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Fast and fiery spirit-of-’82 hardcore here from the ripping HOMEMADE SPEED outta Norfolk. It opens up with an instrumental that sounds like the Earl Liberty/Chuck Biscuits-era CIRCLE JERKS warming up before a set, and after that it’s just incredible mean and rabid shit, intense as fuck all the way through. Twisting and menacing riffs and machine gun drums. Killer and catchy, it’s instant classic material, stacked with hits.
Well-executed UK82-ish hardcore from Croatia’s INDIKATOR B. After switching their lineup since their first release, the band sounds very tight and isn’t just banging these songs out; there is nuance and melody oozing from this EP. Great vocals that aren’t the usual bark, and catchy riffs that will have you going back for a second listen the moment the final track ends. Highly recommended.
Okay, so first off—SLAMMING AVOID NUTS is probably my new favorite band name of all time. Secondly, this is a really great split album with a whole ton of musical diversity, and not even just between the bands. MIDDLE flops between sounding like an early ’90s dissonant Dischord act and sloppy, power-chord-heavy street punk. The aforementioned SLAMMING AVOID NUTS play Oi!-infused D-beat with throaty, guttural vocals. High-energy all around; a solid disc if I may say so myself. I think this might only be available in Japan, but it’s worth ponying up the cash for the shipping.
NERVOUS TICK is a mutant and makes music for other mutants. The power of hardcore, the musical melody of power pop, some sounds of synth punk/new wave or egg-punk. I have a hunch that NERVOUS TICK may just be the mutant younger brother of Doc Dart of the CRUCIFUCKS. This was a joy to listen to.
Kooky two-piece German egg-punk. The recording is a bit crazy-sounding, even by egg-punk standards, but it works all the same. Seven childhood bedroom-recorded songs of high-energy and even higher treble punk idiocy. Guitar, synth, and a drum machine, but as far as I can tell, just the subtle “thunk” of the kick drum and the wince-inducing snap of the snare. Oh wait, they also use the “clap” sound on one of the songs. This rips, and is thankfully available the world over on three different labels. I know Xtro standardly does runs of only 25 tapes, so US egg-punk enthusiasts should get on it before you have to pay bonkers overseas shipping prices.
Tasteful and melodic Oi! with classically French deathrock undertones. This is a perfect listen for the transition of summer to autumn, right down to the sound of rainfall on the opening instrumental. RÉSILIENCE has a full and muscular sound, including great crunchy riffs, some sinewy guitar leads, and gruff vocals that lead catchy sing-alongs throughout. There are no surprises to be found here, only a reliably sturdy listen for fans of CAMERA SILENS and RIXE.
I’ve been a fan of this Parisian outfit since they arrived on the scene in 2015. Nearly a decade on, RIXE is as vital as ever, and Tir Groupé finds the group stabbing out into new territory. While the core tenets of their sound are still present, they’ve filed down the edges by injecting a hint of melody and, notably, have added a drum machine to the mix. This shift salutes French punk forbearers MÉTAL URBAIN without disrupting the underlying foundation of French Oi! á la CAMERA SILENS. Four concise blasts that beg to be played on repeat, this EP is, I’ll venture to assert, a harbinger of more brilliance to come. Perhaps it’s time for the lads to make a proper full-length album?
SKEET’s backstory is a familiar one in narratives of early ’80s UK DIY—band forms in a mid-sized industrial city, plays a handful of shows, records some songs at home with the aid of very modest technology, then dissolves before actually releasing anything—but their stark, bewitching post-punk isn’t so typical. Simple Reality rounds up eight once-lost tracks, half from a 1981 demo and half from a soundboard tape of the trio’s final live performance later that year (which was apparently on top of a trailer outside of a pub beer garden?!), with the sharp, pitch-perfect quality of the latter almost indistinguishable from the former. YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS would be an easy and not inaccurate comparison, from the steady pulse of the Roland CR-8000 serving as SKEET’s mechanical drummer to Kay Booth’s fragile vocals and introspective lyrics, and while the yearning minimalism of “Brief Call” and “Alone Tonight” is colossally Colossal Youth, “Young Girls” and “Avril in the Alps” ramp up the digital tempo ever so slightly and dig into a scratchy, bass-forward danceability somewhere between ORANGE JUICE and JOSEF K on the Postcard Records wavelength, and the paper-thin bedroom pop strum of “I Was Never Told” bridges the very narrow gap between the MARINE GIRLS and SOLID SPACE, juxtaposing Kay’s sweet and airy delivery with the song’s blunt, direct subject matter (“Did you want just for sex / Or simply someone to hold”). Beguiling and beautiful.
