Гражданская Оборона

 

Look, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert and I'm not going to regurgitate data from wikipedia. Legendary things are hard to write about, and have no interest in pretending that I have any actual or learned knowledge that can bring you closer to Гражданская оборона. They were formed in Omsk (that's southern Siberia) in the early '80s and are a thing of legend, but I only know this because I looked. What I definitely know, however, is that this tape changed me. This collection of Hits From Tapes/Records made me hungry. Undefinable and indescribably punk of the  highest order - primitive and intense, dark and determined. There are almost fifty tracks on this tape, and I could listen on repeat for fucking days and still keep finding new bits to wonder over. Punk, hardcore, reggae, raw drum machine punk....this is just the sound of being against and you can feel it as much as you can hear it. Гражданская оборона (CIVIL DEFENSE) are truly special, and even the uninitiated (read: me) can recognize this instantly. Even two hours in, I know I have only scratched the surface - and that in itself is important. 

GREATEST HITS FROM TAPE/RECORDS

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING

 

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING presented a solid ninety minutes of deranged acid house damage to start Reel Torque's series of focused mixes that has been kicking for over a decade. A dark and debaucherous journey through new beat, funk and industrial-tinged EDM that would have sucked me into the series from the start had I only been focused in that direction. As it is, the rest of the 30+ tapes in the series appear pretty hard to come by, but I'm in the market if anyone's holding. 

REEL TORQUE VOL.1

HIGHLIFE

 

So you're shithoused on a Tuesday morning around 3am, stuck at some random house with a bunch of fools you don't really know, but they've got the drugs and you've got to work in a few hours so sleep is pointless anyway....fuck it, right? Someone pops in the 2008 HIGHLIFE Greatest Hits Demo 2008 tape and you're like "fukk yeah - I got this" and then the boom box fries the damn tape and it warbles to a stop. You rewind and fast forward to try to tease the machine into working again. Fail. Take the tape out and thwack it against your head a few times and still nothing. Shit. Maybe it's the tape, maybe the player....hell, maybe you're just wasted. So you go bum some drugs off some kids you don't know (you're already a decade older than they are so it's not like you're worried about coming off weird - that ship has sailed hours ago) and you try to get yourself psyched up for acting normal when you roll into work wearing yesterday's clothes. Damn tape still won't work and you're trying to fukkn rage for a minute before you bail though, so that sucks because you were digging HIGHLIGE while you were getting high. Casually you make your way towards the door, lift the tape on your way out (they won't even know) and hit the road (read: sidewalk). Work sucks, because of course it does. You don't even stick out though, because humanity is fukkn zombies anyway and your boss is doing lines and trying to cook the books to steal enough money for a nose job so he wouldn't care about your state even if he were paying attention. But at the end of your shift you still got that tape in your pocket, so you bum some drugs off nose job boss before you clock out and you head home to give it a blast. The deck at that party kinda wrecked the first couple of songs, but the blasts and that piercing guitar are all you need to remind you what really matters (hint: it's nothing), and by the time you get to "Brainfried" you couldn't give a fukk because you feel seen. You text a buddy and ask if he's trying to rage tonight. He says "sure, I'll be right over - some kid I skate with is having a party....they're probably barely old enough to drink but I know they'll have drugs." "Cool," you reply, "let's grab some beers on the way."

GREATEST HITS DEMO 2008

TRASH MAGZ

 

A killer dose of ripping Texas punk to wrap up your week. I remember when I first heard of THE MEATMEN and I thought they sounded so cool and "edgy" (I was a kid) - well...when I heard them I thought they were boring and sucky. If THE MEATMEN had sounded like fucking TRASH MAGZ then I would have been the most stoked teenager in all of Oklahoma...instead I'm a regular-level stoked middle aged dude in California who has to wake up at 5am tomorrow to go to work and is really digging on this shit. Not sure what's up with the fucking organ, and honestly I don't care. 

UNDER SIEGE

VIDEO DUCT

 

What if Mark E. Smith lived in Missouri in The New Century? What if he listened to GAG and squirmy shit like that? And what if no one wanted to play music with Mark E. Smith and he just decided to make all of the music hisownself? What do you think that might sound like.....?

SMALL PETS AND KITCHENETTES

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.3

 

Another installment in the killer international DIY punk mix tape series from the punks at Bulgaria's Kontingent Records. It was a Covid-era "let's do something because we aren't doing anything" idea that grew wings and left us with a slew of tapes that are essential snapshots of early '20s DIY punk and hardcore. The third installment features G.A.Z.E. (the best track on the tape, methinks), KOMBAT SPORTS, LHUMA, E EMASCULATA, RADIUM GIRLS, DENY, CLUITERATI, PILLARS and several more. Not gonna try to link all of them or describe them, but if you like hardcore punk then you like this fukkn tape. You don't like hardcore punk? Listen to LASSO, you dipshit. Geez.

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.3

SICK SAD WORLD

 

I could make comparisons (it's tempting) but they are too easy (and too obvious) so I'm just gonna revel in how intent (intense) and urgent this Melbourne trio sound more than a decade after they came and went. The epitome of punk realized by three femme maniacs who deliver maximum intensity even (pr especially?) on the slow plodding numbers like "Cane Toads" and "Rocks In My Fists" before unleashing unbridled ramshackle mania on basically every other track on the tape. "Period Pain" and "Blood Duster Suxxx" are the highlights, but everything here is delivered in ultimate lo-fi glory...they way it should be. This recording and a live set might be all we ever get, so I suggest taking the time to really let this shit sink in. 

WE MEAN WELL