Reviews

Cease and Desist

Brick Head Thick as Bricks cassette

Another COVID recording project, this time featuring the songwriting of DEAF WISH’s Sarah Hardiman and drumming of Carolyn Hawkins (CHOOK RACE, PARSNIP, SCHOOL DAMAGE). On Thicks as Bricks you get nine tracks of loose, laid-back garage/proto-punk. The recording is warm and inviting, giving the whole cassette a bit of an intimate, live feel. You get the suggestion of loud music without ever getting the sense that it is loud (imagine the VELVET UNDERGROUND recording White Light/White Heat while trying not to wake the neighbors). It ends up giving off a bit of a late-aughts vibe, back when bedroom garage and one-ish-person bands were all over the place. Throughout these tracks, I hear stuff like the MARKED MEN or the KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW (and of course the artists who would have influenced them). But I also hear less cool stuff. The one comparison that I couldn’t shake was pre-Grand Theft Auto V BASS DRUM OF DEATH (which—hey—is the period of their work that I would revisit, were I to ever revisit any). Anyway, this cassette is mainly cool, so give it a listen.

Animated Violence / Total Vacation split LP

Two servings of fast and loose West Coast hardcore punk on ANIMATED VIOLENCE and TOTAL VACATION’s split LP. Both bands draw from a similar well of influences; each plays snotty, ’80s-inspired USHC, but with enough variation in style between the two to merit sharing twelve inches of wax. First up is ANIMATED VIOLENCE, and it must be said: this band fuckin’ rules. Seven tracks of urgent and snarling hardcore punk with twangy, beefed-up guitar tones and a sort of playful vibe, as heard most prominently on the cloyingly catchy “Super Toys Last All Summer Long.” It may be early September, but this is a summer anthem if ever there were one. On the flipside is TOTAL VACATION, whose track list doubles ANIMATED VIOLENCE’s in length and whose style is a little more rambunctious and offbeat, with shrill vocals accompanying much more spastic drumming that is absolutely pummeling. The gang vocals they pepper throughout remind me of ADOLESCENTS, bringing a rowdier vibe to the proceedings. All said, both sides are strong, but ANIMATED VIOLENCE really steals the show. Highly recommended; for fans of G.U.N., INVERTEBRATES, Unlawful Assembly.