DISFEAR - self titled (7") Finn Records & Rødel Records #17 1998

Sorry, for this nonsense posting. This is the rerelease by Rødel Records - supposed to be a bootleg, but I don't think so. Maybe just some misunderstandings, lack of communication and crustpunk paranoia. The repress must have been done in the same pressing plant: the etchings are the same like from the No Records release just adding the Rødel catalogue number. I just know that Finn took over No Records after only a few releases. The main reason for posting this is that my copy of the rerelease is just better sounding - no surface noise etc.

Rødel Records is one of the most likeable labels in this whole grind, crust and hardcore universe: still no homepage, no myspace page and I can remember him writing down his e-mail address on paper flyers by hand. You won't sell that many records in this way like others do, but you also won't have to deal with a lot of shit that comes with the www.

DISFEAR - self titled (7") Finn Records & Rødel Records #17 1998

side a:
1. religion
2. min elegi
3. undergang

side b:
1. vietnam idag
2. det sista kriget (Svart Parad)
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

DISFEAR - self titled (7") No Records #02 1992

Since the band is nearly existing for 20 years - if you include the Anti-Bofors - now I will celebrate this with their first 7"; okay I am lying, I was just going through my 7" records starting with "dis" for the Dismay 7". Since there are a lot records starting with "dis" in my collection, I didn't know what to pick first but I choose Disfear's debut released in 1992 by No Records, a short lived label which was "taken over" by Finn Records then.

Disfear became quite huge now due to being on Relapse - I even wonder if their wider audience knows "soul scars" and "everyday slaughter" - and having a more popular sound now (thinking of Mötorhead, Turbonegro and Entombed etc.), which still rips anyway.

This single can't be compared to the new Disfear sound: d-beat with this typical Swedish sound that made me buy hundreds of records blindly at that time (do not just blame it on Anti-Cimex and Mob 47). The worst part - maybe the blog indicated earlier that I had (have?) a huge love for d-beat/dis-core and crust - I listened to those records daily and now the vinyl of all those records is totally shabby. The Disfear 7" is no exception here - but no match to my fucked up Discharge singles - and I tried to polish the sound with Steinberg's Wavelab, but it just made it worth, so I kept the 1:1 recording I did. The last song is a cover tribute to Svart Parad - maybe known to some of you tape traders (a species becoming extinct).

DISFEAR - self titled (7") No Records #02 1992

side a:
1. religion
2. min elegi
3. undergang

side b:
1. vietnam idag
2. det sista kriget (Svart Parad)
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Links:
Disfear
Disfear@Myspace

DISMAY - self titled (7") M13 #02 & TPOS 1995 (& compilation track)

This 7" came out before their fulllength and featured - again - three songs which are released on the demo tape and cd ("untitled") and the cd ("death of a planet" and "uncivilization"), so it makes no sense if you own the cd. But I wouldn't be a record collector if... guess what. This record was distributed by the famous TPOS label/ record store (you will know the label if you know GG Allin, Violent Children (pre-Youth Of Today), Charles Manson, Reflex From Pain, 76% Uncertain, Far Cry (pre-Battery), Antiseen or Agathocles). The label also did some crazy stuff like 8-track cartridges (I'd like to hear those stuff from Violent Children, GG Allin and Charles Manson - please help out!) or those famous 80ies tape compilations ("war between the states" etc.)

Although the pressing quality is shitty I am quite angry that all the other stuff wasn't released on vinyl: it just gives Dismay's music the right power due to the sound.

Yes, the cover is cheesy.

DISMAY - self titled (7") M13 #02 & TPOS 1995

side a:
1. untitled

side b:
2. death of a planet
3. uncivilization
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]



Since Dismay had only a few songs some of them made their way onto compilations. Two of them are Endless Fight's "over the edge vol.2" which I sadly do not own and this compilation (which I bought for other reasons back then: Jasta 14, Blood Runs Black, Botch, Asphalt and Dissolve):



V/A -Psycho Civilized (CD) Elevator Music #09 1995
8. In Doubt (Of The Absolute Truth)
[password: antithesis]

And a friend of mine mailed me the demo tape version, that was posted on Middle Aged Youth. Thanks!