At first listen, I thought I wasn’t the audience for this at all. Three One G-style glitchy emoviolence with goregrind-worthy song titles and the album art just had me thinking, “are we still doing this?” But I’m quick to admit when I’m wrong, and I was majorly wrong here. This does, to a degree, harken back to noisy, mathy hardcore that was omnipresent in the late ’90s and early ’00s, but it’s presented in such an unfussy and dialed-in way that it just hits right through your sternum. The effects-heavy vocals, the laser gun guitars, the never-dampening rush of drum beats, all of these elements connect. There isn’t really a gimmick here despite first appearances, and the songs are really brilliantly written. A burner like “Vaporize a Neighbor” dips its wings in industrial metal and noise rock as it flies by at a thrashing pace that never lets up. Then the following title track goes full theatrical synth doom, a sub-sub-genre I’m not even sure existed before. Hyperactivity is the name of the game here, but it never feels unfocused. It’s the opposite, in fact, leading to a singular listening experience that hits hard. Genre signifiers be damned (even though I’ve dropped about a hundred in this review alone).
STILL ANIMALS’ self-titled album offers ten tracks of mid-tempo garage rock over twenty-six minutes, delivering an inoffensive, straightforward sound that might be more engaging in a live setting. Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, the four-piece plays with energy, but I kept hoping they would eventually turn it up to eleven and they never even got close. By the fourth track, the lack of variation makes the LP feel a bit monotonous. It’s fine, there just aren’t any memorable moments to be found here other than the song title “Here’s a Song,” which I thought was hilarious.
The LAZY COWGIRLS remain one of my favorite punk bands of all time. I felt like they always gave 100% effort. There was an energy in their live performances and that carried over into their studio recordings. I found their songs (and still find their songs) infectious. I can’t say that I’ve listened to Pat Todd’s latest outfit a ton, but for me this picks up right where the LAZY COWGIRLS left off. It’s this awesomeness of gritty rock’n’roll that manages to remain fun and catchy and genuine. Two cuts, both great. One original and one cover. The cover is an obscure one, but one that has a funny tie to the RANKOUTSIDERS. This record is fucking good. Go buy it. Extra points for being a vinyl only release (at least as far as I’m aware).
Now this record is something of an unidentified aural assault, and even after the second listen, I am struggling a little to describe what Berlin’s WET DREAM WAR MACHINE is on about, but then I am a simple punk used to simple music so I could be too thick to get it. A lot of different things coexist in their music, from direct, snotty hardcore punk to more dissonant post-punk moments, beefy noise rock, and an overall strange atmosphere of dementia and alienation. The band’s name comes from a song from the LOCUST, which makes sense. The record has an agitprop feel (even visually), and there are moments that reminded me of political bands that strove to break down boundaries and used sarcasm and wits to get the point across, like the EX or CCCP, for instance. Maybe an insane and mean version of a noisier STRAW MAN ARMY? While undeniably interesting, I cannot say I really enjoyed the clearly thought-out and articulate experience. The tone of the vocals reminds me of black metal somehow, and it tends to be irritating with the erratic and nervous, versatile songwriting. I recognize the quality and value of I.M.A.G.I.N.E. but I am unable to relate to it. The hooks don’t hook me. I am convinced this lot must be brilliant live, though.
Punk, in theory, should always stand against oppression. Period! It is really sad to see that some “punk” communities, especially in Germany, are making excuses and covering their eyes in support of the tyrannical ethno-supremacist “state” of Israel. We have been warned throughout the years, through punk lyrics, about the horrors of war and genocide. And now, it is happening right before our eyes. It is impossible to take the side of the oppressor and be “punk.” Are you the solution or the problem? With this said, there is also a lot of love and empathy being put forth by the worldwide punk community with all the tributes, benefits, compilations, and donation drives. This compilation began as a fantastic way to raise funds for the very first Open Palm Fest, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it turned into a benefit for Palestine. All proceeds from this comp will be donated to the Red Crescent Society in Palestine. Much love to all the awesome bands and the label for putting this together. Free Palestine!
