You guys have heard of Martin Sorrondeguy aka
Martin Crudos right ?
Born in Uruguay but growing up in Chicago, Martin has managed to
become, during his couple of decades of involvement in the American punk
scene, a major figure of both the Latino (with
Los Crudos) and Queercore (with
Limp Wrist) scenes. He also sang in other furious hardcore punk acts like
Needles
or
N/N
(to mention only those starting with a N), he is a
photographer, a
teacher, a regular contributor to
Maximum Rock'n Roll
(at least when the paper version still existed) and even directed a short
documentary about the
U.S. Latino punk scene. Yes the guy likes to keep busy.
Anyway Canal Irreal is the latest musical project of
Martin (it features members of
Sin Orden
as well, Martin released their first EP on his label
Lengua Armada
back in 2000) and sounds quite different from his other past projects
(which are often made of the same dough). To be honest I've never been a
huge fan of Martin's singing (too shrill, too high-pitched and not
powerful enough for my taste) but I was quite curious to see what it could
sound like in a different kind of punk.
No time to waste, these guys have nothing left to prove and have decided
to skip the demo and EP phases to start straight with a full length.
Featuring nine brand new tracks, Canal Irreal's debut record was
released a few days ago on the very good Richmond based label
Beach Impediment Records.
Pestes, the first track which appeared on bandcamp a few months
ago, led us to imagine a distinctly mid-tempo album and that's exactly
what we got. The Chicago punk veterans deliver high quality tracks
swimming in a kind of post-punk / darkish melancholic vibe which
recalls two things to me: first the 2000s Portland melocholic scene
that I've mentioned many times (The Observers,
Red Dons etc...) but with way harsher vocals and second the great
80s Colorado band
Dead Silence. Indeed the same kind of mid-tempo punk with ripping, shredding vocals
can be found on tracks like Knockdown, Si Somos or even
Glaze whereas tracks like Pestes, Not Tomorrow or
Emergencia
have a much more modern construction built of subtle melodies which could
make me think of a jam session between bands like
Isolation,
Generacion Suicida,
Crosta
or
Los Monjo
if the vocals were not so "hardcore" oriented.
With the unavoidable Jonah Falco at the mastering control desk,
the band benefits from a superb quality of sound which allows to give all
the depth
necessary
to this kind of songs, it does sound great.
I've listened to this album many times for the last few days and in the
end I'm not sure what to think of it. Yes it's pretty cool but it's not
mind-blowing either, the tracks are well built and well written but I feel
like there is something missing to make them really striking. And there's
the vocals of course... they don't sound bad and go surprisingly well with
a "softer" side of punk than the usual fast and furious
Martin's hardcore bands but I still have mixed feelings about his singing style
and it blocks me to really get into it, but that's really a question of
personal taste.
Anyway you should definitely give it a try I'm sure most people will love
it!
Skeleton Glove started as a studio side project involving mainly
Assaf (originally from Israel but lives in Berlin if I'm not
mistaken) who is behind the Berlin-based labels
Order 05 Records
and
Twintoe Records
(he also plays in
Egonx
and played in the
Tanning Bats
and other projects in Israel like the
Uzbeks). There's been probably other people from the Berlin punk scene
involved since the beginning but it looks like they wanna keep it a bit
secret (what we do is secret!) even if there are clues that
Dong Xuan Production was involved and that
Skeleton Glove turned into a "real" band with the latest
12"...
Anyway the main idea is to make some kind of super dark, super angry,
low-fi hardcore punk in the vein of
Gimmick,
Gag
or
Glue
(to stay in the G section only).
So let's see!
I don't know if the word Demo freak does make any sense but if
it did it would apply perfectly to Skeleton Glove. In two years
(from early 2018 to late 2019) they released not less than four demos
(well three actually but you'll see)!
I understand that, as a "bedroom black metal" project (or at least as
an over-the-top parody of it), the quality of the recordings did not
reach the point of a proper release but I nevertheless salute the
literal creativity in terms of titles.
This 2018 demo is only two tracks and looks like it may have been a
"solo" project only.
On the contrary to what the aesthetic makes us expect it does not sound
so distorted actually, but almost garagish thanks to the clean
guitar parts and the weird little outer-space noises. It's not so fast
either, it's totally mid-tempo.
Ok they obviously overplay the "dark" or "black metal" aspect with
creepy "horror" lyrics (like a satirical version of a lame
Misfits song, and there's plenty of choice) and a totally, and
probably literally, "threw-up" vocals style (ahah I can imagine the
recording session).
