Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

Please send vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc.—no major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!

Iconoclast Domination or Destruction LP

It’s about time this was reissued on vinyl, and I’m thrilled Sealed Records did such an excellent job. Alongside California brethren like CRUCIFIX, DIATRIBE, or (to a lesser degree) BATTALION OF SAINTS, California’s ICONOCLAST was one of the first DISCHARGE-style bands in the US, and their 1983 demo tape on side A is one of the finest (until now) cassette-only ’80s hardcore recordings. Like the aforementioned, ICONOCLAST upped the intensity level of the UK-born style—their driving, garagey demo tracks are the perfect amalgamation of VARUKERS-esque bludgeon and POISON IDEA-style USHC fury. Side B collects their other recordings: a pair of seriously ripping live tracks from compilations plus their 1985 EP originally released on Flipside Records. That disc featured a mix of styles—a muddy rehash of a couple older HC songs plus a pair of more “matured” peace-punk cuts. I remembered the EP as being a disappointing about-face, though its inclusion here is appreciated now as simply a different expression from a group of idealistic young punks. Complete with an extensive booklet, this compilation is mandatory listening.

M.A.Z.E. M.A.Z.E. 12″

Sparse and wiry sounds from Japan that are completely liberatory and free in their simplicity, like a modern-day continuation of the coloring-outside-the-lines approach of countless girl-centered punk geniuses from KLEENEX to the NIXE to NEO BOYS—trebly minimalist guitar, rubbery bass lines, perfectly stripped-down drumming, and ecstatically joyous vocals. “Join the LCD” zig-zags into some more angular, choppy start/stop rhythms without losing its playfulness and melody, and “She Left This Town” even reminds me of bands like CHIN CHIN that existed in that transitional period between early 80s UK DIY and the dawn of C86, drawing equally from spiky post-punk and shambling, jangly pop. Short and sweet (six songs in under twelve minutes); highly recommended if this one escaped your radar when it appeared last year!

Nations on Fire Death of the Pro-Lifer LP reissue

NATIONS ON FIRE was an important part of the European SXE scene—the Belgian part of which emerged around the Vort’n Vis squat—and was more radical politically than maybe what you think of when you think of “Edge People” now, who seem mostly engaged with clothing choices and high kicks, an aesthetic 1988 reenactment activity. This record was made in response to a moment when bands/kids that came out of that VEGAN REICH hardline goofus reality were making anti-choice “pro-life” records and zines and I think it’s important to acknowledge that. Such a bleak time! I saw this band play sometime in the early ’90s, but didn’t really remember what they sounded like, just that they were smart/engaging (I think I got some zines from them?!). Musically this reminds me of pre-emo ENDPOINT—the lyrics are radical, feminist, left-wing, also very straightforward and earnest in that way every SXE band can’t seem to help. It’s a time capsule from the early ’90s, the artwork/layout reminds me of zines from back then (Kill the Robot/Simba/Positron, etc. etc.) even the way the drums sound is really distinctive to this time?! This is a glossy reissue as is typical with Refuse Records, has extra live tracks from the same era of the band the LP was recorded, and I think if you saw this band/are nostalgic for this era of hardcore it’s worth checking out…

Nervous Assistant Bitter Pills LP

Imagine a collision of ’80s SoCal and ’80s Berlin, not quite one or the other enough to not stay on the bridge. The hooks are there, but so is the stark darkness that creeps through even the upbeat numbers. NERVOUS ASSISTANT keeps it fast and keeps to the shit-hot guitar-based hooks instead of leaning on tonnage or production—not to say that Bitter Pills doesn’t sound great, because it does, but the focus remains on the songs. Makes me even more bummed that I walked into Eli’s as they were wrapping the last song of their set a couple of years back…

Nine Circles The Early Days 2xLP

NINE CIRCLES formed in the early ’80s after all the men in a broken-up band formed new bands with their girlfriends to compete for a radio station competition. NINE CIRCLES won, and listening to this you can see why. Awkward, dark, damaged monotone art wave synth oscillations that sort of hover in the space between paranoia and irony and dreams… Lidia has a cool voice and this has an ominous, doomed feeling, that decay-of-the-cities style of the era encapsulated in sound. NINE CIRCLES became a minimal synth cult long after they broke up, and this reissue has a ton of never-properly-released stuff. I think if you are into synth-tinged damage from an underground/DIY punk perspective this would very much work for you…

