Halott Kígyók Halott Kígyók cassette
This eight-song cassette is from Hungarian punks who create beautifully abrasive hardcore tinged with post-punk. A perfect collection of rough boot-stompers ready to bop.
MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
This eight-song cassette is from Hungarian punks who create beautifully abrasive hardcore tinged with post-punk. A perfect collection of rough boot-stompers ready to bop.
PALÁNTA plays everything. Such a weird band with such a weird release, presenting a broad musical spectrum from egg-ish garage punk through Krautrock and experimental prog to hardcore. If you think about an unusual punk record and then multiply it by two, you will get close to what is happening on this tape. The vocals sound at least doubled and have the effect of coming from everywhere, while the lyrics are hard to understand, which makes it seem even more like otherworldly yells from a strange cosmos. It is rather an experimental album and got into my scope due to all the members playing in a half-dozen punk and hardcore bands from Budapest (UNIT 731, TUNGA PENETRÁNS, ÉSZLELÉS, BALTA, UNHOLY SATIVA), yet it has the “fuck you” edge and the conflict that turns rock music into punk music. Keyboards added to the classic band lineup already introduces some different possibilities, then they just change styles and are brave to not make any sense within their songs. Meanwhile, it feels consciously free, with each element organically grabbing each other and creating the complete picture. Also, it’s fun and easy to listen to—the tape has great dynamics and there is nothing challenging. It does not mean I like the release, because it is definitely not up my alley, but I could still blast it without any resistance several times in a row while typing all this in. If you are looking for a record that stretches the definition of punk, one that has multiple layers which are as exciting to be discovered as going through a sonic puzzle, and if you are into not chaotic but head-spinning, mind-bending music, then PALÁNTA just wrote an album for you.
Noisy punk out of Budapest. Starts off promising enough. “Problem” is a ripping (if a tad generic) slice of garage punk with fantastic production—it’s trebly, sharp, immediate, and really fits what I imagine they’re going for (something along the lines of BLACK TIME). But that production is pretty much the only constant running through this cassette. It’s all certainly noise punk in some general sense, but it is as if they’re slathering that sound atop a different subgenre on each track. “AcsarorszÁ¡g” is noisy hardcore, “Glasshaus Zwei” is noisy metal, and “Promises (Still) Unkept” is noisy…emo! While that might sound interesting on paper, it never really clicked with me past the opening track. I don’t quite know what element to pin this on, but the whole tape kinda stinks of the late ’90s. I’m fine with that when it brings to mind late ’90s Load Records, but not so much when I get a whiff of AT THE DRIVE IN.
The three women of Budapest’s PLETYKA are all in their thirties, and for two of them, it’s apparently the first band they’ve ever played in—as a thirty-something female punk who followed a very similar timeline and path to finally making music myself, I’m instinctively drawn to fellow late bloomers, and this demo is totally inspiring. When you have a delayed start, it can be so easy to feel like you’ll forever be left behind while struggling to catch up with those around you who weren’t as disadvantaged by time, but the flip side of that coin is that it typically offers one more time to develop a focused creative vision, and the disconnect between experience/ability and intention almost always yields far more interesting and engaging results than technically skilled replication ever will. PLETYKA’s sparse, hypnagogic post-punk echoes the great (and seemingly already forgotten) mid-2010s UK micro-scene of bands like EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS, ALISON’S BIRTHDAY, and MEN OH PAUSE, with spectral chants (in Hungarian), brittle drums, cavernous bass, and layers of quavering synth buzz to plumb the deepest recesses of your subconscious. And a WIRE cover?! So dreamy. Yes, the rhythms are shaky and halting at points, but those imperfections and lack of polish are exactly what give the songs their glow—it’s an honesty that can’t be faked.
This modest demo tape proves that D-beat raw punk has become, since the unstoppable rise of free music streaming and social media, an actual artistic language spoken liberally worldwide. One could probably communicate with other fellow punks everywhere with just a simple combination of DISCLOSE song titles and pictures of studded jackets—a solid basis for intercultural exchanges. YILAN is from Budapest and this tape is their first recording. The band describes themselves as a “D-beat raw punk terrorist organization/power trio,’’ which makes me thinks that they are probably the smallest terrorist organization ever recorded. They would still be able to terrorize my mum, I suppose. It will not baffle anyone to learn that YILAN plays, well, D-beat raw punk, with an adequate level of distortion, some dissonant mid-paced numbers to keep things interesting, and a SHITLICKERS cover just to make sure the listener really gets what they are going for. What makes them stand out is the very harsh and hoarse, aggressive female vocals, not unlike EXCREMENT OF WAR or HOMOMILITIA’s. The tape will satisfy those in need of raw dis-core, but will certainly leave cold those that are not (the fools!). I am curious to see what YILAN will offer next. The tape was released on Szégyen Kazetták, which translates to “cassettes of shame,” and seeing that they put out a band called PISS CRYSTALS, I salute the choice.
