Absolut Country of Sweden

Imagine my surprise when I learned the de facto Swedish national anthem, " Du Gamla, Du Fria," does not actually feature d-beats (though I'm sure as we speak Tomas Lindberg is pulling together a roster of Swedish punk greats to rectify that oversight).
Because in my mind, even beyond the greatness of Scandi-grind, Sweden first and foremost has always stood out to me as a joyous celebration of Discharge's swinging punk legacy just with way more umlauts. It's a story that begins with seminal punk bands like Anti Cimex and continues through .... a whole lot of other bands that also contain ex-members of Anti Cimex and whatever band Tompa hustled into a studio during his free weekend.
Where Discharge were pissed and spitting, the Swedes (while still dealing a decent amount of aggression) also seemed to have realized that a hopping d-beat can actually be fun. They're screaming, sure, but you can just feel the corners of their mouths quirking, fighting to hide back an idiot grin.
Or maybe that's because Swedish punk bands, like a lot of their Scandinavian kin, tend to stick to their native language, so I have no clue what they're saying. As Totalitar said in the liner notes to Ni Mast Bort!, "... I would feel rather stupid if I wrote about these subjects using someone else's language. This has nothing to do with nationalism, to me it's just a simple fact that I react, think and have much more complex knowledge of the language I grew up with." But language has never been a barrier with Swedish punk, the intent comes through in the musical chops and the vocal passion just fine without resorting to Babel Fish.
Since I've been binging on Swedish punk lately, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. I'm by no means an expert here and compiling this list made me realize my collection is short a few goodies (Krigshot! Svart Sno!), but I haven't made you guys a mixtape in a while and felt the need to share.

Swedish Punk [Mediafire]

Disfear - "Powerload"
Skitsystem - "Det Sociala Arvet"
Avskum - "Masskonsumtions Helvetet"
Victims - "This is the End"
Wolfpack (aka Wolfbrigade) - "Power and Greed"
The Great Deceiver - "Strychnine"
Anti Cimex - "Victims of a Bombraid"
End of All - "Fostrad"
Acursed - "Tunneln I Ljusets Slut Track 13 [Untitled]"
Totalitar - "Mediet Som Vapen"

500: The Doom That Came to Sarnath Andrew

If there’s a plodding, miserable yang to my normally up tempo grinding yin, it would be my love for painfully slow doom of the most miserable variety. Which is kinda odd considering how even tempered and phlegmatic I am in general. I love good doom – something heavy and with some heart, none of that weepy red wine and roses bullshit – because it usually evokes a nice emotional reaction. I may not be a miserable bastard, but I can appreciate music that can conjure that kind of bleakness. A man cannot live on blastbeats alone.
About a year ago I commemorated my 300th mental fart with the most retardedly short mixtape I could compile. Loath to repeat myself having hit the semi-millennial post mark, instead I’ll indulge my oft-ignored penchant for sitcom-sized tunes. The 300 mixtape featured 3 second songs. This one features 30 minute songs (and one fat, hazy bastard weighing in at an hour-plus).
This is my way of saying thanks to all of you have stuck around for 500 freaking posts (For fuck’s sake why? Don’t you have lives?) . With several hours of suicidal music in the offing, don’t say I didn’t give you your money’s worth this time. In fact, it’s so fucking large (thanks, Sleep), I’ve had to upload it as two separate files.

500 Part 1

500 Part 2

Part 1:
Sleep – “Dopesmoker”
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine – “He Who Accepts All That is Offered (The Feel Bad Hit of the Winter)”
Thorr’s Hammer – “Norge”
Eyes of Fire – “The End Result of Falling…”
5ive – “The Hemophiliac Dream”
Corrupted – “Bloodscape/[Japanese]”
Burmese – “Preyer”
Earth – “Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine”
Cathedral – “Ebony Tears”
Unearthly Trance – “In the Red”
Black Hell – “Zero (Deuce)”
Grief – “Earthworm”

Part 2:
Mindrot – “Incandescence”
Khanate – “Under Rotting Sky”
Halo – “20,000 Tonnes of Machinery to Smash Matter”
Disembowelment – “A Burial at Ornans”
Winter – “Destiny”
Electric Wizard – “Son of Nothing”
Boris – “Vomitself”
Sunn 0))) – “Cry for the Weeper”
Floor – “I Remember Nothing”
Burning Witch – “Sea Hag”
Wellington – “Friend, Son”
Toadliquor – “Nails”
Acid Bath – “Venus Blue”
Warhorse – “Scrape”
Gallhammer – “SLOG”

