Reviews

Godless America

Antagonizör Heavy Metal Bootlicker cassette

Charged metal punk’n’roll from this all-female chaos trio from Gainesville, Florida, delivering leftist songs fueled by fire. Suggested tracks: “Pearl Clutcher” and “Heavy Metal Bootlicker,” exuding the feeling of sounds from another era; special mention to “Ammunition” for being so clear about gun policies, like open carry and such. Nice metalpunk full of catharsis and the spillage of anger, with soft remembrances of the everlasting MOTÖRHEAD vibe but in another trance and with newer sounds. Politically-charged hardcore-meets-metal with charged lyrics and vocal work at the front, plus thick bass lines.

Baby Adam Baby Adam cassette

BABY ADAM is not an actual baby, or a solo act going by an infantile alias, but a trio from Florida with a noisy indie sound and very warped pop sensibilities. These songs sound almost like they could be primitive, lo-fi covers of ’90s groups like SEBADOH. It’s captured in the carefree and creative recording styles of that band’s earliest work, but it hits levels of unpolished, organic expression that are more in tune with the more melodic efforts of PUSSY GALORE. There’s also a youthful sort of earnestness present here, the kind that I associate with emo-type bands of the early 2000s. In the end, I mentally file this somewhere near (but not close to) Butte, Montana college rockers MORDECAI. Is it art, or ineptitude? Both? If you enjoy it, does it matter?

D. Sablu “Live” For Tour cassette

Classic punk from the ’77 UK and ’74 Ohio schools, but naturally, it sounds exactly like neither because the real punks keep making the shit sound new and important (because it is important, of course). I can’t even imagine how hard it is to restrain yourself enough to make music like this. Every fukkn song feels like it wants to just let it fly, and I want to listen to HELLNATION when it’s over just so I can hear something fast. But that’s the point, and these New Orleans freaks nail it. Even when they go fast on “So Sorry,” the freakout is so controlled and I love it. Mutant garage punk at the absolute top of their game…and to be fair, they pretty much let it all fly on “Parody,” that one is a full release. Full swagger, full strut, full stomp, total punk.

Goblin Daycare Q: EP? A: EP!! cassette

Really digging this debut cassette from Istanbul, Turkey’s GOBLIN DAYCARE. “Mama Goblin” does it all in this project, combining bedroom synth waves with garage punk and resulting in an equation that reaches the highest level of egginess that weird punk could reach. Lo-fi punk maniacs and DEVO-core worshipers casting sounds with deranged guitars quite in line with the Spanish band PRISON AFFAIR, good mashing synth mayhem, and heavily reverbed electronic drums, plus an on-point distorted voice that’s still audible with non-stop ranting in the fashion of cyberpunk band WWW (and even reminiscent of Jello Biafra’s vocal register) and a bit of DEVO’s stop-and-go songwriting. Imagine if DEVO and Jello were fighting in a steamy basement and add it all to the experience of surfing space in a videogame. Suggested tracks: “Coup De Grace” and “Officer Down.” Things are getting quite eggy in the realm of weird punk.

Teen Mortgage / Tongues of Fire / Venus Twins split cassette

VENUS TWINS are a sharp and heavy bass/drums duo with a gloriously dated sound—I wish I encountered more bands that approached punk with this kind of attack, like they’re just trying to bludgeon their own songs. TEEN MORTGAGE is a dark and driving guitar/drums two-piece with a dangerous edge—“Shangri-La” is a would-be summer night anthem. Oddly, the most subdued outfit of the three has as many members as the other two combined, but TONGUES OF FIRE are their own brand of restrained, repetitive power. All three bands sound like they could have escaped from the 1990s (a compliment), all three were new to me, and all three command (demand) attention. Two tracks from each, and my ears are peeled for more.