Reviews

Bearded Punk

Compilations Powerless 12″

A four-song project that features a different guest vocalist for each song. The songs are very ’90s Southern California-inspired, along the lines of the stuff that was coming out on Dr. Strange in the mid-’90s. In fact, two of the songs feature vocals from Ken Conte of IMPLANTS/BROWN LOBSTER TANK and Jeff Caudill of GAMEFACE, both of whom released records on Dr. Strange. The other two feature vocals by Francis Garcia of POP UNKNOWN/FOURTH GRADE NOTHING and Robby Cronholm of TAXES/CRUMB, and Stella Maxwell of CRUISERWEIGHT, respectively. Three of the songs are original compositions. The fourth is a TOM PETTY cover. All in all, it’s a neat idea, and if you are a fan of any of the vocalists that appear on this record, you’d definitely wanna give it a listen, although I’m not sure how often one would go back for repeat listens.

Discomfort Creature Discomfort Creature LP

Melodic punk that kinda sounds like GREEN DAY, if they made a hard right at the fork in the road that led them down the rock opera path at the left. Cementing this opinion is the fact that the singer sounds so eerily similar to Billie Joe, both vocally and in the way some of the vocals are structured, that I had to make sure my headphones were plugged in to the right thing. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, this is a really great record. A very catchy, fun listen. Kinda like a more matured take on the pop punk sound.