Reviews

Stuffy's

The Stress Balls Disappointed cassette

Power-chord-driven gutter punk out of Boston. Laden with noodly guitar leads and strong, charismatic vocals, this album’s lo-fi quality really aids in its efforts. Sounds raw and organic—just a bunch of folks having fun playing punk. Reminds me of something you’d have heard from Hellcat Records in their early years. Nothing too groundbreaking, with the aforementioned vocals doing most of the heavy lifting, but this is a really fun outing, especially if you’re a fan of DIY punk.

The Stress Balls The Last American Weekend LP

There’s something terribly comforting about hearing punk bands that are dead-set on keeping old school spirit alive. These Bostonians are doing a little more than that, teetering into genre experimentation, such as on the garage-inflected “Stay Stupid,” and bringing a nouveau Oi! flair to what is otherwise pretty straight-ahead, convincingly-played old school punk. The recording is satisfyingly lo-fi and the vocals have a great deal of character and grit to them. There’s a surprising amount of breadth of style here, but overall, this is hook-filled punk you’d put on at a party—crowd-pleasing without being cloying or boneheaded. It’s refreshing to hear a band having this much fun without feeling self-serving or corny. It’s not going to change your life, but it might change your night. At eighteen tracks, it does slightly outstay its welcome, but in a time when most bands feel it fit to call it a day after a four-track EP that takes as many minutes to listen to, it feels counter-intuitive to criticize someone for having too many ideas.

The Stress Balls Wildcat Sessions EP

There’s something nostalgic going on here, and I don’t think that’s the intention. The STRESS BALLS play straight-up old school punk. It’s lo-fi, no-frills, and it scratches the itch. They aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but give you what they’ve got and have a lot of fun doing so! They remind me a lot of Chicago punkers PURE INTENTION, both in delivery and attitude. “2026” is my favorite track here, just dumb punk fun. It reminds me of a vanilla ice cream cone that you’re going to have 60 times this summer. Simple, fun, and classic. Could it be improved? Sure. Does it need to be? Fuck no.