Tuesday, April 27, 2010

DISTRO LIST

Years of trading and storing records in my closet has allowed me to accumulate all of this. Prices do not include postage; if you're interested in anything please email me at: mikeal.vancleave@gmail.com

updated 07/20/10

7”s

1332 'Skinless' $3.00 – nasty, sludgy hardcore
Agathocles 'Minced in Piracicaba, Brazil, 2007' $5.00 – absolutely raw fucking live recording from the fathers
Agathocles/Jan Ag and the Gajna $4.00 – one unreleased Agx from '89 and totally fucked noisepunk
Agathocles/Permenant Death $4.00 – Agx live and rough in '87 and PD with total noisecore
Archagathus/Bangsat $3.00 – canadian one-man mince and indonesian (I think) heavy death grind
Anarchus/AK-47 $3.00 – pairing of sick mexican grind from '95
ASHIAP s/t $3.00 – self-declared lo-fi as fuck hizbullah blast grind
Blindspot A.D. 'Pain is Not the Cleanser' $4.00 – german grind often compared to assuck, though this is more hardcore-influenced and even has singing vocals at times
Blood I Bleed s/t $4.00 – ex-My Minds Mine straight-forward thrash
Brutal Death s/t $4.00 – heavy early grind style from the u.s.
Brutal Death/Skrupel $4.00 – as above paired with german blasters w/ unique vocals
Buckshot Facelift 'Demo' $3.00 – 16 songs of modern sounding grind
CSMD 'Japanese Sci Fi Monster Funk' $5.00 - fucking great new release; absolutely unique heavy weirdo noisecore
CSSO/Filth $3.00 – csso's most straight-forward stuff paired with aussie grind-rockers
CSSO/Tu Carne $3.00 – good-sounding live rocking from csso meets spanish filth grind
Cloama/Mutant Ape $6.00 - rythmic finnish power electronics meets dronier p.e. from england. lyrics about dementia.
Dead Radical/xbraniax $3.00 – 28 songs of fastcore between the two!
Deskonocidos s/t $4.00 – catchy texan punk sung in spanish
Dismal 'Terra Plague' $3.00 – octopod-fearing crust from the u.s.
E-150/Zanussi $4.00 – 2x spanish hardcore; great fucking recor
El Nudo 'Rudos del el Nudo' $3.00 – japanese fastcore
Embalming Theatre/Intumescence $3.00 – news-item themed gore from switzerland plus and g-anx cover and noisy, buzzing gore from the netherlands
Embalming Theatre/Maggot Shoes $3.00 – 5 more from EM and two from sickos MS
Ex-Infernus 'Bitches From Hell' $3.00 – not sure how I got this; south american black metal, I think?
Faux Pas 'stoy=gull' $6.00 - norweigan harsh noise project with Lasse Marhaug (Herb Mullin)
Fetus Eaters/Irritate $4.00 – 6 from mr. bungle-influenced grinders FE and 5 from the finnish sludge-grinders
Final Exit/Sterbehilfe $4.00 – classic japanese noisecore paired with german noisegrind
Forced Expression/Apartment 213 $3.00 – fast and brutal hardcore from the u.s.
Fuck the Facts/Subcut $4.00 – techy canadians and brazilian crusty grind
Gerbophilia 'Ouille Ouille Ouille' $3.00 – groovy, vomit vocalled grind from switzerland
Gore Beyond Necropsy 'Full Throttle Chaos Grind Machine' $5.00 – filthy, blown-out shit, awesome
Gore Beyond Necropsy 'Sound Like Shit' $5.00 – 15 tracks of japanese noisegrind
Haemophagus/Spiral $5.00 - 3 songs of italian metallic death grind pairs with 3 songs of really raw, really incredible japanese grind.
Half Gorilla/Kursk $4.00 - grind-influenced, blasting hardcore from the u.s. and canadian crusty tech-grind
Hanging Rotten/Verge on Reason $4.00 – sludgy german hardcore and brutal german grind
Hated Principles 'Rejected Extermi-nation' $3.00 – rough 90's hardcore
Hated Principles/Gorgonized Dorks $3.00 – 35 tracks of noise on a single-sided, handmade picture disc
Insomnia Isterica/Agathocles $5.00 - swiss punky grindcore and an incredible one from agx
Kursk 'The Implication' $3.00 – canadian male/female vocalled grind
Kursk/Damage Digital $5.00 – Kursk offer two more of their powerful, unique grind and DD add 5 tracks of brutal, fast grind; both bands kill on this.
Kursk/Lycanthropy $4.00 - three songs from ex-Head Hits Concrete folks on one side and six from the thrash grinders from the Czech Republic
Looking for an Answer/Overpowering $4.00 – spain's best grind band paired with noisy, drum-machine shit from spain
Maniac Sumo Cunt s/t $3.00 – canadian discordance axis worship
Massgrave/Pretty Little Flower $3.00 – 5 songs of crusty grind and 6 songs of gurgling grind
Meat Slicer 'All Will Be Revealed' $3.00 – non-pitch-shifted, drummachine grind that's been compared to Autopsy, Mortician, Agathocles, and Carcass
Mehkago N.T. 'Human Extinction' $3.00 – heavy, diverse and brutal hardcore from florida
Memento Mori s/t $4.00 – great italian hardcore
Mesrine/Archagathus $4.00 – mesrine are one of my favorites and this is the rawest shit i've heard from archagathus
Mesrine/Fuck the Facts $4.00 – 3 more from these fuck paired with female-vocalled experimental grind
Mesrine/Septicemie $4.00 – nasty split from canada and france
My Minds Mine/Idiocy of Grotesque $4.00 – great fucking blur-grind from holland meets similar from japan
Nab 'Collage di un Delirio' $4.00 – great, straight-forward grind. maybe a less metal terrorizer?
No Value 'Primitive Recreation' $4.00 – 8 songs of japanese thrash hardcore
Nonsense 'Crna Statistika 1994+2008' $5.00 – czech rough hardcore from '94 and industrial noisecore from 2008!
Oiltanker s/t $3.00 – 9 songs of heavy crustcore
Permanent Death/Pissdeads $5.00 – powerdrill in your brain noisecore from belgium and russia
Purgative Klyster/Vol. 4 $3.00 – pre-sayyadina sweidsh noisecore and noise from the u.s.
Raw Sewage/I Hate This $3.00 – grind/thrash/hardcore/sludge meets fast hardcore. Raw sewage are great
Rectal Pus 'Mr. T's Nudist Colony' $4.00 – 90's u.s. noisecore; side project of suppression
Regurgitate/Noisear $4.00 – cleaner sounding than their classic material, but still great side from RGTE; heavy grind from Noisear with a few vocal styles and a great drummer
Rovsvett 'the dwarf' $4.00 - silly, rocking hardcore from sweden
Rovsvett 'kangor and shorts' $4.00 - swedish rocking hardcore, bit faster than the one above
Su19b s/t $5.00 – noisy sludge and fast hardcore combined into one astounding band
Sakatat/Slaughter of the Innocents $4.00 – classic-sounding grind from turkey and slow, growling vocals over fast, heavy grind from germany
Schifosi 'Half-Lit World' $3.00 – aussie band with female vocals sounds like tragedy
Scroungers 'Weak as Piss' $3.00 – one-man aussie hatecore!
Segue s/t $3.00 – male/female vox over uranus-styled hardcore
Seven Minutes of Nausea/Agathocles $6.00 – two legends rip out your eardrums: 7mon with their newer industrial noisecore sound and Agx with their classic mince!
Sin Remedio/Life in Exile $3.00 – lo-fi 90's styled angry hardcore on the a-side and melodic hardcore on the b-side
Squash Bowels/Needful Things $4.00 – rough grind from both
Terrorazor/Slapenhonden $5.00 - Terrorazor are incredible! monotonous and raw
Terrorism 'Atrocities of Reality' $3.00 – awesome u.s. grind who are summed up by one of their song titles: “Politics and Gore”
Terrorism/Runamuck $3.00 – raw, gurgling mess from Terrorism and blasting hardcore from Runamuck
Tu Carne/Bowel Stew $3.00 – foul gore grind from both, great record
Unholy Grave 'Chaotic Raw Madness' $3.00 – live recordings from 2002, with tour notes
Unholy Grave/Gorgonized Dorks $3.00 – UG 4 tracks live in london and GD 8 tracks of noise/hardcore
Unholy Grave/Kadaverficker $4.00 – Kadaverficker alternate between speedy and sludgy, heavy the whole time
Unholy Grave/Matka Teresa $4.00 – UG are devastating on this one; MT play mostly slower grind. Good split.
Unholy Grave/Mitten Spider $3.00 – 6 songs of UG with sing-alongs, delayed vocals, and a lo-fi recording; 9 from MS with distorted vox and drums that don't seem to keep time; an odd but great split
Unholy Grave/Pretty Little Flower $4.00 – the absolute best I've heard from either band; if you want to hear UG for the first time, do it here
Vol. 4/Coprophagics $3.00 – 2x brutal and silly noisecore; recommended
Weekend Nachos 'Torture' $4.00 – their first record, think Infest with more slow parts
v/a I'm Going Ape vol. 3 (w/ Intumescence, Yesmeansyes, Deche-Charge, and Rotgut) $5.00 - 3rd volume of great noisecore comps
v/a Losing Your Way Part 4 (w/ El Nudo, Coquettish, The Killers, D.F.C., Demisor, No Value, Outnauts, Sewn Shut, Ruido, Circle X) $4.00 – compilation of fast hardcore and grind
v/a This Album Was Made in Good Taste... (w/ Pale, Muter, Nemo, The Smile Adventure, Electrocutionerdz, Twodeadslutsonegoodfuck, Av3ers1on, Acid Enema, Lacey's Dead, Jet Jaguar kr-3 Kill Spree, Sukeeteru) $2.00 – digigrind comp! Pretty good, don't think i've ever sold one

