Mukeka Di Rato

Mukeka Di Rato is a band from Brazil and has to be one of the most ridiculous bands in punk. I can honestly say nothing more than that. You have to hear it to believe it. Half the time, I have no idea what's going on but I love it so so much. This is their side of the split with Vivisick

~MK

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Constatine Sankathi - Discography

I'm sure there are people much more eloquent than I to write about this band but it still blows my mind that a band that was active when I was 10 years old still sounds so passionate and relevant to me now. Constatine Sankathi is the type of music that belongs in a dirty basement with 100 best friends crammed in screaming and shouting the words. It's the type of music that you sweat and bleed to. It's something I can imagine a lot of people still look back on fondly. I can only hope one day the music I make will be looked back on in the same way I look back on this.

Musically I liken this to the San Diego emo scene that was blowing up in the early 90's that produced bands like Heroin and Swing Kids but with a bit of a weirdo Nation of Ulysses vibe to it. Really great stuff. Check it. (Only bummer is a few of the older songs are a little weak, but mehhhh the rest of it is great)
~AB

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CLASSICS: The Plan - Only These Movements Remain

Music is history. I think people don't think about that as much as they should when listening to an album. Those soundwaves recorded to magnetic tape or etched into vinyl are a documentation of a small bit of history. It's somewhat strange to think of it in that way...does this record have any impact on me besides the emotional response I have to it at this moment? In reality, probably not. But in another way, I'm inexplicably linked to it as part of this sub-culture or movement.

The reason I mention this is because The Plan is made up of members of one of my favorite bands, North of America. Hearing this is like hearing a piece of North of America history. Although I had never heard this album, the minute it started playing I felt it have an incredible impact on me. If this record had not existed, would North of America have existed? And if North of America had not existed, what would the music I listen to now sound like? Maybe that's placing too much importance on this SINGLE record, but it's definitely interesting to look at music as an integral but minuscule piece of an overwhelmingly large structure.

I guess should also mention that this album is really really good.

~AB

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Ghastly City Sleep - S/T

Someone wise once said that all good things must end. For some this is a bleak thought...all the things they love will die, all the things that make them happy will fade away. For some it's entirely opposite and the end of one thing means opportunity. Punk rock is great in that sense. For every band you love that fades away or breaks up, comes the birth of many great new bands.

Ghastly City Sleep (GCS) was born out of the demise of City of Caterpillar...but unlike CoC they did not come into this world thrashing and screaming. GCS carefully and methodically construct dreamy soundscapes that slowly build up into beautiful collisions of shoegaze and post rock....but under all of it lies this incredibly sad and dark undertone. Digesting this record is admittedly a lot of work....that's not to say I don't like it, I love this album, but like their predecessors in City of Caterpillar, GCS is creating complex and emotional music that needs to be listened to with a lot of care.
~AB

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Kevin Rips: Hrswhip - Vindictiveness

Another favourite cassette culled from the boxes. Admittedly, I had this on my computer long before I ever got the tape. In fact, this album was the only thing I have ever paid iTunes for. For whatever reason, at the time, that was the only place all of the songs were available.

Hrswhip is Dave Secretary, whom I seem to recall had previously played in Canadian screamo band Van Johnson. Well here in Hrswhip, he played every instrument, which is a mighty feat considering this really does sounds like a full band. It's incredibly intricate instrumental math-rock (though in a song or two some Party of Helicopters-like vocals do appear). The difference being is that it isn't overly indulgent like a large chunk of math-rock can be - because while bands like Don Cab or something do indeed ROCK, they often forget the ROLL. And these songs do roll. But it's not like it's all counting out time signatures,because the songs rip. While many of these songs almost seem like demos recorded in the hopes of getting a band formed, it's actually quite nice to get a collection of songs with such immediacy - as if he had to get the songs out and recorded right now before they got lost and forgotten. At times it kind of reminds me of Weights & Measures, but I have to say I've come back to this a little more often. "Dead Monsters" stands out as a high-light, where the almost out-of-place piano line comes in sounding almost like a Mouse on the Keys-style hard-hitting piano jazz song.

This album was a definite favourite while I was in Korea; and strangely enough, I believe Mr. Secretary was spending some time in Asia as well, only adding to the affinity I felt for this record. If only all basement solo-recording sounded like this.
~KS

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