DISMAY - demo 1994 (Tape)
1. nowhere
2. in doubt
3. madness
4. another day in the life
[password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

DISMAY - in doubt (CD) We Bite #121 1995

This was a real blast to me. Dismay's album on We Bite Records - a European label is the last thing you will do to become more known (although their stuff was distributed by Victory back then (before the big clash)) - has a better production and the new songs (all songs from the demo are on this cd too) add a lot more diversity to the previous stuff. Adding Quicksand to the huge Burn influence. The songwriting is elaborate not just a sequence of riffs and parts, just the guitar solos are sometimes annoying.

If you dig Quicksand, Burn, Fahrenheit 451, Orange 9mm, 454 Big Block (with members of Wrecking Crew), Only Living Witness or newer - so called "modern hardcore"? - bands like Soul Control or I Rise you have to love "In Doubt". You can get this cd for cheap at Ebay, Amazon etc. and it was also released as cassette in the States.

In my opinion it's better than Burn's reunion 12". By the way the producer of the recording is later doing stuff by Snapcase or Boy Sets Fire's "After the Eulogy".

DISMAY - in doubt (CD) We Bite #121 1995

1. catch 22
2. waiting
3. untitled
4. death of a planet
5. uncivilization
6. king for a day
7. madness
8. overseer
9. in doubt
10. onlooker
11. grasshopper
[OGG Vorbis, quality settings, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

DISMAY - demo (Tape) Rockhouse Productions #?? 1994

Dismay's demo was released in several versions with different song orders and some with different covers (one version was featured at Middleagedyouth, but this blog is gone now). Their 1995 version is listed at Discogs.com and I am very interested in it since it features different songs. Besides the stuff I own Dismay also released a demo in 1991 and I am very interested in it. I can also remember seeing live recordings from that time in tape trading lists but the MP3 just killed it.

Dismay hailed from Wilton a small town in Connecticut - about 16. or 17.000 inhabitants - and dissolved too early. They only recorded a few songs which all appeared overlapping on different releases, which I will post now. I don't know why they never became more well known. The time - 1994/1995 - was just right for this well played mid tempo hardcore. The production is right, the singer does a great job and the half personal half critical lyrics are well written. Of course one band comes directly to your mind/ear: Burn (sometimes Eye For An Eye too). Dismay just sound like Burn did never stop to exist - until their reunion. Where Burn left a breach Dismay was filling it for me and they did my expectations justice. 14 years later I can still listen to this and enjoy it.
If you have any more informations on Dismay please leave a comment. Thanks.

Sadly their singer passed away in 2007. RIP.

DISMAY - demo (Tape) Rockhouse Productions #?? 1994

side a:
1. untitled
2. lucky grasshopper
3. madness
4. another day in the life
5. overseer
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Update:

I was able to find the former Middle Aged Youth posting at archive.org:

"About a year and a half ago, while on a 2-county musical shopping spree, I walked into a local record store that I had never been to and started up my usual A-Z browsing of CD titles. While browsing, my eyes were constantly being drawn toward the wall of cassettes they had, fully stocked and completely neglected. By the letter H, I realized that I wasn't finding a goddamn thing to buy in the CDs, so I walked over to the wall of tapes and saw the sign that said "$1.50 each, or 10 for $10". It's a well-known fact that people do not buy cassettes anymore, and this was obviously a blowout-sale of sorts. I noticed that all of the titles were old, and I started to get excited wondering what I was going to find. It didn't take long before I realized that they had tons of demo tapes in the selection - jackpot. That's a quick way to my musical heart - present me with a feast of demo tapes from unknown bands. I pilfered through the wall-rack and pulled out 20 cassettes, 15 of which were demo tapes from bands that I had never heard of. I took them home like a kid with a new video game, but ended up stashing them away after listening to only a few. I recently pulled them back out and was elated to find some really good shit in the bunch, both Hardcore and Metal.

