Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

Human Failure / Throne of Blood Stock Pile split EP

These two likeminded but very different bands out of Baltimore deliver total sonic pandemonium with this one. HUMAN FAILURE hurls three ugly tracks that land somewhere in between BOLT THROWER and UNHOLY GRAVE, with BASTARD NOISE-style harsh electronics piercing through the whole thing. If there was a god of war, this is what it would sound like if they threw up. THRONE OF BLOOD mixes old school hardcore punk rage with noise rock delirium. Like if D.C. punks in the ’80s were into free jazz and psychedelic freak-outs instead of dub reggae. You want to fuck up your reality? Start here.

Invalid Do Not Resuscitate cassette

If anyone ever tries to give you the argument that hardcore sucks now or that it ended in the year blah-blah-blah, tell that fool to shut up and make them listen to this tape. My god, this is absolute perfection. This is what hardcore should be. It should come as no surprise that this rips so hard when you look at the all-star lineup of Pittsburgh, PA lifelong punkers involved in this project. If you like hardcore punk and are interested in what dudes from EEL, BLOOD PRESSURE, AUS-ROTTEN, CAUSTIC CHRIST, and about a billion other bands are doing in the modern day, stop what you’re doing and listen to the almighty INVALID!

Kay Odyssey Knock Out! cassette

Like an unearthed ’80s college rock reject, Texas mutant/s KAY ODYSSEY are to CONCRETE BLONDE what GIRLS AT OUR BEST are to R.E.M. Instantly familiar and totally weird—and you think the tweak is in the vocals, but there’s a thing that they do with late ’80s late night radio rock that hits just fucking right. If you’re still reading this and you can sing the chorus to LONE JUSTICE’s “Ways to Be Wicked” then KAY ODYSSEY is right up your alley. And if you don’t know that song…well, there’s an internet for a reason.

Pledge Drive Second Impressions cassette

Theatrical and fun post-punk energy with sassy lyrics laced into a gloriously complex wall of sound. With a six-piece band including guitar, bass, synth, and a sax there’s a reason it sounds like lot is going on. The creativity and groove of the tracks truly warrants an X-RAY SPEX reference. For anyone who had the luck of running into Worcester, Massachusetts’s SECRET LOVER, there is a lot in common with their sound, too. The band’s proclamation of being “famous for friendliness” is also pretty irresistible in my book.

Pre-Cog in the Bunker What If CD

This is a sci-fi post-punk duo from Italy. No bass musically, just synth, guitar, and drums. This has ’90s lo-fi leanings and does get noisy; I like the synth when it’s there. Songs are OK but nothing really stood out after a few listens. Sometimes sounding like old-style US punk songs missing the bass.

R.Aggs Tape 1 cassette

If the name wasn’t an intuitive hint, R.AGGS is the lockdown-spawned solo project from Rachel Aggs, modern guitar hero and vocalist in SHOPPING, TRASH KIT, and SACRED PAWS. The completely self-recorded Tape 1 isn’t a major departure from any of those groups, and it’s almost like observing each of them through high magnification under a microscope, with Rachel’s signature hybrid post-punk/highlife inspirations stripped down to new minimal extremes. “Back of My Hand” and “Sky Is Falling” both pick up TRASH KIT’s post-RAINCOATS tendencies toward overlapping vocals, bright guitar and scratchy violin and throw in some subtle electronics that bubble just below the surface, while tracks like “Welcoming the Waves” and “Side By Side” are largely given over to pulsating, synthesized beats and coolly-recited lyrical mantras, with those trademark spindly, single-note guitar lines cutting in mostly as supporting elements. Best of all is the metronomic and very YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS-ish bass-centered sparseness of “Tell Us Yourself” and “Speeding,” the latter featuring a repeated chant of “They told you jump / You said how high” that could have easily been one SHOPPING’s fiery and tightly-wound dancefloor calls-to-arms, but which takes on a completely different gravity in such a stark, raw context. Most of the newly-realized quarantine home-recording projects that are popping up lately could only aspire to be this good.

Shitload The COVID Sessions cassette

New Orleans noizecore project. SHITLOAD takes elements from all different kinds of extreme music and kinda mixes them all in together. The mid-tempo grimy riffs are pretty catchy, and I find myself wanting more of that. Tracks that stay in that realm like “Hang On” are super cool and I dig a lot. However, whenever it kicks into grindcore speed, the “drums” just sound like a non-stop machine gun. Twenty-one tracks of that is a lot to digest in one sitting, but tons of respect for how busy this dude’s been to crank out this much stuff all post-COVID.

