60659-c - The Next Part Is A Blur

Labels: Adorno Records/Contrition Recordings/Polar Summer/Zegema Beach Records

Formats: Tape/Digital

Release Date: 15 Aug 2017

Tracklist:

1. I Was Awake

2. Convenient

3. Crowd

4. Everybody Out

5. For Expiring

6. Hold On, This Hurts

7. New Sincerity

8. The Floor

9. Which Will Never Reach You

10. Dissipating Like A Mirage

It's been an odd day today. Aside from the day job, I had a message from my friend Paul in Czechia to say the blog was down. I came home to find that over 3000 people had visited it during the day, which may have been the reason for the crash (I don't know!). Either way. it seems that normal service resumed a while ago so it's time for another ZBR roster review featuring Virginia, USA emoviolence band 60659-c. The Next Part Is A Blur contains the only songs from the band to date (or maybe ever, though there are no signs that they've ever called it a day) and was released in August 2017 digitally and on tape.

This album flies by fast so I’m not sure how descriptive this review is gonna be, but I guess we’ll find out. 60659-c come straight out of the blocks on The Next Part Is A Blur with opener ‘I Was Awake’, which is filled with all of the good parts of emoviolence including the high-pitched screams, the riffs and bold percussion. Ringing feedback is another notable feature and it’s alive, and present on ‘Convenient’. Now is it me or are some of those high-pitched screams reminiscent of Alien Ant Farm’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ cover (hopefully you’ll know the part I mean). 

There aren’t many songs on the album that pass the minute mark and ‘Crowd’ is one of three that doesn’t make it past thirty seconds, yet it has an oddly mid-paced feel to it. Maybe that’s just an illusion of sound though. ‘Everybody Out’ starts with an introspective intro and turns into one of the most melodic songs so far. That melody is a constant on the band’s more drawn out songs (if that’s a fair descriptor) and ‘For Expiring’ uses more of it alongside harsher and more emotive screams, and a slight hardcore influence as well. ‘Hold On, This Hurts’ is like some sort of bizarre nursery rhyme/wind-chime symphony that bursts into life during it’s final fifteen seconds or so. It’s a really creative song that has plenty of impact.

You’re snapped back to reality on ‘New Sincerity’ as any sort of twinkly melody and peace is shattered by 60659-c’s full-on approach. Granted, you’ve probably heard emoviolence that’s rawer than this, but bands do need a unique selling point at times and the ability to be musical, with a clearer recoding works here. ‘The Floor’ is another one where the riffs reign supreme and with the vocals and drumming sitting slightly deeper, you are dragged into the music even more.

Penultimate number ‘Which Will Never Reach You’ is here before you know it and it’s got that chunkier hardcore edge to it again, as well as some lovely bass tones during it’s second half. It leads nicely into ‘Dissipating Like A Mirage’, which is the only track to break the minute mark. At times it’s super fast and blasting, while at others it drifts in a state of calmness and introspection. A great way to end an album that may forever be the only uttering from 60659-c. If that is to be the case, then it’s certainly made it’s mark.

You can stream The Next Part Is A Blur and grab it as a name-your-price download below:-

60659-c - https://www.facebook.com/60659c

Tape copies are long sold out.

Adorno Records - https://adornorecords.bandcamp.com

Contrition Recordings - https://www.facebook.com/contritionrecordings

Polar Summer - https://polarxsummer.bandcamp.com/

Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords

.Gif From God - ...Defragmented...Reformatted

Labels: Contrition Recordings/Rage Records/Zegema Beach Records

Formats: Tape/Digital

Releases Date: 06 Apr 2016

Tracklist:

1. Adios Bozo, This Time I'm Downloading You Straight To Hell

2. Self Pwnage For A Narcissistic Nutjub

3. Rats

4. Let's Look At The Plague

5. Physics Problem: Sucking Nothing But Vacuum

6. Technology Will Kill You 111111

7. Empty Grave, Shallow Mind, I'm Sill Alive But My Head Is Full Of Shit

8. Maybe None Of Us Understand What We Have Lived Through

It feels a bit strange to be writing about the first .Gif From God full-length release after writing about their split with Vein, but I guess that's how things go sometimes. This is their first album, following their 2016 tour tape, which featured two songs. ...Defragmented...Reformatted was self-release by the band is 2016 and was put on tape by Rage Records, and Zegema Beach Records around the same time. Following the initial release, more tape copies were made available by Contrition Recordings in 2017 and ZBR in 2018. Whatever the semantics, this is gonna be worth it.

