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!

Italia 90 Borderline / Declare 7″

Fifth release from Londoners ITALIA 90. “Borderline” has a staccato guitar line that turns into a wailing, melodic chorus riff beneath the lyrics “And the thing you’ve created / Is the thing you have hated.” Great track. While “Borderline” has a more traditional structure, “Declare” is the other side of the coin: avant-garde noise rock. Lots of ambient space for drums and a rambling whistle/dial tone, then a sudden wall of sound, shouting a snotty, Cockney “Declare!” Worth the quick listen.

La Race Je Me Rapproche de Mon Squelette LP

Recorded in an abandoned Belgian brewery, LA RACE presents brutally stark, molasses-thick rock-noise. Finding a place just north of black metal hell, the absolutely shredded vocals sound more like KK Null ran out of lozenges again. All jokes aside, this band means fucking business. LA RACE channels BILLY BAO’s furious conceptual gambits, but with the unalleviated disgust aimed inward, like a cancer. When they’re hitting all cylinders, the band conjures the disembodied hardcore of FUSHITSUSHA, slabs of sound sparking like old ghosts tangled in powerlines. Even when it seems subdued, Je Me Rapproche de Mon Squelette (translation: “I’m Getting Closer to My Skeleton”) never lets up on the intensity. An unmistakable howl into the void, you can hear the wind blowing through this album. It won’t keep you warm but it might keep you company.

Letha Letha demo cassette

Anemic-sounding drum machine punk with simple riffs and an excess of tape hiss. Basic and a bit dumb, but I guess that’s the point. From what I can tell the band(?) is from Australia, and they’re on a Polish DIY cassette label. I think that’s a used condom on the cover? Or perhaps a human colon?

Meat Thump Under the Bridge cassette

Supremely shambolic live-in-2011 tape from these Brisbane jangle punks. With the gross band name and Mike Diana-style cover art, I was bracing myself for something disgusting, but was pleasantly surprised to hear music closer to SWELL MAPS or maybe the VASELINES. With out-of-tune clean guitars, laconic, slurred vocals, and a performance that could politely be called messy, MEAT THUMP has a charm that comes from the joy of creating music for themselves. The lyrics are barely decipherable and sound like streams of consciousness, but they work and frequently match the vibe so well that the drunken-Lou Reed ramblings sound meaningful and tug at your heartstrings (especially “Box of Wine” and “Wish”). Does the band begin and end each song at the same time? Nope. Does this tape occasionally sound like complete shit? Yep. Do they incorporate a verse of EAZY-E’s “Boyz-n-the-Hood” in a really unfortunate way? Yeah, they do. Would I recommend this to anyone looking for earnest punk-inspired DIY creation? Absolutely. Postscript: As I was finishing up this review, I read that singer/guitarist Brendon Annesley passed away in 2012. That discovery had a sobering effect on what was a relatively light listen. Hug your friends and do stuff now instead of waiting for the future.

Milt The Days of Milt cassette

Right off the bat, MILT introduces themselves with their fierce brand of garage and hardcore. The guitars are downright filthy, and the vocals manage to top that. It’s aggressive, gnarly, and dripping with attitude. Just about everything you could want in a punk tape. Australia has had something of a garage renaissance recently and this is some of the cream of the crop, for damn sure. A real highlight of this cassette is the band’s cover of the WIGGLES’ “Fruit Salad.” Any band who can pull off a WIGGLES cover deserves some praise. 

Misantropic Catharsis LP

This is an angry album. Gerda, the female lead vocalist, rails at the patriarchy and capitalism as the guitars weave back and forth easily between hardcore and metal. Each song is fast, crusty, and powerfully emotive lyrically. “Day of Reckoning ” is nothing less than a battle anthem from the gutter. “Fragmentation” is pure hardcore excellence with Gerda shouting back and forth with the male vocalist, Matte. They even throw in some violins and synthesizers on a couple tracks, and it takes nothing away from the blistering rawness. After nine tracks of anarcho-rage that fans of WOLFBRIGADE will appreciate, the album manages to close on a hopeful yet pissed-off note with “The Dying of the Light,” declaring to their children “To my daughter, to my son / The future is yours when the battle is done.”

Neuf Volts Demo 2021 cassette

New French quartet, kind of in the realm of hardcore, but with atypical babydoll vocals that come in syllable-jamming succession. The combo lands nicely. The closer “Super Skate” is an interpretation of a RIKA ZARAρ track (1978 French pop song about skateboarding? Yes, please). I don’t know how I feel about the eponymous anthem trope of “Neuf Volts,” so maybe it’s good they got it out of their system on the demo. I’ll keep listening.

