Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

Please send vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc.—no major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!

L.O.T.I.O.N. World Wide W.E.B. LP

This is the one. This is the moment that L.O.T.I.O.N. evolved from an interesting concept into a fully-realized, impeccably executed cyber juggernaut. The base of early industrial is still there (they’ll never not owe a debt to SKINNY PUPPY) but that skeleton is fleshed out here with a range of new sounds and textures, including thrash riffing (“New Prosthetic Metal Arm”), industrial dance (the KMFDM-ish “Gabber Punks of Dabs/Downed Police Helicopter”), and even downtempo electronica (the wonderfully out of left field “I.C.B.M.” with its club-ready female vocals). If you’ve been a bit dubious of this band’s earlier output, put that aside because this is a new-model L.O.T.I.O.N., equally prepared to conquer fetid punk dives and velvet-roped VIP rooms. It probably goes without saying, but this packaging is fantastic as well, utilizing a Soldier of Fortune mag-styled sleeve and insert along with a fantastic poster featuring one of vocalist Alexander Heir’s best works yet.

V/A Chain of Karma CD

Break out your bandanna and knuckledusters, this CD is a cornucopia of metallic/NYHC-style hardcore bands from Japan. Six bands, each offering three tracks apiece, so you get a good dose of material from the bands you know, and a good sense of what the others are all about. The disc opens and closes with its strongest material, kicking off with the SUICIDAL-loving mosh masters CYCOSIS and closing with the Burning Spirits-meets-CRUMBSUCKERS crossover of SAIGAN TERROR (best known for their super-elusive EP on Bacteria Sour). In between you’ll find straightforward trebly hardcore from B SIDE APPROACH, some particularly weird joke-y black metal-style stuff from the reliably strange HARD CORE DUDE, some super-catchy riff-centered mosh from GAMY, and some very metallic and technical stuff from EEVEE. Not as great as some of the other Hardcore Kitchen samplers from the past (I highly recommend Destructive Decibel Domination and the N.E.K/ADA MAX split) but there’s plenty to like here, especially if you’re a fan of the heavier side of hardcore.

Bad Breeding Exiled LP

This record sounds like a cross between WHITE LUNG, RUDIMENTARY PENI, and DISCHARGE—three bands that sound almost nothing alike.The anarcho-punk vibes are heavy throughout the music, lyrics, and artwork, but unlike a lot of modern anarcho-punk that seems to go the goth route, this is a lot heavier, even verging into hardcore territory. The bass is turned up loud in the mix and become the main driver of the songs, and the guitar parts are experimental and chaotic, but manage to maintain punk. Something here for everyone.

Strawberry Cinder Block Slice of Life CD

Here is a one-person death-grind metal-punk project out of St. Charles, Illinois. This is the kind of shit you hear late night at the rock bar when the metal dude is working. It’s got enough guitar squeals to make you make you puke up hoppy micro-pint, too. It’s also got an anime theme in the cover art and between-song samples, which I don’t really know what to make of. All and all, this one ain’t great, but it could be much worse.

Steve Adamyk Band Paradise LP

I love STEVE ADAMYK. If I liked guys and he liked guys and I wasn’t so much older than him, I’d probably ask him to marry me. Either him or Bobby Martinez. Anyway, you get here just what you’ve grown to expect: extremely catchy, infectious power-pop. As soon as you put the needle down, you start bouncing your head. It’s immediate. These dudes just consistently deliver. It’s catchy and melodic and all that, but don’t think that must mean that this isn’t raw rock’n’roll. Great record.

Moral Panic Moral Panic LP

Man, these guys come out of the gates swinging, with a faster-paced, almost frenetic number. This is punk rock. Sure, it’s catchy, but it’s got this nervous energy that keeps the listener on edge. They keep up the pace for the entire record. This thing just shreds. At times I’m reminded of the DEAD BOYS, only amped up a tad. And just for the hell of it, they throw in a PAGANS cover. Excellent record.

