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Calgary Calling LP
I’m half-Canadian, like left ear to right ankle or something, so I’m really connecting with this comp right now. Local scene comps are my favorite because I feel they really take the time to give an accurate slice of a community. On the other hand, one of the biggest issues with local comps like this is that bands will sometimes give their throwaway tracks. I don’t feel like this is at all the case here. Some of the standout bands for me start at the beginning, with the BREAK INS’ opening shouts of “One, two, fuck you” energetically blending parts of the OBSERVERS and the BAGS. GALATICAS, JULIET’S GOT A GUN, and LETTERS TO NORMA continue on with punk, thrash, hardcore, and indie vibes, and I thought MEDUSAS’ song “Block Him” was a hockey song, but upon further listen, it is a scathing review of dude that I think is harassing one of the people in the band. For the most part, the only job of a compilation is to give some new bands a try, and moreover, to provide something new to track down, and this does just that. Calgary Calling has everything from art-punk, punk, math-rock, SoCalL riffs, indie, ’90s DC-core, riot grrrl, and hardcore, which means there is something on here you’ll certainly be turned onto. REBEL GIRRLZ have a great BIKINI KILL-ish tune that completely knocked my socks off. Just when I thought I’d found my favorite song, TIPLESS comes in with “Emetophobia,” which has a sound like SONIC YOUTH blended with chaotic hardcore. Look, if I was a non-dirty mayor, completely unlike the mayor that JULIET’S GOT A GUN talks about in their “Dirty Mayor” song, I would post this on Calgary’s city website to attract tourist punks that might not stop into Calgary traveling through doing black bear and moose research. There are fifteen bands, and both the CD and LP come with a twelve-page booklet. There is something on Calgary Calling for almost everyone. I think you should consider grabbing this from wherever you grab things from.