Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And this is what we have lined up…

• Featured New Releases from Existence, Fairytale, Peace de Résistance, and Rata Negra.
• The  Quiet Pleasures of the Soundcheck
• One You May Have Missed: Bad Advice, Good People by Clear History
• Shows and Tours, including new Khoti Tuhoa and Cloud Rat / Bad Breeding gigs
• Coming Soon

When spring arrives in these parts, it is not long before a regular sight emerges in earnest – that of our local bricklayer.  He always operates alone, working methodically in solitude to rebuild degraded walls and restore damaged facades.  And to watch someone who really knows their craft, work their way through a project over a sustained period, is strangely satisfying – the meticulous rhythm of the skilled craftsperson, the desire to do a job well for the sake of doing it well.

And it is this same pleasure that I have always derived from watching bands set up and work through their sound checks.  If I’m entirely honest, the nature of this enjoyment has evolved over time. In the early days, it was very much more the pleasure of anticipation. As you eagerly awaited the show, a riff would emerge that would form part of the ensuing set and electrify the atmosphere – teasing and tantalising the crowd with what was still to come.  That said, my favourite instance of such pent-up anticipation overflowing was when the mighty Trial played a truly ferocious show at The Borderline back in 2011 and the first stage divers were soaring through the air long before the classical intro to Reflections had even completed.

Now while anticipation clearly still plays a part, other elements figure.  It is a moment of respite between sets and offers the chance to watch as bands limber up in their own specific ways for what is to follow, the literal calm before the storm.  It is fair to say each band has their own dynamic at play – from those who operate with metronomic precision to those who look like they have never seen a guitar cable before, from those halfway through a European trek to those playing their first show in months.  Not that I have ever been able to build a convincing correlation between these approaches and what follows on stage.

Now it is possible that the enjoyment stems from my own musical mediocrity, but I think it comes rather more from those same dynamics afforded by watching any craftsperson at work (don’t even get me started on cricket bat makers…).  The two keenest pleasures though are derived from the rhythm section.  Drummers always look like they would be just as happy battering through a solo set without the unnecessary extravagance of bandmates, while you actually get to hear the bassist and to form a sense of just how good many of them are, as their work is all too often largely subsumed under the mix once proceedings get underway in earnest.  Catching Es, who are guitar-less, at The Windmill the other evening was a reminder of the infectious power of the bass when it is allowed to punch through properly.

However, if I had to name my favourite soundcheck of recent times (and I acknowledge that this is a somewhat niche category!), it would definitely be awarded to Mastermind from when I saw them playing with Spy at The Black Heart last year.  Now for those of you who have not yet heard Mastermind’s debut LP, The Masters’ Orders, they deal in robust metallic-leaning hardcore that takes some gratifyingly unexpected turns. Meat-and-potatoes hardcore can at times feel like a pejorative term.  But, of course, the real question is whether the execution elevates these base ingredients to something genuinely memorable?

Now Mastermind’s certainly does, and it was as the band set up that evening that an intriguing insight emerged.  One of the guitarists and the drummer erupted into what was essentially an impromptu jamming session that gave fuller expression to the fluid jazz-infused interplay that permeates aspects of the LP, more fully realising that sense of Madball meet The Messthetics.  Now often such colouring gains power from being used sparingly.  But, as I watched that unconscious explosion, you couldn’t help but wonder what could happen if such strictures were removed and those appetites were fully unleashed.

And that in essence is the joy of watching the craftsperson in action – when the performative takes second place to the actual, and unguarded moments fashion unexpected flourishes to the necessary disciplines of process and repetition.

‘Still so confused, I guess that’s your prerogative, only the truth, I guess that’s too provocative’. Clear History pair an infectiously danceable rhythm section with sparse, lean guitar work and dual vocals that revel in an impassioned back and forth.  Sitting somewhere between a latter-day Fugazi and The Evens, Clear History understand how to inexorably engrain their grooves in the listener’s mind, and how to seamlessly blend moments of quiet introspection with raucous explosions of anger.  Bad Advice, Good People will have you singing along in the drop of a match.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

2^nd June The Flex, Subdued, Last Affront, Turbo (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Blow Your Brains Out ‘The Big Escape’ (Quality Control HQ)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Faim ‘Your Life and Nothing Else’ (Safe Inside Records)