Primitive Hands Bad Men in the Grave LP

The cover (which is awesome) has you expecting a cowboy/western edge. Think Clint Eastwood and spaghetti westerns. Think cowboy surf. Add vocals. Now add some distortion. But it’s not one dimensional. Subsequent tracks get a little fuzzy. This is rock’n’roll. It’s crazy catchy and a little uncomfortable at the same time. That’s a pretty sweet combo. Just a few songs in and you realize that this goes well beyond some cowboy shtick. This is for reals. Man, they finish a great record with perhaps the best song, which is very RADIO BIRDMAN-like. I don’t know how long they’ve been at it, but Alien Snatch continues to deliver the goods.

Romskip 05 EP

Track one and I’ve got mixed emotions. I find the vocals a bit much. I feel like he’s trying too hard. Musically, it’s pretty cool. It’s deliberate and plodding, but catchy as hell. The bass really draws you in. It’s almost kind of funky, but with an eeriness. There’s a lot going on, which doesn’t always work for me. By track three, they’re starting to mix in some backing vocals. Overall, I think I like it, but I think maybe they take it just a little too seriously for me to really get on board. I dig that the vocals are in their native Norwegian. Shout out to Bergen, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Cement Shoes Too LP

Fresh, rocking hardcore tunes from Richmond, VA. Right off the leash they remind my Bay-Area-bubble-living ass how fuckheaded life in the South must be with “Unite the Right in Hell,” which actually sounds akin to Damaged-era BLACK FLAG. “Big men all die / Pig men all die / Alt-right all die / I’ll take your head / I’ll take yo’ hat!” Staccato caveman vocal delivery blurts over varied tempos, boosting the character of what could otherwise be a really good but pedestrian punk record. Bizzare but musical punk with a punchy, thick production and enough hardcore sensibilities to appeal to a wider audience. Totally into it.

Frenzy Frenzy 12″

FRENZY is a band with many admirable qualities: they’re consistent, hardworking, and they’ve got a unique approach to graphic design, but their greatest quality is that they understand their genre and style much better than almost any other band going, and they express that understanding by having fun! Go back to the noisepunk godheads like DISORDER, CHAOS UK and CHAOTIC DISCHORD, and you don’t find a bunch of po-faced sad sacks talking earnestly about issues or (even worse) preening and styling and thinking themselves superior to their audience. You find a bunch of friends taking the piss, enjoying beer and noize. I have never seen FRENZY not enjoy themselves onstage, and I’ve never heard a FRENZY record that doesn’t bring a smile to my face. To be fair, their lyrics do touch on serious and important topics, but they always leave plenty of room to honor the essential ridiculousness of the style. This, their first 12″ record, is easily the best of their output so far: stripped-down and proceeding at a pace somewhere between lurch and lope, with the wildest solos yet. One of the best of the year so far for sure!

Blowback Great Again EP

Unfortunately, this is not new material from this excellent rock’n’roll-tinged hardcore band from Japan. Instead, this is the DC-based band that’s been kicking around for a minute, offering up six tracks of punky political hardcore with spot-on lyrics. The songwriting is good, not great, and sticking mostly to moderate tempos and straightforward traditional song structures, though the closing track (“A Brief History of Genocide”) flirts with reggae in an interesting, CLASH-y way. The vocals are nice and clear, so one can understand the lyrics, all of which feature right-on takes on issues like internet-based political radicalization, environmentalism, and, of course, fuck Trump. Not a record that’ll set the world on fire, but a strong release with an excellent message to share.

Negative Gears Negative Gears 12″

This is the debut vinyl aural blast from Sydney’s NEGATIVE GEARS. Six demented screeds bifurcated by one ’80s synth interlude—the whole thing goes by so quickly, that you can listen to the record on your tea break. There’s a melancholic undercurrent here (a bit WIPERS, a bit ICEAGE) that is tempered by an Aussie snarl not unlike GEARS’ peers like LOW LIFE and TOTAL CONTROL. I’ve listened to it a few times now, and I keep hearing new things to appreciate: a little guitar riff here, a synth line there, the lyrics that smack of disappointment in how life has turned out. The darkness that lurks in the shadows where the sun shines brightest. The beach punks drinking under the pier, the desert rat frying in a trailer.