There’s a surprising amount of depth to this record. Grievance Beerwater Reprisal kicks off with a string of songs that can be best described as bar punk. You know what I’m talking about—the kind of band you’d love to come across while hopping between your favorite watering holes. But halfway through, things shift gears as they launch into their single “Mind,” which sounds much more like the KINKS than anything else on the slab. There’s a Brit-pop/Southern rock tinge that makes an appearance throughout, but the majority of the record has a sinister RAMONES vibe more akin to ANTISEEN, but less gritty. This is a very polished and produced punk album and is essentially a love/hate letter to ABUSEMENTS’ home state of Alabama. Or maybe it’s a cautionary tale. Regardless, fun stuff here.
Budapesti noise punkers BEROSSZULÁS create the swirling basement hardcore that I am such a sucker for. With all six tracks coming in under eight minutes, Az Ölésröl was definitely recorded in one long take, with what could also be instruments plugged straight into the board. It’s all brutal and slightly unleashed into the void of experimental—echoes of an Eastern European take on MUTATED VOID, perhaps.
More so than anything, what causes my ears to prick up at the end of the day is songcraft. You can build up almost anything on good bones, and that’s something Santa Ana’s BOUNCE HOUSE gets from the jump. From the opening notes of “Sweetness,” which echoes the heartaching best of the jangly Dunedin sound, I’m hooked. What follows is a peppier affair, though the duo never strays far from their melancholic center. Even the zig-zagging rock’n’roll of “Cannonball,” while a certified earworm, has a sort of moroseness that I find deeply appealing. Add to that a nimble bass line and snotty hook, and I’m fully sold. There’s really not a snoozer in the handful of tunes—even the plaintive closer “Yesterday’s Bus Pass” is compelling with its shimmering guitar and wistful harmonies. All in all, these are five well-penned tracks of guitar pop that I’ll keep coming back to until the next EP (or, fingers crossed, a full-length).
Interesting mix of modern post-punk and artful post-rock—think URANIUM CLUB meets ’90s-era Thrill Jockey bands like TORTOISE and the SEA AND CAKE. Most of the tracks follow a low-key approach that blends lightly distorted bass grooves with shuffling drums, clean and jazzy guitar lines, and spoken vocals. There are no major hooks or big moments, but the record flows well, highlighting the restrained performances that are occasionally punctuated by a warbling theremin. This is an evening jam, cool and mellow without being weak or relegated to the background.
Osaka’s COMPLETED EXPOSITION teams up with Montreal’s MAXXPOWER to deliver a blistering platter of fastcore that hits like a series of rabbit punches to the face. COMPLETED EXPOSITION’s side showcases dual vocals and includes a few longer tracks with mosh parts to drive your circle pits. MAXXPOWER lives up to their name, blasting through fourteen tracks, half of which clock in at thirty seconds or less, clearly drawing inspiration from the Slap-a-Ham roster. Their songs feature plenty of starts and stops with the occasional mosh part, all powered by drumming that seems almost impossibly fast. This split is highly recommended for fans of classic powerviolence played at utterly insane speeds. Check out the whole split. It’ll only take you a few minutes.
Straightedge hardcore punks from Madrid, Spain—not even sure if they’re still active, but they have left their imprint on global hardcore for sure, and specifically in the edge scene. Great vocals on behalf of their singer Alenka, phrasing while breaking the voice to achieve long and extensive fighting screams expressing themselves on different issues, such as drug abuse, sexism, and mental health schemes. The band tries to push the ethos “hardcore is our home,” and I think they achieved their goal. Blunt-force project, probably one of the most relevant from Europe nowadays regarding straightedge, for sure.