Potpourri Potpourri cassette

Here’s a beguiling one, a short broadcast of weirdness from Omaha that is shivering with cold and tape hiss. It really is an exercise in presentation, as the degraded quality of sound perfectly mirrors the metronomic soundtrack to collapse. Contemporaries that leap to mind are INSTITUTE and even DAWN OF HUMANS, although I don’t recall either of those bands ever incorporating bongos into their sound. Well, guess what, POTPOURRI goes for it, and although at first blush my ears were trying to pinpoint what the hell it was, it actually lends an interesting layer. Everything here sounds like it was either intricately placed or improvised entirely, the kind of balanced chaos that perfectly suits a certain type of heady, lo-fi punk. The guitar has a really nice sonorous tone to it in addition to being harsh and tinny—one of the many balancing acts going on that really make this band shine. It’s feel-bad music that feels really good.

Rekrut Demo ‘84 / Jarocin ’84 LP

Lo-fi ’80s Polish hardcore demo given a deluxe gatefold reissue by Warsaw Pact. Chunky riffs and blitzing tunes, minimal tape hiss, and cymbals cutting hard in the drum mix. This type of punk isn’t my wheelhouse, the liner notes are in Polish, and I couldn’t find much info online, but if obscure Eastern Euro hardcore is your bag, then this should probably be in it.

Sophisticated Boom Boom Sophisticated Boom Boom LP reissue

Before teaching themselves the instruments that they would use to make timeless buzzsaw punk/C86 pop in CHIN CHIN, bassist Esther and drummer Marianne started out as co-vocalists in the ’80s-goes-’60s group SOPHISTICATED BOOM BOOM—three women up front at the mic with musical backing provided by all-male Swiss punks SOZZ, offering up malt shop sounds for the new wave age. With a band name lifted from the SHANGRI-LAS and more than a few song titles that could have been pulled straight from the RONETTES/CHIFFONS/SHIRELLES (“Jimmy Jimmy,” “Ready to Dance,” “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” etc.), the girl group influence on SOPHISTICATED BOOM BOOM’s 1982 LP is just as pronounced as it was in CHIN CHIN’s soaring-but-wistful, “Be My Baby”-layered harmonies, crashed through the wall of sound to hit more of a twist-and-shout garage beat with wailing sax and giddy teen dance energy. For all of the blatant retromania, there’s also some very de rigeur ’80s post-punk moves in the BOOM BOOM mix, like the spacious dub echo and spectral RAINCOATS-esque vocals in “Dance With Me,” or “Boom Boom Rap” snapping into some elastic downtown funk-punk, or the horn-spiked, PIGBAG’d polyrhythmic clatter of “Numa”—the result is almost precisely Red Bird meets Rough Trade, and it’s charming as hell.

Soy City Stranglers Midwest Rock N Roll EP

Four doses of fast and furious Midwestern hardcore punk. Tasteful touches of metal (the slow bit in “Counting the Days” into the “let’s go” that brings back the charge is especially choice) and lots of single-note guitar picking à la Filthy Phil, and then they drop serious tonnage on the hardcore breakdowns. Q: What do you get when you combine testosterone, beer, full stacks, and denim? A: SOY CITY STRANGLERS. 

Spike Pit 2 Heavy Metal 4 Punk cassette

The non-stop, hard-working Clevo wrecking machine SPIKE PIT pumps out yet another, and this might be the best so far. Technically, this is three songs from the upcoming magnus opus Bastard of No Future LP, with a couple bonuses like the insane title track and the aptly-named “Annoying” (I dare you to listen to the whole song). Thrash, bash, slash with no cash could be this band’s motto, as they slay with CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER metallic-testicled PUNCTURE WOUND/GSMF-like hardcore punk fury. “White World” is clever and tasteless as hell. Pure genius. More please now give me!

Teenage Hearts Want More! LP

Oi! from France. Oui? There’s some kind of wordplay to be worked out here. Regardless, this Nantes-based crew fully brings it with seven tracks of rough-and-tumble working class rumblers. This feels cozy alongside contemporaries from across the channel CHUBBY & THE GANG and the CHISEL, hitting the same sweet spot of bluesy stomp with beer hall shout-along anthems that are properly pissed-off and world-weary. The guitars cut really nicely here, just the right amount of sharpness on the ear. The vocals have that rock-gargling quality to them as well, exactly what you’re looking for in proper fookin’ Oi! If you’ll pardon my incorrect French: this is très bonne merde, indeed.