The Snubs 2505AD LP

Melodic Seattle punkers who probably enjoy the CLOROX GIRLS and ’70s rock staples, and who definitely enjoy re-watching Idiocracy, attempting to conflate said liberal eugenics take with the current fascist moment. Their lyrics tell tales of wacky dystopia scenarios in between lashing out at assorted stripes of stupid bullshit, be it do-nothing liberals, the right, or being displaced to Lynnwood (a generic suburb where my dad used to live—it sucks) as the latest victim of Condo-zilla eating up one’s neighborhood. Musically, it’s competent and fun, if not memorable, though I’d go catch them at the Ballard Firehouse if it hadn’t been turned into a fancy restaurant.

Special Interest The Passion Of LP

I gotta say it. SPECIAL INTEREST make me horny as fuck. Really. It’s the music I want to hear in the backroom of the leather bar instead of the endless tired techno and classic rock. Just get out your old Crisco-coated VHS copy of Cruising, put on any bar scene (not the GERMS one), turn down the volume, slap on “Disco III” and let the poppers fly. Spiraling was totally one of the best albums of 2018, and while The Passion Of may be a little less raw and primitive, it is still punk as fuck and fierce as hell. For the uninitiated or blissfully ignorant, SPECIAL INTEREST is the band you wanted to hear when all the glossy rags were blowing air about the second coming of No Wave, the Lower East Side in the ’90s, and posers like the YEAH YEAH YEAHS. It makes me think of groundbreaking queer punk like the SCREAMERS, LE TIGRE, or NERVOUS GENDER with some TANGERINE DREAM thrown in, backed with a trunk-thumping Miami bass beat and a Southern charm that makes it all sweet and OK as your head is bludgened in. To me, The Passion Of sees the band finding its confidence and creating a fully realized piece of art. The ominous openings of “Drama” slap into the hard thump of part three of the “Disco” trilogy (hopefully more?), followed by the breakout hit of the plague, “Don’t Kiss Me In Public.”’ “All Tomorrow’s Carry” is a slow drive-by headbanger while “A Depravity Such As This” is a delicious druggy sin. They educate you with the stomping-on-whitey anthem of “Homogenized Milk,” while “Head” is a personal B&D psychodrama. “Tina” is chemical Hades. “Passion” is synth violence. “Street Pulse Beat” drags you through the gutter looking gorgeous, and lastly, “With Love” kinda magically pulls it all together leaving you spent of fluids, vacant and smiling. Multiple showers and a good therapy session may be needed after listening. I can see SPECIAL INTEREST getting really big from this one and lord, they deserve it.

Spyroids Paperboy EP

I have been watching a lot of Survival Research Laboratories videos this week and this SPYROIDS record fits right in with that mindset. The music is a throwback to the electronic sounds of the ’80s. The keyboards are cheesy in the best possible way and very peppy. They set an interesting foundation for the madman vocals. His style is aggressive and manic. It’s familiar yet demented. It’s catchy yet annoying. It makes me smile.

Tower 7 Entrance to a Living Organism cassette

TOWER 7 is a new band from New York with members of KALEIDOSCOPE and this strange tape is their debut. It’s way more advanced than a demo—even its runtime, almost 20 minutes for eight songs, is longer than most current hardcore band’s full-length 12″s usually are. Urgency is an appreciated feature in hardcore, although TOWER 7 dares to take their time and build a larger and more deliberate work than to rush through a potentially collapsing structure. Many of the songs are mid-tempo, recalling anarcho crossover bands like ANTI-SYSTEM, A//SOLUTION, a less hectic ELECTRO HIPPIES and SUBVERT. The this-is-more-than-music vibes reminisces the ’90s activist hardcore movement, especially within the vocals, and when the metal riffs lose rhythm they remind me of South American ultra metal bands. Quite a few influences to handle but TOWER 7 distills it to their own unique form and they offer enough space and time to digest it. It’s a gradual process to have the music grow over me, although the breakthrough is not guarded by my resistance; instead it is a playful experience to find my way among the many elements. If you are into crusty hardcore that is not blackened, atmospheric, didactic or any of those horrible sub-styles; but dirty, passionate and is about daily politics that are experienced by its performers, then TOWER 7 is a great choice. In short, if you like good things, check them out.

Western Addiction Frail Bray CD

This local band cranks out the melodic hardcore Á la GOOD RIDDANCE and STRIKE ANYWHERE. Probably as hardcore as Fat Records puts out. Uptempo, angry, and good screaming vocals. Don’t expect feel-good music in the mix here. Good music for bad-mood people.

The Zits Back in Blackhead LP

Hands down the winner for “Most Adorable Punk Record of the Year.” The ZITS are well (or not) known for their Killed by Death masterpiece, the “Sick on You / Beat Your Face” single, which the band pre-sold to their friends to get the dough to make. Both songs appear here remastered from the original eight-track tape, along with tons of surprisingly good-sounding demos and live tracks with hilarious in-between song banter. While the rest of the country was embacing the sounds of hardcore, these Oakton High School teens were cranking out sugary, innocently offensive numbers like “Bertha Was a Slut” inspired by early RAMONES and UNDERTONES (they cover “Can’t Get Over You” here). Other greats like “Opera Show” and “Euh Baby Euh” are criminal in the fact that they weren’t released until now. Feel It Records spared no expense in packaging and content, and there’s a great band history that I won’t bore you with here. Needless to say, the ZITS tragically ended when high school ended for these boys. If you can picture Ralph Malph and Richie Cunningham starting a punk band, you’d get an idea of what to expect here. It’s a clear sell, or is that Clearasil? Har har har.

