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!
If you’re a fan of female-fronted pop music that’s both pretty and quirky, you’ll like this. If you’ve got a little thing for folk music, even better. Imagine taking parts of MAZZY STAR, the BREEDERS, and COURTNEY BARNETT and creating something new. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe. But I love this cassette.
Hardcore from Spain. Fairly generic riffs played competently over fairly cringe-worthy lyrics and mosh calls. If that sounds appealing to you, by all means, have at it, but personally I don’t think your life would be missing anything if you skipped this one. Next!
Here’s something that’s been bugging me since this Melbourne act dropped their debut, 2022’s Health/Body EP: what up with this band name? It feels like a pun (along the lines of PHIL ‘N’ THE BLANKS), but not one that makes any sense, and of the six whole-ass people in the band, nobody is named Phil. Then there’s the track “Ode to Phil,” one of this record’s gentler tracks and one seemingly about a superhero named Catgirl. Wut? Thankfully, in doing research for this review, I found that Gimme Gimme Gimme (an excellent zine shedding light on Aussie acts) had gotten to the bottom of this! Turns out Phil was a cat the singer lived with (while rooming with Lewis Hodgson of CIVIC) who often cooled off by laying on the kitchen tiles. Feels good to have that cleared up! So, yeah, this album picks up where they left off on that debut EP. Their core sound is very much in the vein of EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING or UV RACE—chatty post-punk with some new wave and garage around the edges—but, with six folks in the band, they’ve got too broad of a pool of musical influences to ignore. So, you get stuff like the working class psychedelia of the COSMIC PSYCHOS bleeding in, or tracks where they bump up the aggression and new-wave-iness to LOST SOUNDS-ish results, or even a track where they strip back their typically big sound to a something approaching ESG’s minimal funk punk. Personally, I think they sound best when they play it straight—”The Watcher,” which sounds like a more tuneful version of peak UV RACE, is one of my favorite songs of the year. In any event, whatever they’re playing, they sound like they’re having a blast doing it, making for an immensely listable record.
Following in the footsteps of classic ’80s Italian hardcore acts WRETCHED and NEGAZIONE, this demo from Massachusetts’s RABID FEW is a blistering listen. Great riffs, great leads, and memorable vocals; this lot would fit right in at punk fests like K-Town or Have a Good Laugh. While the guitar work and vocals leave nothing to be desired, the drumming is my favorite part here—it reminds me of BOOTLICKER, just pounding, pounding, pounding right up front in the mix. Get into this shit.
France has never exactly been known for its hardcore bands. In fact, I’m sure most of you would struggle a little to name five French ’80s hardcore bands. Sure, we never had any shortage of terrible Oi! bands (a sorry tradition), but few inspiring fast bands in the ’80s. SCRAPS were an exception. They played that kind of really fast and raw hardcore thrash with extreme vocals that grew in Europe in the mid-’80ss with bands like LÄRM, NEGAZIONE, HHH, or ASOCIAL. Imagine DISORDER covering GANG GREEN in a Bristol squat in 1984. SCRAPS embraced the super punky “noise not music” philosophy, although they were not as radical as their fellow countrymen, the mighty RAPT, but more direct and vicious than the equally mighty HEIMAT-LOS. The lyrics are mostly in French and tackled the topics of the day (apartheid, animal liberation, the arms race), but also some that focused on French politics, like the rise of Le Pen (famous leader of the far-right whose daughter currently heads the most popular far-right party in France) or torture during the war in Algeria. Angry political words that fit the music perfectly. The LP includes the early records of a band that celebrated its 40th birthday in 2023. That’s what you call dedication and true passion for hardcore punk. This is a pretty essential record if you are into abrasive and fast political hardcore punk, and an essential piece of history. Guaranteed completely Oi!-free.
