VA - Rien à Faire #11

And another RAF compilation!!

I have to admit I am pretty proud of this one... on top of your usual dose of punk and hardcore, there is plenty of post-punk, noise rock, post-hardcore and other hard-to-define gems... let's keep it weird and diverse!

Only (almost) new killer stuff!

 N,J'Oi!

01 - The Chisel - Rat Running Scared
02 - Buggy - Like A Bug
03 - Meadow Burials - The Modern Age
04 - Thematix - A Painted Skull
05 - Stuck - Invisible Wall
06 - Fried EM - Inner Peace
07 - Crucial Features - Grožis
08 - Lithics - Hands

09 - Carnivorous Bells - The Chase
10 - Spam Risk - Fuck the Kids
11 - M80 - I Don't Like You !
12 - Muscle - Fake Sick
13 - Smite - Content Warning
14 - Real People - Psychic War
15 - Sooma - Hail, Inhale
16 - Handle - Lifes Work

 

And as usual the full compilation can be downloaded:
HERE
 

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Concrete Lawn

picture by Dougal Gorman

Concrete Lawn is a quartet from Sydney, Australia, and has probably been around since 2018/2017...

The band is playing an interesting kind of female-fronted punk post-punk (yes that's a weird description).

 

I think everybody was surprised and excited by their february 2018 demo tape released by Urge Records).

With 4 songs out of 5 under the 1min40 mark and this dark and confusing artwork cover I was expecting another aussie punk hardcore band but no, not really...

With mid-tempo beats, heavy guitar riffs, post-punk bass lines and very upfront female vocals à la early Amyl And The Sniffers (without the bogan attitude), Concrete Lawn is delivering something not completely new but which sounds like what I could imagine as modern aussie post-punk...

Their live shows look a lot more "punk" than their records though:

 Aggregate is the first Concrete Lawn full length, released by Urge Records on May 2020 and features this great artwork cover by Maxine Booker.
From the first seconds of No Patience it's obvious that the band has changed a lot since the demo, forget the teenage aussie vocals and the post-punk influence, what we have here is some pure punk that would perfectly fit in a 1982 show with Action Pact! and Vice Squad.



With a more polished sound and a less snotty atittude the band is clearly driving away from the aussie sound and I understand as they have probably been compared way to much to Amyl and her gang and it was getting annoying... but unfortunatly they have also lost this charming touch that was making them stick out of the masses.

It's a good punk album that will delight all the fans of Beki Bondage and George Cheex but it's also probably why I am slighlty disappointed...  in the end I feel like the band is delivering an album which is more classic than what the demo was making me expect.

 picture by 35mmSCANS

You can listen to Concrete Lawn on Rien à Faire #9


N,J'Oi!


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C.H.E.W : new 7"

picture by Rebecca O'Sullivan

 If you're a little bit into punk hardcore you have probably heard of C.H.E.W from Chicago, Illinois, which has been dropping rage and violence wrapped in relentless and chaotic  noise on our poor eardrums and faces since 2015. So I am not going to go into details about their discography and let you dig it if you're curious... 

The band features (ex-)members of Knife Hits and of Hauzarest from Orlando, Florida. 

 

 picture by Tim Birkbeck

Ok so to be honest I have never totally been convinced by the vocals in this band, I discovered C.H.E.W with the 2017 split with Penetrode (from Philadelphia) which impressed me a lot more than the Chicago side... I don't know, it's something in the vocals, it's too "high pitched" for me I suppose (too screamo), anyway when I listen to it again now I kinda dig it, my tastes have evolved a bit I guess...

So I didn't follow super closely what they did after that. They released their full length called Feeding Frenzy in 2018 and there was quite an enthusiastic hype around it but I didn't dig it so much. It's not bad (it's even pretty good when I think about it now) but still this thing with the vocals you know...I was not yet used to this kind of super harsh female-fronted punk hardcore at the time.