LPs
Agathocles 'Abrir las Puertas' $11.00 – fucking hell; 22 songs studio recorded in 2007, and it makes for one powerful record
Agathocles/Unholy Grave $9.00 – Agx covers UG, UG covers Agx! Why!?!
Arsedestroyer 'xxxteenassrevoltxxx' $10.00 – one of the best records ever; feedback-laden noisegrind; more extreme than ND, as homoerotic as not having lyrics can allow you to be
Bathtub Shitter 'Lifetime Shitlist' $7.00 – vinyl version of their first full length!
Birdflesh/Catheter $9.00 – great swedish grind and grind-influenced hardcore from the u.s.
Cattle Decapiation 'Human Jerky' $7.00 – pic disk version of the first great 12”
Diaspora 'Gaikkodibehtet Muvrrat Vuolas' $9.00 – great Finnish crust; much more like the melody of Unkind than traditional
Ettrick 'Feeders of Ravens' $7.00 – supposedly black metal influenced-free jazz, but I don't really hear the former. Still, great stuff similar to Flaherty/Corsano
Funeral '16 Song' $7.00 – pre-Lebenden Toten d-beat
FUBAR 'Justification of Criminal Behavior' $9.00 – great Dutch grind
Gloom 'Vokatsu Seisin Hatansha' $9.00 – the demo LP by the legendary crasher-crusties
His Hero is Gone '15 Counts of Arson' $8.00 – first 12” by a band that inspired lots of copycats but no one else quite pulled off
Hombrinus Dudes/Merkit $7.00 – two-man grind with southern rock guitar riffs and angry political hardcore
Insect Warfare s/t $9.00 – complete fucking noisegrind
Kerum 'Twilight of the Apocalypse' $7.00 – Baltimore hardcore-end grind from the early 2000's
Killed in Action 'We Ruin Fun' $5.00 – according to Six Weeks, one of the worst record covers they've ever made. Looks like one of the best to me.
Lords of Light 'Energy' $7.00 - “too proggy to be powerviolence, too powerviolence to be considered prog rock”
Mehkago N.T. s/t $7.00 – burly hardcore; maybe something like Integrity meets Revenge meets Napalm Death?
Mindflair 'Green Bakery' $9.00 – kind of catchy german death grind
Noisear 'Submit to the Subliminal' $7.00 – ultra fast u.s. grind with an insane drummer
Regurgitate/Suppository $10.00 - RGTE side is more in the vein of contemporary swedish grind, Suppository pulls out some heavy death grind
Siege 'Dropdead' $7.00 – the classic demo behind it all on vinyl
Ulcerrhoea 'Line and Row' $9.00– pre-Netjajev SS/Syphillitic Vaginas mince
Unholy Grave 'UK Discharge' $7.00 – UG live in the UK. Duh.
Wake Up on Fire s/t $7.00 – two drummers playing some G!YBE influenced hardcore

Tapes:

Brother Oak 'live 2006' $3.00 – acoustic guitar and singing bowl drone
Eye Gouging Mayhem 'Satan's Colostomy Bag from Beyond the Grave' $4.00 – bass-heavy, gurgling, drum machine noisegrind
Nuclear Dawn/Kadaver-Torso/Noituus $3.00 – pitch-shifted mince from the u.s., brazilian drum-machine grind with up front vocals, and lo-fi finnish hardcore
Purulent Wormjizz/Thanatoseptis $4.00 – noisy electrogrind x 2
Rauh/Anal Massaker $4.00 – raw industrial and mid-paced grind from the u.s. and one-man, drum-machine noisegrind from germany
Revenge 'Victory.Intolerance.Mastery' $4.00 – 2nd album of filthy, brutal, hateful canadian black metal
SMG 'The Tumor-less Feast' $4.00 – coarse malaysian grind, though a bit more fast hardcore sounding on this one
TxQxB 'spontaneousdeath!' $4.00 - noisecore from norway. repetitive, mid-paced drums behind screeching feedback and shouted vocals.
TxQxB/Exacerbacion $4.00 - decent, burst noisecore from norway paired with incredible raw grind from costa rica. the best i've heard lately.

CDs (I'll give you a dollar off these prices if you don't want to jewel case. CDs marked with a * don't come with them anyway, so are exluded):

