A Hardcore Mess

I picked up the "Japankore Omnibus Vol. 2" one-sided 12" comp mainly for the Sink track. But that's not the only reason I keep playing it. The Japankore imprint was the brainchild of Japanophile, Brian (of Drop Dead). For this installment, he had The Gaia assemble seven all-female bands from Japan (including themselves), and then tacked on a mix-gender upstart band called Melt Banana. Maybe you've heard of them. The result is quite a wonderful little mess.

Orfee, of Cephalochromoscope, was gracious enough to offer his scanning craftsmanship for the graphics. Some tech issues prevented him from re-ripping his copy, so I did my best to handle the audio. Thanks, brooooo! Be sure to go over to Cephscope and say Hi and download the Senseless Apocalypse CD.

The Omnibus

The Bands:

Dead and Gone & The Gaia

Every once in a while, Prank Records will crank out a little limited gem under the legs of their more high profile output. I missed out on the Dead And Gone/Gaia split... until now! It's kind of an odd pairing, but when both bands cook, little else matters. Such is the case here. Dead And Gone garnered some well deserved attention a few years ago with their Neurosis-shaded metallic punk. These sound like fairly early tracks, although I can't verify it because my copy had no insert. I can verify that the rhythm section's work on "Violets" conjures a beautiful, hair-erecting phenomenon when I listen to it, and that I wholly recommend these tracks...

With this split, The Gaia makes its third appearance on this blog. It's no coincidence-- I love the energetic hardcore these ladies belted forth! The three offerings herein have pretty good sound, and definitely fall more on the hardcore side of the slippery, diverse rock spectrum this band had mastered. If you enjoyed the material on the "This One" CD, you get more of that kind of tough love (I can't seem to find my copy, but I'm pretty sure these songs on not on it).

Enjoy

Earth Muthaz

Let's stop the gloom and doom for a quick moment to have some good wholesome fun! Don't The Gaia folks look like the kind of people you'd want to hang out with? Too bad you can't. The next best thing is to rock out to this high-energy 7" they put out in the mid nineties ("No. 1", Six Weeks Records). Don't worry, there are plenty of fast hardcore beats and riffs, and Gäna's vocals, from her deep from the diaphragm wails, to her warrior princess screams, may become your favorites of all time. Then you got the "gang" or "crew" style backup vocals, which for some reason sound better when done by women. These ladies add fun and rock 'n Roll to their hardcore in a way that doesn't seem forced. For a great way to start your Sunday...

Click here.



Repost Alert!!!

So it's back to the doom and gloom again. I've been wanting to re-rip and post Sink's "Sad But True" 7" for a while, and this seems like a great place to drop it. It's from the same era and country as Gaia, but it's non-stop menacing crust you'll receive from these pissed off women. Now you get it at 320 kbps, so you can enjoy the filthy crustiness in higher fidelity! The EP was originally released on MCR Records, but I ordered it many years ago from Sound Pollution, which unfortunately is closing its doors. It's the end of an era, but hopefully Ken Pollution will enjoy the time freed up by his retirement from record producing.

"Sad But True" @ 320

One Nation Under GOB

This double post concludes the GOB series (for now). The download link below conveniently combines two classic, rare, noisy compilations, starting with "Mandatory Marathon" (Amendment Records, 1999?). A comp. that boasts multiple tracks from Charles Bronson, Capitalist Casualties, The Gaia, Palatka, GOB, and Laceration should require no encouragement for download. Two warnings though: 1. The sound quality is rather ass-like 2. There are several "joke" or "experimental" bands/projects on this one that are less than entertaining. Regardless, there's some rare noise here that you need.

Back Cover: Try not to go blind reading the track list








Also featured in the folder below is this Food Not Bombs benefit comp. Six Weeks Records put out in the late nineties. There's some good to great Reno bands, and some other semi-well-known bands like The Dread and Bristle. There's also a decent amount of variety (all within the boundaries of punk and hardcore) and you may find yourself liking the bands you haven't heard of. Nice little record!

Back Cover:

Download these comps HERE