Art for Spastics: AFS v. 281 ~ You Call That HC?/That's Not HC!/I'll Show You HC!

This week on AFS...

* Hari Kari and Hooded live KDVS Studio A sessions
* Catch Hari Kari/Hooded on tour
* The latest in vinyl-worthy cassettes: Waste Rig and The Memories

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HYGIENE | Fixed Odds Betting Terminal | Things That Dreams Are Made Of 7" | La Vida es un Mus *new
THE UV RACE | Society Made Me Selfish | self-titled | Aarght! 2009
BANQUE ALLEMANDE | Keine Regierung | Eins, Zwei | S.S. Records *new
BIG BLACK CLOUD | Allergic to Love | Dark Age | Stankhouse *new
ART THIEVES | I've Had It | v/a: HoZac Hookup Klub Round One | HoZac *new
WHITE BOSS | Darkness/Lightness | self-titled | Perennial *new
SONSKULL | Housing | Birth Scene/Rewind EP 12" | Perennial *new
HARI KARI | True Wealth | self-titled CDR | no label *new
H.P.P. | Suicide/Homicide | self-titled | Perennial | *new
========================== Live in Studio A ==========================
HOODED | Int'l Hooded Anthem Pt. 1
HOODED | When Dads Drink
HOODED | God's Dick
HOODED | My Life's Hard, I Promise
HOODED | Megaman/Baseball
HOODED | 2 Hunters
HOODED | Boyfriend
HOODED | Int'l Hooded Anthem Pt. 2
================================================================
TOPLESS MONGOS | Torture Chamber | self-titled CS | no label *new
TOPLESS MONGOS | Theme from Human Centipede
BOOM! | Tidal Wave | Old Standard Sessions #1 split 7" w/ White Fang | Hovercraft *new
THE MEMORIES | Softly/Blow My Mind | forthcoming CS | Gnar Tapes *new
PROCEDURE CLUB | Slut Fossil | Doomed Forever | Slumberland *new
EXILES FROM CLOWNTOWN | Around the Corner | Around the Corner 7" | Greatdividing *new
DRUID PERFUME | Pointed Hat | Tin Boat to Tuna Town | Bumbo *new
WASTE RIG | Follow Yr Dreams | Ritual Cleansing: Phase 2010 CS | Pollen Season *new
WASTE RIG | Spirit Storm/Live Like a Laser
========================== Live in Studio A ==========================
HARI KARI | Brakes
HARI KARI | Bubb's Unborn
HARI KARI | Waves
HARI KARI | Fried Eggs
HARI KARI | Horse Void
HARI KARI | Skin My Teeth
HARI KARI | Heady Cops
HARI KARI | Pesterizer
================================================================
THE INTELLIGENCE | White Corvette | Males | In The Red *new
TOTAL CONTROL | Paranoid Video | Paranoid Video 7" | SmartGuy *new
LIL B | My Windowsill | Rain in England 2xLP | Weird Forest *new

The first rumblings of weirdo hardcore punk during the 80s heyday came from the likes of Flipper, the Butthole Surfers, The Minutemen, Killdozer, G.I.S.M., and the one or two (perhaps token) oddities on HC comps (e.g., Zurich 1916's "The Children's Song" from the Life Is Ugly, So Why Not Kill Yourself? LP, or "Children Die in Pain" by End Result, as heard on The Master Tape vol 2). The far-out left-fielders of hardcore were so diversely influenced, and therefore became diversely influential, connecting so many stylistic dots on the map of musical genres, and turning over and fertilizing soil from which sprung new scenes and styles, including the likes of The Melvins, No Trend, Nomeansno, I Refuse It!, KTMK, Venom P. Stinger, and so many more. Emo kinda screwed up the continuity of this story--particularly when that whole "screamo" schism happened--and so the HC/thrash revival of the late 90s--professing so much stylistic purity--shaded too far to the right. Not so much politically to the right. But certainly so much that the left field was a seldom-traveled mystery zone. In the post-powerviolence world, most people's concept of a weird hardcore experience was a funny sample between songs or whatever oratory Sam McPheeters was doing dressed like Uncle Sam. As Melt Banana flirted with more electronics and breakbeat elements, the punks lost their boner for them just as Mike Patton's turned into full-on raging. When I saw Soddamn Inssein play, it seemed that only fans of experimental noise and Load Records had enough patience to enjoy it. The few HC kids that were there just wished they had played fast the whole time. Go fast or go home was the HC-kid mantra. So, it would take a while before someone could gather up enough weird hardcore-flavored bands to half-jokingly paint them with the "Mysterious Guy Hardcore" brush. I suppose Fucked Up are still leaders in this category??? They may be providing something of a template for a certain stereotyped sound, but with the definition of "psychedelic" still expanding as it relates to today's underground music, there are certainly many flavors of outer-zoning hardcore that defy such easy categorization, and enough estrogen, too (see Sonskull in particular!).

The Perennial Records label has revealed its homebase of Olympia, Washington, to be a burgeoning source of this kinda finely fucked HC-tangential noise with recent releases from Sonskull, White Boss, and H.P.P. And currently, the H.P.P.-related Hari Kari has hit the road with fellow Olympians Hooded, who I'm hearing now for the first time along with you. They take us on a fantastic journey tonight with uncanny humor, wild theatricality, situational mindgames, blazing guitar sound, and roller-coaster of rhythm changes that succeeds in avoiding frivolity. If you like "Crushed by the Wheels of Industry" by Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers as much as I do (or perhaps you would if CCM's Into the Void wasn't "over-produced" (those would be your words (not mine)), then you will love Hooded! Hari Kari could've spawned from the time between 80s HC and the rise of college rock, when conveying some emotion wasn't tantamount to "emo" quite yet, and when riffs and rhythms could still churn your guts. One clever self-analysis that the band posited during our concluding interview was "...like Sebadoh on K." Just as I began to wonder which Sebadoh record was released on K Records, the punchline was just around the corner: "K as in ketamine". These bands are on their way to the Bay Area, SoCal, and Arizona next before returning to these parts for a show at The Hub in Sacramento with Mattress and Zig Zags on Tuesday, September 14. Don't miss them if you have the chance to see them. Let 'em crash at your house, too....these guys are a hoot!

HARI KARI from OLYMPIA, 2010 on Vimeo.