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!

Friends of Cesar Romero War Party Favors CD

This is a beautiful combination of (power) pop, punk, and garage rock. Some songs are more pop than punk. Others are more garage and pop. You get where I’m going with this. Mid-tempo, catchy, and super melodic, this is right up my alley. Like it was possibly made just for me. And while it’s easy on the ears, it’s not soft. There are real guitars and real drums. If I know me, fifteen tracks might be pressing my attention span, but this one just keeps on delivering. Snappy Little Numbers continues to impress me.

Grand Collapse Empty Plinths LP

Heavy, intense, and instantly engaging UK hardcore. The guitars dominate this release—heavy mosh metal chugs interrupted by melodic leads that manage to land organically between Euro-crust and mid-’80s Mould. GRAND COLLAPSE is fast, sometimes even sounding like they finished writing a song and consciously decided “that’s cool…faster would be even cooler” (they were right). Empty Plinths is an injection, hard to not feel fucking amped after listening.

Gutterskull Coldness of the Bunker cassette

Croatia’s GUTTERSKULL does grimy, blackened punk powered by raw D-beat banging. On this demo, all fourteen songs have the same beat, most of them are between thirty seconds and one minute long, and they’re all covered with raspy black metal whispers. These songs could be the battle hymns of some bizarre type of evil war witches. Straight sinister depravity. I find the dead drums of the funeral march-style opening to “Final Death Raid” to be a bit addictive, craving them as I sip my morning coffee on the way to work.

Don Howland Endgame LP

Punk-blues solo record from this long-standing member of the BASSHOLES. With one foot in the garage and one in a hazy after-hours bar, this collection of lo-fi creepy crawlers builds and maintains an aura of murder ballad dread and Southern gothic menace. “Half Off” brings to mind the MURDER CITY DEVILS with sinister organ casting a spooky shadow over everything. “Party in Hell” evokes the bluesier moments of DEAD MOON with its repeated vocal melody and lived-in atmosphere. “Sleep in Cars” has a snaky guitar lead that slithered out of a swamp to make a guest appearance on this record. “Thank the CIA” is a sing-along anti-authority blast that calls back to vintage fun-not-funny indie jams like “Take the Skinheads Bowling” or “Gimme Indie Rock.” An interesting stand-out is “How Now (Brown Cow),” a Farfisa-led instrumental that sounds like a slow-dance at a hockey rink. Its unhurried melody, repeating structure and heavy organ tone sounds dark, romantic, and classic. If a greasy, smoky blend of punk rock spirit and blues malaise is your jam, Endgame is worth your time.

Instigators 1993 Demo N Live LP

Giants of UK anarcho-punk in the 80s and early 90s, and we get to hear a re-release of their last push in the studio and on stage before disbanding after a ’93 European tour. Side A contains the six-song demo with some really catchy tunes—”Never in a Million” almost feels like a BAD BRAINS track, but ya know, not quite as fast; it’s an anthem to the disenchanted and is my favorite of the demo. Side B, a live excerpt from the Huddersfield gig, starts, as Side A does, with “Suckerpunch,” and then delves into older songs, sung entirely with a vocal echo. The echo remains for the rest of the side, so when Tez speaks between songs you hear everything twice, which must have been a little maddening in the crowd, but does well to invoke chaos through the speaker. With so many changes in labels and members (and subsequently styles) over their career, the INSTIGATORS have a history and discography worth the dive down the rabbit hole, and this album is a great display of that career and ultimate progression.

Muro 12.07.19 Bogota cassette

If someone had played me this cassette without mentioning it was a live recording, I would have thought it was a proper studio recording. MURO is such a ferocious live band that they sound just like they do on their records. Recorded live in 2019 at the Festival Asfixia in Bogota, this flawless live set shows why MURO is on the top of the hardcore game worldwide. Relentless, raw, and energetic, they don’t skip a bit and deliver an assault of hardcore punk that puts many studio recordings to shame. If this wasn’t enough to entice you, every copy comes with a “Meat is War” mini-zine and all proceedings of this release will be used to aid those struggling against fascist violence in Colombia. So besides delivering it sonically, MURO also grasps the politics of punk, which is something missing in quite a few bands today, and they wave the flag of justice right in your face. MURO is a force to be reckoned with.

