inthecaseofdarkness

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#194: PROGRAMM C/KOBAYASHI - “split”

disclaimer: i played bass in PROGRAMM C, so it’s a little hard for me to simply review the subsequent 7”s, which is why i’m going to write a little bit about my memories around those records instead.

let me start way back in the mid 90s, my school and later military service days in styria. at some point i got in contact with hannes woschner, who was originally from styria too, but who was a student at the university in klagenfurt. we met at some shows and exchanged letters. in the summer of 1997 i moved to vienna. i got off the train in vienna, hopped on the subway and by accident bumped into hannes, who was staying with his grandparents while doing a summer job in vienna. he told me about an upcoming STALINGRAD-show at tüwi, where we met again. at the show he introduced me to jan “capeet” gallhuber, who became a close friend and my main companion at hardcore shows in vienna. at some point he heard about PROGRAMM C looking for a new bass player and he set me up with andi, christian, christian and martin. it worked out, although i couldn’t really play the bass. after some pretty awesome and breathtaking shows, jan asked KOBAYASHI from st. pölten and us about releasing a split-7” on his label capeet records.

so on june 29th 1998 PROGRAMM C went to a random studio (a&m studio) in vienna, who i think KOBAYASHI had the contact to, and recorded eight (?) songs. they were mixed on the same day, so you can imagine how big the budget was. i more or less experienced everything as a trial and error-take on how a band works. we had no clue about anything, but somehow it worked out. the diy-sound fits well with the songs of that time and we got really good reactions from the scene. four of those songs were released on the split-7” with KOBAYASHI.

KOBAYASHI contributed seven really fast and short emo-violence songs to the split 7”. i always experienced their songs as a grab bag between total arhythmic passages and mosh parts. they never made it easy for you to listen to the songs, but if you combine it with memories of the live shows, everything fits perfectly. 

the 7” had two covers (one side for each band). PROGRAMM C used “the death of marat” by jacques-louis david, KOBAYASHI a drawing by carl fredrik hill (i can’t figure out the name). the 7” was limited to 600 copies (100 green/500 black) and hand-numbered. each band made a d.i.y.-booklet. i still remember producing 600 of the PROGRAMM C-booklets and stamping the white labels of the 7”s with a capeet records-stamp on one side and a PROGRAMM C-stamp on the other side. KOBAYASHI just used two small coloured stickers to mark their side.

when KONSTRUKT invited PROGRAMM C to a 8-shows-tour in germany in 1999, jan produced a limited (50 copies) special tour-cover. 

#programm c #kobayashi #capeet records #90s hardcore #vienna hardcore #konstrukt #jan gallhuber #hannes woschner

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#193: POLE*/STROKE - “split”

if you’ve been active in the 90s hardcore scene, you for sure noticed that POLE* is quite active on instagram lately (2020/2021). a new shirt was released too. POLE* was discussed in the 90s a lot, but i just can’t remember what it was all about. i’ve never seen them live either (i think). 

i have to admit that i don’t know that much about both bands, beside that they are from germany. the split-7″ was released via pateline industries (further details on discogs). on the inside of the cover there are the logos of pateline industries, life force records, inside view magazine, and XconsolidationX fanzine. i’m not sure what’s that about.

both bands play this metallic kind of hardcore that was big when bands like CULTURE or DISEMBODIED became popular. the two STROKE-songs are more straight forward exactly in this metallic hardcore-way, the two POLE*-songs combine this with some crossover-elements. crossover was still popular in the mainstream at this time. 

the production of both bands is really okay, but this split-7″ is actually none that i’m enjoy listening to today, 25 years (holy fuck!) after it’s release in 1996.

#pole* #stroke #pateline industries #life force records #culture #disembodied

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#192: PLASTIC PRIDE - “noir”

in april 1998 PLASTIC PRIDE were supporting SEPARATION on their european tour. i went to the shows in prague and vienna to see SEPARATION. i’m not sure, if i knew PLASTIC PRIDE before that. but i remember, listening to their “daredevil i lost”-cd (released via desperate fight records in 1997) a lot. 

the “noir”-7″ was released in 1999 via eternity ea records and destination records on red vinyl. the three songs are less (melodic) hardcore as the previous releases and let me think of amrep-bands or even HELMET. but somehow the three songs on this release didn’t age that well. 

if the information on discogs is correct, members of PLASTIC PRIDE are now playing in CULT OF LUNA (thomas hedlund) and KHOMA (jan jämte).