Toxic Control Dexconxtroll CD

TOXIC CONTROL is all over the map in style, from raw street punk to dub mixed with grunt-like Japanese rap to grimacing muffled noisecore and some roots rock…it all seems very deliberately abrasive. Sung in Japanese, some song title examples include “End Stop and Frisk,” “Fuck Homophobia,” “All You Fascists Bound to Lose,” and “Who Killed the City?,” and with lyrics provided in English, I can really start to relate with TOXIC CONTROL. TOXIC CONTROL is from Tokyo, but I’d like to know the answer to who killed where I live, too—I think we all do. The irony is not lost on me…anyway, I find myself bouncing to this gnarly bizarre punk expression like I’m young, free and crazy. Unfortunately, I’m left with crazy, but I’d like to be free if only in my mind. TOXIC CONTROL definitely are. Nice work from this three-piece. Reminds me of ZYANOSE meets very early CASUALTIES or CHOKING VICTIM. “Tu Puedes! Antifascista!“

V/A Anti Human Trafficking Benefit Comp cassette

Literal twelve-year-old AJ Cortes, label boss over at the Miami-based Gravity Hill Records (a cassette label), has compiled sixteen slime-covered tracks from whatever strain of mutants have evolved in this post-LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS world. As you probably gathered from the title, this comp is meant to combat human trafficking in some sense. Although, it’s unclear whether the proceeds are going to a particular organization or if this comp is just meant to “raise awareness.” In any case, at just $4 for the digital release, you’re getting a pretty big bang for your buck. The compilation features a lot of folks who you’ve likely already heard and have opinions about—M.A.Z.E., PRINT HEAD, BILLIAM, and NEO NEOS to name a few. But it also features even more artists whom you’ve likely never heard of (or you’ve had your ear way closer to the ground than I have). We’re getting tracks from WWW, YOKE, GEORGE CRUSTANZA, MAYGE, and the SUXX—if you don’t like the first set of bands I named, you won’t like these either. Mr. Cortes supplies at least three of the tracks on here as well with his projects AJ CORTES AND THE BURGLARS and BENNY AND THE BOYS, the latter of whom cover two tracks by the WAD. You absolutely have to give “Nog Bag” a listen—the bass sound that starts the track is so insane and great that I might actually prefer this to the original. And it wouldn’t be a punk comp without a seemingly out-of-place/shitty track, and unfortunately that is provided here by HEARTLESS FOLK—this sounds like GOOD RIDDANCE or some other Fat Wrecks grunty pop punk. Anyway, this release really reminded me of what I loved about those early days of Lumpy Records—just a bevy of weirdo bands I’ve never heard of, not all of whom I like, but all of whom make me sit up and think, “Whoa! What the hell is this?!”

Aborted Tortoise A Album LP

If you, like me, mourn the loss of the great AUSMUTEANTS and are jonesing for that same mix of uptempo garage punk, DEVO-lved new wave, and American hardcore, you may want to turn to this Perth five-piece to get your fix. That’s not to say they’re a rip-off or a perfect copy. The songwriting here is a little less catchy, you get snake-y guitar lines in place of the synth riffs, and ABORTED TORTOISE is a little more DEAD KENNEDYS compared to AUSMUTEANTS’ MINOR THREAT (check out “R.L. Stine” or the surf instrumental “DLC”). But the overall vibes are very similar, particularly in the way the vocalist does that same talk-singing to Squeaky-Voiced Teen shout that was one of the hallmarks of AUSMUTEANTS. Where these guys stand out, though, is in the way they weave together their lead, rhythm, and bass guitar parts. The interplay on “CGI,”with all three switching between super busy lines and synchronized rhythmic punches, is super impressive. Give it a listen!

Alternative TV How Much Longer / You Bastard 7″ reissue

Spanish label Munster Records is responsible for outstanding reissue work that has bequeathed us treasures from all over the Americas and Europe. Now, they’ve reissued the seminal 1977 debut single by the band founded by Mark Perry (editor of the zine Sniffin’ Glue), Alex Fergusson (PSYCHIC TV), GENERATION X’s John Towe, and Tyrone Thomas. An absolutely necessary exercise in self-criticism about the insurmountable contradictions of the English punk scene on Side A, and a self-conscious rant about rock’n’roll on the B-side. A great opportunity to get this piece of history, with one of the favorite songs of this writer, on plastic.

Bam Bam Villains (Also Wear White) 12″

I love when a record is reissued and it completely upends how we understand music history, giving us new classics to revere and pioneers their proper place. Chicago label Bric-a-Brac’s reissue of the 1983 EP (as well as some unreleased demos) by BAM BAM is like an editor’s red pen scratching out and rewriting the history of Seattle underground music as we’ve all known it. There’s been a lot written about BAM BAM lately as “proto-grunge,” or the “godfathers/godmother of grunge,” but I cringe to use the G-word at all in writing this review, as I don’t relate much of what BAM BAM displays on this record to anything that came in the Nevermind ’90s. This is simply an excellent ’80s Pacific Northwest punk record that you could put against fellow Seattlites SOLGER or the FARTZ or even POISON IDEA. BAM BAM’s songs are exceptionally more hooky and melodic than your average punk band at the time, but I can’t imagine songs like “Villains,” “Stress,” or “Heinz 57” not bringing a crowd in 1983 to a slam dance frenzy. While Tommy Martin’s seared, string-bending leads stand out, it’s Tina Bell’s vocals that give the band its sharpened tip. Her finely-honed pipes are given raw-throat voice as she tears through the band’s whirled din. There’s a gravity in her voice, a confidence in her delivery, and a passionate conviction in the words she’s singing that sounds like she was channeling from a deeper well than your average hardcore hollerer. The fact that we’re only giving Tina her just due, flowers, and kudos in 2022 (ten years after her untimely passing) is almost absurd given the evidence on this record. This should have been a classic already, but hopefully this lovingly-made reissue will finally give Tina Bell her stature in the punk pantheon next to other major voices like Poly Styrene and Alice Bag. Play it loud and burn a candle for Tina while you’re at it, a woman of color who fought for her place in a music scene that didn’t have one carved out for her.

