Smut: Split Tape with Moonscape

 

picture by Albert Licano

I've already written some nice words about SMUT a year and a half ago and it's time for a quick update!

The Los Angeles band just released a split tape with Moonscape (a metallic hardcore band from Japan I'm not going to talk about at all) on Silenzio Statico (which doesn't seem to have any up-to-date online account anywhere) and despite the briefness of the thing (three tracks only), it's well worth a little write-up!

 

 

 

  Featuring cool artwork made by one of the guy from the LA punk store Descontrol, the three tracks of this tape are just a perfect example of what hardcore punk can be.

Fuel is fast (but not crazy fast), straight forward, with very upfront drums and snotty vocals, doing a great job as an honest hardcore punk song. Thirst Trap is faster (but also heavier and slower at times) and therefore meaner but probably just as straight forward as Fuel, pulling no punches as Izzy spews his disgust and anger straight on your young yuppie smooth skin...

But the real hit is without a doubt Side Piece 2 which starts slowly with "airy" guitar riffs before turning into a heavy mash of slow hardcore (a bit like some early Nasti or Acrylics tracks), accelerating smoothly to end just before the so expected final explosion, leaving our poor brain frustrated and in desperate need... brilliant! A pure hardcore freak-punk song!  

 

Damn it was way too short but it made me want to dive again in their discography and while checking out youtube I found this cool live footage shot in LA:

 

 

  Cool Camera Silens t-shirt dude! 

I take the opportunity to remind everyone that I translated a French documentary (well, I made english subtitles) about Gilles Bertin, singer of Camera Silens, whose story is quite fascinating...

It's RIGHT HERE! 

 

 

 

 N,J'Oi!

 

 

 

 

You can listen to Smut in Rien à Faire #29.

 

 

 

 

   

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Utopian

Well unfortunately this one is going to be short.

Utopian is a new band from LA which just released this 6-track demo tape on Urge Records and Erste Theke Tontraeger.

Great female-fronted straight forward punk edging with hardcore, it sounds sometimes like a fast version of Action Pact! or Vice Squad but the barking vocals reminds me strongly of Ashley from Cold Meat.

These guys know their classics and manage to keep it diverse enough to not bore me for a sec.

Mid-tempo or fast with strong UK82 influences in Living Somewhere and Spiritual Vision, Utopian can also be close to the hardcore side of punk in Immaterial or Circle A.

But this demo tape is all but a bulldozer, it's fast, it's slower, it's taking you aside for a smart break but the energy is always maximum...

A great demo, I just hope to learn more about the band with their future releases!

N,J'Oi!

You can listen to Utopian on Rien à Faire #13.

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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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Benny and The Roids

picture by Martin Crudo

Benny and The Roids is a 77 punk/oi! band from Los Angeles, California.

The name comes from an 80s Disney educational film about steroids abuse, in case you were wondering (and it's a good name).

 They play this great type of Oi! heavily influenced by 77 punk and Rock'n roll 
and I love it!

They released a great Demo in 2015 which finally came out as a 7'' last August on Discos MMM, Hectic World (and Sorry State ?).
Go grab it!

As the RIP suggests on the cover the band doesn't exist naymore... too bad!

You can listen to Benny And The Roids and other anthems in Rien à Faire #4 

N,J'Oi!

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