Monday, December 14, 2009

Cactus 020 - FALL TO THEIR DEATH - Chains in Transmission CD

Description:
Malaysian atmospheric post - modern sludge band. Think Old Man Gloom mixed with His Hero is Gone.
4 songs in around 44 minutes + a multimedia video feature their live set Substation, Singapore in 2007.
Co-release between Basement Records & Cactus Records


Prices:
RM 10 (Malaysia)
USD 8 (World)
+ Postage

Check their site at: http://www.myspace.com/undeadscavenger

CACTUS 018 - Kias Fansuri "2 tahun pertama" CD

CACTUS 018 - KIAS FANSURI "2 TAHUN PERTAMA" CD
A collection of their 2 years workds including tracks from demo tape, a split 3.5" floopy disk with call me betty a split 7" with only for the sake of aching, a 4 way split 10" with peterthepiratesquid, narwhal and teeth of mammals and a compilation tracks taken from the emo apocalpyse and love.life.comp. Imagine tristan zara and neil perry. Beutifully done digipack.
Get this for
MALAYSIA :RM 13 (Malaysia) USING BANK TRANSFER
. WORLD: USD 8
+ POSTAGE
Check : http://www.myspace.com/hamzahfansuri for their myspace.

Some of the review of them:

This is Euro-style DIY hardcore band from Malaysia,at times reminiscent of the like of LA QUIETE & RAEIN, with the sort of lyrical vagueries & poeticism that befits the style.- Stephen Pierce - Give Me Back Zine issue 5

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Malaysia isn't a place immidiately springs to mind when thinking about the international hotbeds of hardcore punk. In truth its not really a place that springs to mind when thinking about any genre of pop music. Kias Fansuri might be about to change all that, though. Explosive screamo loaded with fearsome guitars, Dua Tahun Pertama is an incendiary blast of scattergun punk that goes some way to prove that a band from a supposed rock backwater can be just as fresh and exciting as anyone from the States or Europe.From the acid-drenched blast of opener "Unhand The Crayonic Beast" to the sound barrier shattering rampage of closer "Forum Mati Pat Pat Siku Lipat". It's an extraordinary release indeed. With a number of self-released singles, demos, and contributions to compilation albums ( including the wonderfully titled Emo Apocalypse LP ), Kias Fansuri are emerging as one of Malaysia's most exciting rock'n'roll exports. Bold, vibrant, and utterly uncompromising, Dua Tahun Pertama - an anthology of compilation and tour CD-R tracks - is contemporary psych-core at its purest. An album of atmostpherics rather than songs, it's a frighteningly enjoyable blast of Far Eastern punk fire.
- Toby Rogers - Skyscraper Magazine issue 29

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Until this moment, I never knew there was a screamo scene in Malaysia.After a bit of internet research, my ignorance has been completely exposed.Not only are there a fair amount of Malaysian screamo bands, a lot of it is quiet good.Take KIAS FANSURI, for example.Featuring ex-member of UTARID ( another band I was unfamiliar with until now), they play in a style that should make fans of SHIKARI , FUNERAL DINER or NEIL PERRY feel right at home. Most of the lyrics are in English, with obscure titles such as "Would You Like To Taste My Homemade Morgue?" and "Love Lost Butterscotch" , while one is in their native Malay.This CD collects their first two years of releases, including a demo tape, a comp track, a four-way split 10", a split 7" and, strangest of all, a split 3.5" floppy disk. Since you'd probably have a good deal of trouble tracking all of those down,just pick up this CD instead.- (XV) XYosefX - Maximum Rock & Roll issue 309

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Ghaust - At Sea (We are nothing) live

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

INTERVIEW WITH ASEETHE













Aseethe is a trio from Iowa. The spectrum of their music capture the whole dark atmosphere and this is no way a crappy noise stuff. They will soon put out a full length "Iron Mountain" under Scenester Credentials Records. And cactus records will release their split CD with Ghaust and expected to out on January 2010. Check out this cool band.

