Swallow This

The end of our last century brought the hardcore world platitudes-a-plenty, from the personal to the sweepingly apocalyptic. But there was always an overpowering, undermining presence, seeping out now and again from the barrio cracks, and snapping us out of our self-righteous daze.  Spearheading this force was Martin and Lengua Armada Discos.  Both names have become inseparable from the names Crudos and Limp Wrist, but this post will focus on one of the less celebrated bastard children of the franchise, Tragatelo. I'd like to think it was celebrated less only because of its brief existence.  As Ricardo pointed out, the band was formed by Martin and Lina (of Subsistencia) among other hardworking musicians active in the late '90's.  Lina takes most of the vocal duties, and the band backs her bansheefied screams with the same raw and elemental drive that immortalized some of Crudos's finest work. New fangled designs will come, dazzle, and eventually succumb to obsolescence or else collapse under the weight of their own convolutions.  But the LA Discos workshop hammered out simple ones, made of the most solid stuff, and which aren't likely to wear out for some time yet.

 The twelve inch below comprises the band's tiny discography, collecting their side of the split demo (with Kontraattaque) and some unreleased tracks.

¡Tragatelo!

Recently Re-upped:

The "El Guapo Comp."

Nuestra Tierra Anahuac

Amid the abysmal mire of gloom, doom, and nihilism that marks our current era of crusty hardcore comes a light, once again not from the coming epoch, but from the previous one.  Among other things, nineties political bands still had some fight left in them, and no shortage of hope.  I love revisiting these bands, not just for nostalgia, but under the pretext that we might come full circle again in the near future, that the collapse we are anticipating will be a transformation, not a terminus.  All of this is encompassed beautifully in Subsistencia's only release, the "Nuestra Tierra Anahuac" CD.  Much like their Scottish contemporaries, Sedition, Subsistencia draw their vision from an atavistic connection to the land of their/our ancestors, in this case, to Meso-America (Aztecs, mainly).  Musically they're not far off from the last comparison, although their aggressive tracks remind me more of Disaffect (along with the spirit and occasional ska/reggae tendency of Sin Dios).  In between the pounding and thrashing there are softer passages with undistorted guitars and flute, which add an individual character to the band, and make for an epic listening experience.  I also appreciate how the dual vocals are shouted loudly and clearly, making it forgivable that no lyrics are provided in the insert.  Grounded in the past as they might seem, the band is very much about their present (mid/late nineties) and our future (present?), showing a strong concern for the place occupied by developing nations in the global era, and their ensuing struggle.  Passe as this all may seem to the cynics among us, I anticipate that bands like Subsistencia will one day again be considered visionary, a feeling I'm already inclined toward.

Subsistencia - "Nuestra Tierra Anahuac" (Xicano Records and Film, 1998)

Recently Re-uploaded:

"400 Day Headache" Comp
Ivich Records and comp appearances
Enewetak rarities
Hybride
Sea Shepherd 7"