Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

Atomic Prey Atomic Prey 12″

Newly-formed band from the murky, damp and dark corners of PDX. ATOMIC PREY heaps out spacy, primal D-beat that orbits around the topics of modern ills and malcontents. The sound is cutting and agitated, I can hear the likeness of SIAL, MALDITA, and other hometown greats LEBENDEN TOTEN. Now just imagine all of that with a hell of a lot more reverb. There is some live Black Water footage to familiarize yourself with, which I have now watched far more than I would care to admit…a morsel until they get out on the road. Best cover art of ’24??

Bavure Demo 2024 cassette

I have to listen to a fair amount of demos as you may well imagine, and I sort of get a sense of what I’m in for within the first 30 or so seconds. Within the first 20 of this demo, I’d already started pulling a grimace of recognition, and considering whether the landlord would cover a spinkick-related hole in the wall as “reasonable wear and tear” come security deposit season. This demo from Lille-based BAVURE is a lot of fun, Oi!-influenced hardcore played at blistering speed, replete with perfectly moronic breakdowns. Real trogoldyte shit, Good fun.

Black Button Internal Life 12″

Here is a band that knows how to break the molds of its genre. Their previous release Rejoice really nailed the strange hardcore sound of bands like NO TREND and mixed it up with “drunken late-night loneliness” noise rock á la JESUS LIZARD or BRAINBOMBS. The new EP Internal Life seems more urgent and anxious, whereas the previous one was more contained and focused on creating an aural picture of malaise. Opener “Feed” slowly builds up into a frenzy of skank beats and angry verses, moving away from the tension-building modus operandi and moving closer to their first album I Want to Be in Control. Standout track “Better To Wait” could easily be in the same universe as RASPBERRY BULBS due to its darker, off-putting riffage. A more diverse release in terms of malleability within the hardcore genre and a step towards its roots.

Brower Flour LP

In looking through the notes, it seems BROWER is part solo project (of Nat Brower) and part collaborative effort. I’m not sure anyone would really call this punk—I’m not suggesting that Nat or anyone else suggested they were, just stating that for fact. I’d say part power pop, part glam, part rock, part pop, and part bubblegum. Which of those is most prominent depends on the song. Very jangly and catchy, this is easy to like. Vocals remind me of GOOD LOOKING SON at times.

Cell Deth Catholic Guilt EP

Super-fast, super-punk band from Canada. Most of their songs clocked in around the one-minute mark, very classically punk. I really enjoyed the overarching themes of the album that were incorporated throughout each song, I found that it really tied it all together, and I thought it was great. I also enjoyed the switching of tempos in a couple of tracks from the super-fast to the (slightly) slower, more classically HC beats. That being said, sometimes the tracks felt quite similar to one another, but I was still jamming out.

Elimaxxx Rotting in Unison cassette

One-person-band from Utah specializing in shambolic indie garage punk. Earnestness and charm go a long way on this twelve-track tape of tinny guitar and drum machine beats. The vocals register somewhere between a manic JONATHAN RICHMAN and Hutch from the THERMALS, and the songs touch on all sorts of relatable modern ills, like working for Amazon on the standout “Bezos Bop,” inequality on “Lunch Debt,” and pollution on “Yellow Air Day.” There is nothing particularly sophisticated here, but sometimes it’s refreshing to just hear someone pick up their guitar and go for it.

Ford’s Fuzz Inferno Electrofuzzification LP

Electrofuzzification, the latest 45rpm 12″ from FORD’S FUZZ INFERNO, features four new tracks along with six selections from their earlier 2024 release Fuzz Up Your Electric Chair, Baby! Comprised of ex-members of Dutch ’80s punk bands SCOUNDRELS and WASTE, this prolific duo-turned-trio (two guitarists and a drummer, no bass) leans hard into their fuzz-drenched garage rock aesthetic. The new songs? Straight-up rock’n’roll that wouldn’t feel out of place in a sticky-floored New Jersey dive bar, while the earlier songs, recorded live-in-studio, feel harder-edged, probably because of how they were recorded. Props to these aging punks for keeping the fire alive. Check out “Body Functions.”