It’s hard to believe Savage New Times from Istanbul’s DIE IN VAIN came out just last year; the band clearly did their homework, as this sounds like something Riot City would’ve put out 40 years ago. Anyway, this is a great record. Five tracks of familiar-sounding, street-punk-infused Oi! that are filled with catchy guitar hooks and gang vocals that punks and skins alike will find agreeable. Odds are you’ve already rocked this one, but if you haven’t yet, check out “War Machine” and “Gösteri Icin.”
Neocrust fizzled out in recent years, with only a few of the classic bands being active in the scene. The genre reached a peak around the ’00s when bands turned to post-metal or black metal influences, evolving into something new altogether. Menace, the newest offering from the Montreal-based ENDFORM, showcases the band’s evolution while remaining true to their roots. It opens with the track “Psychic Numbing,” a haunting instrumental piece that sets an ominous tone for the album. Some Word as Law-era NEUROSIS comes to mind, just before it erupts into an early FALL OF EFRAFA/TRAGEDY combo of modern-meets-classic neocrust, complete with dual vocals. Throughout the album, ENDFORM expands on delivering a blend of melodious aggression, one of the main tropes of the genre. An urgent manifesto of the times we live in, dark music that reflects darker times.
FAKE LAST NAME is the home-recording alter ego of Ronni What, one half of the Louisiana zolo duo SPLLIT, and while SPLLIT has been increasingly busy and touring relentlessly over the last few years, this new EP marks the first FAKE LAST NAME release since the project debuted with a short-run cassette in 2021. SPLLIT’s restless, kitchen-sink noise bursts have positioned them as something like the RESIDENTS for the egg-punk generation, and although FAKE LAST NAME draws from many of the same cracked-up impulses, Ronni ultimately reassembles them into something much more coolly disaffected while working solo. The A-side kicks straight into “Three Persuasion Domains,” centering blasé, perfectly over-it vocals (think Su Tissue or Lizzy Mercier Descloux at their most detached) which function as carefully structured lines for strangled no wave guitar and clattering drums to cross in impulsive strokes of color, only for the whole affair to be détourned as “Another Persuasion” on the B-side, with Ana da Silva of the RAINCOATS(!) applying spacious dub echo and glitchy electro accents to smooth out some of the more anxious edges of the original source material. The percussion/electronics-driven warble and deadpan, surrealist spoken word of “Gadfly” is equally great and almost ALGEBRA SUICIDE-like, very deserving of the second life that it’s been given here after first appearing on that earlier FAKE LAST NAME tape. Buy the physical record; the visuals and writing included in the packaging/insert are a crucial part of the FAKE LAST NAME experience—keeping the “art” in art-punk.
Applying gnarly affectations over a solid rock’n’roll core, Oxnard’s GROIND serves us an agreeable mash-up of styles on their debut tape, the sound of which is certainly more user-friendly than the hodgepodge of the words “groin” and “grind” that they’ve chosen as a moniker. Though nasty in their distorted execution, these seven tunes are really old-fashioned head-bobbers armed with some soulful guitar. They even dip into ’50s-style balladeering on the closing “Status Quo,” and overall, it’s a solid introduction to the group that’s worth checking out.
Third full-length from the Brooklyn-based trio HALF HUMAN. Experimental, angular, and dissonant might take a crack at describing the rhythms and riffs within Shape Language, while bolstering a full-force sound. Nothing about this is sparse or bare: bass lines run a marathon up and down the fretboard, the guitar incessantly jabs and gets hung up on odd notes, the drums kerrattle and slap across the kit in an industrial fashion, vocals find a melody hanging in the balance, somehow shouting for order. These ten tracks feel like a chaos incantation. First blush with this busy, disparate, noisy thing didn’t land well with me, but listening through a few times, I came to appreciate the sonic mess as a whole, each element clamoring for attention, shuffling and weaseling around one another. A rollicking, atonal, post-hardcore love letter. For a good taste, check out “Hiccup.”