#plastic pride #hardcore #90s hardcore #swedish hardcore #eternity ea records #destination records #thomas hedlund #jan jämte #jesper sundberg #magnus vinblad #cult of luna #khoma #separation #helmet #amrep #amphetamine reptile records

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#191: PITTBULL/RYKERS - “split”

again one of those records i ordered from lost & found. l&f sent out something like a mailorder-catalogue with lots of pictures in it in the early 90s already. so i got hooked on some shirts and read the descriptions of the records to figure out what the bands were about. at some point i they had a yellow PITTBULL-longsleeve which i ordered (in extra large of course, though i was pretty skinny back then already) together with this PITBULL/RYKERS split-7". i guess this must have happened in the first half of the 1990s. at least the record was released in 1993.

the two PITTBULL-songs are okay. the band was from detroit, but pretty much adapted the sound of the east coast- or new york-hardcore scene. tough shit. it's still okay to listen to, but actually it never was the kind of hardcore i really liked.

the same goes for RYKER'S actually. we always made fun of them for being the german MADBALL-wannabes. i guess this might be their first official release. they added an apostrophe for the later releases, but on this one they are still called RYKERS. i have to admit though: the three songs on this record aren't bad at all. they've got mosh-parts, hooks and i like them. weird. on new years eve 1996 RYKER'S played a show at the oho in oberwart in austria together with ABHINANDA (here's a youtube-video of their show). i went there to see ABHINANDA, so i just watched RYKER's from the back. i didn't care about or didn't like their show.

on the backside of the cover is a picture of the two bands and a tour-badge that says "m.a.d. europe 93", so i guess this 7" was released for or after a tour of the two bands. the pretty shitty cover-design was done by fabian richter of artcore productions. but in this scene this weird graphic-style was (and maybe still is) popular.

#pittbull #rykers #ryker's #lost and found #l&f #lost & found #abhinanda #oberwart #oho #madball #m.a.d. #vinyl #vinyl lovers #90s hardcore

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#190: PHILLIPPÉ/UNIVERSAL - “love.”

the front-cover of this split-7″ might let you think of a mod- or beat-record, but don’t get tricked. PHILLIPPÉ plays this late 80s washington d.c. emo-core (think of RITES OF SPRING etc.). UNIVERSAL are doing this wall-of-sound or noise-hardcore. a label-flyer that comes with the record describes their style with: BORN AGAINST meets URANUS. that’s quite fitting. some heavy stuff, if you know these bands. i think even grindcore-fans could like UNIVERSAL. 

the UNIVERSAL-side is called “punk”, while the PHILLIPPÉ-side is called “hippie”. it may seems stupid, but it fits. PHILLIPPÉ isn’t hippie at all, of course. but their two songs are - in comparison to the four UNIVERSAL-songs, that don’t take any prisoners at all - more difficult to get in. think of late 80s d.c. emo-core and you’ll understand. 

i’m not sure, when this record was released, but it might be 1998 or 1999, since the UNIVERSAL-songs were recored in may 1998. it’s a co-release of flowerviolence records (still active by the way) and hombre lobo records. 

#phillippé #universal #Flowerviolence Records #ralf bock #hombre lobo records #rites of spring #born against #uranus #hardcore #90s hardcore #emocore

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#189: PERIOD PAINS - “spice girls (who do you think you are?)”

in 1997 i went on the first interrail trip of my life. we were traveling through the uk and ireland for a month. in london we bought the melody maker and the nme and in one of those was a review of this record. i ended up checking out every single record store i found and finally stumbled across the record somewhere. and that’s more or less the whole story about this record. 

as you probably already figured out by reading “spice girls (who do you think you are?)” it was a typical hype record. an all female riot grrrl-band singing about the artificiality of a world-known pop band. everyone in the punk-/indie-scene knew that anyway, but i guess that’s how the british news-/media-system works (creating artificial hypes). 

on the 7″ (released in 1997 by damaged goods) are three pretty simple punk rock-songs. nothing special actually, though john peel invited PERIOD PAINS to a bbc-session, which was released on another 7″ later on in 1997 by damaged goods as well. 

on the back-cover are the lyrics of the three songs, some production notes and - which is weird - some german school test with a teacher’s comment.