Freak Genes Delirik LP

New industrial-drenched synth punk offering from FREAK GENES out of the UK; their sixth record thus far. I love that this was released by the imitable Feel It records in Cincinnati, because while on the surface it sounds quite different than SWEEPING PROMISES, MAN-EATERS, or CITRIC DUMMIES, there is a distinct energy and attitude that makes the record feel right at home next to the rest of the roster. There is a fantastic pacing and variety to be found in these twelve tracks, and even if “industrial synth punk” isn’t your comfort zone, allow yourself to step outside that zone and digest these sounds. By the second track alone, you encounter a pulsating standout track in “Clear in the Night,” with other highlights (“Neoware,” “Forgotten Gods”) paced out nicely throughout the remainder of the exciting run-time.

Gold Cup Beyond a Joke cassette

The fourth release for Manchester, UK’s GOLD CUP in just over a year. Five songs of driving, mid-tempo rock’n’roll-infused punk. GOLD CUP does a really interesting job of peppering in a number of different sub-genres, keeping your attention without ever really leaving the mid-tempo range. There’s elements of post-punk, artsy punk, a dash of egg-punk, a snifter of garage punk for good measure. It’s a veritable potpourri is what it is. They even culminate with an absolute strutter of a song, with sleazy guitar riffs that could rival the catchiness of JUDAS PRIEST. Here’s hoping GOLD CUP keeps up the productivity and keeps the releases cranking out.

Holocaust She Attacked 90’s Decades CD

Chronologically and sonically, HOLOCAUST slides into the Japanese hardcore scene between LIP CREAM and ZYANOSE. Up until now, it has been difficult to find recordings by this short-lived project, but no more, thanks to Black Konflik Records who have the direct connection to the best archive of Japanese punk to ever exist. She Attacked 90’s Decades is a collection of various recordings from the middle section of the 1990s when HOLOCAUST was active. Beginning with some very raw tracks in which the drums are barely audible and finishing with some less raw but still noisy-as-fuck tracks, this CD is a great way to get in touch with a band from the Osaka scene that lacked documentation. If you dig noisy Japanese hardcore punk, then you’ll definitely want to have this in your collection.

How Yes No Small Talk cassette

Quirky, angular post-punk from this group that appears to be based in Zagreb, Croatia. HOW YES NO keeps things succinct and minimalist in a way that I appreciate. Of the nine songs featured on this tape, only one cracks the two-minute mark. Both of the vocalists employ a deadpan, half-spoken cadence that works well with the discordant guitar work. There is a motorik aspect to many of their songs that reminds me of FAUST. The drummer makes use of some cowbells or blocks that emerge as the only real flourishes on most tracks. Don’t try to talk to these folks about the weather. From a band that gets straight to the point in a direct and artful way, it’s no surprise that they loathe small talk.

Idaho Green Gems of the High Plains 2xLP

Holy shit, this is a massive album. It’s not often you come across a self-financed double LP, but IDAHO GREEN certainly wanted to make sure you knew absolutely everything about them. This slab spans twelve years and several different recording sessions, and it definitely shows—not necessarily in a bad way. It just showcases the band’s evolution and growth over the years, and it results in a record that is absolutely all over the place. It bounces between melodic garage rock with soaring guitars—akin to EXPLODING HEARTS, MARKED MEN, and RICHARD HELL—to snarling, groovy, fuzzed-out pop-rock like DINOSAUR JR. meets FIDLAR. I am especially impressed with the singer’s range, swapping between that of a melancholy Joey Ramone, and a primal, bloody scream more often associated with hardcore than flowery Brooklyn indie rock. Interlaced between every third track or so are these pretty acoustic guitar riffs that separate the chaos from itself. This really isn’t a record, it’s an audio journey. I’m pretty smitten with it. Give this bad boy a spin if you’ve got the time.

The Long Gones Long Way Home EP

Trying to sound like the STOOGES can be a great thing, and naming your band (presumably) after a classic CUSTOMS single can be a great thing. The LONG GONES seem to have done both, but unfortunately nailed neither. The A-side is a mid tempo affair that plods along and greatly overstays its welcome, while the B-side takes two more swings at garage rock which also miss the mark. There seems to be a desire to give the impression of “drugs, sex, and rock’n’roll,” but there’s no real danger here, no spontaneity. I wanted Raw Power, but was instead served burnt infirmity.

