If you are confused, and nothing comes to your mind, but don’t want to list similar bands, just write dumbfounding and cockeyed, or food maniac no wave collage, but never: avant-garde. I think it’s sounding cool.

NEW FRIES is a quartet from Toronto, Canada

„MORE” 10″ EP on TELEPHONE EXPLOSION RECORDS (CAN). Listen to it!

Ben Greenberg (ex-The Men) and Michael Berdan (ex-Drunkdriver)

are in UNIFORM.

It’s an industrial metal machine, like the Ministry was.

But most telling about the world of UNIFORM the artists they like:

Pier Paolo Pasolini, Hermann Nitsch, Monte Cazazza, Helios Creed

Second album WAKE IN FRIGHT OUT NOW on SACRED BONES (US)

Berdan says about lyrics: Thematically these songs have more in common with the works of Hubert Selby, Jr (Last Exit to Brooklyn) than Lucio Fulci (City of the Living Dead). These are stories about people at the end of their proverbial ropes. Their old medicines are no longer effective and their old ways of living cause them nothing but confusion and despair. They are paralyzed by fear, regret, and self-doubt.

Greenberg says about music: This music is our response to and our reflection of the overwhelming violence, chaos, hate, and destruction that confronts us and everyone else in the world every day of our lives. When we play, I don’t feel powerless anymore. I hope this record can help others transcend their anger and frustration.

Anyway

A funny band form Bristol

THE EVIL USSES

play rock but jazz but punk or vice inversa, say like the Deerhoof

New album Amateur Pro-Wrestling out soon on STOLEN BODY RECORDS (UK).

Produced by John Dieterich of Deerhoof.

French synth-punk band CHEVEU and GROUP DOUEH from Western Sahara spent two weeks together in the city of Dakhla in 2016, and they wrote and recorded an album together.

Western-Sahara is the home of Sahrawi people. They are speaking a variant of Maghrebi Arabic, and have Berber, Bedouin and Black African ethnic backgrounds.

Their basic instruments are percussions and traditional stringed instruments which ones often replaced by electric guitar nowadays. The region was under Spanish rule until 1975, then Morocco and Mauritania divided up, but there is a movement of independence, called Polisario, which established his state in the inner Western Sahara.

On the one hand – The leader of Group Doueh was born in Dakhla in 1966, at that time it was a village. Of course he made his first guitar himself with metal can and fishing wire – as the legend says. His heroes are Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Mark Knopfler, and also influenced by Moroccan chaabi and psychedelic music, e.g. Nass El Ghiwane, which was established as an avant-garde political theatre in 1971.

„When I take the instrument, I leave elsewhere. I am absent. Music is my life. I inherited from my father who played percussion from house to house. I can approach any kind of styles, but I track down traditional music, the source.”

On the other hand – French trio Cheveu is not really punk in fact, rather outsider, in out of control zone, somewhere between the crazy psychedelic rock of the 60s and the no wave, industrial and electronic music of the late 70s.

At first files were exchanged, then Cheveu went to Dakhla to play, write and record songs together for two weeks. It was hard to bring together these distant universes.

The music of Doueh is often very ornamented improvisation. „The trigger thing was to fix one of their themes in punk rock mode. It freed us. They made a lot of improvisations, variations, and whenever you thought you had picked up, they left elsewhere…” „At this stage we played a few selected pieces of our repertoire to show what we are going to see (…) in response they suddenly started „Acid Waltz”, a theme brought by us, but they little by little made twists on it.

And finally there was a common live show at a venue. „At first Group Doueh goes to the stage, later Cheveu joins them. And everyone begins to find his place in a repertoire that they have refined for ten days. David takes the microphone. Some women dance. There is even a Parisian who made the trip after he saw the announcement of the event on Facebook. All of a sudden, Hicham turns to me: „Alan Vega in the sand! ”

OUT NOW ON BORN BAD RECORDS (FR)

USA was having trouble
What a sad, sad story
Needed a new leader to restore
Its former glory
Where, oh, where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around and then we found
The man for you and me

And now it has begun. Dismantle Obamacare – build a wall (Chinese Great was ineffective, Berliner stood for 28 years, many people were killed when they tried to cross, it was demolished by the citizens in 1989) – use water torture –  climate change and environmental pollution do not matter. And the lies are just „alternative facts” by Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, who thinks herself as a patriot.

„You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages – they haven’t ended yet” – wrote American writer Kurt Vonnegut in his novel Deadeye Dick.