Private Anarchy Central Planning LP

Sparse, intricate weirdo art pop, sounding more a labor of necessity rather than straightforward love. Spiderweb guitar lines perform an off-kilter dance around loose-limbed, jazzy rhythms. There’s a subdued quality to the whole thing, like if you imagine David Thomas from PERE UBU making demos in his bedroom, but trying really hard not to wake up his roommates. There are eleven songs, and if you often stay up late listening to college radio, you’re sure to hear some of them eventually.

Toyota Toyota LP

Total mongoloid math punk here. Hyperkinetic jazzcore spurts with deadpan staccato robot vocals. If I time travelled to six months ago and told you that in August 2019 and beyond, the latest thing would sound like a DEVO simulation robot programmed by PRIMUS, you’d tell me “so what, URANIUM CLUB have like five albums already.” Rock with no roll for the age of the electric vehicle hot rod rumble where neon-clad Prius-rockers play chicken for cryptocurrency, not pink slips.

Dan Webb and the Spiders Be Alright LP

Pretty sure this is my first excursion into DAN WEBB AND THE SPIDERS territory, despite it being their fifth full-length. What you get is a polished slab of shiny, catchy indie-rock flavored pop-punk. The songs are perfectly executed—the hooks, choruses, harmonies, and guitar embellishments all hit just the right note. In its best moments, I am reminded of the elements that make the MARKED MEN so great. But something about this is leaving me a little cold; there just doesn’t seem to be much of an edge. I feel like I can visualize the car commercial that these songs could soundtrack.

Alpha Hopper Aloha Hopper LP

A little too quirky to be hardcore, too heavy to be rock, and probably post-a-lot-of-things, this record might not be groundbreaking, but it’s pretty hard to pin down. Snotty, screamed vocals that sound straight out of the early ’90s sit nicely in the mix with AmRep-style noise rock. It’s busy enough to be interesting, but not so busy that it isn’t catchy.

Indian Summer Cherry Smash 12″

30 years ago, INDIAN SUMMER (of Virginia, not California) recorded a four-song 7″ that was never released. In that same year, Maximum Rocknroll said of the band’s tape, “Pretty upbeat melodic punk with a slight pop edge. Why?’, the song which kicks the tape off, is the best tune.” It shall be said again. These four songs (plus a demo track that is a couple seconds long) sound very much in line with a lot of DC stuff from the time. More so the melodic hardcore side of things (and not so much the emo part), with their love for GOVERNMENT ISSUE being especially apparent. It’s a cool document and also worth a listen. “Why?”, the song which kicks the record off, is still the best tune.

Chrome Skulls The Metal Skull EP

This band out of New Jersey lays down four tracks of nonstop blaring D-beat in the vein of IMPALERS. They kind of sound like if a warhorse ran up to you, busted out some sick metal licks, and then galloped off to annihilation. They also sound like many other bands doing this kind of thing. That being said, this EP is solid as fuck so who cares if they don’t stand out from the pack.

Spit-Take Falling Star 12″

This is absurdly poppy pop punk that hints at indie rock. Ranging from slow, melancholic, bummer tunes like the opener and closer to up-beat, melancholic, bummer tunes like “How,” to melancholic, bummer, pop anthems like “Five or Six,” this record covers a small amount of ground. Sung vocals that get pushed every once in a while play with simple guitar melodies on what is a pretty forgettable record.

Warsh Demo cassette

Forceful hardcore punk. Shouted female vocals, some excellently weird riffs and construction, and it’s generally tough as nails. WARSH hit that typical stomp just enough to lure in the flavor-of-the-month kids, but it’s just a trick they’re gonna use to smash your face with a deadly buzzsaw guitar and insanely good tracks. It’s like NO THANKS planted “Fuck Everything” on Prince Edward Island (that’s in Canadia, the way eastern part) 35 years ago, and WARSH just waited until it had fully matured. Highest recommendation.

