Unit 21 - Death Stripes

Artist: Unit 21
Title: Death Stripes
Release: 2008
Label: Under the Surface Records

Track List:
1. Death Stripes
2. Texas Ripper
3. Loki's Traffic Jam
4. Drinking Hell

One last EP from Unit 21. This is probably their best work under that name. If you can manage to listen to this without pumping your fist then you're probably too old to lift your arm above your head anyways.

Once again Sugi did the artwork. And once again, goddamn.

Download: Unit 21 - Death Stripes (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Unit 21 - Death Stripes (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Betty and the Werewolves - Euston Station

Artist: Betty and the Werewolves
Title: Euston Station
Release: 2008
Label: Damaged Goods Records

Track List:
1. Euston Station
2. Wind-Up

More indie pop from my girlfriend's collection. The title track of this 7" is pretty good. I'm not so much of a fan of the B side though.

Download: Betty and the Werewolves - Euston Station (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Betty and the Werewolves - Euston Station (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

三日月爆音団 (Mikaduki Bakuondan, Crescent Moon Explosion Brigade) - Judgement Truth

Artist: 三日月爆音団 (Mikaduki Bakuondan, Crescent Moon Explosion Brigade)
Title: Judgement Truth
Release: 2008
Label: H.G.Fact

Track List:
1. Judgement Truth
2. Look at Me, My Motion

First a little bit about the band from H.G.Fact's website:

BUGZ ARTS, they had played around Urawa city in Saitama, changed their name to CRESCENT MOON ROAR TROUPE and display 1st 7"EP!!! Band formed by Gon Chan from Shiga on vocal, Kin (ex FUZZCALL) on drum, Hilmax on guitar, and PAINTBOX's Goro playing bass.

The band started six or seven years ago but the drumer have changed many time and their vocalist was too young then so it didn't go well. Since Kin became a member as drumer, it gets on the right track and at least, they have been played a show in a month.
The band is planing to plesents the gigs once a month from this August and so much expectations!

CRESCENT MOON ROAR TROUPE brings quite thrilling and delightful hard punk sound based on Japanese Hardcore!
Gon chan's impressive vocal bursts at any time with catchy chorus hitting your ears!! ltd500copies!

I'm pretty certain that is a machine translation. In fact, every mention of the bands name in English that I could find is most likely a machine translation. 三日月 (mikaduki) definitely means crescent moon, but 爆音 (bakuon) can either be the sound of an explosion or a metaphor for the roaring of machinery. Given what the band sounds like I personally think explosion is more fitting. And 団 (dan) can be troupe, but I'm so used to it being brigade and troupe reminds me of monkeys. I hate monkeys.

Anyways, enough bullshit. This 7" has exactly one flaw and one flaw only. It's only two songs instead of a whole LP. After listening to it over and over I am left wanting more. Not in a I found it lacking sort of way. But in the same way as when you finish a really really good lobster tail and then realize that's it, your plate is empty, and the meal is over. You just want another damn piece of lobster, you've still got a little melted butter in the little ceramic cup suspended by a wire over a candle, but no more lobster.



It's hard to pick a favorite track since both are so damn good. But I can say that the short bad ass sing along part in "Judgement Truth" is my favorite part. There's just this whole rock and roll undertone to the songs that gives the impression of a don't give a fuck attitude. Fucking punk.

Download: 三日月爆音団 - Judgement Truth (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: 三日月爆音団 - Judgement Truth (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Pools/Cleric - split

Artist: Pools/Cleric
Title: split
Release: 2008
Label: self released

Track List:
1. Pools - Who We Are
2. Pools - Succombs to a New Life
3. Cleric - Men of Blasphemy

I promise I'll get back to posting more hardcore records soon, but first here's the 2008 split between Denton/Austin's Pools and Dallas' Cleric.

It's rare that I meet people who actually like screamo as much as I do. It's not exactly easy listening. Even amongst fans of hardcore, which to the general public is little more than yelling and chaotic noise, "screamo" is often a four letter word no matter the context. Getting a chance to talk with Garrick, guitar and vocals for Pools, and Jason Warhammer (of Resigned to Fate) about music while sitting on his roof during Chaos in Tejas a few years ago was a memorable experience for myself. I always get a little excited whenever I talk to someone in person about bands like pg. 99, Orchid, and Saetia. It's not something I get to do often.

Even though it's so close I really wish I made it up to Denton more frequently. Pools, even though they are on hiatus or whatever now, is part of the reason for that. There's a whole lot of dudes up there who love good screamo and play in lots of awesome bands whose shows I don't go to enough.

