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52 Pick-Up "Evolutionary Crisis" www.hippykillerinc.co.uk | |
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These Brits do something I always wanted to hear: have two guitars… one guitar cranking out over-driven redneck metal licks dipped in mud, and the other with a strong reverby tone chiming in at all the right parts to make it nice and eerie. And you know what? This disc proves it can work rather well. 52 Pick-Up plays a sort of southern horror punk with distorted-but-sung hillbilly vocals, all coming off like something that might happen if the guy from Texas Chainsaw Massacre started a punk band. The singing could maybe use a touch more muscle, but overall this is music for sweaty, gun-totin' meat-eaters. - BL
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7 Shot Screamers “In Wonderland” www.bigmuddyrecords.org | |
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Often tagged as Psychobilly, what I love about the 7 Shot Screamers is that they are at least as influenced by Johnny Thunders, New York Dolls, T-Rex, and Sweet as much as The Sharks, Guana Bats, and Frantic Flintstones. Hell there may even be some Jethro Tull, Neil Diamond, and even some Muppets influence too. The result pretty much puts them in a class of their own, either embraced by both the punk and ‘billy scenes or shunned by the lamebrains within each. With each successive album (this is their third), their influences get more and more subtle as they move forward with their own unique sound. “In Wonderland” steps further away from the Rockabilly song structures than ever before, and they have more glammy hooks and substantive songwriting. Don’t expect hackneyed musicianship, throaty vocals, or songs about zombies in graveyards. Often “In Wonderland” has lighter interludes encroaching on some of the anthemic rockers of their past, but generally not too much so that they lose momentum, and I am really enjoying following them on their next phase of their evolution. There is even some bizarre orchestration with cello, violin, flute, harmonica, and trumpet employed to great effect in different places. It took me a few listens to fully ingest everything on this disc and come to grips with it, but if you are looking for something original that challenges your expectations and isn’t produced for scenester consumption, you’ve found it. - Ben
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7k “Knick Knacks and Apparel” www.luckmedia.com | |
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Luck Media isn’t a label, but a PR marketing firm hired by bands. 7k definitely sounds like a band trying desperately to “make it” with a contemporary alternative sound lacking any sort of edge. If you like their influences such Live, Audioslave, 311, or Jimmy Eat World, then you might dig this, but even then I doubt it. I find it horrible, pointless, and vapid. I’d put this at the same level as modern Christian Rock. Stunningly horrendous. - Ben
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A-Bomb Chop Shop “Grim Reaper Blue” myspace.com/abombchopshop | |
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Very much like the early Cramps, A-Bomb Chop Shop goes for that primitive home-brewed taste brought on by a full-blown rockabilly delirium. They fall just shy of that mark, however, with the sparse song-writing not being balanced by monster hooks and the vocals too easy to shrug off. I suspect the next release by these guys might work out the kinks, though, and find their voice in the thick canopy of the psychobilly jungle. - Ben
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The Abe Lincoln Story “Kings of the Soul Punk Swing” www.soulpunkswing.com | |
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I was intrigued by the idea behind the title of this CD, and the fact that they were a ten-piece band, but I felt pretty let down upon listening. The songs seem mostly Ska and light jazz-influenced, and the vocals drove me nuts. Lyrically, it is exceptionally stupid, and not the charming kind of good stupid. “I don’t want to die, I just want to get high?” “L.A. Is My Lady?” Imagine those lines delivered in the most horrid sounding choruses you ever heard throughout seemingly endless tracks. The “Family and Friends” song was so hokey I felt my brain quiver in disbelief. I think they are trying to be cute and quirky, but it just made me wince. And what the hell is “punk” about this? It’s more like hippies with a brass section. I was more saddened about the missing Soul aspect, though, since my friend and I just had a conversation about the lack of bands influenced by the great Soul and R&B of the 60’s. This disc really struck my gag reflex. - Ben
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The Altarboys “Greatest Hits Vol. 2” www.lastchancerecords.com | |
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Aggressive street punk from Portland played with some skill and bite to it. They do it better than a lot of their peers, but it still isn’t all that interesting to me. I’ve just gotten so incredibly burnt out on that sound. There is a lot more lead guitar here than any street punk band I’ve heard before, though, for better or worse, giving it a slight greaser punk feel. It just isn’t something I can ever see myself being in the mood to listen to again. - Ben
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Altered State “Get Real” www.luckmedia.com | |
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This is a Canadian female-fronted indie rock band with a radio-friendly approach and probably some Pretenders influence, I guess. It doesn’t really do anything for me, except make me long for the mediocrity of the last thing I reviewed. Pretty terrible stuff. – Ben
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AluminumKnotEye "Trunk Lunker" www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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I caught AluminumKnotEye at an afternoon show before the Chicago Blackout this year. I thought they we pretty good, but the singer seemed to be trying real hard to be a yelping, screaming wildman without much success. I just wasn't feelin' it. However, this LP is fucking awesome. Noisy, nonsensically arranged (or de-ranged) compositions claw at your ears with weird sort of urban savagery. Their press sheet said "future primitivism" and I'm not gonna argue. This self-recorded midwest masterpiece manages to explode the garage punk genre while at the same time sounding completely natural as it punches in your brains. Sometimes it is angular and odd, other times it is spastic and infectious. Maybe I just wasn't ready for this yet when I saw them. I am ready now. – BL
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The Amazing Ralph Green “His Music, His Story” www.discriminateaudio.com | |
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You get 2 discs and a 24-page booklet covering more than 40 years of this eccentric performer’s career. What a life. This ex-communicated Mormon polygamist had his brush with stardom in the 50’s, but has since lingered in relative obscurity playing “outsider music,” at times homeless and busking for change. To say the music on disc one is a little weird, is like saying the desert is a little dry. There are songs about shock treatment, homicide, acid, Lorena Bobbit, and the “Planet of the Rain” to name a few. This “Guitar Pickin’ Teabag” isn’t exactly average on disc two either, actually, which chronicles his earlier rockabilly stuff as a “Star Trekkin’ Rock N’ Roll Cowboy.” While a lot of the songs are definitely oddball or silly, they are also well-written and good beyond mere novelty. It’s a great package featuring some bizarre music that I’m glad to have in my collection. - Ben
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Antiseen “Badwill Ambassadors” www.tkorecords.com | |
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If you know Antiseen, you know what to expect here: low, rumbling guitars churning out simple Southern Punk from command central of the Confederacy of Scum. They’ve been doing this forever, and it is one of the few things like death and taxes that you can count on. They’ll never try to branch out as artists and do a rock opera, or get lesbian hairdos and try to cram their fried food and beer ravaged asses into girlie jeans. It’s redundant redneck rock with a red state sensibility that is good for a handful of songs from time to time, but not something I’m a big fan of. Listenable, but it gets stale quick when left out in the air. - Ben
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Asono “One Man army” www.asonoband.com | |
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There is a phenomenon I’ve noticed over the years. Working-class folks who work a job where the radio is always playing will gradually start to like stuff that is played over and over, which without that frequent exposure, they would completely disregard. Asono reeks of a band that hopes to climb the hipster ladder towards the fabled Cloud City from where they can blow their mild rock onto the common man in gusting winds of endemic marketing. They are a British indie rock outfit with all the requisite indie rock outfits. They pepper things up a bit with 80’s power ballad guitars, but it still seems like only freshman college girls or hostages of commercial radio in the workplace would warm to it. There is technically nothing overtly bad in their execution, and hell, they probably really feel what they are singing about. It is just that I don’t. It feels very formulated to me. I don’t get the emotion. I don’t hear any chances being taken with the delivery. It seems engineered and lifeless to me… like mannequin in a storefront window, or a montage song on some shit TV show like Grey’s Anatomy. It is fair to say that I am not their target market. I’ll hide safely tucked away in an underground bunker when the next British Invasion wafts through town. - Ben