Barrera Visiones Nocturnas 12″

At the first strike of the chords, one automatically expects a four-count followed by some D-beat destruction, but quickly you are met with another reality. BARRERA from Valencia almost sounds like post-punk, but soon you understand that it is just stripped-down, slow, primitive and suffocating punk. Hypnotic like BRAINBOMBS, noisy like FLIPPER, charismatic like the STOOGES, and dramatic like QLOAQA LETAL. Visiones Nocturnas offers seven gloomy tracks that, if you understand the lyrics, will shatter your emotions. This just proves that Spanish punk bands are at the top of their game.

Crisis Beat Void of Humanity cassette

Hailing from Brazil, CRISIS BEAT plays a subtle mix of gothic Oi!-style hardcore and metallic punk, picking up the energy of CAMERA SILENS, the gloom of some darker metal bands such as BLOOD INCANTATION, and harsh, desperate, echoing crust à la MÖRKHIMMEL.. Some Motör-charged elements and Burning Spirits-style work make for a unique experience melding modern psych-metal, crust (vocals), and all sorts of weird, unexpected macabre interludes. Five tracks of anti-fascist dark metal punk that span the influence of several decades of noise and experimentation.

D.Y.E. D.Y.E. cassette

D.Y.E begins their cassette with a steady thump of bass and floor toms, accompanied by looming feedback. After that, they plow and plod through the next three songs. These qualities are staples of the ’80s US hardcore repotoire, which the band clearly studied. The demo’s moderate audio quality allows them to show off that attention to detail. The vocals are a touch lower than the guitars and drums, making it sound like the singer is screaming to match their volume. This can invoke a show in a basement, dive bar, or dive bar in a basement.

The Ergs! Time and the Season EP

At long last, the ERGS! have returned and blessed the universe with a new 7″. Two originals and two covers make up this record, and these Jersey fellas haven’t lost a step. The originals are the highlights here. “Ultimate Falsetto Book” is a mid-tempo toe-tapper, while “Half Empty Strip Mal” is a faster, more upbeat ditty. Both are classic ERGS!. As for the two covers, the first is their version of “Say You’re Sorry” from ’60s garage band the REMAINS, which sounds like it could have been a lost DESCENDENTS song. Finishing up this EP is a cover of the ZOMBIES’ “Time and the Season.” This is pretty much a spot-on cover, just a bit beefed up. All in all, a solid and welcomed offering from Jersey’s best prancers.

Fatties Didn’t See Shit EP

Orlando punks outshining Mickey and Pulse. Dayglo puke-inspired color schemes instantly nauseate the listener, then you start the music—Big Man garage punk with skinny guy attitude, wicked humor, and freeform circus-prog musicianship. CARBONAS and BEAT BEAT BEAT crossed with early RANCID VAT and ZOOGZ RIFT. “Didn’t See Shit” is killer. Touch me please. I’m sick.

 

Generacion Suicida Regeneracion LP

GENERACION SUICIDA is one of the best punk bands in California right now, and that’s saying something when you’re talking about such a fertile scene. After a four-year wait, the band released Regeneracion at the end of 2021. Ten tracks (in twenty-three minutes) of hardcore attack (the fast and brutal drum work is awesome), with piercing bass and guitars halfway between the CHAMELEONS and WIPERS. It’s really a very beautiful guitar tone. The lyrics are full of rage about life in the empire: violence, racism, abuse of authority. Musically, it all works to give depth to a very developed melodic sense. A great album that grows with each listen—listen to “Fuego” or “Identidad” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Richard Hamilton My Perfect World cassette

Sickeningly sweet glam pop with heavy ’90s indie vibes. Vocals are soft and smooth with femme backing accents floating in the mist (sometimes), and the whole thing creeps under your skin something fierce. On this cassette version of last year’s CD on Quality Time Records, RICHARD HAMILTON (a.k.a. Ricky Hamilton, Ricky Hell) proves (again) that he’s not only versatile, but that he’s one of the unheralded treasures of modern DIY music. A truly magical, masterful collection of should-be hits…pure, mature, perfectly polished and presented for your enjoyment.