Grindcore Numerology

You didn’t think we were gonna leave it like that didja? After 20 alphabet posts, we officially bring this project to a close with this final (admittedly) tiny mixtape collecting grindcore’s numerical offerings. I hope you've found the whole exercise helpful, maybe discovered a hidden gem or two or finally checked out a band everyone has been raving about that had escaped your notice. There were a few in here that came as a surprise to me too. Hello, Muleskinner!
But here we are at the end of the road and I can't let go. I also can't think of a better to wrap way to this all up than with 324 either (but I wasn't able to find a decent 7 Minutes of Nausea rip either). Think of it as a spoonful of sherbet to cleanse your palette on the way out. Go ahead. You have room. It’s only wafer thin.
Here’s your Numbers Mixtape [Mediafire]:

7000 Dying Rats – “Annihilator the Devastator”
40 Gradi – “Limitless” (Croatia)
48 – “Hitori” (Japan)
324 – “Broken Clock” (Japan)

Grand total: 404 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: X,Y,Z

Yeah, you got to mix it, child, you got to fix it, must be grind – it’s a bitch.

X
Y
Z
Examine your zipper, as my mom would say. Check your fly cuz we’re about to rock out with our cocks out (Or appropriate ladypart. We don’t discriminate around here) for the end of the alphabet. Well… we would if this wasn’t the weakest haul of the lot. While not as desolate as Q, it does feel a little anticlimactic. However, I am leaving you with an even 400 grind, power violence, punk, fastcore, hardcore, whatevercore bands to pick over and I know you’ve all (Shane, especially) added dozens more that slipped past me. All that’s left now is to tackle those pesky number bands next week...
So here it is: your XYZ mixtape [Mediafire]:

Xysma – “Pulverized Necrobrains” (Finland)
Zmajevdah – “Megastructure” (Croatia)
Yog – “The Frameless Stage” (Switzerland)
xBrainiax – “Witch Trial” (United States)
Y – “Zu Lang” (Germany)
Yacopsae – “Drahtseilakt” (Germany)
Zagio Evha Dilegj – “Tori” (Japan)

Total to date: 400 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: W

Yes, I have previously bitched about bands slapping Dubya’s simian mug on albums to score a cheap “political” point, so I assume that makes me a flaming fucking hypocrite now. But c’mon. It’s W, and there is a point to this. This time out we’re treated to the martial madness of both Warscars and Warsore, which reminded me of Get Your War On, possibly the only good thing to come out of eight years of the Shrub’s misrule. Too fucking bad half of comic’s jokes could just as easily apply to Obama.
And that’s really fucking depressing. Ever get the feeling you're being cheated?
On a happier note, your letter W mixtape [Mixtape]:

Wire – “Reuters” (England)
Wojczech – “Superparadigma” (Germany)
Wormrot – “Born Stupid” (Singapore)
Warscars – “Killing Rate: Complete” (France)
Worlds – “I.M.O.H.C.” (Germany) (United States)
Word Salad – “Take it Back” (United States)
Who’s My Saviour – “Annihilated Motivation” (Germany)
Warsore – “Six Millions Slaughtered” (Australia)
Weekend Nachos – “Sink to Your Level” (United States)
World Downfall – “Fuckup False Charge” (Germany)
Wasteoid – “Drink N Hand” (United States)
Wadge – “Demon Dogs of Waikiki” (United States)
Wage Slave – “Chambered” (United States)
Wake – “Defiler” (Canada)
Watchmaker – “Infidelity’s Eyestabbing Unease” (United States)

