ГРАЖДАНСКАЯ ОБОРОНА "Война" альбом [1989, ГрОб/XOP, 2001]

Jumping off from the previous post of old USSR post-punk groups, today I have the infamous and classic Siberian USSR punk groups ГРАЖДАНСКАЯ ОБОРОНА (Grazhdanskaya Oborona/Civil Defense) from Omsk, a city just a few hours north of the Kazakhstan border in south Siberia. This is their album that was recorded towards the end of 1989 called Война (Voyna/War). 

Unlike the previous bands I've talked about, GrOb were completely underground up until the fall of the USSR. Their releases were only distributed from person to person via tape recorders from stereos throughout the USSR and never were properly released until the fall of the USSR. This system of distributing censored music was called magnitizdat. Their singer/frontman/song writer Yegor Letov was even captured, interrogated and tortured by the KGB after the aunt of one of his bass players in the early days outed them for "anti-communist" activities. The official slogan of GrOb was "I will always be against". Musically and lyrically GrOb were one of the most subversive punk bands to ever exist on the planet in my opinion. Completely unique Siberian-styled punk that is almost folky but completely noisy, blown out, fast and driven punk. The noise levels are at the same level as Japanese punk bands like GAI for Confuse. I have no idea how the context of the sound for GrOb was imagined or created without hearing or being influenced by western punk acts, but amazingly enough, it does exist on it's own pillar of originality and creativity and developed completely on it's own based on all the info I've been able to find. 

Lyrically, GrOb are one of the most brutal and honest bands in critiquing their surroundings. The opening and title track has Letov screaming "Peace or War? WAR!... God or Death? DEATH!... Love or Fear? FEAR!... Freedom or The Lash? THE LASH!". 

Or the third track Философская Песня О Пуле (Philosophical Song about a Bullet) the lyrics are

"Wicked bullet, teach me to live
Good stone, teach me to swim
        Humanism spawned genocide
        Justice has given the tribunal
        Deviations of established law
        What we sow - and then are reaping"

Or their Song About Lenin (Песня О Ленине)...

Lenin - Hitler, Lenin - Stalin is
Lenin - is Kim Il Sung, Lenin - is Mao
Lenin - the Buddha, Christ, Abel and Cain
Lenin - is the yin and yang, Lenin - is the Tao
Lenin - a joke that we have poisoned
Lenin - is a carrot, by which we beckon
Lenin - is the hand that we mold
Lenin is a spotlight that blinds us
Lenin - is a hammer which we pierce
Lenin - that is all that drives us
Lenin - a tank that crushed us
Lenin - is the truth that we have poisoned
Lenin - is the bullet that cures us
Lenin - is the fear that cripples us
Lenin - is an ass, that we all stink
Lenin - is the blood that we slurp
Lenin - Hitler, Lenin - Stalin is
Lenin - is Kim Il Sung, Lenin - is Mao
Forever young, forever with us
He always, always alive!
      Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live
      Lenin will be, will be
      Lenin, Lenin will live!

There's a level of self-destructive, melancholic, desperate and urgency that I can only find in GrOb's music. I can only imagine what context this album was recorded... Right at the end of the USSR, the end of communism, the end of an era, the end of the world is what life must have felt like for people at this time, and the 4 (FOUR!) albums recorded and released by GrOb in 1989 reflect this. I read a very interesting interview conducted with Letov after the fall of the USSR and how people in the USA can't imagine the hostility, danger and environment in which he operated to make his art in the USSR and that people in America do not know what true oppression is, or something to that effect. Unfortunately the Kill From The Heart original website is down, they had that incredible interview available there.

Download link:
Voyna!

V/A "Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands From The USSR" 2xLP, Disc 1 [Big Time, 1986]

After the incredibly troubling, unfortunate, heartbreaking news of Tuesday, November 9th, here in the USA, it seems like we are headed towards a really bleak and regressive future. For the last week I've found the sounds of the old USSR punk/post-punk bands to reflect the sadness and hopelessness that I am feeling. It's also inspiring to look at bands that thrived and persevered through harder times than what the USA has yet experienced as a whole country.

Today's record is a very interesting US released double LP (Although I'm only posting disc 1) of Soviet Post-Punk bands from 1986 that was smuggled out of the USSR by Joanna Stingray, a young woman who travelled to the USSR and became friends with the artists. I'm choosing to only post the first disc because I find the music of AQUARIUM (Аквариум) and KINO (Кино) to be more interesting. I'll probably post the 2nd disc sometime in the future.

