Reviews

Odd Tapes

Crush Crusher Q: Are We Not Muppets? A: We Are Maniacs! cassette

Some people like their punk high-end and frantic. If you are one of those people, then Oklahoma City’s CRUSH CRUSHER are your new favorite band. The CRUCIFUCKS cover fits right the fukk in, which might give you a nice starting point, and the primitive ’70s-style Midwest punk showered in jangling guitars dominates in the best way. This is music born in basements, this is music that is never meant to leave basements. Never mind the pink cartoons on the cover, and get to ripping.

Crush Crusher I Wish Punk Was Dead cassette

A much delayed review for this 2019 piece of Bible Belt brilliance. Oklahoma City’s CRUSH CRUSHER sounds like a product of their environment, the result of their collective pasts. Frustrated and manic hardcore punk played with the conniving mystery that comes from needing to find alternate ways home sneaking through alleys, and the ferocity that is learned when you get caught. The songs (and delivery) are chaotic, with distant vocals as if shouted from a different room—the result is a primitive but massive sound that “bigger” bands struggle to replicate. Twelve tracks, clocking in around thirteen minutes with an indescribably weird CRASS cover as a closer. Recommended.

Primal Brain It’s All a Game cassette

Oklahoma City does it again. Furious, damaged hardcore punk made by freaks (made for freaks). Check the hiccup in the chorus of the eponymous opening track and feel yourself get swallowed by all those damn guitars. Aside from “Real Bad Dream” where PRIMAL BRAIN just fucking unleash, these kids are taking the craft out of early ’00s punk proficiency and cramming it into the 2015 maggot stomp mold…the result is fucking glorious.

Shaka S is for Shaka cassette

Grimy hardcore punk from Oklahoma City. This is the second demo released by SHAKA. Stripped-down, gross punk devoid of any memorable choruses or catchy riffs. This is just nasty. My hopes are that none of the aforementioned descriptions are coming off as negatives because I mean them all as nothing but positives. I imagine the standard crowd reaction for SHAKA is just shaking with rage or twitching uncontrollably, and I hope to one day be among those ranks and see this for myself.

Shaka-STD Shaka-STD cassette

Whooooooaaaaa kiddies, slow down and take a look at this shit hot fire from America’s Heartland. Another mandatory offering from Oklahoma, as SHAKA fukkn rage their way through breakneck off-the-rails thrashcore of the purest variety. I mean, the drummer changes beats in the first track simply because they can’t keep up—the shit is that fukkn fast and theymatch the speed with riffs and power and I’m just floored. Reminds me of CANKRO, but it’s faster, and that’s saying something. Can people stop talking about New York and L.A. and shit and start looking at the true freaks? Because I’m telling you, punk, the freaks are our only salvation.

The Throwawaze Punkstars cassette

It has been a few years since I have heard new bands playing street punk songs like this. Five songs of driving, beer-soaked, pogo-crazed nastiness from Oklahoma City. With choruses of “I’m unemplOi!Oi!Oi!ed / I’m unemplOi!Oi!Oi!ed / I’m unemplOi!Oi!Oi!ed / Fuck you!,” I imagine that the avid MRR reader can hear this song in their head right now without ever listening to the THROWAWAZE. Big fan of the band’s glamour shot in the insert being in front of a row of pinball machines.