Nasty Wizard Recordings are over the moon about their latest tape release and can’t wait for you to hear it — a split between Melbourne’s Thug Mills and Wuhan’s Chinese Football. This is the fourth tape to come out of the lair of the Nasty Wizard for 2016 and fans of scuzz rock, emo and left-field Beatles covers should rejoice, for this tape is literally going to complete your life.

On side A of the tape we find Thug Mills, a new band that you’ve most likely never heard of. However, those with their ear to the ground in Chinese underground and DIY circles will be familiar with one third of the band, Xiao Zhong previously of Shanghai bands Pairs, Hu Jia Hu Wei, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and more recently Melbourne dream team Pale Heads. After six years in China Xiao Zhong returned to Australia and founded Thug Mills with his friends. The band has been described as “Pairs with a bass player” (Kenny G), “awesome dog shite” (AWEH.tv), while the band describe themselves as “for fans of loud guitars, yelling, dancing and generally just having fun.” On their side of the split you find exactly that: zero pretension, loud, fuzzed out rock and roll with a side order of cynicism and a twist of irony — a decent soundtrack for watching buildings in rural Chinese cities being bulldozed into rubble.

On side B loyal followers of the Nasty Wizard will be blessed by the discovery of Chinese Football, a band that you may have actually heard of. While hailing from the furnace of Wuhan, home to legendary Chinese punk stalwarts SMZB, Chinese Football have added a different, more melodic shade to the musical landscape of their hometown. Unite Asia drew comparisons to champions of the ‘90s emo scene such as Mineral, The Get Up Kids and obvious namesakes, American Football. Intricate guitar and rhythms work, shimmering melodies and occasional anthemic vocal lines drifting over the top make Chinese Football the perfect music for staring at clouds whilst remembering all the people you hated at school.

The Thug Mills / Chinese Football split has been expertly dubbed on a limited run of 50 tapes in the Nasty Wizards inner sanctum. Packaged in an illustrated representation of practice room floors across China once these sacred artifacts are gone, they are gone forever. Nab one while stocks last!

[Despite no tapes being listed here we might actually have some copies. This is because shipping tapes out of China is a bit of headache and can be expensive, so if you'd like to buy a copy of this release on tape the easiest thing would be to email us at nastywizardrecordings@gmail.com and we'll figure something out]