Sick Thoughts Another Piece of Plastic 12″ reissue

Slovenly gives last year’s five-song SICK THOUGHTS EP new life with an alternate cover, a poster, and a choice of black vinyl or yellow (limited to 100). When Drew Owen started this project as a Baltimore teenager, he got called a JAY REATARD clone, but his sound has been maturing ever since, most noticeably on 2022’s Heaven is No Fun, and this record pushes that evolution further. The foundation is still fast, melodic, hook-heavy punk with roots in garage, and he hasn’t sanded off the grit, but he’s doing more inside the songs. The pop-streaked ripper “Me and My Guitar” gives way to “19977,” where his gruff lead vocal plays off smooth backing harmonies, and the title track opens with GANG OF FOUR-style guitars ping-ponging between speakers. Then “Just Die Fast” delivers an ’80s hardcore blast before “The Doom” slows down and stretches into a heavy noise rocker. It all hangs together like it was written and performed by one person. Oh yeah, it was. Owen plays everything himself. He sings “Me and my guitar will never die,” and I hope he’s right, because I want him to keep pumping out good fucking music. What’s this guy gonna do in his thirties? Catch him on his short October tour through the Midwest and Southeast.

• Reviewer Jeff Cost
• Label Slovenly
• Issue MRR #521 • October 2026