Anal Cunt/Fear of God/Stench of Corpse $3.00 – cd-r bootleg of a live show from A.C. From 1990, FoG's 'Pneumatic Slaughter', s/t, and 'As Statues Fell' records, and SoC's 'Twinhead Baby' 10”.
Anarchus/CSSO $6.00 – live and studio tracks from long-running Mexican grinders Anarchus and live from CSSO's grind rock
*Antigama/Deranged Insane $3.00 – 6 tracks of Antigama's experimental grind and 10 of the lo-fi, noisy stuff from Brazil's DI
Blue Holocaust 'Twitch of the Death Nerve' $6.00 – drum-machine Giallo obsessed grind from France
Bowel Fetus 'Bloodsoaked Doomageddon' $6.00 – first album from Australian gore influenced by Disembowelment, Autopsy, and noise
Captain Three Leg $4.00 – previously unreleased death grind recordings from between 1995 and 2000. includes practice recordings, a live set on KXLU, Japanese recordings, really tons of stuff on here
Corporal Raid 'Regressive Development' $6.00 – Italian 'Xeonomorphilogical Gore Grind'
Dead Infection 'Brain Corrosion' $6.00 – 2004 full length from well known Polish sickos. More produced and a lot less lo-fi than the early recordings, but still great
Deadfood 'Anger Meats' $6.00 – grind and Mr. Bungle meet on this 3”; members of Fetus Eaters
*Final Exit 'Seasons Are Going and Going' $6.00 – 12 new tracks from one of Japan's most well-known noisecore bands; rock influenced and great
*Genital Masticator 'Ultimate Collection' $5.00 – 2 cds compiling everything between 92-95 from this amazing Spanish noisecore band
Gore Beyond Necropsy/Nunwhore Commando 666 $6.00 – 17 live ones from GBN during their rock n'roll period, and 9 new ones NC666 techno-grind
Head Hits Concrete 'Thy Kingdom Come Undone' $6.00 – complete discography from Winnipeg grinders. Powerful, well played.
Hutt 'Sessao Descarego' $6.00 – only full length by these Brazilian monsters
Hypo-Christians 'Terror During Prayer' $5.00 – great lo-fi texan grind
Iron Lung 'Cold Storage' $6.00 – collection of the first lp, earlier splits and comp tracks; amazing powerviolence from the u.s.
Maniac Killer 'Amusing Anecdotes for the Depraved' $6.00 – a collage of samples, reggae and Black Sabbath riffs, but primarily of hard gore grind
*Massick s/t $5.00 – compiles their 10” and 7” onto one handy digital thingie; odd grind incorporating a range of inflluences
Nihilist Commando 'Noisecore Violations 2002-2008' $11.00 – all the recordings so far from this Finnish noisecore band. Absolutely fucking fierce.
Paracoccidiodomicosisproctitissarcomucosis/Butcher ABC $6.00 – the most ridiculous band names on one cd! Para... is absolutely disgusting death grind from Mexico, and Butcher ABC presents maybe their fastest and noisiest tracks here. Get this.
Proletar 'Back to Hatevolution' $10.00 – partial (?) discography of modern yet straightforward grind from Indonesia. Great.
*Psycho Sin 'The Cancer is Still Spreading' $9.00 – all the recordings from NJ's noisecore greats from the late 80's. Expect partial riffs, poorly-played drums, and almost no real “songs”. Absolute fucking garbage, 68 tracks, ex-Rapt, and awesome.
*Sete Star Sept/Adolf Hatred $4.00 – Japan and USA team up for 43 tracks of noisegrind
Smegma Latency Research Group/Sloth $5.00 – weirdo shit from both
Undinism 'Born With an Erection' $6.00 – 70 track discography of Australian grind/hatecore. Absolutely offensive
Violent Headache 'The Noisecore Days: 1989-1991' $6.00 – as the back says: “2 CDs... 100 minutes... 300 songs!”. VH's earliest recordings and pure noisecore.
Viscera 'Body Basics' $3.00 – fucking great Australian gore grind.
*Yesmeansyes/Seven Minutes of Nausea $10.00 – unreleased noisecore from the late-90's from Finland's Yesmeansyes and new tracks from legends 7mon
v/a Da Grind (w/ Disaster, Elysium, Sickbag, and Desecrator) $6.00 – compilation of four modern-sounding grind bands from France
*v/a Grind Solo Grind (w/ Menso Noise, Proyecto Panica, LeechEater, and Cacasonica) $5.00 – compilation of raw grind and noisecore from South America
*v/a Wound (w/ 240 Noise Volts, Andrzej Piontek, Angola, Colico, Damage Digital, Deskontento, Gridlock, Homicidal Republik, MDA, Napalmed, Papaconia, Pissed Cunt, SickNoise, Sarkofachocrss88, and Social Success Project) $4 - compilation of harsh noisecore and some raw grind tracks; there's some absolutely great shit on here

DVDs
Undinism 'live at the green room' $6.00 - forgot i had this one. 25-song live show from 2004, clear sound, good video

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

GENERIC LABEL INTERVIEWS, PART 2

At the end of last issue, I included two interviews where I asked two labels the exact same set of questions. I guess this is part two of that, featuring Zach of Fuck Music Productions and Hagamoto of Discos Al Pacino. Here are the questions (followed by the responses):

1) When did you first start releasing records? What made you decide to do that?

2) How would you describe the type of stuff you release?

3) How do you typically distribute your releases?

4) When you look at larger labels who release similar things, do you think about handling yourself the same way they do? How do you think you’d deal with it if there was suddenly a demand for tens of thousands of copies of your releases?

5) Has there been anything frustrating for you about releasing records?

6) Were there any releases you wanted to do that fell through?

7) Is there a release you’ve been happiest with?



NOT VERY NICE/FUCK MUSIC PRODUCTIONS



1) I first started my old label, Not Very Nice Tapes around 2004, and then another label called Fuck Music Productions about a year or so later, and eventually quit NVN Tapes around the end of 2007. I released about 20 tapes on NVN during this time. I now do CDRs on NVN, as well as 7”s and CDs when I have the money. I wanted to start a tape label because there weren’t too many left (still aren’t, really) and I was really inspired by labels like Wheelchair Full of Old Men, Cadaverizer Records, Chaotic Noise, Xenomorph, GWOP Recordings, Stupidity Records, etc etc. I eventually started releasing records and CDs when the finances for those became available aka I got a job.

2) With FMP, 90% noisecore, 10% other noisy types of stuff. With NVN, mostly hardcore/punk/thrash/grind type stuff.

3) Mostly by direct mailorder, which works OK. I really don’t trade anymore because I just want to run a label and not a distro so much.

4) I don’t really think about it too much cause I don’t think there are any bigger labels releasing noisecore anymore, hell, I don’t think there are even 500 noisecore fans left in the world, so it’s not something I worry about. It would be great if there was suddenly a demand for tens of thousands of copies of Earwigs records, but I don’t think it’ll be happening anytime soon unfortunately.

5) Just not having enough money to do everything I want to. I have a ton of ideas and not enough funds to do them, which is kind of frustrating.

6) Not really. For a brief period, there was plans for the upcoming Genital Masticator/Vaginal Disorder split 7” to actually be a Genital Masticator/Traci Lords Loves Noise split 7”, but Billy from TLLN didn’t really want the old TLLN stuff to be on vinyl, he said it was really just meant for tapes. I think a Genital Masticator/TLLN split 7” would have gone down in history as the noisiest piece of vinyl ever made (although Vaginal Disorder isn’t anything to shake a stick at either!).

7) Well, I’m proud of all my releases really, but I’m still listening quite a bit to the Earwigs 7” I put out of their 1st demo tape from 1990, that one is pretty great. I still have a bunch of copies left for cheap if anyone is interested.



DISCOS AL PACINO

1) I started my label in 1997. To answer the why in a roundabout way, I've always thought that the purest way to do music is to do it all yourself, and that includes releasing it. Give stuff you've created to someone else and you give that other someone an amount of input into your work. Another label is going to market your music and band the way they see fit (by marketing, I also mean ads on myspace and message boards, and all other bedroom label tactics for getting the word out about their releases), which may or may not be fine depending on how sure you are that the label has the same understanding about what you're trying to get across with your work as you do. The vast majority of the time there will likely be differences, though many bands just put those differences aside in the name of getting their name out or getting scene points or whatever, and most bands probably don't even give such issues any thought at all. I always did give it a lot of thought though--maybe too much, but in any case, as cheesy as it looks when I type it, my label is sincerely about keeping music as pure as possible.

2) Nearly all of my releases have been of bands I'm in or am well acquainted with. All of those bands are either grindcore or death metal, and a good number of them are cheap, though a few have been big names. I would like to say I only put out heavy pure grind, but it just doesn't work out that way. To paraphrase a friend of mine who does a label, I'd rather put out records of my friends than of bands I like that I don't even know. Not to say that I don't like my friends' bands...Um...