#period pains #spice girls #damaged goods #punk rock #90s punk rock #nme #melody maker #john peel

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#188: THE PEECHEES - “cup of glory”

THE PEECHESS played in vienna some (easter?) weekend in the late 90s. xfunkydiscokidsx organized the show. i remember that i had to go to see my family and missed it. it’s a pitty i never got to see them play live. somehow THE PEECHES weren’t a band, that i was listening to a whole lot in the 90s, but retrospectively seen, they were damn good. this punk/riot grrrl vibe just gets to you.

“cup of glory” was released in 1994 and seems to be the first record of THE PEECHEES. it came out on kill rock stars and the cover is just amazing. just take a look at the illustrations (tennis, track & field on the front cover, basketball, skiing on the backcover), everything is lovely. on the inside of the gatefold cover you’ll find pictures of the four band members, lyrics and thank you notes. 

i really like “cheap fun”, but “grease” and “fine watch” are worth listening to too. on side b there’s another song, but it ends after only a few seconds. it actually sounds like a misproduction, but since discogs points it out too, i guess it’s intended.

#kill rock stars #the peechees #peechees #90s hardcore #90s punk #riot grrrl #cup of glory

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#187: OVERCAST - “begging for indifference”

edison recordings discovered and released lots of very relevant bands in the 90s. if you were into metallic/chaotic hardcore, it definitely was worth to check out their records. this OVERCAST-7″ (released in 1996) has the catalog number edison 003. the STARKWEATHER “into the wire”-12″ was edison 001, and the ACME-discography was edison 002. just to drop some names.

very big shoes to fill, but the two OVERCAST songs on “begging for indifference” are up to it. “for indifference” as well as “fate’s design” sound like very metallic hardcore songs. it’s even more like metal, without intensive guitar soli. the songs still work today. 

what’s not working out is the packaging design. fuck me. the frontcover is still okay, but the rest belongs to the ugliest things in my collection. it’s just horrible. the song titles on the back cover look like if they would come out of 3-d-books, that were popular years ago. you really have to concentrate to be able to read anything. the inlay-gatefold-card isn’t better. maybe it should be a poster on one side, but the proportions of the picture aren’t correct at all. beside of that, the resolution of the picture isn’t big enough (pixel-alarm). on the other side there are lyrics, thanks-lists and some details about the recordings, talking about songs that even aren’t on the 7″. it seems that the cd-booklet was used and blown up for the 7″. 

#overcast #edison recordings #starkweather #acme #90s hardcore #metallic hardcore

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#186: ONE MAN AND HIS DROID - “one man and his droid”

ONE MAN AND HIS DROID from germany played solid 90s emo rock, somewhere between THE GET UP KIDS and deep elm records bands. concerning songwriting, the band did very well actually. the biggest problem is, that the singer is off quite regularly. but at least he is into it with his heart. no hesitation, just singing at the top of his lungs. self-confidence wasn’t the problem here.

four songs on this record, released via remaining thought records in 1999, maxing out the length of a 7″. the packaging-design is very artsy. it’s a fold out cover with lots of white space, a band photo, lyrics, and a thanks list on the inside. the last of the four songs is called “better than dying”, which is written on the footer on the cover as well. a label flyer, that came with the record, advertises the record with the name “one man and his droid”. on discogs you’ll find it under “better than dying”. 

i haven’t listened to the record for quite a while now and though i did that like 15 minutes ago, i can’t remember not one part of a single song. weird.

