Reviews

Mpls Ltd

1000s of Cats Next of Cat LP

The first LP for this female-fronted two-piece from Japan, with Sonoko Nebashi writing, singing, and playing guitar and Dave Gatchell of the SELBY TIGERS on drums. The songs have the stripped-down, straightforward guitar playing and earnest vocal delivery of P.S. ELIOT or early BRATMOBILE and witty, observant lyrics that verge on the slightly dark side of unrequited love like the ones that bands such as CUB or BUCK would sing. If it was released twenty years ago, it would have found a home on Sympathy for the Record Industry, but fortunately MPLS Ltd picked it up, which means US fans won’t have to pay exorbitant shipping fees.

Blood Cookie The World in Reverse! LP

Minneapolis trio BLOOD COOKIE puts out their fourth LP, The World in Reverse!—it’s dark and brooding indie with noisy instrumentals, like a page out of early SONIC YOUTH with poppier overtones. Jordan and Tom trade off bass, guitar, and vocal duties in this democratic band, keeping songs fresh track to track without losing their cohesive sound that is as endearing as it is fun. With a range from soft, sweeping, and shambolic (“Shelter”) to slap-happy drumming and fast changes (“I Robbed a 7-11”), this has a little something for everyone and will leave you wanting more, even after fifteen tracks. Don’t let the glued-together album art fool you—while they may present as a melancholy college band, this group is tight and well-formed after ten years as BLOOD COOKIE.

Heather the Jerk Cable Access TV LP

Catchy and tough punk from Heather Sawyer on her first full-length album. She put out an EP, Rick Shitty Sessions, in 2017, and this album showcases her musical and lyrical expansion but keeps just enough rawness and spontaneity to make it honest and relatable. Similar energy to when the MUFFS were a four-piece, or pretty much any of the tracks off Sympathy for The Record Industry’s Alright, This Time Just the Girls compilations. The range here is dynamic with slow heartbreak songs like “Heather Got a Divorce,” “Thinking About Food,” and “It’s Over,” to poppier sing-alongs like “”3D Binch and “1-800-Heather.” Sawyer drums and sings for the inimitable PROUD PARENTS, and her bandmate Tyler Fassnacht helps out here on guitar. Sawyer is one more part of what’s keeping Madison, Wisconsin as one of the more pivotal punk scenes around.

Lazertits Lazertits Are Cancelled 12″

A three-song LP from a four-piece, all-female band from Melbourne, in the spirit of the COATHANGERS and the earlier, rougher version of SLEATER-KINNEY circa Dig Me Out. All the tracks have a tough, self-assured riot grrrl presence, with the masturbation-themed “Self Care” closing with a metal-esque breakdown. I’m not sure how the three songs, clocking in under nine minutes, fill out 12” of vinyl, but I love any non-traditional formatting of music. It’s like a teaser sampling to check out the rest of their catalog, especially the full-length Not Punk, Per Se.

Plot What Happened to Your Face LP

What a mystery this Philly trio called PLOT is. A series of very interesting influences come together in a thick concoction, where we can taste the pulse of the heaviest post-punk (think BIG BLACK or KILLING JOKE) with elements of ’90s industrial metal (voice samples included) and even some of the more exploratory spirit of ’90s post-hardcore. The result is dark, dense, and very singular. A deeply expressive sound that could well serve as the soundtrack of a post-industrial city in ruins or as the noise that our civilization makes when dying, a dreadful final death rattle.

Plot The Revenge LP

Philadelphia three-piece PLOT have just released The Revenge, their first full-length recording on MPLS Ltd. This six-track album kicks off with “I Have Your Slattern,” which is a tempo-shifting appetizer to the rest of the album, followed by “Peccadilloes,” an acoustic palate-cleanser of sorts that makes way for the meal of the album. “Bobbit Worm” features howling vocals over clipped and distorted instruments, and just when you think you’ve figured out PLOT, they throw down the darkened noise rock of “Eye Decay.” The gothic bend continues through the plodding, synth-heavy “Walk the Plank,” which decays into the dirty, bass-heavy “Slush Fund.” This album is an engrossing journey through unexpected directions which will leave you wanting more.

The Cult of Lip Sleep Receiver & Your Feedback 12″

This slab of vinyl combines two earlier releases from this Minneapolis act. Stuttering reverb, hazy but persistent riffage, and warbling feedback form the undercurrent eardrum buzz for dreamy, haunting vocals. A bubbling cauldron of influences gleaned from that epic decade of fuzz, from JESUS AND MARY CHAIN to MY BLOODY VALENTINE to DINOSAUR JR and SONIC YOUTH. Definitely wearing their shoegaze crush on their sleeves but to great effect.