Astaron Astaron LP reissue

ASTARON was the “two-frauen” Viennese duo of Angie Mörth and Martina Aichhorn, formed in 1984 as a synthesis of their shared creative interests in both music and performance art. The pair’s 1987 full-length was originally released in one small run of 500 copies and has become something of a dark/minimal wave touchstone in the years since, and it’s now finally back in print thanks to this reissue. ASTARON’s combination of intertwining vocals—one part dreamy and ethereal, one part icy and commanding—over clattering drum machine and bewitched synth in tracks like “The Burning” and “Burst Out” could be read as the Austrian response to mid-to-late-’80s groups in neighboring Germany like MALARIA! and XMAL DEUTSCHLAND who were bridging rigid post-punk and darkly gothic drama, while the gauzy drone of “In An Absence” navigates early 4AD territory and the sharp, punctuated rhythms of “As Time Joins In” lurk in some SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES-adjacent shadows. But really, there’s so many cool and captivating sounds to get lost in here, even if you’re resolutely not a part of the big-hair-and-eyeliner crowd!

The Clinch Basecamp LP

Melbourne streetpunk/Oi! types the CLINCH return with an album full of pint-spilling, get-yer-mate-in-a-headlock-at-last-orders anthems which completely took me by surprise. It has all the hallmarks of a classic album of the genre replete with full-throated gang vocal choruses and soaring no-nonsense riffs that touch upon ROSE TATTOO or COLOURED BALLS at their rock’n’rolliest in parts. So far, so streetpunk. However beneath this beer-battered exterior lay some unexpectedly nuanced and thoughtful lyrics, far far beyond the usual fare for your garden variety streetpunk. Stand out track “Basecamp” has a chorus that is so catchy I’ll end up humming it for years to come. Well worth a spin, good on ya lads.

Endless Bore Treatment Resistant cassette

Second album from Melbourne, Australia-based ENDLESS BORE. Fifteen tracks of stripped-down, by-the-numbers hardcore with tough breakdowns and vocal stylings you’d more likely expect to hear in a crust or D-beat band than a straightforward tough hardcore outfit. That of course isn’t to say that they aren’t fitting for one another.

F= The Erotic Power of F= 12″

F= is a UK-based collective of feminist artists and academics (or as they refer to themselves on their website, “an interdisciplinary research group”) at Leeds Beckett University who have turned to writing spare electro-punk songs, four of which make up this debut 12″, as another vehicle in their efforts to dismantle the patriarchy. If you were even remotely involved in a DIY subculture and also taking Women’s Studies classes in the early-to-mid-2000s (real talk, I am absolutely including myself in that population), that overview alone will likely evoke some very specific visions of what one could reasonably expect here—CHICKS ON SPEED, obviously, plus TRACY AND THE PLASTICS, and to a lesser extent, LE TIGRE/JULIE RUIN. And at their most charged-up, F= do in fact follow the lead of that turn-of-the-millennium wave of electroclash groups setting gender theory to synthesized dance beats, but they also just as often explore slower-burning, drawn-out rhythms with percolating electronics and intersecting chanted/shouted vocals that suggest a more technologically-inclined version of the punky-reggae-earth-goddess vibe of the SLITS’ ’80s-era material. The lyrical sentiments are all fairly right-on and self-explanatory (“It’s Easy Being in a Band,” “Female Friendship,” etc.), but taken as a whole, the songs are just a little too dry and lacking the sort of friction and asymmetry that’s pulled me into the music of so many other similarly-minded feminist punk and post-punk firebrands throughout the years.

The Fog Into the Fog cassette

If the first-song-as-intro was supposed to lure me into the fog, it didn’t work. Bland, mid-paced metallic hardcore that just kinda plods along without hooks or groove. Even when it picks up the pace in that too-tough-for-top-speed sort of way—Victory Records Fast, anyone?—you’re just like “why bother?” The second side has a little more energy and considerably better songwriting, but doesn’t permeate into “memorable.”

Force Majeure Encore Debout EP

More brickwall francophone Oi! from LAST CRUSADE and ULTRA RAZZIA alumni, this latest FORCE MAJEURE offering continues their celebratory blend of the classic French Oi! sound with TEMPLARS-style good time skinhead rock’n’roll. Stripped back of frills like a cutdown Lambretta, it still provides all the fun of the fair that one would come to expect. Fans of REICH ORGASM and NABAT will have a lot to enjoy here, as I did.

