Artist: Various
Title: Will Evil Win?
Source: Flexi 7" EP
Bitrate: V0 VBR
Running time (h:m:s): 00:14:44
Size (mb): 32.9
Label: Peaceville Records
Year: 1987

1. Anihilated - Inferno
2. Civilised Society? - Star Wars
3. Lord Crucifier - Deserter To Freedom
4. Desecrators - Ban On Impurity

Like the Tony Blackburn of punk, I've taken a few requests and I've pop-picked one for today's post. This particular piece of flimsy plastic was the first release on Hammy's (Instigators and Civilised Society?) newly emerging thrash-punk-metal label. To be honest, with the exception of Civilised Society?, the bands on here don't really do it for me - too much tuneless squealing, wailing and faux Yankee accents for my tastes. But it's a part of our history, and Mr. 7inchcrust asked me for it ever so politely.

Trivia fact - The Desecrators' guitarist is one Gizz Butt, of English Dogs and Prodigy fame, who recently played alongside Steve Ignorant at the 'Fleecing Of The 5000" fiasco. Punk's not dead, but it sometimes smells that way.

The artwork contains full images of both sides of the fold-out sleeve. I've resized it so that if you print it out and fold it along the fairly obvious lines, it'll wrap nicely around a CD.

OP's opinion: @@

Download music
Download artwork

Hummus - cheap, easy, quick, nutritious and a vegan sandwich staple! What more could a hungry punk want?

Makes a decent bowlful for a few people to share

• 1 400g can of chick peas (approx 250g cooked weight)
• 1-2 tbs tahini (sesame paste)
• 1-3 cloves of garlic, depending on how much you like garlic, peeled
• 3 tbs olive oil (you can use veg oil or a mix of veg and olive if you're poor)
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt & pepper

Throw everything into a food processor of some description (the mini ones you often get with hand blenders are perfect, or you can just use a hand blender if you don't mind it a bit more rustic). Blend everything until it starts to beome smooth. You'll probably need to add a bit more oil (or water if you like) at this stage to make it creamy but still stiff enough to just about make peaks in the mix. Keep blending for a few minutes until it's soft and silky. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ideal in pitta bread with salad, as a dip, or on toast with fresh sliced tomatoes and shredded basil.

Cover and refrigerate any leftovers, it'll keep for a day or two that way (mine rarely lasts that long).

You can vary this easily - for a Thai-style dip (one of my faves), replace the lemon with lime, then add a good pinch of chili flakes (or powder) and a decent amount of fresh chopped coriander (you can add these after you've finished blending it for a funkier appearance). Also try adding 1/2-1 tsp of toasted and crushed cumin and/or coriander seeds during the blending for something a bit more pungent. Experiment!

Rice is a very versatile thing and makes a good base for both summer and winter meals. Risotto takes a little bit of effort during the cooking, but it's nothing too excessive for the soft n' creamy end result. You can easily vary the ingredients to change the experience quite dramatically. This particular version is quite 'meaty' without being too heavy, with a lovely fresh piquancy from the other bits and bobs.

Serves two people with good appetites.

• 15ml olive oil
• 15ml vegan margarine
• 200g arborio (risotto) rice
• 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced lengthways
• 1 stick celery, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 25g dried mushrooms (porcini are ideal), rehydrated, or 200g fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 150g petit pois or garden peas
• 5ml fennel seeds
• Black pepper
• 5ml finely chopped fresh thyme (lemon thyme is particularly good)
• 125ml white wine
• Juice of half a small lemon
• 500ml stock (water and a stock cube is fine, mushroom soaking water and a stock cube is better)
• A few strips of lemon zest
• 3-4 basil leaves, shredded

Put the stock and lemon zest in a small pan with a lid and keep over the lowest possible heat you can - enough to just keep it simmering very gently.

