Paint It Black - Paradise

Paint It Black - Paradise

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oemtzdmmnlw

1. "Pink Slip"
   
2. "Exit Wounds"
3. "Ghosts"
4. "The New Brutality"
5. "Atheists In Foxholes"
6. "Nicaragua"
7. "Labor Day"
8. "Burn The Hive"
9. "Panic"
10. "Angel"
    
11. "The Pharmacist"
    
12. "365"
13. "Memorial Day"
    

Paradise is the 2nd full length out of one of the best bands in hardcore right now, Paint It Black. They're an extremely political and passionate band started by Dan Yemin (a practicing child psychologist, former member of Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, started band after having a stroke and deciding that he wasn't going to let it keep him down and started the hardest band he could do) and one of the most influential bands of my recent life.

I had heard of Paint It Black from one of my friends and didn't think much about them at first. He was extremely into them, but every kid has their band to get stoked on, and it didn't mean I would like them. Nonetheless, when I checked them out at home, I was in for a treat.

It was some of the most powerful stuff I had heard. The inherent sound of outrage and anger hit me like a brick to the face. Here was a band with some passion behind it and lyrics that actually meant something to me. No more generic hardcore "I stand by my friends, I hate everyone" lyrics, but lyrics about what I was getting into: social and political activism, anti-authoritarianism, and in general, pretty radical stuff that most "hardcore" bands don't even touch. I could care less how straight edge the band was, I'd rather be hearing about shit like the corruption of authoritarian religion and the ongoing war between us and the established order.

After a slew of bands made up of kids being raised on dry, commercial metalcore with no real message, Paint It Black was a breath of fresh air - no, a hammer to the skull - in a scene that had lost its teeth.

Paint It Black: Making hardcore revolutionary again.

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We're Experiment In Terror... and you're the fucking guinea pigs!!!

Experiment In Terror - Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them?

01. Global Empowerment = National Impoverishment
02. House Arrest
03. Societal Preconditions for Slaughter
04. Read a Fucking Book
05. Humyn Consequences
06. I Am Like You
07. Ya Basta
08. Me Dejaron Para La Muerte
09. Los Cuerpos Continuan

Experiment in Terror was an Ottawa band from 2001-2005 or thereabouts. Most people outside of Ottawa have never heard of them and I am not even sure they ever played a show outside of Ottawa. But I went to pretty much every Ottawa show they played until I moved to Montreal in 2004 right before they broke up. EIT was Ottawa's politically aware punk/thrash/core band formed by members of Course Of Action (Ottawa's best thrash band of ages past), Buried Inside, Fuck The Facts, Sleeping Pilot... basically every good Ottawa band. One and a half minute songs with a speech between each song so you knew what the songs were about (much to the dismay of Ottawa's drunx punx scene of the early 2000s).

Between me and my high school friends, EIT was our favourite local band to see. You could get us to show up at almost any ridiculous or far away venue if they were playing (that pita place in orleans?? a birthday party on argyle where everyone was 10 years older than us?). And pretty much my entire after school existence consisted of going to shows at Club SAW. So this photo is basically a time capsule from my life 2000-2004: seeing Experiment in Terror at Club SAW (probably 2003?). Pretty much every recognizable face in that photo is one of my high school friends, one of the kids in the grade below us who we dragged to shows, someone I was in a band with or someone I knew from Ottawa shows at the time.

This is the EP most people have (there was also a DIY cd put out right before their last show), "Who Will Survive And What Will Be Left Of Them?" that they put out in 2001 or 2002. It is without a doubt I think my favourite release by a 'local' band and I still listen to it regularly.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmyzmktlibt

You can still buy the cd for 5$ if you look for it in random Ottawa based distros, record stores or infoshops.

OH WOW WE'RE DIFFERENT

Different in that our format has changed:

1. There are now multiple contributors with varying points of view on punk and hardcore.
2. I got bored of having a boring music blog where I attempt to review the music I am basically ordering you to listen to. If you wanted to read a music review, you'd buy a newspaper. If you wanted somebody to tell you what to listen to, you'd watch MTV. So, instead of posting a review or in-depth description of the CD chosen for that particular post, each contributor will post a memory triggered by the artist, album, or a song on said album, which is directly related to growing up in a punk/hardcore scene and generally being a dumb youth.

I’m also looking for more contributors so drop me a line if you're interested.

Spazz - La Revancha

Spazz - La Revancha
01. WWF Rematch at the Cow Palace [Ahita Continua]
02. Four Times a Day
03. Desperate Throat Lock
04. Bobby's Jackpot Jamboree
05. Dewey Decimal Stitchcore
06. Swampfoot
07. C.I.A.
08. Camp Chestnut
09. No Shadow Kick
10. One With a Goat's Got an Orgy Up the Sleeve
11. Bitter (The Execution of a Chimp)
12. Let's Kill Fuckin' Everybody
13. Sweet Home Alabama
14. Raisins, Hate, Fear and Flower Power Violence
15. Climate Best
16. Urinal Cake
17. Drunkard Genaii
18. Sesos
19. Daljeet's Detonation
20. Turnbuckle Treachery

When I first started listening to powerviolence and grindcore, I was in high school. In the Toronto punk scene, bands like the Endless Blockade played alongside bands I would be at the show to watch, like Brutal Knights. So I was exposed to them early on compared to a lot of people, I think.