Infinite X’s Infinite X’s LP

Here we have a remastered vinyl reissue of the INFINITE X’S’ 2002 self-titled album. With members of formative queercore bands TEAM DRESCH and LONGSTOCKING, this album is an indie pop smash hit. Loaded with catchy riffs, clap tracks, and interlaced with sections of minor-chord despair (“Bittersweet”). “Joanna”is a fucking amazing love song that crescendos to a hands-in-the-air chorus, while “Welcome to the Show” fires ya up and gets you moving. Sign me up.

Los Microwaves The Birth of Techno LP

This is not the birth of techno, but it is an interesting collection of studio outtakes and live tracks recorded between 1980–1983 by this unique Jose band. Nestled somewhere between post-punk and synth pop, LOS MICROWAVES consisted of bass, drums, and analog synths, and created music that was made for the dance floor as much as the punk club. The first five tracks are studio recordings that didn’t make it on the band’s sole LP, 1981’s Life After Breakfast. These are all pretty slick recordings, two of them instrumental dance tracks. The synths are bright and bouncy, foretelling chiptunes and well, big beat techno, in their playfulness. “I Can’t Say” is the standout here, with a perfect pop chorus. The live tracks on side two are much more interesting, leaving behind the pop sheen of bands like EURYTHMICS and HUMAN LEAGUE for new wave/post-punk sounds in the realm of BLONDIE or the B-52’S. The latter reference is especially true on “Sniper,” with exotica synths, call-and-response vocals, and a general weirdness that makes it an odd treat. “My Baby Tried to Kill Me” is another highlight, with what I can only describe as organ-grinder- meets-breakbeat production behind vocalist Meg Brazill’s wail. The looseness of the live tracks shows a band that was willing to experiment and have fun. I can imagine the audience split between dancers and cross-armed mopers, enjoying themselves equally. I wouldn’t call this collection essential, but it is a compelling look at an innovative and underheard band.

Manual Scan Plan of Action EP reissue

A fixture on the SoCal mod revival scene, this band of San Diego mop-tops produced a brand of power pop heavily indebted to ’60s garage and freakbeat. MANUAL SCAN’s debut 7″ EP Plan of Action (a spiritual cousin to SECRET AFFAIR’s “Time for Action”?) was originally released in 1983 on their own Dance and Stance label, and we find it reissued here by Snap!! Records out of Madrid, who also recently released an EP by fellow American mod revivalists MOD FUN. Upbeat, unpretentious, and delightfully catchy, every song on here is a winner. The opening track “Nothing You Can Do” swipes its vocal hook from the YARDBIRDS’ “For Your Love” (no one ever said the mod revival was original), while my personal favorite “New Difference” is punchy yet wistful. Recommended if you like the early singles by the LAST, or if you’re just a fan of the ’60s as filtered through the ’80s. Double nostalgia!

The Midnight Vein Kill the King Above / The Link cassette

Making music is not a problem for Buffalo madman John Toohill. My dude is never not releasing something! If I had to guess, I’d say the toughest thing for him would be deciding which of his many projects to attribute a song to—SCIENCE MAN, SPIT KINK, BRUTE SPRING, TURQUOISE WINDOW, the HAMILTONES, ALPHA HOPPER, ISMATIC GURU, etc. (I made up one of those, but I doubt he’d have any trouble cranking out something under that name). Anyway, he’s got two tracks for us here as the MIDNIGHT VEIN, his psych-rock outlet. “Kill the King Above” starts out as a stripped-down, acoustic psych number with a vocal melody that calls to mind “Sympathy for the Devil” in no small part due to the Mick-on-Quaaludes performance John gives here. The track slowly builds until it (fittingly) explodes into a Keith Richards-like lead freakout and fades back out. It’s cool enough—kinda reminds me of Goodbye Bread TY SEGALL. The real winner here, though, is “The Link.” It’s six minutes of primitive proto-punk that sounds like “White Light/White Heat” being bashed out on 80 guitars. Every now and then an unruly axe or two will emerge from the fray to absolutely blister your face, while John issues what sound like reprimands to whomever dares underestimate “The Link.” Real good shit!

Nervous Tick and the Zipper Lips / Obsoletism The Covid Collaborations: Vol. III cassette

This tape is the third in a series of lockdown collaborations organized by NERVOUS TICK, featuring good-time garage rock group OBSOLETISM this time around. There have been a lot of pandemic-era records born out of lockdown, most bringing the dark sounds of isolation to the forefront of their sound. This tape, on the other hand, strives for a brand of punk that makes you feel upbeat. Much like the RAMONES, these tracks are anthemic. Pounding with three-chord bliss, this cassette really ends up being a great way to spend the afternoon.

