Pericles (Dominican Republic)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week (except last week, which we missed due to sasquatch attack) we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to the Dominican Republic:

The Caribbean Sea's Dominican Republic is home to Chung Ho Records and a pretty prolific punk scene. Pericles is one of the country's exports, originally from Santo Domingo. They first appeared in 2003 with an EP called Juego de Niños, and resurfaced with their 2006 debut, Fuck Your Etiquette, sung entirely in English. The band's sound is rooted in melodic punk with some inclinations towards ska, in the tradition of the classic Fat/Epitaph sound with some Against All Authority and Link 80 influence. Fuck Your Etiquette is a co-release between Chung Ho Records in the Dominican Republic and Enemy One Records in Brazil, available worldwide through the Interpunk.

Pericles - Guardian Cowboys (MP3)

Eastern Youth (Japan)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week (except last week, which we missed due to sasquatch attack) we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to Japan:

The Japanese indie music scene is incredibly huge, but still, and probably largely due to the language barrier, the majority of bands are unknown in the west. That makes the example of Eastern Youth so exceptional. This near two-decade-running indie rock band originally from Sapporo is as revered by North American genremates as those in their home country - and most of us rely on lyric translations to have any idea what they're singinging about. Many on this side of the Pacific were humbled by Eastern Youth in 2002 when they appeared on a split with Cursive released by Better Looking Records. A year later, Five One Inc released What Can You See From Your Place, the first of the band's records to be pushed to the North American audience. Now in 2006, Five One is striking again with Eastern Youth's latest, 365 Step-Blues.

Any hype this band garners is well-deserved; they're called 'legends' for a reason. Not only are Eastern Youth one of Japan's finest musical exports, but they also offer an interpretation of indie rock that's staunchly authentic to Japan. Visit Five One Inc for an ecard, and download the opening track "Make for the Waste Land" below.

Eastern Youth - Make for the Waste Land (MP3)

The band issued 365-Step Blues in March.

Asguard (Belarus)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to Belarus:

This past week I watched with interest the presidential election in the Eastern European country of Belarus. This often-forgotten country is said to be the last dictatorship of Europe and thus has a pretty fascinating political scene. While I know for a fact that punk bands exist in Belarus, knowledge of its music scene has always been elusive to me. One band I do know from the area, and enjoy quite a lot, is a metal band called Asguard. They put out an album a few months ago, titled "Dreamslave", on Long Beach, California's This Dark Reign Records.

The band formed in 1996 in the Belarusian town Mogilev. Their first demo was released throughout Eastern Europe on Fatal Ecstasy Productions, also based out of Belarus. 1999 saw their first proper album, "Summis Desiderantess Effectibuson", on Ukrainian metal label Bloodhead Productions. In the years that followed, Asguard's popularity rose and they signed on with This Dark Reign / Devil Doll Records in the US. "Black Fire Land" was their 2004 debut in the West, and that brings us to their current release, "Dreamslave".

Here's the title track "Dreamslave" for all the metal fans out there who appreciate Scandinavian-style black metal.

Asguard - Dreamslave (MP3)

Scab Level (Greece)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to Greece:

You may remember a few months back in this very international spotlight seeing a Greek band called Rakias, signed to their country's Run Devil Run Records. If you enjoyed their track to anywhere near the extent that I did, you ought to be excited about this new addition to the label's roster. The band is called Scab Level, and they continue this theme of unique indie rock with a distinctly Mediterranean feel. Other than the strong ska underpinnings and the plentiful guitar pop and vocal hooks, I can't put my finger on this band's sound, because they've got a lot more going on during the course of their album, "Peaches". And there's not much to say about the history of the band either; the label's website simply summarizes their existence as follows:

Scab Level were formed in 1996 by 3 sound engineers, a lights technician and a business man. End of story!

Check out the track "Gutter", and consider this: Interpunk is now carrying the entire Run Devil Run library thus far. Greek indie rock has never been so affordable.

Scab Level - Gutter (MP3)

Lovesong (Hong Kong)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to Hong Kong:

A few days ago I was browsing websites and myspace pages belonging to a number of bands from North Point, Hong Kong. One band that stopped me dead in my tracks and forced me to listen to all the material I could find was a group called the Lovesong. The storyline is pretty straightforward. In 1999 a songwriter-slash-guitarist named Ben Tse got together another guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer, and started a band. They've developed a pretty impressive indie rock sound familiar to the midwestern United States and fans of traditional emo. Influences range from Cursive and Q And Not U to Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate. They have a self-released CD they sell at shows in Hong Kong; the packaging is entirely handmade and individually numbered and dated for each particular show. Check out this track called "Eastern Moments Western Skies".

Lovesong - Eastern Moments Western Skies (MP3)

The Pauki (Russia)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're headed to Russia:

In my opinion, the most fascinating episode of punk history occurred in Russia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Gorbachev came to power and implemented perestroika, dismantling the regime of repression that characterized the Soviet Union. Some incredible, authentic punk bands formed during this period. They were alienated from the bulk of Western punk music and raised on early Soviet punk and proto-punk, some of which incorporated the region's traditional folk sounds. Bands like Tarakany, Naive - two of the country's most important acts to this date - set the standard, and one other is known as the Pauki (in English, the Spiders).

