The Awkward Moment When You Realize Grindcore Has Become Fashion

Y'all know I am always hungry to add to my Sete Star Sept vinyl collection. One of the best and coolest bands going right now in my opinion. A total inspiration and joy to witness grow musically, and watch their expansive discography continue to get larger. So huge thanks to Pompeo from xKATExMOSHx for graciously sending me a copy of their new split with SSS, all the way from Italy. This is the gorgeous and brutal split 7" between Japanese noisegrind and Italian fastcore. Red vinyl, 33 RPM.

Sete Star Sept bring their long standing and perfected style of spastic improvised noise with brutal results yet again. Fantastic riffage from Kae on this one. Not a whole lot of fretboard traveling here, but a lot of weird chords. Both her and Kiyasu really go in on the brutal grind assault, as always. While letting some passages breath a little bit more though, it's not a total blast fest through out. The centerpiece if you will, is the final track, "Life of Mr. B". A longer, jamming song that almost reaches the three and a half minute mark. It's curiously way more lo-fi and compressed then the rest of the 30 second rippers on their side, but I dig the contrast.
xKATExMOSHx seems like a pretty unusual pairing for SSS. Their incredibly tight and very well recorded 8 song offering is definitely a night and day difference from Sete's chaotic bursts. This being my first proper introduction to KxM, I'm definitely in favor of their style. Sticking very closely to the traditional sounds of Crossed Out and Spazz, with a more modern upgrade. It's super solid stuff, with a ton of excellent and varied vocals and powerful drumming. I'm not a huge fan of the breakdowns they write, honestly. They're just to average and pretty ordinary sounding. Like something I could hear from any powerviolence band going today. They pop up a lot, which is a shame, but the when they go fast, it definitely makes up for it.

The packaging on this is awesome. A full color, thick, fold over sleeve with a high gloss finish. Very similar to the Get Destroyed 7" released a couple years ago. Every copy it on red vinyl I'm pretty sure. Also, do not be fooled by the 45 RPM on the center label. This baby definitely is supposed to be played at 33.

~VII

King Of Scum

Well, here we are half way through 2015, and honestly I have to say it's been a pretty bum year. More often then not I haven't been blown away by a whole lot of the new music coming out, outside of some very big exceptions. I'm hoping the grueling misery of the colder months will be the catalyst for much more impactful jams. One of the big exceptions previously mentioned is this lil 'ol debut LP from the vicious Newcastle, England noise rock band Foot Hair. Released on Box Records. I had no previous knowledge of Foot Hairs 4+ years of existence before this record actually. The promo sticker described it as a necessity for lovers of scummy noise rock and punk bands like Brainbombs, Flipper or Upsidedown Cross. That was enough to tell me I had to see what this group was all about. This record is apparently only limited to 250 copies, on 180g. black vinyl. 33 RPM.

 Diving into their back catalog a little I can definitely they broke out with their best work yet. Foot Hair and go completely hard as a motherfucker on this slab. Completely in debt to the distorted, repetitive, and just general twisted sounds of more "unsafe" noise rock bands of the 80's and 90's. Upsidedown Cross being the band FH seem to take the most influence, musically and vocally. In a very rare case, the hype sticker's references of influences are actually pretty spot on. Taking the hypnotic and brutally stripped down songwriting of Brainbombs, and contemporary acts like Rectal Hygienics to heart. But also bringing in a loud, bass heavy, cleaner production style. A bit of a risky move with this kind of style, but Foot Hair make it work beautifully. 

  Foot Hair are a band that rely on the sheer power of the riff. Write a great, solid, catchy riff (or two, chorus's are important), and ride that sucker into the concrete. Tracks like the opener "King Of Scum", "Outlander", and "Cool Runnings" are delicious earworm tracks, totally catchy and stomping. Throwing in some very Jesus Lizard-esque guitar leads too to give the songs a little more variety. It all has this real sleazy and unhinged attitude. Like the soundtrack for a "From Dusk Till Dawn" style biker gang. The true highlight for me personally though, is the vocals. What a chaotic, mean, sloppy and indecipherable vocal performance. Words are spewed out in some sort of order, though hell if I know what's actually being said. I think he says something about "joining him in his pit", in the opener. I can only imagine the stench it must hold. Imagine if a band gave the microphone to the drunkest, angriest Englishman in the audience, and you'd be pretty on point. 

Great band photo too. I think this cover art rules. 

I highly suggest checking this album out, though it definitely isn't for everyone. Those 250 records probably won't last long. 

~VII