Good news!
All RAF Compilations have been uploaded on MIXCLOUD which makes it a looooot easier to listen and share your favourite hardcore/punk show!
Have a look at the Rien à Faire Mixcloud page!
N,J'Oi!
jeudi 22 octobre 2020
lundi 19 octobre 2020
Desperate Living
Desperate Living is hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, featuring members of several heavy and noisy acts from the area (mainly from the modern post-hardcore side like The Minor Times, Ladder Devils but also from the poppy indie side like CRUISR and Person L) who decided to get together during the fall of 2017 under a simple edict: “let’s write punk songs.”
So yes these guys don't come from a scene I follow really closely but as you may know now I like to explore and get surprised. And the quartet from Philadelphia caught my attention.
New Concrete
was released on Brutal Panda records (which features many quality
Noise Rock / Post-hardcore bands) early 2019 (digital and CD
only).
So Punk is the goal right ? But what is PUNK?
Well to these guys Punk is obviously deeply rooted in the sound of the
90s, from grunge to DC post-hardcore through noise rock and
New Noise Hardcore, Desperate Living is delivering a
concentrate of what punk could encompass at the time.
There is some Nirvana in Leave It, some
Turbonegro in the short Ape, some heavy emoish noise
rock in Slow One etc...
All over these 6 songs the band is singing despair (Ape),
frustration, sadness (Sad Old Man) and anger (Don't You Dare), always powerful and heavy but never brutal or dirty, building its own
identity of what punk is and can be.
I guess this is what Refused had in mind for the future when they wrote
The Shape of Punk To Come.
One year and half later Desperate Living releases a second EP on Brutal Panda records featuring 5 new songs.
From the first seconds of the first song of
City Sadness you understand that the band has decided to push the first EP formula
to its limits. The guitars are heavier, the vocals are screaming
straight to your eardrums, energy is exploding everywhere, the overall
sound is slapping your face with a shovel... a name immediately comes
to mind: Refused.
Yes there is a lot of the new noise of the Swedish quintet in this EP, especially in tracks like Fault and Debbie Downer, but not only and the super energetic noise rock influences of the first release are never very far.
Outside Looking In makes me think of bands like Helmet for some reasons, you know the kind of stoner noise almost ballad song I am thinking of.
In the end I think I am more into New Concrete than into City Sadness.
This first release is just more punk (in the way I see punk I guess) and sounds closer to what I am fond of than the bit-too-big-and-modern sound of the second EP...
But don't get me wrong I really like Refused but what can I say ? Not everybody is Refused...
You can listen to Desperate Living in Rien à Faire #15.
N,J'Oi!
vendredi 16 octobre 2020
Gimmick: New Release
If you follow a little bit what's happening on the freak side of the
hardcore punk scene or if you visit this blog from time to time you may
have heard of Gimmick from Portland and their
Quarantine tape.
Well the four punks from Oregon are back with a self-titled EP (only digital for now but I am sure Sorry State or another hardcore label will make a vinyl release soon enough).
Gimmick keeps the recipe of nasty hardcore punk and makes it even darker and heavier than ever. Fuck your positive attitude, these guys are all about negativity and anger, vomiting reject and hate.
Alternating between fast and slow parts, the guys from Portland master furiousness in both tempo, reminding the most trashy hardcore part of the "freak punk" scene... like U-nix and the Beta Boys jamming with a back-from-the-dead decomposed Darby Crash on cocaine...
Yes this EP is the contained anger of a terrible day at work being treated like shit by your asshole boss, this EP is the overflow of disgust for our modern times watching a presidential debate, this EP is all the frustration of your teenage years and even more...
Gimmick is pure anger management therapy!
You can listen to Gimmick on Rien à Faire #15.
mardi 13 octobre 2020
Mister
picture by
Brian Santostefano
Mister is a hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and has not been
around for very long as their first release is from late 2018.
It doesn't mean that these guys are newbies though, with three members of
Big Laugh, two members of
Forced Impact,
two members of
Masquerade
and one member of
Ritalin O.D I think it's pretty safe to say that they really love to play together and that they are
obviously knee-deep in the hardcore scene.
The first band release is a short (very short) 3-track self-released demo tape named UNO and released by the band in December 2018.
Three songs of straight to the point super fast hardcore punk strongly
influenced by 80s American bands like The Fix or
Urban Waste and more recently
Koro or
Formaldehyde Junkies
among many others.
Ok let's be clear here, I really love this kind of stuff, it's exactly
what makes me wanna pogo with my laptop so it was really easy for the guys
from the Midwest to convince me.
It is just waaaaay too short!
Not sure when this live practice tape was released exactly but probably around may 2019.
With more than 9 minutes of hardcore it's a lot longer preview of the
band's performance than the less than 3 minutes long
UNO...
A lot of fast songs here again but also some slower and heavier parts
which reminds me a little bit some parts of Big Laugh's songs (with
a completely different sound of course).