*

LANA DEL RABIES is the solo dark experimental electronic project of American media artist Sam An. She creates rhythmic chaos from digital and analog sources. Combines beats, noise, synths and a passion for horror soundtracks into a futuristic brand of goth that still loves the technologically curious days of early death rock.

„Everything feels messy at the moment. Expresses all of our fears with this appropriate cover of David Bowie. Cthulhu release us all.”

– I was travelling in Java when the first McDonalds went up: it was like, ‘for fuck’s sake.’ The invasion by any homogenized culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows expression of life – said Bowie about his 1997’s song „I’m Afraid of Americans.” It was co-written with Brian Eno. He has written recently

„I think Donald Trump is a complete disaster. And Brexit is a disaster too. That said, what I think is an even greater disaster is that we in the US and the UK – and increasingly the rest of the world – live inside political systems that can produce absurd results like these.

We now see political careers built upon lies and deceit and encouraged by openly biased media organisations, more concerned about revenue and ratings than giving the public real information. Democracy assumes an informed public: it doesn’t work if the media are corrupt.

Changing the faces at the top doesn’t alter anything if the whole machinery beneath them stays the same – the rich become the super-rich, the middle class stagnates and the poor get poorer.

My hope – the only hope really – is that Trump in office will reveal himself for what he really is, and that the public will roundly and unequivocally reject him and everything he stands for – his terrible policies, his jingoism, his arrogance, his childishness, his lies, his prejudices and his small-mindedness. In rejecting Trump we’ll also start to take down the whole malignant media-political structure that so lovingly nurtured him.

As I’ve written before, I believe that Trump can turn out to be not the beginning of a long decline, but the end of one – the turning point. For 40 years we’ve been sliding into a deepening pit of inequality, fear-driven nationalism and conservatism, and mostly not noticing.

Trump’s presidency could inadvertently change that – not because he’s going to do anything right but because his election is energising people to come to grips with the fact that their political system is fundamentally broken and it’s time to do something about it.”

*

The initial lyrics of this post is taken from musical The Producers.
Just I have replaced Germany with USA.

GARAGE ROCKIN’ CRAZE

a film about the Japanese rock and roll underground

Music: „Fire Starter” by TEXACO LEATHERMAN

„Some acts have bummed around with Daddy-O for nearly 30 years. They’re not getting signed to a major label anytime soon. Why keep at it? The director Mario Cuzik thinks it’s the creative element.

“When art is your job you lose freedom. I don’t see people chasing fame. They value freedom, even if it means working a second job. They don’t need a producer telling them how to make sales and grow a fan base.”

„I’m a 1 percenter and I hate the other 99 percent,” 57-year-old concert promoter Daddy-O-Nov says with a laugh. He works as an assistant plumber installing combination bathrooms to finance his events and record label, Radio Underground Records, that specializes in undiscovered acts.”

More on Japan Times

Facebook

Mario Cuzik YouTube page with many live videos

Pop like The Pixies, and punk like the Parquet Courts, with such great songs like the aforementioned have.    

TERRY is an Aussie quartet with members of such great bands as UV Race, Total Control, Dick Diver, Constant Mongrel or Lower Plenty – and Xanthe Waite sings one of Mick Harvey’s Gainsbourg album.

It has been formed after a Total Control US tour in Mexico City in 2015 when two couples have decided to start a simple and charming pop band that could tour and vacation together. But more telling about that “simple and charming pop” that The Rebel (ex-Country Teasers) was chosen to play with them on their first show in London.

8 GIRLS on 7″ VINYL by TERRY

RECENTLY RELEASED on UPSET THE RHYTHM (UK)

The three songs explores themes of patriarchy in politics, mass consumption versus lifestyle choices and the dating scene. On the cover you can find seven Australian politician women, and one Angela Merkel. They said about  

The national identity in Australia is primarily male. Women in the public sphere are expected to take on the characteristics of national identity more so than men. They are also required to prove themselves as Australian women.

Not only are female Australian politicians expected to represent characteristics of national identity they usually also show a greater level of Australian masculinity. It’s a fast track to be taken seriously. But many of the females in power seem to give up common sense.

Some women I have found

Health Minister poor Sussan Ley has resigned after using a taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an A$795,000 (£473,300; $585,200) apartment on Queensland’s Gold Coast in 2015. And also went to New Year parties in 2013 and 2014 on taxpayers’ money.

Lower house speaker Ms Bronwyn Bishop charged taxpayers A$5,000 (£2,300, $3800) to fly by helicopter to a Liberal Party fundraiser in 2015. It was a journey of 65 km (40 miles). At longest one hour with car. And of course she had not just a car, but a driver too, paid by taxpayers, of course. She also claimed expenses for attending weddings, opera and art events. Resigned as speaker, and was defeated on the next election.

