Reviews

Roach and Roll

Failure Face Junction Pizza EP

I am a huge sucker for live punk albums, and this little slab here is a great example as to why. Pure, raw, rock’n’roll chaos, recorded in April of 1995. FAILURE FACE plays a hybrid type of hardcore powerviolence that reminds me a lot of bands like KUNG-FU RICK and AUTHORITY ABUSE. I absolutely adore the crowd interaction throughout the record. It starts off pretty enthusiastic and it begins to dwindle as the show progresses. Very relatable, very endearing, and very real. We’ve all been there! Comes with a neat little two-page autobiographical write-up of the band and the record itself. These recordings were initially ripped from a VHS! Incredible! They sound great. Fantastic 7” here, especially if you’re someone like me who really loves the history of obscure punk scenes of the past.

V/A Gritty But Pretty, Vol. 1 EP

This is a mixed bag of tunes, some of which hit hard while some are actively annoying. NEKRA, a London-based hardcore band with a previous release on the excellent La Vida Es Un Mus label, kicks things off with a ripper of an opener. From there, a more melodic track from the Belgian outfit LAVENDER WITCH keeps things engaging. The rest is fairly forgettable, save for a cut by TIGER SEX, whose song “Food Porn” continually repeats “She got my brownies / She likes the fudge” as its chorus over a rote riot grrrl riff. Yikes. Definitely nothing here makes this an essential comp.