It does work quite well actually as a fun little bedroom project.
More than a year and a half has passed since the first demo
and Skeleton Glove is back with four new tracks and another demo
called Demo, probably to announce the resumption of activities on
new bases (which will be confirmed by the "intense" activity of the
following months).
But to be honest, I'm quite disappointed by this release: ok the creepy
"horror" atmosphere and the "threw up" vocals are still giving the same
"color" to the Berlin "bedroom" hardcore punk but the recording quality
is very very low-fi and turns the whole thing into a big smelly soup
it's really hard to enjoy.
Too bad.
Unfortunately I am obliged to make the same observation with the
two following demos (Demo 2 and Demo 3): it sounds like shit guys!
Ok maybe there are a couple of tracks on Demo 3 which are barely edible
(The Brain Is The Glove Of The Thoughts,
These Shoes are Gloves to My Feet) but that's all (ok the track
titles are funny also).
So let's not waste any more time and let's go to the real purpose of
this review:
Skeleton Glove's first LP!
Well well well... I've been waiting for that one for quite some time,
first announced last December with only two streamable tracks on their
bandcamp page and then for the end of March, here it is finally (6
months later!!!)... so was it worth the wait you're gonna ask ?
Fuck yeah it was!
Credited at first as the result of a one day recording session
(at Dong Xuan Production)
by the original duo (Assaf and Jake?), it looks like the
project turned into a proper "live band". I know for sure that there is
now Marian from
Imposition Man
and
Constant Cold War
who also played in
Catholic Guilt,
Gesture
and
Cult Values
(great bands), Jake, a
multi-disciplinary artist
who plays in
Stinkholeand Stéphanie whose background is unknown to me.
Well in the end all this time was not wasted as, finally, the result
does sound good!
As you'd expect, the band delivers high quality mind sick trash/punk
hardcore, it's fast, it's direct, it's mean as fuck, it's a real blast!
You can hear screaming, barking, yelling, vomiting in all directions while
the drums hammer relentlessly on a crushing rhythm and the guitar, with
its rather and quite surprisingly not-so-distorted sound, keeps everything
within the limits of an appreciable straight forward melodic
construction. With nine out of ten tracks under one minute thirty these guys don't
waste any time, but don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean that all the songs
are geared towards fast hardcore, for example there are the awesome, but
super nasty, I'm Moving In and Spooky Tower whose mid-tempo
construction has a lot to do with their dirty moods... Yes mean, nasty and
spooky are probably the key words here, I would say that
Skeleton Glove is doing to hardcore punk what
Maladia
and
Slimy Member
did to Anarcho-punk in a way, to turn it into something dark but
more in the spirit of a genre film that manages the excess for the sake of
entertainment than a real depressing and haunting approach like in black
metal or that kind of thing (even if the four Berliners would probably say
that making a parody of Black metallish bands was part of the
original idea). I mean when you got songs called Gimme Chocolate,
Booze Ghoul and Trillion of Dead Cops from a band called
Skeleton Glove
you can't deny a very appreciable sense of humour...
The comparison with the "G bands" mentioned in the intro are more
relevant than ever and I can probably also add
Candy Apple
whose some tracks of their latest LP fall into the same kind of atmosphere
and also the dark side of
Nasti
and many more more or less affiliated with what I call the
freak punk
scene.
To make a long story short, this album is a success, of course the tracks
are very anchored in a
very powerful and straight forward
genre with a strong identity but with a final result which is nevertheless
quite diverse and well made and is not without a very appreciable sense of
humour and taste for parody. As in many places where the punk and
affiliated scene revolves around a fairly small group of endlessly
motivated individuals, these same individuals like to develop various
highly musically connoted projects in order to indulge their overflowing
love for the various chapels of punk rock, and Skeleton Glove is a
good example of a successful "genre band".
Pigeon is a trio hailing from Berlin which started around 2013 as
an "indie" band before before moving in other directions much closer to my interests.
Pigeon is a fairly central band in the current Berlin scene in the
sense that it brings together deeply involved individuals, in terms of
other bands of course (I have already mentioned a few on this page) but
also labels and collectives (Billo Tonträger,
Adagio830,
Flennen,
Mangel Records
etc...) that have produced some of the most interesting current German bands in my opinion. Of course, we're never far from the ADK scene revolving around
dieAllee Der Kosmonauten
(an area in Berlin with an interesting "social history") and the producer / sound engineer
T-Rex who I also mentioned in my post about
Benzin.