The Pauki formed in 1991, and over the years have incorporated a wide range of influences into their sound. Rooted in beer-soaked, classic punk, the Pauki boast traces of rockabilly, grunge, and folk. Their discography includes over a dozen tapes and CDs, and countless compilations all over the world. And, they've hosted such foreign acts as the Exploited (2001) and Goldblade (2003). After a lineup change in 2002, the band is as active as ever in the Russian punk scene.

The Pauki - Thank You Nobel (MP3)

Punkamine (Basque Country)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're visiting Basque Country, a cultural region that straddles the western Pyrenees mountains betweeen France and Spain:

For those not in know, the Basque Country is a region in northern Spain and southern France. The culture of the Basque people differ enormously from those two European nations, and its language is unrelated to any other known language in the world. Not surprisingly, the country has a long history of nationalist movements, and where there is political action there is often punk rock. So, I took some time to talk to Asel, who is a Basque language and literature teacher, an author - and also the singer of an old school punk band called Punkamine that he formed in 2003.

What do they sound like? Asel explains,

"The influence is mostly 80s traditional punk, especially Dead Kennedys, The Adicts, and Basque bands like La Polla Records and Eskorbuto … and of course, the early punk times with the Sex Pistols."

And what are their songs about?

"They talk about war and patriotic bullshit, terrorism, the US fucking influence over the world, music, personal drunk experiences, social problems, and education of the young generation. Lyrics are pretty ironic; they mix anger and humor. All of them (and some not included on the CD) are available in English on our website."

And that website is www.punkamine.org. To get you started, here is a Basque language punk rock song called "Gau Puta Honetatik".

Punkamine - Gau Puta Honetatik (MP3)

Blue Raincoat (Poland)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're visiting Poland:

The Polish record label Europeans Records is home to some of that country's premier indie rock bands. One in particular that has caught my eye is Blue Raincoat, from Wolow in the southwest of the country. The band formed in 1997, and demos appeared by 1998. Their debut album was released on cassette only in 2000. "Fast At The Beginning And Then Real Slow" was put out by a small label called Every Color Productions. Afterwards the band shuffled guitarists and drummers, and took a hiatus, before settling down in 2003 to record their second album, "Small Town Addiction" in their hometown of Wolow. The results of this recording session were sent to the opposite side of the world, where Blue Raincoat became the first Polish band whose album was mastered by Jack Endino (who has worked on albums for Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney).

The latest news from camp Europeans is that Blue Raincoat stopped the presses in January to begin work on their new album. No word on the progress of that has emerged, but convention dictates that we'll hear something new in the next few months. In the meantime, the label is promoting a handful of new releases over at their myspace page.

Blue Raincoat - Stars Trying To Fall (MP3)

Paura (Brazil)

Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're visiting Brazil:

Paura is one of the oldest and most respected bands in Brazil. They've been around since 1995, when the four original members formed the band after stints in other mid-90s Brazilian hardcore staples (No-Violence, Kangaroos in Tilt, and Garage Fuzz). They released albums in 1996 (self-titled) and 1998 (Reflex of Difference), unleashing a hardcore sound in the vein of Hatebreed and Comeback Kid. Now, after three years of flying under the radar (the last release had been 2002's EP "The Myth is Dead"), in 2005 they offered "youkillusweovercome", conisdered by many one of the best hardcore albums to have ever been released in South America. Growing up on metal in the 80s has left an impression on Paura, and the heaviness of metal and the aggression of hardcore are trademarks of their sound, but they still manage to bring that cool melodic side that many other hardcore bands can't quite pull off.

Paura - Demanded on Hate (MP3) Wreck The Place Fantastic features a series of online mixtapes showcasing music scenes from around the world. Check them out to download 12 full songs from some great Brazillian acts.

United Kingdom - Pickled Dick

Since most of the Punknews.org staff is from North America, it seemed appropriate to enlist the aid of our friends at Europunk in order to spotlight some acts making waves on the other side of the Atlantic.

This update comes from Tom Adriany editor of Europunk and a native of Brussels, Belgium:

Bringing the same infectious poppunk that doesn't take anything serious, this UK band called Pickled Dick made me grab back to my Greenday catalogue around the Kerplunk era. As much as I respect Greenday for the road they took with "American Idiot", there's still a part of me that misses the time when they wrote songs about being dominated love slaves, but Pickled Dick does a swell job of re-creating that same vibe. With their perfect blend of Limp, Frenzal Rhomb and aforementioned Greenday, their lastest album "Panda-Moanium" is a keeper if you're looking for some timeless fun-tastic music.

You can check out two songs: "Ship Ahoy" and "Battle Axe."

In related news, Europunk has launched their second online compilation. The 25 track compilation includes 22 European acts, 3 American ones and even a few previously unreleased contributions. you can check out the material here with music from Bomb the Music Industry!, Rentokill, The Lawrence Arms, Five Days Off and others.