Party Day Sorted! 2xLP

A gloomy and atmospheric post-punk/goth-adjacent group from Barnsley, England, PARTY DAY won the affection of John Peel with their 1983 debut single “Row the Boat Ashore.” Their dour countenance and bass-led rhythms slot comfortably aside more recognizable contemporary acts like the SOUND and JOY DIVISION. Sorted! is a double-LP compilation representing the whole of their recorded history: two full-length albums and a handful of singles and EP tracks. The track “Glasshouse” (there are two versions included here) stands out as a highlight, a shimmering and sweet melancholic strum that brings to mind what the CHURCH was doing at the time. Other highlights include the propulsive “Rabbit Pie,”  the sullen six-minute epic “Atoms,” and “Career,” the last of which channels early KILLING JOKE. Proof positive that there is still interesting, even transcendent material to be unearthed from the milieu of forgotten ’80s post-punk.

Rat Cage In the Shadow of the Bomb / Scared of the Truth 7″

RAT CAGE is back after the excellent split Skopje vs Sheffield with Macedonian mangel maniacs NERVOUS SS. This is their new lathe-cut, two-song single, with all proceeds going to the Lughole in Sheffield. First we have “In The Shadow of the Bomb,” which comes close to WOLFPACK due to the chord changes and chorus hooks under a steady demolishing D-beat. Then “Scared of the Truth,” which channels a mid-tempo DISCHARGE-meets-TOTALITÄR vibe. Overall, a great follow-up to the split and a step ahead for the band in terms of sound discovery.

See-Saw At Any Time / Just Want to Be Free 7″

Two caffeinated rock’n’roll hits from this Kyoto, Japan band that is named after a song by the JAM. Both sides have a bouncy, infectious song that rides the line between punk and pub rock, like CHUBBY AND THE GANG or a sped-up UNDERTONES. “Just Want to Be Free” has all the elements for a melodic good time: palm-muted guitars with a simple chorus, classic guitar fills, and backing vocals. I was expecting hand-claps somewhere in the mix, but I guess you can just add your own at home. Fun and catchy record that could have come out any time in the last 40 years, but still sounds fresh.

The Shifters Open Vault 2xLP

In the early stages of 2020’s pandemic lockdowns that put live gigs and recording plans on pause indefinitely, the SHIFTERS offered up Open Vault as a sprawling digital content dump/stop-gap release of alternate takes, demos, and live cuts culled from 2016 to 2019. Most of these 25 tracks were never intended for public consumption (despite now being on a double-LP, of all formats!), and while odds-and-sods collections have a tendency to be half-baked and/or exercises in self-indulgence, Open Vault functions surprisingly well as a cohesive album, never seeming like some sort of hodge-podge of inconsequential throwaways—even when the presentation is decidedly shambolic and smudged-up, like the home recordings captured via built-in laptop and cell phone mics with drums literally thudded out on a kid-sized Spongebob Squarepants kit, the SHIFTERS’ songwriting is always uncannily sharp, with a lyrical focus that’s just as pointed (the repercussions of imperialism/colonialism and the shallow realities of late-stage capitalist life are both recurring themes). The Flying Nun-descended (and comparatively more polished) jangle pop that had been increasingly centered on the band’s last few records is largely de-emphasized in this particular context, with the FALL/COUNTRY TEASERS trebly twang of their 2015 debut cassette fully at the forefront in the minimal, repetitive clamor of tracks like “Induced” and “Faux American History;” the perfectly primitive (by which I mean, “Spongebob-kitted”) spin on “Work, Life, Gym, Etc.” from their Trouble in Mind full-length Have A Cunning Plan is particularly great. SHIFTERS scraps are honestly better than a lot of like-minded bands’ A-list material, and I have a feeling that this isn’t even the half of it here.

Siekiera Demo Summer ’84 LP

Warsaw Pact just keeps on delivering, this time with the elusive and incredible 1984 demo from Poland’s first hardcore band. Almost forty years later, and these songs still give me chills—had they released vinyl at the time (or, let’s be honest, had they been from the global West), they would be mentioned alongside CIMEX and RATOS and STALIN, because these recordings are every bit that fierce, but instead they passed from cassette to cassette for decades before creeping onto a couple of small-run reissues (that already fetch collector prices). But this is how they are supposed to sound, how they are supposed to feel…primal, fervent, aggressive, honest, intense hardcore punk. The presentation is gorgeous, packed with photos and images from the era—this is as close to “essential” as anything you’re going to read about this month.

Spike in Vain Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home cassette reissue

I remember discovering Disease is Relative as it was making its rounds across the blogs ten or so years ago, coming into its legend as a cult classic of weird ’80s hardcore on par with VOID or NO TREND. I highly doubt anyone then could fathom the bounty of unreleased music the Cleveland band had stockpiled, a twisted knot of recording sessions and side projects to come. In the last two years, along with a proper reissue of their debut, we’ve also had the release of Death Drives a Cadillac (a 1984 recording session that would’ve been their sophomore album), and now a demo recording of SPIKE IN VAIN shortly after releasing Disease is Relative, with songs from that time frame that never made it to the album. Naturally, the songs here are closer to the dissonant, mutated Midwest hardcore rage of the first record than the more experimental, twangy deathrock sound found on Death Drives a Cadillac. Scat has reissued these tunes on classic cassette, possibly as a nod to its origins, but probably because the vinyl pressing plants are stuffed beyond capacity these days with major label nonsense and Record Store Day garbage, so perhaps we’ll see a vinyl release eventually.

