Today's post is of one of the most important bands to exist on a world scale in my opinion, NATIONAL WAKE from the apartheid state of 1981's South Africa. They pushed forth some of the most radical music for the era, and unfortunately they don't share a prominent place in a lot of people's minds when they think of crucial alternative/punk bands. I actually haven't come across any tracks past their recent anthology 2xLP released by Light in the Attic. So I'm ecstatic that I got my hands on their original LP and am able to share it here. It was great hearing five unheard (to my ears) songs. I'm also sure they have a stockpile of demos and outtakes that still haven't seen the light of day and I hope that happens sometime soon. This record sold around 700 copies before being withdrawn by apartheid government pressure.
NATIONAL WAKE started in 1976 in Johannesburg in an apartheid designated 'whites-only' neighborhood, coinciding with the Soweto Student Uprising, a student protest against the mandate that Afrikaans was going to be the median language of instruction in public schools, and Afrikaans was seen as the language of apartheid, of oppression. This also coincided with the emergence of punk on a global scale and reggae coming to South Africa as well, which resonated with the South African experience in a profound way. They were incredibly subversive to apartheid in their mere existence in that it wasn't permitted for Blacks and Whites to socialize with each other and here NATIONAL WAKE was a mixed-race band composed of Black African Shangaan-Speaking brothers Gary and Punka Khoza and their White African counterparts Ivan Kadey and Steve Moni. Which is something that was completely illegal under apartheid. They all occupied a house together which caused their home to be raided by riot cops and under almost constant surveillance by the authorities. This all led to immense pressure to even keep the band going and felt like a war zone to the members at times.
NATIONAL WAKE effortlessly merges punk, rock, reggae, funk and African music such as Mbaqanga guitar together to create a completely unique and excellent musical experience. They participated in the first ever South African punk tour with fellow countrymen SAFARI SURFERS and WILD YOUTH, which eventually disintegrated because of the legal and logistical problems of NATIONAL WAKE being a mixed race band. The band continued to rehearse relentlessly and gig whenever possible. They also vacationed to independent Swaziland where they were able to perform sometimes and live temporarily without the paranoia that came with simply existing as a mixed-race band in South Africa. They also sought out alternative places to perform within South Africa such as the designated 'non-white' areas. They were offered the opportunity to record through WEA international and they opted to record for a reduced rate at sessions that started after midnight in the studio. Unfortunately the release of the record only increased attention from the authorities and the pressure got to all members, which led to the band to dissolve. I highly recommend tracking down the anthology 2xLP released by Light in the Attic, it's amazing and well worth any price to hear those songs.
1 Dreams In My Head 2 Time And Place 3 Bolina 4 Xighangu Xamina 5 Kalabash 6 Wake Of The Nation 7 Supaman 8 International News 9Student Life (Another Kind Of Blues) 10 Mercenaries dl link: National Wake!
I remember being 15 years old and getting my hands on the All Crusties Spending Loud Night 2002 DVD, it was right when I was discovering punk in Japan and starting to get into more abrasive and noisy punk music. Being so isolated and living out in rural Pennsylvania didn't allow me the ability to get my hands on a lot of records at the time so the DVD was one of the few alleys that allowed me to have access to the music. I watched the hell out of that DVD and one of the stand out bands/performances from their 2 songs on it were the mighty ABRAHAM CROSS. Ripping and brutal DOOM inspired crust. I was totally blown away by their tracks and they still remain one of my all time favorite Japanese Crust bands. And to add to their legacy, here is a very curious CD release. The phenomenon of Crust and Dance/Techno music crossover is a well known in Japan and this is a true marriage of both genres. From what I can tell this is an effort by artist Kemm Sunouchi. They took a chunk of ABRAHAM CROSS's brutal noisy crust onslaughts and remixed them as dance/techno/house music pieces. I think there are varying levels of success between each song but over all I think it's a great reinterpretation and definitely worth the listen for any fan of ABRAHAM CROSS. I think the tribal-techno rendition of ABRAHAM CROSS's, in my opinion, best song "Feelings In Soil" is particulary great. The artwork was done by Hiroshi Nozaki who was in COLLAPSE SOCIETY, DECONSTRUCTION, and now STAGNATION, who also has tons of connections to the Japanese Crust scene's push towards techno/dance music. Hiroshi and Kemm have another project called BUTTHEAD SUNGLASS that I haven't heard yet that is also experimental crust/dance music apparently. The singer of ABRAHAM CROSS also has a series of CDrs under the name DJ DISCHARGE that are ambient/dance/techno/soundscape pieces that are also worth looking into. dl link: Bath-Tub Offenders!
Today's post comes from the cold country of Estonia circa their forced annexation as a Soviet Socialist Republic. I think J.M.K.E. is one of the few punk bands to ever sing pro-democracy songs, but historically makes a lot of sense being that Estonia was forcefully annexed within the USSR and Estonians at large never necessarily wanted to be apart of Soviet communism. Amazing that they were able to sing outright anti-soviet songs throughout their early career and prior to Estonia getting its independence. J.M.K.E. formed in Tallinn in 1986 and were able to play concerts within Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. Eventually there was a Finnish label created for the express purpose of releasing Estonian bands with J.M.K.E.'s first LP and few EPs being among the first. Musically I think they have a lot in common with their brethren in the north, Finland, but I think they have a catchier, more poppy approach to their punk rather than fitting into the raw Finnish approach. They're definitely more in the vein of APPENDIX or LAMA. Which makes you wonder how much access they had to the established Finnish punk scene throughout the 80s. Estonian and Finnish are linguistically very similar, so it would make sense that there was some cross communication between the two countries. In the future I'll have to post their 12" "Savist Saar" from 1991 and the EPs released around their LP here and that 12". Tere Perestroika is a very popular song in Estonia and there's even a video of them performing it on Estonian MTV or something with a choir, plus acoustic versions and old 80s videos.
1Valge Liblika Suvi 2Tere Perestroika 3Mun Vanaisa Oli Desertöör 4Tsensor 5Käed Üles, Virumaa 6Elab Veel Beria 7Internatsid 8Külmale Maale 9Tbilisi Tänavad 10Nad Ei Tea Mu Nime 11Meid Aitab Psühhiaatria 12Lõputu Laupäev dl link: J.M.K.E.!