The first band AQUARIUM are excellent, experimental post-punk that definitely have a Soviet-Rock defining sound. It's great hearing their music after being intimately familiar with the material on the early 2000s releases of punk bands from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and to be able to see how a lot of those bands owe their sound to old bands like AQUARIUM and KINO, who are still major influences in Russia/Ex-Soviet states to this day. The recording production on the LP is amazing, a perfect balance between raw and clean, and amazingly enough, the whole record was recorded on a 2-track. I find it amazing to make something that sounds this good with a 2-track. Analog is truly the superior recording medium for punk.

Here's a video that was made of AQUARIUM's first song off the comp, excellent stuff:

The band following on side b is the legendary KINO, who are THE reference in Soviet rock. Interesting fun fact, their front person VIKTOR TSOI is of Korean decent and is considered one of the first Rockers in the USSR, and like-wise, one of the first Rockers in China was also of Korean decent. KINO plays some of the best post-punk in my opinion, and play in a style completely their own. I especially like the fact that both AQUARIUM and KINO have a sad/bleak undertone to them without being 'Goth' or 'dark' at all in their sound. The entire history of KINO is worth looking up.

Also, here is a great video of KINO from the 80s:

As far as Soviet-Punk/Rock goes, bands like AQUARIUM and KINO, although unofficial (that is, not state approved), still held a fairly privileged position. They weren't detained, harassed or interrogated by the KGB/the state authorities. In the future I will have to post the music of and write about bands/artists like Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Гражданская Оборона) and Yanka Dyagileva (Янка Дягилева) who were captured and interrogated by the KGB for their subversive lyrics, music and activities. These artists are the true Soviet underground.

Finally here are videos of Joanna Stingray talking about the release of the LP in the 80s:

Download link:
Red Wave Disc 1!

RAI KO RIS "Himalayan Frostbite" EP [BatAttak Records, 2003]

One of my most favorite punk records released ever. Absolutely one of best records released in the 2000s. RAI KO RIS were a punk band from Kathmandu, NEPAL and played a super bouncy, fuzzy, noisy and completely original style of punk. I think this is one of the most unanimous records that I show someone where their eyes go wide after the guitar kicks in the first song, it's a look of complete amazement and disbelief at how great the record is. Someone even asked me "How do their guitars sound like this? Nepal barely had the internet in 2003!". Some insight from my friend from Nepal, Spawn, is that the leader of the group, Sareena Rai, was raised in the UK and immigrated back to Nepal as a young adult and started the band. There is a ton of info and perspective about RAI KO RIS on their website HERE.

Lyrically they are very political and local-focused, it really makes the record completely authentic, instead of trying to pander to a western audience, they are singing for the here and now and present reality of Nepal in 2003. The first track is about how the government(monarchy) would shut down the country if any protests were happening. The second is about Nepalese people immigrating or working abroad and sending money back to Nepal. The final track is one of the most heart-breaking songs that I'm aware of or ever created by a punk band. Every time I listen to it I can feel my heart sink in my chest. Not enough punk songs can instigate that kind of an emotional reaction, which I think is a shame. 

The back of the lyric sheet has information and a timeline of the Maoist insurgency that is active in the country, although at this point it's a bit outdated, because in 2008 they were able to abolish the monarchy and establish a secular parliamentary republic. The main political affiliations are now Communists, Social Democrats and Hindu Nationalists. I can't imagine existing in one of the worlds 'least developed' countries during a political transition from Monarchy to a 'democracy' via Maoist insurgency, all while playing in a punk band and releasing a ton of music over the span of 10+ years. This is one of the main reasons that punk outside of the first world is so much more interesting to me and holds so much more merit. Punk is too easy in the US, Europe and Japan. There is no daily struggle, everything is handed to you and accessible. It's always disheartening to have people be dismissive of punk that doesn't fit into their narrow-minded, elitist western punk worldview. Such a shame...

Download link:

Rai Ko Ris!

キャ→ "Slapdash" EP [AA Records, 1985]

This post's band is one of the most criminally underrated, overlooked and unknown Japanese hardcore punk bands. キャ→ or KYAH! were a 4 piece, all women punk band that released two EPs and two 12"s throughout their existence, they even had three tracks on a compilation 8" record along with the LOODS that I might post further down the road. Their "Slapdash" EP is their second EP and I think this along with their first 12" is their best material. Super high energy, catchy hardcore punk rock with superb song writing. I only wish they included lyrics with the release so I knew what they were singing about!

