Reviews

Black Mold

Scrounger Complete Discography LP

On August 8, 2023, August Golden was murdered during a mass shooting at the punk house Nudieland in Minnesota. The shooting was a hate crime motivated toward the LGBTQ community represented at the show. Golden was a member of the band SCROUNGER and a central guiding light to the punk scene. His influence was far-reaching outside the Minneapolis orbit. It’s often difficult and debatable if we can, or should, separate art from the context it’s created in. In that sentiment, this final collection of the band’s recordings is an homage to Golden, the DIY scene, and the ethos of standing up for what you believe in and fighting the good fight. Side A has scrappy, lo-fi, heart-on-sleeve anthems in the spirit of SHOTWELL, ADD/C, and BENT OUTTA SHAPE. It captures profoundly the sounds and temperaments born out of basement shows and punk houses in the early ’00s. That side ominously and appropriately closes with a HICKEY cover, “Make Sure There Aren’t Any Squares at My Funeral.” Side B has a collection of acoustic songs including “Country Time,” a cover of an early THIS IS MY FIST song which is an alternate version of “E-Ville Part 2” off their History of Rats album. There’s also a ZERO BOYS cover and an acoustic version of the HICKEY song from Side A. The album was remixed by Ashley Krey from SEXY, whose opus “Por La Vida” has been a nonconformist cyanotype for the DIY spirit of this time—a mantle this album dutifully carries on.

Step Sister Façade cassette

Façade, the second release from Minneapolis-based STEP SISTER, hits with a commendable force. Rapid-fire lyrics are spat over an inferno of bass, drums, and guitar, roiling yet fairly technical for the speed they’re working at. I hear riot grrrl, hardcore, and Midwest DIY meets an Australian chaos, like a Stateside AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS. Grade-A thrash and energy on display here—not much I can find on this band that formed in 2018, but I sure like what’s happening, with seven songs that immediately claim your attention.

Twisted Teens Twisted Teens cassette

I’ve long felt that punk music is a folk tradition. At its most essential, it is tied together as a living history that is accessible to everyone regardless of anything other than love for the music. That is exemplified in this stunning full length, which both rocks and rolls but also feels like a lived-in and educated slab of American music that draws from a rich and deep well (or rather several). If it sounds like I’m hyperbolizing I might be, but I think we’ll look back on this one for a while yet as a brilliant confluence of old and new that sings in its own language. Okay, so how does it sound? It has edges of bedroom punk with a tight rhythmic center (using conventional and electronic drumming), with great expressive guitar playing and a gorgeous pedal steel on most tracks. The music is heavily melodic, showcasing the full-throated and gritty baritone of the main songwriter C.P.N. Hollywell whose lyricism is clever, aching and fiery all in turn. Some songs lean heavily acoustic, particularly the excellent and wistful “Tic Tac Toe,” but this is not merely folk-punk as it will then zig-zag back through a kaleidoscope view of other rock traditions, often with riffs steeped in blues and country but also with some non-pentatonic post-punk structures. In a way, it’s hard to pin down the sound here, and that’s largely what makes it feel like such a bold new thing—all while still having its moments of plainly fuzzed-out, crunching geetar bliss. I don’t always get to effuse about an album, and I certainly have here, but this was handily my favorite release of 2024 (it was on my top ten) and demands your attention. Hopefully everyone will catch onto what makes TWISTED TEENS important and special.