Reviews

Down South

Guiding Light Guiding Light cassette

First recorded outing from this new group of Austin punk provocateurs, with five tracks whipping by in a flurry of jangly hyper-strummed guitar (bordering on early WEDDING PRESENT velocity), incessantly bobbing bass, breakneck drumming, and mile-a-minute bilingual German/English femme vocals—it’s the dream world collision of BIG FLAME and HANS-A-PLAST that I never knew that I needed! I’m especially partial to ”Lost in Voices,” which careens for a minute-and-a-half like KLEENEX if they’d existed in the age of Lumpy Records, so restless and wired that it’s almost easy to overlook how intricate and complex the songwriting truly is, as well as the dusty lo-fi tumble of “Spiegelbild,” where GUIDING LIGHT ties knots in the loose threads left hanging by the two-headed dog of 2010s Lone Star art-damage excellence (VIVIENNE STYG/BLUE DOLPHIN) with the addition of some highly Neue Deutsche Welle-inspired off-kilter melodies and warbling synth. Get on it, mess(thetics) with Texas.

Insane Urge Insane Urge cassette

The Stucco label and its offshoots (such as Down South) keep on shittin’ out the hits that hit the fans like a banana split of shit (w/ a cherry floating on top). INSANE URGE isn’t scaling the heights of faves like FUGITIVE BUBBLE or PILGRIM SCREW, but they do deliver a satisfying blast of filthy punk sure to delight everyone from pity dog owners to crypto-dog speculators—a scumbrella under which all may find shelter and also slam into each other like drunken heathens. INSANE URGE lands firmly on the rock’n’roll side of the punk fence, recalling baloneyheads like GIZMOS and SHITDOGS. “There’s a World” is a frantic ass-shaker that rockets straight from the Crypt (Records). Like most Impotent Fetus (by)product, the bass playing is key. Unlock the door and shake it like your momma told ya.

Insane Urge My America cassette

Daammn! I went into this release, the second from this Austin five-piece featuring folks from STUNTED YOUTH and fronted by Stucco head honcho Jake Gulliver (Down South is part of the wider Stucco-verse), expecting more of the same muddy, hardcore-influenced garage punk that we got on their debut, but these dudes have apparently decided it’s time to stop fuckin’ around. All that DEVIL DOGS-y bullshit? Gone! And in its place, you’re getting nine short tracks of pure, unadulterated gremlin-y hardcore. Imagine This is Boston, Not L.A.-era JERRY’S KIDS with the franticness dialed up a few clicks. They still sound like feral punks on the verge of careening out of control, but by going straight-up hardcore and getting a little meaner, they’ve gained some tonal focus that, when paired with a much crisper, trebly production, really helps these tracks cut right into you. I really liked that last cassette, but this is way better.