BARGHEST "Born Of Tooth And Talon"
7"EP - $6.25
ELDER MAGICK / MAGICK002v
Track Listing:
01. Born of Tooth and Talon
02. Sterile Initiates
DEATHWISH DIRECT
DEPTHS OF REALITY "Self Titled"
7"EP - $5.00
XPRESSIONS / XPR004v
A worldview that only 2016 could justify. A sound that only Massachusetts could produce. A document of expressionism that only Xpressions could propagate. Listen carefully — it’s all here: viciousness, justice, paranoia, wrath, grace, revenge, confusion, vanity, epiphany. And also everything else. To listen is to recognize what is hidden but demonstrably present in the world. To honour the chaos of the uncanny present. Of what we wish we were only imagining. To plumb the depths of reality.
Track Listing:
01. Out of My Hands
02. Never Again
03. Blindspot
04. Pretend to Care
05. Tomb
06. The Gate
07. In a Daze
DEATHWISH DIRECT
MEMORY LOSS "Blackout"
7"EP - $5.00
VINYL CONFLICT / VINCON009v
First vinyl offering from MEMORY LOSS, one of Richmond’s newest and most exciting hardcore punk acts. On “Blackout” you get four songs that mine from the golden era of early 80s hardcore punk and 90s-era noise rock but with a very unique and individual take. Each song is the equivalent of a dark path we’ve all been down, but never talked or written about. Fear not though, MEMORY LOSS is there to speak for you. They’ve placed their finger right on the pulse of just how difficult it is to live in the age of anxiety and dread. If you like your punk with a general feeling of despair and disillusionment, look no further.
Track Listing:
01. Wild
02. Jailed
03. Nothin But Trouble
04. Blackout
DEATHWISH DIRECT
WESTPOINT "Self Titled"
12"LP - $11.25
TRIPLE B / TRIPLEB066v
Entombed within the chrome coffin of Kingston Pennsylvania - aggravated youth suffering from the stigmas of sex, boredom, death and creativity - WESTPOINT was procreated. Birthed through a cavity in the fangs of suburban America in 2014, they have since grown into a garden of strange orange light and a saccharine slice of early adulthood. Bloomed into a beautiful flower, “Dive” was released in 2015 and with it a dissection and reanimation of the purple glow of progression. Sonically suffocating and devastatingly whimsical, the orphan choir marched forward to a somber, slumbering cadence. 2016 sees WESTPOINT in a new light. Crushing softness, the harsh luster of growing and the adolescent haunting us all. Tangerine scream. With their new self-titled LP, to be released on BBB Records this fall, WESTPOINT have been vom-ited out of the bottom of the belly of a good vibe. Subtle like a ghost and savory. Cemetery-esque - dark, sullen, with glimmering shimmers of passing positivity and hope. This is a band morphing from naive children to real life adults - it’s absolutely beautiful in a dreary, dreamy, surreal way.
Tracklisting:
01. Avoid the Oxygen
02. Blur My Vision
03. Feel October
04. In My Way
05. Jamais Vu
06. Anesthesia
07. Idle Hands
08. Lunar Incantations
09. Tangerine
10. Mars
DEATHWISH DIRECT
YOUTH FUNERAL "Heavenward"
12"LP - $10.70 / CASSETTE - $6.00
SKELETAL LIGHTNING / SKELETAL048v
New Hampshire / Massachusetts based Youth Funeral’s debut full-length Heavenward begins as one hopes it would, with a chaotic burst of energy that gives the listener an immediate sense of what their bleak brand of fast-paced hardcore is all about: blasting drums, rumbling bass, and octave based guitar leads towered over by vocalist Casey Nealon’s gruff rhythmic yell.
What marks Heavenward as a major step forward for the band comes in their ability to work outside the confines of aggressive music. Youth Funeral shows their versatility in tracks like “Only In Sleep” which begins with a whirlwind of pick slides and punk beats that could lead into a straight ahead song yet takes the listener in another direction entirely, lolling lazily into a sliding guitar lead over a fuzzed out two-chord progression.
While the hopeless feeling that dominates the beginning of the record remains, Youth Funeral presents the raw emotion found earlier in a new form that brings a welcome change of dynamic and pace. “Shadow Phases” similarly finds the band working outside of their comfort zone by adding an off-kilter groove in the middle of the song that makes the plummeting conclusion all the more poignant.
Heavenward at times captures the feedback driven aggression of modern acts like Loma Prieta and Lord Snow, but Youth Funeral sets itself apart from current trends in hardcore by writing unpredictable, jarring music that fearlessly defies expectations of both genre and form. Some of the more dynamic songs show an active attempt to move away from their more dissonant spastic sound, while tracks like “Unthought” and “Armors” remind us that Youth Funeral are still proficient when it comes to writing on-point, driving hardcore music.
With Heavenward, Youth Funeral embraces its roots as an east coast hardcore act while making a conscious effort to move away from the tropes of simply structured aggressive music for a more engaging listen.