The first track on the EP is their 'hit' as far as I can tell, ピラニアBoy, which translates to Piranha Boy. I read somewhere that it's rumored or factual that the members of LIP CREAM and LAUGHIN NOSE did the back up vocals for it? I think that was just speculation that I read on another blog once though. Stomping one-two-one-two beat with really catchy guitar and a sick bass and guitar solos in the middle. Next track 'Mine' is such a banger, totally frantic sounding. The last song finish out side A is アステロイド or 'Asteroid' is a great great mid paced punk song, lots of pounding drums and great guitar licks that sound like they're are mocking you as they come. 

Side B has my favorite track of the EP, which is also the title track, Slapdash. Totally taunting vocals, and circus guitars in the background with the sickest drum breakdowns with the collective growl before going right back into everything imparts so much energy in the listener. Excellent song all around! And the pace isn't lost with the last song of the EP 'Bike' which is just as top notch as the other tracks. 

Check out this amazing live video of them as well!

Download link:

Kyah!

HERPES "Medellín" EP [Self-Released, 1989]

This is one of the most blistering, brutal, pummeling, insane records that I am aware of. Really stretches the sheer brutalness that a punk record can have while being a hardcore punk record. Some would classify this a simply a grindcore/noisecore records but to me HERPES from Medellin, Colombia really capture something special with this EP that no other record comes close to emulating, besides their other project ATAQUE DE SONIDO, which I will absolutely post in the future.

Like I said, HERPES are one of the most intense bands I've ever come across, you can feel your mind and ears melting to this EP. It sounds like what being caught in a nuclear explosion could be like. For historical context, the late 80s and early 90s was the time that Medellín was the most violent city in the world, and I think the scene in Colombia at that time absolutely reflects that in the music, bands like HERPES, ATAQUE DE SONIDO or IMAGEN play some of the darkest, most brutal punk to come out of anywhere in the world at anytime. And it feels so much more genuine coming from somewhere where daily life is actually an absolute struggle and violence is something that is all-encompassing. You can see from their lyrics that they delve into more abstract themes, while addressing the society that they lived in. 

Download link:

Herpes - Medellín!

PSICODENCIA "Cahuí" EP [M.O.D.L., 1990]

Today's record is Mexico City's completely original, taking the punk sounding and making it completely their own PSICODENCIA. Buzzsaw mixed with mosquitos guitars raging over grooving bass lines with pounding drums and completely varied parts and song structures. Completely atypical from what someone would expect to hear from Mexico or anywhere really. 

Great lyrics that attack the blind following of people as we destroy the world, against the police, cities making people crazy. You can see for youself below.

Psicodencia existed from 1990 to 1999 and released just this one EP, a demo in 1995 and participated in all three of the excellent "El punk no es Muerto" compilation tapes which I hope to someday post here!

Download link:
Psicodencia!

FFLAPS - Untitled EP [Recordiau Anhrefn Records, 1987]

Here is a great woman fronted Welsh language band started in 1986. Fflaps is pronounced 'Flaps' like you would in English. The Welsh language uses the single F to make a V sound, so the FF is the classic English F sound. I see them as a part of the lates 80s wave of nationalist, for lack of a better term, bands that started to spring up in the alternative scenes in Europe. I say 'nationalist' in terms of celebrating a minority linguistic tradition or culture from whatever mainstream culture they coexisted with. In the late 80s there was a surge of Basque language punk bands in Spain that established their own scene. Likewise, Wales had their own Welsh language/culture alternative, indie, punk scene going. Fflaps seems to be an anomaly in that they were bilingual and originally preformed songs in English and switched to Welsh shortly their inception, which was met with ambivalence from both the English and Welsh scene alike. 

Fflaps music is raw, melodic and catchy, and creates a totally unique-to-them atmosphere. Their LPs are equally excellent and still retain their raw sound found on this EP. One of the best Welsh language bands I've heard for sure. Here is an excellent live video of them playing some television show...

Download link:
Fflaps!

HONG KONG UNDERGROUND [Rebel Planet Records, 1991]

The 3rd in 4 tapes of underground music compiled by Lük Haas pre-Tian an men 89 Records and released by Rebel Planet Records based out of Germany. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to track down the Malaysia Underground Tape which has what appears to be a great collection of early Malay Metal and Punk acts. 