Mob 47 Tills Du Dör LP

Absolute legends from Sweden that have been perfecting the art of käng punk on-and-off since 1982. Kärnvapen Attack is one of the best recordings to come out of the Scandinavian punk scene, influencing countless bands like RATOS DE PORÃO mainly because of their faster style of käng, and making a huge impact on the worldwide scene. The track “Kärnvapen Attack” appeared on the now-mythic P.E.A.C.E. compilation alongside bands that definitely shaped hardcore forever. The mängel meisters continue to claim the title of most brutal hardcore band from Sweden with Tills Du Dör. Just as expected, sixteen songs in twenty minutes, fast-paced and brutal punk that only has one goal: to charge forward and run over everything that stands in the way. The production only adds to the ferocity of the songs; I’m sure some purists will whine about it, but who really cares about their opinion? Also, a terrific comeback from one of the best labels in the D-beat business, D-takt & Råpunk. 100% mängel.

Moyamoya Triple Double Single cassette

Perth trio MOYAMOYA gets their tunes on tape. Experimental and noisy, they pack a big sound for just drums, bass, and guitar. While this does diverge from the straight-ahead egginess of other Aussie bands, there’s still an undeniable irreverence in songs like “Fuck Life, Pa! Ma!” that ultimately dives deeper and darker than its title may suggest. Really great pedal work/effects happening on both bass and guitar, adding to that big sound, creating lots of contrast when the guitar steps aside for verses, letting bass and drums leg along, only to come blasting in for bridges and choruses, the whole lot working in lockstep, tight as can be. This Permanent Residence cassette compiles all six digital-only songs that were released over three singles, the cover art here picturing all three. This music is frantic, fun, and a little morose. Sign me up!

Neuroot False Profit LP

Marcel Stol’s NEUROOT has lasted decades, and this latest full-length continues to fuel the classic EU HC flame they rekindled in 2012. There are some new tricks here, of course, veering into a more industrial rock sound on tracks like “They Lie We DIY,” which sounds something akin to the heyday of MINISTRY with throatier punk vocals. Likewise, there’s the moodier, goth-tinged “Determinate Yourself.” Overall, it would be hard to criticize a band for doing their thing since 1980 (with some time off). There’s definitely no new ground being broken here, but it’s a solid entry in a continuing legacy. If I have a gripe, the production does lean fully into an industrial chilliness when I think some warmer tones might really help boost these songs. But it’s hard not to simply applaud the doggedness of continuing.

Picket Line Est. 2024 cassette

Seattle’s PICKET LINE plays meat-and-potatoes punk from with a sprinkle of Oi! and a focus on class consciousness. While they sound good here, with proficient playing and well-structured songs, overall it sounds a little generic. I appreciate the message and the delivery, but something is missing.

Ruines Episodio I cassette

Four snappy cuts of uptempo punk on this Chilean outfit’s debut EP. RUINES are hitting the ground running with this limited cassette. Catchy and well-produced, it’s an impressive introduction. The first couple songs have a garage punk bent that reminds me of SMART COPS. The second two songs inject subtle post-punk elements that complement their general sonic profile nicely. The closer “Cara O Sello” ramps up the guitar modulation and rounds out the tape with an oddly memorable chorus. I look forward to seeing what more RUINES have up their sleeve!

Shrykull Beyond Subconscious Realms cassette

Nowt but guitar, drums, and vocals on here, one reads, but you might not think it—there’s plenty of bottom-end heft to Nottingham two-piece SHRYKULL’s sound, which splits the difference between death metal and crust with intermittent grind-y and/or blackened deviations. The song titles on Beyond Subconscious Realms might have you expecting some BLOOD INCANATION-type goings-on (“Chaotic Disforms of Cosmic Misalignment”), but the music is way punkier and more direct than that. “Gateway of Nightmares” and “A Glint in the Basilisk’s Eye” bend matters towards DARKTHRONE spiked-wristband chug as these nine songs variously gallop and crawl to a full-blooded conclusion.