This album is over quickly. Opener ‘Adios Bozo, This Time I’m Downloading You Straight To Hell’ is eighty seconds of bizarrely programmed craziness mixed with mathy madness. I guess that counts for the rest of the record as well. ‘Self Pwnage For A Narcissistic Nutjub’ lasts a lot longer in terms of playing time, but is equally as crazy at the same time. As per my previous ZBR roster reviews, I feel guilty for leaving it so long before writing about this release but I can’t dwell on it. With that being said, I can totally see why .Gif From God were picked up by Prosthetic Records. I mean, the whole sasscore/mathcore thing was massive at the time. 

‘Rats’ is a totally different sounding beast altogether, with a mix of more sensitive post-hardcore sitting alongside breakdowns and heavier vocals. It’s pensive opening passages of spoken word and lighter instrumentation (after initial bursts of heaviness) gives way to building intensity that reaches it’s peak toward the end, as you’d expect. A really well put together song I think. ‘Let’s Look At The Plague’ is anxious mathcore at it’s best. It’s sub sixty-second playing time is filled with off-kilter tempos and panic chords. 

One of the most bizarre song titles on the album is ‘Physics Problem: Sucking Nothing But Vacuum’ but don’t read too much into that as the music is much more familiar. It’s over pretty quickly again but doesn’t need to hang around anyway. ‘Technology Will Kill You 111111” is the aural equivalent of computers taking over and making everybody learn to speak in binary; however, .Gif From God know how to write a song and the heavy passages at both ends are interspersed with one that’s a bit more restrained, giving it a nice flow.

It’a not often that song titles are almost as long as the songs themselves, but it’s nearly the case with the album’s final two. ‘Empty Grave, Shallow Mind, I’m Still Alive But My Head Is Full Of Shit’ is a noisy beast, though not necessarily in volume. Ambient noise and feedback blend with gentle guitar that leads into reverbed/looped screams and musical textures that bring Full Of Hell to mind during the song’s first half. The second half is a lot more chaotic. That penultimate song lays the foundations for ‘Maybe None Of Us Understand What We Have Lived Through’, which it has to be said is very apt given what we’ve just lived through.

Everything feels very raw and emotive initially, not that the rest of album doesn’t, it’s just more obvious here due to how things unfold. Equal parts post-hardcore and screamo/emo-violence with some bass-laden powerviolence thrown into the mix too. The layers of noise that round everything out seem only too perfect given this album’s intensity. This album pretty much epitomises the chaotic screamo, post-hardcore that helped to spawn the re-emergence of the Myspace scene (If my memory is right). Even if it isn’t, this is still rad.

You can stream and grab it as a name-your-price download here:-

Tape copies are long sold out.

.Gif From God - https://www.facebook.com/dotgiffromgod

Contrition Recordings - https://www.facebook.com/contritionrecordings

Rage Records - https://www.facebook.com/ragehc

Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords

SeeYouSpaceCowboy - Fashion Statements Of The Socially Aware + Cassingle

Labels: Zegema Beach Records/React With Protest/Structures//Agony Records/Contrition Recordings/Middle-Man Records/Dog Knights Productions

Formats: Vinyl/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 03 Jun 2017

Tracklist:

1. An Introduction For People Who Hate Introductions

2. Jimmy Buffet Doesn't Even Surf

3. Soap Opera Stardom Is A Single Tear Drop Away

4. Pep Talk From A Nihilist

5. Fashion Statements Of The Socially Aware

6. Absolutely Absolute Absolution

If you miss the Myspace days and listen to Mathcore Index's Mathcast, you'll likely be aware of the current crop of insane, fast and gnarly screamo/violent hardcore bands that are coming through. SeeYouSpaceCowboy are one of those bands and they're on a very upward trajectory. They released their first demo in 2016 and followed it up with this 7" last year, which received two pressings via a collaboration of no less than six DIY labels. As a band they are standing up against social injustices within their scene, which is noticeable in both their song-titles/lyrics and in the way they conduct themselves. 