3) All through either trading, wholesale, or direct sales through my website (i.e., people seeing my website and sending cash through the mail). I did a little bit of consignment in the past with Vacuum when they were around, but consignment was too big a hassle so I stopped that. It was never a goal to get my releases well distributed; actually I always thought the people who would dig in the underground to find my releases would be the ones who would appreciate them the most, and those are the people I want to have the records anyway, so it's in a way more satisfying *not* to distribute your releases so they are in every distro on the internet. Even the times when I sold or traded copies to some huge label like Relapse, they only got about 5 or 10 copies. Hypocritically, however, in Japan, where I live now, my releases are in a lot of stores because the scene here is much bigger than other places, and I sell my releases in bulk to Obliteration who then distros them as he sees fit to stores and elsewhere. So I guess that kind of negates what I typed in the first part of this paragraph. Guh.

4) I don't look to mimic larger labels because my goals are different from larger labels, as you can see from what I've written to the previous questions. Larger labels are working towards making some money, making some scene points, getting their releases widely distributed, etc.; none of those are concerns for me. The big difference I think is the viewpoint on the financial side. From the start I have made a concious effort to take money out of the picture when it comes to making decisions about my releases. Making my costs back is not even a consideration; not that it couldn't happen, but I just don't care either way. I want to put out records and so I pay the money to do it. It's just the cost of my hobby. Larger labels have an entirely different outlook.

5) The big thing is pricing. Records and CDs have the same unit cost and yet trade at a rate of 3 or 4 to 1 and are sold at about the same ratio. Frustrating about underground labels/distros in general is that stuff is jacked up so much above the unit cost. It seems stupid to me that a CD should sell for $10 when it costs $1.50 to make. People can make up all the rationalizations they want but the truth is it's unnecessary milking of customers, and if labels would just put as much thought into contributing to the underground as they do into internet marketing, prices could become more reasonable. Again, as with question #3, I sell CDs for $8 so I have done my share of milking and rationalization as well. I try to keep a lid on it as best I can, for what that's worth...

6) This is going to sound like a name dropping session...There was supposed to be a Pantalones/Captain Clean Off 7" around 2000 but CCO only sent me 3 minutes of songs, and I wasn't about to release a record with only 3 minutes for one of the bands, so I told them that and it kind of fell apart at that point. I was really into CCO at the time so that was disappointing. Also the Pantalones/Wadge part 2 and Pantalones/Dataclast part 2 splits never came about for unknown reasons, probably just people weren't too motivated to get the songs together. I was hoping for a Bodies Lay Broken/Sanitys Dawn split around 2002 but SD ended up sending songs they were going to put on a CD and when I asked them if they could send me unreleased stuff the drummer got angry and told me basically use what we gave you or fuck off. There was an example of why not to attempt releases with bands you don't know. I was a huge SD fan so I wrote to them to try to set up the record and my efforts blew up on me. And now I hate SD. Well, maybe that's a bit strong, but anyway.

7) They all have their own little stories behind them that give them their own meaning for me so I don't really prefer one over another. Maybe musically I like some more than others but just as releases I guess I'm happy with all of them. If I'm forced to cite one as particularly notable, I suppose I could say the last release I did, which was a CD actually, the Brob album, because it ended up as overall a pro-quality product, and I'd never ended up with a release like that before, so that was kind of neat.

VIOLENT HEADACHE

Like many in this issue, Violent Headache are yet another of the bands that came about as a direct result of those grind/noisecore bands who appeared between 1985-1987. During their existence, they’ve made recordings that range from noisecore to straight forward, N.D. styled grind, to those that feature more of a metal influence, or those that have a firmer hardcore base. They’ve put out enough releases that I can’t even begin to go through and describe them all. Questions answered by Tonio.

1) Well, I guess first, would you please give me a history of Violent Headache?


We started back in 1988 after split up our punk band: MIERDA (1985-1988). We was me and my brother making sick noisecore stuff likes SORE THROAT, 7 MINUTES OF NAUSEA, FEAR OF GOD, STENCH OF CORPSE…
We started with other members in 1991 making more Grind oriented stuff. Till 2000, we released a lot of split eps, demos, compilation tracks, some cd and a full album. We had various line-up changes in our existence.

2) What pushes you to continue with the same band after 10 years or so?


We had an stop in 2001 by personal reasons. In 2006 we started again with a new line-up just to practice, but we see that people had interest in the band and we got fast an offering for 2 split eps, then we re-started the band again with a lot of illusion! Our first gig after the stop was in September 2007! It was a full energy show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We still playing the same shit noise as our old stuff, its what we feel!

3) Is there a Violent Headache release you are happiest with?

We are happy with all our releases but not with the sound in lot of them. The split ep with Carcass Grinder I think is a brutal one likes the split ep with Proyecto Terror and Unholy Grave. Like I said, much releases had bad sound sometimes by the studio and sometimes by the pressing.

4) It seems like most 90’s Spanish grind is pretty lo-fi while now it’s much more produced. You mentioned to me before that you also prefer the older sound. What do you think contributes to the change?


Yes, I like better the lo-fi sound and the old grind. I think the better productions its because the new studios are working with digital stuff and PC programs. Nothing compared with the classic analogical ones!! We still playing the same old grind sound but as you can listen it sounds better and its by the new studio. Not better production, our production still being fucking cheap!!!ha ha. But now much bands are working brutal productions really, this is a new grind era!

5) Other than recording, do you think things have changed since you started playing in bands? Are there things you wish would change?

Yes, we are I other time and things are differents now. Some things are equal but now the PC is killing the “humanity” between people and also you can see that much bands and people are into “sophisticated” releases. All now must be perfect! This is wrong because the old way is dying. Also now theres new “labels”, and as you know labels=modes! About bands theres a lot more bands that the 90s but theres closed circles again, we can see this here. The shows are too much classifieds, theres not mixed shows, it can be dbeat show or grind show or death metal show… Different times, differents things but we still thinking and playing the same shit!

6) How do you feel about separatist movements such as the ETA in the Basque? Do you think that opinion is shared by most people in Spain?

It’s a delicate theme. I think the ETA problem is just for the Basque people. This is war between the government and ETA and each is using people in that. The government is the true guilty of all. Right, ETA is nationalist for Basque country but the rest of Spain if same nationalist down a patriotic status. To us any kind of nationalism is full of shit!

7) What do you think about the idea that all music, all art, everything, has a political statement attached to it?


I think this is a self choice but really some kind of music is drived into political statements and this sometimes is doing dogmatic ways!

CONTACT:

web:
www.myspace.com/violentheadache

CONFUSION

Being born in the early Colombian metal scene, Confusion are true masters of grind monotony, constructing songs out of two or three simplified drum parts, one or two guitar riffs, one-note bass solos, and barked vocals. The band recorded their first record, a sixteen-song flexi titled ‘Civilization…?’, for Japanese label Standard of Rebellion in 1990. The sound the cymbals produce on this one astounds me. They vibrate constantly, and it’s rare to make out an individual hit, making one wonder if they just recorded someone cutting sheet metal with a grinder disk instead. In January of 1991, they recorded a follow-up, a seven-song EP titled ‘Hopeless’, which was released in Germany by Amok Records. At the same time, they recorded an extra song which (along with two previously on ‘Hopeless’) was used on their ’92 split 7” with Sweden’s Arsedestroyer. I think this was originally released by Amok as well, though I believe every copy I’ve ever seen is from the repress on Sweden’s Distortion Records. Until recently, this – along with what I gathered from the liner notes on the records – was all the information I could find on the band. Deciding that I wanted to know more, I started trying to track down the members, and did eventually get a response from Alex Okendo, a member of Masacre who did guest vocals on the flexi. It turned out that Confusion is still in existence, Alex is now a full-member, and a CD release, ‘Demos-lition’, was on the way from Japan’s Obliteration Records (and, by the time you’re reading this, this has been out for more than a year). I don’t feel that the five questions I asked below are that great: I could and should have asked a lot more, so I did later send another set of questions, though I haven’t received a response to them yet. If I do receive answers in the future I will print them up as a bit of a supplement. Interview answered by Alex and Saul.