Incendiary ‘Change The Way You Think About Pain’ LP (Closed Casket Activities)

Niebla Mental ‘Miss Espana’ (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to enjoy…

• Featured New Releases from Deathfiend, Hellshock, Terry, and a four-way split LP from Hag, Junta, Nonplus, and Zyfilis
• Testing the Pest
• One You May Have Missed: Positive Disintegration by Diät
• Shows and Tours, including new Sial and Dawn Ray’d / Ragana gigs
• Coming Soon

For a genre that had such a deep-rooted and longstanding impact, it is perhaps surprising how short thrash metal’s heyday actually was: arguably 1986 to 1991.  But what a fertile time that was.  Even just focusing on the thrash band’s that I enjoy, it is clear that there was something powerful afoot:  Nuclear Assault (Survive 1988, Handle with Care 1989), Sacred Reich (Ignorance 1987, Surf Nicaragua 1988, The American Way 1990), Kreator (Pleasure to Kill 1986, Terrible Certainty 1987, Extreme Aggression 1989), and Megadeth (Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? 1986, So Far, So Good…So What? 1988), Mordred (Fool’s Game 1989, In This Life 1991).  Albums that pushed music forward, and to my ears at least, have stood the test of time.

Looking back now, it is hard to recollect just how disruptive thrash metal was – the musical and social distortion it brought to bear.  It was not a unified genre by any stretch; indeed, it was in many ways an inherently volatile one.  But the aforementioned bands were defined by a heady brew of often socially aware lyrics drawn from hardcore punk and blended with an aggressively dissonant reimagining of heavy metal.

But all good things come to end, and thrash metal’s demise, can perhaps be traced back to the Clash of the Titans Tour (featuring Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies) in the autumn of 1990.  Metallica had broken into the mainstream, and this Wembley Arena encompassing tour proved the starter gun for the scramble to follow suit.  Shows flipped from seething stage dive filled nights at The Marquee and The Astoria, to the sanitisation of the all-seater Hammersmith Odeon.  Whether knowingly or not, thrash metal’s focus was now on achieving commercial success, which led to a rapid dilution in its musical creativity.  Its oppositional anger and desire to confront rapidly seeped into fuelling the burgeoning hardcore and death metal scenes, leaving thrash itself an ever-more insipid and bloated shadow of its former self.

Many of these bands have continued to plough a furrow of ever-diminishing returns, and the occasional comebacks have produced little recorded output of note (though I did find much to enjoy in Mordred’s 2021 The Dark Parade).  Now, of course, music is a rather cyclical organism that draws as much on reinvention as it does on invention, and there have been various attempts by new generations to reinvigorate the thrash / crossover genre.  But few have set the world afire, often feeling rather inorganic – knowing the moves, but not quite feeling them.

So, I approached Pest Control’s debut full-length Don’t Test the Pest, with a certain trepidation, although Quality Control HQ have a great feel for this space.  My worries were soon tossed aside.  From the electric acoustic opening to its absolutely crushing final track ‘The Great Deceiver’, this is a blistering LP.  Clearly it draws on many established influences, but it is not owned by them, nor is it some pale pastiche.  Instead, Pest Control have vigorously refashioned them into something vibrantly their own – a dash of Ignorance, a hint of Extreme Aggression, the fluidity of Handle with Care.  The musicianship throughout is superb, but it is undeniably the vocals that hold centre stage – raw, rasping, uncompromising.

Which rather poses the question, how have Pest Control managed to successfully reanimate a seemingly moribund form?  The answer came to me when I caught them live supporting Dawn Ray’d at The Lexington back in March.  The joy of the band as they played their set was tangible, their relish at the call backs to their inspirations palpable.  They have absorbed their influences to the point where they are now instinctual, and they can be reignited into new forms.  They have the technique to play, but they also love what they play – they know and feel the moves.

The original press has sold out, but we have the repress in stock now and it, perhaps, goes without saying that it is well worth checking out.

‘Got a fridge full of postcards and a thousand what ifs, got a face full of creases and nothing to show for it’.  The 2022 remastered repress of the 2019 modern day post-punk classic from Berlin’s Diät.  Almost spoken-word vocals soberly dissect the frustrations and confusions of life’s missed opportunities and thwarted ambitions, the unwavering disappearance of time.  Vibrantly plaintive guitars and urgent, surging rhythms provide the perfect sonic interplay with these poetic explorations.  The only question remaining is…when did melancholy become quite so utterly infectious?

