Whoa! How did we not know about this one before?

Punk in Love came out in Indonesia about a year ago, but it looks like there’s still no English subtitled version. Maybe that’s OK though ’cause it seems so corny that it might be best to make up your own dialog. This sentence, culled from Film Asia‘s synopsis of the movie, probably tells you as much as you need to know about the plot:

“With just adequate money and punk hairstyle as their trademark, the four friends make a trip to Jakarta and their mission is to prevent Maia’s wedding to Andra from happening.”

The entire is film is up on YouTube, starting HERE. Let us know if you have any more info on this one!

Killer bands from Portland shouldn’t really be much or a newsflash these days, as the ratio of productive punks to normal humans seems to be rather skewed up there, but sometimes even when you are ready for it, you get your face melted. PDX’s BOG PEOPLE just scurried their way down (and up) the West Coast with VIVID SEKT, and the SF show was at the Li Po Lounge in Chinatown (great spot, by the way…all the atmosphere of a Midwest basement show but with $4 beers and an unfortunate 21+ entry policy). New band MERDOSO played their first show (folks from PELIGRO SOCIAL and Eye-Man playing a wall of mid-paced D-beat), then DOPECHARGE did what they do, fast and chaotic with extra guitar leads.  VIVID SEKT set the mood, then came the fog machine, and then came 14 minutes of UK82 worship and flanged guitars and chains and studs and awkward off-kilter songs that made me want to pogo my life away in that shitty basement. See the video, and you’ll start the pogo pit right in front of your computer. Seriously…I dare you.  The show in LA was even more epic (or so I have been told), with venue owners calling off the gig, The Ponx (yes, with an ‘O’) grabbing a generator and relocating to a freeway underpass and the show blazing sans PA into the night before the cops came and the kids scattered…too bad there ain’t a video of that.

Editor’s note: Sorry the first video is not the right one (my fault, not Robert’s), but it felt a shame to take it down because it’s reallyawesome too Anyway, here it is, from the Li Po Lounge, green lighting, fog and all… Apologies to Roseman…

roseman (kevin) | MySpace Video

From the description on YouTube:

The almighty ORGASM OF NOSTRADAMUS from Ulan-Ude, Siberia, with their top 40 smash hit rip-snorter, “Jolly Tough Guys”! Their guitarist Abba was killed when Moscow skins gave him a bottle of battery acid and told him it was vodka. He died after a few days of excruciating agony in hospital. Some months later Ugol, their charismatic vocalist, dropped dead in a St. Petersburg record store from an overdose of alcohol and pills. I believe bass-player Zombie and co-vocals Rezan carry on the O.N. name in Ulan-Ude – “NEON”. Classic band!

Seems like a good day to fire up the old YouTube time machine. And where in punk time do we find ourselves? Ahhh, 20+ years ago at 924 Gilman as Pain of Mind-era Neurosis grace the stage. Please take note of how tiny and young everybody is.

You can find more awesome videos like this over at http://killthatcat.com
It’s full of shredding new bands, and some jaw dropping archival shit. Check it out!

Here’s a little change of pace from the usual band videos. Gordon Zola, former MRR & Epicenter shitworker and member of the infamous COOPERATIVE, has written a book… about cheese! It’s called Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, and if you missed our review, you’d better go back and get yourself a copy of MRR #322. Here’s a short video by Bridget Huber and Nancy López documenting the book’s release party at SF’s Amnesia bar (which used to be called something else, but I just…can’t…remember…)

Our friends at Mondo Vision go to Europe, visit squats, identify obelisks, and have a fun-tastic time… it’s “really romantic.”

This week’s videos were discovered on the YouTubes by our own shitworker/MRR Radio DJ, Rob Coons. The band needs no introduction. This is shot in Chicago in 1993. Enjoy!

Alien Kulture

Paco played us this record a few years ago, and it became an MRR obsession, but I never even thought to look them up on YouTube… The perfect antidote to the endless parade of clueless punks who endorse Skrewdriver (“Only the early work/BlahBlah Blah”). As someone who grew up in Thatcher’s Britain, with the dark shadow of the National Front and Combat 18, that never sits right with me… The lyrics to “Culture Crossover” are so fucking great and punk — Alien Kulture rules…

You can read the Alien Kulture story on their website here or in the Observer here.

It’s great when it’s hard to explain why a band is so awesome. It means something new and larger than words is at work in their music. Umeå, Sweden’s MASSHYSTERI is that awesome. The elements are easy enough to lay out. There are the surf-drenched guitars, the complementary lady/dude vocals and the rock ‘n’ roll frenzy of X, some of what has been brewing in Denmark and Sweden over the last decade with bands like GORILLA ANGREB, and NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS, and the ashes from which this band sprang: THE VICIOUS. But there is something more than that here too. It’s tuneful hooks that grab you and drag you into bleak and feral songs that threaten to pull you in two once you’ve been snared. It’s simultaneously melancholy, frantic, and joyfully danceable. It’s something wild and new and wholly it’s own.

For a taste, here’s a video for one of their iconic songs, “Tvivel,” that is totally simple in concept, but spellbinding to watch. What would it look like to undo the damage of war, to rewind, unbomb, unkill? Plus, how many punk bands actually have concept music videos, not just blown-out YouTube clips?

Sorry if this makes your eyeballs hurt, but in the party spirit of New Year’s, here’s an insane video of my favorite band and song of the Riot Grrrl era: Huggy Bear’s “Her Jazz”… It’s from the ’90s UK TV show The Word — a show for “young adults” made by “young adults”, etc. I’m pretty sure that’s Amelia from Heavenly singing backups there… Happy New Decade! Now fuck shit up.

Bonus: Nozin’ Aroun’