Red Star Ranny Pacierz Towarzysza: Live 1985-1986 LP

It still blows my mind how many artifacts remain to be re-discovered from the Communist-era Soviet Bloc countries. Two live sets here from RED STAR (who I had never heard of before this release), screaming Polish hardcore punk with melodic undertones that draw equally (if accidentally) from Minneapolis and London, but the meat here is pure fury. “Bohater” is SIEKIERA-level hardcore power, and the quirky bits of other tracks owe to ÅšMIERĆ KILINCZNA. Give “This Is Poland” a proper studio recording and its anthemic simplicity would easily resonate for 35 more years, and I continue to thank Warsaw Pact Records for making these recordings available.

Slutavverkning Arbetets Sorgemusik Del III EP

Freak times call for freak music, and Stockholm’s SLUTAVVERKNING delivers exactly that. What if essential Swedish catchy punks like MASSHYSTERI were really just band geeks who loved ZAPPA? And saxophones? Because this shit is hopelessly addictive, crazy catchy, and the bizarrodust is sprinkled over every aspect of the mix. “Kollegor” encapsulates the whole approach—wild, driving ScandiPowerPunk verse right into a sax-driven art punk/hard bop chorus, with a TRAGIC MULATTO-worthy crescendo to finish. The record comes with a handful of inserts and a mini poster, personal touches that remind me of the things that used to make me excited about punk…and still do. Get wild, young punks; get real, real wild.

Spectres Provincial Wake / Northern Towns 7″

With the first track’s jangly and grippingly catchy intro, it’s hard to believe this record was recorded just a couple years ago and not in the ’80s. The cover artwork looks like a faithful re-enactment of an ’80s pop album, foreshadowing a change in direction from the band’s earlier darkwave releases. The second track does tend back toward the dark side of new wave, with influences like the SMITHS or the JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Both tracks are worthy of being played on repeat while you wait for SPECTRES’ new full-length.

Vlack Wake Up / Worm 7″

Strangely infectious and undeniably powerful platter on my turntable right now. Massive guitar-driven stomps with a hardcore bent—I’m thinking early ’00s not-quite-commercial not-quite-kickboxing-bro-core, maybe even a touch of emo. “Worm” is the dark brooder, while “Wake Up” hits hard and keeps hitting. For scope of appeal, VLACK lands somewhere between MODERN LIFE IS WAR and UNSANE, and carves out their own sound  and approach in the process. Criminally small pressing of just over 111 because…the internet.

Vueltas Ocho Espadas cassette

Portland’s VUELTAS has five tracks of crystal-clear, brooding deathrock. The riffs are creative and original, and the Spanish-language vocals are unsettling and spine-chilling, which is a pretty amazing feat in this genre where creepiness is replicated so prolifically that it’s easy for bands to just blur into the mist. Current or former members of POISON IDEA, ATRIARCH, and CLITERATI. Definitely something to check out for any punks of the darkwave or deathrock persuasion.

Asocial Föralltid Underground LP

Holy shit this is a beast. Sweden’s ASOCIAL left a criminally limited discography in their wake when they disbanded in the mid ’80s, but their return a few years back with Död Åt Kapitalismen was a welcome kick in the ass…this one, however, is light-speed käng. Föralltid Underground is so damn fast, and the riffs are just deadly in their simplicity and execution—this is literally a perfect record. Only two tracks top the two-minute mark, Berggren’s vocals are fueled by a fire akin to early DISFEAR, and the transition from primal ’80s ScanD-beat fury to 21st century power has only made the guitars more deadly. The drums in the title track alone are worth the price of admission—a veritable clinic on hooks and raw power joining forces…much like the entire LP. Raise your collective fist.

Brain Tourniquet Shot Dead EP

Both “Fate” and “It Takes Three…” nail INFEST’s sludgy, almost prog rock style to a T. The riff on “Shot Dead” and bits of “Paranoia” remind me of NO TOLERANCE, the little breaks in “Not Alive” are very INFEST-like, and the breakdown in “Animal Instinct” has a looseness that isn’t unflattering but seems uncommon for this genre. “No Solution” comes across as if the lyrics don’t fully fit, like the song could’ve used more work and was maybe rushed. I thought I’d be bored with it but the first four tracks on Side A had me coming back for repeated listens. It’s fucking powerviolence, OK?