Total to date: 393 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: U,V

If I can paraphrase Alex and his psychedelic droogs: it’s time for a bit of the ultra-violet. Get groovy with the U,V as we tick off the next two letters of the alphabet. The end is in sight and I’ve already tossed you one new band for every day of the year – before I lob this batch in your lap. This time out we hunt feathered rats with a post-Benumb outfit, rock out to Shane Embury on two unaccustomed instruments: guitar and drums, and, of course, declare ourselves to be Against Terrorism! with one of Japan’s finest exports. Of course, it's only appropriate to include Unruh's "Mercitron" after Jack Kevorkian died. While he seemed to be a bit of a pompous and megalomaniacal asshole who occasionally only had a passing familiarity with medical ethics, nobody in my life has done more to shove the dignity with death conversation into the public sphere. So in the words of Kurt Vonnegutt: God bless you, Dr. Kevorkian.
Here’s your letters U and V mixtape [Mediafire]:

Uprise – “Clash of the Genders” (Czech Republic)
Uphill Battle – “Ripped Off Face” (United States)
Venomous Concept – “A Case of the Mondays” (United States/England)
Unruh – “Mercitron” (United States)
Unsane Crisis – “Definitive Failure” (Spain)
Uzi Suicide – “Weird” (United States)
Violent Headache – “Coma” (Spain)
Unseen Terror – “In a Shallow Grave” (England)
Unholy Grave – “Shameless Bighead” (Japan)
Voetsek – “Mucho Macho” (United States)
Vulgar Pigeons – “Aggro-Culture” (United States)
Unbiased – “Buster Halter” (Japan)
Utopium – “Undermatch” (Portugual)

Total to date: 378 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: T

He pities the fool who doesn’t grind.

As a deliberate insult to those whiny fucking Baby Boomer assholes who continue to ruin every political aspect of my adult life with their self absorbed bullshit, I declare this to be the grindcore T Party. Specifically the letter T party. Put away your damn Gadsden flags and Ayn Rand novels. It’s not that kinda party. This T is for tooth-chipping.
Here’s your letter T mixtape [Mediafire]:

Tusk – “The Rising Terror, the Setting Sun” (United States)
TR – “Preoccupied” (United States)
Triac – “Shell of a Man” (United States)
Trocki – “Ziemia” (Poland)
Trap Them – “Evictionaries” (United States)
Third Degree – “Where is the Consummation?” (Poland)
Thousandswilldie – “Blinding Light” (United States)
Thedowngoing – “Sunken Deep” (Australia)
Tragedy – “The Lure” (United States)
!T.O.O.H.! – “Ja Samaritan” (Czech Republic)
Trash Talk – “All the Kings Men” (United States)
Torture Incident – “Trapped” (Malaysia)
Top Breeder – “About the Sickest Island” (Japan)
Terrorist – “Enfermo de Mierda” (Argentina)
Threatener – “Bull Cult” (United States)
Terrorizer – “Dead Shall Rise” (United States)
Total Fucking Destruction – “Seth Putnam is Wrong About a Lot of Things But Seth Putnam is Right About You” (United States)
Three Faces of Eve – “Fuck Corporate Grind” (United States)

Total to date: 365 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: S

Though E may be the most frequently used letter in English, S is apparently the most common letter in grindcore. Unlike that lazy, shiftless letter Q, S is bringing it big this week with a full 42 songs for your consumption. It's by far the single largest haul to be had of the whole alphabet.
As Melvin van Peebles would say, “Bad Assssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.”
Here’s your letter S mixtape: [Mediafire]