Which brings me to Dismay. All I know about these cats is that they were a Hardcore band from Connecticut and released this demo in 1994. Other than that, they are a complete mystery to me. There must have been 500 bands called Dismay over the years, so finding any info on them has been nigh impossible. Running a few different Google searches produced nothing except the band Palehorse mentioning them in an interview with Bystander Fanzine and a kid who had this on a trade list. But this shit kills, period. The first thing that jumped out at me was how much the vocalist sounded like Chaka Malik (Burn/Orange 9mm) in his delivery. Dude is almost a dead-ringer for Chaka, but really sounds like what would happen if you could somehow splice together the voices of Malik and Anthony Comunale (Raw Deal/Killing Time). The music has an obvious Burn influence as well, though it is crossed with the CT/NJ HC sound of that era, and is a bit "laid back" at times while still being crushingly heavy. I find myself playing this thing over and over lately, especially "Nowhere" and "Madness". The part in "Madness" where it kicks in with "...there's no way out" just fucking smokes my ass, and makes me wish I had found these guys when they were around. I gobbled up this kind of stuff like it was breakfast in those days, and I still love this style of HC. One confusing thing about this demo is that the songs on the actual tape do not match the songs listed inside the cover, so I wonder if there was another demo and they got crossed, or if it was just a weird decision by the band to change songs after the covers were copied (?). Also, the tape had no labels for Side A and Side B, so I don't even know if this is the proper order for the songs. I'm hoping that someone out there knows more about them and will clue me in, because if there is anything else out there floating around by this band, I have to have that shit.

Nowhere In Doubt Madness Another Day In The Life"

THE DESCENDENTS - ride the wild / it's a hectic world (7" ) Orca & Pacific Records l-1056 1980 & 1985

I still don't get all the myths around this 7". The first version is considered to be in a 100 pieces press run but for 100 pieces it just pops up too often. My copy is supposed to be the reissue from 1985 and it states "an ORCA production for PACIFIC RECORDS INT." on the back. Is Pacific Records Int. = Pinsicato Records???? Or is this copy an even later rerelease? Also this copy has stated "recorded in 1979" on the back, which I have never seen on any other sleeves of the reissue. But who cares! The Descendents still without Milo and more into surf than punk and: I love it. I do not share the many scorchers concerning this 7".

Here is a detailed posting about the pressings but I am not wiser after reading it, especially concerning my copy.

It's a SPOT production of course. This 7" is later included on SST's "bonus fat" compilation - still available as cd, 12" or even cassette.

THE DESCENDENTS - ride the wild / it's a hectic world (7" ) Orca & Pacific Records l-1056 1980 & 1985

side a:
1. ride the wild

side b:
1. it's a hectic world
[OGG vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror1, mirror 2)

Links:
The Descendents
This 7" @ Flex!

NITWITS - great day! (7") Monitor Records #01 1994

Maybe I was too harsh concerning my Recess Records statement, since I love a lot of stuff by them (even posted it), but something by the Nitwits still captivates me. I think it's the sympathetic presumptuousness of playing this strumming punk (we Krauts call it "Schrammelpunk"). A huge middlefinger towards musical finesse - not that this concept is the biggest statement in 1994, but this nonchalant amusement meant a lot to me1.

They even deconstruct mercilessly Johnny Mercer and Rube Blooms' "Fools Rush in"2 - and I think they even intended not to do so.

Please do not confuse those Cali boys with the European Nitwits - two bands with the same name (including an "the") are known too me and both play boring punk rock. And please do not confuse those with the dutch The Nitwitz (I just know their quite nice, early but somehow way to average stuff - never heard the 90ies reunion stuff).

While comparable bands like F.Y.P. etc still exist and got a lot of fame I found nothing on Nitwits on the world wide web so this posting makes sense in preventing this record for being lost. I wonder what they were doing afterwards (I just hope they didn't improve concerning instruments and songwriting because it ruins bands like this one - I am dead serious).

NITWITS - great day! (7") Monitor Records #01 1994

side a:
1. Catalyst
2. Ankrumb
3. Mad Ratts

side b:
1. Killjoy
2. Only Fools Rush in [Johnny Mercer/Rube Bloom]
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

1 it doesn't nowadays since Youtube and Myspace offers millions of Überzeugungstäter to share their inabilities. Please do not call this Zeitgeist or I'll slap your ass.