Nubs Job / Banana 7″

If you don’t already have it, here’s another chance at this always-in-style NUBS 7″ courtesy of the dependable Munster Records. The escalating nihilism of “Job” remains an especially tasty KBD delicacy. Spot-on punk. On the other side of the record, “Banana” is a song, too.

Road Pig Road Pig demo cassette

Sleazy and nasty hardcore rock’n’roll steams out of the New Jersey sewers. ROAD PIG plays six tracks of boiling punk, and their tunes remind me of the later records of WORLD BURNS TO DEATH. In some parts, the guitar echoes in a slightly post-punk way. Lyrics are especially nihilistic. There are a few breakdowns that don’t wait around too long before driving the song home, very deliberately wrapping it up. The last two songs are the only tracks over two minutes and they both weave a somber tale of this dying “empire” none of us asked for, from a wider point of view to a narrower view finishing off the tape. ROAD PIG plays tightly performed and intelligent punk. A great demo that they clearly put a lot of thought into, from the compositions to the lyrics to the samples.

Smirk EP 12″

It’s only been about six months since the world was treated to the debut LP from this project, but SMIRK—Nick Vicario (PUBLIC EYE, CRISIS MAN) doing the solo recording thing—is back! This time you’re getting an EP’s worth of tightly written, loosely produced pop-speckled punk. The four tracks on the A-side are a nice continuation of what you got from his debut. Rhythmically, these tracks are absolutely locked-in. But the tape warble, garage jangle, and tuneless vocals make it feel as though these songs are otherwise on the verge of falling apart, giving off quite a cool SWELL MAPS vibe—particularly in the Krautrock-y stretch of “Precious Dreams”. The three tracks on the B-side really up the pop factor—”So Original” even throws in enough vocal melody to end up sounding like the MARKED MEN. Overall, this 12″ further establishes Nick as a nifty songwriter who warrants your attention in an increasingly crowded landscape of solo recording projects. Initial pressing of the LP is sold out at the source, so grab it if you run across one in the wild! Otherwise, be on the lookout for the upcoming repress.

Soursob Soursob LP

Scottish trio SOURSOB plunks down snarly and gnarly punk gunk on its debut LP. Most of these eight songs are mid-tempo movers, buzzing with fuzz guitars and exuding displeasure with the world as-is. SOURSOB’s screeds about modern life recall GOOD THROB’s stick-in-the-eye punk POV. “Shoegaze” sports a down n’ dirty groove and LOL lyrics, while “Berlin” eviscerates the sheltered, moneyed culture tourists that seem ubiquitous in certain parts of the world. SOURSOB is further proof that bile never goes out of style.

Suburban Resistance Suburban Resistance LP

Snotty, melodic SoCal punk all wrapped up nice and ready for the big stage. Songs about partying (and the dark side of partying) and fierce determination in the face of just trying to fucking get by, from a Vegas outfit (that’s Las Vegas, which is not in Southern California) featuring members from ’80s skate punks the FACTION and ’00s Upstate NY DIY rippers WAR SQUAD. The backing “whoa-ohhh”s aren’t really for me (there are a lot of them), and the lyrics to “Fools” (maybe about getting along in the face of getting called out…?) give me slight pause, but these fellows know exactly what they’re aiming for, and if gruff, catchy adult punk is what you’re after, then you’ve surely found it on the debut from SUBURBAN RESISTANCE.

TV Dust Beep cassette

This tape is entrenched in a childlike post-punk sound. Its angular, somewhat out of focus approach is pulsating with punk grooves. Employing toy drum machines and noisy machines, there’s an element of playful industrial music that gives this tape a really rough feel. Some tracks even dip into electronic, psychedelic sounds, like the sinister “Believe,” which conveys a dark bit of angst. Overall, this is a really unique bit of experimentation, which is really what lo-fi recording is all about.

V/A End of the Corridor: A Compilation of Belgian Cold Wave and Post-Punk 78-84 LP

There’s always room in this house for another compilation highlighting one of post-punk’s most overlooked scenes. End Of The Corridor is a journey through some of the best that Belgium had to offer in the late ’70s and early ’80s. You’ve got some of the more recognizable names (DE BRASSERS, CULTURAL DECAY, SIGLO XX) mixing it up with lesser-known but crucial outfits like STRUGGLER, SUSPECTS, and PROTECTION PLUS. Belgian post-punk tends towards monolithic, bass-heavy grooves that bask in a sort of fatalistic charm. In other words, these are life-affirming odes for the downtrodden. As most of these tracks are unreleased, this is an excellent collection for both the neophyte and those already familiar with the skills of the old Flemish masters.