Gently heat the oil and marg in a deep frying pan. Fry the onion, celery and garlic for a few minutes until beginning to soften. Add the fennel seeds and fry for a minute or so. Add the mushrooms and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the rice and a good grind of black pepper, and gently stir for a few minutes until it becomes translucent. You may need to add an extra dribble of oil during this stage if things start to stick. Stir in the white wine and keep stirring for a minute or two until the wine has been absorbed and evaporated.

Add the lemon juice and a ladle-full of the stock and stir into the rice and veg. You can either continue to gently stir as the stock is absorbed, or you can just stir it every minute or two if you're lazy. The heat should be just high enough to keep everything gently simmering. Keep doing this until all the stock is used up and the rice is soft and creamy (it'll take around 40 minutes from the first ladle). Add the thyme about halfway through cooking and stir in. You may need to add another ladle or two of water if the stock runs out before the rice is cooked.

Start cooking the peas 5-10 minutes before the rice is ready (petit pois take about 4-5 mins to steam). Drain and stir into the rice mixture when it's ready to serve.

Dish up and sprinkle on the basil, add a good salad with balsamic vinegar and oil dressing (1 part balsamic vinegar, 4 parts olive oil, salt and pepper, also herbs and/or garlic if the mood takes), pour a glass of whatever white you used for the recipe, and try to eat it in the garden with the warm summer evening sun on your face.

Oh, and happy May Day to proles everywhere. Keep it real.

Moshpit Tragedy, purveyors of the mighty Amebix and other worthy noise merchants, are having a few problems with their old web URL. So they've bought a new one - http://moshpittragedy.com - which will be their permanent home from now on. And they're asking their friends to spread the word. So there ya go.

They're working on resolving the problem with the old address, and it will eventually point to the new site. But, in the meantime, if you link to Moshpit Tragedy (and why wouldn't you?), please update your link to their site as soon as you can.

It's nice to know that my efforts here have a positive knock-on effect elsewhere - just check out this email I received yesterday:

Hey, Randy from Insurgence Records here, hope this finds you doing well. Just wanted to say 'Thanks!' for the kind words you've written about Insurgence on the blog. It's very much appreciated…honestly, blurbs like yours about, for example, the Fighting Chance package, make it all worth while A pat on the back once in a while goes a long way!

I've also started up a new label with a buddy of mine - Rebel Time Records.

It'll focus more on 'political punk'. I'm still helping out with Insurgence too.

And, thanks too for linking to the 'We Want Rebel Music' blog [see sidebar - d]…I started that one up, and I do get a diaperload of hits from your blog!

Cheers and thanks

Randy

Respect should be given where it's due, and I've got the utmost for Randy and his efforts. And if Rebel Time Records is only half as good as Insurgence then it'll be getting my attention and hard-earned wage-slave remuneration from the off.

Blimey, it's a veritable love-fest going on in here.

Artist: Twenty Fifth Of May
Title: Lenin & McCarthy
Source: CD LP
Bitrate: V0 VBR
Running time (h:m:s): 00:46:47
Size (mb): 76
Label: BMG
Year: 1992

1. Answer Back
2. Crackdown
3. F.T.R.T.V. [II]
4. Go Wild
5. 0898
6. It's All Right
7. Shelter
8. Army 2 Joyriders 0
9. Word Is Out
10. Why?
11. What's Goin' On
12. Solid State Logic
13. Things Are Getting Better (Sic)

I'm not in the habit of posting major label stuff here, but I'm going to make an honourable exception in this case (and keep my fingers crossed that The Man doesn't sue my arse). irishdave made the merest mention of this band, so I've dug out the CD to pass on to those of you who haven't got a clue what we're on about.

255 were unashamedly lumpen with their politics, and matched their polemical lyrics with a sharp combo of dance- and guitar-influenced sounds. If On-U Sounds met Consolidated at a rave then I'd expected the resulting mash-up to sound quite a lot like this.

'Lenin & McCarthy' was the only full-length studio release from these rebel-rappers and features the classic 'Fuck The Right To Vote', possibly the only record to feature a sample of Class War founder Ian Bone in full flow! With local elections looming, it seems nicely appropriate. Grab this and bang it out as loudly as possible if one of the political parastites dares to knock at your front door.