Sihir Ullar Akan Patuk LP

Intense hardcore, noisy at times, a little tighter and sharp at other times. Sometimes I swear that I am hearing things being broken and other times things being built, and then the music gets even more intense with one of the best song starting riffs I’ve heard in a little while. All energy and intensity. Everyone should check this out if you like hardcore.

Straight Arrows Surface World LP

STRAIGHT ARROWS have been at it for a long-ass time. This LP, their fourth, now means the Sydney act has released a record in three different decades, something that’s pretty hard to fathom thinking back to their 2007 debut 7”. That was a record of unsustainably wild garage punk—two songs that elicited the same sense of danger you’d get from the best tracks off a Back From the Grave or Teenage Shutdown comp, the sound of a band burning too hot to last more than a couple of 45s. They’ve kept at it though, polishing their sound and sharpening their songwriting chops over the years, and they’ve put out a handful of excellent tracks in that time, but they’ve also noticeably cooled off a little with each release. Unfortunately, Surface World doesn’t see them bucking that trend. You can’t argue that the eleven songs that make up the record aren’t expertly crafted. They’re in some sense good, but they also never really feel like anything. A slick-as-shit production doesn’t help either—everything sounds super thin and distant, making for moments that can at best theoretically rock. It’s a collection of songs that sound tailor-made to be featured over the speakers at J Crew. Music to shop for sweaters by!

Three Minute Movie March Winds and April Showers Bring May Flowers LP

For 25 years, this Japanese act has been cranking out power pop with a punk crunch, and while not a hair is out of place on their seventh album, I wish it weren’t such a tidy affair. The facile guitar leads that dot these tracks don’t do much to boost them and the hooks just don’t grab me like others working in the genre. That isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with this music, but that’s sort of the point. It’s polished to a point of diminishing returns. Pop songs can sound too calculated, and that’s exactly what happened here. They even straight up steal the lead from BLONDIE’s “Dreaming” in the track “Talking to My Heart,” and that’s about the most brazen move they make. That’s not to say there isn’t heart and craft on display, it just ultimately doesn’t grab me.

Unjustified Violence Cyanide City LP

UNJUSTIFIED VIOLENCE has their boots laced up tight and is ready to rock. Musical kin to bands like NO TIME, NEGATIVE APPROACH, and the earliest 7″ records put out by FUCKED UP. Tough-sounding hardcore filled with melodic hooks. If that sounds like it’s up your alley, these guys might just be waiting in the shadows for you. Good hardcore punk all around.

Weegee Primitive Thrill LP

Dirty, sludgy, sexy—Brooklyn/Queens-based WEEGEE plays vampire rock that’ll have you sharpening your incisors. Sink your teeth into this debut LP made up of six longer-format songs, leaving plenty of room for dirgeful rhythms, squawking saxophone solos, muddy pummeling, and breathy snarls. Julie Congo plays guitar and contributes most of the vocals, saving room for drummer Michael Rekevics and guitarist/synth Adam Kastin to add some low-end verses before giving way to John Rekevics’s saxophone and clarinet madness. I hear deathrock inspired by the CRAMPS and SONIC YOUTH mixed together to form something that is as ghoulish and cunning as it is heavy and driving. Each song is tragic, hungry, and compelling, to put it plainly. No skip tracks here. I find great catharsis in this Primitive Thrill.

Zealot 2024 cassette

Violent and fiery two-track tape from this Houston, TX mayhem power trio, providing a dosage of blackened crust and metallic punk. Demonic forms are exalted and the lyricism is great in both songs regarding the doom we are all in (and that which is to come). Great dragging sludge cadences with gracefully executed string sections. Recommended.

