Dead Cops - Kill The Cops (1984)

Dead Cops - Kill The Cops (1984)

Kill The Cops is the only record by Dead Cops. However, there is a rad live bootleg over at Terminal Escape, Although Dead Cops were a Japanese band, the vocalist, Roger, is an American. I can only assume he moved to Japan for a while and then went back to the US to work as a stagehand/AV tech from the nineties-present.You can find his blog HERE, but his MP3's are long dead.

According to Roger, Dead Cops were around for a mere nine months around the 83/84 mark. However, nearly all the members went on to have much more success in the Jap punk underground. Obviously Tatsu lended his axe-mastery to Gastunk, Jha Jha went to do vocals in Lip Cream, and Roger played in SiC among other bands.

Obviously it's a bit strange with an American fronting a Jap band. You see this record listed as Jap hardcore, and you get someone who doesn't sound Japanese whatsoever as the focal point. This makes for the record being somewhat underwhelming. However, the track Kill The Cops is pretty meaty. Maybe Rog was trying to sound like Sakevi?

Jeff Bale reviewed this record in Maximum Rock'n'Roll, way back in 1984:
A Japanese band that seems to be heavily influenced by MDC in terms of both moniker and lyrical concerns, though they're far more superficial if not fatuous. Their sound, however, is a dense metallic buzz underlying raspy, zombie-like vocals (especially on the title song). I think the singer is American.
Jeff Bale (from Maximum Rocknroll #16, August 1984)

Like Jeff states. It's a bit like MDC lyrically as well as musically...only not as genuine. With that said, this is a pretty good flexi. Tatsu absolutely lets rip in title track, showing what he was capable of before his masterclass in shred with Gastunk! Rogers vocals are so-so. The bass is rough and ready, and the drums pound along dutifully. Pretty standard really. If all the tracks were like Kill The Cops, this would be a total winner.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!lV5HnRLB!t4tn_FxCSmOvTvT4493gNZqNPedTgu5Qo3eDfVA38fc

State Children - Bomb Shelter For Moneymaking! (1984)

State Children - Bomb Shelter For Moneymaking! (1984)

I find it pretty funny when I hear some people comparing black metal guitar tones to terrestrial radios or beehives. Obviously these people have never delved into the insanity of Japanese punk! Whoever played guitar on this record is an absolute legend. The guitar is pretty much there for ambiance rather than laying down a rhythm or hook! Throughout these four tracks of malevolent noise, the bass plods along...y'know, playing notes and riffs. At some points you can hear the guitar roughly following the bass lines. But overall, it's just making fucked up noise! The vocals are vicious and biting, in that Japanese punk way. For some reason, when Japanese guys scream, it sounds like they're getting their intestines pulled out. Crazy stuff. Drum wise, it's pretty much bass-snare, punctures (accenting stop/start riffs), and d-beats.

State Children's demo Do You Support The Invasion of Grenada came out a year earlier than this 1984 flexi. Finding downloads of this demo is hard enough, finding actual copies is nigh on impossible. So a Youtube video shall have to do. The quality is pretty terrible as expected. It may be hard to comprehend, but the flexi has WAY better sound quality when compared to this!

State Children: Do You Support... Demo

Shit-Fi made a pretty cool post on this band HERE. Apparently State Children done an interview
in a Jap punkzine back in the day called 100 Club. At least according to Shit-Fi, they disclosed
that the original name tor Bomb Shelter... was Fighting for Power Politics and that in the year and a half they were together, they went through a few drummers.

So that's pretty nifty!

The band note the usual suspects of Discharge, Crass, and Disorder as their influences. Like
it takes much guessing, right!? What also doesn't take much guessing is that nothing is really known about them. What can be said with authority is that State Children put out a devastating flexi. One which is part of the small amount of pioneering noisepunk/noisecore/raw-punk/Japcore records ever made.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!dZByBaRS!pAGfCikFJDw6H-oPNbZntqggHqkkvGENZ8bAZKkhsC8

Z - Violence Action (1988)

Z - Violence Action (1988)

Hey, wanna hear something that sounds like turd?
Violence Action is one of the two records by these mysterious marauders of music. Put out in 1988, Violence Action has become somewhat of a sought-after collectible. When compared to the other original Jap noisecore records, such as Damaging Noise, Nuclear Addicts, Zanin Seiji, etc, this is probably the least impressive. While the aforementioned records are powerful in their noisy extremity, Violence Action doesn't pack quite the same punch. But don't get me wrong. It's not horrible...well, it is really. But for noisy shit music, it's not THAT bad.

