“The Creature is the latest release and second LP from the Portland Oregon based dark punk trio Bellicose minds. Recorded in the winter of 2015/2016 at Red Lantern studios. The LP features 8 tracks of buzz saw guitars, driving bass and searing drums.”
“Originally released on Rugger Bugger Records in 1998 and long out of print.
Re-released to coincide with a forthcoming Japanese tour, we couldn’t be more excited to be able to release this classic record. Re-Mastered by North London Bomb Factory Mastering with the first 100 on Clear Vinyl. Comes with instant download.
Formed out of Pondlife in the early 90s, the then Scottish outfit embedded itself firmly into the DIY scene, joining the likes of Jawbreaker and The Get Up Kids here and there, as well as scene regulars Chopper, Hooton 3 Car, Crocodile God, Leatherface and Snuff. Their sound was drawn out of their various interests from hardcore punk to Sonic Youth. ‘Home’, built the bridge between those and late-90’s emo icons and contemporaries at the time such as Texas Is The Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate.
Nearly 20 years on, it still sounds dark, desperate, urgent and essential. Quite simply a seminal record.”
“Cool Jerks grew up in Grimston, England. A town where punk rock was illegal until 2010. They played in secret for many years, only being able to practice for 15 minutes at a time in between police patrols. The demo took 8 years to write and the band played for the first time when the Grimston wall was knocked down on 5th August 2010. They are all welders.”
Recorded and mixed by Tobias Lil.
“Cult Values was formed in October 2014 in Berlin as an international collaboration between people from the USA, New Zealand, Austria and Germany. After recording a much acclaimed demo in 2015 (out on Berlin’s own Static Age Rec.) and a line up change on drums right after, CV started playing tons of shows in Germany and the periphery as well as writing songs for an LP. Said record was finally recorded in December 2015 by Tobias Lill. Musically, there is something very early American hardcore meets moody punk about their sound, defined by fast, melodic, and confident guitar play reminiscent of Articles of Faith and more recently Criminal Code. Cult Values deliver 10 tracks of potent dark hardcore that will surely leave those hungry for a solid contemporary take on a classic sound quite satisfied.”
Recorded by Stan Wright at Buzz or Howl Studios
Lacquer Cut by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering
Taken from Screaming for Years:
““TEARS OF A MOTHER” is the blistering lead single from ARCANE’s debut album ‘Whispers.’
I don’t have too much information on the Seattle based trio (other than Craig, Allen & Ben), but what I do know is that they’re gloom merchants who deal in scorched deathrock. Taking the basis of the trad goth rock of So Cal and combining it with PNW anarcho peace punk, and doing it oh so well.
“Tears Of A Mother” starts off raucously tribal with drums fills and shouted sprints, before quickly morphing into a scratchy & measured goth-rock ode, then once again turning the screw towards catharsis. Arcane are a fiercely raw lot, taking all those echoes of the past and channeling them into the modern dichotomy.
Press play and get fucked…”
One of my favourite records to have worked on in 2016!
“There’s more than a few moments on the debut single from Melbourne, Australia’s the Shifters that suggest, at least as far as I can tell, that they might be more than a little familiar with the work of Mark E. Smith and company. The deadpan male/female vocal pairing and minimalist rhythmic repetition, repetition, repetition worked into “Creggan Shops” and “Captain Hindsight” sound like they’ve been lovingly traced from the blueprints of the Fall’s’ early, scrappy glory days (Live at the Witch Trials through Hex Enduction Hour, if you’re keeping score), with all of that band’s tightly-wound paranoia, if slightly less of a sense of imminent and inevitable volatile self-destruction. But the Shifters are equally capable of twisting their sound into a fractured, low-fidelity pop sprawl that takes some further cues from the scrappy, rough and tumble sounds of the early-to-mid ‘80s Flying Nun Records catalog, with that particular synthesis of inspirations serving as an implicit reminder that the Fall had, in their heyday, conquered the Top 20 charts in New Zealand. After this record, the Shifters really deserve no less for themselves.
-Erika Elizabeth (Maximum Rock’n’Roll, Futures and Pasts radio)”