The Cowboy Wi-Fi on the Prairie 12″

The simplicity of it all makes this hard to describe. Elements of HOMOSTUPIDS are apparent but this sounds even less blown out than the previous COWBOY release. Wi-Fi reminds me a lot of Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts in that it’s so simple and so catchy but there’s just little janky things that make it sort of odd, unconventional and seemingly unattractive. Imagine one those trippy SST Records “members of” groups but instead it’s What Makes a Man Start Fires-era MINUTEMEN combining with Metal Circus-era HÜSKER DÜ. That’s a bad description but you’ve got nothing but time now so you should just listen to it. Art by John Morton as well. An all-around great release.

Deletär Violence 12″

An even sharper blast of ten TOTALITÄR-inspired D-beatings than this St. Etienne band’s great debut 7″ EP. There’s enough flourish, stops ’n’ starts and innovation around the margins of the straight ahead that the sturdy pummel of DEATHREAT might also be a point of reference, but by the last track of side A they’re dropping an epic guitar intro reminiscent of JUDGEMENT, so a lot of things mix outside of the template of grade-A Svensk-style käng stomping this band has down. Compared to the 7″, there’s less room noise  and more focus in the recording to simmer up the strength of the actual songs—great to-the-point hardcore bursts with vocal chords stretching into depths of RIPCORD-ish growl, barking in French. There’s no translation (or sadly, even TOTALITÄR-esque explanations in English) but a quick scan through translation seems pretty basic resistance and struggle. The artwork, while cool, also checks that box of definably punk without a definably direct statement. A remarkably solid, blazing record at 45 RPM with memorable riffs and pointed impact! Killer!

Deuter Róbrege ’84 LP

A couple of us were debating and mostly agreeing that many reissues don’t need to be pressed to vinyl in this day and age, with the decrease in demand for physical media and the climate crisis begging us to question whether we should be producing more things. Deciding whether an old live or rare cassette recording is deserving of a vinyl reissue is subjective, of course. This 1984 live recording greatly suffers about a fifth of the time (as noted in the liner notes) but DEUTER’s energetic and aggressive punk style does translate well in this setting. It’s like DEZERTER with a sax! What balances this release is the slick presentation including history, great layout, lyrics in Polish and English, and a three-panel panoramic poster. I think it’s worth the effort, especially considering how much harder it was for independent bands in Eastern Europe to release records. This is not the definitive DEUTER release for global punk fans, but a well executed document of ’80s punk in Poland.

End Result The Seven Year Locust Returns LP reissue

I first heard about END RESULT maybe about ten years ago when that documentary about Chicago punk of the early ’80s came out. They were easily the most exciting band in the movie, a multi-racial falling apart teenage fuck you to regimental rules-based hardcore with shades of FLIPPER and NO TREND, but made with their own ingredients. In case you want to read someone else’s contextualization of the group, here’s Albini: “END RESULT was truly a band apart… Alan tuned his guitar like a cello… END RESULT had no drummer to keep the beat, because (in Alan’s immortal words) we think our audience can count.’” I immediately took it upon myself to find some recordings, and picked up their LP, Ward, which was not quite reflective of the footage from the movie that was so intoxicating to me. Chicago people kept talking about these mythical tapes from that earlier era that were going to come out, but despite my mania and constant badgering, reader—it never happened! Until now! Here they are! The 1982 tapes I have been hunkering for since 2008! A no wave band at a hardcore show isn’t shocking in 2020, but imagining a legion of Reagan Youth gazing and trying to understand the strange wonders of this mutant sound in between one-two-fuck-you bands is a quiet pleasure! I might be misremembering this, but END RESULT considered themselves a HC band, not a no wave band. What is hardcore, or no wave? And how can we change it so it makes sense at the end of the world? END RESULT has the answers and the questions; this record is a destructive/constructive demonstration of what is possible when you have an idea and are baffled by genre exercises…

Fur Coats Dystopia Sherbit LP

Art punk stuff from Texas via Chicago. This combo is fronted by an ex-NO EMPATHY member from the 80’s Chicago scene. Kind of spastic without getting too out there. A mix of a Mike Watt band, PERE UBU, and ARCHERS OF LOAF. I’m digging this release from Johann’s Face Records who had a pretty good run in the ’90s.

