Records I Forgot I Owned (part 1): Abuso Sonoro "Revolte Se" Ep, 1997

Blimey, it has been a while. Almost three months in fact since I last wrote for Terminal Sound Nuisance. I know, I know, how unprofessional of me. The break was not really intentional though and it certainly hurt to imagine the blog - my child substitute - having to survive in the ruthless world of the internet on its own, in the dark, lonely, screaming for my return. I did check up on it from time to time, to reassure it that daddy had not cheated with an indie-rock or a shoe gaze blog hosted on a more fashionable, edgier platform, but deep down I just knew that it was barely enough and that it would take some time before I could get back to my optimal shape again (the one with proper digital abs) and get TSN running as smoothly as it used to.

The thing was that I moved out from my château a few weeks ago and, as you can imagine, I had little time to rave about these cultural items that we cherish so much, even though they unavoidably tend to gather a lot of dust because we have so many of them and just cannot listen to them all. The logistics of carrying a record collection to a new place were nightmarish, a back-breaking toil that proved to be the source of much stress. On a lighter note, it was also a good opportunity to rediscover the collection (and realize how bloody massive and burdensome it had become) and think about my (our?) own materialism, about our relationship with these artifacts that take up so much of our time, money, attention and space. Sometimes it feels a little paradoxical to hoard so many records, many that I don't really listen to for time reasons, while being so critical of capitalistic overconsumption and overproduction at the same time, records that, for the most part, hold a message that condemns materialism. In fact, the more boxes you carry, the more you ponder about the meaninglessness of it all, and then you find yourself about to take a life-changing decision by selling it all off, giving it all away, freeing yourself from the chains of collecting punk records and maybe become interested in yoga or some shit. 

But no, of course not, and instead you inadvertently browse through the collection while unpacking and then you stumble upon some records you completely forgot you owned, and it gets a bit Proustian, they are not bad records, you just forgot you had them, they are not "classics" but they are pretty solid, and you know what, it would make a perfect topic for a Terminal Sound Nuisance series. Right? Right???

So basically, this new series will not revolve around a stylistic theme, around an era or an area. The only common point between the coming ten Ep's (yes, ten) will be that I forgot I had them in my collection but they are still pretty good and do not deserve to sink into the gaps of our collective and selective punk memory that's getting shorter by the day (to be honest, there were others that I had forgotten about but it was  quite justified... it was more a matter of "I am amazed I didn't get rid of that one, who am I going to give it to?"). You can see it as a tribute to the records that you yourself forgot you owned, to the bands you forgot you knew. 

Let's start alphabetically and, therefore, with Abuso Sonoro. Now, let's be clear, I didn't forget about Abuso Sonoro at all, they are a classic 90's band, I like them and I distinctly remembered owning the first two Ep's, 1994's Jogo Sujo and 1995's Prisões, the latter being my favourite, as well as a split Ep with Autoritär. However, I had no idea I also had Revolte Se, which was released in 1997 and was a collection of compilation tracks that the band had contributed in their early years. I suppose AS don't really need an introduction. They were around for about 15 years (they formed in 1993 and stopped playing in the late 00's), I guess they were one of the best Brazilian hardcore punk bands of the 90's, released some great records, recorded some of the most intense and furious political hardcore of their time, with that distinctly insane Sao Paulo hardcore aggression, and contributed to build bridges between hardcore scenes in South America and the rest of the world. AS, for me, represent everything that was good, honest and idealistic about the political 90's hardcore punk scene and, at a time when current bands work so hard on their self-image, on their sonic referentiality, on their look and on their fake nihilism (or on their toothless liberal politics inherited from the academia), it feels fresh to hear a band that just unleashes the fucking fury and hits you in the jaw with blasts of ruthless and direct heavy hardcore punk.   

I suppose this kind of bands are quite unfashionable now. They are not old enough to be "vintage" or "authentic" and not new enough to still be cool. Who cares. I do prefer the early period of AS, when they had that dirty crust punk edge injected into their triumphant and groovy Sao Paulo hardcore thrash sound, although, truth be told, the first thing I heard from them had a much cleaner sound (the 2002 split Ep with Autoritär on Yellow Dog). The playing might be sloppy here and there, but the energy is so pervasive and the anger so hard-hitting in these six songs that such trifles don't matter. The production is - obviously - quite raw (I love the dirty bass sound) but I would argue that its thick primitiveness serves the music's purpose even better. The vocals are gruff and direct, with some shouted screams as backing vocals, the Brazilian way, aka very fucking pissed. It sounds like a 90's crust punk version of the mid 80's thrash punk powerhouse that were Ratos de Porão, especially on Descanse em Paz, and Olho Seco. I suppose the Ep Já Basta!!! from 1997 was the band's best "raw crust thrash" material (but everything they did between 1994 and 1997 is ace) before they turned to a more modern and polished fast hardcore sound that, if it still sounded as furious and angry (maybe even more so), I do not like quite as much. It still got them an Lp on Six Weeks though.

Revolte Se!!! was released on a Minneapolis based label, Sin Fronteras Records, that, as well as supporting local bands (like Calloused and Misery), specialized in political hardcore punk from Latino America and it is no surprise to see some crucial bands of this era like Dios Hastio, Execradores or Sick Terror in its discography. As I mentioned, the six songs on the Ep originally appeared on various compilations - but they were part of the same recording session from January, 1996 - namely No Fate Vol. 2 on HG Fact; Não Somos Tão Violentos Quanto Temem Nem Tão Pacíficos Quanto Desejam Lp on Grito Records, Pas Fier d'Être Français - Not Proud To Be French Ep alongside Seein Red and Battle of Disarm; and the grind oriented Sem Estilos Para Definir o Nosso Odio Lp. The lyrics on the Ep are of a libertarian-revolutionary nature and the band included a text to explain their political stance and why they believed in the idea and praxis of revolt. It also referred to the Chiapas uprising that AS certainly supported (as the cover suggests) and, more generally, a lot of their lyrics dealt with the living conditions, political climates and liberation struggles in South America. Strong, contextualized subversive hardcore punk with an angry, but positive attitude. Shortly after the release of Revolte Se, AS would also include Elaine on vocals to give their fast hardcore sound an angrier edge and a more feminist approach.

A great band that epitomized what political 90's hardcore/thrash was all about that can delight fans of Hiatus, Los Crudos and RDP alike.        

Revolte se!!!