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Astro Zombies “Burgundy Livers” www.raucousrecords.com | |
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This is a live album by this French Psychobilly band and it really captures their talent and diversity. They do versions of the Cure’s “Plastic Passion”, Nancy Sinatra’s (and Cher’s) “Bang Bang” (written by Sonny Bono), and “Bertha Lou” by Johnny Faire, as well as a whole slew of their originals. While for the most part I am not a huge fan of live albums, this one has really good sound and shows that they are true musicians and not just studio alchemists. - Ben
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Atlantic Manor “All the Best Girls Have Winter Hearts” www.theatlanticmanor.com | |
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I guess I’d describe this as minimalist indie rock with a wistfulness enveloped in lengthy elegant dirges. The first song, “Desperation,” went over 6 minutes in a hypnotic tip-toe before vocals dropped in. Self-described as “lo-fi and heartfelt,” I would argue that this doesn’t sound very lo-fi but it does seem heartfelt. It is melancholic and progresses as softly as it does slowly. I have no short attention span, and this is pretty music that I respect, but it just isn’t something I would listen to a lot. I did like the Velvet Undergroundish dissonance on “Open Arms,” though. - Ben
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Backdoor Stan & His Busted Balls 7-song CD-R www.myspace.com/backdoorstan | |
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Uncouth trashy rock’n’roll with a lot of blues grit stuck in the teeth. The levels are a little quiet, almost sounding recorded on a boom box, but you get the point. Pretty fun stuff. - Ben
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Beautiful Bert & the Slags “Trash Rock” CD-R myspace.com/bbslags | |
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Scum rock in the tradition of the Bulemics, Limecell, Cocknoose, etc. Songs like “Detox Train,” “Beer Burgers and Broads,” and “Merle Killed G.G.” give you an idea where they’re coming from. While bands of this ilk are generally listenable, only a handful have raised the bar (or lowered it, depending on your perspective) and managed to make a sleaze a virtue. Here I thought they did the songs the right way and were decent, but still nothing really stuck out and gave them their own identity. - Ben
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Bent Left “Skeletons in Your Closet” www.bentleft.com | |
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Bent Left plays politically charged street punk in the style of Anti-Flag or the Unseen. Guitars are thick and kind of gallop-picked, and the vocals are gruff. They seem like a good bunch of kids with their hearts in the right place but the musical approach just doesn’t move me much. - Ben
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Big John Bates “Take Your Medicine” www.bigjohnbates.com | |
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My favorite permutations of modern rockabilly are generally the ones that forego genre purity and limitations and take a more iconoclastic approach. That is not to say that Big John Bates plays something completely new, but just that he grazes in many pastures and feels no need to do a re-enactment of 1956. He draws on everything from punk, to tin pan alley, to The Cramps and Annihilator (the 80’s metal band he used to be in and pays homage to on this CD), and even Arabic-sounding guitarwork on “Salome’s Last Dance.” While I tend to think his vocals are a little over-affected, there are plenty of strong tunes on here, maintaining them as one of the better bands keeping their heads above water in a landscape sectioned off into strict musical pieties and scene dogmas. - Ben
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Bishop “Steel Gods” www.bishopmusic.com | |
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Very much 80’s style arena rock metal but sort of radio-friendly 90’s modern rock at the same time, with a very distinct aroma of Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. In fact, I think their best song, “Jib,” could be played for a diehard Soundgarden fan and they’d think it was a long lost track from the “Superunknown” album. Overall, the album feels too commercial, for lack of a better word. Feels like a group trying to do well in a niche market rather than rock the hell out. Naturally, I can’t speak to their motivations, but this definitely didn’t inspire me to punch the air with glory. - Ben
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The Black List “Beginning of the End” www.potusmusic.com | |
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Pop Punk influenced by Face to Face, Lagwagon, et al. I thought it was finally unfashionable to do this kind of band. It sounds like a million other bands I can’t tell apart. - Ben
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Blitzkid "Five Cellars Below" www.blitzkid.com | |
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The first two tracks of this album start things off completely on the wrong foot for me. They’re both really generic sounding fast psychobilly numbers that sound like about a million other bands. After that the band hops around stylistically quite a bit. There’s slickly produced, radio friendly rock on songs like “Lady in the Lake” (some of the hooks seriously remind me of Under Lock and Key era Dokken) and “Dementia 13”. “Terror in the Haunted House” mixes that melodic rock approach with the band’s psychobilly side, and the result is one of the better songs on here. “Genus Unknown” also stands out, and not just because it’s about my favorite cryptozoological monster, Mothman. It’s actually one of the few songs on here that’s both catchy and has a little bit of an edge. “Demon Machine” is kind of a grunge/stoner rock sounding number, followed by the rockabilly ballad “The Torn Prince”. The band also turns in a cover of “Bloodletting” that has none of the eroticism of the original. Ultimately, Five Cellars Below is just a little too slick sounding for my tastes. But putting that aside, while I think a lot of the songs on here are good for what they are, the album is just too schizophrenic. It almost sounds like a different band on every other song. At least they don’t rip off the Misfits. - Bob Ignizio
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Bloody Ol’ Mule “Satan’s Farm” myspace.com/bloodyolmule | |
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Bloody Ol’ Mule plays an often somber mix of blues and country laden with pangs of spiritual angst. Not really a one man band (he is only accompanied by his acoustic guitar, no drums), Oklahoma native Shilo Brown has nevertheless crafted an appealing album with a healthy layer of reverb coating the vocals. With only an acoustic guitar to accompany him, however, I could not help but want some other instrumentation, drums, or even a different guitar tone to create more variation on these 16, mostly same tempoed, tracks. With some other musicians, or maybe self-accompanying with harmonica and drums, he could retain some of the solitary songs while mixing in some fuller tracks. Still, there is a generous helping of some good tunes to be mined here. - Ben
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The Blowtops “P.S. This Is A Zombie” www.bigneckrecords.com | |
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The Blowtops roll out dark grooves with an off-kilter mindset, sometimes marching determinedly through glue, sometimes swinging sledgehammers in cross-eyed deliberation. Often I get the feel of someone on the brink of megalomaniacal disaster suddenly getting distracted with an irrelevant thought that strikes him funny. It’s a weird ride, man. Put this one down in their win column. - Ben
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Blue Demon “The Undisputed Kings” EP www.mimishimarecords.com | |
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These guys aren’t re-inventing the wheel, but they do play extremely well. I’d say this is an edgy sort of neo-rockabilly with a Reverend Horton heat sort of tone to the guitars. Out of 4 songs here, 2 are quite good instrumentals. The vocals on the other tracks really remind me of someone, but I can’t place who it is. I am wavering over whether I like them. “Black Eyed Devil” is definitely better when it kicks up the speed half way through. All in all, though, I’d say this is a pretty good first showing for these “undisputed kings of fuck all.” I’d be curious enough to hear more. I think maybe some of the impact is lost due to it being over-produced. There is definitely potential here. – BL
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Botox Party CD E.P. myspace.com/botoxpartyva | |