OP's opinion: @@@@

Download music
Artwork to follow (honest!)

Artist: The Dicemen
Title: Sitting On The Tarmac
Source: Vinyl 12" LP
Bitrate: V0 VBR
Running time (h:m:s): 00:31:38
Size (mb): 64.9
Label: Peasants Revolt
Year: Early 90's (anyone know the exact year?)

With spring slipping inexorably into summer, and long hot days wandering lazily towards warm balmy nights (yeah, right), I can sense the fields beckoning me to them for a right royal knees-up. Ah yes, that good ol' festy feeling is creeping slowly but surely back into my bloodstream. Now I'm a bit longer in the tooth, that doesn't usually translate itself into an immediate desire to run off to a mudhole for many days and nights of limb-flailing drug-fuelled madness (although on occasion it still happens that way). These days the more sedate environs of the back garden, mingling with a few mates, some cold whatevers in hand, a smoke or three in my lungs and some skankin' sounds generally suffice very nicely.

So it's time to bust out (as I believe the yoof say) an album that should help me and you slip easily into the mood, even if it's lashing down a monsoon outside, and 'Sitting On The Tarmac' is just the ticket. Underpinned by some lively ska'd-up punky beats and chops, and overlaid with a bit of East End knees-up keyboard plinking, the whole album bounces headlong into the welcoming sun and invites you to do the same. The vocals are quirky and add a fresh and cheeky feel to the whole thing. Lyrically, it's green-tinged anarchy that's angry without being aggressive and doesn't forget to take time out just to smile and dance.

The Dicemen were contemporaries of all the old-skool festival heads, popping up alongside the likes of RDF, but seemed to come and go over a pretty brief period of time. As far as I know, this is the only record they released and I've never come across anyone else with a copy. So, in case the band passed you by while you were unconscious in a ditch somewhere, here it is.

OP's opinion: @@@@

Download music
Artwork to follow

Artist: Archbishop Kebab
Title: Yinferranodgie
Source: Vinyl 12" LP
Bitrate: V0 VBR
Running time (h:m:s): 00:37:23
Size (mb): 73
Label: Seldom Fed Records
Year: 1989

Hailing from Edinburgh in Jockland, Archbishop Kebab were a very strange brew indeed. Their particular melting pot combined a confrontational anarcho-punk perspective with a sound that's half The Ex, half Gogol Bordello and half crusty new-age traveller skank. Beyond that, you'd probably have to invent a new genre, although you could also add the Dog Face Hermans to it as they share a similar oddball approach to the whole kaboodle. AK were around for quite a few years but I never got the chance to see them (or find any more of their vinyl output, hint hint). Which is a shame 'cos they sound like they'd really kick up the dust live. Still, this record manages to put a very big grin on my face whenever I play it. There's a good chance you'll find it does the same to you too.

OP's opinion: @@@@

Download music
Artwork to follow

When I got a bit of cash from my mum at Xmas, there was nothing I really wanted or needed at the time, so I decided to wait a bit for the right moment for it to play its part in the capitalist mode of exchange.

That moment came in late February, when I was perusing the fine wares available at Profane Existence. I'd forgotten that they had decided to produce a 'Vinyl Retentive' series featuring special limited edition albums by some of their finest bands. There are five records in this first series, each one limited to 200 copies (50 for the bands and 150 for Joe / Josephine Punk). Each release comes with various unique features compared to the standard edition, whether that's being pressed from coloured vinyl, wrapped in a new sleeve, or adorned with some other lovingly crafted addition. And, like always, I just couldn't help myself.

To date, three albums have been put out - Extinction Of Mankind's 'Northern Scum' , Mouth Sewn Shut's 'Doomed Future Today' and Warcollapse's 'Defy!'. All three capture perfectly everything that PE is about, with the added bonus of having had even more lavish care and attention bestowed upon them than normal (and normal from PE means they've been loved to bits already). And a couple of hours ago, they all turned up on my doorstep. Ahh, I love the smell of vinyl in the morning. Needless to say, chez Old Punk has been rather exuberant ever since.