V/A Kinda Sorta Music 2019 CD-R

20-band compilation CD-R—a format that I simultaneously curse and adore. The disc starts with garage punk, then raw hardcore, then blackened grind/crust…so you know you’re in for a wild ride. There’s weird industrial (FUTURE SCUM), pure noise (O.S. D’VIL, OLIGARCHY OF MEGALOMANIA), shit-fi garage (the GREAT SADDNESS), psychedelic drum machine party punk (HURT HAWKS), some lost BAUHAUS shit (UFO WHISPERER) and plenty of straight hardcore and/or punk burners (the RIGHT, DEAD BABIES). Literally something here for everyone, and I missed more than a few highlights in this review. Kinda Sorta Music is all over the place in the best way, and well worth the two or three emails to kindasortamusic@mail.com that it might take to get a copy into your own hands.

Western Death Sick Century CD

The meaty chugs of mid-’80s NYHC clashes with melodic gruff vocals and wailing leads, while the heart of Sick Century is high energy catchy ’core along the lines of SNFU or BOUNCING SOULS. Worth noting that these kids hail from Medicine Hat, Alberta—a town the cops quite literally tried ran us out of on tour in ’96, but that was a different century. This century is a sick one. See what I did there?

Obedience MMXIX LP

If you paid attention to the 2016 demo, then you pretty much know this 12″ platter is going to be good. Well, it’s better than that. A ten-track juggernaut, with Dave’s vocals cranking out frustration and wisdom at a pace and ferocity that rivals ’82 MDC. There’s an amped up Oi! undertone that sneaks into the mix here and there, which only serves to make their unhinged rage a little catchier than it probably should be…and makes bangers like “Wall Me In” hopelessly addictive. For reference, this Austin band features members of TEAR IT UP, CONCRETE, SEVERED HEAD OF STATE and BREAKOUT…you know, in case you needed any convincing.

Pink Guitars Hand CD-R

At their height, this Buffalo, NY recording project reminds me of the atonal spacious presentation of ARMIA’s Legenda, while most of the time it’s some feisty bedroom four-track punk with goooood riffs (“Above It All”) and some questionable vocals (also “Above It All,” unfortunately) that sound like they are going for 82 DC on a recording that is light years from ’82 DC in almost every way. If nothing else, PINK GUITARS keep me listening so I can try to find a way to describe what I’m listening to…this is something, you see.

Proletariat Punch Crapitalism cassette

If my first thought is “hmmm, kinda has a feisty Spiderleg Records vibe,” then things are going well, right? PROLETARIAT PUNCH is primarily (I think?) a recording project, and they’ve been cranking out offerings for almost a decade. This one sticks with me more than last year’s Intifada EP; they charge full-speed through every track (there are just four), and at their tightest moments manage to exude a touch of PENI lurking under a pounding early DISCHARGE beat. It’s a relatively simple formula, but it really works here. Recommended.

Salty Dry-Rub cassette

How do you describe hipster punk delivered by actual nerds? Not ironic nerds, but people who are nerds because they have no other choice in life. Dry-Rub is synth heavy, there’s the VERUCA SALT vibe that dominates (it’s really a WIRE / BUZZCOCKS vibe, but that’s a different decade and a different story), and there’s the overwhelming feeling that you’re own perception of cool is getting completely skewed by listening to SALTY. Decidedly un-hip hipster garage/psych music that should be for the masses.

Sendo Fogo Sobreviver a Lutar CD

Ripping fastcore, the way you want it and they way it should be delivered. São Paulo’s SENDO FOGO slow it down to a punishing pace when necessary, and it just makes the controlled insanity of bangers like “Abaixo do Chão” come off even more face-melting. Blasts drop in a few times, but at its heart this is a no-bullshit fast hardcore record—carrying on the Brasilian tradition of bands like DISCARGA, MAYOMBE, MERDE, and the like. Eleven songs, twelve minutes. Killer.