From the very first second, this record comes at you strong and clear. They’re poppy and high-energy with a female vocalist. I’ll be honest, I had a much different assumption about this band based only on their name and album art. Something about it made me think this was going to be a super-serious, political street punk band. Certainly a style they could do; their song “Collateral Damage” is only seventeen seconds long and it feels even faster! Overall, they trend towards the themes of romantic relationships with a heavy resemblance to the band THIS IS MY FIST! But then there’s also songs like “My Right,” which is about abortion access and is fierce and angry, as it has every right to be! It’s a helluva anthem that screams about reproductive rights being taken away by men who will never find themselves pregnant. Then the very next song is about PMS!! That made me so happy to see. The SHITFITS are on the frontlines talking about feminist issues unapologetically. Plus, they have a song called “Opposites Attract” that is totally “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” with different lyrics.
This first full-length by Bloominton, Indiana band SWAN WASH is dense: gothic moments intermixed with alternative rock from the ’90s, with heavy emphasis on things like L7, the GITS, and BABES IN TOYLAND. When you realize SWAN WASH is a three-piece, you’ll be amazed at the wall of noisy sound they’re capable of producing, with moments as thick as the MELVINS. The nine tracks on this album feature a lot of variance in rhythm and instrumentation, but all somehow come out in harmony. If you’re into dark-toned rock music that edges into a lot of underground sounds, then check this out now.
I know you can’t always judge a book by its cover, but let’s be real, it’s usually a good indicator of what you’re getting yourself into. Usually, cool music is accompanied by cool artwork/presentation. It is what it is. I hate to say it, but the cover of this TRAPPED LIKE RATS EP really didn’t give me high hopes. It’s got a nu-metal vibe that I don’t care for. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the music. The band plays pretty standard hardcore that has a lot of guitar noodling, a lot of gruff gang vocals, and is overall unremarkable. That’s all I’ve got. I don’t find pleasure in writing this sort of review, but that’s the job and someone’s gotta do it. I’ll give these guys credit for hating the cops, but beyond that, this one’s a pass.
This one is a very bizarre listen. This Finnish band has a very lo-fi recording quality, and it also sounds like they really like bashing on pots and pans in rhythm. The fact that “sloppiness” is in the Bandcamp tags should say it all really. It’s certainly pretty out there, but I dig it quite a bit!
Out of press for the last decade, Dirt Cult and Green Noise have collaborated to reissue an absolute mammoth of ’70s punk, the debut album by X. This is desert island, “grab it off the shelf in a house fire” kinda shit right here. One hates to see terms like “classic” bandied about, but this is the rare instance in which the label truly applies. Story goes that these tunes were committed to tape in a nascent five-hour recording session, meant for the purpose of cutting a single. Fourteen blistering tracks later, we have one of the seminal documents of first-wave Australian punk. Aspirations goes harder than 90 percent of what passes for punk these days, and at half the tempo. Unbridled, raw, and absolutely savage, this bass-driven masterpiece laid a blueprint for many bands to follow. “Good On Ya Baby,” “Suck Suck Suck,” and “Delinquent Cars” are untouchable anthems that feature some of the most memorable vocal hooks to have ever wormed into my undeserving earholes. Wildly unhinged guitars being unsanctimoniously tortured dapple the bruising soundscape created by the rhythm section. It really doesn’t get much better than this. If you’re not familiar with the band or this record, stop reading and make that change. This is a heavyweight slab of pure punk perfection.
ZORN releases a knot of stellar, binge-worthy metal/punk. Billed as “Philly’s creepiest cult sensation,” the band brings satanic stage rituals and theater in various forms, such as carrying band members onstage via coffins and other wholesome behaviors. The stage presence is brilliant, as is the crusted, blackened punk spewing from this release. Much comes to mind—I want to look towards BATHORY, VENOM, NEGAZIONE, and some of that D-beat for comparison. The record is tough…tough and long! Lots of value to be had, and it’s on Black Konflik! It has become my master’s call.
This record is brought to us by 442 Music, DETROIT 442’s own label dedicated to their music and compilations of Detroit-based artists. While I usually struggle to find succinct words for a release chock-full of so many artists, Life Long Garbage is a pretty consistent gathering of lo-fi, scuzzy, and buzzy bands that take no shit, and are, if you didn’t read the album title, all female-fronted. Without listing all the contributions, some favorites are MILKBATH’s “Steamroller” that features some lovely, deep and rich vocals, ROUGH PATCH’s “Shit Day” that describes just that, making you feel alright about your own mess and sung over stripped-down drums and bass, and DEAR DARKNESS’s “You Wanna Beat Him Up” with soaring melodies and big, meaty guitars. After a few listens, I could go on to mention more favorites—all to say, this record contains a lot of powerful women from Motor City making excellent music.