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A pop punk and hardcore punk amalgamation from Richmond, Virginia, with a strong metallic sheen to the guitars. They have the expected young punk band lyrics about Social Security, friendship, conformity, elitism, etc., but they seem earnest about it… not as if they sat down and said, “I like punk, let’s start a punk band, punk bands sing about (fill in the blank).” Their music leaves me cold and unaffected, though. Again, they seem like nice chaps and I’d probably share my home-brewed beer with them. - Ben
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Bram Riddlebarger & The Wailin’ Elroys “On the Bum” www.rhythmbomb.com | |
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The Wailin’ Elroys have always invited Hank Sr. and Wayne Hancock comparisons, though still allowing their own animus to shine through their influences. Here they further nurture their own sound, and with often glowing results. The album title is accurate because there is a definite melancholy feel to many of the songs, but it’s a sincere melancholy that forms its aesthetic around resolute pessimism, transient joys, and dissatisfied longing. They don’t overly rely on the contrived romanticism of the down and out clichés endemic to country, but resuscitate them with personal feeling undercutting any notion of shallow kitsch. Probably my favorite tracks, though, are the beautiful instrumental “East Austin Breakdown” and the stunning cover of Mike Ness’ “It’s The Law.” “On The Bum” serves as a great example of modern honky tonk, and a testament to the fact that antiquated musical styles can be timeless and vital beyond mere nostalgia. - Ben
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Brown Paper Bag “It’s Supposed to be Offensive” CD-R www.brokenbonezrecords.com | |
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I don’t really see anything offensive about this release, except maybe the big thank you to “GOD.” That’s not really offensive, though, just one of my pet peeves. This is a young Texas band in the Street Punk / Oi vein. Absolutely nothing original or even particularly catchy or well-played. Can’t be too hard on them, though, since they are obviously just young kids still entangled in punk rock clichés. - Ben
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Brutal Knights “Feast of Shame” www.derangedrecords.com | |
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A Punk Rock Renaissance must be going on in Toronto, that enchanted land whose brief but fruitful growing season has sprouted the likes of Career Suicide and Fucked Up. Perhaps not as frenzied as Career Suicide or as iconoclastic as Fucked Up, the Brutal Knights wed classic hardcore punk with the more indolent strains of garage punk (Jay Reatard even mixed the album), and they do it so well nobody will be protesting this mixed marriage. What is especially endearing about them is a virulent lyrical nihilism delivered with an off-the-cuff silliness that often rises to a sort of sarcastic retarded genius. “Government Is Asshole” begins with the loudly defiant proclamation: “Fuck you, I buy sushi with my welfare money!” then explodes into a third grade tirade against government making “cool things illegal.” Elsewhere they boast of their “Extreme Lifestyle” where they wake up in the morning and use wasabe toothpaste, or of having a website on the aptly titled “We Have a Website” (which at the time of this writing does not work!). There is too much funny stuff here to go through all the songs, but suffice to say I love this CD, both sonically and conceptually. In an age rife with Information Overload, the Brutal Knights serve up the perfect enema for those fed up with the world in general and want to unplug, air out, and just plain rock’n’roll. - Ben
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Bulemics “…Still Too Young To Care” www.scareyrecords.com | |
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Listening to this CD will make you want to get drunk, snort a line of coke out of a prostitute’s ass crack, jerk off on your neighbor’s dog, bludgeon a paraplegic with a crucifix, or some other demented and/or evil act. The Bulemics from Austin have been assaulting crowds for over ten years now, and here you can taste 25 songs worth of their vile spunk. It is trashy hateful scum punk that fans of the Dwarves, Mentors, GG Allin, Antiseen, et al will enjoy. As far as that “shock” genre goes, these guys situate themselves toward the top with some musical chops to carry the lyrical odes to bad taste. Funnier songs about being a crack baby or “Horny for Evil” strike me better than the ones about women getting abducted and killed in snuff films or killing themselves after being used up in the porn scene. I guess I am too jaded to be shocked by such meager audacity, and too mentally stable to be fascinated by that stuff. This package also includes a DVD of band videos. - Ben
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Busy Signals S/T CD www.dirtnaprecs.com | |
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I had just got home from being blown away by these guys at Gonerfest in Memphis and found their CD in my mail pile. After giving high fives to all my imaginary friends in the living room, I ran and put it on. Not disappointing. The Busy Signals sound like they could have been part of the original wave of punk bands, but not as a carbon copy. No, this feels like something important was left unsaid back then, and now it is being articulated. Their songs will jolt you out of your cynical stupor with high voltage hooks and a hot pulse beating against your speakers. Analucia’s vocals feel like a perfectly natural fit, as she’s confident enough to convey attitude and melody without being histrionic or over-affected. Me and my imaginary friends will listen to this again for sure. - Ben
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Calabrese “The Traveling Vampire Show” www.spookshowrecords.com | |
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I saw these guys several months ago and felt they hammered every rock’n’roll cliché in existence, from their “how’s everybody doing tonight… I can’t hear you!” crowd banter to their leather jackets and spin moves. The drummer was over the top obnoxious, often standing up and twirling his sticks in classic rock star poses, and in general they all, much like their bouncy younger crowd, seemed to really think they were hot shit. I guess in a very literal way, I’d agree. Musically, they tirelessly pounded out the generic horror punk pabulum chock full of “whoa-ohs,” coffins and vampires. It’s not that I hate all horror punk (see Hex Dispensers), but most of the time one band blends into the next with unimaginative lyrics and carbon copy choruses, coming off as lackluster Misfits tributes, albeit this one mixes in some Tiger Army. Sure, these guys have all the right moves and looks, but I’d prefer that they colored more outside the genre lines than stayed tucked away safe inside them. Right down to the sterile production on this poppy cheese platter, I think this is aimed at 14 year-old girl demographic. I hate being so hard on a band, but it just feels forced, phony, and banal to me. - Ben
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Candygram for Mongo “The Red Pill” www.candygramformongo.com | |
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If you could distill all the qualities I don’t like about music into one band you’d get this. You know how at some point in history whitebread guitar slingers started listening to Clapton records and figured they knew the blues, but entirely missed the point and soul of it? This is the punk rock equivalent. It comes off with no real understanding or background beyond the very surface level of the genre, has strikingly stupid lyrics, and seems like some middle-class dudes engineering tunes to make it in the biz. I am sure they are probably very swell people, though. – Ben
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Career Suicide “Attempted Suicide” www.derangedrecords.com | |
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A couple years ago a friend of mine told me that Career Suicide does 80’s hardcore better than it was done in the 80’s. That stuck with me because he has been going to hardcore shows and collecting records since the early 80’s and probably knows more about the genre than anyone I know. While I can’t claim such a vast background in the genre, I can say that this CD is perhaps their best to date, not only lighting up songs with more energy than the Hoover Dam, but also flagging them with hooks and melodies that keep things from being too overwhelming. Every time I listen to this my adrenal gland punches through my torso and I want to jump out of my skin. What they hell else could you ask for in a hardcore punk band? - Ben
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Caterpillar Tracks “Scrape the Summer” www.phratryrecords.com | |
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These guys play brainy post-punk/art rock that deftly plods through minimalist arrangements borne of anxiety and frustration. Not a light listen, but rewarding in its own way. Something about it just isn’t clicking for me, though. - Ben
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Cathouse Thumpers S/T CD myspace.com/cathousethumpers | |
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While on the outset these guys bring to mind the Stray Cats, the guitarist has a bit of his own flair that I really like. They also have a little jazz influence and really expert playing all around. There are umpteen million bands doing this kind of music, but the Cathouse Thumpers do it a little better than most. I enjoyed it. - Ben