The Maxines Burn It Down cassette

Posthumous release from this former K Records fuzzed-out garage-pop duo. On this release, the MAXINES deliver twelve songs of simple, wonderfully catchy mid-tempo garage rock. I have really been enjoying all the stuff on the Girlsville label that I’ve been sent lately and hope they continue to crank out such releases.

Silicon Heartbeat Silicon Heartbeat cassette

Debut cassette keeping the style of Kalamazoo, MI alive. SILICON HEARTBEAT sounds so much like the SPITS at times, it’s kinda crazy. Fuzzed-out, nasty mid-tempo punk with wild synth sounds peppered in. This tape is comprised of a mere four short songs, doing exactly what a good demo should: leaving the listener wanting more. I want more! Thankfully the attached note suggests they have plans to do another tape or record this fall. Consider one already sold!

Uniform Operator Kinds of Light cassette

Desperate music for long, late drives to nowhere. All kinds of driving, mid-paced melodic ’90s references are floating into my head as I listen to this Buffalo band—DRIVE LIKE JEHU, In on the Kill Taker, simplified Mascis leads, even a sprinkling of the JESUS LIZARD—but where this band transcends mediocrity or nostalgia is in the abundance of hooks, impeccable songwriting where every instrument makes its mark, and shapeshifting, anguished vocals. The test of any good mid-paced band is where they can keep (or improve on) everything that makes them good when slowing things down, and they succeed on “Split Self.” Though for all my praise, the sexual lyrics to “The Red & the Black” are kinda gross.

V/A Unten links: Solidarität gegen Zensur und Repression CD

Well, there’s lots to say about this here compilation. Firstly, it’s a “Soli-Sampler für Indymedia Linksunten” as the Germans would have it. Indymedia Linsunten was a website, part of the international Indymedia network, that was open access and used by a wide range of the anti-parliamentary Left to post about actions, events, and suchlike, and hence was taken down by the German state in 2017. Thusly, I’m guessing that the 29 bands contributing to this compilation would come from the more “political” (i.e. anarchist/explicitly left) end of the ol’ punk spectrum. Which makes it a fascinating snapshot of international (I’m guessing from the non-English names of the bands that at least half of them are from Germany and/or Northern Europe—y’know, all them umlauts and suchlike) more or less contemporary political punk. Several things immediately stand out. Well over half of the vocalists are women, and often where there are male vocalists there are also female. I’ve only actually heard of one of these bands before (the UK’s AUTONOMADS, whom I love dearly—and unsurprisingly, have a female vocalist—and a male one too!), though that probably says more about my knowledge of international punk than it does the “state of the scene.” And I use the term “punk” deliberately, because hardcore most of these bands certainly are not. Twenty years ago, one would safely presume that such a political compilation would be full of crusty DISCHARGE-esque bands, with perhaps the odd raging thrasher to break up the metal and grind. There’s nary a single song that would fit any of these descriptions. Indeed, the early CURE, or SISTERS OF MERCY seem to be more of an influence than RIISTETYT or BOLTHROWER. I guess with the German tradition of ’80s legends such as RAZZIA and SLIME, it’d be no surprise that driving melody is the norm here, with barely a sore throat amongst them. Other than the aforementioned AUTONOMADS, standouts for these ageing ears are SJU SVARA AR, LITOVSK and 100BLUMEN (who do the rather fine SISTERS OF MERCY impersonation), but really, the entire compilation is of a really high quality throughout. There’s not a duffer track to be found, and the cause, of course, is outstanding. Comes with a thick booklet about the German state and its nefarious actions, though all but some of the lyrics are in German. Top notch.

B’ce n Tha Bloody Money Street Dreamz II: The Futher Adventures of Queen B’ce cassette

I ponder all of the arguments about what punk is or isn’t—the unresolvable conflict, always dead before it even starts. It’s maybe a more productive exercise in our formative years, and then when you find yourself to be an aging white guy you realize you might be out of touch and should just shut the fuck up. Now that I’ve alienated two thirds of you, let’s get to what’s really important, and that is that Toledo’s B’CE is back with four new cuts that have me throwing all of those arguments about punk into the “who gives a fuck” bin. “Too Many Times” is unmistakably a hip hop track about B’CE’s experiences being harassed by police, for simply existing. The beat has a very ’80s vibe and the song fucking rips. The fact that the chorus gets stuck in my head for days is not irony. The other three are raucous, raw and loud hardcore punk songs, captured as urgently as possible. One or two mics in the middle of the room style. “What do you know about these police? / What do you know about these streets? / What do you know about these street dreams? / What do you know about dumpster diving?” There is a song called “Punk,” which I can’t even do justice explaining how awesome it is. “This is lit man talking shit / Bloody Money that’s my click / Punks get rich, now punk is in / Punk is out now, punk is in / Punk greatness this is it / Punk greatness we the shit!” I like how all of the songs are strung together with candid quips, like they just let the tape roll so you get the whole experience. So what is punk? Well it should be liberating and subjective and this tape is affirming in so many ways that I’m going to urge you to write the band (2040 Alvin St., Toledo OH 43607) for a copy, and check out the music video for “Street Dreamz/Too Many Times.” You know where to look for that. Thank you B’CE and friends.