Government Flu House Arrest EP

Warsaw’s GOVERNMENT FLU has been around long enough to still have a page limping on Myspace (!), and  a lengthy catalog of solid, straight-ahead, early-’80s US-influenced hardcore. This five-song EP (their ninth!) spins like one of the best early No Way Records releases (DIRECT CONTROL, GOVERNMENT WARNING, etc.) where there’s no bullshit, no metal or art trappings, just concise, direct hardcore that maybe trawls the FANG/”end-of-the-LP-side” ’80s punk sludge here and there to bookend the speeding attack. Energetic jolts of fast hardcore more precisely played than ’80s bands in a more defined recording, the No Way comparison is apt, and the EP’s artistic design, with a big fold-out poster/lyrics sheet harkens to that great spirit and style of  HC revival of the mid-’00s, but urgency and intensity overrides any retro nostalgia. Lyrics are shouted in English, confronting decisions of how to live life, self-definition, expectation and rules. Great EP, limited to 500 copies.

Id Twoja Twarz LP

As soon as the music began I immediately thought of the first POST REGIMENT album, a record I’ve listened to maybe more than any other throughout my life, or at least in the top five. Turns out that the two recordings were done at the same studio with the same engineer within a year of each other, so I’d like to take a moment to appreciate and commend my damaged but accurate and still-functioning ears. ID fits right in between exemplary Polish bands POST REGIMENT and ARMIA, really sharing the spirit and rhythmic prowess of both bands, but perhaps more stripped down. This record doesn’t immediately grip me the way the bands I compared it to did, but Polish punks surely know better than me, a Texas-born poser who loves old Polish punk and hardcore. This was previously released on cassette only back in 1993, so now we can all enjoy it on the same superior format as its aforementioned contemporaries.

Insecurity Willpower EP

INSECURITY from France plays totally fine and serviceable aggressive youth crew, nothing to write home about but not terrible. They’re named after one of the best TURNING POINT songs and the influence is evident, but if you have even a passing interest in youth crew, you already have a record that sounds exactly like this. If someone is holding a gun to your head and demanding that you buy a Refuse Records release, I’d definitely recommend this over most. Wouldn’t that be a weird situation in which to find yourself?

J. Graves Marathon LP

On my first pass through, I didn’t love or hate this. Jessa Graves sings in this style that’s, like, quiet-loud. She sort of whispers into a rise and shout and then lets it trail off at the end of each line. Even in some words her vocal volume wavers between a tipsy friend trying to tell you a secret and a sober one telling you it’s time to fucking go! But also she has this piercing sweetness and clarity to her voice with tons of power behind it. She also plays guitar in this band and I have to say, that opening riff on the B-side (bass as well) is real good. I’m pretty drawn to the song “Leap Year.” It’s more than the lyrics “Did you forget that all along / That I was just your ghost?” that make this song feel super haunted. And Graves is certainly a proficient writer. All these songs are quite wordy, but nothing feels extra or out of place. Engineered and mixed by Stan Wright of ARCTIC FLOWERS, which is pretty rad. To be candid, these songs didn’t grab me at first blush, but two or three spins through they’re starting to get stuck in my head. The cover art for this is an X-ray of her chest cavity and it came with a handwritten note saying she’s just getting started. I love this energy and what I’m hearing from this group.

Июльские Дни (July Days) Китеж cassette

Present-day reinterpretations of ’80s dark wave/synth rarely sound as perfect as Июльские Дни. Synths are heavy and omnipresent but never overbearing, vocal delivery is stark and cold, demanding and earning attention, while guitar melodies ripped from Top of the Pops soar the band to new heights. Everything is held together with a rock-solid rhythm section, creating a feel that’s suited to the darkest corner of the dancefloor as to an ’80s movie montage. They are reaching confidently for a sound…and they succeed.

Locked Inside Your Thoughts. Your Own. EP

Haircut youth crew that, while energetic, tight, and probably great live under exactly the right circumstances, has absolutely nothing to offer on record. The songwriting isn’t quite as cliché and predictable as the embarrassing lyrics and artwork might have one think, but the songs aren’t memorable either. And I know I’m writing this about a straightedge band, but if you are a middle-aged adult in the year 2020 with a Christian-teenager-level understanding of addiction and substance (ab)use, as demonstrated in the title track’s cartoon sloganeering, you desperately need to expand your worldview.