1) Who were Confusion’s influences when they first started? In addition to just lo-fi grindcore, there are a lot of noisecore/improvised songs on the flexi.


We listen a lot of rock, classic rock, all kind of metal, punk, hardcore, grind, and some industrial, maybe our main influences were Napalm Death, Carcass, Unseen Terror, Siege, S.O.B., Sarcofago and Fear of God (Switzerland).
Ummm.. Yea, Maybe.

2) The ‘Hopeless’ 7” was more in a death-metal direction. What caused that change? Influence from Nuclear Death?

We try to change a little bit in Hopeless, but not really trying to sound like Death Metal.
When you play in a band, you never want to play the same thing, all the time, so that’s what we try to do.
No, we never were influence by Nuclear Death, maybe a little bit from Hirax (U.S.A.), and Discharge.

3) ‘Ignorant and Proud’ on the Demos-lition CD seems to be an unreleased song from the same time as ‘Hopeless’. Why wasn’t that released on the split 7” with Arsedestroyer instead of the two songs from ‘Hopeless’? If it wasn’t thought to be good enough to release then, why release it now?

This song is from ‘Civilization…?’ EP, we release it again for the new songs that appear on Demo’s-lition CD, and there’s some changes on it in the Split 7” appear ‘Homeless’, this song was recorded at the same time of ‘Hopeless’ songs, which some songs appear on the Split 7” EP, in that time we never think to release ‘Ignorant and Proud’ again.
We don’t really know, but we choose this old song to recorder again, like ‘More Confusion’.

4) Why start Confusion up again after 12 years with only one original member? Do you consider this new version of Confusion to be the same band as Confusion was in the early 90’s? Do you think the recordings from ‘03 hold up to the older recordings? Do you think the higher production quality on the ’03 recordings is better or worse fitting for the music?

In all this 12 years we kept playing but not really serious, and a lot of members passed by the band, but most of them don’t like it, in that time I was so busy with my Tattoo Studio, now I have time to play again.
Fredy and Dilson were the original members, but after ‘Hopeless’, Fredy get married and star to change and he left the band, any way he never get along with Dilson.
Dilson moved to Masacre (Band), after 1 years with Masacre, he moved to the U.S.A., the only original member is me (Saul), and of course Alex too, because he did some chorus on ‘Civilization…?’.
No, not really the same, I told you we’re trying to give some changes every time, but every time trying to be more Brutality.
No, I don’t think so.
Maybe is better the new recording, but any way to you record something good here is so difficult and less Grind this is a backward country to recordings. (sad but true)

5) Are you going to continue on as Confusion in the future? Do you have any plans?

Yeah…of course the last guitar player Lucho still with me.
We are working now for a future EP.

CONTACT:

post:
Saul Vasquez
A.A. 200093
Medellin – Colombia
South America

Alex Okendo
A.A. 81366
Envigado – Colombia
South America

RETALIATION

Retaliation was one of the bands I got really into during the part of my life where I was buying anything that was Swedish and fast (especially if it was on Putrid Filth Conspiracy / Sounds of Betrayal). ‘Violence Spreads Its Drape’ was just mind-numbing for me. Since I did this interview, the new RTLN album, ‘The Cost of Redemption’ has come out, as well as ‘The Execution’ reissued on vinyl with six unreleased tracks, and a CD compiling the 7”s and demos. Answered by Henke back in November of 2006.

1) At thirteen years, I think that now makes you the longest-running Swedish grind band (and one of the longest-running overall), and yet in that time you’ve only done 8 releases (with two more on the way). I think the obvious question to start off with then is this: What caused such a delay in releasing music? Especially since it’s now been, what, six years since your last record?


Well, if you look at our history, we’ve NEVER been a productive band. In those 13 (soon to be 14) years all our releases have been spread out with years between them. The main reason for that being that all of us in the band have had other bands and Retaliation has always been a side-project. Unfortunately, me and the others in the band have different views on just how often (or seldom) we should put out our new stuff.

2) As far as I can tell, you’ve had the same four members (Henke, Jonas, Andreas and Jocke) since 1993, and added Jon around the time of ‘Violence Spreads Its Drape’. Had you ever thought about maybe replacing someone or changing up the line-up so you’d be able to record or play more often? Or it RTLN just something that only the five of you can do?


I’ve often pondered the idea of replacing members to get things rolling, but never had the heart to do it. Even though we are of different opinions ALL the time, and only me and Andreas are original members (we started as a 2-man-band), we’re kinda like a family. Which makes it hard to just replace someone. However, it IS tempting…

3) One of the things that I think makes RTLN good is that you have just a little of the Swedish grind sound, but seem equally influenced by Swedish crust and hardcore as well. Do you think that influence is there as well? Was it something you intentionally tried to involve?


In all our years we’ve never had the intention to sound in any way at all (apart from playing fast). When me and Andreas started the band it was mostly the bands that I listened to that we wanted to sound like. Back then it was the more classic grindcore bands such as Repulsion, old Carcass, old Napalm Death and so on that influenced me. Over the years new bands came along that has an impact on me, like His Hero is Gone, From Ashes Rise etc. But the Swedish sound? I dunno. I’ve always loved Disfear’s old stuff. And I’ve listened to a lot of Swedish crust since mid-late 80’s. So why not? Someone might get confused now coz I’m talking about the band like it’s MY band. But fact is that it’s mostly me who listens to crust/grind in the band, believe it or not…

4) Based on the song titles over the past few releases you seem to have pretty socially conscious lyrics, but never print them. But, then again, there are also songs named things like ‘Ejaculated Whore’. Is there a certain focus to your lyrics? Or are they even important.


I thought it was a well-known fact that we have never EVER used any lyrics? We use our vocals as an instrument, not to deliver a message. Our song titles do that. Lyrics are so NOT important to us…we’ve never had anything of value to sing about. And as far as ‘Ejaculated Whore’…welll, it just has a “ring” to it, y’know.

5) While we’re talking about content, do you ever come across other bands whose lyrics or art or whatever are so disturbing that it makes you unable to listen to them, even if you enjoy it otherwise?

Nope, never. The music comes first, last and always. What are we? The Moral Majority? Right Wing Christians”…Get real.

6) A couple of the covers you’ve done seem like odd choices for a grind band (Skitsystem and His Hero is Gone). Was there a reason you covered those songs (other than just liking them)?

I have NO idea why we did those covers…or ANY covers. Coz we totally butcher them. SO many people have complained about
the covers we play. Actually, Retaliation shouldn’t be allowed to play any covers at all. The only good response to a cover we did
actually play was actually Skitsystem’s ‘Jag Vagrar’, and I understand why. It was the easiest one to play (did it myself actually!), hahaha…We
recorded a Dropdead song many years ago, but it was never released.

7) You may not be the best person to ask about this, but when the Polar Grinder compilation came out I was pretty disappointed not to see any RTLN tracks on it. Was there any particular reason you didn’t contribute?


Actually I AM the best person to ask about it. We were asked to record some songs for the Polar Grinder, but never really got around to it. But we try to stand out, away from the rest of the Swedish bands that followed the leader on that mission. A part of me wanted to be on that sampler, another part of me said “no”. I want Retaliation to be different. A band that doesn’t care about “fame” or recognition or a HUGE fan-base. The only reason I really regret not being on Polar Grinder is that there were some good bands on there that I really like (at least I think so…can’t really remember, but Sayyadina was on there, right? Hehehe). The only time we agreed to be on a sampler was when Mieszko asked us to be a part of ‘Grindwork’. We can’t muster the strength to record stuff for samplers or the never-ending 3-way splits or 4-way mcd’s people release with one good band (RTLN, of course) and 3 totally unknown bands…

8) Are there any big differences to be expected on the new recordings, or will they be much in the vein of your past work? Is the 7” a full release or is it going to be another split?

