Peter & the Test Tube Babies – Journey to the Center of Johnny Clarke’s Head

Calling this an album by Peter & the Test Tube Babies is really pushing it. Calling this a collection of phone messages, interviews, demos, and other throwaway items is more like it. Originally a cassette-only release for the Test Tubes’ fan club, its appearance on CD will be adored by band devotees and abhorred by practically anyone else. Not that it is entirely worthless, though. There are some fun bits, like the funky “Go for It,” a scorching live “Banned From the Pubs,” a memory-taunting early-’80s L.A. radio advert for a Test Tubes gig (with support from the Adicts amongst others!), and a few other delights. Apart from that, the “funny” bits are worth hearing once, but they don’t make you laugh hard enough to come back for seconds. Compiled by bandmembers Del and Ogs, this is nothing more than a curiosity. It may not be worth pulling out of your collection and entertaining family and friends with, but if you are a fan, then you should at least listen to it. If you are NOT a fan, buy practically any (every?) other Peter & the Test Tube Babies album except this one, such as Soberphobia, The Mating Sounds of South American Frogs, or some sort of compilation. – AllMusic

So much for good reviews, huh?  =)

Peter & the Test Tube Babies – Journey to the Center of Johnny Clarke’s Head

Sham 69 – Sham’s Last Stand

Yeah, yeah…I’ve been on hiatus. My apologies. The office where I work in relocated and it’s situated quite far from internet shops. I have to contend myself to a mobile internet for the meantime and I tell you it’s pretty hard to get used to it. Anyways, here’s a pretty good punk album for you. I haven’t had the time to prepare a good introduction, so I guess this short boring one will have to do. Jeez, it’s Sham 69 so you’ve got to know this band.

Sham 69 – Sham’s Last Stand

By the way, I’ve changed the compressed file from RAR to ZIP. My mobile phone does not support RAR files so I just have to change it. Cheers!

Sayyadina – Mourning the Unknown

This is my second feature on Swedish hardcore bands today. I was sampling out the second release of this band and one thing quickly comes to mind. This is what a hybrid of grindcore and powerviolence would sound like. While their debut release Fear Gave Us Wings have some good moments, Mourning the Unknown has a more mature and stronger sound in my opinion. Good songwriting complemented with ultra-fast pummeling drums, exquisite guitar playing with pretty timely and adequate adlibs and chaotic screaming twin vocals to top it all. Some points even have a hint of the Gothenburg death metal sound in between, but hey, they’re from Sweden, so what would you expect? Now it’s your turn to sample out this aural assault from the icy depths of Sweden. Enjoy punks! Cheers!

Sayyadina – Mourning the Unknown

Sunday Morning Einsteins – Swedish Hardcore Must Die

Sunday Morning Einsteins formed for reasons that noone seems to remember during the last half of the 90’s. The early years sucked pretty bad anyway, so who cares? Let’s fastforward a bit. Today SME’s the best thing that happened to your musical taste since earplugs! The band consists of five gentlemen that likes Discharge more than you (admit it, you think the’re too noisy, but you’re worried what your friends would say..) There’s been loads of members passing through over the years and we predict that pretty soon everyone in the Stockhom punkscene will have been a member at one point or another. We got more “ex-members-of-points” than you can shake a stick at, but then again who doesn’t these days… SME is not what you’d call the most active band in the world. 5 gigs in one year used to be considered pretty hectic and stressful, but 2003 saw the band expanding its horizons with a small scandi- navian tour together with Artimus Pyle. This was a huge success, even though we never really solved the burning question of the proper definition of hardbread vs crackers. All this made SME pick up the pace, change a few members, and plan for the future. A new album was recorded and released on Prank and a new tour with AP, this time in the US, was planned. This time the word will be spread on a new continent, but the mission’s still the same Swedish Hardcore Must DIE! – Charlie (www.swedishpunk.com)

Sunday Morning Einsteins – Swedish Hardcore Must Die

Bruce Banner – I’ve Had It With Humanity

Here’s a follow-up to Justin’s excellent Bruce Banner/Sayyadina Split post here. I actually was into Bruce Banner first that’s why I earlier stated that they rule. But about 2 days ago I was listening to Sayyadina’s Mourning the Unknown and I got second thoughts. Anyways, to me both bands shred that’s why I will be posting the Sayyadina album next week.

I once browsed through Bruce Banner’s site at one time and suprisingly some of their songs are available for download there. Pretty neat, huh? But I won’t let the opportunity pass when I chanced upon a copy of this one over at ebay. It’s the most convenient way for me so I grabbed the chance. Kick-ass album, showing signs of maturity on this one in my opinion. Thrashy and chaotic, awesome drums and good guitars. Too bad they called it quits. Bobo the singer also does the vocals for Suicide Blitz, now that’s another good band. Anyone here care to share? Anyways, this is Stockholm hard-fucking-core at it’s best! Grab it or else…

Bruce Banner – I’ve Had It With Humanity

Abrasive Relations

Here’s a double feature on Pinoipunk. Classic tape-only compilations from RMD and Akasha Records. This post was actually inspired by none other than Tin Garcia, singer for crust band Alkoholokost. She used to sing for Abrasive Relations, the essence of this post actually. Around a month ago, Tin was inquiring, through my defunct multiply site, about a couple of AR songs that I downloaded from another site. Unfortunately, multiply has restricted file-sharing already so the link has been disabled. Anyways, according to her she already have the tracks but that gave me the idea to post these compilations where AR’s 4 tracks (Massacre at Mendiola, KSP, Bwakaw and Ang Gulo) are featured. Honestly, I only know a handful of info on some of the bands featured here. A few on Bad Omen, The Next and Phil Vio perhaps. But this post is about Abrasive Relations so let’s focus on them first. I hope someone who knows more about them can fill in the blanks here huh?