Mustang Mind Wandering LP

Not as crushing as I’d hoped it to be. With six tracks it’s definitely got variety but it’s about two-thirds Burning Spirits-styled metallic rocking and about one-third hardcore. The hardcore tracks follow DISCHARGE-like song progressions while the songwriting is still fairly creative. The sound quality is dirty enough to feel true menace and power, which thankfully is not lost in too slick of a production. It’s pretty entertaining and warrants multiple listens but I’d imagine the live show is more enthralling.

Nabat Potere Nelle Strade LP reissue

NABAT is true Bolognese. Their music is thick and meaty while still glistening into a uniformed consistency. It’s hearty and warm and like most other things it’s been bastardized and ruined by Americans. If you’re not familiar with NABAT they’ve got a hefty Oi sound all their own with a mix of speedy UK82-inspired tunes and uniformed mid-tempo stuff, big woah-oh choruses and very gruff vocals. This isn’t a full reissue of all the band’s material, just their studio recordings, as some compilation songs, along with “Kill Police” and “Nichilist Nabat” which appeared on the split tape with RIP OFF, are missing. The roughness of the recordings becomes glaringly obvious moving from the smoothness of the Laida Bologna 7″ to the RIP OFF split tape recordings. Puke N Vomit tried but this reissue comes across like Sunday Sauce (half-assed and lackadaisical but ultimately pleasing to the many who buy a new pair of boots instead of performing upkeep on their flagship store Docs Martens). It’s not the highest quality but if you want to hear NABAT then this will cover you.

No Sugar Rock’n’Roll Isn’t Boring, It’s You LP

The first thing I did after putting this record on was to turn it up. The second thing I did was turn it waaay up. This band rips. Reminds me an awful lot of NO WEATHER TALKS. Maybe because both have female singers and are from Germany? Could be that there’s just something about the German accent singing in English, which I am so grateful for because I also love what their songs are about. Right out the gate they’re denouncing sexual harassment in the song “Time’s Up.” There’s a line in that song that goes “A piece of cake? / Well I can’t bake / Give me a new recipe for equality,” and I just fucking love it. All these songs are full of high-energy, wailing vocals and jangly guitar. The lyrics for their song “Pizza Girl” is just as cheesy as you might imagine, but god damn is it catchy and dancey. Even though the track “Friends Like These” starts out with a kinda standard blues riff that tends to bore me, by the first chorus I am all in. This band rules. I’m bummed that this is the first I’ve heard of them, especially since I could have seen them at the past two Fests in Gainesville, but I’m glad I’m on board now! Oh, and it’s mastered by Dave Williams at Eight Floors Above. That guy is a great indicator for whether an album is gonna be good. This whole record rips.

Ooloi From the Dust, A New World Emerged, Barren and Awaiting Our Sorrows digital LP

Experimental and/or improvisational free jazz (?) steeped in punk ethos and sonics. A vast expanse of sound, feedback and electronics shrouding erratic drums while guitar and wind trade compete for melodies. The middle of “Jonah” approaches PAINKILLER-level heaviness and ominousity before departing on another leg of their journey through sound—a journey that ends with a raucous, almost six-minute stomp titled “Funeral Rite.” That track (and the release) descends more than it ends, a surprisingly gentle landing that reminds you just how far off the ground OOLOI took you.

Obsessions Obssessions II LP

This rips! A kinetic sonic assault of chiming, static-buzz guitar is the vehicle for seven songs of desperate melancholy. Opener “Death” kicks things off like a cross between AGENT ORANGE and GEISHA GIRLS. The album continues with a rain-soaked Pacific Northwest take on dysfunctional OC life; surf-dork beach punks thrashing it out in the garage of a Huntington Beach tract home. On the closing track, “Final Solution,” OBSESSIONS assume their final form, channeling JAY REATARD channeling the ADVERTS on a hissy and warped C60 cassette. Highly recommended. Vinyl limited to 100 copies so move fast.

