Is not really easy to survive in 2020.
Translation by Abel Cisterna
Setting up our projects every year is part of a process that’s half spontaneous and half structured. This year and after taking some time to develop resilience, we agreed to continue through a restructuring stage within the label, and our secondary activities such as organising gigs and the pop-up record distro. January and February were fruitful regarding the actions completed and reviewing a process started in 2018 with the celebration of the label’s 20 years. There weren’t any obstacles apart from going through necessary changes. Anyways, all of a sudden, and without much more time than the one for a couple of discussions over countless cups of coffee, we found ourselves obliged to stay home, staring at the clock waiting for the end of something, not knowing when it would happen.
We returned to the old habit of spending hours in front of the computer, the only noise we would hear from the outside was from a couple of cars passing by fastly, we rediscovered the piles of old CDs, took them out one by one and removed the dust off that was proof of the time we forgot about them. We changed broken boxes, cleaned carefully and cared for every detail. It was a return to a neglected intimacy because of the unquestioned high-speed productivity. We had family time again. We got in touch with people who were still worried about us and made us dream of building community free from ambition and individual interests, if Marx and Luxemburg were whispering to us in the ear asking for focus in our actions rather than presenting ambitious intentions to the masses. That’s how we rebuilt everything, taking deep breaths, going out, creating, building silently. Our projects went through unexpected and sometimes risky transformation. We continued with them with synergy and communion as central elements of our work, although long waiting times increased our anxiety. Nights loaded with images, conversations and memories in front of the biggest window of our room at 4am were our company for weeks.
We took a long time to guess how to get back to something that never left, that is still there and that maybe will never leave, but somehow many projects from friends were born at an age where dates are not relevant anymore. It was just before covid that a couple of our label’s releases had to deal with this age that denied their existence, allocating them neither time nor place.
Getting some fast core with Jodie Faster.
It couldn´t be any different with Jodie Faster’s first LP, the anticipation of this damn virus’ arrival. This long awaited first full-length takes the fastcore tag very seriously, through 17 songs that barely last over a minute. Its content is the reflection of a senseless world where the only possible way out seems to be destroying and burning everything down to start something better. This is a record full of acid social discourse, denouncement of police violence and abuse against the most vulnerable population by a system that gives us no respite. An always remarkable guitar regarding riff creativity, and the always strong voice from Mika yelling about hatred towards police, self criticism of DIY punk scene, among other hot topics. Nothing escapes to the aggressive sound of Lille’s quartet.
This record is preceded by an intense touring calendar last year, with a remarkable summer tour closing stages at Fluff Fest and Manchester Punk Festival. 2020 could have been the year that reassured the growing impact of the band in the European scene, however, this year said the opposite when it comes to gigs. In less than half an hour, Jodie Faster incites us to react and to choose our defense method between stones or molotovs, as the album’s art suggests. Anyway, options don’t seem to matter much, because our friends at JD decided to use both and go fight our common enemies.
Thrash days by Verbal Razors.
Just a couple of days before the lockdown started in most of Europe, Verbal Razors took their new old school thrash record from the burning depths of hell. This fake European summer was preceded by the long journey to receive this release’s copies in our HQ. To summarise the issue, the records were sent through France to save on shipping costs to send in to Switzerland, they were received at the post office at the moment all warehouses closed, were confined for a couple of months (just like us) until liberated by our local hero, Nico.
Moving to what this record’s like, you can expect loud thrash noise covering topics ranging from their local situation to explicit social criticism. After a four-year wait for this record to come out, the band will add the bitter wait for the return of gigs that promise to be a collective and energetic catharsis. Limited edition to 500 copies on clear/yellow splatter, gatefold cover and thrasher design. It makes us feel proud at Inhumano to have a band from an uncommon genre and at such technical level for what turned out to be the first thrash record in our 22 year-old catalogue.
Spending time with an old mp3 reader.
Barrenfields’s proposal seems to be a risky bet or the accuracy of a shot in the middle of the forehead. Elegant vocals in punk’s wilderness muddle us up, and here we find a bluesy voice tone mixed with the style from the best singles of the Misfits. The band does their job uncompromisingly and efficiently, unimpeachable drums, simple yet effective guitar riffsm and a prominent bass in all songs. Palmistry is the first LP for this band composed of people who take part on multiple projects in Madrid’s scene. Even though this is a new band that has played few gigs, they dare to release this sure shot directly into the heart of punks looking for memorable melodies and choruses to sing on the way back home. Songs like ‘Astray’ and ‘Caven’ are perfect samples of punk rock’s efficacy through simplicity. Moreover, Barrenfields have the self-confidence to send Glenn Danzig home with an impeccable version of ‘Thirteen’. If Johnny Cash listened to this record he would leave his acoustic guitar for a minute and would get into the soft but accurate melodies from the Spanish quintet.