As you can see, the artwork is pretty...unique. A very crudely drawn (as if i could do better!) punk with a ridiculously large mohawk and pointy nose, walking past a broken brick wall which exposes, what seems to look like, a graveyard. And on the brick wall is an even cruder drawing of Mr. Punk (Who goes by the name Z Boy, apparently). Whats interesting is that in the right hand corner it says Z RECORD-002, which begs the question, what is Z RECORD-001?

Over at Shit-Fi, a guy called Zach Howard left this message:
The text to the left of Shingi on the line up photo says "Z Wa Urusai" or in English; "Z is noisy". To his right it says "Kane Ga Nai," which means something like "No money" ("Kane" means money, "Ga" is a particle and "Nai" is indicating the negative form).

The text on the back side of the sleeve is, I think, an ad for their 1st tape (I've put the literal Katakana pronunciation in brackets). It says something about 1st [Te-Pu] (tape in English) and sending 600 yen to an address. The Katakana in the last line says [Hebi Meta] Fuckoff,or when spelled in English; "Heavy Metal Fuckoff". Finally, it looks like the tape has 26 songs.

As for the band members themselves, they certainly look the part...sort of. I don't know what the spikey mouth covers are though!

This is some pretty neat raw-punk. Not essential when compared to the likes of Gai, Confuse, and Gudon, but neat nonetheless.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!0RglzTJC!9LrcKYOZUI9sCUJ5MsVPr_OZwoQaIxg6mNnPFUygGhs

Sieg Heil - First Demo Tracks (1984)

Sieg Heil - First Demo Tracks (1984)

By the band name you can probably tell that this isn't going to be the most intelligent recording ever. Like many other Japanese punk bands. Sieg Heil were more anarchic than political. Favoring chaos over rules...not only in their world view, but musically as well. This is some prime anti-music.

Jiiku Hairu, known to us uncultured pigs as Sieg Heil, were a Jap punk band who were at the forefront of noisy raw-punk hardcore. If you go HERE you'll find two stories by two different Jap punk veterans-Sieg Heil bassist T.V, and Loods from GAI/The Swankys.

T.V. notes that, at the time, G.A.I and Sieg Heil were not as crazy sounding during their earlier incarnations. UK hardcore, as well as the blossoming Jap punk scene, fueled the band. However,
TV's revelation came when the guitarist from Confuse suggested he use an equalizer box:
"Hey why don't you guys use the equalizer box, ah, easy makin' the guitar sings wheeze-wheeze!"

Now, an equalizer is used to give definition to an instrument. Overall, giving your tone an added depth and sophistication. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Confuse weren't looking for depth in their guitar tone. They just wanted to make noise! So how would an equalizer, used to y'know, equalize a tone, help Confuse on their mission? Well, an equalizer usually has multiple faders, ranging from bass (low) to treble (high) frequencies. So when the bass frequencies are cut, and the treble frequencies are turned up....you get ungodly white noise! 'wheeze-wheeze' indeed. Not only doe's this induce feedback, it also achieves the very tinny 'chicken scratch' guitar tone.

A graphic equalizer makes guitar go wheeze-wheeze!

Anyway. Before acquiring this important information GAI and Sieg Heil's guitar sound was achieved by "distortion and overdrive at the same time and sometimes footing the delay box. (laughter) Oh, it was so silly as I recall." Distortion with overdrive is fairly typical for rock solos. It's never really used for rock rhythm guitar because the added overdrive can easily cause feedback. Thus making it impractical for clean chord changes. The addition of delay is also pretty common for solos. As the name delay suggests, when you play a note, that note repeats to whatever setting you have dialed in. Real cheap delays have pre-sets that can't be changed to specific BPM (Beats per minute) which is a pain in the butt. Unless your doing some math-rock thang, 80s heavy metal....or some boring psychedelic bollocks, delay wont sound too good on rhythm guitar. I mean really, using it for rippin' fast hardcore rhythms? No wonder it sounded silly!

Apparently the drummer went on to play in Gedon and Lydia Cats, the guitarist played in Spunky Boys and TV played bass in GAI for a little while.

As for this recording, Sieg Heil have a good balance between their instrument levels and rough production. Thus, making it one of the better sounding early raw-punk records. Savage vocals, noisy guitar, racing bass playing, and d-beating drums! Rad.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!kRAiiLya!aogtGNgB7OCCETQHiI0d6hxVlohSDaCmpOj5gswKZs8

Agoni (Early Demo)

Agoni - Early Demo (Stockholm's Mangel Tracks)

Agoni, later Agony, started out as a dyed-in-wool Swedish hardcore band. However, a few years down the line they started to crossover. Eventually becoming a full-fledged thrash metal band with 1988s The First Defiance

While the metal stuff is pretty decent, Agoni were an absolutely ripping Swedecore/Kang-punk/D-Beat band.

