Reviews

Comidillo

Güiña Atake Psicotronico demo cassette

Demo release from this Spanish-language DIY punk band. I couldn’t find much in the way of a bio, but I did read that this is a product of communal squat living, and it shows in the lived-in confidence of the recording. The one-mic-in-an-empty-room production gives the songs an intimacy and immediacy that works really well on songs like opener “Atake Psciotronico.” Messy indie guitar lines not far removed from peak GUIDED BY VOICES lead into fast and frantic punk vocals, sounding like a mix of heart-tugging REPLACEMENTS minor chords with classic hardcore. I kept trying to place what it sounds like, and it’s “Made to Be Broken” by POISON IDEA. It’s so good. Second track “Nada Con El Estado” continues the perfect blend of tinny indie-punk with a great call-and-response chorus. I was so stoked to hear the rest, but the remaining songs unfortunately are unremarkable power-chord hardcore. Not bad, but not as hooky and interesting as the tape’s beginning. Click on over to GÜIÑA’s Bandcamp for that first track—maybe one amazing song is all you need?

Pissy Mide Tus Penas cassette

Two-piece bass-and-drums combo PISSY creates a dense sonic geography through the use of kaleidoscopic effects and layers of noise. At times the concept of tonality seems firmly at odds with the jet-engine swirl of phasers, though the chorus-soaked bass lines do still bleed through. The staccato vocal patterns riff off the drums in a mechanical, nearly robotic delivery. Cold and clinical, PISSY creates an atmosphere of din and discomfort, colored in the grayest shades of post-punk coolness. As stark as a winter garden in Berlin.

Radio Siniestra Radio Siniestra cassette

Here’s a femme-fronted darkwave/post-punk group out of Chile, with what appears to be their first release? While I couldn’t find much on the group, they were recorded in Valparaíso, and picked up by the Santiago-based Cintas Taciturnas, while also releasing cassettes on Comidillo out of Berlin, Germany. The Comidillo Bandcamp page has a mystical write-up on the band…or what the band may mean to you as a listener, or something? Opening with “Who are RADIO SINIESTRA? Most can’t tell, unless you’re there.” Not shitting on it here—it’s a darkly painted canvas of an angular, crusty sound, mixed with bright spots of anarchic joy portraying this seven-song cassette.  For avid listeners of MRR Radio, you probably heard the album opener “Sombras Marinales” on Erika’s episode #1883. For fans of anything in those “marginal shadows,” this is a must-listen.