V/A …So This Is Progress? 004 flexi EP + zine

Short and sweet—five Ohio bands with tracks recorded during Thee Time Ov Covid. TV DRUGS (meaty punk rock), HUMAN LAW (ugly, downtuned drum machine noise/sludge), STALL (vicious hc/grind), LOCKED UP (even more vicious grind), and JACK KNIFE BEAT DOWN (blinding lo-fi thrash punk). Delivered with issue #4 of …So This Is Progress? fanzine.

Blood Ties Make Me Sane EP

There’s no lofty concepts or deep poetry to be found here, friends; just a good old-fashioned ass-kicking courtesy of Vancouver’s BLOOD TIES. Raw and direct in terms of sound and substance, these eleven tracks are laid bare for the tribe to devour. This band does a good amount of heavy stomping on this debut EP, but their meaty hardcore is really at its best in the few moments when they kick into full-blown D-beat mode. This collection of songs feels more like an intro to the band rather than a complete body of work, but they manage to work up quite a sweat during this brief session. By the end of the record, the poor fella doesn’t even know where he is.

Broken Vessels Broken Vessels cassette

Reissue of the band’s demo originally from 2018. BROKEN VESSELS from Santa Ana, CA play fast, catchy, driving hardcore punk that feels rather timeless. I honestly could have probably been convinced that this had been recorded in just about any decade from the 1980s on. There are a lot of cool elements peppered in which make it a bit hard to fully pin down. “Greasy Little Addict” is such a killer song that’s gonna get a lot of play over here.

Collapsed Collapsed LP

COLLAPSED delivers an ugly, stenchy, distorted mass of old school death metal and dirty crust punk. Hailing from Canada, these crusties know how to deliver the goods and play off on the stenchcore tropes very well, without sounding like everyone else. Just the right amount of crust and just the right amount of death metal. After a mid-tempo intro paying homage to AMEBIX and AXEGRINDER, they erupt into sickening crust violence similar to DOOM or HELLSHOCK. The freezing cold solos they added bring a whole new blackened dimension to the savage battlefield landscape they created. A record that will please crusties and death metalheads alike.

Custody / Spells split 7″

Denver label Snappy Little Numbers brings you a split 7″ featuring a song apiece from Finnish band CUSTODY and the label owner’s band SPELLS. According to Discogs, the former band features members from NHL 95, CIGARETTE CROSSFIRE, and BAZED, while the latter pulls from MAIL ORDER CHILDREN, DUST HEART, and CHARLIE CONTINENTAL. I’ve never heard of any of those, but they all certainly sound like band names! Anyway, the CUSTODY side starts off promising enough—the first fifteen seconds sound like the band is gearing up to launch into a sick MAN OR ASTRO-MAN? rocker. Then the vocals kick in. Remember back in the mid-to-late ’90s when emo rock bands were trying to make it big by playing music that could slot in nicely next to VERTICAL HORIZON or LIFEHOUSE? No? Well, if you want to get a taste of what that sounded like, give this side a spin. SPELLS deliver on the promise of their name and start their side chanting out “C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E” like the BAY CITY ROLLERS. They then launch into something that sounds an awful lot like early HOT WATER MUSIC trying their hand at posicore. I’m having trouble imagining who this 7″ would appeal to.

Dead United Fiend Nö.1 CD

This disc was assigned for review in September, but considering the content I figure it’s better that I waited until closer to Halloween. While the aesthetics don’t fully represent the content, rest assured that some poppy German horrorpunk is in your future with DEAD UNITED. Imagine a poppier AVENGED SEVENFOLD, singing about zombies and fiends and ghouls—it’s tongue-in-cheek (there’s a track called “Aaaahhhhhhh! Some Bees!”), and it’s fun and ghoul-y as shit.

