D.S.B. - "10 Raw Tracks" Demo (Japan, 2008)

A ten song affair released for Tokyo's D.S.B. 2008 European tour. Most songs are not excusive to this release and alternate versions can be found on their records, but this is a different recording so it's still an interesting document I guess. Got to see them twice on that tour and they were raging. Funny thing is I bumped into their drummer Eiji three years later at a show in Yokohama, Japan, and first thing he did was thanking me for letting him borrow my cymbals when we opened for them in France... 3 years earlier! That was so cute. He opened an all vegetarian falafel joint in Tokyo called Vespera (which is also the name of his current band), so make sure you hit it if you happen to visit Japan. But I digress… No need to introduce D.S.B., they were a seminal Japanese hardcore bands for over two decades, with a string of releases behind their belts ranging from solid to totally awesome. When digitizing the tape I realized that side B has a fairly better sound quality than side A. Not sure if all copies are like that, but hope you enjoy anyway. Radical Fight Back!

D.S.B. - 10 Raw Tracks Demo (Japan, 2008)

DESPERDICIO - "Maqueta 2010" demo (Japan, 2010)

Japanese punks master the art of paying tribute to their favorite bands from far away lands. We've all heard bands ape the Finnish (Poikkeus, Lakaus…), Swedish (Frigorä, Ferocious X…), Italian (Tantrum, Isterismo…) and of course UK sound, singing in broken languages they don't really speak at all. And I'm in no way blaming them: many more non-anglo saxon bands are guilty of this when they sing in English, mind you. Desperdicio hail from Sendai, a city hit really badly by the 2011 tsunami, and you can tell they're trying to emulate the "ramshackle d-beat" sound of more recent Spanish bands like Destrucción, Firmeza 10, Semen… Though when I asked him, their sempai singer Tsuyoshi confirmed that he didn't speak a word of Spanish. I saw them live in Tsuyama less than two months after the March 2011 tragedy, and they had insisted on driving 15 or so hours just to play this show, even if everybody was still in shock. Only in Japan! This is a short tape, only 4 songs including a Varukers cover. They released a 7" on Overthrow Records shortly afterwards.

DESPERDICIO - Maqueta 2010 demo (Japan, 2010)

無我 [MUGA] - "修羅の道 [The Road Of Asura]" demo (Japan, 2004)

Not surprisingly, Muga is pretty much the continuation of Result, who they shared members with (there's a CFDL connection as well though they're musically quite different). If you've heard the Result album, you know they sounded somewhere between heavy 90s UK crust and Tragedy before Tragedy even released their debut LP. This 3-song cassette came out 2 years after the Muga's debut album, which is their only other release I'm familiar with. I believe they later released a split CD and a second full-length CD. Moody "crust de salon" done better than most Europeans aping the style.

無我 [MUGA] - 修羅の道 [The Road Of Asura] demo (Japan, 2004)

MIDNIGHT - demo (Portland, 2002)

Not to be confused with the Cleveland metal band of the same name, this very Midnight was from Portland, OR and called it a day before they even got the chance to release the debut 7" that they recorded shortly after this demo. They had members of all the usual suspects and more (From Ashes Rise, Atrocious Madness, Hellshock, Warcry, Lebenden Toten, Limp Wrist…) and played catchy heavy hardcore/punk with Japanese HC and heavy metal overtones, topped off by super brutal female vocals (I didn't realize it was a girl singing until someone told me!) This 5-song tape still sounds great more than a decade later so do yourself a favor and check it out. A "discography" LP featuring this demo and the unreleased EP has been in the works for a few years, let's hope it sees the light of day soon!

MIDNIGHT - demo (Portland, 2002)

DISTURD - "Studio Trax" demo (2012)

Yes, the name Disturd is abysmal but blame it on the bad Engrish spoken by most Japanese punks and get over it 'cause this band rages harder than your own shitty band anyway. Formerly from Kobe but relocated to Tsuyama (or is it the other way around?), they're very similar to the almighty SDS (Societic Death Slaughter), churning out apocalyptic metallic crust to perfection— think late Antisect, Axegrinder, Sacrilege, etc. There's no info at all on the tape besides an email address, but I believe this 2-song cassette is only sold at shows. Even though I met their guitarist in Japan a couple of years ago, I never got to see them live, but my friend Momo was nice enough to grab this tape for me at a recent Disturd gig in Kyushu. It has a harsher recording than their recent 7"s, but it sounds damn great. Buy their records too!

DISTURD - Studio Trax demo (2012)