Valencia D-beat duo’s debut release. Fast-paced, drum-driven hardcore punk with crusty dual vocals that guarantees to reach to your heart, exuding a cooperative international scene stance and ethos. Filled with its own groove that gives a refreshing take on this kind of sound. Favorite tracks: “Todo Roto” and “Lágrimas Negras.” Chaotically driven and utterly fun, you can see pogo in their future. Recommended.
BATO returns after a lengthy pause with a mix that includes early US hardcore and a frenzied, Japanese take à la GAUZE. In fact, the whole album is a bit of a musical tent, sheltering a number of micro-styles. Rapid-fire bass/snare beats and spin-kick-inspiring breakdowns all appear with stop-on-a-dime timing and frequent riff rotations. The sound quality is that of a beloved but ragged cassette.
Japanese punkers BLACK AND WHITE have come out with their second LP. Quickly looking at the record jacket, I saw the year 1978 above the label info and was very confused—boy, were they ahead of their time! “What a great reissue,” I thought! Upon some research, I assume this is an homage to ’70s British punk rock that they admit to loving in their online album description, as We Make the Standards and We Make the Rules came out this year, our unholy 2024. Distractions aside, you can definitely hear UK ’78 of the Oi! varietal, maybe the COCKNEY REJECTS mixed with off-kilter TOY DOLLS flourishes and speed. Lots of whole-band harmonies and chants, particularly on the B-side’s “Don’t Think Twice” that opens with a great, cutting guitar riff and roils into the super catchy chorus of “Don’t think twice / It’s alright”—admittedly and DYLAN rip-off, but this song is great. High-energy and endless fun, no downers in sight here, folks.
This EP is a record that does not lie. We’ve all been disappointed with lying records, especially before you could stream everything beforehand. I remember getting a supposedly “crust-as-fuck” LP from an American band once, and it ended up being boring metallic hardcore. It looked crusty, the label said it sounded crusty, the distro said the same, and yet, it was not—the record did not do what it said it would and it was most upsetting. No such treacherous fannying around here: it looks like a stenchcore record, the bands proudly claim they do the stenchcore thing, and indeed, it sounds like stenchcore. Great customer service here. CIMITERIUM is a relatively young band from Melbourne I had the pleasure to see live last year, and they deliver what you’d expect from a band that uses a “battlecrust” logo. Perfectly executed ’00s-style stenchcore with an emphasis on the BOLT THROWER side of the spectrum. Heavy, super gruff, cavernous, downtuned filthy metal crust reminiscent of SANCTUM, CANCER SPREADING, or STAGNATION. Totally unsurprising. Of course I love it. On the other side your date will be with SLAVERY from Praga. They have been going for a while now, and their 2022 LP was a definite success in the always stable stenchcore category. They are thrashier than their Australian tag-team partners, and more epic I’d say, somewhere in the devastated neighbourhood of mid-’00s HELLSHOCK, early FATUM or early ’10s CANCER SPREADING (again). I particularly enjoy the moshing, mid-paced moments here, how aggressive the Czech vocals sound, and the fact that the song really keeps a punk production, warts and all. Another victory for soap-dodgers released on the always reliable Phobia Records.
Belligerence and beauty collide on this foundational text by one of this writer’s personal faves from the last decade of the premillennial era. Former IGNITION bassist and FURY singer Chris Thomson had ventured north to Madison, Wisconsin where he hooked up with Chris Hamley (guitar), Arika Casebolt (drums), and Reg Shrader (bass) in CIRCUS LUPUS. In August of 1990, the new band traveled to Washington, DC to record at Inner Ear with Eli Janney. Most of these tracks ended up on a demo tape, but a few found their way to releases, including their debut 7”. If “Tightrope Walker” isn’t already a classic in your household, now is the time to get on the right side of history. Half of these songs were re-recorded for subsequent LPs, but don’t think these are inferior versions, especially as Tim Green’s remaster makes them hit as hard as they were intended to. Waxing the original version of existential punk slasher “Marbles” is enough of a reason for this record to exist, but if this album gets a younger generation into CIRCUS LUPUS, then the future of punk will at least have a chance to avoid completely shitting the bed.
