Label Feature: Broken Sound Tapes

Prevail’s self-titled tape is likely the one from the bunch that will appeal the most to the regular DIY Conspiracy reader. Prevail was a late ’90s hardcore band from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina which seems to have resurfaced online in recent years to make their music and memories available for the young audience to check out. This tape on Broken Sound Tapes is a long-due reissue of their 1998 seven-inch release. In their short existence, from 1994 until 1998, the band put out a bunch of split recordings with bands like Stretch Arm Strong, Reversal of Man among others, and the full-length New Foundations which I hope to see reissued at some point. Prevail sounds exactly like you imagine it, carrying the best of H8000 hardcore, namely raw but tight production, menacing and relentless vocals over angst-fueled music. Prevail is chaotic and intense but tracks like “Burn” reach an impressive amount of epicness with their memorable melodic passages. I’ll be certainly digging for some more Prevail stuff on Discogs because that’s a band you need in your collection if you care about ’90s hardcore that is, and why shouldn’t you?

I couldn’t find much information about Sissy Remains, another North Carolina-based experimentalist, so let’s focus on the music. This album is all vibes. It’s atmospheric and experimental but always highly energetic and constantly moving music and mood-wise. Sissy Remains’ self-titled tape is a hazy take on experimental dance music but in times of overproduced and flat-sounding production, it sounds alive. The drums on the beat-driven tracks are loud, raw, and punk. The same goes for the guitar parts scattered across the record and definitely about the vocals. It’s a lengthy release, spanning over 13 tracks but you never know what waits for you in the next track. Sissy Remains’ self-titled tape on Broken Sound is like a cold wave party on a scorching hot day on the beach. It’s sometimes hypnotic (closing “Gold Spray Paint” track or “Snack Bar Budapest”), wavy (“Video Show”), punk to the bone (“Oh Ocean Hwy!”), and always exciting.

Scam Victim is a three-track single-sided tape from North Carolina trio Brutal Jr. Self-described as synth doom I’m all up for accepting this genre tag. The band sounds equally influenced by punk, synth-wave, and early industrial. The deeper you get into the release, the angrier and more determined the vocals and the music get. If you ask me, the strength of the trio lies in the faster and meaner tracks, and I bet this would be a great band to see live with their raw electronics, fuzzed-out bass tone, and ecstatic. My absolute highlight in this tape is the closing track “The Stork” with its psychedelic lyrics, trance-inducing bassline, full-blown percussive chaos, and spot-on synth lines.

This double-whammy is for the punks. Bazooka Joe is another Myrtle Beach lost-trasure, active between 1987 and 1991. On each side of the now-sold out tape you’ll find both their previously released records. Send In The Klowns and Pastor of Muppets were the only releases the band put out in its brief existence, both were available on seven-inch vinyl by Headcleaner Records. The music of Bazooka Joe is exactly what you expect and want it to be. It’s raw, fast, political, angry and thankfully, it’s been given a second life. Send In The Klowns is my personal favorite of the two records found on this tape, maybe because it sounds a bit darker. Maybe when I spin the tape again next week I’ll think differently. Feel free to make up your mind, that’s what punk is all about, innit?

Aspirin Age is Broken Sound Tapes’ shoegaze compilation series and by the time I’m listening to and reviewing the latest volume it’s already sold out and the reason is pretty plain, it’s beautifully curated and all the music on it sounds great. It’s a tough job reviewing a compilation because there’s just a lot of territory to cover. The tape version of Aspirin Age Vol. 4 is put together as a mixtape and features 19 tracks while the digital version spans over whole 48 pieces. If I have to be completely honest, I haven’t been too much in touch with the shoegaze scene so most of these bands are completely new to me, and when I listened to the cassette I experienced it as one uninterrupted dream. On the next listen I jumped to the Bandcamp page and gave a more informed listen and would definitely pinpoint bands like Blue Heron Holy Ghost, Shades of Violette, Heaven, Gallière, Cigarettes for Breakfast, and Phantom Wave among my highlights but with so much music it’s tough to put one against the other so, please, take a deep dive into Aspirin Age and find your favorites. I dare you!

Shout out to Mike for making the effort to send these over across the ocean despite the ever-raising shipping costs, taxes and bullshit one has to pay to share some music with the world. And thanks for the nice selection of records. It was a real pleasure experiencing the music not only of the newer generations of North (and South) Carolina musicians and bands but also to discover some of the hidden gems of this place thanks to the label’s effort to reissue those.