Reviews

Best Wishes

Firestarter Los Angeles Straight Edge cassette

I am happy to report that FIRESTARTER indeed does exactly what it says on the tin—Los Angeles straight edge. Immensely danceable youth crew-type beat not dissimilar to FLOORPUNCH. The riffs are crucial. The lyrics are vital. And the instrumentation is another positive HC power-word. In other words, it’s everything you want in a youth crew recording. All of this topped off with an Ian MacKaye sample as the outro, which is definitely a worthy way to close out your straight edge release—much better than how UNIFORM CHOICE decided to end that first album!

Spy Service Weapon cassette

This is sick. SPY wastes absolutely no time kicking off, a squeal of distortion followed by some seriously fucked-off stomping hardcore. I’m stumbling for comparisons to make but it sounds so fucking furious, with that sweet tinge of delay on the vox that allows for a real fucking snarl to seep through. The stomp that comes through on this tape is so fucking prevalent I can feel my bad knee begin to throb beneath my desk and I’m only two tracks in; hardcore is best when it doesn’t try reinvent the wheel, but rather uses it as a vehicle for genuine aggression and frustration. This is some desperately pissed-off shit from the Bay Area and it shows. I’m a sucker for Bay Area HC, but regardless of your tastes in regional HC, this should easily tick all your boxes.