This is tasty. Starts off with a sort of synthy-sounding thing, which is dark and moody. The tempo is measured; steady, but deliberate. Pretty female vocals blend seamlessly with the garage-y, moody pop music. There’s almost even some surfy lead guitar. The second and third cuts are a little less moody and they pick up the pace quite a bit. I like this EP.
A labor of love started in 1994 by TOTALITÄR and BRAINBOMBS’ own Lanchy, DRIVER recorded ten tracks in 2000, five of which are featured here on Fuck You. A stripped-down, no-frills affair with a dirty, lo-fi quality, per the sleeve this was inspired by heavy-hitters like the FIX, DISCHARGE, MC5, POISON IDEA, RADIO BIRDMAN, and “distorted rock’n’roll guitars in general.” The final product is just that, a fuzzy slurry of dis-beat-influenced proto-punk. If that sounds weird, trust me, it works. “Junkie Corpse” is a favorite and definitely delivers on the POISON IDEA influence, while “Deform Reform” has some tasty blues licks that are unexpected but certainly welcome. Overall, I hear more IGGY AND THE STOOGES than anything else, and for that I am thankful. A gnarly little record that I can’t recommend enough.
I have always been drawn to the sound of bands’ demos, or their first album when it’s a mish-mash of the singles and bedroom recordings, more so than polished formal studio albums. Think of the BANANAS’ collection The First Ten Years of… having way more guts and heart than the albums which followed. Maybe it’s that bit of feedback, out-of-tune vocal, or bass flub that gets left in. Often the songs are played off-speed or faster than the album that follows. Don’t get me wrong, FAULTY COGNITIONS stellar album Somehow, Here We Are is already on a lot of top album lists for 2024, but the preceding demo has a gritty charm all its own. The opener “Las Cruces” has the anthemic heart-on-sleeve spirit of SHANG-A-LANG. The only track not included on the full-length, “Thin Blue Line,” bottles the anger of the DICKS as if it’s an homage to the recent passing of Gary Floyd. “Center of the World” shifts to a proto-punk pace like the ONLY ONES. The closer, “Let the Kids Have the Scene,” laments elder statesmen observations in a MENZINGERS-like style. All of this, packaged with cassette art reminiscent of Pettibon’s work on Nervous Breakdown.
GYLT is a four-piece crossover hardcore band from Los Angeles. This release is two feral style hardcore tracks that are over and done in as many minutes. Heavy drums with searing guitar lines and vicious vocals tearing through acerbic lyrics is the fast and dirty description. “Shoved” opens with a little taste of guitar, some quick grunts, and then proceeds to tear it up, while “Spiral” enters with a bit of chugging bass and hits the throttle even faster, and is completed in well under a minute. Too fast for breakdowns and sans any sort of posturing, GYLT might just be my new favorite hardcore band. This two song release definitely whets my appetite for more.
Hardcore out of Montreal with a cowpunk twang. No shit. Catchy as hell with an attitude that matches. Reminiscent of the golden era of GG ALLIN, but much faster with a much better lead guitarist. Fantastic stuff here, and well worth a spin. I’ve played through this like five times in one sitting.
The prolific label Black Konflik from Malaysia is at it again, this time with a new release of obscure Japanese hardcore from the ’80s, namely a live recording (presumably from 1987) of JANKY from Yokohama. The band is something of a minor classic for Japanese punk nerds (also known as “the hardcore nerd elite” in the scene), what with having an extremely rare, and actually very good, flexi released in 1984 on Hold Up Records, crucial criteria in the making of a true hardcore classic that no one really knows. Musically, the band epitomized the early raw energy, speed, and intensity that characterized the genre and made it so popular in the mid-’80s through bands like GAUZE, KURO, and many others. Still, this live recording is tough to listen to and I haven’t been able to sit through it. Radical devout fans might be able to, and I am sure they already grabbed it, but I am not one of them and it just sounds really rough.