Sakatat – “Adim Adim Elerki” (Turkey)
Satellite Sleep – “Empty” (Australia)
Sulaco – “Cry Me a River” (United States)
Spinegrinder – “The Incineration of Julie” (United States)
Siege – “Life of Hate” (United States)
Structure of Lies – “Masters of Nothing” (United States)
Sylvester Stalline – “I Don’t Play to Fuck” (France)
S.O.B. – “Trapped in Cancer” (Japan)
Suffering Mind – “Wirus” (Poland)
Sarlacc – “Entombment of a Wookie” (United States)
Swarrrm – “Road” (Japan)
Squash Bowels – “Abhorrently Stinking Rich Man” (Poland)
StraightHate – “Ethnocide” (Greece)
Standing on a Floor of Bodies – “Gone the Way of All Flesh” (United States)
A Scanner Darkly – “The Man in the High Castle” (United States)
Sadis Euphoria – “Burning in Flesh” (United States)
Slight Slappers “My Reality and My Idea” (Japan)
Streetcleaner –“Scotch Knight” (United States)
Scrotum Grinder – “Untruth as Master Signifier” (United States)
Selfhate – “Zaraza” (Poland)
Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky – “A Path” (United States)
Sutek Conspiracy – “The Gospel According To” (United States)
Skarp – “Feed the Addiction” (United States)
Subcut – “Insanidad” (Brazil)
Skrupel – “Daily Boring” (Germany)
Slaughter of the Innocents – “Maelstrom of Chaos” (Germany)
Sewn Shut – “Smear of Destruction” (Sweden)
Sore Throat – “Horrendify and Kill” (England)
Spoonful of Vicodin – “Tapeworms in Punk, A Documentary” (United States)
Sayyadina – “Come Final Rest” (Sweden)
Splitter – “Markt For Livet” (Sweden)
Su19b – “Hateful Neglect” (Japan)
Spiral – “Tornade” (Japan)
Spazz – “Backpack Bonfire” (United States)
Shapes of Misery – “Mad Man’s Rampage” (Holland)
Shitstorm – “Paranoid Existence” (United States)
Sanity’s Dawn – “Fuck Your Sense of Life” (Germany)
Septic Surge – “Perculator” (Australia)
Superbad – “Isaac No Fuck, Isaac Make Love” (United States)
Strong Intention – “Without Conscience” (United States)
Social Infestation – “Some People Push Back” (United States)
Self Deconstruction – “The Anger Which I Wait For” (United States)

Total to date: 348 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: Q, R

Q?
Where are you, Q? No, I don’t mean beloved bygone character actor Desmond Lleweyn who gadgeted up James Bond before so many of his missions. I mean where is the grindcore Q? Folks, this is the first letter where I’ve completely struck out. Not a one as far as I can find. I’m probably wrong, and I’ll be delighted if you correct me because right now there’s no joy in Mudville; the mighty Casey Andrew has struck out.
But R, now there’s a proper, respectable grindcore letter. Luckily it more than carries its weight this week, making up for that bum Q’s laziness.Here’s your letters Q and R mixtape [Mediafire]:

Resistant Culture – “Beneath the Concrete” (United States)
Rune – “Four Season Landmark” (United States)
Rato Raro – “Naturalmuerte” (Brazil)
Rot – “Back to the Punk Days” (Brazil)
Rise Above – “Else” (Japan)
Repulsion – “Crematorium” (United States)
Rehumanize – “Planet Laodicea” (United States)
Rotten Sound – “Edge” (Finland)
Realized – “Dominated” (Japan)
Righteous Pigs – “I Hope You Die in a Hotel Fire” (United States)
Retaliation – “Retribution” (Sweden)
Red – “Divided Grief Burns You” (Japan)
Rudimentary Peni – “Alice Crucifies the Paedophiles” (England)
Robocop – “Feminism Uber Alles” (United States)
Relevant Few – “Fake Healer” (Sweden)
Reversal of Man – “Butterflies” (United States)

Total to date: 306 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: O, P

OP
Opie.
The fictional Mayberry, N.C., home of Opie and Andy is smack in the heart of pork BBQ country, and even if those southern heathens slather their pork with mustard sauces (Kansas City style BBQ with a slice of Wonder Bread all the way, baby!), I have to admit it’s hard to fuck up a slow cooked rack of pork ribs sizzling with a tangy sauce. Apparently grindcore likes to dig on the swine as well. While we’ve previously dined on the rare delicacy of long pig way back at L, this time around you’ll be picking gristly bits of Pig Destroyer, Pignation and Pigsty from between your molars (and there’s another slab of pork teed up when we hit the Rs as well).
Here’s your letters O and P mixtape [Mediafire]:

The Orion Code – “The Orion Code” (United States)
Phobia – “Stink Head” (United States)
PSUDOKU – “Big Crunch” (Norway)
Phantomsmasher – “Scrolling Sideways” (United States)
The Oily Menace – “What Are You Fightin’ For? (Phil Ochs cover)” (United States)
Pg. 99 – “We Left as Skeletons” (United States)
Psychoneurosis – “Society” (Poland)
Population Reduction – “Amish Meth Dealer” (United States)
Pigsty – “Demon Alcohol” (Czech Republic)
P.L.F. – “Unseen Deceiver” (United States)
Owen Hart – “You’ll See 8 Years Olds in Hell” (United States)
O.L.D. – “Colostomy Grab Bag” (United States)
Parlamentarisk Sodomi – “Klaebukronikene (De Anarkistke An(n)aller)” (Norway)
The Parallax View – “Armed With Scripture and Functional Rationality” (United States)
Plague Rages – “Ter” (Brazil)
Pig Destroyer – “Preacher Crawling” (United States)
Obligatorisk Tortyr – “Under Ytan” (Sweden)
Psycho – “Nicotine Addiction” (United States)
Ojciec Dyktator – “Love Life of Michael K.” (Poland)
Otophobia – “Hardcore Kids Have the Coolest Tattoos” (United States)
Pignation – “Satan Saves” (Poland)
Plutocracy – “Erupt” (United States)
Poppy Seed Grinder – “Monument of Depravity” (Czech Republic)

Total to date: 290 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: N

How to deal with Napalm Death? Arguably, the band has two (possibly three or four) distinct incarnations of various grindiness. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume most of you are intimately familiar with grind’s first family, but in the interest of completeness, Napalm will be the only the second band to get double billing in a mixtape (Repulsion also got a shoutout to their early Genocide incarnation). The title track of From Enslavement to Obliteration will represent the early years while my favorite Utopia Banished tune should do the Barney years justice.
Oh, and there’s also a shitload of other great bands whose names start with N. And a lot of them are really, really fucking weird.
Here’s your letter N mixtape [Mediafire]:

Non Compos Mentis – “Come on In” (United States)
Nyia – “Of Power” (Poland)
N.I.B.I.R.U. – “The History of Enslavement” (United States)
No Gang Colors – “This Jug Kills Fascists” (United States)
Napalm Death – “Dementia Access” (England)
Nothing More to Eat – “Crackwhore Zombies” (Finland)
Neurosis – “Training” (United States)
Noisear – “Fraudulent” (United States)
Nasum – “I See Lies” (Sweden)
Nashgul – “Crematorio” (Spain)
Naked City – “Osaka Bondage” (United States)
Noism – “Computer Illiterate” (Japan)
Negligent Collateral Collapse – “The Facts” (Czech Republic)
Narcosis – “It’s Not a Birthmark, It’s a Bruise” (England)
Nyctophobic – “Restless” (Germany)
Napalm Death – “From Enslavement to Obliteration” (England)
Nuclear Death “Lurker in the Closet: A ‘Fairy’ Tale” (United States)
No Comment – “A Mother’s Crime” (United States)

Total to date: 267 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: M

Here we are halfway through the alphabet and 250 bands deep into grindcore, power violence, fastcore, whatever else it is. This week you get treated to the triple M awesomeness of My Minds Mine (a personal favorite), the Japanese glory that is Mortalized as well as the pivotal stomp of Man is the Bastard (as well as the less pivotal cloning of Marion Barry). Macabre shares their treasured family recipes and Mule Skinner gets all up in that stank.
This is your letter M mixtape [Mediafire]:


My Minds Mine – “Drop Fascists, Not Bombs” (Holland)
Mercenary Cockroach – “Age of Deception” (Croatia)
Mehkago N.T. – “Holy Shit” (United States)
Mortalized – “Third Stone From Hell” (Japan)
Mindflair – “Only for Yourself” (Germany)
Magnicide – “Hello Misery” (Singapore)
Mastic Scum – “Dead Remains” (Switzerland)
Maruta – “A Sea of Dead Serpents” (United States)
Misery Index – “Servants of Progress” (United States)
Mind Eraser – “Shutting Down” (United States)
Motiveless – “Strange Appetite” (Japan)
Mesrine – “Dirty Christ” (Canada)
Massgrav – “Nar Ska Massan Resa Sig?” (Sweden)
Macabre – “Is it Soup Yet?” (United States)
Magrudergrind – “Built to Blast” (United States)
Man is the Bastard – “Ether Rag” (United States)
Mumakil – “Face Reality” (Switzerland)
Man Will Destroy Himself – “Fuse” (United States)
Marion Barry – “Spaceforce Anthem” (United States)
Mule Skinner – “Mule Fuck” (United States)
Multiplex – “Exasperation” (Japan)
Melt-Banana – “Third Attack” (Japan)
Morser – “The Indirect Threat (to World Freedom)” (Germany)

Total to date: 250 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: L

Alright, you little bastards. Looking for an answer to your grindcore woes? Overwhelmed by lethargy, a lack of interest? Don’t just lie still. Direct your browser thusward to run a landmine marathon of blastbeats and brutality.
Enjoy your letter L mixtape with my complements [Mediafire].