Right-wing populist senator Ms Pauline Hanson and her male mate were sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2003 because of false statements about their party members in order to register their organisation in Queensland as a political party, and apply for electoral funding.

In her book, titled The Truth, Ms Hanson predicted that in 2050 Australia would have a lesbian president of Chinese-Indian background called Poona Li Hung who would be a cyborg. No wonder that one of her party candidate, Ms Stephanie Banister, said in an interview that Islam is a country, and the Jews worship Jesus. And she is a graduated woman.

„Money, you got plenty of it
You leave it around your place
Who knows?
You might end up in the bin”

Terry – Bin

*

Ha-ha-ha, those amounts of money are ridiculously tinies. A tip category in the post-communist Hungary. But the rate of stupidity of senator Ms Hanson and Ms Banister is ordinary in the Hungarian policy and public life.

But what is absurd. The almighty Liliputin dictator, Viktor Orbán – aka über führer – , his government and the feudal lords of Hungary have recently made war on the civil society, in order to prevent the organized objection and extirpate the pluralism.

Just like in the pre-Stalinist Hungary in 1947-48, when communist minister of the interior, László Rajk, banned the civil organizations. He ended up on a gallows as the star of a show trial in 1949.

So dear Australian friends you must – how comrade Lenin said – learn, learn, and learn.

from their debut album TERRY HQ on UPSET THE RHYTHM (UK)

Just in time for the Trump presidency,

one of our favourite electro-hardcore-punks
TIT WRENCH releases their first album in years
titled Why Question Authority?

with all your favorite TIT WRENCH members:
Bob Barley, Pea Hix, Matt Anderson (Heroin/Gravity Records), Gunnar, Harpo;
are joined by J Lesser (Lesser) and Rob Crow
for a punk noise electro pop masterpiece.
Many guests stop by including Justin Pearson (Locust/Retox),
The Harpettes and too many others to list.

Buy it here

Poor’s Man Ministry – RNR666 podcast full with classic Tit Wrench hits.

Interview with Bob about TIT WRENCH on RNR666.

„As some of the injuries done us have become intolerable we have still been clear that we wished nothing for ourselves that we were not ready to demand for all mankind – fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and to be at ease against organized wrong.”

Woodrow Wilson, president of US, inaugural address, 1917

DOOMSDAY STUDENT

is a perverse noise rock band like Lightning Bolt or Happy Flowers

new album A Self-Help Tragedy on Skin Graft and 3-1-G Records (US)

You can listen to in it its entirety

After five years, Doomsday Student will be touring Europe again. We’ll be there May 27 though June 8 of 2017! More details, including cities and venues are forthcoming.

DS has been formed by ex-members of perverse noise rock band Arab on Radar. It was so perverse, that when it was opening for Marilyn Manson in their hometown, Providence, Rhose Island, the band was expelled out from the club by the audience.

Inauguration song by traditional blues-punk duo BASSHOLES

All Bandcamp donations will go to the American Civil Liberties Union or to legal defense for protesters arrested on Jan. 20.

but We The State

„We must not forget anything. We must know our history, know it as it really is, draw lessons from it and always remember those who created the Russian state, championed its dignity and made it a great, powerful and mighty state.

We shall preserve that memory, and we shall preserve that tradition through the ages. We shall hand down to our descendants all that is best in our history – all that is best.

Esteemed citizens of Russia, we believe in our strength, in our ability to really transform and transfigure the country. We have common goals.

We want our Russia to be a free, prosperous, rich, strong and civilized country, a country of which its citizens are proud and which is respected in the world.  (…)

We believe you. We are counting on you. Don’t deceive us. I can assure you that in my work I will be guided only by the interests of the state but there may well be mistakes. But I can promise you, and indeed I do promise, you that I will work openly and honestly.

I consider it my sacred duty to unite the people of Russia and to gather citizens around the clearly-defined tasks and aims and to remember, every minute of every day, that we are one nation and we are one people. We have one common destiny.”

Putin’s inauguration speech as president, 2000

„Going to the Feelies this evening, Henry?” enquired the Assistant Predestinator. „I hear the new one at the Alhambra is first-rate. There’s a love scene on a bearskin rug; they say it’s marvelous. Every hair of the bear reproduced. The most amazing tactual effects…”

In Huxley’s Brave New World THE FEELIES are entertainment devices,
in the reality are an American „alternative rock band”,
but today this term means nothing, even it would be startling.
They had one of the biggest influences on R.E.M., but I dislike them,
but I’m sure also on the Parquet Courts.
It was said they were the best underground band in New York,
and are among the nation’s most beloved alternative rock bands,
but their first records were released in the UK by Stiff and Rough Trade Records in 1979/80.

