After a brief hiatus last week (we were, as Bill Murray says in Caddyshack, “Unavoidably Detained”) we’re back with a selection of decidedly anti-summer anthems.  Now, we’re not anti-summer, far from it, but seems we’ve largely been rotting your teeth out with sugary pop confections for the past few months, so it’s time to get that tinnitus rattling around again, just in time for yr spangly Memorial Day festivities.  Onward then, into the murk.

We stumble out of the gate this week with Ancestors’ II on Youth Attack! Records.  McCoy’s proper vinyl pressing of a hyper-limited (100 copies) cassette, this virgin white slab is a flailing piss storm of schizophrenic BM that’s utterly despondent and horrifyingly toxic and, at times, sounds like it’s being interrupted by shortwave radio blasts from WWII.  While not exactly free-form, each side (composition?) is essentially structureless, meaning there could be one song or 45 and you’ll never know the difference.  Their harsh malevolence rains down like battery acid as a completely blown-out morass of humanity struggled to find shelter from the pain.  Limited to 333 copies and (surprisingly) still available at YA!’s site.   

Dredged from the sewers of somewhere is Fresh Meat’s “Saw Her” b/w “Man or Woman?” on Breathing Problem Productions (Rusty from Total Abuse’s label).  What you get here are two sides of ultra lo-fi shit-core that sounds like the brainbombs being given a lobotomy in a dumpster, or someone running Poison Idea through a meat-grinder whilst they are still playing.  The whole mess sounds like it’s being held together by cheap apoxy (as much for the high off the smell as anything) and fueled by even cheaper beer.  People have compared them to Drunks with Guns, but in reality, this sounds more like actual drunks huffing aerosol fumes, unable to tune a guitar and puking on the 4-track; so basically, it’s fantastic.  Still available here but who knows for how long.

Perhaps the least abrasive thing we have this week is the new Young Widows/Melt Banana split on Temporary Residence Ltd.  The second volume of YW’s split singles series pits the Lousiville noise-rock heroes against Japan’s three-headed spazz hydra.  On the A-Side, Young Widows are at their AmRep-aping early ‘90 best here with “Long Live the New Weight”, cranking out a terse, bottom-dwelling rocker that makes liberal use of ear-scrambling distortion.  On the flip, Japan’s Melt Banana take things in a more Boredoms-centric direction than we’re used to with “Pain in Ash”, creating a dense, poly-rhythmic foundation for their twisted melange of supersonic sound and toning down their frenetic grindcore in favor of gurgling, organ-stabbed understatement.  Head on over to TRL’s website to pick up a copy (or subscribe to the series if you are so inclined).

Just like Dr. Dre we’re keeping heads ringing this week, and while we can’t promise we won’t next week, we do have some lighter fare coming up in the weeks ahead, so make sure to stay tuned (and hydrated). 

This week on the Singles Collection we’re headed down to the Lonestar State, specifically to its capitol, Austin, where they’re currently dredging up some of the best modern hardcore to be found anywhere on the planet. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches down there, and we’re only scratching the surface here, so let’s stop wasting time and get to the action.

Getting us going this week is the newest release from Mammoth Grinder, the No Results EP on the ever-awesome Inkblot Records. The follow-up to their awesome Rage and Ruin LP, this four song belter is a fire-breathing behemoth of His Hero is Gone-style HxC spiked with classic metal (think Sabbath or Priest) flourishes, a bracing kick of crusty, crushing down-tuned madness for people who hate everything and everyone. Lucky for you filthy hessians, it’s still available from the label’s MySpace

Next up we’ve got the first offering from MG offshoot Branch Davidian, the Party O’ Clock EP on Depleted Resource/Sick Thought Records. They’re the drunken older brother who never quite moved out of your parents’ basement, and who still walks around in sleeveless Anthrax t-shirts and denim vests talking about bitchin’ Cameros and that time in the parking lot of the arena when he did 7 beer bongs in a row and like, totally made it with this chick. Their sound is more or less straight-ahead ’80s thrash with bits of power-violence tossed in for good measure. They’re less cartoon-y than Municipal Waste, but no less destructive, and “Dumpster Girls” and “Get the Fuck Out” are two of the best thrash-burners of recent memory. Limited to 350 copies on (ironically) virgin white wax, these are still available at the labels’ respective MySpaces. Buy or Cry.

Last, but certainly not least, we’ve got Total Abuse’s Sex Pig EP on Deranged Records of Canada. This crew have been making waves as of late with their fucking crushing self-titled LP, but Sex Pig pre-dates it by a year or so, and while they’ve evolved into an absolute destroyer of a band, the seeds of their havoc were definitely planted here: Seven tracks in (just over) seven minutes and utter sonic obliteration a la Violent Apathy or D.R.I. or something equally as muddy and demented. These are still available from the label and from a few scant distributors, but not sure for how long, so if you are into it, better grab one.

Next week we promise to get back into it with songs with actual melodies and hooks and all that fun stuff. But we’d be lying if we said we hadn’t really, really enjoyed pummeling your eardrums with the last two week’s worth of picks.