[engl] "IT! doesn't need too much of a description. Third album of this UK anarcho-dub/reggae-punk group. Being on the road for a mere of 15 years now the INNER TERRESTRIALS deliver 14 new tracks devided on two 12"" LPs wrapped in a thick gatefold and 21x21 12 Page Booklet... Back in 2009 the Inner Terrestrials whetted everyone’s appetites by releasing an excellent four song pre release EP to Tales of Terror. After 3 years of anticipatory salivating, the album is finally ready and it was definitely worth the wait. It’s hard to believe that their first LP iT! was released sixteen ago in 1996 but the Inner Terrestrials have remained impressively faithful to their original sound. Satisfyingly thick distortion sandwiches prickly ska on nearly every track and the album is peppered with welcome descents into the experimental realms of dub. Jay has a real knack for fiddling about with upstrokes, managing to squeeze in quirky flourishes and cheeky slides which keep chord sequences lively and interesting. Fran and Paco keep everything in check, providing solid bass and pounding drums throughout the album. Aside from “Battlefield” which features Jay’s haunting tin whistle and Cheggers’ bouzouki, the band’s folk influences are perhaps less overt than they were in iT! with “Free the Land” or X with “Mountain Of Led”. Tales of Terror does however maintain a fairly healthy balance between the more hardcore and the lighter songs. “Run Tings” is cheerful, despite its dour subject of social control, and is sprinkled with soundbytes, while the choppy distorted upstrokes of “Progress” are guaranteed to get any crowd skanking furiously. “Heaven’s Wrath” is possibly my favourite track which glides effortlessly between hardcore punk, dub and ska and is everything an Inner Terrestrials track should be: angry, dubby and thoroughly stompable. (...)Tales of Terror perfectly captures their unsettled, miserable quality which is as if Jay is singing through a sigh; accentuated by downtrodden harmonies in the fantastic “Law Dealers” and punctuated with contrasting gruff, angry snarls in “Dark Scar”. The lyrics are brimming with political disdain; passionately decrying outmoded laws, speaking out against the UK’s dubious foreign policy and rejecting aspects of society few have barely questioned. Environmentally conscious songs such as “Progress” reinforce the Inner Terrestrials’ deep concern regarding man’s relation to the land; an issue explored in earlier releases in tracks such as “Earth Must” and “Middle Oak”. Despite its bleak subject matter, Tales of Terror contains subtle messages of solidarity together with a rationale for change, encouraging people to stand up for themselves in order to make a difference. The Inner Terrestrials have well and truly delivered on their latest release; inspiring, triumphing and making you want to have a bloody good dance as well. (Shuffle Core) Includes 12 Page Booklet!"

[engl] Ragdoll Dance is the 4th album by New York-via Texas punks Institute. Most underground punk bands don’t make four albums, but it makes sense for Institute. Even on their earliest releases, Institute’s sound teemed with possibility, drawing from a long history of anarcho-punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and fusing those aesthetics with great, classic-sounding songwriting. Ragdoll Dance finds Institute back with their original lineup (including Albert from Nosferatu and Altar of Eden on drums) and returning to a DIY approach to recording, working both at home (using the same setup as singer Moses Brown’s solo project, Peace de Résistance) and with Joe and Owen of D4MT Labs, whose gritty yet vital recordings have documented some of DIY punk’s best contemporary bands. Institute also chose to work within the international hardcore community to release the record; Brown plays drums in Secretors alongside Joe from Roach Leg Records, whose label is known for releasing some of the noisiest, most fringe recordings in the punk sub-underground (across the pond they’ve gone with the iconic La Vida Es Un Mus). While Ragdoll Dance is culturally embedded in the world of DIY hardcore punk, musically it tends to move back toward the more eclectic sound of Salt and Catharsis. The album’s title is a nod to Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Brown also cites arty post-punks Magazine as an influence on the record, which shows on tracks like “City” and “Where’s It Go,” energetic, left-of-center pop songs that challenge but also gratify. If you’re looking for the savage young Institute, though, “Uncle Sam’s Hate” and “Plateau of Self” crackle with raw rock and roll energy that few groups can summon, particularly groups with Institute’s inimitable style, musical chops, and lyrical weight. While so many punk bands peak early, Institute has continued to refine these qualities, and Ragdoll Dance’s assured tone makes it as vital as anything they’ve recorded so far.

