I got a package last week from Black Konflik in Malaysia, and it presented me with a genuine conundrum: do I celebrate another Noise Punk Monday with some of the distorted sounds contained in the box, or do I celebrate 13 years of marriage with a rip of a tape that symbolizes some sort of connection that my wife and I share? Suffice to say, Karoline ain't the biggest ABRAHAM CROSS fan, so Noise Punk wins! Tokyo's ABRAHAM CROSS combine classic Japanese crasher crust with distortion laden wall of noise and long atmospheric (but still chaotic) build ups, and though these songs are fukkn brilliant, they cannot hold a candle to the live assault. "Message From Forever" could pass as a '90s shoegaze anthem, and it's followed by two of the most ragingest minutes I've heard put to tape - just pure manic insanity. The track listing is slightly confusing, but the A side of the tape consists of tracks from Dan-Doh's Terro-Rhythm comp, the brilliant Tokyo Sound System comp, and the Skate All Day Drink all Night comp (all from 2005), as well as their side from the S.F.P. split EP, though the tape seems to be missing "Plastic Sun" from Tokyo Sound System, even though it's listed. The B side is even more confusing, so I've tracked it as one onslaught - 28 minutes of otherwise unavailable live material recorded at Earthdom (June 2007) and Shinjuku Loft (April 2005) - that barely touches what it is like to feel this band live, but does show them at their psychedelic pinnacle of chaos (especially about 14 minutes in). The first time I saw ABRAHAM CROSS, they had a hi-hat player...one dude out of his fukkn mind with a microphone on a hi-hat cymbal sitting in the middle of the stage wailing away on it like he was Eddie Van Hi-Hat for the entire set, and the next time I saw them I could hardly hear anything after being brutally pummeled by maximum volume techno through the house system for a full 20 minutes while the band set up their four guitar rigs (the guitarist for STRUGGLE FOR PRIDE was a relatively new member at that point, and it seemed he might have had something to prove...he proved it). Total and complete live destruction, offered to you via cassette.
It should be noted that I married Karoline 13 years ago today, which means that my streak as "The Luckiest Man On Earth" has continued for what would seem to be an exceptionally long time. Here's to that run continuing long after Noise Punk Mondays are forgotten...
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