But the band is not done writing super intense raw tunes and released a new 7" one month ago called In Due Time on Irong Lung Records.
Well from the first seconds of Knucklehead it's clear that C.H.E.W has not lost anything of the intense rage of their previous releases... It's still super fast and pissed off and the vocals is rawer than ever, the comparison with Axe Rash (after the split 7" with Rash from Chicago why not a split 7" with Axe Rash from Stockholm ?) or Khiis has never been more accurate.


These guys know how to play neat, clean and fast... it's a very high quality hardcore punk 7"... but i'm still not super fond of the "screamo" vocals... tastes and colors you know...

You can listen to C.H.E.W on Rien à Faire #10

N,J'Oi! 

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Gaffer

Just a quick word about this new aussie band from Perth which recently released a fantastic demo tape on Helta Skelta Records. Gaffer features current or ex- members of Cold Meat, Die, Helta Skelta (check them out), Nerve Quakes and others...

 

 picture by Helta Skelta Records

From the first guitar notes of Hang, Gaffer immediatly brings us back to the late 70s in the UK... the tories are slowly destroying the lives of the working class, the youth is angry and desperate, the beer is cheap and the weather is shit...

The guitar and the atmosphere instantly made me thought of Crisis but Gaffer, despite its clear nostlagia/vintage vibe for this era, is more than another copycat post punk band.

Their label compares them to Black Easter and to the Viletones and well yes there is clearly this 80s buzzsaw guitar thing but more recently I'm thinking of the two amazing Texan bands Slimy Member and Institute.

Anyway Gaffer delivers a great demo which will definitly be in a lot of this year tops and I can't wait to hear more!

You can listen to Gaffer on Rien à Faire #10


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Warsh

picture by Paul Atwood

  

Warsh is a young band from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, featuring members of Antibodies, Abraxas and Deadname who has been playing some kind of fast female-fronted punk hardcore since 2018.

 

 With this 4-track demo tape released on High Trash Media in february 2019, Warsh is showing a great set of punk hardcore song writing skills; it's fast, tight, and efficient, despite the low-fi demo recording quality you can expect from a demo.

Reminds me a bit of the Krimewatch or Exit Order demos.

 9 months later, here comes another 4-track tape called Burning Urge and released once again on High Trash Media.  
And these 4 new november songs could have definitly been on the february tape... same great energy, same great songwriting but also, and unfortunatly, same (maybe even worse?) super low-fi recording quality... I mean you guys sound like you're a good band but you could be a good band with records having an actual good recording...
Would be great for next time! 

You can listen to Warsh on Rien à Faire #10.

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Vangas

picture by Leighton Hoey

 Vangas is from Atlanta, Georgia and has been developping a new kind of fetish for sex with goblins since 2017 (at least!).

But let's focus on these guys' music...

 

I can smell the Chloroform, Cha-Cha-Cha EP is the first band release (online only, end of 2017) and is a good occasion to enjoy, on top of the band obvious taste for the spooky and creepy, four (good) songs of high energy low-fi garage punk. 
4 songs? but it's a 5-track EP?

Ex-ac-tly... the fifth song (Jackson is Dead) is mostly noise and guitar-pedal-versus-larsen wandering... a good introduction to what the band will offer next...

 

 In 2018 the band releases (on bandcamp) a live recording of their Industry Night show on October 20, 2018 in Athens, Georgia. And, as they explain themselves "A large portion of the performance is nothing but improvised noise, or just us fucking around with guitar pedals and swinging mics across the room" in which pops, from time to time, a song or two from their first EP...
Yes these young boys don't like to play it nice and clean and their taste for dirt and noise will soon bring them to other shores...

Facial Tissue, Vangas' first full length, was released (on bandcamp only) one year ago (April 2019)  and you can forget everything you thought you knew!
Forget the first EP! it's a completely different show here: with 9 new songs, and 6 of them longer than 5 min, this is not garage punk anymore but a full menu of noisy and heavy rock, something between noise rock and some kind of psychedelic post-hardcore... the kind of rock'n roll which doesn't cruise drive nicely on the highway...

And the fact that this album is so hard to define is probably what makes it so interesting.
The drums are heavy, the guitars are switching between heavyness and total noisy crazyness while the singer shouts and screams despair and anger...where the FUCK have we landed?


