vendredi 16 avril 2021

Illiterates

 

Ok let's go back to HARDCORE: 
Illiterates are a three piece outfit from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (a particularly fertile area for hardcore punk), from the same bunch of guys behind Speed Plans (check out their Field Of Vision LP from last October) and Kill Enemy Records.
 
 

 Illiterates release this demo in February 2019 (digital only?) and within five tracks show a lot of love for fast straight forward old school hardcore punk. The band clearly positions itself towards a midway approach of the early straight edge scene with quite heavy rhythms and, above all, the kind of recognizable gnarling vocals that recall Youth Of Today or SSD. But don't get me wrong, it's far from reaching the point of bands like 86 Mentality, Boston Stranglers or even their compatriots from Heavy Discipline.
 


The band doesn't sound exactly like the umpteenth incarnation of one of the winning versions of American hardcore though, they obviously didn't invent gunpowder (and that's not what we're asking of them), but I appreciate the short melodic guitar passages and the bass line of Never Enough for example, which take us off the beaten track a bit.

Honestly it sounds quite good for a demo, the guitars are a bit weak though and take away from the energy of the whole (especially on the first tracks) but don't prevent from greatly appreciating this cool debut release.



September 2019: this second release of the Pittsburgh's band, named Fall Tape 2019, takes it off exactly where the demo left with five new tracks of not-so-fast gnarling hardcore punk.
 


Yes at first sight not much new here, and yet there is clearly more of this "crew spirit" made of a lot of barking gang vocals which confirm the Youth Crew influences and give a "more hardcore" feeling to the lot. The overall sound is quite similar with some not-so-heavy guitars and "background" drums leaving a lot of space for the singer(s) to growl and roar at will. There is even a slight oi! vibe in Klout.

I dig the break/mosh part and silly lyrics of Illiterates :
An Indian
And two dumb hicks
The aptly named
Illiterates
It doesn't matter if you're from the sticks
Or raised by immigrants
Cause if the boot fits
You could become
Illiterates 
 
A cool tape that shows the evolution of the band in a more and more hardcore style that, after several listenings, makes me feel like the trio distinguishes slightly itself from the demo by more assertive but maybe also less "daring" choices. 
 
 

 But here is the release that brought Illiterates to my attention, their first LP released on Kill Enemy Records in March 2021. I recently read the interview of the guy behind the Richmond label 11Pm Records in Razorblade&Aspirin #8 and was a bit surprised to read him say that "I always tell the bands that the cover is way more important than whatever you put on it. ‘Cause 90% of the people aren’t ever gonna pull the record out and listen to it." Well I strongly disagree with that (It's probably true to some extent in the US but down here I don't know anyone who does not listen to his vinyl records, that sounds like a super dumb and snob thing to do...) but I do agree though that a record cover is damn important... and the Illiterates' one is a proper success!
Not a surprise when you know that the artwork is signed by Keith Caves from White Stains (another great hardcore punk act from the city of bridges) who already made a few great cover artworks for various punk bands/labels (mostly from the Pittsburgh area) like the latest White Stains' LP of course but also for the Heavy Discipline's LP, the Mutant Strain's LP, a couple of Living World's releases (damn that band is sooo good) and the S.L.I.P's Slippy When Wet LP among others...
 
 
  But back to the analphabetics; this LP has clearly one and only mission: stomp on your face at high pace with heavy steel-capped boots all along twelve raging tracks (including only one track from the previous tape, the unavoidable Illiterates, and one track from the demo). Luckily for you hardcore is still hardcore and none of them make it past the 1:40 min mark...
Keeping the recipe of Boston-influenced / early youth crew hardcore the band had developed in their two previous releases, they just made it meaner, faster, heavier this time... enhanced by a perfect "hardcore" sound (recorded at the Braddock Hit Factory, run by the ex-Pissed Jeans bassist Dave Rosenstraus if I'm not mistaken, guilty of producing and recording countless furious Pennsylvania hardcore acts over the past ten years) that will instantly hit the right spot in your hardcore punk nerd frontal lob.
Yes it's fast, mean and angry and it sounds closer than ever to Heavy Discipline, Blood Pressure, Concealed Blade and all the PAxHC crew (it should be a thing if it's not already ahah) without reaching the, sometimes extreme, heaviness of these bands; heaviness borrowed (and amplified) from straight edge ayatollahs like Negative FX and DYS
 
 
In an nutshell that's the album the band deserved to deliver, it's all you can expect from this kind of band.
A small remark however, I regret a little that the trio abandoned the small deviations of the beginning (the bass lines and the guitar touches mentioned above) to submit to a formula which is certainly more effective in its thrashing precision and brutality but which also is more predictable and expected, bringing Illiterates back in the batch of the bands which kick asses but don't mark their time.  
 
Anyway if you're pissed off and feel like burning the whole world down... You're welcome!
 
 
 
 
 
  You can listen to Illiterates on Rien à Faire #21.

 
  
 
 

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