from enjoying sounds that pleasure your brain. That’s a given. And that’s what we’re here to celebrate, even if things don’t go right, like this blog post.

I had about 10 people planned and supposedly ready to submit a top ten of the year list and ended up with 2 dudes + myself. Even our prestigious GK founder is oddly absent from the list (temporarily gone but not forgotten, we will both be spearheading the new incarnation of GK VERY soon). Several contributors were no shows, a couple disappeared from the internet all together, shit, one guys mom died last week an his life kinda fell apart.  Holy shit, 2017 taking names! But we soldier on. It’s about quality, not quantity. And I believe there’s a boat load of quality music listed below. You may just find something amazing you missed this past year so get clicking on those links. Huge thanks to Nolan & Ucchy for coming through & participating in what is to be the final nail in the coffin before Gonzo Karaoke moves on to it’s next phase. Here’s to bigger and hopefully better things in 2018 for everybody out there.

-B

 

BEST OF THE YEAR 2017

Brando

In no particular order, except maybe the first one.

FIGHT IT OUT – “Most Hated”

Japanese punkers pretending they’re cholos playing hardcore but actually playing extemely heavy powerviolence with down tuned death metal riffs,mega steamroller blast beats & hip hop intro/outros. Truly a sight to behold.

BAD MECHANICS – “Precious Moments in the USA”

Cracked out midwest Devo worship album about food, America, girls & daddy’s pasture. An underrated rock gem for the ages.

DOMESTICATED – “Dysphoria”

Canadian queer grind with a perfect new school/old school blend. Grating high end vocal attack & unrelenting fast drums. Dark, weird, hilarious & fucked up.

GODSTOMPER/ENEMIGO split 7″

Bay area legends meets the new breed of noisy San Jose ultrakill fuckery.

LNDN DRGS – “P on the DRGS”

West Coast G-funk is back.

SEDEM MINUT STRACHU – “General Fucking”

Slovakian noisegrind saviors with their first of what has to be the most impressive string of releases in 2017. Must own for anyone who loves sloppy noisy garbage.

HOLY BONER – “Extreme Noise Terrific”

One of many Brad Smith (Umbilical Tentacle/Internat Rot/Blarghstrad) backed bands. Ten years in the making. Pure noisegrind annihilation.

ETHEREAL – “LP”

Underrated heavy release of the year. While everyone frothed at the mouth over Necrot & the new Morbid Angel, Ohios own Ethereal crafted a low key grinding death metal masterpiece.

EARTH FEDERATION/BODYBAG split 7″

Absolutely crushing grindcore on both sides of this 7″. Nothing sucks about this whatsoever. Bodybag comes off like a beefed up Spanish Repulsion & Earth Federation sound like the personification of an avalanche made of exploding death robots.

MASSGRAV – “Stockholm Rockers”

If you don’t know you should. Massgrav have been holding it down for over 20 years. They’ve never released a dud. One of the few bands that don’t seem to slow down or get stale playing hyperpunk bulldozer thrash. This absolutely rocks.

 

honorable mentions-

Metal Slug Sountrack

Macross 82-99

Exit Unit 7″

Cunts/Anal Butt split 7″

Landfill lp

Suppression/Reeking Cross split cassette

The Eradicator

---

 

Andrew Nolan

 Ten favourites of the year

Drunk in Hell – S/T LP (Burning World) 

Northern English dirtbags making music for other Northern English dirtbags.

Equiknoxx – Colón Man 2xLP (DDS)

 Dancehall from Kingston Jamaica that goes to some strange places without telegraphing its weirdness to the listener by jumping up and down and demanding you acknowledge how weird it is.

Flu – Fludust LP (Crate Cartel) 

Another winner from Carte Cartel in particular and Australian underground hip hop in general.

 

Heresiarch – Death Ordinance CD (Dark Descent)

 Fast, frantic and hate filled, which has pretty much been the underground death metal style du jour for a few years now, this one stands out because there’s some great song writing going on and things are not buried in way too much reverb or an inability to put a high pass filter on the guitars, which usually renders everything as an indistinct blur. The indistinct blur style (Cavernous Death Metal/ War Metal/ whatever) is often used to hide sub par songs so that the right aesthetic choices alone can carry the band, this is not the case here, every song is memorable and it sounds like a lot of time was spent writing and practicing this release.