Vangas reminds me a bit of the crazy swiss geniuses of YC-CY on this one, with a more punk attitude maybe...

 Synth, chains, drum machine, metal sheetin... everything is a weapon in the war against silence and boredom that the band is leading... and the final battle takes place on Two Men Fucking (you can see the video above), the last assault of pure noise on our poor eardrums... 
 

A bit less than a year after Facial Tissue, Vangas is back on tracks with a new 2-songs EP (as a 7" on Chunklet Industries, first Vangas physical release).
And I am amazed, once again, to note that the 4 guys are still in motion... of course we are still closer to the LP than to the first EP but not so close either: the bass lines are rounder, the vocals are wailing, the vibe is smoother (at least that's what they make you believe at first)... the 90s DC post-hardcore scene influence is getting stronger right?  


But the Vangas guys got more than one trick in their little bag, and the smoothing is just a start before a furious scratching departure...
Yes chaos is never far, nothing is sure or secure and Vangas will make a point at teaching it to us till the very end...

picture by Leighton Hoey

 You can listen to Vangas on Rien à Faire #10.


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UZI

picture by YouthNowCrew

UZI is a female-fronted band from Bogota, Colombia, with members of Tumbas, Muro, Final and probably other bands from the very active Bogota punk scene.

These guys have been playing some kind of colombian style street punk since 2018/2017.

 

 After Abuso and Reaccion Violenta, UZI is the third band of the Silla Electrica compilation (Rat Trap 2018) that I write about here. This compilation was a great way to discover the modern Bogota punk scene and when I see how popular many of those bands have become I think I can safely say that it was a great success.

So four songs for UZI here, four songs which sound like a good street punk demo, something like a UK82 band singing in spanish.
So when I think Bogota and street punk, Primer Regimen just immediatly pops in my mind (one member is playing in Tumbas and another one in Final by the way) but UZI is a bit different... I don't know it's weird it reminds me so many things but I cannot put a finger on one band in particular...
 

But let's just jump to their most recent release and first LP, Cadena De Odio, out on Adult Crash and Discos MM.
The four songs of the compilation were re-recorded and are on the LP with an extra six new songs, all with a super recording.
I had to listen to the whole album several times to finally really appreciate it, as the cover says it's "10 tracks Total Punk" nothing more, nothing less, just some super classic but super enjoyable street punk. These guys have totally digested their 80s classics and know how to make it sound tigh and clean...
So just relax and enjoy a pure moment of classic punk!


You can listen to UZI on Rien à Faire #10

N,J'Oi!

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Donors

picture by Maddy

Donors is a female-fronted band from Nashville, Tennessee, which features members of Shell of A Shell and Thirdface and has probably been around since 2017.

With mainly mid-tempo songs, the band is clearly on the post-punk side... but not only!

 Summer 2018: Donors release a 7-track demo cassette on Glad Fact Records.

And what is really interesting here is that Donors doesn't dive head first in the post-punk clichés, but instead finds a personal mix between a mid-tempo kind of punk and some faster parts. The Move is a good example of the alternation of these two ideas:

 Of course you got some more classic early post-punk songs like the very good Making Time or What Luck, but also the 70s rock vibe of the vocals on Good Eye (with a great background guitar à la Shopping) or the fast and proper 80s punk of Unseen...

In the end Donors is delivering a very high quality tape for a demo, with a lot of diversity and a great sense of the melody.

After a little change of line-up (I think), Donors is back in 2020 with another cassette (Self-Titled 7-track tape) and the atmosphere has changed a bit...
the lot is just colder, darker and maybe a bit less punk than the demo, but it doesn't mean it's not enjoyable...


And Donors manages to keep the diversity of the first tape: definitly punk on tracks like Top or Help Yourself, between cold rock and post-punk on Always Sometimes Never, the band even goes to the whole-band-sings side (a bit like the death punk rock of Murderer) on Coins Collect and Breakfast Anytime (which got a real Indus vibe too)...
It's just darker overall and Fine Print, the final song of the tape, is only confirming it!