NIGHT SLAVES is David Kane and John Toohill from Buffalo, New York. NIGHT SLAVES play a minimalist post-punk style that harnesses its power from synths and other electronics. The four-song Acceleration Prose cassette is full of danceable darkness with screaming organs, noisome, angst-ridden vocals, and crashing drums. The song “Wisdom of a Chain” is perhaps one of my favorite tracks off this recording, with its chaos-ridden synthesizer work, howling vocals, and driving bass drum. Fans of PRIMITIVE FIGURE or CROCODILES might be really into this cassette.
Raw and aggressive, sick anti-racist and anti-punitivism powerviolence quintet from Naarm, with shockingly blunt-force-driven riffs, mad, unnerving drums, and a creation of momentum through the songs which is really good. The vocals hit overwhelmingly, but might be a bit disorganized in the mix. It seems that Australia is not only filled with eggy eggs or garage rock’n’rollas, and let me say that I’m glad. Blunt. Force. Project. Keep. On!
Providing a seemingly endless supply of attention grabbing music, Phantom keeps the bar high with ROUGE’s debut LP. With nothing to scale it, I thought the cover photo was a crack pipe, but liner notes explain that it was a homemade bat crafted from a shopping cart handle that was used “during riots after a demonstration against the financial policy of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt”—while this sets the tone for the abrasive music within, the lyrics definitely fall less on the political and more on the personal. Take for example the caustic “I take pictures of myself ‘cause I need destruction / Give me a zero or a ten” from “Images,” or the scathingly self-critical “01 / 01” unabashedly singing “Friendships turned out unstable / Cold coffee cups on the kitchen table / Months passed—it felt like dreaming.” Post-punk is clearly on display here with these personal lyrics, paired with a front-of-the-mix grumbling bass and reverb-heavy guitars. Don’t miss the boat on this latest offering from Berlin’s ROUGE.
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?
From the OC in 1980, and it’s amazing how different this is from most of the punk/hardcore that would come from that area just a couple years later. This has an early punk, even new wave sound going on. You’ll hear traces of the ENGLISH BEAT and the STRAY CATS, among other things. A lot of the “lost” tapes stuff that gets released seems like it was lost for a reason. This one actually deserved to be found.
Both of the band’s first two demos on one singular cassette, self-released on one of the members’ Floating Skull label. THEE SYCK BUBBLEGUM scratches a lot of damn itches for me. Eight songs of lo-fi, noisy, nasty garage punk, but like the DEAD MOON kinda garage punk. But also if DEAD MOON was a bit less palatable to the masses and had an unhinged-sounding vocalist shrieking about ghosts and werewolves and hauntings. Wait, is that just describing DEAD MOON? Hmm…it’s really just nasty, driving, gross rock’n’roll, and I can’t help but be a sucker for such things. If these eight tracks aren’t enough for you, dig through the wild mess that is the guitarist/madman vocalist Waylon Thornton’s other recorded output. It’s a bit more out-there and psychedelic, but there’s some disturbing moments of brilliance.
Staking claim to being the first all-female punk group in their city, VIOLETAS VIOLENTAS is a legacy act from the early ’90s who play lo-fi and rudimentary punk on their Ensayo 23 cassette, a collection of five newly recorded songs as well as six older tunes they’ve deemed worthy of recording and releasing. Straightforward tupa-tupa is how I’d describe VIOLETAS VIOLENTAS, and on songs like “Me Estaran Buscando,” “El Bulto,” and “Veneno,” they deliver the goods. They’ve obviously got a formula that works and I love it; there will always be a place in my heart for pure punk like this.