I suppose the 7” you’re talking about is the one that was recorded at the same time as ‘Violence…’? That one was supposed to be a split, but Rodrigo (Putrid Filth… recs) never released it. I dunno why. We’ve been trying to get our hands on that master for a few years without any luck. There are a lot of people who said they’ll release it if we ever DO get it back, but so far no luck. As for future releases, Retaliation have always and will always sound like Retaliation. It would be a stupid mistake to change a “winning” concept and we’re not pretentious that way. People say we have changed over the years but the way I see it only the production changed. ‘The Execution’ sounded more metal, some said, but I think it was basically coz the production came out that way. A fuck-up on our part. Hopefully our next release, the mcd ‘No One Knows My Grave’, will sound just right.

CONTACT:

email: rtln.grindcore@gmail.com

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

NAPALM DEATH

“I think we’re pretty much the end of the line. I don’t think you’re going to find a band that’s more extreme than us.”
-Shane Embury, 1989

While we could argue endlessly about whether Napalm Death was the first band to play grindcore or not, it would be pretty fucking brazen to deny that they really popularized and spread the style. When I started working on this, 2007 was about to begin, and with it would come the twentieth anniversary of what is probably the most influential grind record of all time: Napalm Death’s first, ‘Scum’. That was one of a series of records other bands would try to emulate and surpass in speed, intensity and noise, and (despite what Embury says in the above quote) some would actually manage to.

For a little while, I tried – weakly – to interview the members involved with N.D. up until the end of 1989, so that I could ask about the years that produced the first few shocking grind records most of the world had been exposed to, and try to fill in some gaps left by Choosing Death.* After not getting a response, I decided to go back to what I had originally intended: writing about every vinyl Napalm Death bootleg I knew of that contained material recorded before 1990. More recently, I decided not to include any of the Grindcrusher ’89 bootlegs either, just because Barney is really unpleasant to listen to.

Fear of a Red Planet 7” – Forget the twentieth-anniversary, remastered re-release, this is the ultimate version of the first Napalm Death LP**. Issued in 1994 under the band name Gasmask on S.O.A. records, the music on this is actually just ‘Scum’ played on 45 rpms instead of 33, and it is amazing how fucking good it sounds. Other than the Donald Duck-ization of Dorrian’s high vocals, everything syncs up perfectly. While it still suffers from the A-side being too long (see ‘Scum’ review below), this is the version I’ll grab first when I feel like hearing it. You might have some trouble getting this one, as there were only 200 copies pressed, but – of course - you could always just listen to your copy of the LP on 45 to get the idea (and possibly to change your perception of the correct speed in the first place). According to information S.O.A. provided to the 56k Performance website, some mispressed copies of this were also released as the Gerogerigegege ‘Yellow Trash Bazooka’ 7”. This release seems a lot like it was a precursor to Comrades, the Italian, straightedge, communist grind band that also had releases on S.O.A., mainly because of the cover art and the small essay printed on the sleeve, which I have printed on the next pages for you to take a look at.

Hatred Surge 7” – I’m not certain that this actually exists, but I found a little information saying that the first vinyl bootleg of Hatred Surge was on a 7” pressed in an edition of 300 copies, and including the extra live song ‘Cheswick Green’, which did not actually appear on the original ‘Hatred Surge’ demo, but was added later by tape traders.

Hatred Surge LP – Pretty decent quality boot of this 1985 demo. I’ve seen these recordings compared to the pre-Joy Division songs of Warsaw, but I haven’t heard those and can’t comment myself. I like the songs, but probably never would have heard these if the name “Napalm Death” hadn’t been used all along as the band evolved. That evolution is interesting to track from here, as this features a lot of songs played later in the band’s existence. The slower version of ‘Instinct of Survival’ is enjoyable, and – other than the speed and some doubled up vocals – is much the same as the ‘Scum’ version. You know exactly how that song starts: “duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh DUH DUH”; so fucking good. There is a lot of noticeable cassette wear on the tape this was taken from, both minor hiss and distracting crackles in the louder parts of the songs. This is housed in a pretty heavy, yellow cover with some splatter drawing on the front, and the back has lyrics, line-up, a copy of the tape cover that has the wrong band photo (see split w/ Negative Gain below) and the cover of the ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’ demo used as a background. The cover says this is limited to 300 copies, but I come across this one pretty often, so who knows. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this has been pressed multiple times by multiple people.

Human Garbage LP – I think this one is done pretty well. It contains all the song titles, states where they were recorded, who the line-up on each recording is, and includes a couple of photos. The A-side features a post-Jim Whiteley 1987 recording from Wakken, Belgium. Not only is Embury now on bass, this particular show has Mitch Dickinson on guitar (Steer was in the UK taking exams, according to the record cover). It’s an okay live tape; pretty lo-fi but the balance between the four parts sounds pretty good. Side B starts with a pretty great sounding recording from a BBC TV performance in ’89 and then finishes with another Belgian show, but this time in Aalst in ‘89. There is a noteworthy vocal contribution to ‘Deceiver’ in the form of Tottsuan from S.O.B. The sound here is also pretty awesome, but it’s because of a lack of definition between all the instruments at some points. The Harris/Embury/Dorrian/Steer line-up had a perfect way of getting their instruments muddied-up into one stream of noise.

Live 7” – My copy of this record says “Re-released by GUTS RECORDS 1989” on the back cover. Anyone know if there was a vinyl release of it before then? This contains pretty decent recordings for the first six songs. Those are nothing amazing, and about standard live quality. Then the next track sounds like it’s taken from a different show and the guitar is louder in the mix. Unfortunately, someone’s poor editing skills show through right here as you are treated to the first fifteen or so seconds of Deceiver Part 2 twice. Those are a good fifteen seconds, so I can live with it. The entire second side comes from yet another show – I think – and the sound is great. I’d assume this is taped right from the board, as everything sounds spot on. I could go for a full LP of this set. There aren’t any recording dates on here though (other than the “recorded somewhere in Europe 1988), so I doubt I’d be able to track that set down all that easily. Too bad. There are some incorrect titles and misspellings on the track titles (“Prision Without Walls”, “Seudo Youth”, and “Death”), but I still quite enjoy this one. In some ways, I like it more than the official live 7” on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above label.

s/t LP – There is no disrespect intended to the members of N.D. before the Embury/Steer/Dorrian/Harris line-up solidified, but everything those four recorded together is the peak of what the band is to me. Apparently whoever made this boot thinks so too, as it contains four of the recording sessions they made together (The 88 Peel Sessions, the 87 Peel Sessions, the bonus 7” from the ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’ album, and their side of the split with S.O.B.). The bio included on the insert seems to back that position as well, as it ends right as Steer and Dorrian leave the group. This bio also has some misspelled names and some incorrect years are given for releases. The insert has lyrics for many – though not all - of the songs included. Cover art is a blown-up version of the art from the official live 7”. The sound quality is a bit lesser than on the originals, but it still decent and – with the exception of the insert issues – this is a pretty solid release. This one still comes up occasionally, so I bet you can find one too.