At the time, I didn't like it at all. I did not like the Endless Blockade. It didn't sound like music to me. It didn't even sound good, or like something anybody in their right mind would want to listen to. For the rest of my youth, I spent noisy bands' sets sitting outside or at the back of the venue, drinking. I deeply regret this now.

When I was about 19 or 20, I heard WWF Rematch at Cow Palace at a friend's house and freaked. Who was this amazing band and how had I never heard of them? They were so LOUD and I loved it, how could I have missed this band for so long? My older friend Alain explained to me that they were one of the genres he thought I disliked, since I had told him so.

I went home confused that day and eventually downloaded an Endless Blockade album (sorry guys, bought it since). To my surprise I liked it too! In fact I loved it.I loved how noisy and angry it was, and I loved that it didn't follow the traditional rules of music but still sounded good to me. But then I was even more confused. How could I have disliked this band (and genre) so much before, only to decide now I loved them?

My only possible explanation is that perhaps the human brain and aural system evolves as we age, and whereas before I only heard noise when one of these bands was playing, now I can hear that it is music, there's a beat or some sort of predictability - that's what allows me to like it.

Any ideas? Or you could just call me a poser because I didn't like Spazz from the womb.

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Betercore - Youthcrust Disco!!!graphy [2003]

Betercore - Youthcrust Disco!!!graphy
01. Vlees is Vies
02. SxE But Not an Asshole
03. Multidood
04. Invest
05. Read Between the Li(n)es
06. Betercore Vs. Right-Wing Jock
07. Where Do I Fit In?
08. DIY
09. Man U Suck
10. Punk Is Verzet
11. Fuck Your Pride
12. Soymilk
13. Freedom
14. Count Us Out & Pro-Choice
15. Hooded Sweater
16. Stand Up and Speak
17. For the Sake
18. Consequences
19. Education
20. PVVDA & Bill Gates Society
21. Reclaim the Crown
22. WA Marchiert & Green Woning, Ge
23. NSB
24. Gospelcore
25. 50% Vol.
26. AOV
27. Practice What You Preach
28. Punk Is Resistance
29. Count Us Out

"Betercore existed as a youthcrustcore band, who started in Amsterdam, from 1997 until the winter of 2003." (from Last.fm)
This band fucking rules. Download this shit. Powerviolence similar to What Happens Next?, etc.
Having a bad week, epic breakup, etc. Will post longer reviews when I feel sane. Powerviolence is pretty much the only thing that I can listen to right now.

Download Link

Acid Reflux - Demo

Acid Reflux - Demo
[i think the artwork above is wrong, couldn't find the right one]
01. Vasectomy Boys
02. Do Your Parents Know You're a Ramone?
03. Old Timer
04. Customers Fuck Off
05. I'm No Soldier
06. Do You Like Mangoes?
07. All Bosses Are Bastards
08. Bleed and Destroy
09. Oh Good, There's an Applebee's

Acid Reflux are a fantastically simple, quick-fire hardcore punk band reminiscent of Void and some of the more well-known Canadian hardcore acts like Career Suicide, in that their songs are upbeat and catchy in the same simple 80s-ish hardcore sense.
[Do you know how hard it is to describe music without sounding totally stupid and/or repetitive?]
I was really pleasantly surprised by this band's demo. My favourite track is probably a tie between I'm No Soldier and Oh Good, There's an Applebee's (if not simply for the name).

download link

Behind Enemy Lines - Know Your Enemy

Behind Enemy Lines - Know Your Enemy
01. Behind Enemy Lines
02. Setting Things Right Again
03. American-Made Death Squad
04. Why Does She Stay?
05. The Cure
06. Out of Sight, Out of Mind
07. Devastated
08. Murder at the G8 Summit
09. Voice of Dissent
10. Dogmatic Slumber
11. Fucking Bastards
12. The Growing Wealth Gap

Okay, yeah, a good way to immediate date your band's release after like 4-8 years is to put the current president on the cover. And generally it's less time than that, because usually they have to have had enough time to fuck things up bad enough that bands want to hate them publicly on the covers of albums.
NOTE: Dayglo Abortions - Feed Us a Fetus is a notable exception to this rule, probably because it's so fucking badass and well-done. And Reagan hate has lasted way longer than his tenure as president.
Other than Behind Enemy Lines' choice of artwork, this album is fucking awesome. It's chugging tight political hardcore with screaming vocals that reminds me of Born Against or Brother Inferior. Though the music itself is simple and pared-down, it works well.
I've often heard Behind Enemy Lines mistakenly lumped in with d-beat contemporaries, but they're totally different. Give them a shot. They're really fucking pissed off. My favourite track is the first one, Behind Enemy Lines.

