Reviews

Gravity Hill

Mayge Mayge cassette

What excites me about lo-fi music isn’t because I just love it when things sound obscure or chaotic, it takes familiar forms (in this case, new wave-adjacent punk) and brings an impressionist bent to what was otherwise familiar, like looking at a Matisse painting up close and letting it blur into a psychedelic mess. You get the feeling of the song and your mind fills in the blanks. MAYGE uses production as an extension of the songwriting, creating an enjoyable and disorienting EP that sounds anything but familiar. Strange gibbering vocals, melancholy guitar lines, it all works. The covers here are a treat as well, taking an original from TONY MOLINA and morphing it into something barely familiar to fans of the original, likewise with the SCREAMERS’ track “If I Can’t Have What I Want, I Don’t Want Anything.” The originals, however, are what bring me back to this release, biting and squeaking like a little mutant rat gnawing on your eardrums. Sometimes lo-fi production pisses me off, like it’s an affectation. Not the case here by a long shot, so take a listen.

AJ Cortes and the Burglars / Rude Television split cassette

How can you not root for this kid AJ CORTES, who at twelve years old started cranking out bops with the confidence some of us in our thirties are still chasing (not a projection, I swear…). The fact that he plays all the instruments himself, records himself, designs all the tapes, runs a label and is basically a one-person punk factory all before his teen years, it’s nothing short of amazing. And it’s not novelty, like you see this tape and go “oh, this is the kid who makes garage punk.” This is the real deal. “Never Ever” thrashes, it’s tight and ferocious with a massive bass line and convincingly pissed-off vocals. “Teenage Bozo” likewise hits the mark dead on. You’d have to be a jerk to write this off, and my only hope is he doesn’t burn out on it all. Can’t wait to see where he goes from here. On the flipside, we have another Florida solo punk band, on the brainier side of things with a tip of the cap to Australian compatriots in wiry rock‘n’roll. Overall, this tape is exciting and a whole hell of a lot of fun.

V/A Anti Human Trafficking Benefit Comp cassette

Literal twelve-year-old AJ Cortes, label boss over at the Miami-based Gravity Hill Records (a cassette label), has compiled sixteen slime-covered tracks from whatever strain of mutants have evolved in this post-LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS world. As you probably gathered from the title, this comp is meant to combat human trafficking in some sense. Although, it’s unclear whether the proceeds are going to a particular organization or if this comp is just meant to “raise awareness.” In any case, at just $4 for the digital release, you’re getting a pretty big bang for your buck. The compilation features a lot of folks who you’ve likely already heard and have opinions about—M.A.Z.E., PRINT HEAD, BILLIAM, and NEO NEOS to name a few. But it also features even more artists whom you’ve likely never heard of (or you’ve had your ear way closer to the ground than I have). We’re getting tracks from WWW, YOKE, GEORGE CRUSTANZA, MAYGE, and the SUXX—if you don’t like the first set of bands I named, you won’t like these either. Mr. Cortes supplies at least three of the tracks on here as well with his projects AJ CORTES AND THE BURGLARS and BENNY AND THE BOYS, the latter of whom cover two tracks by the WAD. You absolutely have to give “Nog Bag” a listen—the bass sound that starts the track is so insane and great that I might actually prefer this to the original. And it wouldn’t be a punk comp without a seemingly out-of-place/shitty track, and unfortunately that is provided here by HEARTLESS FOLK—this sounds like GOOD RIDDANCE or some other Fat Wrecks grunty pop punk. Anyway, this release really reminded me of what I loved about those early days of Lumpy Records—just a bevy of weirdo bands I’ve never heard of, not all of whom I like, but all of whom make me sit up and think, “Whoa! What the hell is this?!”