Scum LP – Black and white covered bootleg of the first LP. This was the first version of ‘Scum’ I owned, and since the sound is much rougher I think I actually prefer this to the official versions. Not a complaint with the boot, but I really don’t like the A-side of ‘Scum’ very much, and never have. It’s too long***, and it’s not quite far enough removed from the hardcore scene that N.D. was a part of at the time it was recorded for my taste. I love the bands they were associated with, but I don’t like their take on it. Also, I hate guitar solos. The record sleeve features the same artwork as the original version, though some of the detail turned up missing along the way. The cover opens at the top as well, and includes a double-sided insert replicating all the art from the original inner sleeve. Reading through the thanks list is always fairly mind blowing, both for the names and the lingo (thanks “for being a total REPULSION freak and a screaming whirlwind tornado thunderstorm hurricane sandstorm earthquake decomposed holocaust disorder”). Just a sample of the amazing thanks: Larm, Eric [sic] Megawimp’s friend who I saw in Belgium, Dave Phillips, Cyanamid, Heresy, Amebix, Deviated Instinct, B.G.K., and “my dog who is a total grindcore noise lover”. Before the 2002 vinyl reissues came out, this was the cheapest way for me to find a copy of ‘Scum’, and I still like it.

Stunt LP – This is almost an honorary mention, as it isn’t a bootleg in the same way as the other records on this list. While there are no unauthorized uses of Napalm Death recordings on this LP, there are unauthorized uses of Napalm Death songs. Taking the pisstake to a whole new level, ‘Stunt’ is a 1997 LP by Brazil’s New York Against the Belzebu in which they play the entire ‘Scum’ album in half the time it took N.D., plus manage to throw in versions of five ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’ songs before the A-side comes to a close. . They play the songs faster and have them recorded in a much rawer manner, making this almost as brilliant as ‘Fear of a Red Planet’. Not to waste the B-side of the record, NYAB just included a 63-song session of their own improvised noise. With the exception of the B-side, the entire record is parody and homage at the same time: the cover art, song titles, band photos, and I imagine the lyrics have been remade by the members of NYAB. I’ve seen this come up a few times recently, so maybe you won’t have trouble tracking one down, and I recommend you grab it if you do find it.

w/ Carcass split LP – God, this Liverpool in 1987 recording is fucking rough. Starts off with screeching feedback and Lee shouting the lyrics to ‘Multinational Corporations’ before the whole band bursts into ‘Instinct of Survival’. The feedback doesn’t really seem to disappear until the middle of the set, and almost seems like a precursor to the feedback loop idea Insect Warfare mentioned in their interview this issue. Love it. This sounds like it was a killer fucking show; I’ve never heard this much fucking stage banter on any of the later-period recordings. “Kaaay-otic. Screaming whirlwin’ torpedo. Intergalactic fireball.” There’s a reprint of an interview with Mick Harris in Visual Aggression zine from 1989 in the sleeve as well.

w/ Godstomper split 7” – Unfortunately lacking a copy of this, I can’t provide you with too much information. I believe it has tracks from the first Japanese tour Napalm Death ever went on with the line-up that recorded ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’. This would mean these are some of the final tracks recorded in their finest hour.

w/ Morbid Angel split 7” – I don’t have this one, and don’t really care enough to get it, as it has two tracks off of ‘Hatred Surge’ and live versions of those songs recorded in 1992. I can do without.

w/ Negative Gain split LP – Another bootleg of the ‘Hatred Surge’ demo, this time though it comes from the later bootleg tape that had the wrong line-up featured on the cover and included a live version of another song from the time titled ‘Cheswick Green’. The cover art for the N.D. side of this LP is that erroneous cover shot featuring Nik Bullen, Mick Harris and Justin Broadrick, another shot I’ve seen before that I assume is a teenaged-N.D., song titles, and a repeating, pixilated series of the logo. No lyrics, no band history, no real effort, it seems. As far as the audio quality goes, you can hear the tape this one was copied from fading in and out at several points, and there is still a lot of crackle and hiss as well. Unlike the full-LP ‘Hatred Surge’ boot above, the loud parts manage not to get completely destroyed on this one. Also contains the song ‘Cheswick Green’, which, while live, features much cleaner drums than on the demo proper and some odd phaser effects on the guitar. Supposedly limited to 100 copies, but it can still be found, so I doubt it actually is. I find it odd how many boots of ‘Hatred Surge’ there are, while - as far as I know - the 1986 ‘From Enslavement to Obliteration’ demo hasn’t been bootlegged to vinyl, especially as it draws a musical link between the earlier, peace punk influenced N.D. and the grind that came shortly after.

w/ S.O.B. split 7” – Have never actually owned one of these boots as I have the flexi these are bootlegged from, and instead of selling for $5 or so, these now sell for about as much as just buying an original. I’ve seen three different versions of this, though really have no idea how many times it was unofficially released or by how many people. The first I’ve seen is white labels with black artwork, second is black labels with white artwork, and the third is black ink printed over silver labels to replicate the original art.

* On the subject of Choosing Death, I’m going to point out that the Accused were from Washington, not California, and the band’s name is either Crucifix or the Crucifucks, not “Crucifux”. I’m not re-reading the whole book just to pick out more errors.
** This is actually pretty embarrassing, but I wrote what I wrote and I'm not going to change it now, but 'Fear of a Red Planet' is most definitely not 'Scum', but rather Napalm Death's second LP, 'From Enslavement to Obliteration'. Before realizing that, I can actually remember listening to it multiple times and thinking "Huh, why didn't I hear this part, or that part?", but apparently I didn't listen close enough to actually know what the fuck I was talking about.
*** This might be kind of relative, as I don’t know that the A-Side is all that much longer than the B-Side. I am fucking frustrated and bored as hell by the time it gets to the end though.

CADAVERIZER / R.O.N.F. RECORDS

R.O.N.F. is one of a small handful of current labels that are trying to re-introduce the sounds of the 90’s noise/grind/shit/whatever scene while also releasing current projects that share the same spirit. It is handled by two friends who also share time in the industrial-influenced noisecore band Potabilizadora. Interview done with Manuel.

1) Could you give me a history of Cadaverizer Records?


I started Cadaverizer Records on October 1992 when my band first Genital Masticator tape was done and I wrote on the cover "Cadaverizer Records 001", it wasn't serious but I kept writing it on 2nd G.M.. demo tape and then on my industrial solo noise project + Benjamin's (G.M.. guitar) noise recording split demo tape (Cadaverizer Noise / P.A.C.).
I was in touch through mail with a lot of people in the world so people started to ask me to release their recordings and demos on Cadaverizer Rec., since I started spreading flyers my contacts multiplied and a lot of people started ordering my stuff so these were the tapes I released from 1992 to 1995:

[001] - GENITAL MASTICATOR "Sanatorium Paranoias"
[002] - GENITAL MASTICATOR "Merry Xmas... You're Dead"
[003] - CADAVERIZER NOISE / P.A.C (Split Demo).
[004] - PESTUFATOR "Demo 1"
[005] - JANGLE "Pathological Demo" (Demo 1)
[006] - P.A.C. "14 Min, 56 Seg, 24 Cents" (Demo 1)
[007] - POTABILIZADORA "60 songs Demo" (Demo 1)
[008] - DECHE-CHARGE / GENITAL MASTICATOR (Split demo)
[009] - POTABILIZADORA "134 songs Demo" (Demo 2)
[010] - "THREE WAY TAPE” Featuring : EXTREME HAIR STENCH / POTABILIZADORA / MACHAKAKRANEOS
[011] - GENITAL MASTICATOR "From Originality to Vulgarity" (Demo Sept'93)
[012] - STOMACH NOISES "Neutralizing Sound Attack" (Demo 1)
[013] - ATROCITY MASTER "Atrocious Doomy Noise"(Demo 2)
[014] - "CADAVERIZER SPASMS COMPILATION TAPE" - 20 Noise / Noisecore bands
[015] - TRACI LORDS LOVES NOISE "Anti-music machine" (Demo tape)
[016] - "CADAVERIZER SAMPLER" Featuring : P.A.C. / REUMA GAUSTRODENAL / JANGLE / SONIC DISORDER
[017] - TRACI LORDS LOVES NOISE / GENITAL MASTICATOR (Split demo)
[018] - REUMA GAUSTRODENAL "Demo 3"
[019] - EXCRETED ALIVE / JANGLE (Split demo)
[020] - MAD RECITAL "Immoral Music Panic" (Demo 2)
[021] - DECHE-CHARGE "the best of..." (Collection tape)
[022] - NOISEABUNDOS "Solucion Macabra" (Demo 1)
[023] - THEOLOGYCAL "Cyber" (Demo '94)
[024] - RITUAL NOISE "Satisfechos de nosotros mismos" (Demo 1)
[025] - SOVAKO "Frustrated Violator" (Demo 1)
[026] - SEPTIC GOITROUS "The new fascist Europe"(Demo 1)
[027] - MENTALLY MASTURBATION "To Much For You" (Demo 1)
[028] - GENITAL MASTICATOR "Me voy a cagar en tu puta madre" (Demo July'94)
[029] - CASPA "PsychopatĂ­as Capilares" (Demo 3)
[030] - ESKORBUTO GRINDER "Jeringuilla Justice" (Demo 1)
[031] - QUÄLGOIST "The best of two hours live in the living room ... crazier than GG Allin" (Demo'95)
[032] - SOCIEDAD DE RECHAZO / POTABILIZADORA (Split demo)
[033] - K.M.K. "I can't play music, so I play noise" (Demo Dec'94)
[034] - NOISEABUNDOS "Una Soprano Perdida En El Tono Re" (Demo 2)
[035] - SPARMIXDWF "Sonorous Disturbances Of A Mind In Trance" (Demo 2)
[036] - BRAIN DAMAGE "Musical Extermination" (Demo tape)
[037] - LIENDRE "El tren se retrasa" (Demo 1)
[038] - EL KASO URKIJO / GENITAL MASTICATOR (Split demo'95)
[039] - BRUTAL MASSAKRE OF TOREROS / IRRITACION EXTREMA (Split demo)

Then at the end of 1995 I had some personal problems to keep in touch and going on with the label, and I didn’t want to make it without my full attention, so I gave all the master tapes + covers to someone here in my place. Some time later I asked him how the label was doing and he told me noise is dead, nobody interested about it... and he wasn’t interested about noise anymore, oh it was sad... but when internet came up I realized he was lying and he even had released more stuff. I asked him all the master tapes and it wasn’t easy to get hold of them but I finally got the stuff in about 2000. I didn’t want to start the label again, it was just because too much memories on those tapes and emotional shit heheh

2) And then why did you decide to start R.O.N.F. over ten years later? Did the recent interest in Genital Masticator after the discography 2xCDr have anything to do with it?

In 2004 I met again my old friend Javier who I did an industrial noisecore project called Potabilizadora with, so we started having some fun again with bass, drum machine and sick vocals, then I started getting interested about the noise/grind/industrial scene again and listening all of my old noise tapes of the early 90's. Of course, the release of Genital Masticator's "Ultimate Collection" on Mortville Records 2004 helped me out to contact more people again who encouraged me to re-release the old Cadaverizer Records stuff and joining the band again... the idea was growing in my head, then in the summer 2006 I was decided to do it and I asked my friend Javier to help me out with it. "Regression Of Noise Freaks" was born.

3) What are the differences between doing releases with Cadaverizer and R.O.N.F.? How much of an effect do you feel the internet and affordability of computers has had on spreading small releases and unheard music?

I don't find much of difference, because I do it the same way talking to the bands and collaborating the same way we did in the past, just with the aim of putting noise/grind/ experimental/ industrial stuff out and then spreading all around the world. Of course nowadays the format has changed into cd-r because it is the cheapest and easiest way to do it as it was on dubbed cassettes in the early 90's.

The way of contacting people has changed a lot of course, with internet there's a closest contact and releases come out better as people can send out stuff faster and collaborating on the designs of the covers... in the past it was about months for every release since the band did until it was released.

4) What role do you think releasing CDs/tapes/records plays when it is so easy to spread things via the internet and file-sharing?

I think there's people who still appreciate to handle the artwork and doing their stuff on material releases, and I am one of them!
I like to see the d.i.y. work the people do on their recordings and the way they put it out, there are a lot of ways to express things and a printed cover + noise on a cd or tape is one of them. Also the old cunts like me still enjoy to have all this tons of original stuff stored at home hehe! It's true that nowadays anyone can load lots of noise off the internet (p2p) & internet labels and that's a positive thing because it spreads a lot of culture.

So an underground label nowadays is for people who like to get hold of original releases, for people who hate the internet or the mp3 format, or don't have the time to use a p2p, for people in bands who like to see their stuff released and trading with others or for freaks who like to see the old stuff re-issued and re-worked on a different cover and format... personally I'm ok with part of all of these reasons.

5) A lot of your releases so far have been reissues of Cadaverizer material, but you’ve also done reissues of tapes from other labels and releases of current bands. I imagine you have a pretty extensive collection so how do you decide what you want to re-release? Has it been difficult getting a hold of the people that originally pit out those tapes? Have there been releases who you wanted to do but haven’t been able to simply because of not being able to track someone down for permission?

When in summer I decided running R.O.N.F. I started writing letters to the old pals out there using the old addresses, some of them replied but also a lot of letters came back because these people had moved or something. The internet has helped out to find a lot of them too.

I decide to re-release the stuff that I think it was important for the early 90's scene or just the stuff that being not so widely spreaded then I appreciate the quality of and I personally think it deserves to be re-issued. So this way I have done stuff which was maybe well spreaded or popular as the "Be A Freak Compilation" so as well as very rare stuff as the DISFUNCTION "Emergency". Most of people seem to be shocked when I ask them to re-release their stuff because they think nobody is going to be interested about it anymore and almost all of them are happy for it to be re-released.

6) Have you seen any progression in this noise since you first became interested in it? Do you think bands should evolve beyond just sounding like their influences?

I think nowadays there aren't so many noise acts like then in the early 90's but there are very good ones of course. I think there's not a progression as everyone plays noise the way he wants... not very much of forms to follow and it would be wrong trying to imitate... of course nowadays there are more of cyber projects doing noise with computers or gear, that's maybe a progression but in the early 90's some people also used their amigas or drum machines to do it, not new thing but more used.

7) How did Potabilizadora come about? Was it an evolution of what you had already been doing with Genital Masticator or was it something else altogether.

The same time I was doing noisecore with Genital Masticator I started playing noise with my R.O.N.F. partner nowadays, Javier, in 1993, so it was another project to fill the spare time and having fun on a different way, with G.M. I did vocals and with Potabilizadora I mainly played bass.
Potabilizadora was more into the industrial noisecore drum machine powered thing and we are still nowadays having some fun on it.

8) What do you have planned for the future of R.O.N.F. and Potabilizadora?

R.O.N.F. Records plans to be putting out a lot of releases in the future, re-releasing good old stuff and releasing more of the new stuff being done nowadays.

We also have recently invested with other two labels on a vinyl co-release led by Grind/Noise spanish acts VIOLENT HEADACHE and SERRANDO CODOS.

Some of our Upcoming CDr releases:

FUNERAL MONGOLOIDS / MELANOCETUS MURRAYI / POTABILIZADORA / COLICO - 4 Way Split #4
KERENANEKO / CACASONICA - Split CDr Album
ZANSTON.ES - CDr Album
KUSARI GAMA KILL - Dead Animal Noise Party 2008 (New edition of K.G.K. album)
KENJI SIRATORI - CDr Album
SWAMPS UP NOSTRILS - CDr Album
MYSTIFIED - CDr Album
TAIKO OROSHI - CDr Album
ELECTRO PILS - Collection CDr (Re-release)
THE EARWIGS - Collection CDr (Re-release)
JANGLE - Collection CDr (Re-release)
SONIC DISORDER - Collection CDr (Re-release)

CONTACT:

http://www.ronfrecords.com/