Bewildering mix of neon-coated blastbeats, chiptunes, and vibrating punk energy from this Las Vegas-based project. Each short track is an aural assault that mixes the wildest hysterics of XIU XIU, the drum machine grindcore of early AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, and the psychedelic pounding of LIGHTNING BOLT, held together with breakcore glue. For the right audience at the right time, it’s kind of awesome. Every so often, candy-coated grenades of ecstatic beauty seep through, like on the garage punk vocals of “I Didn’t Think When I Started a Diary.” The tape is a chaotic, messy affair with 32 tracks, including titles like, “Weekly Crisis: This Time He Was Caught With Mouthfuls of Doll Hairs in His Sister’s Room,” and “10 Variations of Peter Sotos are in Your Scene.” The flow can be disorienting, but if you aren’t feeling the blasted-open groove of a particular track, you can just wait 45 seconds until the next one.
Second release from the Charlotte, NC group JUPITER HEARTS. Rob Pennington (ENDPOINT, BTGOG, BLACK CROSS, BLACK GOD), Charles Wood (BROKEN HEARTS ARE BLUE), Tim Kriependorf (TRIPLE THREAT, the LIVING MEMORIES), and Scott Wishart (LATE BLOOMER, SCOUT) present six tracks in the ’80s post-hardcore vein, with a psych-rock guitar tone playing equal lead to mid-range shouts. Instrumentals are tight, with plenty of flowing riffs punctuated by halting, cymbal-grabbing rests and frenetic drum fills. Guitars and vocals remind me of the groups KARMA TO BURN (but faster) and YEAR LONG DISASTER, respectively. Lyrics run from personal on the opener “Has Something Changed” to political on “Two If By Sea,” and are all met with a downtrodden yet aggressive stance. Catchy riffs galore.
These DCxPC slabs are always a lot of fun. LUXURY TEETH brings us your standard rock’n’roll-flavored hardcore. The first half of the album is a live recording—high-energy and sloppy at times, but the good kind of sloppy. Super raw and minimally produced, if produced at all. Lots of charming banter in between songs, and you can tell the band are among friends in the audience. Just a really pleasant time all around. Warms the cold cockles of my heart. Also there’s an OUTFIELD cover slipped in halfway through, and that adds an additional ten points from me. The latter half, the “dead” half, is studio recordings which are a bit more polished and produced, but they do a good job of staying authentic to the band’s live charisma. Really enjoyable stuff here, and well worth a spin.
Like curry sauce and chips, boots and braces, and skateboards and a woodchipper, some things are better together than the sum of their parts. Among this heady mix are punks and skins, and this reissue is a perfect example of the form. A Scottish expat landing in ’80s Florida might have struggled (not least because of the weather), but the singer here has managed to weave magic. Easily could have appeared on a Riot City or No Future comp, and a lot of fun to be had. Oi!, and indeed, fucking Oi!
This is a real bad vibes only record, building on the excellent Life is Nasti LP and doubling down on misery. While a lot of hardcore wants to keep jacking up the tempo, I have a soft spot for mid-paced punk like this that invites you to crawl on the floor alongside it. There’s something about keeping things at slower BPM that gives you the impression a band doesn’t feel the need to impress you with anything other than its reverb-drenched riffs and vocals that snarl through a permanent frown. This is a direct descendent, though more dialed-in and exact, of NO TREND’s noisy brand of DGAF hardcore, and that’s a lineage always worth paying attention to. With songs like the aptly-named “Snarling,” the band pulls you into its muck effectively and doesn’t let you go. The stylistic outlier, closer “White Fences II,” even goes full industrial for an outro that eventually excises everything but feedback from the band’s sound leaving you awash in something formless and nihilistic. A fitting end to a toothsome blast of bent hardcore.
The OKMONIKS give us another LP of punk-infused garage rock. What else would they call their second album, if their first is called Party Fever!!!? This band usually has a really driving beat with some great-sounding vocals, and often there is some really rocking guitar/organ interplay. My favorite on this is a song called “Next Worse Thing.” This is a great LP for fans of garage rock/punk or just having a good time.
A deluxe treatment for the Kings Road Punks EP that unearthed the PROLES’ 1979 demos when it came out in 1990, this comprehensive release documents the band’s brief tenure, collecting those four songs along with some extra live and rehearsal material. It really doesn’t get more classic than this. While the additional tracks don’t add much to these South London punks’ legacy, it does service fiends like me who have always wanted to hear a little more PROLES. The original 7” is one of my favorite first wave artifacts, and it’s the epitome of O.G. snotty Brit-punk, teetering at times on the verge of sounding like a Fred Armisen parody. On the final brief live snippet here, the singer is right on character, spewing further shit talk on the PISTOLS and the CLASH. Cool-ass record.
