Reviews

Alf The Demo LP

Remember Alf? He’s back! In punk form. Back in 2023, these Perth punkers, whom you may know from acts like BIKINI COPS, GHOULIES, and PARANOIAS, dropped their demo cassette, a split release with Goodbye Boozy and what I would guess is their own label, Optimal Tapes and Records. What we have here is the limited vinyl pressing of that demo. For anyone familiar with PARANOIAS (and if you’re not, get on it—their EP from a couple years back was fantastic!), the guitar work across these eight tracks should sound familiar. It maybe lacks that act’s concrete slicing timbre, and the tempos here are closer to typical garage punk territory, but it still sounds like some Dangerhouse act picked up a DEAD KENNEDYS-esque penchant for twangy licks. The vocals are both buried in the mix and very loosely multi-tracked, so I have no idea what they’re on about. But it sort of sounds like Sean from the SPITS singing through BUCK BILOXI’s head. It’s all mushed together with the perfect slapdash production, but it also sounds super thin at times. But, hey, that’s a demo for you! Worth picking up if you come across a copy.