This punky pop band out of Los Angeles was active in some form or other from 1979 through 1990. The project centered around sisters Kriti and Kelly Callan (daughters of actress K Callan, who voiced Hank Hill’s mom, Tilly, on King of the Hill from 2000 on!), but also featured, at times, Steve Wynn and David Provost of DREAM SYNDICATE, Kjehl Johansen of URINALS, and David Nolte of the LAST. Early on, they played a brand of jangly pop that seemed to be heavily influenced by sounds coming out of the UK DIY scene (see their great 1983 debut Betsy’s House). Over time, though, they morphed into an act somewhat adjacent to both the Paisley Underground and the Valley-friendly new wave pop rock scenes of the day, failing to fully fit in with either. Their commercial success peaked in 1987 after signing a record deal, putting out an LP, and having a couple of tracks featured on the soundtrack to the comedy slasher Slumber Party Massacre II. What we have here is a reissue of their 1986 self-released fan club EP, which they put out to the disdain of their record label. It kicks off with a cover of “No Such Thing” by AGENT ORANGE, stripping it of all the aggro posturing and proto-thrash production that was requisite of a gang of teenage boys putting out punk music in 1981 and replacing it with sweet BANGLES-esque harmonies and a bare-bones Teenage Shutdown-ish production. It absolutely rules. So much so that I don’t feel the need to go into the remaining three tracks to let you know the release is worth picking up…I mean, they’re fine (except for “Businessman’s Wife”, which sounds like a generic 1987 rootsy bar band number)—Kjehl Johansen even helped write one! They’re just barely notable next to this cover. Limited to 300 copies, so grab one fast!
Dust is a curious journey through the four-year lifespan of 22 BEACHES, a six-piece from Stirling, Scotland whose recorded legacy had previously been limited to a handful of tracks on some painfully rare early ’80s UK DIY cassette comps—there’s no insert or liner notes with any sort of background info, or even basic dates on the sleeve to indicate when each song was originally recorded, so there’s still a substantial element of mystery here that plays right into the band’s often otherworldly sound. The LP starts with a handful of previously unreleased studio-recorded demos put to tape not long before the group split in 1984 and then works backwards chronologically from there, documenting (in a reverse aging sort of way) 22 BEACHES’ transformation from the more needling and paranoid post-punk clamor of their earlier material to the sparse and sophisticated dub-influenced reverberations of their later years. There’s some sensibilities that 22 BEACHES obviously shared with many of their more well-known and successful Scottish peers, from the starkly rhythmic gloom of “That Girl” and “One of Us” that recalls the WAKE’s Factory Records phase, to the spiky, Afrobeat-accented jangle of ORANGE JUICE circa Rip it Up likewise channeled in “Somebody Got It Wrong,” while the intersecting male/female vocals and simmering punk-funk groove of “Breathing” hits like a perfect synthesis of GANG OF FOUR and the AU PAIRS, and the dispassionately narrated vocals from Jackie Sharkey over the writhing and driving beat of “Talent Show” is no-nonsense femme art-punk at its best. So great to see this band finally get a little much-deserved time in the (vinyl) spotlight.
Given the band’s name, I was sure I was about to be listening to some sort of garage punk. Then I saw they were out of Tokyo. So, this could be “ABE” as in Shinzo, as opposed to Lincoln. I mean, I know “AND THE SHITS” is doing most of the heavy lifting—still, the Western version of Abe connotes a garage-y Midwestern-ness that certainly played into my belief, so, I don’t know, this could be anything! Turns out it’s garage punk. But with a decent helping of ’77 flair. Not much out there about the band. Bandcamp lists four members, none of whose names I recognize, but the couple of live videos out there just show a guitar/vocals duo playing with a backing track (maybe to a crowdless audience). All in all, the five tracks that make up this demo are actually pretty good…if also a little forgettable. I’d certainly check back in if they ever put out a proper release. Probably give it a listen.
Four-chord punk pop with a notable pedigree, BERMUDA SQUARES bang out a tight crop of ultra catchy tunes for you goobers. This album will especially appeal to pinheads, cretins, and glue-sniffers, along with fans of DARK THOUGHTS, CARBONAS, and MARKED MEN. Hailing from Minneapolis and featuring members of the SOVIETTES and NEO NEOS (among many others), BERMUDA SQUARES add a bit of grit to the formula and move things from the basement into the garage. Running the risk of being written off as generic, Outsider defies convention through the sheer force of delivery. Layers of harmonies are swaddled in a warm blanket of fuzzy saturation, and that gives the production just enough tooth to draw blood. If you’re an outsider, outside of everything, there’s a solid chance you’ll wanna bop to the BERMUDA SQUARES.