So Donors manages to deliver a great diversity of songs, jumping from post-punk to death rock via more classic punk schemes... and not so many bands can do it so well! Good job!

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

We play Jan 7th at the east room with @trextasynyc, @peachyfanclub and plastic safari!! Here is a preview of what you shall be hearing and seeing if you wish to bless us with your presence on the new year of 2019 💕

Une publication partagée par ✧*: Donors ✧*: (@donorsband) le 4 Déc. 2018 à 8 :46 PST

You can listen to Donors on Rien à Faire #10.

N,J'Oi! 

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SMUT

picture by Myron Fung

Smut is a punk hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, featuring members of The Passing, Soma, Condition and Cemento, and has been around since 2016/2017.

 

A quick word about their late 2017 6-track demo and their 2018 West Coast 3-track and East Coast 4-track Tour tapes.
Smut delivers low-fi, nasty, part-heavy, part-fast punk hardcore songs. Heavy guitar riffs, deafeaning crash cymbals, screamed/barked vocals... the band is not playing nice, this is dirty rage and frustration you got spit out right in the face. 
Unfortunatly the recording lacks a bit of power and volume to give the songs all their space and energy and what you get, good but classic punk hardcore tunes, is probably nowhere near what the band can really deliver on stage...



  So let's jump to what really attracted my attention, their first MLP...

 picture by Albert Licano

Released in February on Iron Lung Records from Seattle, First Kiss is 8 songs of pure punk hardcore beauty... the kind of beauty that leaves nothing but huge bruises on your arms, cigarette burns on your genitals and a taste of dead pony in your throat...
 With the same recipe as on their previous releases, the recording is, this time, powerful enough to let these four guys do what they came for... burn the place down!

  picture by Rob Coons

 Iron Lung describes them as Darby Crash singing in Poison Idea...Well I agree but I would add, with more recent comparisons, that there is something of Axe Rash heavyness and snarling vocals and something of the noisy speed of bands like Impulso or even Needles to a lesser extent... and of the almighty Glue of course...

A great release, I can't wait to see what is coming next!


You can listen to Smut and other yoga pants enthusiasts on Rien à Faire #10.

N,J'Oi!


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Autor

picture by Paayarazzi

Autor is a new female-fronted band from Vienna, Austria, singing in german and playing some kind of dark and heavy mid-tempo punk (yes that's not far from post punk sometimes).

The band has just released a 8-track demo cassette on Die Plattenfirma (the physcial release may be postponed due to the you-know-what crisis).
 With these great heavy bass lines, the more sung (or talked) than screamed vocals and this cold and gloomy dark german punk vibe, Autor manages to bring us back to the early 80s in germany, somewhere between the Neue Deutsche Welle and some more SO36 raw attitude (ok I know the band is not german but that's the bell it rings!).

 picture by Paayarazzi

A good demo that, I hope, will be soon followed by more great releases.

 N,J'Oi!


You can listen to Autor on Rien à Faire #10. 


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Punter

picture by Mathew Vogels

Punter is a new band from Melbourne, Australia, featuring the guitar player of the Scab Eater. They released a 4-track demo tape in January on Blow Blood Records.

So let's stop here for a sec: Punter is a super impressive, and surprising, band.

That is said.

These guys play some kind of super energic and fast punk rock, almost hardcore (well clearly punk hardcore for most of it to be honest), that they successfully managed to mix with some more 77 melodic parts (the high pitched gang vocals, the guitar etc...)... yes it sounds like an impossible mix, but they just proved that it's not!

 They make me think of a mix between the Flowers of Evil (which is heavily influenced by Regulations of course) and the melanchodique (does that makes sense?) 2000s Portland scene (the Observers!!)... Yes I know that's some fucking great bands I am quoting here!

 

 picture by Christina Pap

So this 4-track demo tape is a total killer! The recording is great, the singer is amazing and the rest of the band is just nailing it! 

 And I just watched some live footages...

Damn it looks sooo good that, even if I usually only post one live video per band, I am giving you three this time!! (lucky you...)

 

N,J'Oi!

You can listen to Punter on Rien à Faire #10

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