Reviews

Rejected Youth

Grip Bite / Mindrott / Radical Fun Time / Self Abuse Four Way Split, Vol. 2 split CD

Fun little split between four bands that sound different enough to keep things interesting. I’m sure that what I’m about to say sounds like the “Country/Western” bit from Blues Brothers, but there’s something here for anyone who likes punk-adjacent music. GRIP BITE plays the classic “your favorite local band” brand of street punk, MINDROTT has a late-era PANTERA/HATEBREED vibe going on, RADICAL FUN TIME plays lo-fi crust, and SELF ABUSE rounds it out with their flavor of crossover thrash punk. Really solid disc here; I had it on while I was doing yard work and it helped me forget I’m an old man now. This is well worth a spin.

V/A No Coast: Punk Compilation CD

I’m not from the US, so a lot of your references are lost on me, one of which is “the Midwest.” It’s as vast and unknowable as the bottom of the ocean, or Narnia or Middle Earth or something to me, and so I can only assume that it causes the kind of psychic and cosmic damage that would result in some of the output on this record. Sixteen tracks of some of the most generic, garage band, milquetoast “street punk” going. It sounds like copyright-free library music. If this is the best the Midwest has to offer, then I’m joining the liberal coastal elite. Pass.

V/A Chaos for Christmas CD

This starts with a real heartbreaker of a seasonal song about not singing door-to-door because the singer is awfully sad about things and stuff (sad face emoji). I bet these songs were a real hoot to write (hoot emoji). The songs are mostly upbeat in sound but downbeat in jolliness, and are peppered with language that will get you on the “naughty list” for certain (uh-oh emoji). My friend Derek loves Christmas-themed punk stuff so he can sprinkle in a few tunes he enjoys between the MARIAH CAREY and BING CROSBY family favorites Xmas playlist (thumbs up emoji), so at least one of these is already in a stocking in Michigan (shrug emoji).