RIP Obacha

One last endless bummer for 2013, or maybe technically the first one for 2014. Either way, it's a doosy of a loss. The mighty Obacha, Canadian fastcore masters, have decided to officially call it quits early January after two final shows, the last one being in their home turf of Squamish. If you've been paying super close attention to the Canadian scene's, you must have at some point had your brain balls blown by the steak-knife-hurricane fastcore that Obacha put on record.

(Obacha at Fastcore Fest 4)

Obacha (pronounced "ah-bah-cha") is I band I was introduced to a few years back with their 2010 demo tape. Back then then were a 4-piece, and the demo was an incredibly solid powerviolence release with some heavy Backslider influence. A style that they kept with their 2011 split 7" with Stillbirth. Constant riff and tempo-changing hardcore with tons of fun grooves fleshing everything out. Eventually, they lost a member in their drummer. Their vocalist, Graham, then moved to doing drums and vocals, and they progressed as a trio (see their first show with this line-up here). Obacha v.2 put out a disgustingly good demo tape in 2012, their heaviest, bassiest and most blown out recording ever, and one of my personal favorites. As they progressed as a trio, they became a bit of a different beast, maturing into much more of a spastic fastcore band a'la Dead Radical and xBrainiax. The songs got shorter, the songwriting more technical and inventive, and the resulting splits with Chetwrecker, Slave, and Fast Friends are some of the most frantic, and exhilarating fastcore recordings I've heard come out of Canada. 

If I was to ever make a list of my top Canadian bands, Obacha would definitely be near the top. Every release they put out has been incredible, and I hold on to the ones I have like precious gems. And if you have not heard this band, and are still reading this and have not yet been convinced of their awesomeness, let me play the role of the Convenience Fairy and put all of their jams down at the bottom. Learn up, better late then never!  

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Prison Violence / Self

Double bandcamp helping coming attcha this week! Both bands coming from my favorite scenes ever too! Prison Violence from Squamish, Canada, and Self from Los Angeles.

Prison Violence (or PrisonxViolence, though I doubt there's any straight edge business going on with this group) came to my attention from a recent post on the Obacha facebook page, as this band shares members with them. Totally fast, totally crushing, totally Canadian. It also sounds like they're a drum/bass band too, which delights me to no end. Compared to Obacha, they're definitely less fastcore oriented, with a lot more slow parts, and a bit better sounding recording. They have new tracks up, from an upcoming split with some band, and older tracks from a 4-way split with Skuff, Violent Gorge and Selfish Beings that I NEED! Dig it.

Shout out to my buddy Alex for showing me this band. Self are a relatively new band on the west coast, and they play crustcore. I don't really ever post crust stuff on here, because honestly, crust bores the shit out of me. But throw some blast beats in the mix, and voilá, it becomes pretty damn good! The songs on this "Divine Intervention 2013" demo/ep are ragers, and are sure to turn a crowd into a flailing frenzy at live shows. Pretty killer stuff, can't wait to hear more!

~VII