The Sissies Milksop cassette

Beer and shitty bars and rock’n’roll…it all still tastes good together. We’re talking the BRIEFS and/or Surfer Rosa era-PIXIES by way of AMBOY DUKES and/or STOOGES, but with a NINE POUND HAMMER “yeeeaaaahhh“ cranked way up in the front of house monitors. All of these ingredients are delicious, and the pained/strained vocals are the gravy. I kinda don’t want to like this, but I totally do.

USA/Mexico Matamoros LP

Actual noise rock royalty on this one, with King Coffey (BUTTHOLE SURFERS) behind the kit. Throw in a couple of dudes from SHIT & SHINE, and prepare yourself for a beating. Pure and purely demented Texas noise rock, emphasis on the “noise” descriptor. There are layers of magic lurking under the crumbling cacophony of destructed and distorted sound masquerading as “songs,” laying waste to boring genre adherence just as they lay waste to theories of repetition as music. Regurgitating the ghost of KILLDOZER as a psilocybin aficionado roaming Austin alleys at 4:00 A.M. Game over, kids…the grown-ups just won.

Suck Lords True Lords Music EP

These Portland maniacs went and got really fukkn raw on their new EP. Blown-out garage hardcore mania fueled by speed and paranoia, these eight songs are onto the next fight before you even know you got your ass kicked. SUCK LORDS swing hard, and the riffs crawl under your skin, but everything just happens so damn fast. Like NEON CHRIST fast. Take NOSFERATU as a lazy modern comparison, but the shit here sounds like no other game in town. Yeah…it’s good-ass shit.

Speed Babes Tape:Pink cassette

Third dose this month of garage-esque punk from What’s For Breakfast? Records. Karoline says “it kinda sounds like that wave of commercial almost-punk that was popular fifteen years ago. Like, not the HIVES, and not quite FRANZ FERDINAND, and maybe REIGNING SOUND sometimes.” And you see, that’s why I ask Karoline’s opinion: because she fukkn nails it. Quirky jams from Chicago’s prolific SPEED BABES, every track is catchy (well, almost; see below) and the above non-descriptors should give you a pretty good idea of what they are slinging. A few breath-y slow/quiet tracks for good measure (the burners are way better though, “Start a War” is a clunker supreme).

D7Y D7Y LP

This is how you fukkn do it—bombastic and relentless D-beat punk that sounds totally original. Iceland’s D7Y tweak the formula just enough and in just the right ways: integrating the noise and the chaos into the songs themselves instead of just adding chaos for the sake of chaos like many bands are wont to do. But the main thing here is just the constant pummeling that D7Y delivers…it simply doesn’t stop, and just listening to this slab is exhausting. Absolutely top notch record in construction, presentation and delivery.

Enemy 4 Songs cassette

Maximum brutality on this four-song banger. High speed, high energy, and devastatingly heavy Los Angeles hardcore that successfully harnesses California’s catchy early-’80s punk and dumps a colossal amount of tonnage on its collective back. Check the urgent stomp of “Glüm” (my choice track) and see if you’re still standing when it’s over. The EP from a while back was good, they were great when I saw them last year, but this shit? This thing is unreal.

Faux Co. Radio Silence cassette

I mean, it’s not bad. But I feel like I’m listening to the 1971 California radio pop engine firing on all cylinders, and I don’t know why there’s this MAMAS & THE PAPAS rehash mixed in with my raging D-beat and my hardcore. Don’t get me wrong, Sweetheart of the Rodeo is an essential record (and it’s way more country than Radio Silence is), there’s just a time and a place.

Musclegoose 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Musclegoose Mountain cassette

High-energy golf-themed basement shit punk that is way too high-fidelity. This shit is supposed to be recorded with a toilet mic, and these Arkansas butt rockers spent the money on a studio for some reason. It’s weird, but it means that the legitimate chops on tracks like “Bad Boyz II: Men” shine through and the listener starts to think that MUSCLEGOOSE might actually be a real band (hint: they are). DWARVES chops with SPITS humor, and head and shoulders better than the throw away joke punk garbage persona that they present.

