Cut-Rate Druggist Blistering LP
This two-piece from Oakland, CA comes out swinging like a three-piece (or even a four-or-more-piece). Rock’n’roll punk delivered with a smoldering attitude and swagger. However, under these driving tunes, the lyrics and sound have a dark and heavy quality like some of those AmRep bands from the ’90s. I’ve come to expect a level of intensity of live performances from the DCxPC label, so reviewing a studio LP had me a little cautious—the label has been great at capturing the inertia of a band’s live recordings, and I was wondering if they’d be able to meet that same standard. I can tell you that they completely nailed it, and if it weren’t for a couple studio tricks, I would have thought that this was live-to-tape and then to press. CUT-RATE DRUGGIST is a great starting-off point to build confidence for future DCxPC studio projects coming our way.