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

27^th May Yleiset Syyt, Stingray, Rifle (New River Studios / UK Tour)

28^th May Delivery, Es, Honk (Brixton Windmill)

2^nd June The Flex plus support (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, and Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Existence ‘Go To Heaven’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Fairytale ‘Shooting Star’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Incendiary ‘Change The Way You Think About Pain’ LP (Closed Casket Activities)

Wolfbrigade ‘In Darkness You Feel No Regrets’ LP (Destructure)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And it’s a packed one…

• Recommended New Releases from Daisy Chain, Destruct, Tulips, and Urskek
• A Narrow(s) Escape
• Label In Focus: Discos Enfermos Records
• One You May Have Missed: Cainsmarsh by Rigorous Institution
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

It’s not often that I venture up to the rather cavernous box that is the Electric Ballroom.  But back in March, the opportunity to spend Sunday evening in the company of Napalm Death and Dropdead proved too tempting an opportunity to resist.

Rhode Island’s finest had just finished their set (more on that perhaps in future weeks) and Napalm Death’s road crew were busily rushing about the stage in preparation for their slot.  As all the usual preliminaries were undertaken, a chair and a footstool were placed in splendid isolation, front and centre of the stage.  Not a prop that I recalled ever having featured prominently in any previous Napalm Death show.

All was to become clear when the band came on stage, Barney Greenway with crutches and a leg in cast, hobbling over to take his seat, like a cheery Brummie Val Doonican.  He had broken his ankle while being more energetic than, perhaps, he should have been in Munich a week earlier and was having to complete the rest of the tour from the comfort of a chair.  Every credit to him, he didn’t allow his lack of mobility to compromise a typically ferocious show, despite it no doubt being a very distinct test of endurance.  You try roaring ‘Suffer The Children’ from a seated position – it is no mean feat.

This was one of a spate of mishaps that seemed to impact gigs to varying degrees throughout March and April. A few days prior, the Cold Brats hadn’t quite fired to full effect supporting Gel at the New Cross Inn due to a malfunctioning vocal reverb.  Meanwhile at New River Studios, Punitive Damage broke their snare drum midway through a scorching set (thankfully Layback came to the rescue with a spare).  Whereas Instructor went one better a week later, breaking their lead guitar strings during the first song, and their snare in the second!  However, composure was maintained, and the Belgians were soon into their bruising stride.

This run of misfortune got me to thinking about instances of where I have seen a band triumph in the face of technical adversity.  And there was a clear winner – Narrows at The Underworld back in 2010.  It had been a performance of punishing brutality, with vocalist Dave Verellen a monstrous presence as guitarists Jodie Cox and Ryan Frederiksen unleashed an infectiously searing sonic assault.

It came to the set closer, ‘Life Vests Float, Kids Don’t’, a perfect track to lay waste to an already reeling crowd.  Rob Moran’s thundering bass and Verellen’s guttural vocals roared the song into life, but as Sam Stothers’ drums and the guitars crashed in, one of the lead guitars cut out.  Technical finessing followed and the band fired up again, but this time both guitars cut out.  What should have been a pulverising finale was threatening to finish as a damp squib.

Vocalist and rhythm section exchanged looks and a decision was taken – who, as it turns out, really needs guitars?  Not Narrows, not in that specific moment anyway.  The gig was brought to an incredible conclusion, a song stripped bare to it is core essentials and delivered with absolute crushing intensity.

Rigorous Institution plunge us into a bleak post-apocalyptic world, where the only certainty is that whatever comes next is likely even more unpleasant than what went before.  Distorted, doom-laden crust, enriched by gothic and metal flourishes, and rasping almost spoken-word vocals open the gates to the medieval savagery of Rigorous Institution’s dystopian vision.  But what sets this band apart is their ability to forge an atmosphere of dark foreboding and dread that animates this vision, one that is steeped in the knowledge that all hope is gone as the darkness descends.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

19^th May Subdued, Diavol Strain, Bruxism (New River Studios)

27^th May Yleiset Syyt, Stingray, Rifle (New River Studios / UK Tour)

