Kowabunga! Kid - Surf Witchery b/w Wolf Luv CS [2012]

Since I saw these wolf luvvers the other night, I thought I should share their tape with you. As you can probably tell from the cover, this was released for the occasion of All Hallow's Eve. The title track is the tale of a witch who surfs in the moonlight, set to a mid-tempo hardcore beat sure to have you stomping across the room. On the other side is a instant-classic murder ballad about a wolf who solves the problem of unrequited love by killing all the friends of his beloved. On this release K!K incorporate black metal howls into hook-laden, lo-fi pop tunes so intuitively I'm still scratching my head in confusion. Throw this on when the moon gets full and see what happens.

Listen/download here. This tape is part of a Halloween Cassingle series, released in conjunction with southern Illinois bands Lumpy & the Dumpers and Trauma Harness. All good! Lumpy's tape features a cover of fellow Bellevillers Max Load, whom you might remember from a Killed By Death Compilation (#17?). Check them all out at Spotted Race.

VA - DeKalb Brawl City [2012]

This comp arrived in my mailbox some weeks ago, and finally I can share it with you. For those of you who don't live in Illinois, DeKalb is a town at the western extreme of Chicagoland, out on the Emperor Reagan Expressway. It's isolated enough from Chicago to have grown its own punk scene in the past few years, and the label Don't Panic, It's a Distro have assembled this compilation of the town's premier DIY artists. Sounds range from the thrashpunk of Sick/Tired (featuring members of MK Ultra & Weekend Nachos) to the World Inferno-infused ska stylings of Danger Boy to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it electronic glitch of Gonzo Violence to the folkpunk of Davey Dynamite ... you get the idea. For a comp with such a variety of genres, one might be tempted to write it off as being 'all over the place.' Truth is, it works together really well. Usually you can't pay me to listen to metal, but when the tracks from Minimum Wage Assassins and Baptism came on, I actually kept listening. It's possible you won't dig every track on here, but there's definitely something for everyone.

1. Hasta Lumbago - Race Car

2. Turbo Vamps - For My Boys

3. Sick/Tired - Sky High

4. "Richardson" Richardson - Beard Option / Incestuous Scene

5. Danger Boy - Dinosaur Neil

6. The Stockyards - Dead Roses

7. Minimum Wage Assassins - Chopped Up Burnt Left for Dead

8. MZRCDXVL - Pace

9. The Rales - First World Decay

10. Nobelium 102 - Unicorn Genocide

11. Davey Dynamite (& Friends) - Up and Down (Live from College Ave)

12. Gonzo Violence - Ghetto Tactics

13. Seasonal Men's Wear - Ice Climbers

14. Baptism - Ezway

15. A - DeKalb Raw Pity

16. Sleeping Under 47 - Rain Comin'

17. Jim Crowbot - DeKalb Brawl City

DeKalb Brawl City - listen/download here
Don't Panic, It's a Distro

[p.s. - 100th post! here's to the next hundred]

Batpiss - Batpiss CS [2012]

Batpiss are a noisy death-punk outfit outta Melbourne, Australia who play pretty straight-ahead midtempo punk that ratchets up to hardcore then lurches back to a mid-80s Black Flag screaming crawl. The guitars are crunchy and tuneful, and the vocals are are so nasty you can practically feel the bile in your throat vibrating in concert with the music.

In case I need to intrigue you any further, one of the members of Batpiss is associated with the dude who runs the jamful tumblr Bandcamphunter. Batpiss' self-titled tape is digitally available for free +PWYW on their bandcamp page, linked below.

Batpiss bandcamp