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Charming Snakes “Ammunition” www.dirtnaprecs.com | |
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I don’t have too much of a frame of reference for this band’s sound, but it definitely hints of some Sonic Youth albums in their collection. They aren’t that simple to describe, though. There are elements of garage and pop twisted into a distorted ball of crossed lines and hooks. The effect is a mind-altering mass of songs, at once flowing and disjointed. Kinda like riding the subway at 3am after a night drinking, getting jarred in all directions while still comfortably moving forward. This isn’t something I’d put on to rock out to, but it provides nice atmosphere while you check your e-mail or completely zone out on a long drive while you think about other stuff. I guess they are appropriately named, because they slither into your subconscious and charm you subliminally. In short, it drones on, but in a mostly good way. - BL
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Chelsea Smiles “Thirty Six Hours Later” www.acetate.com | |
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With such an odd band name, I was not sure what to expect. This is glamish arena rock featuring an ex-member of D-Generation, Murphy’s Law, Danzig, and Motorhead. Lots of guitar riffs and a big sound that lies somewhere in that well-treaded area between Kiss and the New York Dolls. It is definitely not hard on the ears, but doesn’t really bowl me over either. Nothing is overtly bad about it, but it just kind of rolls off your back. – Ben
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Chinese Happy “Bear Hands” www.chinesehapy.com | |
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Dumpster-diving, bike-riding DIY Pop Punk with horrible vocals and music that rears a little bit of hardcore influence on one track, and on many other songs can sound like the worst band at the coffee house. While I am probably really close to them on social issues, they come off a little more hippie than even I, a vegetarian Marxist environmentalist, am comfortable with. I also do not like their music at all. - Ben
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Cola Wars “Red Flag Day” www.colawars.net | |
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Mellow yet wordy indie pop that just sounds smug to me. It’s weird how something so fluffy soft can be so grating on the nerves. - Ben
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The Compulsions “Laughter From Below” www.thecompulsionsnyc.com | |
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So this is what you get when you mix the New York Dolls with Lynyrd Skynyrd, which are the two most applicable bands on their press sheet. It’s not a painful listen at all, but pretty slow and doesn’t really hook me. Comes and goes without making much of a fuss. - Ben
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The Condors “Wait For It” www.rankoutsiderrecords.com | |
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Powerpop isn’t really a genre I’ve gone deep into, but these guys seem like they could stay afloat in it. Most songs are too poppy for my tastes. All the edges are sanded down and the melodies never broke my skin. You can tell this is an older band with a slight mod feel, and I respect what they do, but they just don’t stand out for me. - Ben
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Country Club “Friends Don’t Make Forearms” EP www.countryclubnyc.com | |
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This 6-piece NY band reminds me somewhat of Faith No More with a horn section, or Tucson’s Chango Malo. Actually, the singer’s voice sometimes reminds me of Steven Tyler, other times of Sweet. The arrangements are not run-of-the-mill, incorporating some weird 70’s rock opera and experimental jazz vibe into the hard rock. Best song is easily “Pretty Little Suicide.” Overall, it’s not rocketing me into ecstasy by a long shot, but I can respect if this happens to be your thing. - BL
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Crackwhore Self-Titled CD www.turkeyneck.com.au | |
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Female-fronted punk band from Australia with a sort of 80’s hard rock bent. It’s not breaking any molds by a long shot, but it’s not bad. They seem young and might get more interesting later on. - Ben
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The Daily Void “Identification Code 5271-4984953784-06564” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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The Functional Blackouts are no more, but ex-members have stepped up to fill that Daily Void with the unnerving sounds of a bleak future beset with alienation and the parasitic peristalsis of a consumptive society in spasmodic decline. Slivers of shrapnel stick in your skin as you bask under their dark clouds, but though the music is oppressive and struggles to hold back a cacophony of sensory chaos, they do manage to let through just the right amount of jarring luminescence to make this disc play like the defiant blood-cry of a crushed civilization charging with grinding teeth into unmapped geographies of the damaged psyche. The unbearable lightness of being gains weight in this existential quagmire of flesh bruised by the brutal fists of frayed consciousness. Somehow the aesthetics of hopeless oblivion hold anesthetic properties and make this band an agonizing delight with more depth and import than the myriad of other eyes staring back through the abyss. - Ben
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Daze “Slow Down to Speed Up…” www.lividrecords.com | |
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This Swiss band sounds a lot like Nirvana. Very grunge influenced. Are you still reading this? - Ben
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Dead City Shakers “Ship of Beggars” www.zeroyouthrecords.com | |
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Street Punk commingles with Psychobilly and Country on this album by a relatively new band from Dallas. On the heavier songs the guitars have a hefty metal tone, while elsewhere they are more clean and reverby. They have an upright bass and in general the songs are mid tempo or slower. The vocals remind me of a modern Oi band, and the lyrics have a sort of skinhead gone Psychobilly feel to them. Though they sometimes come off a little plain, they do seem earnest, especially on songs like “Cliff’s Song,” which simply tells the story of a man’s life whom the singer admired and learned from. It doesn’t have any descriptive or memorable lines, instead just a straightforward outline of a life followed by general motivational platitudes. In creative writing they’d say he tells instead of showing, but being in a rock’n’roll band isn’t creative writing, and I reckon merely writing about something meaningful puts them above a lot of what is out there. In general, this CD is like a wall of flash in a tattoo shop come to life. It’s all the expected, usual stuff, but on the skin it takes on more of a personal aspect. The overall mood of the album evokes a somber atmosphere of disenchantment, regret, anger, and sadness… like a barroom theme park. While there are aspects to this CD I do like, the music is pretty boring and I typically dislike that guttural vocal style although they can work in some situations (Nabat is the only one that springs instantly to mind), they sound pretty bad to me here. - Ben
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Dead Hookers “The Burial / The Rebirth” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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I didn’t have high hopes for a band called the Dead Hookers, but damn if I am not surprisingly captivated by this, and commissioned with the daunting task of trying to describe the alternately cascading and crunching sounds that are currently sweetly beating upon my eardrums. They take a garage and punk base, drop in some cross-eyed psychedelic transcendentalism, then jab, poke, and rub in some earthy pragmatics. The resulting muddy paradox packs together nicely without testing the limits of your patience as they struggle to keep the intensity and intrigue in proper balance. Oftentimes it is a noisy and challenging listen, but the payoffs are there for the taking. If you can picture a race of subterranean mole men surfacing through the forest soil and dry leaves as the sun oranges the sky at dusk, this is the music they might have playing on their ipods. - Ben
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Demon’s Claws “Satan’s Little Pet Pig” www.intheredrecords.com | |
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I was a fan of the Demon’s Claws debut album, but this one has jumped ahead light years. They’ve emerged from the workshop with every aspect improved, from the vocals to the overall production, and crudely assembled them into a jangly masterpiece of garagedelic punk architecture. A labyrinth of ethereal influences, voices pulse through hallways with faded wallpaper throats while strange whiffs of the 1880’s waft through the creaky floorboards in this nonsensical revisioning of the 1960’s through an Appalachian kaleidoscope. A fun listen. - Ben
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Derita Sisters “Get Off My Property!” www.trash2001.de | |
