This Machine Kills

This Machine Kills were a screamo band from Goleta, Santa Barbara, California that were active from approximately 1997 to 2003 (sources vary). They were pretty prolific in terms of releases, with an LP, EP, and multiple splits released over the span of just a few years. Most of you are probably familiar with this band due to their excellent three-way split with Raein and Yaphet Kotto (as well another split with Yaphet Kotto), but their LP Death In The Audoban Ballroom is also worth a listen, especially if you're a fan of In Love With Jetts/The Lady Is A Cat-era Antioch Arrow. And, I can't go without mentioning this, their vocalist was none other than Steve Aoki, better known now as an internationally recognized DJ. Before all that, he was active in the hardcore scene, fun little fact for ya there. I'm missing the Bury Me Standing and JR Ewing splits, so if you have those, let me know! Enjoy.

Demo (1998)

1. Guilty As Fuck

2. Culture Of Protest

3. My Generation

4. Agent Provocateur

5. Collaborator Put Down

6. Everything

On The Move (2000)

1. The Revenge Of John Africa

2. Culture Of Protest

3. Three Hundred & Sixty Degrees

4. Anger Lined With Cement

Envy/This Machine Kills (2000)
1. Envy - A Red Wound Picture

2. This Machine Kills - Forty One Bullets

Death In The Audobon Ballroom (2002)

1. Cracking The Mask

2. Bending The Erotic

3. Giving Testimony

4. Our Histories Have Burned Holes In Your Flag

5. Running With All These Names

6. Breakdown

7. Hearts And Minds

8. Death In The Audobon Ballroom

9. And The Weight Of That Silence Alone Will Choke Us

Yaphet Kotto/This Machine Kills/Envy (2003)

1. Yaphet Kotto - The Fall

2. Yaphet Kotto - Tracing

3. Yaphet Kotto - Momentary Loss Of Breath

4. This Machine Kills - Define Silence

5. This Machine Kills - Carpet Of Gold/Carpet Of Bombs

6. This Machine Kills - Our Histories Have Burned Holes In Your Flag

7. Envy - A Far-Off Reason

8. Envy - Signal

9. Envy - An Adventure Of Silence And Purpose

10. Yaphet Kotto/This Machine Kills/Envy - Untitled

Bread And Circuits

Bread And Circuits were a five-piece post-hardcore/emo band from the Bay Area, California that were active from around 1998 to 1999 (can't fully confirm). They're perhaps best remembered as one of Sarah Kirsch's many excellent projects (whose résume also includes Navio Forge, Fuel, John Henry West, Torches To Rome, Silver Bearing, Please Inform The Captain This Is A Hijack, and more). In Bread And Circuits, she was also joined by Struggle, Swing Kids, and Yaphet Kotto drummer JOse Palafox. Lyrically, they leaned heavily on sociopolitical issues, playing with an intensely energetic sound that clanged angular, melodic guitars against dual shouted vocals. Their sole LP was an Ebullition release, and highly recommended if you're a fan of the previous bands listed. Enjoy.

Bread And Circuits (1999)

1. Trophy Room

2. Hampton's Floor Plan

3. The End Of History

4. Bread And Circuits

5. White Man

6. Statue Of Limitations

7. Bretton Woods

8. Letter From Chase

Bread And Circuits/Former Members Of Alfonsín (2003)

1. Bread And Circuits - Bloodbath

2. Bread And Circuits - Shameful Library

3. Bread And Circuits - Dying By Degrees

4. Bread And Circuits - Nuremberg Principles

5. Former Members Of Alfonsín - Kinetic

6. Former Members Of Alfonsín - Devil's Vocabulary Test

7. Former Members Of Alfonsín - Hurricane

8. Former Members Of Alfonsín - Magic Maker

Struggle

Struggle were a four-piece hardcore band from San Diego, California that were active from 1990 to 1994. Overtly political in their lyricism, they took influence from an emerging wave of dark, frantic, noisy, and abrasive hardcore bands including Downcast, Born Against, and Rorschach. They released one LP, one EP, a split and had one comp appearance, all through the now-legendary Ebullition Records while it was still in its infancy. In a way, they're like a precursor to Swing Kids, as three members of Struggle formed Swing Kids after they disbanded, including Justin Pearson, who later be best known as a member of The Locust, Some Girls, and a thousand other bands. Other members of Struggle would also later join Yaphet Kotto, Unbroken, Bread And Circuits, and tons of others. If you're looking for raw, angry political hardcore with early screamo leanings, Struggle is what you're looking for. It's perpelxing that it took this long to get around to them, but here they are. Included below is their discography release, which includes all their recorded material. Enjoy.

One Settler, One Bullet (1994)

1. Red, White, And You

2. Death of A Friend

3. Envy

4. Pigs On Fire

5. Tradition

6. Real Estate

7. Pain

8. Culture

9. Cement

10. The Untitled

11. Brain Tourniquet

12. War #1

13. Wait A Second

Bandcamp