On the other side of this split is Cleric. Birthed from the remains of Cøma in 2007/2008, my memory kinda blurs on when exactly, they play what I guess would be called doom metal. I don't really know. Much like Oi (see this post), it's something I know I like, I just don't have a whole lot of experience with so I don't feel comfortable talking about it lest I sound completely ignorant.

Regardless of what you might call it, Cleric is loud, heavy, and evil. Knowing that, it should be no surprise that Kill the Client's Chris "Hollywood" Richardson is the mastermind behind it all. Before Cøma/Cleric I knew he sure as shit could play guitar but it turns out he's pretty good at vocals too.

Needlessly high resolution scans included. I dunno if I'm gonna keep including high res scans of my own records. It takes too damn long to do and it increases the file size of the download by as much as 200%.

Download: Pools/Cleric - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Pools/Cleric - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Power Trip - Demo 2008

Artist: Power Trip
Title: Demo 2008
Release Date: 2008
Label: Self Released

Track List:
1. What Have We Done
2. This World
3. Acid Trip
4. Untitled
5. Vultures

I feel kind of conflicted about posting this. Let me preface this entire post with this: go to Withdrawl Records and order the demo in 7" format. While your at it head over to Double or Nothing Records and order their latest 7" on all three colors.

For those not in the know Power Trip is fronted by Riley from Balls Out. If you're from outside of Texas you probably aren't familiar with them since they (to my knowledge) only went on one tour with Look Out! (now Lie and Wait) back in early 2006. Power Trip sounds very little like Balls Out, but Riley's intensity as a vocalist is still present, in fact he's gotten even more angry and more passionate than he was when Balls Out was still going. Balls Out played a show tonight actually, but it was because it was one of the last shows at Red Blood Club, the last punk venue in Dallas. Power Trip played as well and they opened with a Leeway intro which is only fitting given how the rest of their songs sound. I should also mention that the rest of the dudes in the band used to be in a band called Reality Check which was pretty good, but Power Trip is on a whole other level. Most of them aren't even out of high school yet which blows my mind. Nick also has a new zine out that's pretty gnarly. Power Trip is the real deal.

Download: Power Trip - Demo 2008 (LAME 3.98r V0)

Out To Sea - Mouth Like A Sailor Demo 2008

Artist: Out To Sea
Title: Mouth Like A Sailor Demo 2008
Release Date: 2008
Label: Self Released

Track List:
1. Out To Sea
2. Hearts For The Heartless
3. There Was A Man...
4. Broken Mirrors
5. The Animated Dummy
6. A New Flame

I told Kurt I would post this online just to spite him so here it is. Out To Sea is from Dallas. Kurt (guitar) is also in Highlife who is doin' big thangs in 2008. Jeff (guitar) was in Balls Out and he's one of the best dudes ever. I play D&D with Blake (vocals). Ernest (bass) is only half Mexican and he was in Serious Youth so who cares about him. I don't really know Chris (drums) but he seems like a nice guy. I really can't stop listening to this demo, it's recorded so amazingly well. It sounds like a full fledged release on a major label, but they put it out themselves. Blake's vocals are the kind of sorta melodic screaming that used to be so huge many years ago now and it works perfectly with the music which is also pretty melodic in places but with just enough crunch to still be hard as fuck. Kurt told me they overlayed the guitar tracks 6 times in the mastering process. I really can't say enough good things about this band, good dudes, good music. I don't know if they're sending out these demos through the mail, but you should send them a message on myspace and ask them to sell you a demo and a t-shirt (designed by Ernest's brother-in-law).

Download: Out To Sea - Mouth Like A Sailor Demo 2008 (LAME 3.98r V0)

Seeker - Demo 2008

Artist: Seeker
Title: Demo 2008
Release Date: 2008
Label: Self Released

Track List:
1. Intro
2. Losing
3. Life Not Lived
4. Subtle Cull
5. Lush

TEXAS STRAIGHT EDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend Ernest thinks Seeker isn't quite as good as I and some others around these parts make them out to be. I have to respectfully disagree. Seeker fucking rules. It's so good to see another awesome straight edge band from Texas. Currently On My Side holds the title of my favorite, but Seeker is a close number two. They're from Austin and comprised of members of Vitality!, Layin' it Down, Black Past, and probably a bunch of other bands I don't know about.

This is a sorta bad rip I did myself from the cassette demo. There's better sounding tracks available on their myspace but you can't download them. I have no idea if they'd be angry at me for posting this here, but it's so good I can't resist.

Update: Seeker was kind enough to make available a digital copy of the demo straight from the source so we can skip all the awkward analog to digital business. It sounds MUCH better than the copy I had previously supplied.

Download: Seeker - Demo 2008 (FhG 256 kbps)