Frustrerad Shadow of Life cassette

Clenched-fist kÁ¥ng fire from Belgium. They adhere to The Formula quite well: Euro D-beats, verse/chorus/verse with no funny stuff (maybe an occasional bridge), treble rebel recording, shouted earnest vocals…and a VARUKERS cover. I mean, it’s all here and they do it right.

Night Talkers Code 1079! LP

High-energy party-heavy punk rock’n’roll. Screaming guitars up front at all times, and you can practically feel beer cans whizzing by your head as their brand of amped-up club punk reaches to NASHVILLE PUSSY to inspiration. NIGHT TALKERS sound instantly familiar, probably because they have existed as different entities with different monikers in different cities practically since the dawn of punk. But hard-hitting burners like “Trapped” are timeless.

Pasha & the Kindred Spirits Demo 2019 cassette

Lo-fi indie pop and/or region rock, or perhaps this is like the PROMISE RING if they got signed by Plan-It-X in 1998. Plus there are layers of whoa-ohs and lots of guitar leads, but the recording kinda makes it all just sound like a mess. I’m still listening here, and with all due respect to the artist/s, I promise that I’m trying. But the truth is that PASHA & THE KINDRED SPIRITS are a swooning turd delivered with marginally out-of-tune pretension. If you want to hear the sound of a jilted lover that just won’t go away, then this is your jam…I find myself wondering if I know anyone in this band and am gonna feel bad about this review (edit: just listened again, and it’s very honest).

Born Shit Stirrers Depressed Father’s Club CD

Short blasts of attitude from a crew of Brits living on the north coast of Japan’s southern island. (I’m talking about the big islands. Okinawa and Ishigaki are important and beautiful, but they aren’t very big.) Songs mostly clock in under the one-minute mark, and come off like KICKER and PUSRAD in a blender. Vocals are barked with a rarely rivaled irreverence, and this crew of expats relentlessly assails foreigners with a vicious wit. Top notch release from a group that manages the “tongue in cheek” vs. “fun as fuck” balance brilliantly.

Chardonnay Do You Have the Maximum Intuition cassette

As an instantly addictive collection of references, the opening salvo from CHARDONNAY offers a journey far more advanced than a mere listening experience. You want high praise? I thought about HAWKWIND, WIPERS and COMPLICATIONS in the first track alone, and when they settled down into a barrage of gravel-voiced emotion, I found myself liking them even more. Self-described “LSD-beat” from New Orleans, this release is probably more rock and less fire than I would normally request, but damn the tunes are just gold throughout. It’s good to branch out from time to time…

The English Language Paranoid Imagination cassette

Early-’90s grunge/college/indie fully reborn and reincarnated. I mean, it’s been almost 30 years, so TAD is classic rock at this point (“Stairway to Heaven” was only eight years old when Pay to Cum dropped, so there’s that for perspective). Some surfy Laurel Canyon bits break up the distant guitars on what could essentially sit alongside EUGENIUS or any number of then-retro sounding bands. So yeah…here’s some kids from 2019 trying to sound like drugged out kids from 1990 who were trying to kick 1970 butt rock in the butt. Is it good? Yup, it totally is. They do exactly what they set out to do. Choice cut: “Misery.”

Frites Modern 6 Met 10″ reissue

Pretty bold move to open your debut EP with a cover of the Sesame Street theme song, huh? (Though I guess it has the effect of making the rest of your songs seem that much harder in comparison.) You might recognize this Dutch trio from the Welcome to 1984 comp, sandwiched there between the STALIN and UBR. The 6 Met EP was originally released on cassette in 1983; this first-time vinyl press was done for last year’s Record Store Day. There’s a distinct UK82 feel to the driving rhythms, eminently catchy riffs and singalong refrains—think GBH or SKEPTIX—but like the best UK-influenced Euro HC bands, FRITES MODERN ramped up the intensity for some real classic tracks like “Jeugdjournaal” and “Leugenaar.” Nice crisp recording, too. Grab this if you can!

