Blue Ribbon Team Review: Bootleg Tapes, Real DIY Distro, and Why @317noiseshit Matters
There’s a certain kind of person you want in your corner when your band decides, “Let’s do something cool.” Not industry-cool. Not playlist-cool. Punk-cool.
If you’re trying to put out a small-run tape, an ultra-limited lathe cut, a weird special edition for people who still treat physical media like a relic worth protecting—then you want @317noiseshit.
Not because it’s polished.
Because it’s real.
This is what “DIY distro” is supposed to mean
A lot of modern “distro” is basically storefront cosplay: the branding is tight, the politics are vague, and the releases feel like they were focus-grouped to death.
317 is the opposite. It’s bootleg-ass punk-for-life energy, but done with enough follow-through that it actually functions as a release channel. You see it in the output: limited physical runs, scene-specific stuff, and releases that don’t pretend scarcity is anything other than what it is—small, handmade, and worth grabbing while it exists.
Examples of the kind of moves we’re talking about:
- Special editions with other artists/labels (like the “Until we are Dust” collaboration release that explicitly teams up with 317 Noiseshit).
- Cassettes dropped straight to the people (“RDKPL cassette officially available… hit me up.”)
- Pressing updates and tiny-run physicals, including a 7″ split sent to press (which is exactly the kind of “watch it being made in real time” transparency DIY should have).
That is a distro acting like a distro: moving objects, moving culture, moving momentum.
If you buy/sell/trade punk & hardcore, you probably already know
If you’ve been around hardcore, punk, noise, grind—anything that still values physical releases—you’ve already run into this type of operation, because it’s the same handful of people keeping the gears turning.
And 317noiseshit’s lane is clear: hard-to-find releases, weird corners, and small batches that don’t apologize for being small. One post floating around even calls out a run of “only 30 copies” on lathe-cut 7″s—again, very much the vibe.
Politics on the sleeve (and why that’s a feature, not a bug)
Here’s the part some people tiptoe around: they don’t. 317noiseshit’s politics are worn openly enough that you don’t have to guess what kind of space you’re stepping into.
That matters.
In an era where too many people try to sell you “community” while hiding their values until it’s convenient, the blunt honesty is refreshing. You always know who you’re dealing with—and whether that’s your thing or not, it’s fair, it’s transparent, and it’s aligned with what punk claimed to be in the first place.
The pitch, plain and simple
- If you’ve got a weird band and you want a special physical release: talk to @317noiseshit.
- If you’ve got a normal band that still likes cool stuff: talk to @317noiseshit.
- If you’re hunting tapes and oddball pressings and you want to buy from someone who still treats this like a living culture: you know what to do.
DIY isn’t a look. It’s an ethic.
And when you find a distro that still acts like it believes that, you don’t overthink it—you support it.
Find them on Instagram: @317noiseshit.
Blue Ribbon Team note: This is not a paid review. We’re highlighting DIY infrastructure that keeps scenes alive.