Download Link

Bastardizer - Demo

Bastardizer - Demo
01. Uranium Fire
02. Crawling Chaos
03. Mekong Delta
04. Conquered
05. Dark Paths to Victory

Well I don't know very much about this band beyond the fact that the singer is the same dude who sings for Rammer (I posted about them yesterday). I can't even find a picture or show poster or anything. Oh well. I like pretty much anything the guy does anyway.
Bastardizer (Toronto), not to be confused with Bastardator from Ottawa, or whatever ridiculous number of bands I'm sure exist which have the same root, are a thrashy kind of sludgy hardcore band, slower than Rammer by far. I dunno, I think they fucking ruled and it's too bad they didn't really release anything beyond this obscure demo that I don't even remember buying or downloading.
Ex-members of Rammer and members of The Endless Blockade are currently collaborating on a new band called Slaughter Strike, which I haven't heard yet, but they played their first show a couple of weeks ago I think, so I'm looking forward to hearing it. I heard that it was going to be along the lines of Bastardizer, which I really fucking like (obviously since I'm posting it), so I'm probably not going to be disappointed.
Long story short, great side project thing from the singer of Rammer and some other people.

[I changed my download format - Individual track downloading is a pain in the ass so I think I'll start uploading as a folder.]

Download Link

U.T.I. - S/T E.P. [2008]

U.T.I. - Self-Titled [non-titled?] E.P. [2008]

01. Stavrogin

02. Mr. McGloob

03. Limp Generation

04. Cunt

05. Schadenfreude

06. Nope

07. Bull Tits

08. A. Fish

U.T.I. are my favourite band to play with around here... Their sound is totally unique thanks to Leah's vocals, Magnus' fucking awesome guitar riffs that make me wonder how the hell you even think to write songs like these, and how tight the band is in general. 

Their new drummer is freshly plucked out of the charred remains of Bad Skin, who unfortunately just broke up (or imploded) as a band for good as far as I can tell. I hate to see local bands go, especially when it's a local band who put on house shows in Toronto fairly regularly. But who am I to say "local" anymore anyway, I live in Kingston for the forseeable future.

Anyway, not only do I love playing with U.T.I., but I think I like listening to them as a band even more. Before we even started playing so many shows with them, we wore out an earlier recording of this same demo. I guess if I had to pick a favourite track out of these, I would choose Limp Generation. 

"Cause you can't/you can't/you can't get it up./You don't/you don't/you don't know how to fuck."

Not that I wasn't before, but being affiliated with U.T.I. makes me feel pretty siked about being a woman in hardcore.

Oh right, and come to the show on Saturday, if you read this in time and happen to be from Toronto. Leah is fucking demonic on stage. And I have to make up for last weekend.

Rammer - Cancer [2006]

Rammer - Cancer [2006]

01. Uprising of Death

02. Dataslut

03. Eat Your Guts

04. Rammer

05. From Russia...

06. Butcher

07. Living Torment

08. Fleshstorm

09. Rust & Paranoia

10. Astral Violence

11. Cancer

Rammer, from my hometown (Toronto), are one of my favourite bands of all time, probably. It has a lot to do with growing up in a scene that the band was constantly playing in, but they're an awesomely brutal thrash metal band in their own right. Drawing from bands like Kreator, Destruction and Slayer, this album is my favourite of theirs, as much as people like to say they like a band's older stuff.

They broke up last year, and their final show was epic and one of the best shows I have ever been to. I've been to a lot of shows, so that's saying something. The fact that I'll never get to see this band again is the fucking worst.

If you only download one track, make it Cancer, if only for the 3 most metal guitar notes of all time. You'll know which ones I'm talking about when you hear them.

Limp Wrist - Self-Titled LP [2009]

Limp Wrist - Self-Titled LP [2009]

Track Listing

01. To the Grave

02. Bought Out

03. Dead Weight

04. Collapse

05. Spun

06. Knuckles

07. S.T.A.

 Limp Wrist are an American queercore band, and probably one of my favourite bands in general. The band is made up of members of various existing hardcore bands (e.g. Los Crudos), though I'd say now the success of Limp Wrist as a side project has almost eclipsed their existing bands' success.

You know, it's rare that I ever say a new release from an existing hardcore band is even better than their old stuff, but this is one of those rare instances. This album is my favourite new release this year from any band at all. It's loyal to their older stuff but develops on it. The recording quality is way better than the tracks on their discography, but it doesn't take away from the sound of the band at all. It's fast, thrashy, with throat-ripping vocals.

For a highlight, Spun is my favourite track off this album. The vocals are brutally fast and the singer spits them out like it's nothing to him.