Naarm minimal weird punk split effort between BILLIAM, fixing you with a dose of mid-paced drums in a new wave synth creation, ever-ranting, lo-fi “recorded on used VHS tape” vocals, and softer than average keyboards, and REVV’s new wave-y rock’n’rolla garage tunes and interesting vocals. Both bring a hyperactive vibe to bedroom punk entrepreneurship. DIY synth punk solo projects from Australia that share their cathartic angles (surely kangaroos are laying eggs now).
I gotta say, I really dislike the name of this band. I say “band,” but from what I can gather, it’s actually the solo project of someone named Brian Baker (not the Brian Baker of MINOR THREAT, GOVERNMENT ISSUE, DAG NASTY, etc.) from Columbus, Ohio. One description I read stated that “BRIAN DAMAGE is the Brian child of Brian Baker.” Just yuck. I was hoping that the tunes on this release would transcend the goofy name and make me feel foolish for judging a tape by its title, but sadly, that just is not the case. BRIAN DAMAGE really wants to sound like WEEZER. Maybe if you really like WEEZER, you’ll find this charming, though I suspect not. What we have here is synth-forward, jangly guitar basement pop with an upbeat indie propulsion and irritating, fuzzy, post-nasal drip vocals. The songs are annoyingly indulgent, with many of them approaching or exceeding the three-minute mark. Oh, and to the surprise of no one, the album ends with an acoustic number. Is this just the tip of a gigantic ’90s revival iceberg? Please say it ain’t so.
Ventura County’s CERAMIK play by-the-numbers hardcore on their LP A Life So Bleak, banging out eight songs in ten minutes. There’s a little thrash, some blastbeats, and some cool breakdowns that probably make for a fun live set. If you’re into GEL, SPY, or any of the other current crop of hardcore bands making waves at the moment, this will be right up your alley.
Baltimore, MD horror-based punk. Seven slickly-recorded, driving rock songs with the subject matter of all things spooky. It’s all very well done, I just can’t help but wish the recording was a little scarier-sounding if the band is going to be entirely horror-themed. I think I feel the same way about a lot of goth music too, though, so it may just be a personal preference for nastier recordings fitting of the style and theme of the bands that release them.
DOSIS, a band hailing from Talcahuano, Chile, presents their self-titled debut release. Their music embodies a raw and unfiltered post-punk style, drawing inspiration from the timeless sound of classic bands within the genre. A healthy dose of dark energy and gloomy soundscapes that somehow reminds me of a more energetic DECIMA VICTIMA and Pornography-era the CURE at the same time. The Spanish vocals just add a more urgent dimension to the music.
Split LP from two stalwarts of street punk here. Straight off the bat, it’s clear that the LIBERTY AND JUSTICE side is the more interesting and compelling. The EMPIRE DOWN side is a perfectly workmanlike, metallic-influenced hardcore-y Oi!-ish affair, which is fine, just fine really. No earths will be shattered, no epochs defined. Flip over to LIBERTY AND JUSTICE and we take a tour round a number of genres, some to great aplomb with a country-infused rocker and some THIN LIZZY worship; some to not-so-great aplomb, in particular a ska tune which raised an eyebrow from yours truly. However, the standout track is a stomper written in Tagalog, which is extremely great.
Synth punk/post-punk pioneers GENERAL LABOR recently released these two tracks on a 45, and you need to hear them. “Illuminator” is a noisy, mid-paced song with strange harmonic and electronic drum noises that seem to come out of nowhere and dissolve just as rapidly, and while “Tastes Metallic” is less noisy, it is equally as enticing with its shifting instrumentation. The two songs form an intense emotional juxtaposition, with the former being pensive and tense and the latter being almost dreamy and relaxing. If you like things like SUICIDE or A FRAMES, then you’ll most assuredly be into this.
