Reviews

Lower Echelon

Fun Control Test Run LP

FUN CONTROL is as strange as it gets. Imagine mixing NO TREND and BLACK FLAG with the blasting of INFEST. Doesn’t make much sense on paper, but it sounds great. Everything is redlined, but underneath all the abrasion, there’s real control. The riffs lock into these ugly little loops hammered into weird places through repetition. At moments, the tape saturation and damaged-mix aesthetic drift toward the harsh minimalism of FLIPPER, where fidelity itself becomes part of the aggression. The sense of versatility and lack of care for following the canons of punk is what makes Test Run a very enjoyable experience.

Huge Prick Psycho Chair cassette

Vancouver is absolutely filthy with excellent punk bands, so it’s no surprise to see yet another show up in my review pile. HUGE PRICK (great name) plays totally blown-out and over-the-top hardcore that sounds fried to a crisp and grimy in the best way possible. This seven-track, six-minute-long tape boasts all the abrasive fun you could ask for, including the riff from BLACK SABBATH’s “War Pigs” and a quick refrain of the chorus of “We’re a Happy Family” by the RAMONES. Check this one out; start with “R’N’R Dickhead.”