Personality Cult New Arrows LP

A tidy little pop punk rager from North Carolina’s Ben Carr. It was recorded by Jeff Burke of RADIOACTIVITY and MARKED MEN, which should give you some pointers as to the sound, and the music hums along with a similar propulsion, but there’s something snottier and less romantic about PERSONALITY CULT’s songs. Layer upon layer of immediately memorable hooks and melodies draw on elements of BUZZCOCKS at times, and SCREECHING WEASEL at others. Fans of any of the bands mentioned are advised to have a listen.

Pisse Pisse LP

This Berlin gruppe is all over the map on this album. From minimalist synth punk to straight-ahead angry anarcho-punk; from the extremes of near powerviolence-level thrash (as demonstrated on “Angehem Straff”) to the doo-wop COUNTRY TEASERS/FAT WHITE FAMILY disturbed pop dirge of “Zu Viel Speed.” The amazing thing is, it all works! For all the disparate styles, the album retains a consistently wry yet bleak outlook throughout. It’s rare for cold detachment to possess this much personality.

Ricky Hell and the Voidboys Ricky Hell & the Voidboys LP

Drug-induced garage and/or bedroom rock brilliance from Ohio’s VOIDBOYS, fronted alternately by Ricky Hell and/or Ricky Hamilton (who are most assuredly not the same people…unless they are). Why is the lead instrument in “I Luv It” a clarinet? This is just one of the (many) questions that you will have after listening to this banger—but mostly you’ll be asking “where can I get more?” Several of these tracks are from the Killed By Ricky tape that most of us will never own, an indescribable collision of dream pop and infectious two-chord punk and a laser-sharp focus on a good hook. CHROME meets ROKY ERICKSON meets the SPITS. There, I said it.

Rivers Edge The Runaround cassette

The e-blurb from the label pretty much sums it up: “Region rock is alive and well in 2019.” Chattanooga supergroup drops their third full-ength cassette in as many years—infectious rough/melodic vocals, ultra produced and perfectly dirty wall of guitars, and more hooks than any self-respecting punk would know what to do with. If you know where they come from, then you likely already know the band. And if you like where they come from (SEXY, ADD/C, THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB, FUTURE VIRGINS) then it shouldn’t surprise you when I recommend this release. I know their legacy is formidable already, but their craft is becoming dangerously refined…which is bad news for exactly no one.

Slaughter Boys Slaughter Boys LP

This San Diego band cranks out the 1979-1984 UK-style punk. Think GBH, the two-string riffing of CHELSEA, and EXPLOITED. This is a pretty solid release song wise from this trio. Thirteen tracks on this debut full-length. Good stuff for Brit punk types.

Too Many Voices Catch Me If You Can 12″

Melodic hardcore from New York. I was thinking these guys have a DC thing going on in a SHUDDER TO THINK kind of way. Then a cover of the 3 classic “Swann Street” comes up. Pretty cool. But there is also a metal-ish ANGELIC UPSTARTS feel on a few of the songs. Seven tracks on this which actually came out in 2018 while their first full-length came out in 2015. So it is what it is in 2020. Decent.

Veils Wellwisher’s Tongue EP

Colossal hardcore from Manila—their debut EP was an absolute killer, but last year’s follow-up will leave you on the damn floor. VEILS hold weapons in their arsenal to level listeners with speed and power, but it’s the restraint that make them stand out—like a more nuanced INTEGRITY, they offer their tonnage with an inward intensity before unloading. “Svvarm” is the perfect example, an intro followed by a drum roll that only hints at the blasts, breakouts and breakdowns that are going to fill the next three minutes. Dangie’s vocals are gruff and dripping with fury, pushed to their absolute limit like the band themselves while the guitars fill every bit of space on the record, dominating in their very presence. Intentional and honest brutality that sounds (and feels) very very fucking real—an excellent record.

The Velvet Underground Andy Warhol’s Factory Broadcast – New York City 1966 2xLP

VU is the greatest rock’n’roll band of all time and I cherish even their most unconventional boots like Screen Test or A Symphony of Sound but this is pretty f’n boring. Billed as a pre-first-LP rehearsal broadcast on the radio in NYC, this blatant cash-in presents a fly-on-the-wall snapshot of a shockingly sedated (not in the good way), meandering practice session. Who’d have thought Lou halfheartedly strumming his guitar for the better part of an hour would be so boring? Apparently not me since I bought it without a second thought. Oh well. Partially redeemed by a few live tracks from an actual show on side four.

