Reviews

Vague Absolutes

Freak Ritual Death EP

Stark raving madness from subterranean Los Angeles, circa 2015. Ya see, Ritual Death was FREAK’s lone offering, these sounds heretofore available only via a handful o’ scattered demo tapes. Vague Absolutes, in their infinite and drool-prompting wisdom, pressed 107 copies (!) to 7″ wax, which is at least 393 too few if ya ask me. FREAK’s fury and filth—gutter-level blood-drip ugliness—is so expertly communicated, so literate, that you’ll think you’re dreamin’. Thug vocals, bashing rhythm, slither riffing, real grime, too punk. As with the wondrous (and FREAK-related) INDEX demo that Vague Absolutes excavated a few years ago, here’s a bright fuckin’ light on a band that’s far too sick to ignore. So fucking good! Probably a goner by the time you see this, but know that it exists and know that it fucking destroys.

Skinned Teen Radio Session EP

One of the paragon teenage girl-punk combos of the 1990s is back, in a manner of speaking! The four tracks on this new EP were originally recorded as part of a 1993 radio session, with Niki Eliot of like-minded UK Riot Grrrl insurrectionists HUGGY BEAR joining in on drums and backing vocals—takes on “Pillowcase Kisser” and “Starch” from the SKINNED TEEN/RAOOUL split LP are both represented, along with the oft-comped “Straight Girl” and the otherwise-unreleased “Nancy Drew.” There’s all of the anyone-can-do-it skeletal punk spark and schoolyard-chant catchiness that defined the band’s early EPs, with the inclusion of some toy percussion on the two B-side tracks that casts SKINNED TEEN as the ’90s spiritual heirs to Y PANTS’ starkly minimalist and playfully feminist ’80s art-pop. The exact intersection of everything that punk should always be—ramshackle, economical, deviously smart, the product of minds that have too often been excluded from the conversation. Limited to 200 copies and already sold out from the source; do whatever needs to be done to acquire your own.

Teini-Pää Mietin Minne Meet EP

Female-fronted power pop from Helsinki, drawing the cuddlecore vibe from Mint Records circa the mid-’90s (CUB, MAOW) through a Finnish filter to make it their own sound. There are also strong ’80s twee vibes here, thinking of BLACK TAMBOURINE, SHOP ASSISTANTS, and TALULAH GOSH. All lyrics are in Finnish, which amplifies the dreamy and atmospheric spirit of the music. The short four-song EP had me rewardingly search out the rest of their discography.