Little Bastards – “Day by Day” (Japan)
Leb Prosiaka – “Feministki” (Poland)
Lethargy – “Image Tool” (United States)
Lost Sphere Project – “Velociraptor” (Switzerland)
Luddite Clone – “The Contortionist” (United States)
Long Pig – “Pectoral Riot” (Hungary)
Landmine Marathon – “White Widows” (United States)
Looking for an Answer – “Extincion” (Spain)
Lack of Interest – “Looking Blindly” (United States)
Lycanthropy – “I Have to Hate” (Czech Republic)
Lebenden Toten – “No Release” (United States)
Lie Still – “Demo Track 11” (United States)
Leng Tch’e – “Patriotic Pleasure” (Belgium)
The Locust – “Well I’ll Be a Monkey’s Uncle” (United States)
Lawnmower Deth – “Satan’s Trampoline” (England)
Lock Up – “Pretenders of the Throne” (United States/England/Sweden)

Total to date: 227 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: K

Grindcore is so damn violent. In this edition of the alphabetic mixtape, clients get killed, slave masters get killed, kusrai gamas (whatever the hell those are) get killed. Then Australia gets all Platonic ideal on us and serves up The Kill. Rick goes kungfu. Brits pay tribute to Lenin’s wife. Assisted suicide enthusiasts get backstabby. And doom rises above it all.
Here’s your letter K mixtape [Mediafire].

King Generator – “Broken Dreams” (United States)
Kevorkian’s Angels – “Backstabber” (United States)
Kill the Slave Master – “Coenobite (of the Abattoir)” (United States)
Kalibas – “No Food or Water Without It” (United States)
Kill the Client – “Christian Pipebomb” (United States)
Keitzer – “Doom Shall Rise” (Germany)
Katatonic Despair – “E.G.” (Ukraine)
Khann – “Charisma” (United States)
KiKURAChiyo – “First Impact [Liturgy]” (Canada/Croatia)
The Kill – “Fuck Emo” (Australia)
Ketum – “Invasion of Corporations” (Turkey)
Krupskaya – “Onwards the Righteous into the Mire” (England)
Kusari Gama Kill – “Kabuki Jesus” (Denmark)
Kungfu Rick – “1000 Knuckles Rubbing” (United States)

Total to date: 211 bands

Rotten Sound

A good grindcore album is the nexus of two parallel and occasionally competing characteristics. Great songs get you halfway there, but if they don’t have that energetic audio pop, you’re left with a mediocre experience. It’s that interaction between great songs and that abrasive, punky production that makes the greatest grind albums: think of that explosive jolt you get from Abuse, Horrified, or The Inalienable Dreamless.
I think more than any member of metal’s extended family, grindcore lives and dies by its production values (or deliberate lack thereof). Even more so than trve kvlk black metal’s refusal to cave in to niceties like listener’s enjoyment. Given that grind albums are often two or three dozen songs that barely crack a minute each, keeping that emotional energy coming is a must. An album of average songs with a great production is a perfectly acceptable guilty pleasure; an album full of good songs hampered by half-assed production just feels lacking.
In fact, I own a whole stack of albums that I enjoy despite their often wearying, enervated production job. Not surprisingly, Today is the Day’s Steve Austin gets production credit for a statistically significant portion of them. They range from simply being disappointing, The Parallax View’s thin, demo-worthy sound on Destruction of Property; the reedy, hollow guitars that mar Ablach’s Aon, through the outright unlistenable, Joe Pesci’s sonic abomination of At Our Expense! or Converge’s nigh unlistenable When Forever Comes Crashing. Each album sports perfectly acceptable, sometimes extremely enjoyable songs that are weighed down by their horrid production like a Lamborghini towing a horse trailer.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of power they would have conveyed had they sounded better (in Joe Pesci’s case, the band apparently will send you a better mix of At Our Expense! if you just ask). To a lot of bands’ thinking, the album only exists to put butts in the pit they next time they play Waukegan and then hopefully sell enough to pay for gas to Cheboygan. If that’s the case, then recorded music, particularly in this era of digital cornucopia and media overload, should be the best advertisement for your band possible. Chances are you’re not going to get a second chance to snare people’s attention.
Here’s a sampler of some of the unloved and weeded out articles in my collection that fell just short of sonic brilliance. Enjoy.