[engl] Full unreleased album by this legendary minimal synth band from Germany out now on our friends from RED LOUNGE RECORDS, faithfully remastered by Tim Warren for Superior Sound! Housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, containing the band story, family tree and more information. A true KILLER RELEASE!

[engl] The new album! Imagine a mash up of Devo, Geza X, ISM and Screamers framed by the manic start/stop pace of Koro. Demented synth skronk. Paranoid visons. Inverted futurism. They're Scandinavian teens. Edition of 300 copies.

[engl] Spikes+ is an expanded edition of ISS’s pandemic-themed 2020 cassette, whose uniquely packaged, self-released edition came and went before most anyone could hear about it. With some of ISS’s best songs—like the anthemic title track, the unexpectedly touching "Cellmate,” and the blistering “Facemask”—Sorry State couldn’t bear to let Spikes pass as a mere blip in the zeitgeist. Besides the five tracks from the original Spikes cassette, Spikes+ includes “Puttin’ on the Blitz” from 2016’s Studs cassette, 2018’s self-titled 7” on Sorry State, ISS’s three tracks from 2019’s American Idylls compilation, and the 2020 single Too Punk for Heavy Metal. Highlights abound here too, from the cowbell-infused “One-Sided Triangle” to the Agent Orange-inspired lead guitar on “I Wanna Be Dated” (courtesy Scarecrow’s Jef Leppard). Like the best odds-n-sods compilations, Spikes+ sounds great whether you’re revisiting old favorites or making new ones.

[engl] A year characterised by a pandemic, lockdowns, political ineptitude and oh, so much staying the fuck at home is enough to make anyone want to blow off a little steam. One overused piece of glib idiocy at the start of the Trump era was ‘at least punk will be good’, as though punk can only be good when it flips the bird to right-wing, authritarian shit-headery rather than amplifying anything else. Sure, there’ve been plenty of great records over the last four years, but sometimes (across the whole of 2020, for instance) the levels of anger, fear and frustration can be overwhelming and you need a little space to goof around. For some of us, though, goofing around is serious business - and here’s a record to illustrate that perfectly. Smirk is the solo project of Public Eye’s Nick Vicario, and while you’ll hear similarities to his main outfit across these 12 excellent tracks (from the off, you can imagine how PE might refine garage-carved nuggets like ‘S Construction’), here there’s less sang-froid and more… well, fun. The reference points you might expect are still there (Killed By Death comps and Wire, especially their 80s period, to name a couple), but with added scuzz and something even approaching joy - the whirling synths of ‘Eyes Conversing’ feel ominous, but they also convey a sense of delirious excitement. And dammit, it’s all fucking cool too. With a name like Smirk, your first instinct might well be to wonder whether Vicario is laughing at us. The first line of the album (a defiant ‘it’s not funny’) should tell you that this isn’t the case, but the album certainly finds him in playful mood. The tasteful acoustic instrumental ‘Lude 2’ descends deliberately into farce as it speeds up and slows down like a turntable alternating speeds, or a record warping in real time. Obviously you’re gonna play this on vinyl, dear reader, purchased directly from Drunken Sailor or Feel It Records, but we all know that those other listeners - not us, the other guys - are gonna chiefly listen on phones or through laptop speakers. It’s a 37-second sketch, but it prompts questions of what it means for technology to fail nowadays - can a record warp when it’s all bound up in digital files? Where does the disconnect lie between the player and the record; when the objects exist only virtually? Am I overthinking this? Oh, almost certainly, but it’s a record that’ll kick that noggin of yours into overdrive. Get involved, get addicted and laugh along.