Ok I think it's safe to say that Pigeon is kind of centred around
the duo Denes / Oskar who both play in the amazing
Liiek
but also in
Go Lamborghini Go
(which released an enjoyable tape a few months ago).
Denes plays/played in
Benzin
and
Deltoids
(two fantastic bands in my opinion) as well as in
Molde,
Dee Bee Rich
(solo project?) and probably a lot of other side projects (yes it really
looks like Denes is that kind of local super-active guy). It's interesting
to note that he provides lead vocals from behind his drums,
something which has always seemed to me extremely difficult to do and is
not very usual. Oskar is involved in
Mangel Records
which released a few records you should definitely check out.
Anyway these
two guys started the band with Martin on bass and the help of
Roman on guitar for some recordings (according to Discogs)
before Martin's "recent" departure and the arrival of
Phuong, an old friend of the family who also played in
Benzin,
Gilb,
Deltoids
and
Go Lamborghini Go.
I will start the reviews with Pigeon's first LP and will skip
their two previous releases, the
Crooked Teeth
"demo" and
the split with Girlie
12" which did not convince me at all (too mellow in an indie kinda
way, not my cup of lager).
Well, let's start with a confession, this album is really one of
the few that made the biggest impression on me in the last few years, I
had already included a Pigeon track in
my very first compilation, at the very beginning of this blog, and I was waiting for the
opportunity of a new release to finally give free rein to my opinion on
this record.
Emerging from a well of voices trapped in a ghostly radio broadcast,
jumping from an intro evoking the unintelligible call for help of a
drifting crew in the endless night of space, Pigeon immediately
imposes an atmosphere both heavy and noisy but also subtle and melodic.
The guitar strings have this almost industrial metallic snap that evokes
noise-rock and coldness above a heavy bass rhythmic that a more or less
distant vocal subtly dresses.
All it takes is a short interlude entitled Step, which confirms
the aircraft metaphor, for Pigeon to veer right into the galaxy of
slightly sad post-hardcore (Nizza), which of course immediately
brings Fugazi to mind. You know the kind of song I'm talking about,
the one which has such a subtle way to develop so many layers of emotions
that your minds feels like paragliding away from reality for several
minutes before coming back to "life" with a spit out loud
"Holy shit!".
And Tiny confirms the band mastery for developing
bewitching tracks that magically seduce without having to impose any
catchy chorus or striking moment... and it's exactly what the best
post-hardcore bands made me used to, the ability to produce mind-blowing
albums that are technical, subtle and powerful without ever being over the
top or trying to write a "hit" track.
But it's not lunch time yet, we continue the lonely galactic journey in
the confines of the known universe with the second interlude
Rail before moving on to the last part of the album, the two tracks
Lower and Kinn which, while remaining in a similar lexical
field to the aforementioned tracks, possess a certain deep and icy sadness
expressed in various ways which closes this fantastic album beautifully. Seriously how to not be moved by the bass-line and sad but resigned
vocals of Kinn ?
But where are my manners? I was forgetting to add that this album was
released in May 2018 by a bunch of labels I had never heard of (Dunkelziffer Records,
Antena Krzyky
and
Black Verb Records) and that you have to own this piece of wax (I do)!
Pigeon's first full length is one of the most important
post-hardcore album of the past years, it manages to build a
totally coherent whole that unfolds in my ears in one go, without
pauses or annoying parts, distorting time in a bubble where sound
and space are not those to which the usual rhythm of the
ineluctable ageing of our cells has accustomed us, creating one of
those indescribable and precious moments that one has the
impression of having gained on life, not lost...
A bit later on the same year (October 2018), Pigeon comes
back with a 12" EP (also available as a tape) called
Bug
and released on
Tortellini Records
and
This Charming Man Records. 2018 was probably their most productive year and the three Berliners
decided to release everything they recorded during these two recording
sessions on the aforementioned self-titled full length and this EP.
Well even if I'm always a bit disappointed by a 12" with 6 tracks only, I
won't say no to Pigeon so why not!
No intro or interludes here, the band takes us straight to the deepest
part of their musical repertoire.
Concern opens the album with a rather cold mid-tempo track with
distant and melancholic vocals and a general atmosphere that slowly starts
to drift from post-hardcore to post-punk. Indeed Pigeon sounds more
metallic and "industrial" as ever and I can definitely picture the band
playing at ease in an abandoned steel factory which would naturally become
part of the performance.