Antihéroes Presentes Urbanizados / Algo Nos Sucede 7″

In the mid-’80s, a five-piece band from Argentina scraped together their meager resources and recorded a two-song cassette. The cassette was a success and helped ANTIHÉROES gather some momentum, but the recording became quickly lost in time. Fortunately, Munster records and Twistin’ Bones have gotten together to issue a 7″ containing the two original songs recorded by ANTIHÉROES. Danceable post-punk with a raw edge; bass-and-drums-driven macabre. Occasionally, synthesizers and guitars take angular jabs back and forth. It’s bittersweet knowing these two songs were the only ones recorded by ANTIHÉROES, but at least they have that bop and can now be a unique artifact from a sparsely documented scene.

Brain Bleed / Infuriate / Riot Division / Shit Tax Four Way Split CD

Four-way split effort delivered to us by Hey Fuck You! Records, featuring two tracks per band coming from Chicago, Minneapolis, Richmond, and Montreal. Crust punks BRAIN BLEED really stood out here with their forceful, female-led vocals in the track “Empty,” while INFURITATE grasps at much more precise, metallic-driven crust punk that features a minimum of powerviolence stances. RIOT DIVISION lacks precision and the mixing efforts are missed, as it sounds like rotten bananas, perhaps better live. SHIT TAX is near noisecore in its purest form, recommended for lovers of such, as it still lacks mixing effort, or rehearsal, hard to tell.

Burning Bush Demo 2024 cassette

While hardcore continues to grow in all sprawling directions, it’s refreshing to hear someone doing it as concisely and ’80s-indebted as this. Think more NEGATIVE APPROACH and MINOR THREAT than some of the more metal-leaning HC swinging hard today. It’s funny to think that resembling anything like those two giants of the genre would feel novel in 2024, but here we are. There is an undeniable punk energy here, along with juicy riffs and a lyrical ethos that peers into singer Aaron Rhodes’ interior landscape of modern day stresses through the lens of Jewish tradition and folklore. It’s an interesting angle, adding another layer to an already noteworthy hardcore act.

Busted Head Racket Go! Go! Go! LP

Third LP from Newcastle, Australia’s BUSTED HEAD RACKET! While Riley Gardiner takes care of most of the drumming on the album, this project is otherwise the solo effort of Arden Guff, blasting us gracious listeners with a the lo-fi bedroom sounds of farty bass, piercing synth, and cuddlecore vocals that, while playful, still ask for our attention with tracks like “Poor No More” and “Girl Anymore (I Don’t Wanna).” The songs are catchy, fun, carefree, and short, necessitating many replays. You may ask, do we need more of this thing? This heartfelt yet fun synth-driven journal entry music? The answer is yes. With a back catalog of two other LPs and a few singles/EPs, there is plenty to enjoy here, even a collaboration with BILLIAM on Genetic Southern Hemisphere Christmas from November of 2023. Go! Go! Go! will serve a variety of purposes, from not getting out of bed all day (“Anxiety”), to enjoying the freedom of the road (“Need for Speed”), to loosening up a crowd on the dance floor (“Doo Wop”)—whatever it’s use, get your head busted by this racket now!

Citric Dummies Trapped in a Parking Garage EP

Hyperactive, absurdist goofball punk that has me imagining the SPITS on speed in a street brawl with HENRY FIAT’S OPEN SORE. I saw DEAN DIRG once and their singer was wearing sweatpants. CITRIC DUMMIES wear matching satin jackets! They may be dummies but they ain’t no idiots. Trapped in a Parking Garage takes all the vim and vigor of the 2023 full-length Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass and cooks it down to six minutes of sheer lunacy. Fast and fun garage punk where the punk part should actually come first. Look out world…they’re eating Arby’s!

Dezinformacije Pijesak u Oči cassette

Croatian egg-punk via the Fort Myers, Florida-based Xtro label. This is six tracks of high-energy, all-gas-no-brakes, synth-laden freakouts, a twelve-minute sugar rush after-hours. The short runtime plays to the band’s favor here; much longer and a cavity might set in from just too much of everything. It’s fitting that the last track translates to “Electric Orgasm,” because that really seems to illustrate what is happening here. The build-up is fast, the pace is almost unsustainable, and the result is an explosion of synth, guitars, and wails all over the place.

