Seven tracks of indie/alt-rock from Lincoln, Nebraska. DEATH COW is very catchy and the songs are full of pretty, harmonized vocals, ripping guitar leads, and repetitive mid-tempo distorted riffs. I’ve seen them referred to as a garage band and a “weirdo punk” band but I don’t hear any of that at all. It feels like poppy ’90s alt-rock revival stuff to me.
This cassette features two songs by BRAIN PEEL, two songs by DOUBLE SUEDE, and one song by BRAIN AND DOUBLE which is, as you may have assumed, a combination of both bands, who hail from Philadelphia, PA. DOUBLE SUEDE have something of a modern pop-psych/OH SEES kind of feel to them which comes off really catchy and driving and fun. BRAIN PEEL is more of a mid-tempo garage punk kind of band. The collaborative track is a fun little meandering instrumental number. Cool concept, fun mix of styles between the two bands. My only gripe is that it ends too quickly.
When I got this album to review from this Greenville, South Carolina band, I had just finished reading A Punk House in the Deep South, which is a collection of interviews from the former residents of the 309 punk house in Pensacola, Florida, compiled by Aaron Cometbus and Scott Satterwhite. The book told tales of the independently creative, politically-minded, artistically mischievous, and musically-focused denizens of the legendary Southern punk house. Maybe it was (roughly) similar Southern geography, part timing, but more so part similar attitude, but I held the book and album with akin spirit. Highly energetic, brutally honest, and the right amount of rough production make the punk anti-pop songs authentically relatable, with a singer that reminds me of a younger Nico de Gaillo. It’s filled with enough tales of broken relationships, bad jobs, bad drugs, a day-to-day on the fringe, and relational escapades to fill a book.
From Philadelphia, this band has a ’90s college rock feel. A mix of VIOLENT FEMMES, ARCHERS OF LOAF, and CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH. For the most part on the noisy side but there is jangly pop at times as well. There’s some decent stuff on this, and although it’s not a punk rock rager, I can see the guitar indie rock crowd liking this.
This album starts out with a pretty boring guy singing over an acoustic guitar part, which had me doing the ol’ eye roll/groan combo, but then the rest of the band kicked in. From there it got better…thankfully. This is pretty catchy. There’s a lot going on musically, like synthesizers and such. I don’t know what to say about this. I don’t hate it. Like at all. I just can’t see myself listening to this. It’s like a punk version of the RENTALS or something, I guess. The singer kinda sounds a little like a mix of both Jon Ginoli from PANSY DIVISION and John K. Samson from WEAKERTHANS to me. Not really my bag. Seems like something young kids would go apeshit to at shows. Like twenty years ago, I would have probably gone to see this band because a girl I liked was into it. I probably would have had a good time, too. Now though, it seems like something I’d be annoyed by. What with people having fun and such.
Philly emo outfit with a teaser EP for their LP To My Chagrin, which has since been released. The three tracks on the A-side all appear on the new LP, while the B-side has some one-off releases and two live tracks. While emo isn’t my taste, I can appreciate the musicianship and recording that are both a little rough, dirty, and loose. I also find James’ voice endearing, rather than cloyingly whiny. It looks like they formed back in 2018, and have been putting out quite a bit of music since, three LPs now and a few singles and EPs—their first recording, from what I can tell, is MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?’s “Jimmy Neutron Theme Song” from the Nickelodeon cartoon (they seemingly lifted their band name from a line in the song). I don’t know if this context is important, but it may paint a picture of the aesthetic they’re going for. If it makes you happy, long live emo?