Where do you draw the line between intelligibility and enjoyability and can they be easily demarcated?

Ablach – “Obar Dheathain”
Kill the Slave Mater – “The Orchestration of Sodom”
Complete Failure – “Gross Negligence”
Converge – “Towing Jehova”
Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation – “Tied Up”
The Parallax View – “Name: Last, First, MI”
Shapes of Misery – “Something to Believe”
Joe Pesci – “Plato Complex”
Torture Incident – “What’s That Mean of Capitalist”

Grindcore Alphabet: I, J

I. Eye. Aye.
J. Jay.
And so we hit our first hink in the process. Simply put, there are just not enough grind bands with names that start with I or J or justify individual mixtapes, so I’m forced to smoosh them together in order to present you something that’s actually worth your time. Here’s what I’ve gleaned. The I bands really enjoy iron while the J bands like to get down with Jesus. Personally, I think Iron Jesus would make an awesome band name. Don't steal (steel?) that. That shit's copyrighted.
Meanwhile, here’s your I, J mixtape [Mediafire].

Iron Batasuna – “Lamentos” (United States)
Iron Lung – “Sexless//No Sex” (United States)
Jesus Egg – “Botato Pug” (United States)
Infernal Stronghold – “Crashing Trucks into Churches” (United States)
Inertia Kills – “Awaken” (Canada)
Jesus of Nazareth – “The Shame of Being a Child Track 7” (United States)
Jante Alu – “Bielle” (Switzerland)
Joe Pesci – “Mindless Zombified Fucks” (England)
Infest – “Machoism” (United States)
I Abhor – “The Third Eye” (United States)
Jesus Crost – “Bombenalarm” (Holland)
Intense Degree – “I’ve Got a Cure” (England)
Infanticide – “Crisis Point” (Sweden)
Impale – “Regeneration of Boiling Blood” (Japan)
Insect Warfare – “At War With Grindcore” (United States)
Impotence Trichomonad – “My Gory Birthday” (Japan)
In/Humanity – “Nuclear Winter Wonderland” (United States)
Infect – “A Forca” (Brazil)
Idiots Parade – “Sin [Hriech]” (Slovakia)
Japanische Kampfhorspiele – “Pogo en der Strassenbahn” (Germany)

Total to date: 197 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: H

His Hero is Grind

Hello. Here we are again. How’s it all going? Hanging in there? Having a good time? Hear any good bands lately? Hopefully one or two of these will tickle your fancy. Hope you like it.
Here’s your letter H mixtape[Mediafire]

His Hero is Gone – “Like Weeds” (United States)
Hope Collapse – “Cold Steel Penetrates Your Flesh” (United States)
HeWhoCorrupts – “Sell ’Em All” (United States)
Humanity Falls – “To Have or to Be” (United States)
Hayaino Daisuki – “Kirei” (United States/Japan)
Hatred Surge – “Dark Cricles” (United States)
Homo Iratus – “Ka Mate” (Greece)
Hombrinus Dudes – “Mutate, Regulate” (United States)
Hellbastard – “Justly Executed” (England)
Hemdale – “It Burns…And It Just Plain Smells Bad” (United States)
Human Remains – “Human” (United States)
Hip Cops – “Global Famine” (United States)
Hummingbird of Death – “The Terrorists Win” (United States)
Hellchild – “What’s For Live or Die” (Japan)
Hellterror – “Ceritakan” (Malaysia)
Heresy – “Face Up to It!” (England)

Total to date: 177 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: G

Seven weeks in and more than a quarter of the way into the alphabet, G will be for grades. I want to hear from you how this little project is working or not. Have you discovered any new gems? Or are many of these bands lesser known for a good reason? What have been the major oversights? Who has surprised you? Drop a comment and discuss amongst yourselves.
Otherwise, here’s your letter G mixtape [Mediafire].