Evening Standards Rainbow Shrimp cassette

I’m a total sucker for male/female vocals, always have been. While this is pop/power pop/folk music, it’s got a darkness to it. There’s a kind of jitteriness to the guitar which reminds me of SONIC YOUTH, and the harmonies have a somberness to them. At first I was unsure whether I liked it or not, but by the time we were midway through the third cut, I was hooked. Plus, the band name and the album name are pretty sweet.

Frvits The Great Internet EP

FRVITS’ The Great Internet EP is a garage rock whirlwind from this Montreal-based four-piece, cranking out five multilingual tracks with samples and spastic synthesizer noises like it’s a party you’re barely keeping up with. The energy is relentless and unapologetically wild, driving the whole thing forward at breakneck speed. Their thrashy cover of “Wipe Out” by the STUPIDS doesn’t mess with the original’s raw energy—it just adds to the frenzy. This whole damn EP is an absolute riot.

Goat Rope / Killed By Florida DCxPC Live Presents, Vol. 27 split LP

Another nicely-produced live LP from DCxPC, this time a split between two bands who have a similar style of beer-drenched political punk. On the A-side, KILLED BY FLORIDA plays street punk with some blastbeats and occasional Jello Biafra-style banter. I particularly enjoyed the parts where they drag Tucker Carlson and Ron DeSantis. On the flipside is GOAT ROPE, who lean a little more into a ’90s skate punk vibe with a fairly odd mix of vocal styles ranging from deep growls to melodic singing. They also end with a cover of BEASTIE BOYS’ “Sabotage.” Overall, I can’t knock it too much. While none of this is really my style, it definitely sounds like everyone involved had a fun time at these shows, and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

Hans-a-Plast Ausradiert LP reissue

Ausradiert is a wonderfully vintage-sounding 1983 re-release from the label Tapete, a vampiric LP reawakened from its sleeping undead coffin. While keeping with HANS-A-PLAST’s upbringing as a punk band, this album has distinctly goth and new wave influences, heard in tracks like “Monstertanz” and “Schwarz und Weiß.” Vocalist Annette Benjamin’s severe voice, aided by the German language’s declarative sounds, adds a hypnotic, almost Siouxsie Sioux delivery to sarcastic lyrics such as in “Gut im Bett,” with an additional X-RAY SPEX ode. Jangly, echoing guitar, occasional synth, and sporadic reverberating drums serve to create an exciting veiled atmosphere. The song “Sacco Di Roma” cements the dark, gothic themes of the LP by utilizing church organs and undertones of catholic irony. As the sun comes up and all night-walkers must head indoors, “Barfuß in Scherben” ends the sabbath with an upbeat, poppy melody and lends this album a deserved iconic status in the post-punk genre.

Inferno Personale La Scekta É Tua LP

INFERNO PERSONALE contains members of such bands as MURO, UZI, and EX-DOM, and is based out of Bremen, Germany. They seem to have solid roots in Japanese hardcore while bashing out some great-sounding crust—I notice some similarities to the OFFENDERS, as well as influence from European hardcore classics. Excellent record!

Reviewer Bill Chamberlain
Label Neon Taste / Symphony of Destruction
Issue MRR #499 • December 2024

Ryan Kidd Dead in Memphis LP

Stripped-down, SPITS-as-a-genre punk here from RYAN KIDD. This juicy long-player is the band’s second release following their 2023 EP, delivering sixteen tracks with a familiar sci-fi RAMONES feel emboldened by searing guitars. These rocking tunes conjure up classic and iconic vibes, and the nihilistic title cut name-checks ALEX CHILTON, JEFF BUCKLEY, ISAAC HAYES, and JAY REATARD, in that order. Clearly, the guy has taste, as further evidenced by his choice of the ALAN MILMAN SECT’s “I Wanna Kill Somebody” as a cover song.

Middle Edge I Lost My Mind LP

MIDDLE EDGE is from Japan, and offers melodic punk rock that is gloomy and gentle in the best ways possible on their I Lost My Mind LP. There’s something here that reminds me of early 2000s rock like the LIVING END or maybe TIGER ARMY. Clean, spaciously-placed riffs soar over a rhythm section that generates hip-altering momentum while a loveable voice croons in a very rock’n’roll way. Yes, give me more.