The seven tracks here eventually showed up on the great Stockholm's Mangel comp many years after they were recorded. This is some raw, mean sounding punk. The bass is filthy and distorted, the guitars rage in the typical Discharge worship of kang punk, the drums D-Beat their way to hell, and
the vocals are bellowed and powerful.

Apparently Agoni toured the UK in 1986 with Anti-Cimex. Although by 1986 they were a proper thrash metal band. Check out the poster at the top of the page. Anti-Cimex, Varukers, Agoni, Heresy, Napalm Death. Sounds like a hella gig, right? By that point in time, the only 'metal' band there would have been Agoni, who must have stood out like a sore thumb among the hardcore stalwarts.

There is even a review of a gig in Leeds, UK that calls Agoni 'average thrash metal' and 'nowt special'. I'll put it on the next Agoni post.

A neat bit of info: Brit crust legends Doom covered En Rost For Fred on their Hail to Sweden EP which also features songs by Discard, Anti-Cimex, Crudity, Rojers, and Mob 47!

Linky, Link:
Direct: http://www.mediafire.com/?drklurk8wpwfyjn
The awesome Under the Surface blog: http://utsurface.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/hail-to-sweden.html

The Shitlickers (1982)

The Shitlickers (1982)
Is there much of a point in posting about the Shitlickers?
Probably not. They're of such legend that their noise is readily available to download illegally from your own nan...okay probably not that well known, but still. The Shitlickers work isn't the most hard to obtain in mp3 format...physical release however, will set you back a good chunk of moneh.

ShitFi has many a good article on the Shitlickers as well as Anti-Cimex. Easily one of the best is the interview with the grand Shitlicker: vocalist Lasse. There's some fascinating stuff about how they recorded the guitars and the general way the band prioritized themselves. No wonder they were one of the first and best of D-Beat. All about who they were and what they did is in this interview. So i suggest you have a read if you're interesting in learning more about this seminal Swedecore/raw-punk/D-Beat band. Go HERE for more.

Other than that, Kawakami, a legend in his own right, wrote about the Shitlickers in a jap fanzine called Crust War. Which you can find HERE

So on to the record: There's not much to really say. This is some crucial stuff in punk and extreme
music in general. Without Shitlickers you can kiss bands like Napalm Death goodbye, you can kiss crust goodbye, and you can bet that death metal probably wouldn't be the same (or exist at all).

For those not in the know. Shitlickers recorded 2 EP's that are well circulated. However, apparently there are demos and live recordings that have yet to see the light of day. A cool tidbit of information: The Shitlickers featured Tomas 'Freke' Johnsson, eventual vocalist for Anti-Cimex, on bass.

Degenerik posted a decent collection of both the EP's on his blog, so for the Linky, Links:

Direct Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?6d335bf9wwe6gyb

Degenerik blog post: http://degenerik666.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-shitlickers-shitlickers-1982.html

Avfall (Pre Anti-Cimex)

Image is actually of another pre-Cimex group Bombhot

Avfall: Delerium Tremes Tracks

Before there was Anti-Cimex there was...a few bands actually.

The most documented is Avfall who appeared on two Delirium Tremens comps with 3 tracks selected each. Apparently they recorded 20 songs, however, the majority of these have not surfaced as of yet.

Stylistically Avfall are not a million miles away from Anti-Cimex. If there is one thing that's totally distinguishing it's that Avfall are a bit more melodic. Also, the guitar isn't so Discharge influenced with the riffs. Although this could easily be considered hardcore, apparently the consensus among Swede punks is that the Shitlickers were the first true Swede hardcore punk band.

According to ShitFi:

"Members were Tomas Jonsson (drums!), Magnus Nilsson (vocals), Håkan Hedström (bass), and Jimmy Lindqvist (guitar). As we know, Jimmy turned up in Skitslickers along with Jonsson.

The recordings are a bit rough and ready, and that's saying something when concerning Anti-Cimex/Shitlickers, but this is some very cool stuff.

Check out ShitFi's post on pre Anti-Cimex groups Klaok, Avfall, Bombhot, and Bohman Brinner

HERE

Linky, Link:

https://mega.co.nz/#!xZo1SLTR!8zUB7UPodW_ZNScQbZd84MwNJp10NvzTLfP54gQEHGU

Anti-Cimex - Raw Live 84-86!!!

Anti-Cimex - Raw Live 84-86!!!

This record lives up to it's name. Think about it. Raw Live 84-86!!!
There are two sets, one from 84, probably around the time of Victims of a Bomb Raid, and one from 86', where there are songs from the self-titled mini LP. They are certainly live recordings. But most of all, this is R.A.W, RAW.