And it's not the instrumental Bug which will take us back to a
brighter side of town. Its dark and obsessive rhythms even recalls the
"darkest hours" of the Factory! It's hard to explain but the
Pigeon of Bug is still the Pigeon of the LP but it's
also a different one... there are only a few months apart from the two
releases and yet it looks like Bug was designed to look good along
the other Berlin post-punk releases (and the cover artwork got the same
kind of graphic chart that many Mangel / Flennen records)
while the self-titled LP was more built as a "post-hardcore concept
album".
Well ok there is Hoisin, the last track, whose faster tempo erases
a bit the dark side of the other tracks, but overall we're still quite far
from the noise-rock / post-hardcore atmosphere of the first album (the way
the bass sounds a lot less "heavy" got a lot to do with that I would say).
Far maybe but not totally unrelated either, as the sound and the mix keep both
records in a certain common mood that can be matched with different
genres.
Bug is a record which explores another side of the band
that the LP had not addressed. I can clearly hear that these guys start thinking
about post-punk and that the birth of Liiek is not far now (in any
case the "conception phase" had already begun).
Even if it sounds quite different I would make a comparison with
Girls In Synthesis
and
Lower
that have both also developed, in their own ways, some kind of
successful mix between modern post-punk, noisy industrial atmosphere
and post-hardcore, even if the result is far from being similar to
what Pigeon delivers.
Almost three years after Bug, Pigeon is back with their
second LP (recorded and mixed by T-Rex), titledDeny All Knowledge Of Complicity
and released on
Adagio830
(a Berlin based label which also released Liiek's LP and has a lot of cool records in its catalogue).
Three years is a long time when you're busy with numerous other musical projects
and it's hard to keep a band identity when you're also writing songs for
other bands cruising in other genres. And this time Pigeon has left
the post-hardcore shores without a look back, flying (that's what pigeons
do after all) straight to the post-punk continent above an ocean of modern
melancholic punk... and don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! ok I was
a bit surprised at first and it took me some times to adapt but in the
end...
But let's take a step back first if you don't mind:
A well rounded bass with melodic and bewitching lines, some sharp
(but not too sharp) guitar riffs and some slightly cavernous,
melancholic and melodic vocals... all this with a killer production
and an impressive musical construction, Pigeon has wonderfully
adopted the winning formula of post-punk with punk accents that a few bands have brilliantly mastered these last years.
I can't refrain a few holy names to pop in my mind...
Public Eye
of course but also
Stuck
and
Marbled Eye's first EP... those bands that have totally digested the discographys of
Wire,Gang of Four and of all the best UK post-punk
bands but grew up during the heyday of the 2000s
melocholic Portland scene I've mentioned on this page more
than once...
I've had this album on repeat for a few days now and I'm amazed to
discover each time a new facet of a track, a new and great bass line or another sad and breathtaking chorus. The best records are like the best
whiskeys, it takes some time, some focus and maybe a bit of experience
to really appreciate the various levels of "taste" your ears can
perceive...
Because yes, Deny All Knowledge Of Complicity is a full course
menu... it's salty, sweet and tasty in so many ways (and I won't dwell too
long on the culinary metaphor out of respect for you dear
readers)...
There is so much to say about this record... it starts with a bang with
Bad Visions whose killer bass-lines and vocals mixing the best of
70s punk and modern post-punk will immediately hook you up, it goes on
with Mute, which kindly reminds everyone that two thirds of the
band also play in Liiek (and that no one minds at all in fact), and
no time for a tea break as the obsessive rhythms of
Can't Cope With It break in your brains, as
Simple, Involved, Failed takes from the dark side and recalls some
Frustration
or
Crisis
tracks for one of the best song of the LP, as the "industrial" atmosphere
of the "metallic" Relentless locks you in a cellar that is far too small for the number of guys in black, dripping with sweat and with dilated pupils, waving like silly puppets all around your drunk self... and I
could go on and on through the ten tracks of the record but that would be
extremely tedious and boring (and I hate reviews with endless lists of songs you
haven't heard yet)...
Anyway you got the idea: it's literally an all killers no fillers
record!
Ok I 'll just stop here and let you take your time to enjoy this
beauty...
Just a few words about this new Colombian punk compilation titled
La Masacre Continua: released on the Barcelona based label
Chaos-T Records
in May 2021 (also available on the French label
Symphonie Of Destruction), this tape gathers 21 tracks by 21 bands who decided to react to the
violent repression of which a part of the Colombian people is victim since
the end of April.
