LULU'S JUNE 2024 NEWSLETTER

OSBO – “OSBO” 7” (Blow Blood Records)
Proper snarly shit. Mid tempo basherz with a cheekily dark sense of melody; not shy about being (a bit) Stranded and the guitar leads are speckled beyond belief. But I don’t think this is trying to please any fucker. There’s been a crop of punk music since 2020 where these crtain groups have taken it back to the primordial and it makes sense to me. At a time where there’s more access to the annals of classics and rarities than ever before, you’ve got so much bloody noise to choose from and obsess over but if you’re gonna make music you still need to figure out how to do it for yourself make it yours. When you’re picking over the carcass of a fifty year old genre you eventually gotta bury the chewed bones you dig for yourself and spit out the rest for the others to scrap over. OSBO got them teeth sharpened, nutrients absorbed and they’re ready to flex fleas and all. It’s feral and it’s alienated. Rapid Dye said “Keep Sydney Ugly” and OSBO heard that loud and clear. 

ROMANSY & PHANTASM - “CRISIS APPARITION” SPLIT 2x7”(Winter Garden Records)
Two savage beast gathering to take over the world and heavens. Fierce fucking punk is what you’ll get. The release is split into two seven inch records – one featuring a track from each band and the other being a single-sided disc with a collaborative track. Romansy rip shreds with a classic minimal three riff stroke of insanity. Phantasm bring the fear in their anarchic hardcore styles. And together they destroy on the joint SEE YOU DIE – a noisy film-sampled introduction sets the stage (it’s a horrible one), Phantasm jumping off it and taking to the skies and finally Romansy slamming it into some kind of fucking netherworld.
The price tag is high but given the scope and hand made nature of these foul beast, it’s worth it for any die hard core who lament and cream over rarities of the past. Limited to 100 copies, each record has been hand cut by Spider Death and housed in an extraordinary package: printed folder sleeve, printed acetate front front, two-sided poster, sticker and calling card. 

DYSPORTA & NERVE DAMAGE - "GABBER REMIX" 10" (C.H.A.O.S Records)
DYSPORTA mangles traxx from prior NERVE DAMAGE releases and it’s some real filthy work. Maybe a little less insane than the old Rotterdam or Bloody Fist catalogue, it’s still pummelling gabber hardcore techno for fanatics of the fast genre/s THEN and NOW. Would love to see this payed out in a club set, reckon you’d get the new crop of Hardy Boyz lookin’ kids in a spin so hard they’d forget how much they overpaid for their tattered DISTURBED shirt.

BLACK DEITY – “BLACK DEITY” LP (Bad Habit Records)
Osiris is a Black God. Black Deity is a raw blues expression of pain and triumph through foggy conic haze. Plume rises and darkness shreds to pieces the magnificent herb. Imbibe and give thanks. This is a loose unit. Seeing them live recently felt like I was watching the last rock and roll band on earth. It’s not pretty. In fact it’s ugly as sin. This feels right. They play the sort of music that makes you want to ask if they’re alright, and then you glance up and realise they’re more than alright; they’re standing in their destiny and their auras flash a monstrous grin. Yes. It’s the Black Deity. Heavy stoned blues rock and a voice you wonder if a mother could love.. It just is what it is. It is right. It is Rock and Roll. High. 

DEGENERATE - "CRIME MYSTICS" 10" (C.H.A.O.S Records)

Modern incarn8n ov the venerable Rudimentary Peni sound though less artful psychotic breaks and more criminal hardcore. More punk sounding than L.O.T.I.O.N. but that’s yet another fair reference point. Fake drums and real punk. That’s more like it. Kinda metallic, too. Like, imagine if Cro Mags uploaded Mackie to a floppy disk and the program you have to run it through.exe was stuck at 111% velocity. You’d just go with it because it obviously rules even if it’s fucked. Spider brings some real murk to the proceedings and we should be grateful that an individual who understands crime and punkishment be the one death gripping the mic in a project like this. JA WELLS and SPIDA dEth prove themselves a formidable duo with this wretched mutancy. Put me down for two, I’m good for it.

FECKARSE - "BURN AFTER READING" ZINE (Self Published) 
Youth gangs, a rapper, delivery drivers, a shot of heroin, a Kawasaki, overpriced rail systems, a head tattooed on a head. 18+

CUTTERS – “PSYCHIC INJURY” LP (Legless Records)
Fifteen tracks of large sound quickie and cutty snot hardcore punk with rock and roll light switches flicking on and off and vocals that sound surprisingly like Cal from Discharge sometimes which is obviously a very cool thing so even if it has a plastic bag on the front cover you should check it out if you like razor guitars and grubby bars to pierce your arse. Recommended for fans of tough and speedy guitar music like Civic, Geld, Leather Lickers.