2 Nelson's version was better than the one by Elvis!

MOHINDER & NITWITS - split (7") Stinky Feet Records #?? & Unleaded Records #?? 1994

Here is the Mohinder split 7" with Nitwits on both the bands' own labels Stinky Feet and Unleaded. Nitwits from San Jose were totally different and this split was recorded right after their demo tape (I will post their own 7" too). I liked their snotty lowfi punk more then comparable stuff from labels like Recess in the 90ies. Another band that comes to my mind is Quadiliacha1. I still wonder what amps were used by Nitwits since they make Destroyer sound like Manowar.
The three Mohinder songs might be my favourites by the band - especially "Imbalance" which has some very Swing Kids-ish moments. All tracks are even better recorded compared to the other two singles.
Companies which produced envelopes back then must have been well off in the 90ies if you consider the need by kids to buy them in huge quantities for silkscreening and hand painting them over.

MOHINDER & NITWITS - split (7") Stinky Feet Records #?? & Unleaded Records #?? 1994

side a:
Nitwits
1. Captain America
2. Walgreens Girl
3. Strawgly

side b:
Mohinder
1. Number One
2. Imbalance
3. Itch
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2)

Links:
To me known releases by Unleaded (Mohinder's own label)
7" @ Discogs

1 I wanted to post their 7" and 10" until I realised that nearly everything by them is on this page and in a good quality. I even didn't know that they had a fulllength cd but these weren't my cd buying times back then.

MOHINDER - 2nd (7") Gravity Records #13 1994

It's been a while again and I've gone through a lot of changes.

Here we go: I'll post the second Mohinder 7" and their split 7" - I was never into the first one. All the stuff was later compiled on a LP on GSL including a CD with live recordings (I am looking for this vinyl version, so help me out). If there was ever something you can call the Gravity sound Mohinder1 will be one hell of a definition. If you dig Honeywell, Angel Hair, Eurich and Han-Shan this is for you. Fast and hectic hardcore with screamed vocals and lyrics quite in the - what I call - Rainald Goetz emo vein. I am not sure, but most of the songs sound like being done in an old fashioned way: all instruments recorded together "live" and then the vocals later. When the songs have transitions it sounds like those two songs are even recorded in one take. This might lack some quality concerning the production but captures the energy better.

The covers for this 7" are all different since they were pictures or ads in fashion etc. magazines and thenscreenprinted. Some people list this single as "the mission" e.p. but it's just self titled - at least old Gravity flyers etc. tell so.

The members went on to play in Makara (I will post the 7"), Duster, Calm (together with Indian Summer members) and Jenny Piccolo.

I found this short description at Epitonic.com:

"1993. Cupertino, CA. Right in the heart of what was soon to become (for a time) the new economic heart of America, Silicon Valley, came a hair-raising, filling-rattling scream of rage. Hidden behind the pristine office parks and suburban strip malls, a seething force of paranoid aggression was brooding, and its name was Mohinder. For a little over a year, Mohinder captured the attention of the Bay Area's alienated hardcore underground, providing a Northern California counterpart to the burgeoning San Diego art-punk scene (Mohinder, like Heroin, Antioch Arrow, et al, was associated with the notorious Gravity Records) with their brief but absurdly powerful bursts of shambolic noise and instantly legendary live performances. By the end of 1994 Mohinder was only a memory, the brevity of the band's existence a testament to its unsustainably fierce, almost superhuman energy.

Mohinder's four members went on to form a number of noteworthy new bands, including Jenny Piccolo, The Anasazi, Calm, Duster, Valium Aggelian, Haelah, and A-Set. GSL's Discography collects Mohinder's complete musical output -- the two EPs they put out on their own Unleaded imprint, their one Gravity EP, and live performances recordeed at the Gilman in Berkeley and on KZSU Stanford radio."

MOHINDER - 2nd (7") Gravity Records #13 1994

side a:
1. the mission
2. alien
3. division
4. acceptane

side b:
1. the static cult
2. beautiful
3. one warrior
4. expiration
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2)

Links:
This 7" at Flex!

1 not to be confused with the crazy guy at Heroes.