The Brigade Come Together 12″
I would’ve reviewed this, but after hearing two songs we winged it across the room in disgust, smashing it to fifty pieces. Unadulterated dance music bites the dust!
MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
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I would’ve reviewed this, but after hearing two songs we winged it across the room in disgust, smashing it to fifty pieces. Unadulterated dance music bites the dust!
Not quite up to the standards of their exceptional debut 45, the A-side still manages to cough up the requisite rockin’ 60’s punk energy to keep the toes tapping, though the melodic punch is largely absent. The flip is more poppish and less enjoyable. Pretty good.
Disjointed, dissonant punk which reminds me a little of DIE KREUZEN’s recent material. This has some rockin’ energy, and is more interesting to listen to than a lot of other bands.
Highly produced yet still garage-based R’n’R, both songs have a CRAMPS-like feel though the B-side is much more basic.
This one sounds more Swedish than Finnish, with an accent on well-constructed thrash with great tunes, melodies, and a variety of paces. Like it very much.
An over-the-edge group with a lot to say. This is not rock and roll, but is a pop form of experimental music, largely instrumental, but with thought-provoking printed accompaniment. Not too pretentious.
Atmospheric post-punk with novel studio effects and original song structures. None of the music stands out in the way that top-notch SPK or EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN does, but it’s okay for its genre.
Two uneventful covers of ’50’s tunes. For a good update of the B-side, check out the KINKS’ cover of this CHUCK BERRY obscurity on their debut You Really Got Me LP.
This Danish outfit plays rock in a darker, discordant vein which tries to maintain power through atmosphere. “Who Is the Man…” almost pulls it off, but the overall effect of this EP is nondescript — as if the band were purposely trying to distance you from the music.
An interesting mix of ’60’s pop, late-’70’s Boston rock’n’roll, country, MINUTEMEN, and REPLACEMENTS. All the recent Midnight releases seem to be less raw and aimed at a “broader audience.” This might be the one to attain that.
Folky-rocky with a decent beat, but a bit lacking in energy on the A-side. Nothing special, from New Zealand.
Their second release contains a slower droner, two PISTOLS type tunes, and two thrashers. All are well done, lots of guitar power as well as atmosphere. Good.
Female vocals over rocking pop punk. Like BLONDIE at their early best. The cover is a total RAMONES rip-off. Best title: “I Wanna Be Yourself.”
A prime example of hard-driving, snot-nosed, heavy-on-the-melody Australian garage bands. Truly a great debut—starting from the FLAMIN’ GROOVIES sing-a-long style to the tough-edged guitar sound. This group needs an album, now.
Wouldn’t normally review shit like this (you got it—HANOI ROCKS B.S.), except that this is what became of the once-awesome COMES. Incredible.
An aggressive guitar sound that strays away from the metal leads and relies on fast-paced metal riffs. The vocals are gravelly, and the music is powerful but repetitious at the same time, yet the band’s message sticks with a hard political stance.
Seven bands, including the SCAM, PSYCHO, GG ALLIN, and CANCEROUS GROWTH contribute a song each to this thrashy EP. Two songs rip (STUPIDS, SPASTIC RATS), one is pretty good (PTL KLUB), and the rest lapse into genericness.
There are some cool experimental tracks here, mostly by English groups like YEAH YEAH NOH, FLESH PUPPETS, and the BUMBITES. Also, a couple of good German punk tracks by RANOLA and HUNGRY FOR WHAT, plus plenty more — even a cut by APPLIANCES-SFB from Wisconsin.
First, the music of GAUZE, OUTO, LIPCREAM, and SYSTEMATIC DEATH comprise some of Japan’s best HC, a variety of approaches, all gripping. Now the cover—one of the best all time graphic jobs, both in layout and content. Impressive.
Here’s yet another cool int’l comp with vicious, urgent stuff from LARM, MASS APPEAL, PESADELO, and more. Sound quality gets crunchy at times, but overall, this blasts.
This compilation is put out by Senzapatria, whose political magazine is included with this disc. Bands featured are MYDGARD, LINK LARM, DISPERAZIONE, and ANTISBARCO, who present different brands of hardcore. As with many of the Italian bands, their tastes run eclectic, and within any given song you’ll hear lots of changes and styles. Stiv art graces the cover.
Smartly divided between the “guitar” side and the “machines” side, this sampler has a K-Tel greatest hits feel to it. Aside from a STEVE ALBINI spoken word track and songs by NAKED RAYGUN and the WIPERS, all of this is previously released. Still, it’s nice to have a listen to SONIC YOUTH, SCRATCH ACID, BOY DIRT CAR, and others all in one sitting.
A benefit tape for this Arizona fanzine. It’s short but very sweet, with absolutely raging tracks from FALSE LIBERTY, VIRULENCE, PSYCHO, and more. Explosive stuff.
This solid 4-track EP contains upbeat HC with a uniformly slicing guitar attack from the likes of GAGIZE, WEEDY EGGS (more pop-punkish), SWORD, and REZIST (excellent ripping thrash). Good record.
A 60-minute compilation consisting of nine UK and French political punk bands, like ANATHEMA, FINAL BLAST, and PIN PRICK. Excellent sound quality, and includes a band information booklet. Nice job!
Three bands here: NECROPHILIA, playing fast buzzing thrash; HERPES DISTRESS, with a straight-forward ferocious approach; and SOLUKSKI FRONT, who show more control, but still rock. Keep up the good work.