Rip-roaring punk demo tape from Nuremberg, Germany. Five songs of high-energy, revved-up, aggressively mid-tempo punk with barked higher-register vocals. A guitar, bass, and drums power trio, with the guitarist also doing vocal duty. At times, the vocalist sounds to me like a German version of Christina from VANILLA POPPERS, which is certainly not a bad thing. RISSE IN DER WAND kinda rips! I would absolutely love to see this band play live, even if it were just through a titular crack in the wall.
RUGH is the sonic equivalent to a kick to the groin! Quintessence is a four-track vicious cacophony of darkened crust in the vein of ALL PIGS MUST DIE and BAPTISTS. RUGH have the ability to pour their anger into every riff and scream, (dark)crafting—TRAP THEM reference, for the ones that are less attentive—an atmosphere that feels both chaotic and cathartic. Their music hits hard and fast, wounding you in an aural punch of ferocity and violence. Crank up the volume, let the bad vibes wash through you.
SILICON HEARTBEAT is a perfect horror rock/punk band for spooky season, but also year-round. These guys are so strange in the best way. I really enjoyed the variety of more punk songs to the weirder, more synth-heavy ones. With clear distorted bass lines sprinkled throughout ghost-like synths, they create an eerie vibe that seems to linger. They end their EP with a fantastic cover of KRAFTWERK’s “The Model;” a bit more reminiscent of BIG BLACK’s cover, but more otherworldly. Just by checking out their album cover, you know you’re in for an unearthly good time.
SOFT KILL from Chicago, Illinois recently released the three-song Roseland 12″. The opening “Blood On My Shoes” is a shoegazing, synth-heavy opus that reminds me heavily of Y2K-era college radio. “Roseland,” the following track, is a bit more upbeat with a lilting dance beat and a very new wave feel. The closing song “Circles” is a cover of DAG NASTY, and is a pretty rocking take on the song. In all, the Roseland release represents the multi-faceted approach to music SOFT KILL has become known for.
This is some amazing weirdo-punk post-pop out of St. Louis—think ’60s-inspired TELEVISION PERSONALITIES-adjacent stuff if they let Gordon Gano write lyrics and play xylophone for them. The band is helmed by Martin Meyer of LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS notoriety, and takes the energy and angsty shock of that project and gives it the JONATHAN RICHMAN treatment with sinisterly sweet storytelling lyrics and simple melodies that get stuck in your head like a food stain you can’t get out. Slightly reminiscent of Devon Williams leaving OSKER after their antithetic punk scene opus “Idle Will Kill” to form FINGERS CUT MEGAMACHINE and whatever else he’s doing these days.
While these guys delivered a deliberately ’60s-sounding psychedelic/garage experience, they were actually an Australian band from the ’80s. They were a big deal back then. If you’re a fan of fuzz and organ and your sensibilities are firmly rooted in the garage, you’ll latch onto this one. That’s a sound that can be sort of hit or miss with me, mostly because I find it’s easy to do a poor job of it. Not so here. This is good shit. Eighteen cuts is definitely pushing my attention span, but it doesn’t come at the expense of quality. Excellent record.
An extensive anthology that gives us viciously executed raw metal punk with crust, sickening thrash, and merciless grindcore. A Nagoya, Japan project started in 1989, this LP combines their early recordings until 1992, a point where the band started to explore other sounds and cadences. Darkened thrash with heavy, steady tempos is combined with flaming riffage on behalf of the guitars, plus maniac vocals that go from guttural pig to cavernous, deep madman. Highly recommended for the dis-lovers, but also thrash maniacs and crust-associated people. I personally recommend the first set named Premonitory Inscription Demo 1, compiled from their very first recording in 1990. Fire and thrash!
