Reviews

Splitter

Lumb Lumb cassette

This was my first introduction to the solo project known as LUMB, and it is a lot to take in at fourteen songs and forty minutes in length. The standard problem that I feel many solo projects have of there not being enough ideas is not even remotely applicable in this case. If anything, I would suggest that the brain-child behind LUMB seems to have far too many ideas. Almost every track on this cassette sounds wildly different from the one before it, but not necessarily in an interesting songwriting kind of way. It sounds more like someone trying to play cover-all on their bingo card of all the different musical genres they wanted to touch upon. From country to new wave, from DILLINGER FOUR-inspired pop punk vocals to DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN herky-jerkiness, from experimental art to rockabilly guitar leads and back again. There are the occasional moments where I am intrigued, but the cool parts just tend to get drowned out by the confusion that inevitably and immediately follows.

Torx Torx cassette

With their crypto-exchange-ass band name and a visual aesthetic cribbed straight from some bottom-of-the-barrel egg-punk act, this Leipzig trio is just absolutely begging you to ignore their shit. Which is a shame, really, because this cassette is pretty alright! It’s nine tracks of minimal, jazzy art-punk—imagine MINUTEMEN playing a mix of GANG OF FOUR and YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS, but fronted by a vocalist who sounds like Richard Hell doing an impression of David Byrne. When they keep things crisp or punky, it’s great. But when they veer into post-hardcore territory, it starts sounding like CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH. Worth a listen!