Now, some people might think that wanting to own a bit of petro-chemical product with some fancy trimmings is a bit weird (especially when you're a man with as many years under the belt as yours truly). I don't deny it. This is but one of my traits that many people would think weird, and long may it be so. But I'm not getting these for the sake of just owning something that few others have. Like I've said before, I find the whole vinyl thing very aesthetically pleasurable, even more so when it's this good. I handle them, admire the artwork, read every last liner note and lyric and, most importantly, play them.

That's probably the thing that separates me most from the vinyl 'collector'. You won't find my vinyl tucked away out of sight, only brought out once in a blue moon by some schmuck who won't even take them out of their protective plastic sleeves. No, mine run free around the living room screaming 'play me, play me!', until I tuck them up safely at night just like the doting mother duck I am. For sure, I handle and care for ’em with the delicate touch of a museum curator fondling his ancient artifacts (fnarr fnarr), but art is meant to be enjoyed and experienced at its full potential. Creating a slab o' vinyl is as valid an expression of artistic virtuosity as any painter bringing their world to life with colour on canvas (even if you don't like the end result). The least I can do is show my appreciation for their efforts as fully as I can.

And appreciate these three I most certainly do. Extinction Of Mankind's offering gets my vote as the best of the bunch for being everything that a crust classic should be - in-yer-face intensity from all of the instruments married with vocals from the depths of hell (and lyrics to match). And that red n' black vinyl is simply to die for.

But the other two are only a hair's breadth behind and won't be treated any less favourably here. Mouth Sewn Shut add an unexpected ska-reggae twist to their offerings, albeit with all the crust trimmings. And Warcollapse splice the D-beat destruction of Discharge so loved by the Scandies to the brutal onslaught of ENT's earslaughter to create a bastard child far, far harder than its parents. God knows what sort of teenager it'll grow up to be with that kind of heritage.

All stand out from each other very clearly, but it's obvious that they're also closely-related cousins who carry all the good genetic traits from careful inter-breeding and not the ones you get when familial intimacy gets just a little too affectionate.

Even if you don't want to indulge in the guilty pleasures that I find so attractive, you can buy standard CD or vinyl releases of these records (and many others) at very good prices in PE's shop. They're particularly wallet-friendly at the moment if you're on this side of the pond, what with the English Pound being worth two of Uncle Sam's greenbacks right now. Roughly translated, that means that each of these sexy records has cost me about fifteen quid including airmail. I can happily live with that.

OP's opinion:
Extinction Of Mankind - @@@@@
Mouth Sewn Shut - @@@@
Warcollapse - @@@@
Overall - @@@@@

Download sample tracks - folder contains:
Extinction Of Mankind - Fourth Reich Religion
Mouth Sewn Shut - Flavor Of The Weak
Warcollapse - Cold War Remains

Artist: Back To The Planet
Title: A Potted History
Source: CD LP
Bitrate: V0 VBR
Running time (h:m:s): 01:05:09
Size (mb): 107
Label: Arthur Mix Records
Year: 1994

Yet another band from my crusty traveller yesteryear who kinda lost the plot for a bit when they signed to a major label, disappeared for quite a while and have now popped up on the radar again. Mixing some classic ska'd up keyboard sounds with infectious punky guitar and a suitably large chunk of energetically dubby bass, the tunes were guaranteed to get the great unwashed up on their feet and dancing. Add in the strong female vocal delivery of simple but honest lyrics and you've got a band that could cut it with the best of the rest of the muddy field contingent.

With any luck, I'll get an opportunity to check out just how well time has treated them somewhen soon. In the meanwhile, I can still stick this on the deck, crack a couple of tins of brew, wear a pair of week-old pants, dance like a muppet and instantly take myself back 15 years. Except for the dodgy hair, obviously.

OP's opinion: @@@@

Download music pt.1
Download music pt.2
Download artwork