Gel Live! cassette

GEL, a hardcore group hailing from New Jersey, makes some totally bomb-ass punk. This tape isn’t technically a live record, but it was recorded live and has that raw feel to it. Clocking in at about twelve minutes long, there isn’t a moment that lets up. GEL came to fuck shit up, and fuck shit up they do. The band gives a truly primal performance. It’s almost animalistic. There’s not much diversity in the tracks, just a general face-pummeling, brain cell-destroying level of intensity. Fans of fast-paced hardcore will find a lot to love here.

Girls in Synthesis Shift in State 12″

As a follow-up to their debut LP Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future, this mini-album is another GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS release of which the hardcopy is already sold out! Sticking true to super-limited pressings, this UK DIY band delivers with lots of ambient noise and grit—they’re pissed, and you better not get in the way, as in their closer track, “Don’t try!”

Grand Scheme Grand Scheme demo cassette

Fast, short, and pissed-sounding. The vocals remind me of INFEST a bit, although musically it’s a little slower with some two-steppin’ breakdown parts. It’s hard to believe that this is a demo, because it’s super tight. Six songs in all, and it appears that this tape was limited to 100 and is already sold out, but thanks to modern technology, I’m sure it’s not hard to track this down.

HHH Intelectual Punks EP reissue

Great gem rescued by the essential Discos Enfermos—a 1986 EP by HHH, a band from Girona, Spain. Their debut EP in fact, after having recorded a demo, Sin Identidad, in 1985.  Here we have nine vicious, ultra-fast songs, very much in the vein of early D.R.I., where they scream against nuclear energy, industry, war, the city of Barcelona and the then-upcoming ’92 Olympics, and the punk scene itself. Real sonic beatings. A classic of Spanish hardcore.

Indoctrinate Failbringer cassette

Two doses of downtuned Euro crust/grind, with two bonus doses of the same unforgiving assault from 2014 included as a bonus on the physical version. High/low vocals and erratic metallic song construction all work together to create something not far removed from mid-’90s Per Koro fodder, but with a keener ear towards blistering metalcore and beatdown hardcore. It’s a lot, and Austria’s INDOCTRINATE crams it all in.

Judy and the Jerks Live in NWI cassette

If you are yet unfamiliar with JUDY AND THE JERKS, well then you’ve got some homework to do now, punk! With a killer 7″ and a slew of cassette releases under their belt, Hattiesburg, Mississippi’s golden children JUDY AND THE JERKS are truly unstoppable and have been putting Hattiesburg on the punk map for a number of years now. This new cassette is a live show from Hammond, Indiana recorded on January 6, 2020 by “Nervous” Erik Hart. Solid sound quality, a lot of fun, but let’s be honest here, not as fun as seeing the band live.

Kina Se Ho Vinto Se Ho Perso LP reissue

Refreshingly, I don’t know a damn thing about this Italian hardcore band that started in the mid-’80s. This was their fourth LP, and it’s an interesting example of the time period. KINA’s sound sources its inspiration from Washington DC’s world-famous post-hardcore scene; bands like DAG NASTY, SWIZ, and SOULSIDE. The band can still rock pretty hard, but they tend towards melodic guitar lines that complement the earnest vocals. Recalling the HATED, KINA is not afraid of acoustic guitar and other “un-punk” elements. A track like “Cosa Farete” is closer to morose college rock than, say, INDIGESTI, but you can imagine them playing a show together at some thatched-roof squat on an abandoned farm outside of Turin. Interestingly, KINA’s mix of these influences prefigures a band that would become massive on an underground level less than a decade later—AVAIL. There’s a similar anthemic quality that is pretty damn hard to pull off convincingly, but KINA manages.

Las Ratapunks Fracaso 2020 EP

Badass punkers via smalltown Peru tear you a new one. Fast, raw, and in your hole, LAS RATAPUNKS blaze through six songs in like two minutes. “Las Niñas” is my personal fave. Like a slick, polished GRIMA with some ADOLESCENTS “whoa whoa”s and melodies. Cool-as-fuck artwork. Dig it.

The McGunks Going Out Early CD

This album reminds me of something that would have come out on Just Add Water or Mutant Pop or a label like that. It’s the kind of stuff that would fall under the umbrella of pop punk that has less of a RAMONES feel and more of a straight-up rock’n’roll influence. That’s not to say the RAMONES influence isn’t there—I mean, they have a song that name drops just about every song ever written by them. It’s pretty standard fare for this style, nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it did grow on me after repeated listens. The vocalist has a raspy style that definitely reminded me of the singer from A RADIO WITH GUTS, and once I figured it out, it all started to come together for me.