Wipers Live at the Met, December 31, 1982 LP

Previously unreleased WIPERS live soundboard recording from 1982; seventeen songs including two that aren’t on any of their other records? I don’t think I could imagine a better description for an LP. And it delivers. Though recorded on the eve of the sessions for their Over the Edge album, this set draws primarily on classic Is This Real-era cuts (“Dimension 7,” “Potential Suicide,” “Tragedy,” etc.) and obscurities like the fantastic “Something to Prove.” I celebrate the band’s entire catalog, but Live at the Met is the WIPERS at their most straightforward, catchiest, punk-rock best. Absolutely essential. “This is for all you aliens…”

Social Distortion Poshboy’s Little Monsters 12″

This six-song EP collects all the material from the 1981 session that yielded SOCIAL DISTORTION’s first record, the Mainliner single. (Interestingly, that debut was originally planned as a 12″ and made it to the test pressing stage before being downsized due to disagreements over the artwork.) You’ll find formative takes of tracks that were rerecorded for other releases (“Justice for All” renamed “It’s the Law” for 1988’s Prison Bound). In fact, all these early versions have appeared elsewhere themselves, so there’s nothing unreleased here. But it’s nonetheless cool to revisit this stuff — “Playpen” and “Moral Threat” are two of the band’s best early tracks. Worth checking out if you don’t have the Mainliner (Wreckage from the Past) LP already.

Hash Redactor Drecksound LP

A spun-out frenzy with smears of MARK E. SMITH vocals lift over a wild sorta FALL / GUN CLUB / SCIENTISTS guitar collision, and the sickest rhythm section in modern punk. This is a dense total sound, tastefully stealing from both classic Manchester and L.A. punk as needed! What else is there to do in these end times we are stuck existing within but make a sound that reflects your record collection with your friends? HASH REDACTOR features the rhythm section of NOTS and a couple EX-CULTers too, so Memphis maniacs you already know you need this right? It swaggers and goofs in a most endearing fashion: off-kilter and groovy, like trying to leave a crowded party and drunkenly walking into a swamp. One of those records where you wish the label had sent a reviewer copy!

Whisper Hiss Everything Must Go EP

You know, their band name pretty much hits the nail on the head on how I would define their sound. Soft as a whisper, with the wheeze of a hiss. Heavy on feels, WHISPER HISS offer up soft-edged darkwave post-punk, that’s dark with a heady innuendo of uncertainty. All the melodies are carried by synth and thick bass, and guitar is absent to their binary sound that is only punctuated with vocals. And I’ll be honest, I was waiting for them to really bite into it, or perhaps unravel, but they stayed steady on a slow-weaving and steady course with “Everything Must Go,” “Telepathy,” and “Undone.” The only song that seemed to veer into looser, weirder, and more screamy territory was “Wake-Up Call,” which of course is always well-received on my end. Very chill post-wave punk for these Portlanders.

Giggly Boys Another Close Call 7″

This two song 7″ barely makes it to four minutes in total. The A-side is an uptempo melodic punk number in the vein of MASSHYSTERI, with a reverbed out Mark E. Smith soundalike on vocals. The B-side is a little more garage-y, a little more rock’n’roll, a little catchier, quite a bit shorter, and probably the better of the two. This stuff sounds similar to their previous output, but a little more polished, and I mean that in a good way.

Gitane Demone Quartet Substrata Strip CD

Gitane Demone will be best known to readers of MRR from her time with CHRISTIAN DEATH, but she has had a long career as a vocalist. I was excited to check our this album after seeing that it features Paul Roessler, along with one of my favorite guitarists, Rikk Agnew, but punks hoping to hear some classic Agnew chops may be disappointed by the showtunes goth presented within. Demone’s powerful singing is the focus here: the darkly operatic cabaret songs resonate around occult-sounding themes. For this listener, the album sits way too far outside MRR territory, residing more in the Wiccan steampunk zone.