No Time You’ll Get Yours LP reissue

Hot on the heels of a most unexpected remontada after a 2018 hiatus with a second album that was easily one of the best of 2023, here’s a reissue of the 2016 debut from these Pittsburgh rockers, and a timely reminder of what an absolute belter of a record it is. An intoxicating mix of 86 MENTALITY-style Oi!-flavoured hardcore, AC/DC-style guitar peacocking, and TEMPLARS-style pitbull vocals. Fans of PRESSURE PACT would find a lot to enjoy here. Indispensable.

Oh Telephone Kill Kill Kill CD

Hailing from the Swiss mountains of Glarnerland, OH TELEPHONE offers a unique flavor of ’60s-tinged psych garage. With production assistance by Detroit studio wizard Jim Diamond, known for his work with the DIRTBOMBS and WHITE STRIPES among many others, this LP showcases the band’s penchant for neat, uniform rhythms—they’re militant in delivery of their slithering, smoky rock din. The songs are fundamentally simple in structure with fuzzed-out vocals delivering poetic and often repetitive lyrics, but they’re layered in reverberating noise, sometimes ending up as vibrating puddles of sound. This equation pushes the boundaries of the band’s identity, eclipsing expectations of the genre and blurring lines between garage and post-punk. As lofty as this all may sound, the overall vibe of the album is grounded in traditional dum-dum punk. Hell, the title track is a damn SNEAKY PINKS cover. Love it or not, it’s an undeniable sonic tour de force.

Peace Talks Will You Be Next? 7” flexi

Two tracks from the same sessions as PEACE TALKS’ 2023 LP Progress. Seething and caustic, PEACE TALKS sound as strong as ever, and I can only presume there’s a good reason for these not making it onto the full-length. “Bloody Murder” absolutely rips, featuring a great breakdown in its last thirty seconds that will force you to two-step. Highly recommended.

The Protos Drain in My Brain LP

Garage punk with good whiny shouting to hop around to. There were a couple of tracks where I felt my mind wandering as I wasn’t particularly captivated, but then the track would change and I’d be alerted back to the present with something new. Every song had a good hook to start with (usually either feedback or unique riffs), but a couple of the tracks started to lose that in the rest of the song. That being said, I loved “Forever,” with heavy ghost notes and noise with intense screaming. There were other elements too that kept luring me back in, like different tempo changes with “I’m Into It,” or the witty lyricism in “Stab a Speaker.”

Rad Max Party McFly LP

Female-fronted new wave dance stuff from Portland, Oregon. I find this just a little too easy for my liking. The vocals are this funny combo of sometimes stilted and sometimes real singing. With a focus on goofy lyrics, it’s just a little too cutesy for me. But if you’re in the mood for dance and you like lyrics about all the things you can find in a convenience store, this could be your thing.

Skrewball Deluxe Edition Hardcore ’24 EP

With a title like this, there is little left to the imagination. SKREWBALL puts the “hard” in hardcore with their very moshable stomp. The introduction “Stretch” quickly sets the tone for what’s to come. The rest of the songs fluctuate between slam-fuelled grooves and fast-paced aggression. “Punchline” is a seventeen-second-long song enriched by a quirky solo that could be on any VOID track, and closer “Reality Smarts” is a five-second-long song, but it doesn’t feel that short at all as so much happens in that time. Pure stomp, pure hardcore, nothing more. Hardcore for hardcore people!

Snarling Dogs Snarling Dogs LP

This record from Pittsburgh’s SNARLING DOGS is worth a left turn. It sounds like Stiv Bators lives, and he has been pumping out songs with the ZERO BOYS doing back-up duties. Snarling Dogs is eleven eruptions of homage to late ’70s street rock’n’roll. The album contains the full list from the band’s previous demo release, not sure if the mix changed up much at all. It’s good shit-kicking punk. “Televised Violence” is a menacing, imbibed provocateur of a song that sounds tough enough to go ‘til the sun comes up. Start there.