Mercenárias Cadê As Armas? LP reissue

The 1986 debut album from São Paulo’s femme-punk legends MERCENÁRIAS finally gets the reissue treatment that it so desperately needed, following a pair of killer releases from Nada Nada Discos in recent years that focused on the band’s unreleased and archival material. Slashing guitar, dance-to-destroy rhythms, and shouted gang vocals denouncing all manner of oppressive systems (the police, the Brazilian government, the Catholic church), executed with an absolutely vicious, fiery energy like BUSH TETRAS or the AU PAIRS playing at a hardcore pace—ten songs in eighteen minutes! The LP’s two most urgent and blistering tracks are probably their best-known, namely “Polícia,” which starts off with a bass-supplied klaxon call before launching into a frantic push/pull of disco beats and call-and-response chants, and “Pânico,” which counters its scrabbling guitar and deep bass throb with some disarmingly melodic backing harmonies, but the darker, chorused-out post-punk moments (“Imagem” and “Amor Inimigo,” in particular) are equally great, foreshadowing a more SIOUXSIE-adjacent direction that MERCENÁRIAS would take on their 1988 follow-up Trashland. Highest recommendation possible!

Neurotic Existence At War With the World LP

NEUROTIC EXISTENCE of Bremen reminds me of MUSHROOM ATTACK meets CHAOS UK and CALLOUSED and DREAD MESSIAH. There are dual vocals at distinctly different ranges: the more leading vocal is gritty and tinged with lunacy, sometimes reminding me of SCATHA in the slower deliveries. The complimentary vocals strike at a various degree of octaves anywhere between FLEAS AND LICE and the MUFFS. This recording is not very dingy, and everything is produced quite clean, but the bass is really accentuated like ZMIV. I’m really digging this drawn-out epic track “(Sorry Mom) Never Homesick.” Although I feel this is supposed to be a classic ’90s-style Euro crust record, the warmth in the singing is inspired and the long bridge-style songs kind of take me away, and the diminutive chords (thinking BASTARD’s “Cause of Civilization”) hit me in the feels, not gonna hard-stance about this one. Ending on “Animal Freedom,” you can’t go wrong with what NEUROTIC EXISTENCE is about.

Night War Perversity of War Science cassette

With a pitch-black take on punishing D-beat in the “horrors of war” vein, NIGHT WAR from New Mexico takes us all the way to hell on this fiery debut tape. Crisp production makes these seven tight and terrifying tracks shine, and overlapping crusty death metal bellows and ghastly black metal shrieks create an awesome atmosphere of horror, putting you right into the “movie” (check out “Exploding Cemeteries” and you’ll get it.) With any luck, we’ll get a sequel soon.

Psychotic Youth The Bellevue Tapes EP

PSYCHOTIC YOUTH is an old school Swedish pop punk group. The Spanish label Snap!! Records was kind enough to collect these tracks, which served as demo tapes to the band’s 1991 record Be in the Sun. Overall, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The songs are pretty high quality for demos, the band has got a ton of energy, but it all ends up feeling a little too nice around the edges. The sound is caught between a RAMONES throwback and a proto-GREEN DAY. If that sounds like something up your alley, by all means give it a try, but otherwise I wouldn’t suggest it.

Quarantine Agony LP

This might quite possibly be the best USHC release of the year! Heck, maybe the best in the last five or ten years. The record begins with an eerie intro followed by a huge, belching “agony” that quickly erupts into the finest mash-up of USHC aggression. The weirdness of UNITED MUTATION and WHITE PIGS moshing with the anger of NEGATIVE APPROACH and NECROS. A relentless yet catchy record filled with some of the strangest electronic segments heard on a hardcore record that sometimes come close to something DEVO would do. Their 2020 demo was killer but this record just elevates the bar for every other hardcore band out there. The quality of this LP comes as no surprise because it has members of IMPALERS and CHAIN RANK and you know they rage as hard as they can. Shoutout to Chris Ulsh slaying it on the drums and showing what he’s made of. After the quarantine, QUARANTINE will have everyone in the pit screaming “will to kill“—and remember, “Life is a one long-ass quarantine.”