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Lighthearted German punk band with funny lyrics about soul patches, Girls Gone Wild, and Gillian Anderson. While they have a few decent tracks, they basically play generic punk without too many memorable hooks. Also, they are older gentlemen who seem to have been playing music for a long time, and are not sisters. It’s mostly kind of humdrum, lacking that certain spark to really light things up, but it’s not god-awful either. - Ben
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The Destroyed “Russian Roulette” www.thedestroyed.com | |
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The Destroyed date back to 1977, but have become most active in the last few years. Consisting of J.D. Jackson on guitar and Bert Switzer on drums, the first thing you notice is Bert’s style of drumming. At first it seems like a mess of fills and accents, then as you get further into it, it seems like there’s intentionality behind it. It is hard to tell whether he’s a jazz-level maverick musician deconstructing punk rock, or if he is a 50 year old burnout with A.D.D. Possibly both. The guitars provide a coarse texture to the songs, while the vocals leave a snotty trail for your wild hike through this strange soundscape. It’s definitely a listen for those more adventuresome with their musical affinities, but I think only its peculiarity keeps it from falling into the abyss as it perches precariously on the edge of Suck Canyon. - Ben
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Destructors 666 “Many Were Killed, Few Were Chosen” www.destructors666.com | |
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Vocally, they remind me of Venom, but the music melds mid-tempo British street punk with some 70’s rock and metal overtones. I’m sure that description gags a few people, but it’s actually not bad. I like this album better than what I heard for them on a split CD a while ago. There is an anthemic feel, thick guitars, and a real good vibe. I’m enjoying this ride, and recommend taking it for a spin. - Ben
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D.E.K. “Right Now in a Minute” www.brokenbonezrecords.com | |
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Standard issue punk oscillating between pop and hardcore influences and including lots of sound bytes between songs. I can’t really think of anything to say about it. I guess that says it all. - Ben
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Dicemen “A Thing Called Rock’n’Roll” www.suburban.nl | |
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When I heard some early Dicemen, I thought they were pretty much psychobilly, but nowadays I think they’ve really expanded upon that foundation. This CD sounds like a band that would fit in perfectly at the Heavy Rebel weekender in North Carolina, as they successfully saddle rockabilly influences astride a hard southern hair metal sound. You close your eyes and you can just see the cans of PBR flying through the air. The playing is superb and there is a nice upbeat energy here. The choice to cover “Rockabilly Boogie” is a little too predictable but still easy on the ears, however the cover Hank III’s “Go Fuck You”misses the mark a bit. I also prefer the old version of their original tune “Kicked in the Teeth.” The new one just lacks the muscle of the older recording, and the new style of less aggressive vocals doesn’t really fit. That said, many of the songs do hit me the right way, and I am glad to hear this band from the Netherlands deviate a little more than their peers from the typical psychobilly prototype. – BL
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Die Hunns “You Rot Me” www.volcoment.com | |
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Having not heard any previous Hunns output, I had no real expectations other than a mild curiosity to see how this would differ from Duane Peters’ other band, The U.S. Bombs. The difference is pretty immense. It is a very slow tempo album with a bit of Nick Cave-ishness to the proceedings. There is a slight 70’s rock and proto-punk flavoring, as well as an occasional dash of Velvet Underground. Obviously Peters got tired of bashing out the street punk he’s known for, and along with Corey Parks (Nashville Pussy), Zander Schloss (Weirdos, Circle Jerks), and Nate Shaw (The Skulls), has branched out and proffered something with a little more substance. The album as a whole is hit and miss for me, but still more interesting than I expected. – Ben
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Drunk By Six “Battered Souls” www.buzzkillrecords.com | |
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I shouldn’t like this, but I do. They play poppy street punk with lots of whoah-ohs, similar to a million other bands. However, they do it with just a little more enthusiasm than the average pack of schlubs. Their semi-sarcastic theme song claims “we don’t care about your politics, we just wanna be drunk by six,” which is happily contradicted three songs later with “Religious Right, Religious Wrong,” a song that warms the bleeding heart of this godless lefty. They even have a song about the Enola Gay, which was the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. It has been a while since I heard a punk song about nuclear anxiety. I think it’s gonna come back in a big way. - Ben
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Electric Frankenstein “Burn Bright, Burn Fast” www.tkorecords.com | |
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More rock’n’roll punk from these guys who have about one million records and have been around since the Pleistocene. It is kind of like Dead Boys mixed with 80’s arena rock. Not awful to listen to, but I’ve never really flipped my wig over these guys. - Ben
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The Ergs! “Upstairs/Downstairs” www.dirtnaprecs.com | |
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The buzz around this band is huge, and by people whose tastes I respect. On the first listen, though, I didn’t really get it. The Ergs! play pop punk that after a couple listens I am starting to warm to slightly more. Musical aptitude aside, they seem like lovable nerds who (along with geeks, losers, and fuck-ups) naturally always make the best punk rock. Their lyrics have an intelligent silliness coupled with an earnestness just this side of emo. “Stinking of Whiskey Blues” is actually a really good acoustic country song, but for the album as a whole I really don’t care for the whiny bubblegum vocals. I can kind of see what everyone else is smitten with, but I’m just not feeling the love myself. - Ben
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The Feelers “Learn to Hate the Feelers” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Following the instructions of the album’s title proves to be difficult task. In fact, I think I’m in love with the Feelers, in the least gay way possible of course (not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you). It’s more of a dysfunctional sort of reluctant love: the kind a battered wife has for her fat husband. This thing rips like a slam-dancing pirate with two hook hands (of course noting that amputation is sad, and there are many fine, upstanding pirates). It hits meaner than your dad after two sixes and lifetime of regret (not that child abuse is ever funny... except maybe if the kid really deserves it). Anyway, The Feelers are from way down South (Columbus, Ohio), and prove to be one of our state’s finer assets. The vocals may take a little getting used to, coming off like the muffled rantings of madman, but after a few listens the disc got in my head space and re-arranged the furniture. It’s edgy punk rock with jangly garage guitars hitting the minor chords in major ways. Next time I hear some idiot suggest that we Ohioans inhabit some forsaken land cut off from coolness by cornfields and cattle, I’ll put this CD on at an ungodly volume, unzip my pants, and command them to suck on my inflated nutsack. – BL
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Filthy 42s “Positively South Jersey” www.boottohead.com | |
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Ever listen to something that has a whole pile of decent ingredients yet doesn’t cook up a very satisfying ear candy? Nothing awful here, but it’s not taking me to Thrill City on the Love Train where I can plunge myself into new and exotic pleasures. Perhaps the production is a little plain and polished to death, or maybe the punk’n’roll with poppy but decidedly un-catchy choruses leaves me clicking forward. While I’m not looking for every band to be avante garde purveyors of a new musical epoch, these guys still seem really pedestrian on a highway crowded with faster traffic. - Ben
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The Flapjacks “Move To Mars” www.lastchancerecords.net/ | |
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Well-played Rockabilly in its various permutations with the requisite instrumentals. It won’t change your life or make you a more sensitive lover, but there’s worse ways to spend your time. - Ben
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FM Bats “Everybody Out… Shark in the Water” www.vinyldogrecords.com | |