Tales of Terror Tales of Terror LP reissue

The main point of reissuing important albums is to draw attention to underrated bands, and TALES OF TERROR’s self-titled is certainly deserving of another look. Originally released in 1984 and reviewed in Maximum Rocknroll #16 by Tim Yohannan himself, this record is a wild ride. Boozy and raunchy, the tracks call to mind early STOOGES, obviously, but lead vocalist Pat Stratford has more Darby Crash energy than Iggy Pop. Interesting and weird, undeniably punk streaked with psychedelia, this one left me scratching my head in a good way. Tracks veer one way and then swerve into a digression that ends up just ending. Did they run out of ideas, or did they need a refill? Tracks like “Deathryder” and “Over Elvis Worship” hit hard, but other tracks like “Jim” and “Tales of Terror” show potential and land with a thud. Potential is smeared all over this album since the band’s trajectory was cut short with the murder of guitarist Lyon Wong in 1986. How big could they have gotten? How great were they live?

Thee Hearses EP II cassette

I bet you wouldn’t believe me if I told you that THEE HEARSES was a one-man electro-punk band that views the punk scene and modern life in general with a sarcastic slant. Songs about poseurs and frauds sung in a robotic monotone, with a clean drum machine drilling away and some synth noise coloring inside the lines. Well, believe it or not, this tape is actually a pretty decent listen—you’ve just heard this done before, and probably better. Still, this is what’s in the player so chill, aight? After all, “Space invader / You can fuck off” is the kind of chorus that we’ll make an exception for.

What Me Worry? Off My Meds EP

Dave DeMedici, of TOO MANY DAVES, puts out an EP to the tune of Fat Wreck Chords snarl. In that vein, nothing wildly new here—raspy vocals overlaid with harmonies, fifth-chord riffs, you know the deal. But the piece is elevated by the lyricism: struggling with substance use in the contrast of “Off My Meds” and “Back on My Meds.” It feels honest, in a self-deprecating sort of way. I don’t know, maybe the album’s description (“A coming-of-old-age tale…”) made me sympathetic. Rounding out the EP is a spin-off of the OPPRESSED’s “Ultra Violence.”

XO’s (pronounced húgs and kissès) cassette

This is what I live for. Huge, poppy rockn’roll with a snotty edge that cuts through the syrupy sweet melodies. This band gets it, dragging the late ’70s NYC sound screaming into the now in a way so few can pull off. The song structures are pretty much perfect, especially on standouts like “Scratch Me a Million,” which loop-de-loops through tempo changes, solos, and a swaggering chorus and sticks the landing. This stands next to contemporaries like NANCY in terms of timeless, full-attitude rock that you come back to again and again. I couldn’t love it more.

Zuletzt Re//Action / A Thousand Ways 7″

A 7″ with two amazing songs. I haven’t heard about them before, but now I wanna know more—this is one of those bands that catches me in the first five seconds. I can say that this is my favourite band from the reviews I wrote for this month, and I also love that they have two vocalists and I like both of them, cause you know, sometimes when a band uses two or more voices, it is not always good. At the end of the second song, I was wanting more, I wish it was a full album—my favourite track is “Re//Action.”

V/A Sheffield is Burning: Lughole Benefit Comp LP

A crucial DIY punk collective venue in Sheffield, England, the Lughole was forced to close its doors in 2018 when local officials imposed capacity restrictions that effectively made gigs there illegal. Artists and supporters of the Lughole have since banded together to relaunch and expand the venue in a new location, and this comp was released to raise funds in order to make it happen. Showcasing tracks from twelve bands associated with the original Lughole, this comp provides a nice slice of the current UK hardcore landscape. With bangers from STRAY BULLET, RAT CAGE, HOWL, and many more, including a mangled version of “Banned From the Pubs” by SKIPLICKERS, Sheffield is Burning is a solid slab for a worthy cause. Grab your copy and help UK punk continue to thrive.

