Electronic music is not my first love or musical interest. In 1998, I was 13. I grew up in a small part of Illinois that just happened to have a thriving hardcore punk scene.

What I discovered when I went to these shows was something I’ve yet to see outside of hardcore punk: equality, thought sharing, discussion, and debate; radical ideas being put into action. Noise. Guitars. Feedback. Blast-beats. One of your friends on stage legitimately losing his/her shit in front of five people. Or 20. Or 50. Bands from Japan (Total Fury, Lie, Crow, Boris, Jellyroll Rockheads), bands from Sweden (DS-13), Holland (Vitamin X), and Finland (Regulations). A truly global scene. A truly underground scene and culture.

Hardcore punk taught me how to be a good label owner. It also taught me how to be a decent fucking human being. The ideas and work I did within the hardcore scene is not something that will ever fade. Hardcore punk is true DIY. No money. No future. No hope.

Any other scenes claiming to be DIY and for the kids needs to take an example from any real hardcore punk.

I will be a hardcore kid at heart until I die. Fuck fake DIY scenes. Fuck people trying to make money or otherwise profit from any underground culture.

PS: Stop eating meat. You’re killing yourself.

Ben Tundra
Oakland, CA
January 20, 2012

All tracks taken directly from 12" vinyl.

Boris – Vein
Boris – Vein
Combatwoundedveteran
Combatwoundedveteran
Vitamin X – Fake Reality
Vitamin X – Society’s Killing Me
Crow – [Japanese Title]
Crow – [Japanese Title]
9 Shocks Terror – Bullshit Tantrum
9 Shocks Terror – Yeti Smasher
Down in Flames – What the Fuck
Down in Flames – My Head is Fucking Pounding
Artimus Pyle – Closed Casket
Artimus Pyle – Rape the Beast
Hammer – [Japanese Title]
Hammer – [Japanese Title]
Scorned – Punk as a Fad
Scorned – Work Imprisonment
Los Crudos – That’s Right We’re That Spic Band!! / Poco A Poco
Los Crudos – Que Pasa Con La Paz?
His Hero is Gone – Good Samaritan
His Hero is Gone – Anthem for the Undesireables
The Rites – Go Out and Die
The Rites – Not Your Entertainment
Kaospilot – Robots Took on the Outside of Dogs
Kaospilot – Dead Conversation
Lie – Sense of Value
Lie – Run Against
Jellyroll Rockheads – Road to Ruin
Jellyroll Rockheads – No Skate No Thrash (Live)
Total Fury – Tension
Total Fury – You’re Too Old
Tear it Up – I Hate My Life
Tear it Up – I Don’t Care That I’m Falling Apart
Sharp Knife – 51 Alameda
Sharp Knife – ??
Assuck – Dataclast
Assuck – Intravenous
DS13 – If This is Hardcore
DS13 – Society Made Us Do It
Artimus Pyle – Shitstorm
Artiums Pyle – Lineage
Tragedy – The Intolerable Weight
Tragedy – With Empty Hands Extended
Some Girls – Some Girls Have All the Fuck
Some Girls – No Fun
Caustic Christ – Can’t Relate
Caustic Christ – Immaculate Deception
Guyana Punch Line – No Contest
Guyana Punch Line – Security
Dead Ones – Det Sista Andetaget
Dead Ones – The Witch (Sonics Cover)
Regulations – I Don’t Need
Regulations – Police Siren
Repos – Comedy Joke Time
Repos – Repossessed
9 Shocks Terror – Reality is Flying Through the Window
9 Shocks Terror – Romanticist
9 Shocks Terror – ??