Rommel セクシー スマイル / 甘いキッス 7″ reissue

So, Bitter Lake is a label that specializes in reissuing songs from the Japanese underground. Pretty sure the word specializes is the precise word to use here. I don’t know what to make of this one. It’s like cheesy pop music, with cheesy back-up vocals. I have no idea what they’re singing about, but I’m sure it’s cheesy. All that said, this thing is so catchy that I can’t not like it. And it makes me smile. I’m just sitting here listening and smiling. I may be in love with this record. Even if I can’t marry it, it’s my new favorite thing.

The Scaners X Ray Glasses: On EP

I’ve had enough of DEVO-core. Okay, I haven’t, but this single posits something maybe even more up my alley: NUMAN-core. Lyon’s the SCANERS hearken back to the TUBEWAY ARMY days while paying homage to garage rock in a way that sticks the landing beautifully. The B-sides work too, though not quite as much as the groovier/headier single, leaning more heavily on hard riffs than subterranean synth gloom. All-around nifty little release, though.

Set-Top Box Max Headroom EP

This has gotta be like—what—the fourth or fifth release by this guy just this year? For those who don’t know, SET-TOP BOX is one of the (at least) three solo recording projects of Ishka Edmeades (he also does stuff as TEE VEE REPAIRMAN and SATANIC TOGAS), which he finds time to work on while he’s not helping out in other bands/projects (RESEARCH REACTOR CORPORATION, GEE TEE, MAINFRAME, etc.), designing record sleeves (like this one—looks pretty good, right?), or running his label, Warttmann Inc. Dude is busy! But he’s still cranking out the hits. This four-song EP starts out with one of the catchiest tracks he’s written. “Nothin’ At All” takes that eggy start/stop jerk you can’t escape these days and smooths it out a bit with some rubbery cartoon funk, resulting in a little groove that would compel even the grumpiest of punks (like me) to nod along. It alone is probably worth the price of admission, but the rest of the EP is solid enough—it’s full of the Heathcliff-meets-DEVO punk you’ve come to expect from this project. He’s teetering on the edge of putting out too many things to pay attention to, but this EP ain’t tipping him over.

Sperma Sperma 12″ reissue

An archival release of Swiss punks SPERMA’s 1979 12″ EP, this record features three tracks of charmingly inept first-wave clamor. Slightly out-of-tune, off-beat, and recorded with traditional production values that don’t do the tunes any favors, this is a pretty good example of the kind of homegrown punk that was sprouting up all over the place at the time. These kids might have been listening to the BUZZCOCKS or some SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS, even. They weren’t the greatest at English but appear to have had a firm grasp on the F-word, which is important (see “No More Love”). This one has its charm, but it’s probably best suited for collectors who have to have all the ’70s punk.

SSSSSSS SSSSSSS cassette

SSSSSSS is a two-piece recording project where one member handles all the music and the other takes care of vocal duties. This tape jumps right into high gear with some revved-up, weirdo drum-machine-driven fast punk stuff which is super cool. Throughout the course of their ten-song cassette, SSSSSSS dabbles in a number of different genres that feel more inspired by drone or black metal, which feels less exciting to me. I wasn’t able to find out any info about the band, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s intentional or if they are just truly un-Google-able. My biggest gripe is that the demo is dubbed very quietly. When I realized it was the same program repeated on both sides my hopes got raised that maybe the B-side was dubbed a bit louder, but alas, it was not—in fact, it was even quieter than the A-side.

Tracks Brakes on You LP

TRACKS were a Boston band who released one 7″ single in 1977, moved to New York in 1978 to join the scene, and promptly broke up in 1979. The single tracks “Brakes on You” and “Bombs Away” are included here along with 1976 live recordings from Cambridge, MA’s The Club. Led by the snarling, tough gal vocals of Lorry Doll, TRACKS have a nasty, don’t-give-a-shit attitude. The music is sped-up hard rock with a bit of punkiness to it. These recordings are rough, but there is something there. Perhaps with a proper recording, some publicity, and the necessary luck, they could have made the history books. But you also get the feeling that isn’t what they were looking for.

