Satan Panonski - Nuklearne Olimpijske Igre

 1990; 24 tracks  This is the second album by the highly interesting character Satan Panonski, or Ivica Čuljak, a Croatian punk icon. In 1977 at the age of 17 a wave of radical changes, both political and musical, found him in his village of Vinkovci, Croatia. In 1980, he became the singer of the punk band Pogreb X before moving on to write his own songs and start his punk project under the name Satan Panonski. Apparently he stayed in a Lipovican correctional home for three months to avoid military service, as well as pay his dues to the law, before being transferred to an asylum close to his hometown in 1977. Also apparently, he was killed as a soldier in war in 1992...

It's crazy and good.

Download.

Wiccans - Skullduggery

2011; 12 tracks
I included a track by Wiccans in one of my mixes (link) a while back, but I feel like this album is a relevant and important album. Really. It's just hardcore punk from Texas, but there's a lot more to it than that.
PLAY LOUD.

Rye Coalition - The Lipstick Game

 1999; 10 track This is the second full-length by New Jersey post-hardcore/math rock band Rye Coalition. Founded in the early 90s, they have produced to date four full-lengths and various EPs and singles and splits, but a friend of mine told me that their earliest stuff is the best. The Lipstick Game is a chaotic blend of aggressive and discordant post-hardcore, with math rock influences. It is said that, two years in the making, the album was seen by many of their early fans as the band's pinnacle, and "documents some of Rye Coalition's most powerful and experimental songwriting." I haven't really heard anything like it, so I'm out of comparisons, but I think The Lipstick Game is a gorgeous album.


Download.

Excuse 17 - Such Friends Are Dangerous

 1995; 13 tracks  Angry girls. Angry girls everywhere. Excuse 17 was a Washington-based trio including Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, Becca Albee, and drummer CJ Phillips. Such Friends Are Dangerous was their first album.

"It's a disservice to remember this band solely as the practice run at Sleater-Kinney, but then again, S-K were so monumental, so earth-shaking that it can hardly end up any other way. Listening to this again for the first time in ten or so years, I'm amazed at how well-formed, confident, and bone-cuttingly visceral they were. Of the two pre-Sleater-Kinney bands, (we'll get to Corin's Heavens to Betsy tomorrow), Excuse 17 sound the most like what's to come, with their dual, tangled, razor-wire guitar attack, back and forth vocals, gut-wrenching screams, and sense of moral urgency. Like much of the work Carrie's associated with, it's an album of catharsis. Whether on the bouncy standout track "Watchmaker" (a dig at music journalists and scenesters), the painful "This is Not Your Wedding Song," or the biting "The Drop Dead Look," their combination of pure punk fury and tight musicianship is some pretty righteous shit, no matter what came next."
 he'll say anything to get inside of you

7 Year Bitch - ¡Viva Zapata!

 1994; 11 tracks 7 Year Bitch was an all-girl grunge-influenced punk rock band from Seattle, Washington, that yielded three albums in their nearly decade-long career. ¡Viva Zapata! is their second release.

After the release of their first album, Sick 'Em in 1992, the band's guitarist, Stefanie Sargent, died of a supposed heroin overdose. Not long after, the lead singer of another American punk band, Mia Zapata of The Gits, was brutally raped and strangled walking home from a bar. These two deaths left a profound mark on 7 Year Bitch, and ¡Viva Zapata! was made as a sort of tribute to Mia Zapata. It is also the debut of their new guitarist, Roisin Dunne.

All in all, this is one of the most incredible punk / grunge albums I've heard, ever. Their sound is unique and fierce, the guitars and vocals being absolute perfection. I love Selene Vigil's voice so much - she is very convincing, and her lyrics are precise yet rugged... I think I might like the lyrics to "Cats Meow" (wow, that track... I'd give it a 100 / 10) more than is healthy.


There's so many good reasons for you to keep your mouth shut
Like actions speak louder than words
And if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all
But I can see you've got a lot on your mind
So let it drop to your throat and try not to choke

Disregard the pity if you wanna get to the nitty gritty
Can't survive in the city and still remain witty
No tough little alley cat is gonna come run to no kitty kitty
No tough little alley cat is gonna come run to no kitty kitty
So disregard the pity
Get to the nitty gritty
Remain witty

I also love the tracks "It's Too Late," and "Kiss My Ass Goodbye." If I could have just those three songs on repeat forever, I'd be very happy. But it must be said, there is no way one couldn't at least enjoy this album.

Download.