28^th May Delivery, Es, Honk (Brixton Windmill)

2^nd June The Flex plus support (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe (Bird’s Nest)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, and Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Existence ‘Go To Heaven’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Fairytale ‘Shooting Star’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Incendiary ‘Change The Way You Think About Pain’ LP (Closed Casket Activities)

Wolfbrigade ‘In Darkness You Feel No Regrets’ LP (Destructure)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter!  Let’s dive straight in…

• Recommended New Releases
• Chandeliers and Rattlesnakes
• Label In Focus: Drunken Sailor Records
• One You May Have Missed: Crime of Passing by Crime of Passing
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

When I was updating last week’s gig listing, it was striking how concentrated the shows were at just two venues, New River Studios, and the New Cross Inn.  Not a complaint by any means, both are admirable venues, and I’ve always particularly enjoyed shows at NRS.  It is just an observation of how the ecosystem of London’s venues has changed. Over the last 5 years, numerous venues have disappeared from London’s touring itinerary ranging from the DIY Space for London and T-Chances to The Camden Unicorn.

Several factors will have shaped this increasing concentration.  Crucially, soaring, exploitative rents in central London have made the economics of running an independent venue ever more challenging and the pandemic has made those pressures even worse.

I suspect that the number of DIY promoters, those tireless souls who get so little recognition for all their hard work, may also been temporarily whittled down by the dislocation of recent years, and every promoter inevitably has their preferred venues to work with.  And, of course, these preferences will reflect how happy a venue is to host a hardcore punk gig.  An art in and of itself, even if that art is often a question of doing less rather than more.

Because, as we all know, there is nothing worse than a gig at venue that doesn’t know how to handle a hardcore show.  And this got me thinking about venues that I have visited just the once.  Some of the spaces were actually pretty successful – Paint It Black in a tiny, sweaty basement called The Fly in 2009, and The Saddest Landscape in some dark, low cellar near King’s Cross in 2012 both proved cracking venues.

Others much less so.  For example, Incendiary were to prove rather less fortunate on their first two visits to these shores, both brilliant shows in less-than-ideal circumstances.  The first was at The Enterprise in Camden back in 2012.  As the evening progressed, an increasingly worried landlord kept popping up the stairs as the chandelier in the main bar below was apparently displaying signs of distress due to the energetic crowd above.  A plea came for there to be ‘no more dancing’ and as Incendiary took the stage the immortal lines (and I’m undoubtedly paraphrasing here) were uttered ‘This is going to be a short one, so let’s make it a good one!’.  A blistering set (and a very much mobile crowd!) lasted twenty minutes before time was called…

Then when Incendiary returned on tour with Mindset a year later, there was a last-minute venue switch to an American theme bar, The Rattlesnake in Islington.  A rather bright back room, surrounded by plastic Americana, and a sort of handrail around part of the stage did not bode well, but the gig itself was explosive.  The issue came with the security.  During Incendiary’s set, I could see that one of the security team was looking ever more agitated by the swirling dance floor.  After the set, I could hear him being calmed down by his colleagues – ‘It’s just the way they dance’ – but it’s fair to say that he looked utterly unconvinced.  When the crowd erupted again during Mindset’s set, he waded into the middle of the pit, and even ended up on the stage trying to grab the microphone, putting a temporary stop to the show.  His colleagues ushered him from the room, still slowly shaking his head at the madness of what he was seeing…

So, what is the moral of these tales?  Firstly, let’s make sure that we support the great venues that we do have.  And, secondly, never, ever host a gig in a theme bar.

Post-punk excellence from Cincinnati’s Crime of Passing on well-crafted debut LP.  The arrangements are spartan yet perfectly judged.  Austere guitars interplay with stabs of icy electronics and occasional waves of saxophone above a pulsating rhythm section.  The vocals serve to bring this carefully constructed palette to its fullest fruition, ranging from impassioned semi-shouting (see World on Fire) to haunting ethereal murmurings (as on the beautiful closer, Ways of Hiding).