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I am really digging this 6-song EP, but I have no idea how to describe what it sounds like. It features the singer from Le Shok and Neon King Kong, which might help a bit. I’d say this is pretty damned original sounding stuff, but maybe I just don’t have the proper frame of reference to pin down their influences. It isn’t very fast or laden with hooks, but something about it is fascinating. Definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of pee, but it filtered through my kidneys just fine. It has an off-kilter sort of swagger, distorted vocals, and drunken guitars that grate on you in endearing ways. The result is eccentric and creative without seeming artsy or contrived. Unlike many discs where you get all the songs have to offer on the first listen, the FM Bats get better and better each time. - BL
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Forbidden Tigers “Magnetic Problems” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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The Black Lips, Live Fast Die, Demon’s Claws, Spaceshits, and the Gories may be some of the closer relatives of this young band, but that’s just to give you a musical zip code. These Nebraska natives definitely have their own address in the garage rock kingdom. Immensely satisfying from start to finish, this album jangles, jerks, and jolts its tangled guitars over top of rhythms that smash against auditory limits and vocals snarling with a sardonic drawl. Forbidden Tigers likely stem from the roots of a voracious musical nerdiness wherein countless hours were consumed with rock’n’roll studies until it poured effortlessly from their pores without an ounce of trite amateurism. If this don’t cause some lascivious movements down below, you may need to get some little blue pills. - Ben
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Forty Marshas S/T CD www.beatville.com | |
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This is an odd experimental album conceived of by the drummer of the Goo Goo Dolls and performed with all kinds of different musicians he knows. Some tracks are more like soundscapes, while others are rock or even metal. It’s kind of like how Mr. Bungle took genre busting cues from John Zorn, but this isn’t as schizophrenically bizarre, it just has weird variation between tracks. This eclectic soup has some really tasty bits, some mystery chunks that I’m unsure of, and some stuff I’d just rather not taste. - Ben
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Functional Blackouts “Very Best of the Monkees” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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The first time I saw these guys was in Chicago at the day show for one of the Horizontal Action Blackout weekends. It was hot as hell in this weird old automotive garage or something. Beer was not going down easy. I felt tired and uncomfortable. I never heard the Functional Blackouts before, and when they came on my body transformed from a sad sack of sullen crap into a twitching carcass undulating under 10,000 volts of oppressive psychic power jolting out from a jagged heap of corrupted mental circuitry. It was a sonic stabbing of disgruntled hate-filled truth so ominous and correct I shuddered with orgasm in the blissful doom of humanity. This CD collects 18 tracks of out-of-print 7”s, unreleased versions of songs, and even the final three songs they recorded before disbanding. Mandatory listening for all non-pussies. - Ben
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Functional Blackouts “The Severed Tongue Speaks for Everyone” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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A word that comes up a lot with these guys is “nihilism,” and that’s because they gouge out impatient and tense angst-flavored punk rock and swirl it around inside a chaotic vat of noise and mucous. Intelligent, sleazy, scary, and honest, this is their second full-length originally released on vinyl by Criminal IQ. It’s not for people who like safe and sanitized prefab mind rot. It’s like an enema for the banal crap that usually ends up in my review pile. - Ben
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The Gee Strings “A Bunch of Bugs” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Right off the bat these guys reminded me of the Stitches, which is weird because this German band has a female singer (but then again, I thought Mike Lohrman sounded like a girl on their early stuff). Anyway, there is a great snotty punk rock song setting things off, followed up with some more great (mostly) New York 70’s-inspired punk rock’n’roll flexing lots of guitar muscle and having plenty of hooks to snag you with. There is a cover of the great Nervous Eaters song, “Just Head,” which is in immediate danger of being overdone, but the Gee Strings still manage to charm their way through it. This is one of those CDs that are hard not to like. - Ben
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The Ghouls “Stand Alone” www.sosrecords.us | |
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Take your favorite spikey-haired street punk band from the late 90’s, splice in some horror punk DNA, and something like these Ghouls will slither from your Petri dish. There’s not very much variation between the lackluster songs, but at least they are fast. In the end, though, nothing really stands out, except maybe how bad the singer is. - Ben
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Goodnight Loving “Crooked Lake” www.dustymedical.com | |
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From their name, I felt pretty leery about listening to this CD. I should know by now not to judge a band by their name. I had read or heard nothing of Goodnight Loving before popping this in for review, so when the first song, “Another Foggy Yesterday,” hit me I was totally unprepared to fall in love. Then I remembered that I DID see them at Gonerfest just a few months ago and wasn’t really moved by them. Maybe it was an off night or bad sound, because I am really enjoying this CD a lot. They play a wistful sort of alt-country forged with a garage rock ethos and just the right amount of upbeat resilience to stave off gloominess. The lyrics come out unpretentiously artful, and the mood captures the dichotomy of desperation and sanguinity in genuine proportions. This is the young Milwaukee band’s second full-length, with their first produced by Greg Cartwright (Oblivians, Reigning Sound). “Crooked Lake,” however, was recorded in a secluded cabin in northern Wisconsin, and it’s not hard to imagine how the isolated locale seeped into the songwriting and production. It just sounds natural, and that’s a welcome thing as the rest of the world becomes more detached and artificial. - Ben
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The Goosebumps “The Story of Butch” www.anthologyrecords.com | |
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There are only two tracks on this instrumental CD, but both are nearly 15 minutes each. It seems like a conceptual album intending to connote a Western movie soundtrack. The first part has a sparse mariachi feel, while the second builds from an arid southwestern jazz vibe into a heavy metal opus. Interesting. – Ben
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Hank Und Die Shakers On Christmas Eve (I’m Gonna Kill My Neighbors) www.speedchicken.de | |
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This is a one-song CD-R by Hank Ockmonic from Speed Chicken out of Germany. It’s a great acoustic ditty that makes me smile… especial the music greeting card solo. - Ben
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Haunted George “Bone Hauler” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Haunted George is a one-man band that dwells in eerie isolation in the desert spaces of Southern California and conjures tunes from the depleted ores beneath his feet as a scratchy sacrament to appease his inner demons. “Bone Hauler” transforms your stereo into a dusty jukebox echoing in an abandoned bar where sunlight comes in slices through the boarded windows and ghosts of the forgotten mining town still slake their dry throats and nagging regrets in endless communion with empty liquor bottles. It’s a sound both warped and wonderful, worth having in your collection of music and/or macabre things. - Ben
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Heavy Trash Self-titled www.yeproc.com | |
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I just read a review of this album that complained of too much reverb, twang, and pedal steel. First, I don’t think there is that much reverb, and I like a good dose of reverb anyway. Second, hating twang is what urban snobs do to distance themselves from the backwards rural simpletons that they enjoy stereotyping and despising. Third, how can you dislike pedal steel? It’s… it’s… it’s just un-American. Anyway, I think this album isn’t too bad. It’s a collaboration of Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion) and Verta-Ray (Speedball Baby). While admittedly not great or monumental, there are some quality moments. The strange thing is how Jon Spencer’s voice, which always struck me as a drunken Elvis impersonator, doesn’t feel quite natural in a more rockabilly setting. To the negative, a few of the songs lack the spark of life, the hooks and rhythms come off bland and uninspired in a few places, and his voice almost seems to mock the proceedings on what could’ve been transcendent, dark country songs. All those gripes make it sound like this will be terrible, but it is not. It is me being hyper-critical. A few songs I wouldn’t mind putting on a comp, and some others I would let play through if I caught them on the radio. The funny thing is, what the other reviewer thought worked against this album, I thought were some of the better aspects of it. - BL