Dame Dame LP

Quality introduction for me to this Boston band. Stylistically, it’s eyeliner-ified ’80s new wave, with a layer of synth cutting through a thick, reverbed production that suits them really well. The album is largely punctuated by the frequent lead guitar lines and vocal-forward approach, although sometimes it feels like those two elements are battling for prominence. The opening track threw me for a loop (in a good way!), a lulling layered instrumental intro that releases into an uptempo surprise once the drums kick in. The overall presentation looks great opened up and spread across my coffee table. Striking artwork goes a long way! If you can’t get enough of the dark and dreamy punk, this will fit neatly into your rotation.

Impotentie Leopold II Is Niet Dood Genoeg LP

Pop quiz: can you name Belgium’s biggest genocider? We’re all (hopefully) filling in the gaps of our colonial histories and IMPOTENTIE is here to remind us who was behind the murderous Belgian mercenaries that caused an estimated ten million Congolese deaths in the 19th century. Disclaimer: you should not rely on punk lyrics for historical facts, but I’ll be fucked if punk didn’t at least nudge me down a morally rich path in life, and I don’t even owe any college debt! In this case, IMPOTENTIE is factually correct. Oi! music has seemingly become trendy outside skinhead circles in recent years and I think those comparisons might reduce the potency of this, so I’m gonna lean more into my appreciation for old Vögelspin releases, or how about the Alle 24 Goed! compilation? These two fellows are stationed in Montreal but sing in Dutch. Or Flemish? I’m not qualified to tell the difference. If you like the brutish, bashing punk sound with melodic highlights and a firm anti-colonial message, you couldn’t wrap it up much better than this. It would be the coolest thing to turn in as a project in history class! Also features Belgium’s most famous statue pissing on their most infamous statue—almost too perfect!

Itchy Self Here’s the Rub 12″

ITCHY SELF is the new group from Joe Chamandy of Canadian art-scuzz ensemble PROTRUDERS, who were avowed and proud card-carrying members of the joint Hearthan Records/Cleveland Confidential Appreciation Society. Here’s the Rub definitely draws its own inspiration from the damaged brilliance of Ohio’s subterranean sounds, but ITCHY SELF dispenses with most of PROTRUDERS’ skronkier tendencies in favor of smart, smudged-up garage blasts that bring to mind some fantasy Ron House project that could have existed between GREAT PLAINS and THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS. Throw in a little scrappy ALEX CHILTON/CHRIS STAMEY-schooled pop charm on “Reprobate” and “God Bless the Ego,” the loose MODERN LOVERS-via-VELVET UNDERGROUND rock’n’drone of “Playing MTV,” and the shambolic rush of those first couple of HOME BLITZ records (for at least one slightly more contemporary reference point), and you’ve got a pretty solid take on what the concept of “proto-punk” could be almost fifty years removed from its origins.

Knuste Ruter Festen Er Over LP

In this fast world of sensory overload and 24 hour news cycles, ya gotta love a great band that can endure a decade of existence. It’s been seven years since their last LP, but well worth the wait! I have the softest of spots for Norwegian hardcore punk so I’m embracing my biases here. Kenneth’s guitar intuitions plus the tremendous familiar bark of Hasse should have you pulling out all of your STENGTE DÁ˜RER and SO MUCH HATE records and cancelling all of your other commitments for the day. I’m sure the best moments are lost in translation, but lyrically there’s a lot for the listener to interpret and project onto. We don’t always need directives or absolute answers in our punk music, but maybe more humility and reflection. Kind of emo, right? In the authentic kind of way. “Black Pearls” is the only song in English and I couldn’t help but relate it to the solidarity and rage we are pouring into these times of uprising against state/police repression. The cover art isn’t really my vibe aesthetically but, yeah, there are clear messages there to help you understand what they think about it all. And please appreciate the elephant in trousers. I love this shit, such a killer record and a killer band. BÁ¸rre would be proud.

Martin Savage Gang Now We’re Rollin’ LP

I have been a fan of MARTIN SAVAGE since the 1990s. His former bands the BLACKS and the LOCOMOTIONS remain in high rotation around my house. MARTIN SAVAGE GANG continues his remarkable musical legacy. High-energy garage punk with frantic guitars, stompin’ drums and distorted organ. But it’s the vocals that reel me in. He has such a distinct, wonderful singing style and sound to cap off the great songs. Fantastic.

