GSL Records

Run by Sonny Kay, the former frontman of Angel Hair, The VSS, and Subpoena the Past. San Diego-based GSL (Gold Standard Laboratories) features a catalog of artists who mix and match the harsh yet addictive concoctions of punk, experimental noise, hardcore, and goth rock.

Chik Chik Chik
Hey, how long have you been wanting to hear a little post-punk you can really get down to? Well now you can shake your ass to the funkiest white boys around -- but good luck trying to pronounce their name.

Chik Chik Chik
Louden Up Now - 2004


The Convocation Of...
A truly brilliant, new sound in punk rock. This rambling, loose-limbed Baltimore trio shows that instrumental genius can be a messy, dangerous thing.

The Convocation Of
Pyramid Technology - 2001


De Facto
Peculiar, fairly experimental dub- and Latin-derived grooves from a California ensemble featuring two members of At the Drive-In. De Facto is kind of demented, but surprisingly mellow.

Megaton Shotblast - 2001


Gogogo Airheart
Gogogoairheart makes angular, skittering post-punk that mixes thick, dubby beats with wild guitar squall in an inventive and engaging take on improvisational art rock.

Che Fest 1999
Gogogo Airheart - 2000


I Am Spoonbender
A tribute to Uri Geller (famous spoonbending freak from the 70's), I Am Spoonbender manages to take a lot of old influences and warp them into something new. Original and creative, catchy yet abrasive at times, it's hard to put a finger on a band that at one moment sounds poppy and hip and the next is a maelstrom of percussion.

Sender Receiver


Le Shok
Get ready to be Le Shocked by this Long Beach band's fragmented, ramshackle bursts of damaged synthesizer punk. Make sure you're not standing in any puddles.

We Are Electrocution


The Locust
How to describe the Locust experience? Getting wasted on Molotov cocktails thrust in your ears with a firehose? An aural enema filled with shards of glass? See for yourself.

The Locust
Well I'll Be A Monkeys Uncle


Lost Kids
A cross between the bad-acid-trip schizophrenia of late '60s garage and the frantic necrophilia of late '70s death-rock ensembles. From the maniacs who brought us the Starlite Desperation.

Belle Isle Is On Fire - 2001


Mohinder
The short-lived but seminal Bay Area hardcore band played a pivotal role in the new California hardcore punk scene of the mid '90s. Not as lionized as similar San Diego bands like Antioch Arrow and Heroin, but the sheer sonic mayhem Mohinder created was every bit as remarkable.

Discography


Out Hud
Sacramento's Out Hud is a pendulum swinging back and forth between dub, electro and funk, while somehow remaining deeply rooted in punk rock and the indie underground.

Natural Selection Seven-Inch
S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. - 2002


The Starlite Desperation
The Starlite Desperation are a quirky and manic sonic cocktail that mixes up the raw balls-out power of late '60s Detroit rock, the comedy of arena rock, and the fever of punk.

Hot for Preacher Seven-Inch - 1997
Show You What a Baby Won't - 1998
Go Kill Mice - 1999


Subpoena The Past
Subpoena The Past are a plodding and eerily ethereal death march towards a black hole with sparse bass lines weaving through carefully programmed drum sequences....a hyper-dirge.

This Years Eclipse


Sunshine
As the name of one of Sunshine's albums indicates, listeners will receive Hysterical Stereo Loops, Beats, and Bloody Lips from their explosive sound. The songs offered here are an eclectic blend of screamo hardcore, drum and bass, atmospheric electronica, raw punk rock, and indie.

Hysterical Loops Beats and Bloody Lips
Astral Love 12-Inch
Velvet Suicide


The VSS
Drive a stake through the heart of a badger and record its dying scream -- and voila, you'll have the sound of The VSS. These ex-Angelhair freaks scream at you from the wreckage of the Gravity scene.

21:51
Nervous Circuits - 1997