Vicious Reality The Bonding Moment EP

Incredibly boring and generic mid-paced straight edge hardcore from CzÄ™stochowa, Poland. It’s putting me to sleep as I type this. This band makes INSTED sound like INFEST. Youth crew muzak. Bad bad bad. Noteworthy: former MRR contributor Rebecca Solnit (who penned issue 31’s cover story “War Against Women” in 1986) is quoted on the insert.

V/A We Are the Flowers in the Red Zone LP

This is an absolute treasure! By 1988, Polish zine/label QQRYQ had created strong bonds with like-minded punks around the Eastern Bloc and compiled a tape with bands from GDR, Hungary and Poland. Stories of dedicated punks in this repressive state and time are always humbling and inspiring, and there are a few great ones in this package. Two booklets are included, one is a reproduction of the first (?) punk zine from the GDR, which had to be printed in Warsaw and then smuggled across the East German border either in a stinky beer-soaked backpack, or sewed into a giant teddy bear—there are two partially conflicting accounts. Either way, the Stasi inserted a spy into the punk community and managed to seize the zines before distribution! Needless to say, it’s ten beautiful typewritten and collaged pages covering DDR and Polish punk. The other booklet is focused more on the original tape of this release, with original layout reprinted nice and big and with added photos and retrospectives on the relevant scenes and projects. And of course there’s the music! The two opening tracks from ANDREA’S AUSLAF (GDR) are noisy, but awesome, but had me wondering if this would be another LP’s worth of hardly listenable live boombox recordings. Not the case! Quality varies but overall is enjoyable lo-fi, raw and passionate punk and hardcore from TRYBUNA BRUDU, DIE TROTTEL, KEIN TALENT + NAMENLOS, DEZERTER, BIZTONSÁGI TANÁCS, WARTBURGS FÜR WALTER, and closing with possibly the most ripping track by Poland’s A.P.S.F. If you are the least bit interested in punk behind the Iron Curtain, or even cool old punk ephemera of any kind, this LP is an absolute must.

V/A Killed By Meth #4: Rust Belt Rockers LP

This latest volume of Rust Belt scrap punk offloads fifteen tunes from the likes of the FURR, CLIBBUS, and TRACI AND THE FAUCET OF FUKS. While of course this ain’t an archival collection of lost obscurities, the ugly, trashy or just plain oddball cuts capture the KBD vibe regardless. Overall solid, and the excellent FACILITY MEN and DBOY contributions in particular make this worth checking out.

Brain Toilet Painmaker cassette

This North Carolina outfit pops up sporadically, but they seem to leave a pretty nasty mark when they do. Oppressive old school grind brutality that imposes itself upon the ears. Seven cuts, and not a relaxing moment to be found. Choice cut: “Underbelly.”

Circle One Demos & Comp LP

CIRCLE ONE is a band of some notoriety and has taken on the veneer of myth in these many years since the tragic demise of their singer. Formed in the very earliest days of the hardcore scene, they were one of the first bands to see the way forward into the ’80s being blazed by the GERMS and BLACK FLAG. The immediately emerged at the hardest and most aggressive vanguard of the emerging hardcore scene. This LP compiles their two early demos and some comp tracks. Most of us know CIRCLE ONE from the Patterns of Force LP, and the great thing about this LP is that none of these songs are on Patterns of Force. That is to say, by the time the band recorded the LP they had already discarded all these demo tracks and moved on. Some of them we know from comps, but there is a lot of material on here that is probably only known by tape traders until now. Let’s be clear—these are demos, not all the tracks are great, and you can see they were working to tighten up and develop the sound that would emerge on Patterns of Force. Indeed, listening to the progression from 1980 to 1981 to 1983, we hear the punk influences shed for a more purely hardcore sound, and the guitar tone gradually get thicker and beefier. While this isn’t on par with Patterns of Force, it’s certainly a great slice of Southern California hardcore punk history and there are some standout tracks here.