Naked Roommate Do the Duvet LP

Oakland’s NAKED ROOMMATE entered this world as a duo of Amber SermeÁ±o and Andy Jordan, at a point when both were also busy with the WORLD. Although they’ve swelled to a four-piece for Do The Duvet, with extra muscle from members of bands like PREENING and EXIT GROUP, it’s that first-mentioned band which feels like the big sonic clue here. If the WORLD were kinda like YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS as a ska band—minimalist, shivery, but with a very pronounced groove—NAKED ROOMMATE are closer to YMG meets ESG, the most discofied end of early ’80s post-punk rendered extra febrile and delicate. The beats are programmed and synths twinkle and burble blithely, nudging minimal synth territory on “Fill Space,” but Jordan’s guitar and Alejandra Alcaca’s basslines retain meatspace humanity over these ten songs, providing hooks galore as they do so.

Reviewer Noel Gardner
Label Trouble in Mind / Upset the Rhythm
Issue MRR #449 • October 2020

Neurotic Fiction Romance EP

Seems like this is to be a past tense review, with NEUROTIC FICTION returning from a longish break by releasing this four-song 7″ only to tell us in the process that it’s their last. Sucks! But we, especially the “we” in their part of the world (the bottom left corner of the UK, basically), had a good run. Romance pushes most of the buttons that made their 2018 LP Pulp Music such a slinky banger—classic twee pop kicked out with the tempo and toughness of classic pop punk, plus some added rockabilly/B-52’S/Johnny Marr vibes—and embellishes this by way of garage/psych organ and weirdo post-punk twists. NEUROTIC FICTION packs so many clever bits into each two-minutes-and-change song, without ever getting flashy with it, but if someone isolated Livi Sinclair’s guitar parts I think I’d be nearly as happy just listening to those on repeat. Anyway this EP rules, this band ruled, go get!

Protein The Things I Cannot Hide EP

I listened three times before I typed a single word. PROTEIN took me back to a time and place that I wanted to hang out in for a while…so much that I kinda didn’t want to leave. That place still exists, it’s still vibrant, and the hardcore there is still enthusiastic and supportive. That place is not just where Poland’s PROTEIN comes from, it’s where they live, and that comes out in every one of the six tracks on their second EP. Modern youth crew, early ’00s posicore and classic ’80s SXE all come together on this release, and when I hear Rob shout “I try…I fucking try” after you drop the needle on the second side, I believe him…and I’m all in. The short blast of “For Us” was the winner for these old ass ears, but then the record closes with “Growing Distance” that conjures the very best modern HC comparisons. A fucking excellent hardcore record, but they make a point by ending with the track that makes it clear that there is definitely more to come.

Ribbon Stage My Favorite Shrine EP

A true and total dream! A lot of the time, the C86 sound is a little too twee and contained for this girl; you want something that has the longing of “Where’s Clare Grogan Now?” with the dreamy snot of the SHOP ASSISTANTS or why get outta bed in the morning?! Well, finally after years of frustration and punishment, RIBBON STAGE has stepped up to the plate with actual hooks, and vocals that are plaintive without sounding saccharine, whilst maintaining the dream pop appeal. Obviously with a snip of punk underpinning all proceedings. This sounds like something that woulda come out on thee Subway Organization in 1985, a beautiful shambolic and also perfect popscape for our falling-apart times! Every song is a masterpiece! You will wish you had one of those ’50s record players that just plays 45s over and over again until time stops! Pop music made by NYC punks that you probably know. I am obsessed.

Subdued Over the Hills and Far Away LP

The hype is completely justified on this one. Classic UK anarcho stylings injected with a fury and menace fueled by the new reality. “No More” is a perfectly sinister, cranked-up punk banger; “Wander In The Park” is a dark pogo masterpiece showered in descending guitars; it seems like every song stakes its own individual claim on the wax. Dark and brilliant, you’ll turn new stones with each listen…but the root of everything here is furious intensity.

Sun-O-Bathers Floater CD EP

Belgian (so far as I can tell) quartet who have successfully channelled White Trash-era NOFX (with lots of early BLINK 182 thrown in)—the bassist is also the singer no less!—for six suitably melodic/harmonic SoCalesque hardcore tracks. And one completely throwaway surf instrumental to end on a pointless down note. Anyone who digs the aforementioned bands will enjoy this immensely. I did.

Variation Four EP

Gloriously ignorant East Coast noisecore. VARIATION bounces between start/stop fastcore blasts and a low-end North American WANKYS irreverence. “No Way Out” is doubtless the choice cut, and shows that if they wanted to shed the noisecore tag and just be a force of intensity then they would be terrifying. Sixteen bangers in total, with exactly one song on each side over 60 seconds.