1. Can you please introduce the band. A little bit history of the band? And whose play what?
Aseethe is myself Brian Barr (Guitar, Keys), Drew Bissell (Bass, Keys) and Eric Diercks (Drums, Noise). Started in 2007 as a solo project, I added Eric and Drew to the line up last Summer. Eric did play drums on the Mauul Split because at the time I was not happy with my drum programming capabilities. I did a few tours, one with Empires, and two with Shores of the Tundra. But I still felt that the songs didn't translate as well live as they did on record. So I asked Eric to play drums when I was moving back to Iowa from San Francisco. We practiced most of the summer trying to play to a click track with the computer backing up everything else, but it seemed to mechanical. So we asked Drew, who we had both played in other bands before to join. The laptop has been worked out of the band, and currently we are only playing new material that we all wrote together. There are talks of playing Fire to Flames live but we will see.

2. What will be the main influence of the band (musician, artist, band, books, movies etc)? And do you guys mind telling us the philosophy of the band as well as the music direction Aseethe that maybe reflecting upon your life and the culture where you living?
It's hard to pinpoint influences because there are so many. We are definitely a hardcore band, rooted in the DIY punk scene. With that being said, we definitely believe in the ethics associated with the scene. We book our own tours and if we didn't have a label to help us we would self release the records ourselves. Every member of Aseethe has booked a show for another band or ran a show space from time to time, so we are involved.
As for sound we are also into everything from country and blues to noise and drone, so it's hard pinpoint a specific influence there. We like it slow, dark and heavy. When writing the motto is "that's part is great, but what if we make it slower".

3. Share with us a little bit experience of the previous recording process of the band? And is there any new things been explored and progression of the recent recording?
The Aseethe/ Mauul split was just me with the skeletal version of the song. I went into Flat Black here in Iowa City. Luke was really open to what I was trying to do and really helped with the writing and recording process. That record wouldn't have sounded the way it did if it wasn't for him.
The Shores of the Tundra release was done mostly at home in my studio apartment when I lived in San Francisco. My friend Jordan who needed a project for school recorded my guitars and mixed everything. I wasn't really envolved in the mixing process, but he did a great job.
The Iron Mountain full length which is what we are working on now is a little more fragmented, but we are taking our time and leaving plenty of time for self reflection. That is only due to the fact that both Drew and I have recording equipment ourselves. We went into Flat Black again and did all the basic tracking, plus added layers to one of the songs. Once again Luke provided a great outlet for us to experiment, and brought ideas to the table as well. That was in October, and we just spent the last 2 months tracking keyboards in the comfort of our own homes. Lastly we are heading to Chicago to do the final mixing with our friend Greg from the band Plague Bringer. What makes this experience different from all the rest is that it's a group effort and not just me and one other person. Iron Mountain will be a much more diverse record then the last 2 releases.

4. Do you think that the DIY/Independent music is the best channel for spreading out your music? Any thought of using other channel to spread your music in the future? Do you have certain kind of ethic regarding playing show, and also releasing/distributing the music material of the band?
Yes, and I believe I covered a lot of this in my previous answer. I will add that I(we) don't believe in shoving our music down peoples throats. We try to use the internet sparingly when it comes to spreading our music. No other channels have been explored since we are all kind of luddites to some degree. We would much rather have our music spread via word of mouth or seeing us play a show. The band is a little more selective these days when it comes to playing out live. We don't like playing our home town(s) 4 times a month like other bands.

5. Any plan to tour somewhere in the future?

We have a Southern tour coming up in January, with a West Coast tour later in the year. We were going to go to Europe but decided to wait a little longer. Plans to tour Asia, New Zealand and Australia have been talked about, but nothing solid yet. It will happen sooner or later.

6. Add anything you want regarding the latest release, or anything else you would like to add.
Long live physical media!!!!