Today's tape is an excellent snap-shot of the early years of the Hong Kong alternative music scene, although highly political/alternative bands had existed in Hong Kong since at least 1984 as demonstrated by BLACK BIRD (黑鳥), who are also on this tape. First song is by a metal band ANODIZE (亚龙大) who started in 1989 and released 3 albums in the mid-90s according to the metal-archives. Then it's a crazy, heavy, fuzzy live recording of BLACK CHURCH, their original song is awesome, I wish there was more material on the tape to check out, sounds like a post-punk band in tone and atmosphere but delivered with tons of energy and totally still Punk. Then they kick off a cover of the SEX PISTOL's "Anarchy In The UK". CONVICTED are next with a melodic UK sounding punk and a reggae song following. The singer even sings in a British accent. Not the most exciting but still cool to have existed. Finishing off Side A is FIREWORKS with a crazy keyboard laden rock'n'roll song called "Big City Night", really great!

Side B is far more representative of a more distinct, uniquely Hong Kongese punk sound. REBEL ROCKERS are a sick rockin' punk band that remind me of the 70s influence early punk of Japan, at least in vocal delivery. They even dive into a CRASS 'do they owe us a living?' cover for a measure or two. Looks like REBEL ROCKERS even made it onto a cassette compilation released in Poland called HC-PUNK 100% AZJA in the late 80s along with other Asian acts like Singapore's OPPOSITION PARTY and Japan's THE STALIN. If I had to guess, the tracks on here where from the live cassette "From The Underground = 地下音乐会 2" Tape released in Hong Kong in 1987 which features other FIREWORKS tracks and two other bands NOVEL and CRISIS. If anyone has that tape, please send it my way! 如果有人有“From The Underground = 地下音乐会 2”磁带，请与我联系！

Finally there's BLACK BIRD, who were, to my knowledge, the most political and outspoken band in Hong Kong, the first two tracks aren't the most interesting, but their song "An Odd Number" is a crazy song with scratchy violin with a stomping pogo punk part and breakdowns into a ballad sounding part, totally wild. Super varied style between their songs. I recently tracked down their 7xCD discography collection that spans from 1984-2004. I plan on making a 'best of' post with my favorites from those CDs.

Download Link:
Hongkong Underground!

G-3 "Un nuevo enemigo" LP [2008 reissue of 1987 tape]

G-3 were a mid/late 80s Peruvian band from Lima, created from the ashes of Autopsia, they played really original, fast hardcore punk with more melody than you find in most bands, especially with their sung vocals. Their name comes from the fact it was three members named Gonzalo, Gabriel, and Guillermo. The whole atmosphere is great, it's really urgent and desperate sounding while being somewhat melancholic, a truly unique gem in world punk. Maybe a good description is if you took the approach of late 70s punk, especially the Latin American variety and sped it up to early 80s DC hardcore speeds you'd have a ballpark reference for G3.

Not only is their music exceptional, but their lyrics match it, which I always appreciate. They call for the type of self-questioning and environment-questioning that I think is crucial to punk but often never implemented. How is someone who is against society and popular culture at large still utilized and manipulated, how are people blinded by their own self-righteousness, how to people and society create violence within themselves and people. Totally sincere delivery in every way.

This is a rip of their 2008 LP reissue put out by Lengua Armada of their 1987 self released tape, which was recorded live in an hour and a half. It's great when labels bring modern attention to old bands and releases that are otherwise completely overlooked on a world scale. And it seems like there's always more to uncover, the recent reissue of Argentina's Soberania Personal's tape is a good example of this. 

download link:
G-3 "Un nuevo enemigo" LP

STEPPE-PUNKS, Underground Kazakhstan [Tian An Men 89 Records, 2000]

This is one of my most favorite records ever. All the recordings are the lowest of lofi. Totally raw, completely distinct sounding and aggressive punk in the Soviet style.  The story behind the fruition of this record is amazing as well as explained on the TAM89 website...

"Mail contacts in 1998 with Edgars Embergs in Latvia and Syeva Oplachko in Omsk, Siberia, established from our temporary base in Northern Uganda ended up in a package of 3 Kazakhstan tapes arriving in our Kitgum post office box. Bands play different styles of punk, from fast Soviet style to garage surf to folk and industrial-influenced. Discover the Central Asian underground! The record covers the period from late 80's to mid-90's."

Here's my play-by-play of the record....

01. Добровольцы Поневоле "Волга! Волга!"