Cyanamid This Is Hell: A NJ Hardcore Anthology LP

New Jersey is a pretty interesting place. Listening to CYANAMID, you’d think it was literally just a gigantic six-lane highway allowing you to look at perpetually closed strip malls, Superfund sites and trash-filled streets. These kids sounded like they would’ve been throwing bricks and hatchets at Springsteen’s ’69 Chevy with the 396 as it raced by. Lines are to be drawn north to the GROINOIDS and SIEGE, south to TEDDY AND THE FRAT GIRLS and west to Crucifucks, Scratch Acid and Flipper CRUCIFUCKS, SCRATCH ACID and FLIPPER. I can’t imagine PSYCHO SIN could’ve existed without this band. Absolutely fucked up anti-hardcore. The accompanying booklet is pretty baller as well. The problem is that flipping this from A to B feels like you’re hearing the same shit and that doesn’t even take the bonus CD with live material from three different shows with similar set lists into account. An amazing collection that is not for the weak of heart.

Dateless Extreme Brewed Crash Cooled cassette

Hard-driving NZ rock with serious and generous (or seriously generous?) Aussie overtones. After a long drive down a dusty road, when you walk into the only bar you can find just as the sun is setting…this is the band playing. This is walking out of solitude and into a wall of beer and humanity. DATELESS are raw, primal….DATELESS sound like rock’n’roll.

Dead Bars Regulars LP

DEAD BARS make pub punk with nostalgia for a time when you could still smoke inside and get a PBR for $1.25. Every song is handcrafted to be sung with a choir of people you only know from inside that bar. “Rain” opens with an exhilarating guitar shriek and provides some of the most enjoyably ugly string work on the record. “I’m a Regular” is probably the best example of the lyrical and vocal strengths available on the album. Finally, “You Never Left” closes the album and hangs around for a long time to once again illustrate just how solid the musicianship, both instrumentally and vocally, was on the ten preceding tracks. This is punk rock and roll that allows itself to be as fun as it is sincere. It’s probably safe to expect this crew to become road dogs and play near you soon and then again four months later.

The Drowns Under Tension LP

Slick, big production Oi! from the Emerald City. I’d heard their Hold Fast single previously and if that got your sta-prest hard then you’ll cream all over this one. Catchy and upbeat to the point of nausea. If you like your street rock in the vein of the OLD FIRM CASUALS with a hint of STIFF LITTLE FINGERS and a little leprechaun dancing thrown in, then it’s almost payday. What are you waiting for?

Dum Dum Boys Let There Be Noise LP reissue

Let There Be Noise is a hard-to-find album of cut and bloody backstreet rock’n’roll from a sleepy town in Australia in ’81. The STOOGES, IGGY and British imports infected the minds of youth. I can see it now; sheep farmers rolling around in smashed beer bottles, cigarettes hanging from their lips, spitting as a new hobby, etc. “True Friend” comes off just like “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and I get heavily reminded of the stupid simplicity of COCKNEY REJECTS and SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS throughout. In the Red does a handsome job with some retrospective writing and improved art. All trendy assholes with DJ nights should buy it and play it so all those violent skinheads on a rampage can bop around and have some fun.

Eerie Family Eerie Family LP

ALEX CUERVO’s “Everybody Disappear” is one of my favorite songs of all time. Since I have listened to it innumerable times, it was odd to hear it starting off this album. Not that it is a surprise since CUERVO is in EERIE FAMILY along with Alyse Mervosh—both also of the HEX DISPENSERS. This version of the song is different from the original, but a great song is great in any incarnation. It’s moody and slow, but unlike the other songs on this LP has an upbeat lyrical tone. The label calls EERIE FAMILY “gloom pop” which sounds just about right. The music brings me back to the late ’80s when the English goth rock bands decided they wanted to be cowboys. It’s keyboards and drums with a sparse, expansive sound. The vocals are lethargic and sullen. Perfect for a rainy, chilly winter day spent brooding in the house. Great record.

Enchanters High Heel Roller Skates / Fire Truck 7″

Side A has a ’70s glammy, high-energy vibe. With a name like “High Heel Roller Skates” I would expect nothing less. I don’t know what a high heel roller skate actually looks like, but I imagine this is what one’s theme song would sound like. The B-side goes for a more ’70s butt rock sound. It is also high-energy and includes a prog-ish extended guitar solo. ENCHANTERS features Classy Craig of the LEATHER UPPERS so the retro style is in full swing. Fun record.