Vonbrigði Hanagal 2xLP

I’m only four songs into this, and I’m going to file it under essential listening. This collection of Icelandic post-punk and hardcore was recorded in 1982—83 and sounds immediately vital and current. VONBRIGÁI is new to me, and apparently was not very well-known outside of ReykjavÁ­k’s punk scene, and that is a shame for the ages. The recording sounds fantastic: warm and full like it was recorded in a studio this week. The drums and bass sound especially great. As for the songs, they teem with post-punk unease and tension but drive with hardcore energy. The band comes across as super confident and tight. What a gem, seriously. The guitars are frequently dissonant and feedback-laden with flanger swirls around arpeggiated structures that predate noisy indie rock and post-hardcore by years. Syncopated beats lock in perfectly with driving bass lines that will make you bob your head and also scratch it because these folks are not a household name. If I’m making comparisons, it sounds like the first few ICEAGE records meshed with End Hits FUGAZI, but that’s not doing this album justice. Just go listen to it now and love it—it’s on Bandcamp. It looks like the double-LP is sold out, but hold out hope for a repress. Highly recommended.

V/A Heroes of the Night: Punk, Pop & Wave from the UK Underground ’79–’83 LP

I’ve seen more than one reference to this new collection of femme-fronted UK obscurities as being a “female new wave Killed By Death” or some variation on that theme—sure, most of the 45s from which these tracks were pulled are certified triple-digit bonzers, but the content here would more generously qualify as “punky” (rather than “punk”) and the unfulfilled commercial aspirations on display across the board are much higher than scum stats would suggest, so don’t expect to find any raw and messy new wave counterparts to TEDDY AND THE FRAT GIRLS included. My take? If you flipped your lid for those Subnormal Girls comps from a few years back and you’re as down with skinny-tied guitar solos as art-schooled clatter while trawling the scattered histories of women making music in the post-punk era, you probably already know that this is a required pick-up. A couple of standouts therein: the soft-glow power pop of the RUSSIANS’ “No Title” essentially détournés (and one-ups) the BOYS’ canonical “Terminal Love,” CHEAP CINEMA’s “Fade Away” splits the difference between Bomp!-ed new wave bounce and early Paisley Underground melancholy, “Love is Necessary” by the CRY pairs delicate vocals with some slick and very ’80s keyboard action (YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS gone synth-pop?), and THREE PHASE brings sugary-sweet hooks to retrofuturist minimal wave on “All I Want to Do Is (Fall in Love With You).” I demand a second (and third, and fourth) volume.

V/A Presence Not Absence: A Benefit Compilation for Trans BIPOC Housing Assistance cassette

This comp dropped last year, but the purpose is (sadly) more appropriate now than ever. Musically all over the place, much like the communities it is meant to support and lift up; driving electropop (NO NO BABY), ethereal dance (DOVE ARMITAGE), dark conscious hip hop (the UHURUVERSE—whose opening track “Obey” is an absolute stunner), noisy post-punk (VAGUESS), experimental vocals (UNO LADY), and the list goes on. Quality level is extremely high for all genres and musical modalities represented, and proceeds are going to the right place(s).

Absurd SS Absurd SS LP

This is what the apocalypse sounds like. Of course Absurd SS would sound as good as it does, since the members are seasoned noise veterans that played in the likes of GIFTGASATTACK, WARVICTIMS, FINAL SLUM WAR, DOZIX, NOCTURNAL SCUM, EARTH CRUST DISPLACEMENT, and SVART UT. I just got some tinnitus from just writing those bands down. This debut features fifteen raw punk chaos “songs” that could very well be on any FRAMTID or GLOOM record. Noise, not music!

Anno Omega Magia cassette

Space-punk from Milan, Italy that sounds like GEZA X battling ZOLAR X battling 8-bit monsters. I love this tape. According to their bio, these folks are in a long-standing punk collective that also dabbles in dungeon synth, and it shows in how adroitly the electronics are used with the traditional instruments. These anthems are punk-first blasts with synths and theremin accompaniment that sound upbeat, hopeful, and fun. “Centro Sociale” has bouncy-ball bass with a unique echoey male/female vocal approach full of character and trills. “Fascita” is fast punk backed with what sounds like a chiptune symphony that gives the proceedings an epic, grand feeling. It takes us on a side quest for glory and righteousness that just happens to finish up in under two minutes. The spooky B-movie theremin on “La Nazione è Pronta” and the shout-along chorus “Troppi Sbirri” hammer home how distinct each track sounds. The whole package is well-composed and arranged and avoids the eggy nerdiness that a lot of synth punk bands skew toward. And check out the rad underground comix-meets-Commodore 64 cover art. Rules. This is a super limited tape release, so act fast if you want a physical copy.