#one man and his droid #emo rock #emo #90s hardcore #remaining thoughts records

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#185: ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN - “only if you call me jonathan”

this 7″ was released via day after records in 1999. it seems that the label was using the title “september malevolency” for the record at some point (source: discogs). but you can’t find this title on the 7″ at all. there’ve been a limited version (clear vinyl) and a regular version. both are very cheap to get via discogs.

i haven’t listened to this 7″ for quite some time. but unlike the “swift/shallow”-release (read more) i really liked it 20 years ago. and i got why, immediately after hearing the first tunes of “second best dullard” (side a). the song represents a certain feeling that was created by lots of emo-rock-bands in the late 90s. you can’t really describe it, but people who’ve been in the scene for sure know, what this was about. i still can connect to all three songs of this 7″, 21 years after the release and 22 years after the recording. amazing. i have to think a little bit of BRAID, while listening to the songs. 

since you can get still this release for cheap, you should get it. it’s really worth it. and on top of the music, the cover-painting of someone called ossian l. is really cute.

#only if you call me jonathan #day after records #indie rock #emo rock #90s hardcore #emo #jose gonzalez #ossian l

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#184: ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN - “swift/shallow”

on february 3rd, 2001 ELLIOTT was playing a show at kafe kult in munich. i still remember the whole roadtrip to munich with manuel and christian, the ELLIOTT-interview i did for the gap-magazine, and of course the ELLIOTT-show. ELLIOTT, one of my favorite bands back then, was touring with ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN and RENO KID. the weird thing: i can’t remember anything of ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN. i have to look for the pictures of the show in the basement. maybe i just missed them because of the interview. i know for sure that i bought an ELLIOTT-shirt and a RENO KID-shirt. maybe i bought this record at this show as well.

ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN were playing this american-style sad emo-rock à la TEXAS IS THE REASON, CHAMBERLAIN or SENSE FIELD. the two songs on this record exactly go in this direction. it’s not that kind of indie-rock that gets you lots of fans and big audiences, but it’s very well made. i mean the guys really knew how to write songs and how to play their instruments. “swift” and “shallow” both are pretty much the same, so i don’t have a favorite side of this 7″.

the record was recorded in spring of 1999 in blue elephant recordings and released by communication recordings and the diving empire in 1999. the package design and idea came from magic bullet graphics, the front cover drawing was done by richard blank. the packaging is really nice actually. it’s a cut out and folded d.i.y.-sleeve and comes with a small inlay sheet.

fun fact: when JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ got successful, i knew that he had some d.i.y.-punk-/hardcore-background, but it took some years to figure out that he was playing in ONLY IF YOU CALL ME JONATHAN. but i’m not sure, if he still was touring with the band in 2001.

#only if you call me jonathan #josé gonzález #vinyl #90s hardcore #the diving empire #communication recordings #richard blank #elliott #reno kid #texas is the reason #chamberlain #sense field #kafe kult #the gap

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#183: ONE LAST SIN/WITHDRAWN - “split”

two bands from the state of new york releasing a split-7″ on a belgian label (braveheart records) in 1998: the story behind this release would be interesting. we are talking late 90s. those were pretty much the early days of the commercial world wide web. before that it was all about writing letters and calling (which was expensive between continents). beside of that: the bands are quite different as well. 

ONE LAST SIN are playing this chugga-chugga metalcore with some death-metal influences. lots of bands from that area were playing this kind of hardcore at this time. most of them weren’t that good - in my opinion. the second ONE LAST SIN song (”time of torment”) on this split-7″ is better though. this was the sound for the tough-guy scene, which - at this time - was quite big in belgium. maybe that’s the connection to the label.

but i don’t think that WITHDRAWN were so well received in this scene. i can’t name the right references right now, maybe a raw version of FOUR HUNDRED YEARS and some ebullition records-releases. the one song (”ego sleeps faster than ire”) starts with a quite chaotic/noisy part, changes into an spoken word part and continues with an early-/mid-90s emo-core part. i still really enjoy songs like that.