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

13^th May Poison Ruin, Powerplant, Keno (New River Studios / Matinee)

19^th May Subdued, Diavol Strain, Bruxism (New River Studios)

27^th May Yleiset Syyt, Stingray, Rifle (New River Studios / UK Tour)

28^th May Delivery, Es, Honk (Brixton Windmill)

2^nd June The Flex plus support (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter, plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe (Bird’s Nest)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Existence ‘Go to Heaven’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Fairytale ‘Shooting Star’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Varoitus ‘Ikuinen Sota’ LP (Phobia Records)

Wolfbrigade ‘In Darkness You Feel No Regrets’ LP (Destructure)

Welcome to the first Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  I’m sure the structure of this will evolve and change over the coming months, but the basic aim will remain unchanged – to bring you all the news and reviews of the latest arrivals at Foundation Vinyl.  So, here we go:

• Recommended New Releases
• From Liverpool With Anarchy
• Highlights From 2022
• One You May Have Missed
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

‘The greatest power the capitalist class have over our lives, is convincing us that betraying each other is the only way to survive’ (Inferno, Dawn Ray’d).

I’ll be honest black metal generally does little to stir my soul.  For me, it too often lacks the hardcore-inspired velocity of the 1990s’ death metal that spawned it, and too often seems to be mired in the grip of decidedly dubious politics.  There are of course honourable exceptions – the most notable of which, perhaps, have been Liverpool anarchists, Dawn Ray’d.

‘The men who stole our lives, can not be allowed to enjoy their prize’ (Requital, Dawn Ray’d).

Now I must confess, I have always been something of a fan. Even before, I suppose, they actually existed in their current form, having first discovered their then-maelstrom of folk-infused black metal as We Came Out Like Tigers.  And yet I can say without hesitation that, as much as I have hugely enjoyed their previous releases, the band has set new heights with the release of their fourth full-length ‘To Know the Light’ (Prosthetic Records).

‘There is grief in seeing yourself hardened, your younger smiling self pummelled’ (In the Shadows of the Past, Dawn Ray’d).

It is not that they have reinvented themselves, but rather that they have heightened what they already did in every sense, taking it to a new level of intensity.  Musically, they continue to forge an expertly constructed blend of blast-beat driven black metal and haunting violin-driven folk, not just juxta positioning them, but deftly intertwining them, so that they become a single, organic entity.  One would mean nothing without the other.  This is an album that sweeps seamlessly from brutal rage to mournful melancholy.

‘I can’t help but smile, at the fascists curious insistence, of demanding to have a master, and daring to call that resistance’ (Wild Fire, Dawn Ray’d).

Yet this is not the melancholy of defeat, nor the yearning of misplaced nostalgia, but a defiant rage at what we have allowed the UK to become.  It is a fierce recognition that alternative futures can be realised.  Lyrically, the album is perhaps best engaged with as a political polemic, not that the band would necessarily see it as such.  Not every prescription or solution may be wholly agreed with, but the challenge to society’s rampantly engrained socio-economic inequality and the cartel politics that have hollowed out our democracy, is an essential one.

Now, unfortunately, I have not been able to source any copies (as yet!), but I encourage you to seek this album out wherever you can – it will reward your engagement.

‘As often as I readily commit, to what I still hear and read and see, that life is still worth living, without gods or masters or heroism’. (Brushfire, Ghostlimb)

Difficult Loves sees Ghostlimb continue their exploration of powerfully disciplined hardcore, skilfully constructed song structures that interweave raw, infectious melodies and moments of quiet reflection to both amplify and leaven the band’s crushing intensity.  Lyrical themes range from ecology to urbanism, totalitarian purges to US interventionist foreign policy, ensuring that this is an album that unashamedly nurtures intellectual engagement nearly as much as the desire to hurl yourself from a stage, which is surely what all great hardcore should do?

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

8^th May Bib, Decultivate, The Annihilated, The Domestics plus many more (New Cross Inn)

9^th May Delivery plus support (Shacklewell Arms / UK Tour)

13^th May Poison Ruin, Powerplant, Keno (New River Studios / Matinee)

27^th May Yleiset Syyt plus support (New River Studios / UK Tour)

2^nd June The Flex plus support (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus many more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads plus support (New River Studios)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter (New Cross Inn)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus many more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe (Bird’s Nest)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

Destruct ‘Cries the Mocking Mother Nature’ LP (Skrammel Records)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Existence ‘Go to Heaven’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Fairytale ‘Shooting Star’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Hellshock ‘Shadows of the Afterworld’ LP (Ruin Nation)