       First track is totally raw and wild, completely uncontrollable. The keyboard breakdowns are insane and add to the disjointedness.
 
02. 12 Подвигов Нуркена "Странный Пьяный Мальчик" = Strange Drunken Boy 


        The second track sounds like classic Siberian soviet punk to me, super catchy with a fuzzy and blown out guitar. And the classic to-pa-to-pa beat, really a perfect punk song!
 
03. Немцов И Немцы "Охота На Сайгаков" = The Hunting For The Saїgaks     

       Next is a great instrumental song. Totally love the atmosphere.
 
04. Фима И Мифические ДБ "Збезда" = The Star 

        First song on side B. Completely wild folk punk in the typical Soviet style. Super raw and blown out.
 
05. Алдар Косе И Надувные Баурсаки "Kad Mirciai Niekas Netiketu" 

         Totally crazy atmosphere on this track, very distant sounding and menacing.

06. Бьрнай Карабасов И Самозванцы "Апачи (Гаражнае)" = Apachi (Garage Version)
         Great raw Soviet punk version of the classic instrumental song written by Jerry Lordan and originally performed by the british band The Shadows.

The only unfortunate thing is that there are no more recordings readily available from any of the bands. I've started searching a little into trying to track down the records as explained in the notes about each band in the sleeve...

Recently I contacted someone in Omsk, Siberia. Still haven't heard back but hopefully soon they can get me in contact with an old member or something.  If anyone has any leads they can give to me, that would be much appreciated!

ПОЖАЛУЙСТА ПОМОГИ. Если вы знаете кого-нибудь, кто играл в этих полосах частот, пожалуйста, свяжитесь со мной. Я хотел бы услышать больше музыки и записи, которые сделали эти полосы. Спасибо.

dl link...
Steppe-Punks!

ROMANIA UNDERGROUND [Rebel Planet Records, 1991]

Second post in rapid succession!

This time its the second of four Rebel Planet tapes ROMANIA UNDERGROUND, hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have the Hongkong Underground tape that I can post. Very excited to hear the bands on that tape!

This tape, like the Makarene Underground cassette, was compiled by Lük Haas and features 6 underground thrash metal bands. Very killer stuff, super raw and lots of spirit. If you're already a fan of the old Quebecois or South American thrash metal acts like Soothsayer, Voor, or Reencarnacion, etc. you'll definitely dig this material, which is all live recordings. Very cool.

And a quick search on metal archives shows that only one of the bands, Tectonic, has a page. Which in my minds means that the other bands are insanely obscure. That website is known to have literally everything documented as far as metal goes. 

The stand out band is Roata, who play a pop punk song and a new wavy song. Very strange to have those tracks put right in the middle of thrash metal bands. The new wavy song is very good.

dl link...
Romania Underground!

MAKARENE UNDERGROUND - Indian Ocean (Reunion And Mauritius Subculture) [Rebel Planet Records, 1991]

First post of a new blog that I've been planning on doing, or has been in the back of my head, for quite some time now. And with the purchase of an RCA to USB adapter recently, I finally have a means to share all the music that I love with the world. Hopefully I'll be able to track down more music of artists that I only have a few songs from. Please check out the WANT/WISH list to the right and contact me if you have any of those bands' music. 

And now for the first post. We have one of the four Rebel Planet tapes with bands from the Indian Ocean countries/territories of Reunion Island and Mauritius! The tape was compiled by Lük Haas in 1991, who would then go on to start the absolutely exceptional TIAN AN MEN 89 punk record label, which all their releases will hopefully be posted here sooner than later. 

The Mauritius side starts off the tape. All the bands play great reggae tunes, totally enjoyable to listen too, but still has a totally DIY/raw lofi quality that I completely love. The Reunion Island side is a bit more raw having two punk bands and a, what I'll call, 'classic rock' playing band, plus a weird improvization from another group. Acid and Les Fuckers are raw garage punk, totally unexpected from a place like Reunion Island in the early 90s in my mind! I remember reading an interview with Lük about his travels there and he found news of Les Fuckers from a local paper or something but couldn't find any contact info, but was able to get the names of the kids in the band. So he was able to eventually track down the contact info by posing as the kids' parents at a local school and got one of their phone numbers too call them up and was able to get music from them. I'm a little hazy on the details but that's the gist of it.

If you have any info of new bands or the scene in Reunion Island or Mauritius, please contact me! It would be great to see what is happening 25 years later.

dl link...
Makarene Underground!