Despite a bit weak live recording sound, this tape offers a wider view of
the diversity of hardcore punk played by Mister. I find it really
interesting.
A good preview for the proper release to come next.
Well that's the release I was waiting for!
After months of delay because of the fucking you-know-what crisis here is
finally the
Espejismo
7" on the really good
Not Normal Tapes
DIY label from Chicago.
With 5 songs between 1 min and 1:40min Mister keeps
delivering fast and furious hardcore punk in the veins of the classics
already quoted above (The Fix etc...) but with pounding guitar
riffs (Reflexion), weird little background melodies
(Refugio, Illusion) and nice bass lines (Programma),
the band is making it just out-of-the-dogma enough to be super interesting
on top of being super energetic.
I don't understand anything of what this guy is screaming like crazy but
it looks like there is a mix of Spanish and English songs with a strong
"Illusion" theme, sounds cool anyway.
Simply a great EP!
samedi 10 octobre 2020
Rascal
picture by Miranda
Rascal is a new band from California playing some kind of freaky hardcore punk.
Not much more information about these guys, don't hesitate to drop a line
if you know more.
Released on the Orange county based label White Gloves Records, Rascal's 4-song tape is one of the most exciting demo of the year. Edging between 80s American punk and freaky hardcore, Rascal is fast, angry and dirty when needed (and as expected) without saying no to a touch of rock'n roll or garage (like what the Dead Kennedys or the Minutemen used to do).
But Rascal is definitely a weirdo act, far from the hardcore dogma
they can be linked to the freaks from Rolex for example... forming
what could be the "brighter" side of what I call the
freak punk
hardcore scene (the most interesting scene these days in my opinion).
What a great diversity
in this demo!
Spacer is a furious hardcore punk song sticking to the noisy side of
the genre.
Prioritize got something of low-fi garage punk which reminds
some bands on
Total Punk.
El Diablo is a gem of dark-but-joyful freak punk not so far from
what
Acrylics
can deliver.
Happy Meal got a strong Dead Kennedys taste for a half-cooked
song, leaving a feeling of underachievement (maybe the less good song of the
four).
A very promising demo, can't wait for a proper EP or LP now!
You can listen to Rascal on Rien à Faire #15.
N,J'Oi!
mercredi 7 octobre 2020
Rolex
picture by
11pmRecords
Rolex is a punk hardcore band from Los Angeles,
California, featuring members of past punk acts from the Golden State like
L.U.U.M,
Surgeons,
The Imposters,
Grimly Forming
or
Broken Vessels.
Well despite its poor visual interest, the cover of the
Rolex's 2017 demo
has at least the benefit to clearly show that the four guys from California are not
referring to a
Ugandan delicacy
but to a famous not-so-affordable Swiss watch brand... good to
know, I was really wondering.
With only one song over the 2-minutes-mark, Rolex is not here to
make it last. Six hard and fast songs ok, but what makes the band stand
out from your average local hardcore punk quartet is the heavy dose of
deranged guitar melodies, of hopping bass lines and of changes of pace
embedded in the expected hit and run formula.
Yes these guys know their hardcore punk classics by heart but don't
hesitate to add a pinch of tasty weirdness in their recipe... a great mix
between Black Flag, the early Minutemen and some early 2010s
No Way Records bands like
Acid Reflux.
So yes... it's pretty good!
I will not say much about the five R.O.L.E.X "singles" released between December 2017 and September 2019 as all the songs (except You Are My Sunshine, which is not really a song, from the first tape) have been re-recorded and released by 11pm Records on one self-titled EP.
So with 9 songs out of 10 under the 2 minutes mark, Rolex keeps the pace fast and the punk hardcore. Thanks to a better recording we can deeply enjoy the energy and efficiency of the band. Weird, angry and highly enjoyable are probably the adjectives you are looking for while the black wax 7" is spinning on your turntable...
When you decide to change a well-oiled machinery as the 80s American punk
hardcore genre the whole difficulty is to add parts without losing the
genre's core (the energy, the speed, the anger etc...) and I have to say
that Rolex manages it perfectly.
These weirdos add all the possible freakiness (great job from the
guitarist) without making us think for one second that we are not in front
of a hardcore punk record.
A great record!
dimanche 4 octobre 2020
Cool Jerks
Cool Jerks is a band from Leeds, UK, and has been around since
2015/2016.
I don't have much details about these guys' musical background but they
sure have dirtied their boots for a while in the DIY punk hardcore scene
before deciding to shake their butts together on the other side of the mosh
pit.
This 6-track demo tape released by the band first in 2016 and by TapeTalks a few months later is a little gem of deeply-rooted-in-the-present-world modern punk... and especially in the state of the UK of course. So Cool Jerks brings us back to the roots of the first wave of Bristish punk at a time when the youth was facing bleak times and bleaker future (hu if only they knew how things look sooo much worse now).
