A satisfying blast of rough-around-the-edges hardcore. Frantic drumming and riffing over Cappo-goes-to-Cleveland vocals, with straight edge songwriting influences showing up in subtle and sometimes less subtle ways throughout the record, though you might not guess it if it weren’t for the X’d up mosher on the cover. The slow-burner finale, “Pittsburgh ’18,” is the best of the bunch.
If anyone ever tries to give you the argument that hardcore sucks now or that it ended in the year blah-blah-blah, tell that fool to shut up and make them listen to this tape. My god, this is absolute perfection. This is what hardcore should be. It should come as no surprise that this rips so hard when you look at the all-star lineup of Pittsburgh, PA lifelong punkers involved in this project. If you like hardcore punk and are interested in what dudes from EEL, BLOOD PRESSURE, AUS-ROTTEN, CAUSTIC CHRIST, and about a billion other bands are doing in the modern day, stop what you’re doing and listen to the almighty INVALID!
PEACE TALKS’ debut EP is full-on breakneck hardcore from start to finish, with a vocal delivery nearly as urgent as CONFLICT. PEACE TALKS doesn’t sound like any particular band, scene, or era, though I hear a healthy dose of TOTALITÄR in their sound. “Dancing for the Flame” is by far the standout track, though no tracks are bad, and this is the first punk record I can recall seeing that combines “Fuck 12″ sloganeering with more tried-and-true nuclear bomb art. I mean, it’s all part of the same problem, right?
Damn, this one kills. John Villegas has long been booking shows, running the punkest record store in Pittsburgh, playing in killer bands, and putting out great records including, now, this amazing compilation. Like all the best comps (Process of Elimination, American Youth Report, Cottage Cheese From the Lips of Death, Not So Quiet on the Western Front, etc.) it has that special insular feel, like being suspended in a moment in time. You can practically smell the motor oil and solvents of Babyland or the choking clouds of stale smoke and sticky sweat of the Rock Room or Gooski’s. Sure, there’s three of John’s bands present here, but you go make your own fucking compilation and then you can do what you want. It plays at 45rpm like all good punk records should, and it has one of those nifty zine things with a page for each band. There’s some diversity here with the artfulness of S.L.I.P. or the pseudo-Oi! of NO TIME, but basically, this is hardcore and it’s mean, it’s dirty, and raw. I’d be bananas to try to pick favorites here and I don’t know how John managed to get every band’s best song committed to his project but we’re all stoked he did. As I type this now I’m really feeling LIVING WORLD, PEACE TALKS, RAT-NIP, INVALID, and CHILLER, but in a minute it could easily be SPEED PLANS, LOOSE NUKES, WHITE STAINS, or NECRO HEADS. Every song is a keeper and unique in its own special way, just like that Mr. Rogers guy said. It’s not the whole scene here and there’s great bands like MOWER, EEL, BIG BABY, CONCEALED BLADE, or MEDIUM UGLY not present, but it’s a real nice thick slice of a great punk scene that you should definitely admire from afar and keep your distance.
WHITE STAINS is one of the best things 2020 brought along. Their new LP is simply sick, and this was a great preview. I didn’t pay too much attention when it came out, but after getting hooked to the LP, I came back to it. These three songs sound as if no time had passed since the early ’80s. I think there’s a strong vibe of BLACK FLAG’s “TV Party” or “Six Pack,” especially in the last track, “Quarantine.” That’s the general spirit, punk in its purest form, unpretentious and raw, just old-fashioned hardcore punk, like a basement version of ADOLESCENTS or CIRCLE JERKS. Cannot dig this more.
