What the Fuck is Going On

So if you're keeping up at all with hardcore these days you know that "Mysterious Guy Hardcore" is all the rage, not so mysteriously. We have those chaotic gold rush style Youth Attack updates to thank for that mostly, as thousands of kids F5 the bigcartel page with the hopes of drawing out another few centimeters of cassette tape from a band they've likely never heard. Some of the stuff is good, like the new Veins tape. Regardless, it is all ridiculous.

So now that Youth Attack is getting played out (not really) mysterious bands need to step up their game. Well here's something that I don't fucking understand. Why is the new Total Abuse LP available on BestBuy.com? It's being released on PPM records, but a quick google search finds pre-orders on Bestbuy, and CDUniverse, but no regular punk distros. Bestbuy claims that the original release date is 1910. Rusty Kelley, the singer, is known for his mysteriousness, just check out his lyrics, his blog, his zine, his movie, and all his small run releases for Youth Attack etc.

Next on the mysteriousness is Charles Manson. I don't know how mysterious he is anymore, because few people probably take him serious, which is important when you want to mysterious (they rhyme). Anyway, he has a 7" coming out on Holy Terror records (you know, the label run by Dwid from Integrity, who always uses Manson iconography) limited to 100 on red. Check out this wacky cover art, looks like he's dressed as a cosmo seal. Sounds like some sort of mediocre Blues record.

A Deranged Order

Most of the music I listen to came out between '77 and '86, so when a cool new band comes along I'm not always on the forefront of these things. I know there are lots of great new bands out there, and those of them that I like general sound like they fit in that given period, or at least were extremely influenced by it. So when I post little reviews or features, I'm not trying to be on the cutting edge, I'm just plugging something I like.

About a month ago I got an order in from the always amazing Deranged. Included were the Total Abuse LP on purple (the label on one side was all bubbly), the Urban Blight demo 7" I should have gotten a long time ago, the Brutal Knights new 12" EP Total Rebellion and the even newer (I think) Nomos 7".  I'll focus on the later two.

Excuse the horrible photo, it's one of the things that will be of more importance for the zine, when I retake them.

First though, I was skeptical of getting the Total Abuse LP. I had heard good things about it, but had also heard lots of bad things about the band themselves, and they had beef going with a band I really like, Seasick. The more powerful force that made me hesitate from getting it though was the fact that some friends of mine saw them and got the LP at the show for only $5. Id have to pay double that plus shipping... but once I saw it was available on coloured vinyl and I was planning on getting some other stuff from Deranged I went ahead and got it.

The new Brutal Knights release is great. Total Rebellion was initially released on P. Trash over in Europe to coincide with their Euro tour. Luckily Deranged had a couple of copies, and this was what really motivated this order. Sounds a bit different then other Brutal Knight records somehow, the vocals seem somewhat subdued or in the background. Still great though, and some really catchy songs such as "This is Electronics" and "Why the Beard?" make this a memorable release. I saw them play on Halloween at the Fucked Up weekend, and dressed as the "Brutal" California Raisins, they played one of the tightest sets I've ever seen them play, and they played both of the aforementioned songs.

This Nomos 7" is quite intriguing. It has that mysterious style of cover art that appears in many hardcore covers lately. There is no words anywhere, but rather a sticker on the plastic sleeve mentions the band name. Its surprisingly good, the music is noisy hardcore with some great slow parts, especially in the song "Pax." The recording is quite muddy and distorted, but if anything it adds to the sound, and falls in line with the mysterious aura they seem to be attempting to erect. It also makes sense since apparently this was originally done as a tape run of 100. Although the cover and the labels offer no information (I had to check the matrix to make sure I was playing side A first), the inside of the sleeve has lyrics, but little other information. The lyrical themes are what you'd expect; broad dwellings on suicide, religion and world's end, but don't get me wrong that's not a bad thing. Deranged put this on vinyl, and mine is white, but I don't know any numbers. Nomos were also supposed to play the Fucked Up Weekend, but couldn't make it to the border. I heard that the drummer or someone hadn't bothered getting a passport.