Reviews

No Coast

Bashford Happathy cassette

Ten-song cassette from Madison, WI, recorded, mixed, mastered and released by immortal turkey Bobby Hussy. Grunge/alt-rock revival with some real nasty, sleazy riffs, doing it the best that this style can possibly be done. BASHFORD sounds a lot like Bleach-era NIRVANA to me, like you could probably slip a couple of these tunes within that record and play it for someone who has never heard it before and I doubt they would stand out that obviously. I am personally not the biggest alt-rock revival kinda guy, but if early teenage me had heard this, it would have certainly gotten a lot of plays.

Red Mass Kilrush Drive LP

This is RED MASS’ first LP, which seems strange since they have been releasing records since 2008. RED MASS is an eclectic group of musicians led by Choyce, formerly of LES SEXAREENOS, THE DAYLIGHT LOVERS, and many other bands. Their music is an amalgamation of post-punk and modern garage rock. It’s fuzzy with pointy edges. It slowly creeps to the edges of the room. The vocals are serious and intense, but subtle. The combination sounds really nice.

Red Mass Volume 4. Love & Magik cassette

Here’s the thing—Volume 4. Love & Magik is a cool, sultry garage/psych slog that sets a mood and sticks with it, the kind of release your (grand?)parents would have listened to in the woods (if they had record players in the woods), and it would have felt dangerous. But here’s the real thing…it’s not as cool as it should be. This should be a transformative journey into darkness, but instead it’s a lurching garage/post-punk jammer that’s like, you know, pretty cool. “Black Mass” is the only real burner on the tape and it’s shit-hot, but shouldn’t that one be creepy as fuck? Sometimes you should be able to admit when you want…more.

Shazy Hade Triumph Returns Again LP

Ah wow, another “long-lost album” by a band that I presume has been largely forgotten by whoever the folks that knew them in the first place might be. This one was recorded sometime around 2008 and was (most interestingly) thought to have been destroyed in an unannounced bulldozing of the studio that housed the master tapes. I take that as a sign that these tunes were never meant to be released. But, lo and behold, a sole copy emerged from the wreckage, and here in 2024 we are given the chance to marvel at the album that fate couldn’t kill. Perhaps for some this will fulfill an indie rock prophecy of mythical status. My impression is that myths rarely hold up to the bright light of reality, and this collection of songs belongs on a busted tape under a pile of rubble. Triumph Returns Again is boilerplate jingle-jangle indie pop, graced with whiny, grating, off-key vocals. It’s pretty excruciating stuff. In a day and age when there are so many new and exciting bands pushing the frontiers of music, why waste your time on something the forces of nature were clearly trying to eviscerate?

Steel Pole Bath Tub The Skulls Tape 12″

For a band that attained a modicum of notoriety and exposure during their early ’90s heyday, STEEL POLE BATH TUB has sunk a bit deep into the moors of history. There have been some reissues, but this 12” on No Coast digs up an early peak for the band. After decamping from their hometown of Bozeman, Montana for the foggy hills and cheap thrills of punk mecca San Francisco, STEEL POLE BATH TUB announced their presence on the scene with a self-released tape. Excellently entitled We Own Drrrills in its original incarnation, the EP now bears a more straightforward nomenclature (everyone loves skulls!). The sidelong “Kung Fu Love” demonstrates one of STEEL POLE’s signatures—employing television samples as texture and reference. As the trio hammers away at their jackknifed jams, fight flick snippets bubble up through the din. The flip features four relatively normal rock songs, by turns noisy or funky or melodic (“Rain Song” has a REPLACEMENTS lilt to it), and not far removed from Sub Pop bands of the era. A cool archival release for all the former subscribers to Your Flesh mag.

The Beat Index Volume One: Juvenilia cassette

Madison, WI-based pandemic solo project. Poppy rock’n’roll hooks mixed with electronic synth-pop/synthwave/new wave. There are some real dreamy, pretty songs on this. I honestly don’t know how much appeal this will have to punkers/freakers, and I know I’m no expert in the electro/synthwave world, but I think my man Bobby from No Coast Records might have a real hit on his hands here with the BEAT INDEX. The pop sensibility on this cassette is remarkable and undeniable.

Whippets Whippets LP

WHIPPETS have a very distinctive-sounding singer—he reminds me of a combination of the singer from ALICE DONUT, Doc Dart from CRUCIFUCKS, and maybe a little Jello Biafra. I think he sounds great. The music is mostly a dark-sounding combination of post-punk, goth, and hardcore punk, with some modern hardcore at the end of the record. Moody and moving. They’d fit well with bands like WET SPECIMENS and KILLING JOKE. Good stuff.

Wristwatch II LP

Following up their 2021 debut, Wisconsin’s WRISTWATCH continues mining the vault of melodic, synth-heavy garage rock. The songs oscillate between straightforward gritty numbers like the opening track “Rules,” and more saccharine indie-inspired tunes such as “Sweet Tooth.” The unavoidable comparison is to the output of Jay Lindsey, particularly Lindsey’s contributions in LOST SOUNDS and as JAY REATARD. It’s so blatant that there are even “once removed” correlations at play. For example, the vocals on many of the songs don’t just sound like JAY REATARD—they sound like JAY REATARD trying to sound like T.V. Smith. The same could be said for the instances in which WRISTWATCH evokes SCREAMERS…they’re actually more evocative of when LOST SOUNDS would ape SCREAMERS. Not to discredit the deftness of songwriting exhibited by the two members of this band, Bobby Hussy and Ty Spatz. There’s clearly a lot of talent and creativity in the mix, even a glimmer of erudition to be found. I’m just left thinking there may be untapped ingenuity lurking just beyond the confines of pastiche.