Probably a bit too raw to be a pleasant listening experience. Especially on the 86 set, where the rhythm guitar and bass parts are a bit inaudible. However, the leads come through well and the vocals and drums dominate the mix. For the first half, the 84 set, the guitar starts off as inaudible but eventually, along with the vocals, becomes fuckin' loud. In which they both drown out the rhythm section!

Not a whole lot to say about this really. It's a decent document of Anti-Cimex in a live environment. Obviously it would be funner to experience it as opposed to listening to it some 30 years later. Sigh.

Linky, Link:
Direct: http://www.mediafire.com/?ypcy432q1gx4b2q
Degenerik blog post: http://degenerik666.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/anti-cimex-raw-live-84-86-cdr.html

Anti-Cimex - Fucked in Finland EP (1992)

Anti-Cimex - Fucked in Finland EP (1992)

Released around the time of Scandinavian Jawbreaker this is actually a pretty cool live recording of Anti-Cimex during their Lundberg guitar slinging era.

Maybe it's just the raw way they are recorded, but the songs are much more potent here than how they appear on the last two full-lengths: Absolut Country of Sweden & Scandinavian Jawbreaker

To be fairly honest, chances are, Anti-Cimex were one of those bands better experienced in a live context rather than on record. Maybe us young'uns, as well as older folks too, fetishize the shitty records of the past. Maybe we want to connect with, or appreciate, the aesthetic so bad that we fool ourselves into thinking that this music is the shit...or maybe the records are fuckin' rad and I shouldn't read too much into it. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Anyway, not much is different from the studio versions here. Only that the vocals sound particularly nasty (in a good way) and that the guitar and bass sound raw as fuck. Decent record, but not mindblowing.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!xYohUbyC!odt8Dji7D9Hd0I0BuIc9N9pW8pGoNiJ2-Vmw-ugXt88

Anti-Cimex - Victims of a Bomb Raid (1984)

Anti-Cimex - Victims of a Bomb Raid (1984)

How does one follow Raped Ass?
Okay, okay. That wasn't the most tasteful way to start this blog post...

Let's start again:

Victims of a Bomb Raid came out in 1984, and while it isn't as potent as 83's Raped Ass, it's still a devastating chunk of punk. I've already talked about the Discharge comparisons in the previous posts-so I don't want to make myself any more redundant than I already am.

These four tracks show Anti-Cimex running with the style they carved out on Raped Ass. You can tell they're more confident in their instruments with some rad stops, tempo shifts, drums fills, guitar solos, and that apocalyptic intro to the title track.

Anti-Cimex would continue pushing the limits of this style on their self-titled Mini LP in 1986.
Showing that Discharge wasn't all that they were about. However, they would soon leave behind the one-dimensional land of D-Beat for something more musically satisfying with their comeback Absolut Country of Sweden in 1990.

Linky, Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!tIpDCATR!Edc3-IW1nIaid2y8EuhvA01XAkNg5zjtFNJ_XWmD2LM

Anti-Cimex - Raped Ass (1983)

Anti-Cimex - Raped Ass (1983)

While in 1981 Discharge were asking Why(?) Anti-Cimex rebuked with Raped Ass in 1983. Don't be fooled though. Anti-Cimex weren't some immature 'dick joke' band. With song titles like When the Innocents Die, Warmachine, Total Silence, and Cries of Pain it's obvious that Anti-Cimex were

wearing their Discharge influence on their sleeves. Heck, just look at the lyrics for Raped Ass:

You talk about the freedom

But we have no freedom

You talk about the rights

But we have no rights

This fucking system is liked a raped ass

The Discharge influence is obvious here. While Anarkist Attack (1982) was a band finding their footing, Raped Ass is a band who were truly hitting their stride.

One of the many reasons Anti-Cimex are so highly regarded is their incredible rawness and extremity for their time. While Discharge had the luxury of having, i'd assume, fairly well equipped recording studios, leading to the fat guitar sounds and thudding drums, Anti-Cimex made do with what they had. The result is a raw-as-fuck production. The rhythm guitars are buried, the lead guitar is louder than everything, the bass pokes out, the drums splutter about, and the vocals blurt out at the top end. 

And that's what so fucking cool about this era of the band.

In a weird way, although the production isn't fat and meaty. Anti-Cimex's sound is powerful it's own way. For me, Raped Ass is the best Anti-Cimex ever sounded. While the later records, after much success and respect in their homeland, had flawless production. The whole aesthetic of their early years is what draws me towards them. With that said, their later records are masterful and are well worth checking out.

Call it raw-punk, D-Beat, hardcore, Swedecore, blah, blah, blah, the only real definition for this record is fuckin' rad!

Linky Link:

https://mega.co.nz/#!JZRxmSQK!IlykLAqzhgu6Z5JUaPmjGHybf3f0nU58QE_MjddPD5A