[engl] Total Punk is proud to present the debut 7" from Minneapolis supergroup IV (featuring members of Joust, Citric Dummies, Color TV, ). A four song fist pumping face pummel. A band well aware of the power of punk simplicity and wielding it with perfection. Buzzsaw guitars, quick chords changes, and the occasional stop/ start all propelled forward by huge vocal hooks. I first saw these guys at an American Legion last year and the songs were still stuck in my head when they sent these recordings four months later.

[engl] JANELLE from Philadelphia is a duo that mixes up genres since 2013. After putting out two tapes on SUICIDE BONG TAPES it's time for them to get their first proper vinyl release. It's kinda hard to describe the defining sound of FAULT LINES, but here ya go: Put a little bit of synthies and Indie into a glass bowl and stir it up with a nice portion of Shoegaze until it cracks. Now sprinkle the tangled mass with some catchy melodies and enjoy dark sounding titles like "HATE" or "DESTROY". Sounds contradicting to you? Well, give it a listen and you'll know! Released in cooperation with FDH Records (USA). Limited to 150 copies.

[engl] 12 Motor city punk tracks : 50 years of rock & roll in this, For fans of Stooges, Rocket From The Crypt, MC5, Radio Birdman, Hellacopters, Saints, Turbo Negro

[engl] You know as a musician if you ever supported Wat Tyler you really should consider giving up. Luckily for you Jesse ignored that non-existent rule and despite a European Tour together, they ploughed ahead and recorded this LP. It never sold in massive numbers but that’s neither here nor there. it still holds a special place in my heart. Sean Forbes (Wat Tyler / Rugger Bugger Discs - Gypsy Hill, London Town)

[engl] JJ and the A’s release their debut 6 track EP and it’s a barrage of punk nuggets that explode out of the speaker. The treble is on full and the bass down low as the Danish/Barcelona powerpunk band unleash hell and fury. This is punk from the golden eras of the late 70’s and early 80's and even a bit of early 90's from people who have been involved in hardcore scene for all of their adult lives. It’s relentless and is an absolute fireball of speed and energy. Think a mix of Gorilla Angreb, Screamers, Spits, Rip Off Records and those classic Killed by Death 7”s that now are worth thousands. Get your dancing shoes on and enjoy every last second of this gem that came out of nowhere. (Sean Forbes)

[engl] I can’t imagine this band name would work if you went with anything other than “Richard.” “Richard” just has this poncy air about it that really sells this dumb joke. Anyway, this project is the work of a single person—presumably a Richard—who’s been at it since about 2016. He peddles an oddball mix of noise, minimalist avant-pop, dub, yé-yé, downtempo electronica, and space age bachelor pad music. It’s out there, man! Depending on the track, it can sound like a more listener friendly MEN’S RECOVERY PROJECT, a less wacky MR. BUNGLE (Disco Volante-era), or, like, the entire Ralph Records roster covering the poppier cuts from CABARET VOLTAIRE’s Red Mecca. Dude may be a Dick, but he made a cool record. This is the future, but not yours! - MRR

[engl] A highly significant leaked dossier of ripping hardcore, ‘Intelligence’ is dripping with arch rage and lateral hatred. This unrelenting dispatch from camp ? sees their quick fire bile launcher trained expertly on insidious fascisms old and new, looking both inwards to their home state of North Carolina and outwards to the murderous effects of American foreign policy, facing down this complex cluster fuck without flinching, reduction or cliché, instead deploying all the class, riffs and wordplay you’ve come expect from these quarters. Fusing the wild-ass pace Japanese hardcore mania with riffs recalling Poison Idea at their moist concentrated dose, Intelligence is both a sonic ultimatum and a helpful compass. Mandatory listening for both those who are just waking up to the nightmare, and those, like Joint D?, who’ve had eyes on their drones in the sky for quite some time