#one last sin #withdrawn #90s hardcore #braveheart records

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#182: ONEFINEDAY - “vladimir.illich.ulianov's.failure”

ONEFINEDAY from italy played chaotic hardcore in the vein of DEADGUY or KISS It GOODBYE. i still enjoy the first three (of the four) songs - all with the title prefix “weapon” 1 to 4. they aged very well actually. 

the 7″ on blue vinyl was released via cycle records in 1998 (source: discogs, because there’s no date in the small lyric-booklet or on the cover itself). it seems that cycle records was run by two members of the band. 

ONEFINEDAY were active for some years, but i think i don’t know any of the other releases. 

#onefineday #90s hardcore #cycle records #italian hardcore

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#181: ONE DAY CLOSER - “unconquered”

ONE DAY CLOSER was a (straight edge) metalcore-band from the netherlands, which reminds me a lot of DISEMBODIED or ARKANGEL. the first song (”loneliness”) even starts a little bit like DEADGUY, but it changes more into this classic metalcore-style with some moshparts soon. 

partly the four songs are pretty nice though (with very emotional lyrics), but in total it’s just a typical 90s metalcore-record. the 7″ was released on coalition records, but i can’t find a release date. the packaging is very nice by the way. the cover is foldable and comes with a banderole with further (personal) texts. 

the guitar player thanks god in the thanks-list which was a no-go for bigger parts of the scene back then (for me as well). on the other hand, krshna-core was mostly okay (for me too - i was even wearing a 108-shirt although i always labelled myself as godfree). let’s call it adolescent inconsequence.

#one day closer #coalition records #.coalition #straight edge #godfree #metalcore

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#180: OKARA - “okara”

this is one of the records i got from samir khan of KEPLER/TUSKS in the first decade of the 2000s, because he wasn’t listening to them anymore. so i didn’t know OKARA back in the 90s, but i actually could have known them if the record would have made it from canada to europe. OKARA play some kind of a rough emocore/mathrock-mix that reminds me of THE VSS or T TAURI. the guitars on “(label:item #4)” even sound a little bit like INK & DAGGER. 

the record was released on squeaky records (which might was the label of the band) in 1995 (information on discogs) or 1996 (information on bandcamp, where you can find the whole OKARA-discography by the way). there’s not that much information about that in the handmade cover/booklet. the lyric sheet is sewn onto a cardboard.

this 7″ somehow is a perfect example for the diversity in the 90s hardcore-scene and how d.i.y. worked out back then. thanks again to samir for the gift!

#okara #emocore #mathrock #emo core #math rock #samir khan #kepler #tusks #t tauri #the vss #ink & dagger

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#179: NOTHING LEFT TO GRASP - “...the monotonous beat of nothing new”

ha - marco walzel of MY HERO DIED TODAY, avocado booking and join the team player records was playing in NOTHING LEFT TO GRASP. i wasn’t aware of that until today. maybe i never looked into the huge zine that comes with the 7″. and i didn’t figure it out either, when i was writing about the split with KASSIOPEIA some years ago. 

it’s just that i’ve never connected marco walzel with this kind of music. for me he was always this slick (metal-)hardcore dude and not someone playing emo-violence or emo-core. 

the four songs on this 7″ were recorded 1994 (and released in the same year via emotion x records - details on discogs). for 1994 the songs are pretty great. the sound of bands appearing later on in the 90s wasn’t that much different until no one was interested in this kind of music in the early 2000s anymore. 

i still like this kind of music (and i guess i was a little bit wrong about marco walzel). 

#nothing left to grasp #emo-violence #emo violence #emo core #marco walzel #emotion x records

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#178: NINEIRONSPITFIRE - “seventh soul sacrificed”

indecision records still sells the cd-version of this record and the description is so on point that i have to quote it: “dischordant, chaotic, noise-core from seattle in the vein of DEADGUY. features members of the late, great UNDERTOW and future members of KISS IT GOODBYE and HEIRESS.”

NINEIRONSPITFIRE plays this kind of noisy hardcore that survived every trend in the scene and still is played by metalcore- and metal-bands nowadays. 

on the 7″ (released in 1996) are four songs (“far too familiar” / “execution”, “less than one”, “read between the lines”). especially the three songs on side a aged very well. i will listen to this one more often again.

#nineironspitfire #90s hardcore #indecision records #noisecore