The first thing that immediately stands out for me with SeeYouSpaceCowboy is the eye-catching artwork on the sleeve of the 7”. The first pressing was bright yellow, while the second pressing is a bright intense pink. I’m okay with colourful presentation, as it makes a change from black and white. Songs-wise, SYSC don’t hang about. An Introduction For People Who Hate Introductions is a sixty-second blast of off-kilter, angular grind violence with solid screamo sensibilities. Plenty of math-like time signatures, trebly riffs, seriously uptempo percussion and a lung busting vocal delivery, which is the icing on this particular cake. Jimmy Buffet Doesn’t Even Surf is somehow heavier and more intense with the entire band working together to unsettle you. Trying to keep up with the music while typing this review is not easy. Soap Opera Stardom Is A Single Tear Drop Away highlights just how much they can fit into a song and shows that while the music may seem chaotic and un-structured, it’s actually quite the opposite. SYSC are incredibly tight musicians and they have to be with the amount of precision that’s present in these short grinding bursts. 

Pep Talk From A Nihilist has a garage-punk feel initially before turning into a breakdown-filled beast with low death metal grunts at times. The title-track is a trade-off between mathcore and introspective emo, but with gang vocals. When things do explode towards the end, you’re not sure which way is up and what you’re listening to. It’s a little ironic of me to say at this point that they’re impossible to truly pin down musically (when I’ve tried my best so far), but the truth is that they’re playing what they want to and are taking us along for the ride. Absolutely Absolute Absolution typifies that point as it closes out this mesmeric and jarring EP. SeeYouSpaceCowboy are nothing short of amazing at what they do. There’s a tidal wave flowing through the underground scene and this quintet are at it’s tip, waiting to wash away any opposition in their path.

Stream "FSOTSA" and purchase a download or one of the band's four remaining 7"s below:-

Labels: Self-Released/Zegema Beach Records

Formats: 7" Lathe/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 02 Nov 2017

Tracklist:

1. Atrocities From A Story Book Perspective

This special single-song release was recorded by the band, shortly after having their trailer and gear stolen while on tour last summer. The band has released it digitally and via a specially pressed 7" lathe cut, while Zegema Beach Records has released a limited run of tapes. Both of which have sold out from SYSC themselves. I felt it was more than worthwhile tagging a small write-up of the single  onto the end of this piece. 

In a time when CD singles seem to be dying a slow death, it’s cool to see bands and labels finding more artistic ways to release single songs. That’s what both SeeYouSpaceCowboy and Zegema Beach Records have done here. SYSC release “Atrocities From A Story Book Perspective” on a very limited run of 20 7” lathes with screen-printed b-sides, while Zegema Beach went with the cassingle option. This song is pissed straight from the off but retains a slight garage-punk vibe. Swirling with feedback and chugging riffs it’s a lot angrier and more hardcore orientated. As soon as it’s started, it finished. Such a cool idea and a release that will no doubt be lauded by fans and sold for extortionate amounts on Discogs in the future (completely against everything the release stands for). Support SYSC.

Stream the song and support SeeYouSpaceCowboy by purchasing a download here:-

SeeYouSpaceCowboy - https://www.facebook.com/seeyouspacecowboyca/

Check the below links for availability of both releases (these are the labels that still have copies left):-

Zegema Beach Records - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/zegema-beach-releases/

React With Protest - http://www.reactwithprotest.org/store.php

Middle-Man Records - http://middlemanrecords.storenvy.com

Dog Knights Productions - http://dogknightsproductions.limitedrun.com

Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords/

React With Protest - https://www.facebook.com/ReactwithProtest

Structure//Agony Records - https://www.facebook.com/structuresagonyrecords

Contrition Recordings - https://www.facebook.com/contritionrecordings/

Middle-Man Records - https://www.facebook.com/middlemanrecords/

Dog Knights Productions - https://www.facebook.com/dogknights/