„The sound we were after was a reaction against the punk scene (…) we felt it had all been done before. We wanted the guitars to be cleaner, and we started experimenting with a lot of percussion.” But punk is just an attitude.

After their first album CRAZY RHYTHMS there were five years hiatus, because two members left the band. One of them, the drummer, Anton Fier went to The Lounge Lizard, worked with Pere Ubu (the 1978 Pere Ubu EP Datapanik in the Year Zero was dedicated to him), was in the Voidoids and founded The Golden Palominos.

After four albums The Feelies disbanded in 1992, reunited in 2008 by request of Thurston Moore, new record in 2011, brand new one in 2017 on BAR/NONE RECORDS (US)

Anyway they are like The Velvet Underground without heroin. And otherwise the Assistant Predestinator is an Alpha male that is employed at the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre. His job is to make all the decisions on the new humans being created. Predestinators decide whether that individual will become an Alpha, a Beta, a Delta, a Gamma or an Epsilons. Each caste level is raised with different hynopaedia lessons and has different roles in the World State.

Huxley set the story in London in 2540. There the non-conformity is a crime, so the punks are dead. Or in jail or metnal hospital. But nevermind, here are the AI and the Smart People Party! Get the app!

BAEDEKER TO THE BRAVE NEW WORLD

30 Years Anniversary Tribute Album for the Monsters

A tavaly 30 éves Monsters zenekar születésnapja alkalmából egy három lemezes sorozattal kedveskedett nekünk. A harmadik egy Monsters dalokat tartalmazó feldolgozás album. Tizenöt dal – azaz a bakeliten csak tizennégy, mert a Roy & The Devil’s Motorcycle tizenkét perces Pony Tail & Black Cadillac átirata csak a CD-re fért fel – de nem kell megijedni, mert a Voodoo Rhythm Records-nál évek óta a vinyl lemezhez automatikusan jár a CD is. Vannak a lemezen az istállóhoz tartozó bandák, és vannak baráti csapatok innen-onnan, kábé fele-fele arányban.

Jó az egész lemez, meg érdekes is, hogy ki, hogyan alakítja át saját képére a dalokat. Nekem egyértelműen a lemez második felén található hármas tetszik a legjobban, a 9-10-11. szám, amit akár ipari blokknak is nevezhetnénk, de legalábbis no wave-nek. Mindegy.

Sudden Infant kezd, ami Joke Lanz alteregója, aki a 90-es évek eleje óta készít noise / experimental felvételeket – de tonna számra! – és mint extrém body art művész is ismert. Az ő száma itt a More You Talk. Ezután Helios & Hess jön, akik a svájci ipari csapat, a Herpes Ö Deluxe tagjai. Velük készítette Beat-Man tíz éve a csodálatos Reverend Beat-Man & The Church of Herpes nagylemezt. Itt szerintem Monsters lemezekről vett hangmintákból vágtak össze egy dalt némi gitár gerjesztés és fémcsörömpölés kíséretében. A blokkot a Bigeneric, azaz Marco Repetto zárja, aki a legutolsó ‘M’ című albumról dolgozta fel a Let Me Spend A Night With Your Wife című dalt, és kreált az amúgy egyszálgitáros kesergőből egy minimál pszichedelik valamit. Ha a 90-es években egy DJ ezt rákeveri valami big beat lemezre, biztos hogy beőrültem volna! Nem mellékesen Marco Repetto 1977 és 80 között Bern – innen való a Voodoo Rhythm Records, és itt található a Voodoo Rhythm lemezbolt – első punk zenekarában a Gluemas-ban zenélt, ami később Grauzone lett, és volt is egy német nyelvterületen slágerlistás daluk, az Eisbar, amit éppen ő írt.

Nagyon fasza album, végül is az egész lemez nagyon jó, vannak beindult trash’n’roll-ok (The Sex Organs, The Devils), punk cuccok (The Failed Theachers, The Seniles), érzelmesebb dolgok (Dylan Walshe) vagy exotica (Ronaldo Bruno és Nicole Garcia, akit meg is tudsz hallgatni!). Borító űber, mint általában, nem Facebook barát, belül rengeteg sosem látott fotó a zenekarról.

Az ünnepi sorozat első lemezéről ITT a másodikról ITT írtunk.

Happy birthday Monsters, jó egészséget, meg minden!