James Williamson & Deniz Tek Two to One CD

The second collaboration between JAMES WILLIAMSON (Raw Power STOOGE, IGGY POP collaborator) and DENIZ TEK (RADIO BIRDMAN). The music is pretty good. It’s got TEK’s signature guitar sound. WILLIAMSON and TEK know how to write a riff. There are some nice ones on here. They try to hit on some relevant topics (“Climate Change”) as well as personal stuff. It’s the vocals that are lacking. I hate to trash one of my all-time favorite musicians, but there was a reason TEK wasn’t the singer of RADIO BIRDMAN. That said, I give them both credit for trying new stuff and not just rehashing their infamous pasts. Keep making music, guys.

V/A Rock n’ Roll Manifesto 7″ Series Vol. 1 EP

One cut each by TIGER TOUCH, FRET RATTLES, JJ AND THE REAL JERKS, and MISSILE STUDS. This 7″ appears to be the first in a series of records we can expect from the Stamp Out Disco label, a name that is presumably a tip of the hat to RAZAR and their classic tune. This one features four real rockers. All are certainly punk, but each also clearly draws from their rock’n’roll roots. The one thing that I think they’ve all got in common is that they’re straightforward, melodic, and pretty catchy. Each of the four tracks is worthwhile, and to find them on a single slab of vinyl is a treat. This really is an excellent record.

14th Wish 14th Wish / Gotta Get Rid of You 7″ reissue

Reissue of the sole record from the apparently forgotten New York band 14TH WISH. It was originally released in 1980 on Orange Records. I’ll fall in line with the label’s hype. How did that happen? These two songs are great. Laid-back vocals with biting lyrics backed by a great band with a driving style and lo-fi sound. They simply exude coolness and the songs are so catchy. This band could have easily filled the HEARTBREAKERS’ shoes while they were off shooting up, or taken the place of any other overhyped first wave punk band. 300 copies so don’t snooze (again).

Blowins Poudawaj Ze Zyjesz LP

By blowing into Dublin, embittered Polish punks BLOWINS have substituted one bleak, rain-soaked Catholic state for another. The move to (objectively slightly more progressive) Ireland doesn’t seem to have softened their worldview or tempered their anger. This album has nine songs of dark melodic hardcore, with tinges of deathrock, anarcho, and post-punk. Shades of POLITICAL ASYLUM, the MOB, and LEATHERFACE among others can be detected in the sound. Lyrics are in Polish but the insert includes little explanations in English. Lovely stuff.

Brünner Deathmarch 20:20 EP

Damn, this is rocksteady fire! Metered, rhythmic, dense, dank hardcore from the Czech Republic! I am really digging the knuckle-dragging heavy production. It’s like a smooth mix of raging D-beat Á la DISPENSE and raging metallic hardcore Á la FORÇA MACABRA. The bass is pulling a fierce barge of weight under all this. The accentuation of these lyrics are on point. Like, a jackhammer point. This band is cutting it up. It’s not a long EP, but it’s full of tight riffs, gut-knotted death-grunts, and blasting beats mixed with circling D-beats. The BRÜNNER TODESMARSCH, or death march, was the expulsion of Germans from surrounding provinces during late/post WWII. Resulting in the obvious; disease, malnutrition, death. I need to read these lyrics, because this sounds like the difference between 2020 inspired crust/hardcore and 2020 sincere crust/hardcore. 20:20 is definitely recommended.

Closedown Fucking Spent cassette EP

Nasty, gritty, sloppy hardcore punk from San Diego. Gruff vocals barked over mostly driving mid-tempo (with occasional fast spurts) hardcore punk. Very cool. Very angry. Four songs, short and sweet, same program on the A and B sides of the cassette.

Curbsitter I’m a Soy Boy cassette

Wow. Milwaukee, WI really has a hit on their hands here with CURBSITTER. Five-song cassette that reminds me a lot of super early NOFX. I’m not going to go on a ramble about how that’s a good thing, but I’m talking that early Mystic Records stuff that’s nasty, and many of the songs are too gross to make a lot of musical sense. Yeah, that stuff. This is great. If this band is a fraction as entertaining live as this tape is, they have just moved to the top of my must-see list. With songs about humanity coming to an end, disgust of social media, and spending your last 30 seconds alive masturbating, what’s not to love?

Firewalker Alive EP reissue

Refuse Records brings us a new vinyl reissue of FIREWALKER’s 2018 cassette-only promo, originally on lame-o mersh hardcore label Pop Wig. The new cover art by Emma Hendry is a vast improvement on the original art and re-situates this release within the larger FIREWALKER visual world of smirking impish devils. It’s crazy that FIREWALKER has been around for five years now. They have been a truly game-changing band, inspiring cool girls and enraging small-minded sexists with overtly feminist lyrics set to the previously male-only province of NYHC-inspired music. “Role Model” is an antipodean take on ALONE IN A CROWD’s “Who You Know” (which AIAC puzzlingly played at a 2019 reunion show—yikes, go ahead and prove FIREWALKER’s point), while “Out of Time” bemoans the punishment that accompanies the slow march of progress in hardcore. “Cyanide” features singer Sophie and guest singer Sen of the short-lived Olympia band MALA RACHA trading off over a lurching, heavy riff. I’m glad this got the vinyl treatment—it’s a worthy follow-up to their excellent 2017 LP, and it’s quite a bit better than 2019’s The Roll Call. Still an unimpeachably cool band to me.