Track Listing:
01. Heavenward
02. Amber Light
03. Only In Sleep Safe
04. Lonely Man
05. Helplessness
06. Shadow Phases
07. Unthought
08. Bloom
09. Armors
10. Perfume
11. With Love I Weep
DEATHWISH DIRECT
LAST WEEK:
BREAKDOWN "The '87 Demo"
12"LP - $12.50
PAINKILLER / PKR062v
Painkiller and 540 Records have teamed up once again to bring you the other half of the legendary “Breakdown; Both Demos” series: the legendary ’87 Demo. Breakdown’s original 1987 lineup was only together for a few short months, but in that time they produced one of the most legendary and influential recordings in the history of New York Hardcore. Paving the way for every hard and heavy band to follow, Breakdown’s take on hardcore was balanced with the perfect mix of hip hop’s bounce, the power and dynamics of heavy metal, and an unmistakable New York accent laced across a tough, streetwise sound that could only have come out of 1980’s New York City.
This LP contains the full 9-song ’87 Demo, released here for the first time on vinyl in its entirety, backed with a crushing live set recorded on WNYU radio’s Crucial Chaos during the summer of 1987. Both recordings have been faithfully restored from original sources and sound better than ever. Includes a full color 12”x24” poster insert with extensive notes and anecdotes from members of the NYHC scene.
DEATHWISH DIRECT
DANGERS "Kiss With Spit"
7"EP - $5..50
VITRIOL / VITRIOL047v
This is the single version of Kiss with Spit off the forthcoming "Bend in the Break" LP (being released by Top Shelf Records 10/14). This has the title track and two other songs (Longpig, and Oxhead) not on the LP.
Track Listing:
01. Kiss with Spit
02. Longpig
03. Oxhead
DEATHWISH DIRECT
DESCENDENTS "Hypercaffium Spazzinate"
12"LP - $15.00
EPITAPH / EPITAPH87246v
Descendents' much anticipated new album, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, is available now.
Descendents’ first Epitaph release since Everything Sucks in 1996, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, began taking shape after the band ended an extended hiatus to play live in 2010. Though still tight, they lived apart: singer Milo Aukerman -- whose cartoon rendering famously serves as the band’s logo -- was now living in Delaware, bassist Karl Alvarez and founder and drummer Bill Stevenson were in Colorado, and guitarist Stephen Egerton had settled in Oklahoma. So the album came to life over three years as the band sent tracks back and forth, occasionally meeting up in Karl and Bill’s adopted hometown of Fort Collins. Adopting such a protracted process meant not having to rush things, allowing for some of their sharpest songwriting yet.
Track Listing:
01. Feel This
02. Victim Of Me
03. On Paper
04. Shameless Halo
05. No Fat Burger
06. Testosterone
07. Without Love
08. We Got Defeat
09. Smile
10. Limiter
11. Fighting Myself
12. Spineless and Scarlet Red
13. Human Being
14. Full Circle
15. Comeback Kid
16. Beyond The Music
DEATHWISH DIRECT
FLASHLIGHTS "No Love"
12"LP - $7.50
PROTAGONIST / PROTAG054v
Another slab of catchy indie music by this Florida band. This time, on "No Love," Flashlights finds the perfect middle-ground between the scrappy pop-punk of their first LP ("I'm Not Alone," also on Protagonist Music) and the more somber tone of their follow-up, "Bummer Summer." The pain and sadness is still here in the lyrics (and in the album title), but it combines effortlessly with melodies and guitar leads that get deep into your head and stay there. Comes with a download card. For fans of: Superchunk, Joyce Manor, Beach Slang, Hop Along
Track Listing:
1. Black Out
2. Buzz
3. Feel
4. Useless
5. Down
6. Dumb
7. Nothing
8. You're My Friend
DEATHWISH DIRECT
JOYCE MANOR "Cody"
12"LP - $15.00
EPITAPH / EPITAPH87483v
Acclaimed Californian band Joyce Manor - Barry Johnson (vocals and guitar), Chase Knobbe (guitar), Jeff Enzor (drums), and Matt Ebert (bass) - have released their new album entitled Cody, available now care of Epitaph. It is the follow-up to the band’s 2014’s critically-lauded record Never Hungover Again.
While the band’s Epitaph debut Never Hungover Again was recorded in a mere ten days, Cody is the result of two months in the studio with renowned producer Rob Schnapf, credited on classics by Elliot Smith, Guided By Voices, Saves The Day and Rancid among others. As the band’s guitarist and singer Barry Johnson explains, “It was the first time we really used the studio to our advantage. I felt like I could get a better grasp on what we could do. We always recorded like a punk band—go in and lay ‘em down! Just get good takes! And this time we tried a lot more.” The result is a record that dares to be humble, intimate and unapologetically human. Cody is the album where the band moves past simple pop and punk. It’s a moment for clarity and creative renewal. Without losing any of the emotional power fans love, the band is defiantly looking towards the future.
Track Listing:
01. Fake I.D.
02. Eighteen
03. Angel In The Snow
04. Do You Really Want To Not Get Better?
05. Last You Heard Of Me
06. Make Me Dumb
07. Over Before It Began
08. Reversing Machine
09. Stairs
10. This Song Is A Mess But So Am I
DEATHWISH DIRECT