Baby Tyler Drumb Masheens LP

I suppose it’s fitting that this project is on the FDH record label, as BABY TYLER betrays a serious JAY REATARD fixation. Hell, a track like “In the Trunk” sounds like a sequel to “Hammer I Miss You,” but most of Drumb Masheens leans into the gnarlier aspects of solo JAY stuff like TERROR VISIONS. Although fairly slavish in its imitation, there’s good stuff here—these are songs not stylistic cul-de-sacs. “Gimme Gimme” has a cutting KBD-ness amidst the JAY-ness, while “Nothing” opens up just enough to break free of its aesthetic confines. Keep an eye on this kid.

Bricheros Live at Hensley 10″

If you’ve owned a copy of Don’t Back Down by the QUEERS, the LILLINGTONS’ Death by Television, or any album by TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET, and you recognize that the rub in executing RAMONES homage is that it’s easy to create but much harder to perfect, then you’ll appreciate BRICHEROS. The three-piece (two brothers and a friend) who originated in Peru and now call Denver home have done their part in elevating and universalizing the three-chord, 1/8-note sound. This album was recorded during a live show at a now-defunct punk club in Lima, Peru which gives it that lo-fi impromptu appeal.

Co-Ed Co-Ed cassette

Los Angeles-based CO-ED puts out their debut EP on the Philly cassette label Sludge People. The vocals are a little poppy, with fun pitch-bends at the end of lines, on top of driving, low-end guitars. Only one of the six tracks pushes past the two-and-half-minute mark, and just barely, so that it’s over before you know it. Two months after this release they put out a single as a taster for their upcoming LP, but according to an update on Sludge People, CO-ED has disbanded. I don’t know if there’s any chance the LP will be released, but one can hope. Hold it close if you were one of the lucky 100 people to grab this tape!

Cyst Cyst demo cassette

Primal, raw hardcore punk from Denver. The recording and presentation is every bit as chaotic as the contents, and they feed off of each other throughout these four tracks. “Sickening” opens with a full intro/fast/slow/slower/painfully slow format and then the drums fight through feedback on the intro to “Hard Kill” and I’m completely sold. This thing sounds fukkn nasty, so prepare yourself.

The Dents 1979/80 LP

Previously unheard femme-fronted Midwestern synth damage from Cincinnati’s the DENTS, who never managed to release anything in real time but finally get their due on this new archival collection, featuring seventeen cuts recorded on a four-track run through the club mixer at two local gigs in late 1979 and early 1980. Just by virtue of forming in Ohio in the late ’70s, the DENTS were pretty much destined to be inherently weirder (and therefore cooler) than most bands of the era on a similar punk/new wave cusp who also existed outside of coastal urban centers, boasted multiple members with mullets, and played sets heavy on covers of fairly recent vintage (in the DENTS’ case, we get takes on the VOIDOIDS, the REAL KIDS, and PATTI SMITH, among others), and they absolutely deliver on that promise. A steady, fucked-up synth warble over the dilapidated rhythmic stomp of “Baby Wants” and “The Dented” sounds like the UNITS through a heavy Clevo proto-punk filter, “Sleeping Around” is a shoulda-been KBD classic on the MAGGOTS/EYES wavelength (Vivien Vinyl’s savage opening shout: “He was a fixture of the Cincinnati scene / I was a victim of the sex machine”), and the nagging, synth-spiked snarl of “Why Do You Do?” drops a pin on the map right in between late ’70s New York punk grit and early ’80s Bay Area art-wave mayhem. Midwest is best; true heads understand and should acquire this post-haste. 

Eddie Mooney & the Grave Telephones / Down the Drain 7″

Wow. Close your eyes and pretend you’re in the Virgin Megastore circa 1979 looking for the latest power pop gem. This thing is infectiously catchy and melodic and easy to listen to. If pop music hadn’t shit the bed starting about 40 years ago, this thing just wouldn’t be reviewed by MRR. It’s pop music. But it’s really good and it’s performed by four (or five or whatever) dudes/women, not by a team of hundreds. Like it or not, you’ve got to like that it’s honest and sincere.