Reviews

Thrash Tapes

Curbsitter Grip on Reality EP

CURBSITTER from Milwaukee is coming in ferocious and funny on their debut 7”. The band is sounding well-honed, playing surging and vibrant hardcore with an inherent daffiness that comes from the singer’s unique voice and delivery, although some of the songs have subjects of a more serious nature. These six tunes are fast and melodic, and the obnoxious, mildly-warped vocals are a little corroded in places, spouting lyrics with a humorous lean that are often repetitive to pleasant effect (as expressed to the extreme in the stand-out track “4 Years of Repetitive Motion.”) The sound, at its core, is interesting and weighty punk with old-school sensibility and a bit of slapstick edge that may endear it to fans of FEAR, VANDALS, and other jokesters.

Level Gone West EP

I typically love short and quick hardcore albums, but there’s something about this one that feels a tad empty and unsatisfying. The momentum is affected by dead air and sudden tempo changes, and it kills the energy midway through. These types of transitions work well on full-lengths, but for an EP that’s barely hitting the seven minute mark, there isn’t a lot of room to stretch your wings. I’d love to hear what an LP from these folks sounds like—feels like it’d fit their aesthetic a little better and give the building parts more time to breathe. Regardless, there’s some good stuff here. Very reminiscent of early CEREMONY. The drums sound great on this and are probably what’s causing me to long for more of their intensity.

Nightstick Justice Complete Discography cassette

Well, here’s a rip-roaring blast from the past. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch them within the brief window of their existence from 2006–2008, treat yourself to this absolutely blistering collection of raging USHC from NIGHTSTICK JUSTICE. Goddamn, this one really holds up. Twenty-four tracks compiled from three EPs and one long-player; the frantic hardcore on this cassette is up there with some of the era’s best like DIRECT CONTROL, STREET TRASH, and TEAR IT UP. Straight-ahead, no-frills, angry fucking punk. Stellar drumming, rabid shouted vocals, fuzzed-out bass, and riffs on top of riffs, on top of riffs! Listen to songs like “Control” or “Desensitized” and try not to smash anything. My only gripe is that they didn’t make more than 50 of these tapes. Grip one if you can!

Maxxpower / Sidetracked split EP

Second straight batch with new SIDETRACKED cuts, so I start with the flip so I can keep myself hungry. Wise choice, it turns out—Montreal’s MAXXPOWER are a ruthless wall of speed-picking fastcore, and all I want is more fukkn fast after I hear their five tracks. Thick, meaty, and subtly metallic bursts that hover around the half-minute mark, they’re my introduction to the band and they are absolute killers. Half-a-minute is like a rock opera to SIDETRACKED though; each of the tracks on their side barely top the twenty-second mark. More nasty start/stop powerviolence manipulations from these Washington stalwarts, overall slightly dirtier-sounding than you might be used to (especially the bass), but their digitally-enhanced breaks that make them sound like fastcore robots are on full display. You might think you know, but no one sounds like SIDETRACKED—they’ve taken the formula and manipulated it beyond recognition…this is truly theirs now.

Sick Burn / These Bastards Burn These Sick Bastards split EP

One of the most obvious and superficial bummers about the COVID era is a lack of punk shows. Hardcore records are cool—I love em—but this was music meant to be experienced in the sweaty, smelly flesh, and few local bands exemplified that more than Sacramento’s SICK BURN and San Francisco’s THESE BASTARDS. This split was in the works before shit shut down, and now I can spin the grooves and get even more amped for my future as a live-show-goer, annoyed with that one dude acting a fool in the pit (because you know that dude is gonna be there…he’s been waiting). Five sub-minute tracks from SICK BURN, more ripping irreverent hardcore injecting Japanese riffs into breakneck USHC. THESE BASTARDS drop three more doses of their bizarre prog-violence on the flip—pure West Bay brutality, intense and dark. I freaking love both of these bands.

V/A Four in the Bag EP

Here and Now, Thrash Tapes, and Vanilla Thunder compiled this four-way split EP (with MAXXPOWER, BASTARD COLLECTIVE, SICK BURN, and NO COMPLY), assuring that crust powerviolence is alive and well. Flaming fastcore and powerviolence are all to the front with BASTARD COLLECTIVE’s “In Decline,” the track that works as a bridge between ever-ranting songs on this abrasive, corrosive, and sharp split. Suggested tracks: “Fucking Why?” by SICK BURN, and the thirteen-seconds-long “Home Improvement” from MAXXPOWER.

Wipes W.F.O. cassette

WIPES, hailing from Tokyo, play a tuneful but off-kilter kind of thrashy hardcore punk. This cassette tape (released as a 7″ EP in their native Japan) is wild and unhinged, but still hummable. Not necessarily something to go crazy over, but it’s certainly a worthwhile and enjoyable listen for fellow fans of that classic American-influenced hardcore punk style.