The self-titled album by ZONE TROOPER from Portland, Oregon is excellent. DIY-style rock’n’roll that explores ’80s metal and prog rock. A very “western” aesthetic is dealt with the intro song and seems to return sporadically as the band explores their sonic range. Fans of MOTÖRHEAD and IRON MAIDEN will for sure like tracks like “Steel Horse War” and the closer “Snowy Peaks.” The more progressive, ambient elements remind me most of EARTH. ZONE TROOPER is definitely not for the pogo crowd, but if you’re into experimental, riff-heavy rock, then absolutely take a shot.
I hate that I have to review this release. Or rather, I hate that this release has to exist. In a non-broken world, the people who have the power to stop a genocide—in this case the US government—would. They’d see the thousands upon thousands of innocent Palestinians being slaughtered, or the umpteenth hospital being bombed to dust, and go, “OK, that’s way more than enough!” Of course, we don’t live in that world. The world we live in asks us which of the two US presidential candidates loudly pledging fealty to Israel we prefer: the one who thinks the other side of the mouth should be reserved for shouting “finish the job,” or the one who thinks it should be reserved for uttering passively phrased lip service to the victims of the bombings that are within their power to stop. Now it’s up to regular-ass people with minimal resources to step up and work extremely hard to do something, anything, to somewhat mitigate this disaster. In this instance, it’s punks behind the band the DISSIDENTS, and they’re assembling a cassette compilation—the second of three so far—to raise money to send to Gaza Soup Kitchen. It’s sixteen tracks in all, featuring contributions from a slew of the best bands going these days, including ALIEN NOSEJOB, COLLATE, PRISON AFFAIR, SOUP ACTIVISTS, TIIKERI, and new Philly band ERASER, who I think provide the highlight of the release. I’d probably tell you to buy this even if it sucked. It doesn’t, though—it’s great! I just wish it didn’t exist. Free Palestine!
Cameleon continues to dive deep into rare and/or unreleased French tunes and share their spoils with the world. Here we’re treated to 30 such tracks from 25 different artists, all originally recorded between 1978 and 1986. As you might expect, there is a big variety to digest here, and while not every track is an absolute highlight, all are at least pretty good or interesting. The comp starts with a few straightforward punk numbers, veers into some great post-punk moments, and even throws in a live cover of the RINGS’ “I Wanna Be Free.” It feels silly to dig into specific bands and songs when there are so many on the comp, but a big standout for me was “Pay The Bill” by MOKOS—a fantastic track with tinges of power pop all over the sub-two-minute runtime. The songs seem fairly split down the middle between being sung in English and in French, which also helps keep things fresh when presented with so many tracks. Cameleon often reinforces their strength one rescued 7” at a time, but this comp serves as a pleasant reminder that they can please at length just as easily.
This is some ripping weirdo punk from Greece, something I do not come across daily. These songs do not let up, often anchored by breathless drums that have punk energy and a German psych precision and mobility. When the band strays from their formula of angular, anarchic lo-fi punk, the rewards dwindle, such as on the too-zany cut “Love Your Baby/Moron.” But overall, this is a group that plays serious without taking itself too seriously. The results are enough to make your brain wiggle.
Debut release from this trio of Detroit steakheads. These dudes mix BUCK BILOXI-styled dum-dum braggadocio, GOLDEN PELICANS-esque hard-headed hard rock, and PENETRATORS-esque tuneful budget punk to cook up four cheap, greasy tracks perfect to kill brain cells by. The cassette’s highlight is “Best Band in Detroit,” where the only lyric—delivered as much as a threat as it is a boast—is “I’m the best band in Detroit.” Maybe the best conflation of band and frontman since “Tighten Up”! Turn your brain off and the stereo up!
New raw garage in supergroup packaging, all by way of Tokyo. Boasting members from FADEAWAYS, FIRESTARTER, and most notably Fink from the almighty TEENGENERATE, the band has more aptitude than most. This LP burns in the red, and is the perfect amount of slightly deranged and perfectly out-of-sync. There is a pubescent joy that gets raked into the songwriting in a way that moves bodies to a beat, with the band’s backing harmonies being the sell. “That’s Enough,” “Bring Me Back,” and “Take It Or Leave It;” the record is teenage joy spun on a platter.
