NASA Space Universe - Tour 12" ("NSU")

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NASA Space Universe are one of the best bands playing punk right now.  If you're not familiar with them they sound like Die Kreuzen having a panic attack.  Their music is very fast, bizarre, and choppy.  Everything is super tight, too.  This band is incredible.

I think they may still have copies of this record.  You can get in touch here.

Manic - "Demo" (2011)

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Manic from Atlanta, Georgia live up to their name, playing demented and exuberantly fast hardcore punk.  The music is strange, fast and snotty.  They kinda remind me of Koro, or maybe Pollution, but they aren't all that similar to either.  All I know is that this is great, the guitar and bass tone are great, not completely blown out but noisy enough to be interesting. They apparently put out a 7" this year on Scavenger of Death that I will be posting once I have a rip of it.  This comes highly recommended.

Closet Case - "It Doesn't Get Better" (Demo 2012)

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Living in Phoenix is weird, it seems like every few months there's a new local band composed of every one in the last local band, playing the same style music and just calling it something different.  Not to say that these bands aren't good but when a band comes out of left field it's awesome.  That's what Closet Case is.  A few people I've never seen before in my life backed up by the former guitarist of Distance and State Leech. They have unfortunately already been pigeon holed under the bullshit non existent genre that is "queer-core".  Although 3/4's of the band are gay, they represent far more than that.  

This demo is a bleak look at life through the eyes of someone who remains in the closet.  The music itself is fast, and reminiscent of Tear It Up or Cut The Shit, but with a lot more mosh parts.  It's really fucking promising and even better live, if you are brave enough to see them.

For physical copies of the demo email: closetcase (at) gmail (dot) com

Shirtless Thugs - "Ripped You Off!"

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Nearly four minutes of snot nosed and fucking stupid (in the best way possible) hardcore punk from the Salvation and Cult Maternal camps on an 8 dollar cassette.  Musically it's like a less inspired "Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes".  I guess you did get ripped off.  Ah-ha-ha-ha.

Sickoids - "Sickoids" LP

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Philadelphia's SICKOIDS are a straight up phenomenal band.  Taking influence from punk and hardcore across the spectrum their sound falls somewhere between "Kings Of Punk" era Poison Idea, "Land Speed" era Husker Du with some Italian hardcore style wildness thrown in for good measure.  This band sounds instantly classic and new simultaneously, which is a difficult thing to do with hardcore punk in 2012.  This LP has everything I like in a hardcore record, weirdness, speed, occasional stomping intros and gruff vocals.  This record is near flawless.  They also put on an incredible live show.

Merchandise - "Angels in the Station" CD R

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I got this at Merchandise's show in Phoenix on Monday night, it's a CD R that features rehearsal and demo tracks from the last two LPs plus some exclusive material. It's pretty good, but it's not as good as the LP's or the cassettes that led up to them. Although, it's miles better than the lathe or that weird disco 7" they did.

S.H.I.T. - Demo 2012

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Toronto is seriously killing it this year, as always. S.H.I.T. are catchy, in-your-face, ruckus hardcore punk from the usual suspects from Urban Blight, Violent Future and others. From what I hear the demo was recorded by none other than the almighty Jonah Falco. Seriously, the riff to "Feeding Time" is already stuck in my head. Fuck this is good.

Salvation - "House of the Beating Hell"

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Salvation's latest picks up right where "Mortality Interactions" left off. I hesitate to call it hardcore, but I don't know what else it is. It's just dark, unsettling music that takes influence from a wide variety of hardcore punk and black metal, creating something completely unique. This just sounds fucking evil.

C.R.A.S.H. - "A War On All Fronts"

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Killed By Death style punk from members of No Age, Mika Miko, Nazti Skinz and more importantly Born Against, Universal Order of Armageddon and Wrangler Brutes. This shit is ugly, obnoxious, fast and fun. Sorta like Kill From the Heart era Dicks or HPP or something. Fuck it. Don't miss out.