This EP contains very basic, simple power chord thrash, the vocals uninventively mimicking the guitar progressions for the most part. The instrument sound is biting, but the record itself is rather generic.
This flexi comes with 10 Years On #7, and contains a pair of ’78-style pop-punk tunes. Nothing special, though, as they’re fairly lacking in excitement. Oh well — it’s free with the zine, though.
This latest in the series (which is not being issued in sequential order) covers the Pacific Northwest, home of many of the earliest U.S. garage bands like the SONICS, WAILERS, KINGSMEN, and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS, none of whom appear here. What does appear are a host of lesser-knowns, bands that would play bars/frats and rock out. Hottest are SIR RALEIGH, and the STATICS. The rest will appeal only to historians, with the usual fine liner notes by Lee Joseph.
This sampler from the Cryptovision label goes to great pains to capture that trashy, one-take sound. The most successful at this are the DISTRACTION BOYS, MOD FUN, and STEPFORD HUSBANDS. The other groups have a more forced, contrived sound.
This compilation contains a few tracks from already released LP’s (DR. KNOW, COC, MENTORS), some unreleased tracks (DRI, UGLY AMERICANS, BEYOND POSSESSION), and a few odds and ends (INSOLENTS, DEPRESSION, and CIVILIAN TERRORISTS). As you might guess, this is death/speed metal up the ass. Aargh!
This East Coast band offers songs that are simple, catchy, and have a nice, aggressive edge, which is combined with equally catchy vocal patterns. Maybe it’s that this band put some thought into what they wanted rather than directly duplicating their influences. Good strong effort.
This neo-’60’s band touches on folk rock, blues-based punk and punk/psych — some soft, some tough. Sounds like Chicago meets S.F. a la ’67. Okay if you got your head on backwards, babeee!
At first, I thought this trashy Canadian group was trying to mine the same area as REDD KROSS, but after a few listens it became pretty obvious that they play a lot better than the McDonald brothers. And as they have some pretty cool hooks, too, I’d have to recommend this to folks who dig both the DESCENDENTS and STOOGES.
TERMINAL CHOICE have that clean melodic SoCal sound with caring, thoughtful lyrics. Only four songs but definitely worth it. Good job, guys.
I can’t help thinking ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN when I hear these guys. They do have some decent pop numbers, but most of it is minor key dance songs or crooning ballads. I’m sure they’ll be a college radio hit.
A really excellent punk record. Some tunes are melodic, some thrash, some slow, some raging, some metallic, etc., but all are hot. Very enjoyable.
Neo-psych with the emphasis on the Farfisa organ, the song structures sound remarkably like those of YARD TRAUMA, yet without that guitar bite. I enjoyed the instrumental on the flip, with its surfish overtones. Unremarkable, but entertaining.
Every time I started thinking this was generic thrash, S.O.C. Would throw some twist in to surprise me. A thoroughly home-produced LP (the sound is okay though, but the silk-screened cover is definitely tacky — literally!), there’s plenty here for HC fans — with little or no metal.
Not aggressive at all, the A-side is a weak pop punk tone with too much pop. The flip is a PISTOLS cover, well done, but out in a different version on a previous 7″.
After hearing the LP with RED KROSS and this EP, I have to say anything connected with SKY SAXON is pretty much doggy doo. Only two songs of four actually have SKY on them, the rest are strictly SS-20 (not the Ohio punk band) and if you’ve heard their LP on Voxx, you know how wimpy that can get. Sounds like outtakes from some DOOBIE BROTHERS record.
For a Denver band, they sure do sound English. They’re of the doom and gloom JOY DIVISION school but more like BAUHAUS in their better moments. They also do some neo-’60’s ballads which rise above the gloom.
The hard-edged rockers on this album usually have some hook or twist to make them quite listenable, whether it’s the hard and varied guitarwork or a melodic twist to the vocals. The compositions don’t, however, really stick to the ribs, a fact attested to by the fact that the best song here is “Ex-Lion Tamer,” the WIRE song.
Pretty much lives up to its title. The A-side is an early live show from 1966 and the performance is as dismal as the recorded quality. The reunion show from 1972 on the other side fares a little better. Except for the annoying tape drop-outs, the performance shows just why these guys are hailed as one of the best garage bands ever.
Side A features 11 live songs from Mexico’s SOLUCION MORTAL, a great set! Side B features Germany’s R.Z. AMOK doing 9 studio songs, also sounding good. Lyric and band into booklet included.
Reminds me a bit of the INSTIGATORS, with a fast and powerful yet melodic sound with good lyrics. Only four songs but darn good.
Bands that are (and look) heavily ’60s influenced shouldn’t use song titles of ’60s songs for their own compositions. The A-side is not the STONES’ title, though it is a decent pop tune. The flip is too insipid to go into.
A one-joke band, at least on this 45. Side one rocks for you holy rollers, while the B is a countrified goof.
This is Tim’s (ex-C2D) new project, playin rockin’ mid-tempo punk comparable to the later C2D material. Lyrics are in the horror/gore vein, of course. Fun.
SHONEN KNIFE, an all-female band from Japan provides enjoyable, and very simple pop and pop-punk on this LP. The endearing cuteness of the songs reminds me of a more poppish KLEENEX, with light lyric themes to boot (“I Wanna Eat Chocolate Bars”, “Ice Cream City”). Just adorable… Pretty good, too.