It may be time to make a quick recap of what's happening there: since
early 2020 the covid crisis has severely impacted almost the entire global
economy, and Colombia has been particularly hard hit. The extremely strict
and lengthy lockdown measures may have had a favourable health impact, but
they also greatly increased the unemployment rate (from 9% to 16%),
obviously affecting the tourism sector very strongly, but also the entire
informal sector... The government decided early this year to increase
several taxes, including the VAT, "in order to be able to spend and even to maintain vital social programs".
Of course the VAT increase hits hard everyone, especially the working and
middle classes, and is therefore seen as an inequality increasing factor
and is rejected by an important of the population...
Since the beginning of the protests on the 28th of April, the government
has decided to repress all demonstrations extremely violently... a totally
disproportionate and abusive violence (tens of people have been proved to be killed by the police despite the official denials) against which the Colombian punks
could only unite. If you're interested you should watch the two
Vice News videos about the protests and the police violence which
have happened since then (Colombia’s Deadly Fight for Justice
and
Colombia Is Rising Up).
But let's come back to punk music and the compilation:
La Masacre Continua features the cream of the crop of the current Colombian punk scene (but Spanish as well), bands I've already very enthusiastically reviewed here like Ataque Zero, Lumpen and Sublevaciòn but also many bands I've mentioned many times like the super stars of Muro and Primer Regimen but also Alambrada, Trampa or Final. So yes this compilation is mostly composed of killer classic tracks (no unreleased tracks as far as I know) despite a few too grindish or black metallish (or simply of really bad taste) songs that are really not essential. I regret a little the absence of Reacciòn Violenta, Uzi and Abuso but you can't have everything, right?
Oh and of course, as the label bandcamp page says: "If you want to download and give
out a donation, everything will be donated to the people and the
different collectives who are needing our help.
We did this compilation with the intention of giving out all the
donations received in behalf of the strike and the people requiring our
support and solidarity." which is absolutely not a clear description of what all that donation money is going to become but I hope it will be used wisely...
Anyway don't be a rat ass, support the fight of the Colombian people against police brutality and treat yourself with a lot of cool Spanish speaking raw punk: buy this comp!
I would have loved to make this one longer but it'll be unfortunately
rather short, indeed Fugitive Bubble has surprisingly managed to
keep a very low online profile in an age where your landlord's sex tape
can be found with just a few clicks (and believe me I've become very good
at online band stalking, I've also probably seen your neighbour's night performances).
Anyway these guys come from Olympia, Washington, but the vocals of their
first release were recorded in New York so I could make a wild guess and
assume that the singer is from there (which doesn't tell me much more
about who these guys are but, hey that's all I have).
Released on
Stucco Label, which has put out some killer releases like
Suck Lords, the first
Electric Chair, and even
Table Sugar in another genre (I love it though), before building a more marked low-fi
label aesthetic with its "cassette sub-label" Impotent Foetus,
which has more recently delighted my slowed and tired brain with
Youth Regiment
and
Septic Yanks, this 6-track tape from late 2020 is Fugitive Bubble's debut
release, and it's well worth a listen.
Fugitive Bubble got this kind of low-fi sound which goes along
very well with the label standards and yet the band's approach is far less
hardcore punk than its pals'.
It's quite fast but not really hardcore-fast though, it's just pure super
enjoyable female-fronted punk! It will recall the old classics from both
side of the Atlantic, Vice Squad but also the Avengers a
little bit but sometimes some slightly rawer vibes on the vocals (Contemporary Restoration) also make me think of
The Loudmouths
or of some more oi!-oriented bands like
Man's Ruin.
It would actually be stupid to stick only one label on these guys' heads,
Fugitive Bubble manages to explore different sides of, mostly, late
70s and early 80s punk (Silver Spoon even has a cool
The Slits' vibe) and even early 90s (Anymore got a little
Bikini Kill something right ?) making this 6-track tape a super
cool that deserves to be released on vinyl very soon!
May 2021: the mysterious Olympia based band is back with a new tape titled
No Outside on
Stucco Label / Impotent Foetus.
Like the 2020 tape it starts with a short and fast track (School Zone) that confirms that Fugitive Bubble has not abandoned the late 70s influenced... Indeed it does recall the L.A female-fronted early punk scene (The Avengers, The Bags, X etc...), yes overall it's a bit more melodic, a bit more complex in the construction of the songs, a bit less fast and the female voice is still very much in the foreground like in many bands of this period.
Fugitive Bubble's ambition is not to create something revolutionary, arty or pompously avant-garde, but rather to follow in the footsteps of quality bands that have carried a certain version of punk rock for the last four decades, and that's actually pretty cool! Now we just have to get the real thing on vinyl!