AR was an all-female punk band from Manila formed in mid-90’s(?). They released a solitary self-titled 7″ sometime in 2001 under Holland based label Astral Anarchy. I first found out about this band when I was browsing through the archives of the MRRRadio site. There was a segment there featuring Asian bands and AR was included along with Brain Failure (China), Mass Separation (Malaysia), Edora (Singapore) and Anarchy Jerks (China). It was aired sometime in 2003 and I eagerly download the audio file just to listen to them. Man this band rips big time. And that’s just hearing the track included in that segment. Wait til you hear their other material: amazing. I have yet to hear a local band who can match their intensity, energy and ingenuity. I can have the measly 4 tracks that I have on my mp3 player on loop all day and it won’t change the eagerness a bit, haha. Well, maybe I’m overreacting but that just spells how good this band was. Unfortunately, they called it quits after releasing their only Ep. From the ashes of AR then comes Alkoholokost. I only saw them maybe a couple of times, and only lately did I know that they were AR, or at least some members were. Maybe I could feature this band next when I’ve gathered more info on them huh? Anyways, sample out these classic compilations if I were you. It’s worth the grab if only for the AR tracks. Enjoy punks!

PS. I’ve also included the Asian feature of the MRRRadio to boot. And if you happen to notice that the AR track played was different from the one mentioned, well, it’s not you. Arwen the host,  probably had the tracklist mixed up when she played that song, hehe. She was supposed to play Massacre but ended up playing something else. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good quality copy of that said song so I have no idea what song it was. Help? =)

VA – Alternatibong Musikang Pilipino Dekada ‘90

VA – Sa Silong ng Mundo Compilation

MRRRadio #831 (Asian Segment)

My Mind’s Mine – 48 Reasons to Leave this Planet

Another band who delivers grindcore basically the oldschool way. Also hailing from Holland, some members came from Blood I Bleed. Or was it the other way around? Personally I like the vocals on this one. Anyways, this is also a discography of some sorts so you better grab this loud and chaotic release if I were you. More grindcore stuff coming your way soon! Don’t forget to leave a comment, now.

By the way, as you can see my side bar is lacking some images. The site hosting my images have deleted the files due to inactivity for a long time. So it’s not your computers folks. I’ll have them updated next week. Moreover, some of the files connecting to the links on this site have also been deleted so If you want something and it’s not there, you’ll have to request for an upload. Cheers!

My Mind’s Mine – 48 Reasons to Leave this Planet

Blood I Bleed – High Octane Thrash

It seems eons ago since I last posted some grindcore stuff. And coincidentally a few weeks ago I started to search for more good bands playing this genre. At first all I have are Napalm Death, Phobia, Magrudergrind, Demisor, etc. But now I got myself to listen to Warsore, Retaliation, Needful Things, Wadge, Existench and this band: Blood I Bleed.

As the album title implies, this is High Octane Thrash. Very fast and angry release with screeching vocals, scratching guitars and pumelling drums. 32 tracks of high velocity energy delivered exquisitely by these Dutch grindfreaks the oldschool grindcore way. Comprises most material that they have put out on vinyl.

Blood I Bleed – High Octane Thrash

Raw Power – Screams from the Gutter

Ah, another cult classic from one, if not the best hardcore band to ever come out of Italy. Raw (no pun), loud and powerful, ferocious, instantaneous riffs, harmonious chords, magnificent shrieking vocals paired with an equally awesome banshee-like backing vocals, guitar-solos, cool album cover, uhmmm…what else? I first heard these guys on MRR Presents Welcome to 1984 Comp with the “Fuck Authority” track and that one is one killer of a song. But mind you, that track is  just the  tip of the iceberg compared to their other material. In other words, this is a “grab-this-no-matter-what” album. Go! Click!….

Raw Power – Screams from the Gutter

Hard-Ons – The Singles (1985-1993)

Great Australian punk band. That’s all I know about them. I just got this from an on-line friend because Andreas of Biofeedback was looking for anything from them sometime ago. Never did had a chance to sit down and listen to it until I saw the back of my Mortal Sin record with one of the members sporting a Hard-On shirt. So I just tried it out. Pretty poppy in my opinion, but good. Read on…

A 1987 BEAT Magazine article described the Hard-Ons’ sound as “Motörhead meets the Beach Boys”; a quote that goes some way towards describing the band’s take on the punk rock genre. Though originally inspired by punk bands such as Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, The Damned, Ramones and The Saints, the band also blended pop, psychedelia and metal elements; “death-pop” as once described by Ray Ahn. The band were also noteworthy not only within punk, but also within rock music for having their lead vocals handled by Keish, the group’s drummer. The physical challenge of drumming to the band’s fast punk rock songs as well as singing (as opposed to shouting) made for charismatic live performances. Guitarist Blackie provides another original touch to the band with his guitar playing. Backed by Ray Ahn’s bass playing, Blackie’s guitar solos have a disctinctive sound which is both melodic and messy, often making use of feedback.

Hard-Ons – The Singles (1985-1993)