Gate – “My Anger to Whom” (Japan)
Gauze – “Thrash Thrash Thrash” (Japan)
Groinchurn – “Fickle World” (South Africa)
Gadget – “Requiem” (Sweden)
Gibbed – “Uncleanly Devoured Visions” (Japan)
Get Destroyed – “What a Mess” (United States)
Graf Orlock – “A Waste of Ammo” (United States)
Greber – “Hometown Heroin” (Canada)
Genocide (aka Repulsion) – “Violent Death” (United States)
Guyana Punch Line – “Political P.I.G.” (United States)
General Surgery – “Capricious Provisional Cadaver Grater” (Sweden)
Gride – “Nadije v Mijeni” (Czech Republic)
Ghostlimb – “Bridge Above the Above” (United States)
Gigantic Brain – “Melting Brain” (United States)
Gasp – “Harvest” (United States)
GridLink – “Naked Pieces Scattered” (United States/Japan)
Gods of Grind – “Binary Digit” (Japan)
Gore Beyond Necropsy – “Stench of Carnage; Gore Gore Goreality Stinking Holocaust” (Japan)
Godstomper – “Self Mosher” (United States)
Garbage Disposal – “Mind Grind-Machine” (Czech Republic)

Total to date: 161 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: F

FFFFFFFFfffffffffu--
Would you rather fuck the facts or fuck on a beach? Can you fuck the facts on the beach or is that some kinda public nudity violation? Snuggle up with the man, woman or small, unresisting mammal of your choice because G&P is about to bring the looooooooooooove.
This is your letter F compilation [Mediafire]:

Fate of Icarus – “Annihilate the Assimilationist” (United States)
Flourishing – “Fixture” (United States)
Fuck on the Beach – “Spook” (Japan)
Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation – “Studeny Klih” (Japan)
Fear of God – “I’ve Seen” (United States)Switzerland
Fitcage – “Smiling Corpse” (Russia)
Forgardur Helvetis – “Krossfest Born” (Iceland)
F.A.M. – “Blood of Sahara” (Poland)
Filthy Christians – “Extremely Bad TeethBreath” (Sweden)
From the Ashes – “Wall of Prejudice” (Sweden)
F.U.B.A.R. – “The National Fear Campaign 2004” (Holland)
Feastem – “No Questions” (Finland)
Fuck the Facts – “Golden Age” (Canada)
Face on Fire – “William H. Macy’s Mustache” (Australia)
Fortitude – “Breaking the Silence of the Night” (Japan)
Flesh Parade – “Coping With It” (United States)

Total to date: 141 bands

Grindcore Alphabet: E

Everybody needs a hobby.

Ex.
Ex-wife. Excommunicate. Ex cathedra. Excalibur. Excelsior. Exterminator. Ex officio. Party time, excellent. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Exemplary. Extra-capsular Extraction. Exhibitionist. "Excoriating Abdominal Emanations." Existentialism. Ex post facto. Expectorant. Expose. Exploitative. Expatriation. X-acto knife. The Exorcist. Unitary executive theory. Exobiologist. Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. Explicate. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Ex parte. Extravehicular maneuver. Exquisite.
I think we’ve just found grindcore’s favorite morpheme.
Meanwhile, here’s your letter E mixtape [Mediafire]:

Enemy Soil – “Group Think” (United States)
Exit-13 – “Societally Provoked Genocidal Contemplation” (United States)
Endless Demise – “Why Wait Till Tomorrow?” (United States)
Electro Hippies – “Scum” (England)
Expose Your Hate – “Wake Up to Reality” (Brazil)
East-West Blast Test – “Felling Ax” (United States)
Exit Wounds – “Fire at Will” (Poland)
Exhibit A – “Another Day Another Dollar” (Australia)
The Endless Blockade – “Like Partridges” (United States)(Canada)
Exitium – “Vicious Cycle” (United States)
Extreme Noise Terror – “Parasites” (England)
Exhale – “Paper Wings” (Sweden)
Excruciating Terror – “Careless Attitude” (United States)
Empties – “Circle” (Japan)
Exgreed – “Hateshinai Yokubo/Mokusato” (Japan)
Extortion – “Bludgeon” (Australia)
Employer, Employee – “You Are Now Thawed” (United States)
Eustachian – “Trichopatho Skeleton” (United States/Belgium)

Total to date: 124 bands