FURAN

Japanese hardcore had really hit its stride in the late '80s - when punk and hardcore around the world was trying desperately to get a p...

DESPERDICIO

Sendai-City raw punks represent! It was weeks after the recent disaster(s) in Japan before I got word that DESPERDICIO members were all aliv...

PEOPLE

Far from the raging DISORDER via GAI worship that makes up much of the world's modern noise punk, Japan's PEOPLE offer up nine track...

C.O.S.A.

For the third time in less than a week (and the second day in a row), I offer you no song titles and little background information on the ba...

SUBRACHO DUBRACHO

First up, from 1991, three songs of slightly melodic and wholly powerful Japanese hardcore from SUBRACHO DUBRACHO. Hoarse blown out vocals, ...

OUT OF TOUCH

Nagoya's OUT OF TOUCH predated the wave of retro punk/thrash worship by a solid decade, and this 1991 demo shows them in their most glor...

THE CHOICE IS MINE

My personal highlight(s) on this tape is(are) the tracks from Nagoya's NAÜSEA, which feature one of the earliest recorded appearances fr...

D.O.N.D.O.N.

In the early 1990s, American and European punks seems to be trying to figure out what the fukk they were doing and flirting with grunge whil...

ABRAHAM CROSS

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 M...

SOOTHE

Four rippers from Japan's SOOTHE, clocking in at just over nine minutes. Musically, SOOTHE don't stray too far from the classic Japa...

BANNED IN NAGOYA

2001: It was a time of fastcore and breakdowns and a youth crew revival and circle pits around the world. I saw NINE CURVE in Japan in 2000 ...

VIOLENT PARTY: SLANG // STAGNATION

Courtesy of Bastard Rock Records comes  Violent Party   vol. 1 , the first in (hopefully) a series of live Japanese split tapes. Sapporo...

DARGE/SECRET SECT

No bullshit crust attack from Gifu, Japan ( DARGE ) and Southern California (SECRET SECT). DARGE are noisy and full of hissing madness that ...

RAID

In 2000 I played a show in Shizuoka, Japan. I'd given myself a mohawk a few days earlier (my first one at 28 years old, not bad - but pr...

DEAD COPS

DEAD COPS were from Tokyo, and blazed their way through the scene there for about a year in 1983/4, releasing the rather ho-hum Kill The Cop...

ASOCIAL TERROR FABRICATION

Killer crasher crust from Tokyo...really, is there anything more to say?  Five tracks (like the cover says) of distorted shit-chaos Japanese...

URGE

Feel Our Intense Urge indeed.  Four tracks of raw abrasive hardcore from Japan.  Place emphasis on "raw" and "abrasive,"...

UNARM

Blazing Japanese noise punk assault from Tokyo's UNARM.   This band shares a drummer with KRIEGSHOG, but their style of chaos is way mor...

PROLETARIART

20 minutes of live and raw Japan hardcore for your Wednesday pleasure.  Equal parts Burning Spirits worship and modern crust, with a vocalis...

SEX

I did not return from Japan with overflowing bags of cassettes as I had hoped I would, but this one song, one sided demo from Tokyo's SE...