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Hellbillys “Blood Trilogy Vol. II” www.splitsevenrecords.com | |
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Chewing their way through the West Coast Psychobilly scene since 1989 (which is technically before there was much of a psychobilly scene there), the Hellbillys continue to shed innocent blood with this their newest offering. If you know to expect a huge metal influence, you will not be disappointed. Since I grew up listening to 80's metal (read: not hair metal), I can relate. This fast and heavy with hardly a twinge of rockabilly, but who cares? Unlike most of the slack-ass metal out there, this has some real balls to it. Plus the vocals aren't trying too hard to be all creature-like, preferring a more punk rock GBH type of bite. Hell, there is even a song with a classical guitar intro, and the disc ends with "You & Me and the Devil Makes 3," clearly engaging the listener in an unholy trinity that would make Tipper Gore piss her panties. - BL
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Hex Dispensers Self-Titled www.aliensnatch.com | |
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The guitars and bass weave together tightly and blanket you in a heavy wool shroud while the vocals sweat through in drippy melodies, arms flailing with all the right hooks. At times they remind me of a rough-hewn and darker take on the Ramones clouded by shades of horror punk as the singer’s voice echoes off basement walls. I am very much a fan of this, and have been listening to the CD compulsively since I got it. Perfect listening for the ride home from the bar when street lights blur together and shadows are menacing. - Ben
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High Tension Wires “Midnight Cashier” www.dirtnaprecs.com | |
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The second CD of garagy pop punk by members of The Marked Men, The Reds, and Riverboat Gamblers. Though not as essential as the aforementioned bands, or as good as their first, it is still very kind to the eardrums. – Ben
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The Histrioniks "About this Girl" Band Site | |
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Sugary pop punk/indie rock with female vocals. Sorry, but this does absolutely nothing for me. It’s well produced, and if you’re a fan of the style you might enjoy it. But to be honest, there’s already a lot of bands out there who sound like this, and there wasn’t anything about The Histrioniks that distinguished them from similar stuff that I’ve heard before. - Bob Ignizio
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Hudson Falcons “Singles Collection: 1997-2002” www.hudsonfalcons.com | |
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Listening to this took me back a few years when we’d go see these guys every time they came through. It still sounds like good times and good friends that I never see anymore, but that aside, you’d be hard pressed to find a better, not to mention more sincere, blue collar rock’n’roll band circulating conspicuously through the largely mediocre street punk scene. There are a few covers on here including The Stones, Johnny Thunders, Chuck Berry, and Bruce Springsteen, as well as tons of memorable originals touting righteous political causes or just rocking the hell out. Grab one of these if you missed the original vinyl. - Ben
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The Illustrated “Alphabaggage” www.lividrecords.com | |
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The Illustrated are described as playing avante-punk influenced by improvisational jazz. When they came on, the first song sounded like pop punk mixed with quirky 90’s alternative rock and the singer was awful. Really, just unpleasant. I think every city has a band like this, where they are decent musicians trying to fuse jazz, funk, punk, and whatever else into a sort of vapid concoction that appeals to pretentious college kids. It’s just too precious, and generally about as exciting as cutting your toenails. The blues tune and a couple of the cinematic instrumental pieces did reach the snowy summit of tolerability, though. Bless ‘em for trying to do something different, as I too grow tired of rehashed bullshit over and over, but this just didn’t appeal to me at all. It actually pissed me off. When I got to “Mud Inc.” I seriously thought of thrusting a kitchen knife through my sternum deep into my chest cavity. Then when the sonically torturous “Don’t Be Afraid” came on next, I grew insane with rage and realized that my suicide is exactly what these purveyors of wickedness wanted. This is evil, evil, evil stuff. Some of the worst shit I have ever heard is on here. I really wanted to be nice at first, but this just seems like it comes from pompous musicians who probably think they are creating transcendent music, and when people don’t like it that’s because they just don’t “get it.” Nope. Sorry, it just sucks. I actually think this is a portal to hell, and will burying the dismembered CD on the four corners of the earth, safe from the reaches of man’s mortal hands. - Ben
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The Intellectuals “Invisible is the Best” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Fun, trashy garage from Rome that has dual male/female vocals, dumpster blues-punk guitar chops, throbbing organs, and an animal magnetism that will pull you ever closer to the speakers with your zipper down. The more I am listening to this, the more I want to build a solid future with it and love it forever and ever. I don’t know if that’s legal in Texas. – Ben
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Invisible Surfers 2 CD-Rs myspace.com/invisiblesurfers | |
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Higher_ups@yahoo.gr I am not sure what the two CD-Rs I received by this Greek band represent. I think some of it is culled from past releases, and some is not-yet-released material. At any rate, it is pretty decent instrumental surf music worthy of mention. The recordings range in quality, and a couple songs had major glitches. I’m guessing a lot of these songs are originals, while the covers that I recognized ranged from predictable (but enjoyable), to somewhat less expected. The execution is quite good, and the moods range from heavy and dark to bright and breezy. While they don’t quite stand apart from the pack, they are certainly towards the front. I’ll be interested to see where they go from here. – BL
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Ira “The Body and the Soul” www.gokartrecords.de | |
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I am not too well-informed on the bands these guys are compared to (Isis, Neurosis, Cave In), but to me this has ambient soundscapes mixed with metalish melodic nü hardcore. The vocals are what put me off the most, being very indie-rockish. There are aspects that I sort of like, usually the more ethereal elements since I do enjoy some ambient trance and psychedelic music, but these songs get really monotonous and drone on and on. It can really grate on your nerves more often than carry you away in a pleasant mind-bending delirium. - Ben
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Irish Brothers “Freedom is a Lonely Thing” www.irishbrothers.net | |
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The Irish Brothers capably craft pop songs using punk and roots rock as the building blocks. The problem arises in the delivery, which seems a little lacksidasical and polished. I hear strong musicianship, some nice guitarwork and good melodies, but I just don’t get the energy or attitude… especially on the Dead Boys cover (which is “Sonic Reducer,” of course). The drums throughout feel a little sluggish, and while the singer hits the notes and isn’t bad, his voice feels flat and disagreeable to me. Overall you’d guess them to be middle-aged, which is fine because I am too, but rock’n’roll needs a bit more fire under its ass. Reviews like this are tough because you can tell they spent some time writing thoughtful songs that rise above a lot of what’s out there, but it just doesn’t fully connect with me. - Ben
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Jeff Coffey “Long Way Home” www.jeffcoffey.com | |
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Holy crap, I wonder why someone would send this to us? This is soft rock for middle-aged Anglo housewives who have turned to Christ to help them with life’s daily challenges. I bet there would be a special thanks to God inside, and lo and behold there was. Enjoyment is inversely proportional to IQ. - Ben
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Jerry King & The Rivertown Ramblers “Out of This World” www.jerrykingandtherivertownramblers.com | |
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Sometimes I am in the mood for traditional rockabilly done well, and these cats to the south do just that (that was the first and last time I will ever use the term “cat” to refer to a bipedal species, sorry I got hep with the jive lingo daddy-o). However, nothing is really standing out for me. It is pretty solid, with many decent songs performed well, but I’ll probably only use it for background as I do some work around the house. The best song is the final track, a live cover of a Wildfire Willy & the Ramblers song. It has a little more liveliness. Worst track is a tedious ballad called “I Miss the Ring.” If you like your rockabilly unaffected by the modern world, then you could do much worse. – BL