Aunt Sally Aunt Sally LP+7″ reissue

Osaka’s AUNT SALLY formed after then-teenage vocalist (and later avant-garde icon) PHEW traveled to London for a SEX PISTOLS gig in 1977 and returned to Japan inspired to start her own band, but the familiar “PISTOLS as Rosetta stone” trope is not at all evident in the deconstructed art-punk of their 1979 self-titled album (and only official release), now back on vinyl for the first time in a couple of decades. The eponymous track “Aunt Sally” and “フランクに (Frank Ni)” both trace lines parallel to ROSA YEMEN as Phew cryptically chants over spindly tom-tom tumble and scribbling guitar, while “すべて売り物 (Subete Urimono)” is Rough Trade-ready with an early FALL-ish combo of repetitive, rumbling bass and rudimentary keyboard stabs; that’s about as close as AUNT SALLY gets to anything approaching trad punk (which is to say, not very). The rest of the LP is even further untethered from capital-P punk conventions—rhythm is all but discarded for the delicate, guitar/vocal-centered “日が朽ちて (Hi Ga Kuchite)” (think Odyshape-era RAINCOATS, stripped of drums and realized three years earlier a continent away), “ローレライ (Loreley)” inverts the French nursery rhyme “Frère Jacques” into a dark and unsettled freeform psychedelic sprawl, and the slinky no wave bass groove in “Essey” is cut through with some unexpectedly bright keyboards and sing-song vocals. The initial pressing of the reissue also includes a bonus 7″ with two raw, wild live recordings from AUNT SALLY’s 1978 debut gig at Kobe College (a particularly unhinged version of “Subete Urimono,” and the non-LP synth punk stomper “Panorama-tou/Cool Cold,” completely unreal!), which makes for an essential acquisition even if the original LP wasn’t currently fetching triple-digit prices—get in while you can. 

Barren? Distracted to Death… Diverted From Reality LP

I was really attracted to this LP because of the art, and I was right—hardcore punk with a really obscure feeling. I really enjoyed this record til the end, and the last song “Violence for Peace” was, for me, the perfect song to close, maybe my favourite track from this album. They totally remind me of a lot of things I like in anarcho-punk bands.

Crucial Response Puppets EP

When I hit play on this one, I thought to myself, “another killer American hardcore band,” and to my surprise, they are from Indonesia. Pure hardcore following the American tradition of bands like NEGATIVE APPROACH or OUT COLD. It’s stompy, it’s fast, it’s vicious, it’s great!  Previously released on cassette by Greedy Dust and Menace Records and now on vinyl on Not For the Weak, these five tracks will be hammered into your head, like it or not. These dudes really know their American hardcore well!

The Deadline The Deadline demo cassette

Hailing from Brooklyn, the DEADLINE offers up four songs that have a heavy influence of early 2000s-era hardcore in the vein of AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, COUNT ME OUT, and even a little bit of Oi! in there as well. Pretty decent stuff, especially for a demo. There’s definite potential here, although the one thing that stood out to me at first listen were the vocals. At times they seem a bit strained, in an almost “running out of steam” kind of way. But first impressions can be deceiving, and upon multiple listens, I have deduced that the vocals are raw and that only adds to the charm.

Dødsdømt 1989—2019 LP

I’m no expert on the Norwegian hardcore scene, but this band is absolutely fierce. They released a 7″ in 1994 and disintegrated almost immediately. But they had the very good idea to get back together in 2016 and since that time they have released two more 7″s, Deg Allein and Dine Siste Tanker, only available in small quantities in their home country. This is the first time these songs are available to the whole world in the form of a full LP. Excellent crust punk, dense and accurate, without solos and never veering into metal territories; it even reminds me of the ’90s Basque Country hardcore scene.

Excrement of War The Waste, the Greed and the Bodybags LP

Right or wrong (likely both), I feel like EXCREMENT OF WAR forms a bridge between ’80s UK metallic crust (DEVIATED INSTINCT, ENT, SACRILEGE) and ’90s DIY crust (HIATUS, DISRUPT). They had direct connections to bands on both sides of that imaginary dividing line between “then” and “now” (DOOM, DEPTH CHARGE, FILTHKICK, VIOLENT ARREST, DIRT, ENT, and many more have had members in EXCREMENT OF WAR), but were more raw and a little (or a lot) looser than many of their counterparts. It’s crust punk—they made D-beat sound fukkn nasty instead of trying to juice it up. The twenty songs on this collection are from sessions spanning 1991—95 and have all been available previously, but if you haven’t heard their side of the DEFORMED CONSCIENCE split before, then…well, listen to “They Call This Progress” and then get back to me. Not all reissues are essential, but some are.

Faze Content EP

FAZE brings us some sonic chronic from Canada in the vein of S.H.I.T. With echoed vocals over psychedelic hardcore droning, the music conjures images of a megaphone-carrying carnival barker in a tattered trench coat riding high on a sleepy-eyed elephant that keeps changing colors as it marches obliviously forward. Turn on, tune in, tap out.

 

Ghoulies Songs From Flat Earth EP

As the debut EP from this Australian four-piece (featuring members of ABORTED TORTOISE and KITCHEN PEOPLE), Songs From Flat Earth serves up frantic synth punk rock’n’roll without a single track clocking in at over two minutes. Carnival-ride synths and hyper mutant vocals combine for a queasy experience—but not a sloppy one, as these songs are remarkably tight and fully realized. Devotees of GEE TEE and the CONEHEADS (and insert your favorite devolved egg-punk band here) will find plenty to enjoy in this.