Iron Mountain LP/CD - Scenester Credentials
Ghaust Split CD - Cactus Records
Monocle Split 12" - AROS Records
Ur Splt 12" - TBA
Drogas Split 12" - TBA
Boar Split 10" - TBA

www.myspace.com/aseethecreation - ASEETHEE BAND
www.scenecred.com - SCENESTER CREDENTIALS RECORDS
www.myspace.com/flatblackstudios - FLAT BLACK STUDIO

Monday, November 16, 2009

NEW ARRIVAL MID NOV 09









Some stuff arrive from label tee pee records and nervhous records.
Next on row will be some Scenester Credential records, nervous breakdown records, knot records, bullwhip records and revulsion records stuff. Check out at the distro site thru www.cactusdistro.blogspot.com

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Interview with Ghaust!


*They are two piece band from South Jakarta, Bandung. Ghaust without a doubt is one of the great act from the Asian region. The improvisation of the sound range from metal, post rock, hardcore etc been combine together in perfect blend. Their last full length CD release under Purbaharuan recordings (CD) and third arm records (tape), was superbly recorded and among the best releases in 2008. Soon cactus will release a split CD with Aseethe (drone/doom/noise band from USA). This is a brief introduction of them.


1. Can you please introduce the band. A little bit history of the band? And whose play what?
We're Ghaust an instrumental two-piece from Jakarta, Indonesia. My name is Uri A. Putra and i play guitar and my good friend M. Edwards plays the drums. We've been playing together since around August 2005, and have released one full lenght album so far.

2. What will be the main influence of the band (musician, artist, band, books, movies etc)? And do you guys mind telling us the philosophy of the band as well as the music direction Ghaust that maybe reflecting upon your life and the culture where you living?
When we all met up for the first time, we truly understood how diverse we were with our music tastes. One day we would be listening to hardcore/punk music, then post rock, and then some doom metal or black metal music. We really couldn't pinpoint any influences as a band. Personally, i think Corrupted would be a major influence for us.
For us, our songs are more like journey of emotions. We suppose different people will feel different vibes and interpret things in different ways. Our sound reflects what we're trying to say, the heavier parts mostly explain the anger in the concept and the more ambience parts are the opposite.

3. Share with us a little bit experience of the previous recording process of the band? And is there any new things been explored and progression of the recent recording?
There wasn't so much new experience we can share about our last recording.. On the guitar and bass part we were doing the same recording tehnique like before, but only we used a much better equipment. oh and, i guess we did some experiments on the drum, especially on the miking. It takes a lot of time but we think we satisfied with the result.

4. Do you think that the DIY/Independent music is the best channel for spreading out your music? Any thought of using other channel to spread your music in the future? Do you have certain kind of ethic regarding playing show, and also releasing/distributing the music material of the band?
Yes, we think DIY is the best way on spreading our music.
No.
And about the ethic thingy, we dont think we have it.. but we prefer to play at the small gig or show. it has more intense feelings and we surely enjoy it.

5. Any plan to tour somewhere in the future?

We still dont have any plan about touring since we are kinda busy right now.

6. Add anything you want regarding the latest release, or anything else you would like to add. Thanks brother.
The next releases (in no particular order) are:
- Ghaust / Blckwvs split 7" on Maniyax Records
- Ghaust / Aseethe split CD on Cactus Records
- Ghaust / Pazahora split 7" on Epidemic Records

Thanks again for the interview! And thanks to all who've helped and supported! More info on Ghaust at : www.myspace.com/soundofghaust

Thursday, November 5, 2009

CACTUS #026 - PAKATAN HARAM JADAH DEMO OUT SOON!

Mesmerizing soundscape, dark, and approaching some elements of traditional instruments.
Among the finest worship of O' mailey music driven style. This demo contain only one song and it drive for more than 10 minutes. The concept behind all of the tune come with perfect explaination.
Rich and superb documentation of this one of among other few little bands that played this kind of music in Malaysia.

This demo sure will blow you and will assume to come out on dec 09. Watch out for more update.
check their site at:
pakatanharamjadah.wordpress.com