Forclose Fear of Bombs flexi EP

As the name implies, FORCLOSE is another DISCLOSE worship band. Vocals like Kawakami, but the chord progressions sound a little melodic at times (especially on the title track). Yes, it’s fuzzy noise guitars and boxy sounding drums, but less CONFUSE/Jackie Crust War/static noise/EQ treble boost-type stuff, and more of the torn speaker-sounding Super Fuzz texture. Lyrics are about war (what else did you expect?). At this point, not really sure if anything positive or negative can be said about this approach. It really just begins and ends with Kawakami. RIP.

Glueams Mental EP reissue

One of the holy grails of the femme-punk underground gets a much-deserved reissue! “Mental” has found its way onto multiple compilations focused on either late-’70s/early-’80s punk in Switzerland or female-fronted punk and post-punk in general from the same era—rightfully so, because it’s a bona fide classic, with Dorette Schmidt’s desperately shouted sore throat vocals, a naggingly repetitive guitar line, and the same sort of raw, tumbling drums that have marked any number of primitive KBD hyper-obscurities, but GLUEAMS’ integration of those fairly standard elements just sounds so perfect and effortlessly cool. “365” has more of a straightforward ’77 punky energy (are those handclaps?!), and in addition to both of those tracks from the original 1979 version of the single, this reissue also includes the previously unreleased and comparatively sparse studio cut “Arsen,” which positions GLUEAMS as a slightly more aggressive counterpart to fellow Swiss national treasures KLEENEX. To top it off, the whole thing comes packaged in a beautiful foldout sleeve with an eight-page booklet of interviews, photos, and a thorough written history of the band, so buy it now or regret it later.

Gunn Peace Love & Heavy Weaponry EP

Man, this is just the best shit. Record of the year. GUNN from Orange County plays gruff, no-frills American hardcore, with vocals not unlike HUMAN SUFFERAGE and GAS RAG. Side A packs three songs into three minutes, and “Slacker” distills an innate universal truth into its brief chorus: “I’m so sick of this shit / I just can’t wait to quit / All this shit is a waste of time / I just want to see you die.” On the B-side, GUNN slows down to a NO TREND or later BLACK FLAG swing for “Not Original,” then speeds up a bit for “Killing Time.” I was born and raised in Southern California’s endless suburbia, and there is no more appropriate soundtrack for the oppressive, brain-deadening sunshine than this song. An instant classic. Kings of suburbia. Long may they run.

Heavy Harvest Iron Lung CD

I appreciate a new band that conducts a sonic examination of a thing that I experienced, as it allows me to hear it all again but through different ears. Switzerland’s HEAVY HARVEST are instantly familiar, and when they do things like the bass break into the added drums and then back into the punishing simplicity of the chorus to “Scream,” I’m like “oooh yeah, that’s the right thing to do there!” The sound is filthy and massive, UNSANE comparisons are inevitable on tracks like “Candy” just like you can’t not think of TORCHE when the hard driving hooks of “Oven” stop by in the middle of the disc. At the same time, Iron Lung is definitely their own, and vocalist O’Neal lays a distorted urgency on top of everything. This is their second release, and I do not see this band mellowing. Quite the opposite.

Ill Fit Who Am I? EP

From Malmö, Sweden comes this hard-rocking hardcore punk outfit with some familiar faces—namely, members of SLOA KNIVAR, BEYOND PINK, and HAG, among others. Patricia from SLOA KNIVAR chooses to be restrained (not) behind the drums for this outing, but Jessica is more than competent in expressing the necessary rage involved for this release. ILL FIT is very similar to the aforementioned bands with maybe a notch up on the hard-rock scale, and songs like “The Chain” even have a little ZZ TOP boogie in them. I’d have to say MOTÖRHEAD is a driving force here, especially in the ripping opening track, and NEGATIVE APPROACH is maybe behind some of the rage in “Mamas Boy” and “Consequences.” There’s a little classic Swedish hardcore here, but I’d say the influence is more American and British than anything. It’s a good time orgy and that pizza on the cover is making me hungry. Gotta go.

King Phantom True Sign of Madness LP

Infectious, hard-driving punk from Paris. The record sounds massive, and the songs are crafted by true pros. Perhaps a touch heavier than LES THUGS, but surely in a similar realm (and not just because they’re French).

Reviewer Robert Collins
Label Frog Manchu / Mass Productions / Perkins / Warrior Pillow
Issue MRR #448 • September 2020