And our dear friends Iggy and David dressed like what could be modern
hispters on the tape cover confirm the band deep respect for the classics
(but also their will to bring the spirit of their music in our modern
age?).
But don't get me wrong, Cool Jerks is not at all a bunch of
nostalgic paunchy fuckers, they live here and now and have a lot to say
about it. The sympathetic morons have chosen a smart, energetic, quite
angry but definitely bleak type of punk to express their feelings: rolling
bass lines, sharp guitar riffs, shouting vocals hesitating between anger
and despair, fast and catchy melodies... all ingredients of punk hits
indeed.
Yes there is something of American hardcore punk but with a big
piece of England inside, and the mix is an amazing success!
A great demo!
Well well well with Patriots, their new EP/tape released in 2017 on TapeTalks (once again), our favourite jerks don't sound so cool any more... determined to frontally attack the right wing scums which have been polluting their country's society for decades now....
Patriots, Minimum Wage, New Opiate,
Affable Fascism... the four songs' titles say it all: the political
and social situation in the UK is shit and it's still time to scream about
it!
Cool Jerks denounces, attacks, bites and mocks this terrible
movement which lead to Brexit and social disasters... and they do it
really well.
Mostly mid-tempo and quite heavy with sudden bursts of sarcastic anger
("I love working for minimum wage!"), these songs are here to push
right where it hurts, using British cynicism and dark humor to make their
points...
Reminding me sometimes of the surfy parts of the Dead Kennedys,
the guys from Leeds have the same political involvement in their
music as Jello's bands have and there are worse role models...
This is GREAT!
Two years and half later, in mid 2020, Cool Jerks releases
its first LP on Night Versus Day Records (label's first
release).
With 12 songs including Minimum Wage (from Patriots) and a
shorter version of Eh (from the demo), the band keeps putting into
music the bleakness of the modern British society.
England... the title says it all, this album is a "situational analysis" of what
the Tory party and unleashed capitalism have made of the UK...
Starting with We live in Hell, it's clear that
Cool Jerks is going to draw us an
extremely grim and bitter
picture... a picture made of the improved recipe of mid tempo punk rock
already quite mastered on their previous records... The grimness of
post-punk, the heavy anger of hardcore punk, the smartness of the whole history of the British
political punk scene...
Tory Paradise, The Butchers Apron (another political charge
against the far right), Ordinary People (great song about the
mediocrity of the middle class), England is Burning, You... the
band has a lot to say, a lot to be angry about and I can only deeply relate to it.
Other bands with the same expression of anger and despair about modern
England would be
Bad Breeding
or
Glib
(with a lot rawer sound) among others (the modern British DIY punk scene is full of
them these days).
Modern Man is probably my favourite song, a blunt description of
life in an almost completely tertiary urban network on a super tensed and
heavy mid-tempo song structure... a lot of us can relate to this...
Yes this band is great at describing the depressing reality of their country but they are also extremely good at writing energetic, super tensed but well balanced punk songs... I struggle a bit with accurate comparisons.. would that may be why this album is so good?
In a nutshell Cool Jerks is delivering a beautiful mix of blunt
but smart political charges deeply rooted in the bleak reality of the
modern world with a super tensed but catchy modern British punk rock...
the perfect punk album ? one of the best of 2020 for sure!
You can listen to Cool Jerks on Rien à Faire #15.
N,J'Oi!
jeudi 1 octobre 2020
VA - Rien à Faire #15
It's been a year since I have started this blog, a year and 15
compilations...
That's a lot of punk, post-punk, hardcore, garage and other crazy
noise rock tracks...
Well here are a few more trying to keep us entertained and
kicking
in these fucked up times...
N,J'Oi!
01 - Cool Jerks - Modern Man
02 - Desperate Living - Imagine
03 - Eyes and Flys - Everyday Life
04 - Pedigree - On My Own
05 - Rolex - Entasis
06 - Gimmick - Numbing
07 - Mitraille - Cancelled
08 - Howze - At The Grocery Store We See Capitalism Collapse
02 - Desperate Living - Imagine
03 - Eyes and Flys - Everyday Life
04 - Pedigree - On My Own
05 - Rolex - Entasis
06 - Gimmick - Numbing
07 - Mitraille - Cancelled
08 - Howze - At The Grocery Store We See Capitalism Collapse
09 - Baby Tyler - Needz
10 - Futuro - Prisão Material
11 - Arson - Savage Butchery
12 - Rascal - Happy Meal
13 - Terms of Endearment - Liar
14 - Smarts - Cling Wrap
15 - Kong - Ribbons
16 - True Sons of Thunder - Rattle Trap
10 - Futuro - Prisão Material
11 - Arson - Savage Butchery
12 - Rascal - Happy Meal
13 - Terms of Endearment - Liar
14 - Smarts - Cling Wrap
15 - Kong - Ribbons
16 - True Sons of Thunder - Rattle Trap
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