Trash Talk, Cerebral Ballzy, the new hardcore

With Cerebral Ballzy and the Sacto band Trash Talk there is a revival of hardcore punk taking place that has me excited and intrigued. Both bands also prominently feature young African-Americans. Cerebral Ballzy has a young black kid on the vocals who looks more gutter punk than hip hop, and likewise Trash Talk has a pair of black guys who play guitar and bass and yell backing vocals alongside their white "singer." Both bands play short songs at an extremely fast pace in a style that simulates the hardcore and thrash music of the 1980s--Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, etc. If you dig it, it's Black Brains or Black Threat, if you don't it's Bad Flag or Minor Brains.

I lean toward the former, especially in the case of Trash Talk, who have become my favorite hardcore band since the Refused incorrectly declared that they were the shape of punk to come in 1998. Trash Talk is one of those bands that wasn't very good when just starting out, but they've been touring and recording pretty constantly for over 5 years, and now they're really blossoming (although that may be the wost verb possible to use in association this group's brutal sound) with their latest EP.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of the semiotics of race in these two bands. Of course, racial politics have always been at the center of punk subculture, dating back to Rock Against Racism and the battles between racist and anti-racist skinheads in both the UK and the US. And hardcore punk music is white noise in the sense of being rock music with all the blues, rhythm, etc. stripped out of it. Significantly, I think, the guy in the beginning of the Trash Talk video can only express a colorblind discourse in denying the relevance of race to the group, reverting to the good old "blame the media" explanation.

But to me, the element of racial semiotics that is most noticeable is the way that blackness is being used in both bands to create an authentic aura of street cred. Check out this picture of Trash Talk that appeared in a New York Times story on their CMJ showcase last week.

Their lead singer is the white guy with the long hair. He's an incredible, Iggy-type crowd-surfing frontman with a scream like Slayer's Tom Araya. He's a true frontman, and all other things being equal, he'd be the guy in the front and center of any band picture, not back there like he plays keyboards or something.

Now check out Cerebral Ballzy. It's an important to note that they're being promoted through the stoner cartoon channel Adult Swim, which is part of Turner Broadcasting. Why do these videos that are essentially just displays of vandalism by gutter punks still look like they could be used to sell something like skate shoes?

Don't get me wrong, I definitely hope there's more to come.