Reviews

Sell the Heart

Middle-Aged Queers Theatre of Shame CD

I guess this might be the feel-good, laugh-steady queer punk album of the year, unless there’s another one. These are catchy songs, not unlike PANSY DIVISION or some DIESEL QUEENS tunes. Among the laughs and fun-time-party-guy stuff, the MIDDLE-AGED QUEERS pepper in some lyrically heavy songs, exemplified by the tunes “Big Sisters” and “Nobody Wants.” I initially was ready to toss this into the WEIRD AL punk category, but MIDDLE-AGED QUEERS have more than that to offer. Look, WEIRD AL punk is a fine place to be, I like a lot of it, but all I’m saying is that MIDDLE-AGED QUEERS have more than just songs funny about slumber parties, kinks, and anal beads. And just in time for Xmas, the MIDDLE-AGED QUEERS have a fully stocked online merch presence!

Scarboro Hate Season LP

Hate Season starts off making you think that you’re about to venture down a path of basic meat-and-potatoes punk and hardcore. However, by track three (”Sin Futuro”), you quickly realize this is something unique, a wave that is powerful, devastating, and disinfecting. The songs rocket through and blend perfectly, almost as if the entire record were a laid-out rock opera, or perhaps a Greek tragedy. Sharp, fast bursts are crafted around starts and stops, and out of nowhere, weird little instruments pop in and out so fast that you question whether you even heard them. As the fifteen songs carry on, they start to lose a bit of the unhinged quality and adopt a more direct and melodic hardcore and punk design, without giving up the vibrant and compelling parts that work to make Hate Season so terrific.