There are plenty of rousing, memorable choruses here, supported by a familiar blend of alt-rock guitars and somber crooning. You’re likely familiar with all that, but HUBERT SELBY JR. INFANTS arrange it all in some engaging ways. The second track begins with the chum! of metal guitars, and I was just easing into its ALICE IN CHAINS-esque angst when a catchy, sing-in-the-shower chorus rolled out. But the stylistic gap is seamless, not jarring. It exemplifies the band’s ability to take some left turns while staying stylistically on track.
At first listen, I admit I was a bit confused by this cassette. KATUPARTIO is from Barcelona, Spain, but all song names and lyrics are seemingly in Finnish. There was a band from my neck of the woods years ago that was obsessed with Finnish hardcore and attempted to learn Finnish so as to sing badly in the language. Too much of a gimmick for me. I did my research and found a ripping live set of KATUPARTIO where the singer looks like a true madman, a wild punk that inexplicably seemed slightly out of place. That all made further sense when a bit more research discovered that he was originally from Finland. No damn gimmick here. Weird, plodding, mid-tempo punk with killer barked vocals drowning out the lackadaisical “woah-oh”s sung by the backing band.
I absolutely adore SQUELCH CHAMBER, so seeing this come through my to-do pile was an exciting moment for me. Their full-length Eater of Self was one of my favorite albums last year, and their side of this split continues on with the punishing sludge metal for which they’ve come to be known. Very reminiscent of KILSLUG and other Larry Lifeless projects. It’s like MELVINS if they were even more unhinged. Great stuff as always on their part. LIFE HAS SOURED also plays slow and low noisy doom, but almost sounds tame in comparison to SQUELCH CHAMBER. Good stuff, though. A split that’s well worth picking up if you can find it!
NEW MATH was a New York State band from the late ’70s to the early ’80s. I was listening to punk starting in 1981 or 1982, but I don’t remember knowing them. They were on a San Francisco label (415) at one point. Being from SF, you’d think I’d have heard of them. Nope. My loss. This is some good shit, I’ll tell you that. It reminded me of another band, but I couldn’t place it. Then I finally did place it and I couldn’t stop hearing it. The FORGOTTEN REBELS! Very rock’n’roll-y, mid-tempo, and super catchy. This is great.
New York project that mixes death metal with hardcore moments, fulfilling satanic rituals. Steady gloom and sludgy cadences face strident strings tied to the lower tones of the bass lines. Solid vocals and solid riffage, reaching dense sounds. Recommended.
Compilation of odds-and-ends from these Chicago long-haired rockers. If you like your jeans too tight and your hair unkempt, then this may be the snotty little record for you. This mob worships at the altar of STIV BATORS, and they are preaching their little winklepickers off on this release. More keys than a gaoler’s back pocket, and daft solos are the name of the day. STOOGES and NEW YORK DOLLS influences abound, presumably powered by industrial levels of Silvikrin and leopard print. Will it change your life? Not unless you’ve literally only started listening to music in the past two months, but it is an awful lot of silly business and, shock horror, a laugh? It’s not been made illegal yet mates, so enjoy it while you can.
Driving and pounding melodic hardcore, this has a lot going for it. I find male/female harmonies that are done well kind of irresistible. There’s plenty of that on this record. I wouldn’t say that there’s anything terribly unique or groundbreaking about this record, but it’s really well done and easy to listen to. And the title of the record is obviously worth a chuckle. Be serious about what you do, but don’t take yourself too seriously.
Lace up your high-top Nikes and take a little stroll with me, won’t you? STRAIGHT ON VIEW plays by-the-numbers throwback youth crew. No reinventing the wheel here, nothing particularly original added to the formula (except maybe the couple wildly shredding solos peppered in through this eight-song debut demo), but who needs originality in this day and age? New genres of music are all crummy anyways, why not find the subgenre of hardcore/punk that really speaks to you and completely ape it? Chuggy guitars, gang vocals, the weird plink-punky bass that somehow is prevalent in this genre, STRAIGHT ON VIEW has everything on this demo, if your everything happens to be youth crew-style hardcore which absolutely oozes positivity.
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.