BLACK MERCY and BAND OF BASTARDS are both punk/hardcore bands from Austin, Texas. This split LP offers ’80s-style blasts of hardcore on both sides. BLACK MERCY has a bouncy, lurchy feel on tracks like “The Curse.” They call to mind the frenetic urgency of SOUL GLO and classics like MINOR THREAT’s self-titled release. I particularly enjoyed “Salvo,” with its guitar soloing and danceable breakdowns, and imagine this would be a ton of fun to see live. BAND OF BASTARDS features former members of SPARTA and …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD. Interestingly though, the band sounds like neither of those, and once again conjures not only ’80s hardcore but also DC hardcore (my favorite kind!) in particular. “FYP” is a powerful anthem, with driving drums and a switch to an upbeat rhythm midway through. I loved the lyrics of “Lack of Love,” a snarling treatise on “shitheads with no remorse,” exploring empty words and the disconnect of those who make policies and those who have to live with them. Overall, I am excited by what these bands are doing, their take on the world, and the politics/values they are covering. What this split did, which is what all good splits should do, is make me wish I was at a show they were both playing—ideally in front of a building we were all protesting. Coke bottle clear with blue swirl vinyl frankly also sounds delightful, and this release can provide you that!
BEIGE BANQUET is anything but beige when it comes to their musical style. They bring an almost artsy and darker vibe to punk, utilizing both distorted bass lines and heavy percussion at times. What gripped me most was the haunting repetition of vocal lines that were layered over noisy and gloomy instruments. They’re able to smoothly transition from a slightly heavier and noisier energy in “Parasitic Energy” to a quieter percussion solo in the intro of “Mind Lapse”, which I find just really well done. The use of spoken words was really interesting too, and kept me on my toes. Overall, BEIGE BANQUET brings a unique twist and energy to punk.
A healthy serving of meat-and-potatoes skinhead rock’n’roll from VIOLENT WAY alums, and boy, I hope you are hungry. Bully XL vocals barking against the usual bêtes noires of the modern skin, namely scruffy bastards, fighting, and middle class frauds. Lyrics are, much like this record, both short and to-the-point, and delivered with aplomb over some extremely rockin’ stompers. If you can’t run with the BIG DOG, stay on the porch.
First album since 1999 from this Los Angeles band, which has included L.A. punk luminaries like Joe Baiza, filmmaker Dave Markey, and Dez Cadena. The current lineup mixes wah-heavy psych rock, heavy blues jams, and the mostly-spoken observational storytelling of vocalist George Murillo. Songs like “Germs Reborn” have an early L.A. hardcore speed and approach, but most of these tracks are jammy affairs with occasional trumpet backup and even Norteño rhythms. Despite the hardcore pedigree and my unwavering love of most eras of the SST catalog that seems to most influence CARNAGE ASADA, this was a miss for me. “Chinese Lady Aluminum Foil” tells a story about a woman wearing an aluminum foil hat to prevent Martian mind control. And while the song is somewhat sympathetic to her (“Never hurt nobody / Always looks so lonely”), I assume this is about a real person who may have mental health issues. At best, it seems callous. Then we get “Little Fat Princess,” another observational tale of a child throwing a tantrum, with the lines, “Little fat princess / Stomping your feet / Little fat princess / Give me something to eat.” I mean, it’s a kid, and the chorus repeats the title quite a few times. It just sounds out of touch, and both mentioned songs ride a very fine line between describing daily life occurrences and punching down. The musicianship is top-notch and the stylistic diversity is interesting, but it’s not a repeat listen for me.
Mid-tempo and super catchy as it prods along, there is a lot to like about this, including that it kind of reminds me of SONIC YOUTH with that sort of grinding guitar sound. The female vocals are really nicely delivered. Power pop? Pop punk? Or maybe just pop? Doesn’t really matter, this Canadian three-piece has delivered a winner here. This will be a part of my regular rotation for quite some time.
Fun street punk outing here—hard-hitting songs, high-energy vocalist, and a lead guitarist serving up some tasty licks. Nothing groundbreaking, but if you’re into stuff like STREET BRATS and early DROPKICK MURPHYS, you’ll dig this. Apparently the lead guitarist used to play with RIVER CITY REBELS, and while I can’t find which era he belonged to, they’re a good comparison point as well.