The Squirt Men and Their Masters LP reissue

Remastered reissue of this fairly obscure Swiss band’s LP from 1983. If I didn’t read the bio, I would have placed them on the US West Coast, as they pull from the early recordings of bands like BLACK FLAG and DEAD KENNEDYS with their speedy, simple hardcore attack and occasional dissonant solo runs. If this is an era of punk you enjoy, it completely rules. What is striking is how crisp the production is and how it accentuates the playing, especially the killer drum patterns. This is a tight band playing hyper-speed rock music, stripped of all the feedback and grime that accompanies a lot of modern HC. Drop the needle for a full-tilt Alpine time capsule that is just as potent now as it was in ’83.

Squishers Evenin’ All Over the World LP

This twelve-song LP from SQUISHERS feels a little like a back-porch jam session with a bunch of over-the-hill punks, and I mean that in the best possible way. Featuring Ryan Modee and Teddy Helmick of THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB, Marie Davenport of the BANANAS, and Daniel Westcott of ADD/C, this folk-punk-meets-country mashup isn’t what I’d normally reach for, but it grew on me with repeated listens. Rymodee’s vocals flirt with just enough twang to keep you on your toes, while Marie Davenport’s bass lines hold it all together with style. Perfect for fans of THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB and punks who can handle turning it down without losing their edge. Check out the song “Wavicle.”

T.T.T.T. I Saw You on the Bloody Floor EP

Buffalo psych/garage/blues trio T.T.T.T. unfolds three new ones into a second EP. There is nothing wrong with these three songs, with a great sound (a very Detroit sound) that steps a little further away from what the band has put up in the past. I would recommend it to anyone who is into PUSSY GALORE, DEMOLITION DOLL RODS, GORIES, etc. “On the Sleigh of the Damned” shoulda been the opener. Let’s see more.

W-2 Demo Tape 1980 cassette

After the supremely damaged mid-’70s New York proto-punk/no-wave-anticipating band JACK RUBY splintered, vocalist Robin Hall started W-2 with Russell Berke (pre-CERTAIN GENERAL) in 1979. The project lasted for less than a full year and only circulated a four-song demo for purposes of landing shows, thought to be lost to the sands of time until turning up recently in the archives of Danceteria manager Jim Fouratt and now collected here (with one additional rehearsal recording) as part of W-2’s first-ever legit release. At times hitting closer to the menacing, messy precariousness of Jim Shepard’s early work with VERTICAL SLIT than the overly art-conscious downtown sound of early ’80s NYC no wave (“Toxic Love” and “Sprezzatura” especially), the collapsing mutant funk beats of “Dancing on the Head of a Pin” and “Soho What” have some definite parallels to the likes of COME ON, if COME ON had been scuzzy punk degenerates instead of geeky clean-cut nerds. What’s not to love? The B-side of the tape is given over to a seventeen-minute interview with Robin Hall that digs into some interesting background history—there’s an anecdote about hooking up with Berke because Hall was searching for a guitar player in the style of Pat Place of the CONTORTIONS/BUSH TETRAS or Andy Gill of GANG OF FOUR, then recruiting a non-musician video editor for the band because she wanted to play bass, and it all makes total sense after hearing the demented disco of the A-side.

X-Eyes X-Eyes cassette

Seattle, Washington self-proclaimed “aggro-surf,” but I’m not entirely sure what is special enough about X-EYES to warrant a brand new genre. Considering myself a bit of an amateur surf music aficionado, I cannot understand attaching surf as a genre on this tape. There’s a couple songs with noodly guitar lead parts? Is that it? If I had to give this a non-existent genre tag referencing pre-existing musical genres, I would go with something to the extent of “politically-driven melodic karaoke bar-rock punk.” The band is tight and the songs are well-played. The singer clearly has a good voice and can actually sing, but at times it feels that they are hamming it up a bit in the spotlight rather than having their voice be one of the instruments in the band. There are a few moments that kinda reminded me of TEM EYOS KI, but without the harmonized guitar leads. Seven-song cassette with only a few tracks from it being available on the band’s Bandcamp, so the only way to hear all the songs is on a physical cassette or the included download code. Attempting to use that download code, I was told that it had already been used too many times. I assure you, I did not download this cassette multiple times.