Jam Baxter – Mansion 38 2xLP (High Focus)

 This one took a while to sink in; I love Jam Baxter as an MC but I didn’t really understand the compositional choices by producer Chemo on my first few listens. Much like the Equikknox album there’s a lot to take in and it’s never signalled to you as “check out how weird we’re being”. Low slung drugged out 808 boom mixed with field recordings, drones and samples of traditional Asian music. Favourite line of the year: “She smiled once and now you’re bragging that she wants the D, I smiled once, it was horrid G”

Katastrof – S/T 7”EP (Beach Impediment)

Hardcore over the last few years has bored me to tears, it’s become an exercise in simulacrum with too many bands spending forever to get that paint-by-numbers perfect 7” then being unable to follow up with anything. Lots of hyped one tape bands who don’t tour, lots of bands that can tell you everything about what made United Mutation great but can’t write a song to save their lives. This record makes me want to punch holes in cops.

Meyhem Lauren & DJ Muggs – Gems from the Equinox LP (Soul Assassins)

 Gems from the Equinox snuck up on me, I loved the song Murder Rap instantly, absolutely loved the rest of the album on repeated listens, lots of atypical production choices for hip hop in 2017.

Radiophonic Workshop – Burial in Several Earths 4×10″ (Room 13)

 Radiophonic Workshop’s first commercially available music since 1985, absolutely masterful.

Rope Sect – Persona Ingratae cassette (Caligari)

 Gloomy post-punk done by Germans with (I assume) connections to the metal scene. Dark and dour, but with a focus on songs, not style.

Strange U – LP#4080 2xLP (High Focus)

 Honestly High Focus didn’t release a bad record in 2017. Stange U is the always interesting producer Zygote matched up with Kashmere on the mic. Kashmere is sometimes described as the UKs answer to MF Doom or Kool Keith, but to me that’s dismissive, the similarities are that all three are highly literate, take on personas, and make a lot of references to sci-fi and superhero fan culture, but Kashmere is doing his own thing. If you’re going to investigate anything on this list cue up Strange U’s Bulletproof Mustache on YouTube (which also features Lee Scott, my favourite contemporary UK MC).

Other music I absolutely loved in 2017:

 Acrylics – Despair

Altarage – Endinghent

Confucius MC and Mr Brown – The Artform

Creation VI – Deus Siva Natura

Dabbla – Chapsville

Dephosphorus – Impossible Orbits

Drew McDowall – Unnatural Channel

Fret – Over Depth

Full of Hell – Trumpeting Ecstacy

Godflesh – Post Self

Holy Money – The Language Machine

Jehst – Billy Green is Dead

Loyle Carner – Yesterday’s Gone

Micall Parknsun –  Practicing Tag Team Moves

Must Volkoff – Aquanaut

Pessimist – S/T

Pig’s Blood – S/T

Ramson Badbone & DJ Fingerfood – Hypnodic

Unearthly Trance – Stalking the Ghost

Unsane – Sterilized

 

---

Ucchy–

＊Top 10 releases of 2017

ONIKU – “Way To Live”(CD)

Sedem Minút Strachu – “General Fucking”(LP)

Fazepalm Def/Deflowered Cunt – split(cass)

Spore Spawn – “Ochistuitara”(cass)

Kuzuramushi/The Pig Foot Eaters Experimental/Ashura/Gerogeritarashi/Baka Onani In Kaka – “THE GEROGERIGEGEGEGE”(cass)

Cachorro Da Duença/Baga/Nosso Ódio Irá Atacar/Plague Rages – “4 Ways To Grind”(CD)

Raw Noise Apes/SxOxTxE – split(10EP)

New York Against The Belzebu/Sete Star Sept – “Lack of Compatibility”(CD)

Sulfuric Cautery – “Experiments With Sulfur,The First Year 2015-2016”(cass)

Oozing Meat/Human Jerky – split(cass)

(not released this year,but I often listened⇩)

Bachikaburi – “85 Live”(CD)

Kokeshi Doll – “Kokeshizm”(CD)

Omokage Lucky Hole – “Dairi-Haha”(CD)

＊BEST GIG

17 8/13,Moribund Punishment live in Kouenji Studio DOM

10/21,Beer Belly live in Kouenji Studio DOM

11/26,Social Porks live in Shin Sakae Day Trive