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Judder and the Jack Rabbits 3-song Demo myspace.com/judderandthejackrabbits | |
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This is a young British Psychobilly band that seeks to marry that genre with some Hardcore Punk influence. It is pretty standard 3-chord punk stuff without any real memorable hooks, nor a great sense of speed or urgency. I like the idea, though, and with time they might get better and progress into something amazing. – Ben
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Judder and the Jack Rabbits “All In” www.cherryred.co.uk | |
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It has been over a year since I reviewed their demo, and here’s a full-length. The sound has matured and obviously been recorded better, but I still don’t care for it. The vocals yowl on and on in a tone deaf manner, lyrics are inane (although I do like “Lactating Lover”), and the music generally isn’t that interesting, with hardcore breakdowns done psychobilly style being their main innovation. Most of the songs sound the same to me, though. It just doesn’t work on my ears, and I’ll probably never listen to this again. They do seem like young kids having a laugh, though, so good on ‘em. - Ben
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Karloff "Self-Made Monsters" www.kultkarloff.com | |
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Are you tired of the same old Misfits-esque, zombie psycho bands that lack originality? If you answered 'yes' then I may have the band for you. Bizarre necro-rock performed by the unstoppable band from Scotland called Karloff. The music is weird, his voice is even weirder and it just adds to the listening delight. These fellas have been called "Spook Metal", "Death ’n’ Roll" and even "Pumpkin Punk". They do an amazing cover of "Jezebel" as well as kick ass originals. If you don't get this music I cannot be held accountable for whatever fate may find you. This band has magical powers and your face may rot off in the middle of the night, just so you are aware. –Lisa
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K.T.P. “Rockers” www.zeroyouth.com | |
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Upbeat street punk rock’n’roll with group choruses from this Lawrence, Kansas, band. You know the drill… not reinventing the wheel, but not letting the air out of the tires either. Better than loads of other bands with the same mantra. - Ben
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Legend of Dutch Savage “All Will Be Good When I’m Good” EP www.legendofdutchsavage.com | |
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They play a light rock with occasional brief Motorheadish spurts. There is definitely classic rock influence and some of that sound that gets heaved under the Indie label. There was nothing here that demanded my attention or gave me pleasure. - Ben
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Little Fyodor “The Very Best of Little Fyodor’s Greatest Hits” www.discrimateaudio.com | |
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Apparently the maniacal geek Little Fyodor has been proffering his unique strain of troubled weirdness to the social outcasts of the world for over twenty years, yet this is the first time this particular dork has been exposed to his borderline personality. He seems to get a good chuckle about the bleakness of existence and revels in sad observations with silver linings or dismisses them with a quirky child-like resilience. Musically, he’s been compared to Zappa and Devo, and often strikes gold in that vein, or else gets distracted by his own inherent silliness. You may not need all 20 tracks in one sitting, but all in all, it’s an interesting listen worth encountering. – Ben
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Los Caminos “Bullets for Bread” www.loscaminosmusic.com | |
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Here’s an enjoyable instrumental rock band from Canada that plays well and pays attention to nuance and atmosphere. In a perfect world every store, restaurant, or municipal building you walk into would have stuff like this playing. “Bullets for Bread” isn’t wildly different than a lot of the instro stuff I own (I have a lot), but it definitely holds its own and has many shining moments like “Dark Sea,” which mists and flows with such redolence you can actually taste it in the back of your throat. - Ben
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Made For Chickens By Robots “The Wrong Brain” EP & “Momo Hokey” CD www.madeforchickensbyrobots.co.nr | |
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I really wish I would have found out about this guy before I pressed my One Man Band Compilation because this is so backwoods that it sprouted its own hallucinogenic fungus. It is an Australian OMB who plays a weirdo crippled blues with a herky-jerky jive budding not far from the Bob Log family tree, but resonating with its own euphoric pathologies. The stomp and hobble of Made For Chickens By Robots offers an oddly dissonant delirium issued forth from the muddy hands and biomechanical twitches of a truly cross-eyed savant. – Ben
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The Maharajas “In Pure Spite” www.lowimpact.nu | |
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Swedish garage rock with poppy choruses. I actually like the slower, more emotive songs better. Well-executed overall, but very choreographed and ultimately left me with a case of the shrugs. - Ben
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Mainline “Notice of Disconnection” www.mainlinerock.com | |
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These guys define their genre as “new school Southern California melodic rock metal tech punk.” No arguments here. If you would have asked me to describe what kind of music I do not like, I would have said those very words (alongside dumbass gangsta rap about bitches, hoes, and SUVs and idiotic modern country for braindead middle-class Republicans). This is music for wearing your baseball cap backwards to, bro. - Ben
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Mark Sultan “The Sultanic Verses” www.intheredrecords.com | |
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Why is this Mark Sultan and not the new BBQ album? Well, while there is some one man band stuff on here, he also has branched out and added overdubs, extra guitar tracks, and had friends play here and there. Also, while there remain elements of RnB and garage, he’s added some psychedelic elements too. The overall feel of this album is different, maybe a little less immediately catchy than a lot of his previous output, but still a worthwhile listen with plenty of great tracks. It’s just that the colossal peaks he’s achieved in the past cast a big shadow that’s hard to rise above. As with any artist this prolific, there will be some wonders and blunders, and I’m going to listen to this more and see how deeply we can fall in love. - Ben
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The Marauders S/T CD www.themarauderspa.com | |
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I’ve said before that the problem with a huge amount of rockabilly music is all the recycled riffs and predictably recurring themes cut and pasted together with lame 50’s lingo. Listen to The Marauders and you get a sense of what the genre could and should be. They craft songs about things in their lives that have meaning to them and aren’t pulled at random from the rockabilly play book. To me, the songs that make the biggest impact have feeling and soul. While this can be done on pensive songs filled with reproach and despair, it can also be accomplished on light-hearted and fun songs. The Marauders do both. It is easy to tell that they are putting something of themselves in the music, rather than just playing a part. It always intrigues me when people write off the entire rockabilly as a poser scene fueled by empty nostalgia, but have no problem adoring bands who hark back to 60’s soul and garage or 70’s punk and 80’s hardcore. I think it is a matter of aesthetic predisposition, and also whether the music is being cloned or mutated. While you will hear plenty of familiar elements in the Marauders’ music, instead of just plugging themselves into a genre, they bent and twisted it to fit them. This is their third full-length release and features their hitherto absent mantra, “We Are the Marauders,” written for them by Brian Setzer. Any true lover of rockabilly, and even those who’ve written it off as gone adrift in stagnant waters, will want to check out this latest ripple in the gene pool. - Ben
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Media Dropout “Muddled” www.zeroyouthrecords.com | |
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At first I thought these guys sounded a WHOLE lot like Nirvana, which didn’t make sense to me because I thought the moratorium against grunge in the musical underground was still in effect. However, I do have a very small soft spot for it, so I didn’t break out into an itchy rash or ask God why bad things happen. They apparently are for fans of “The Melvins, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains… and Silverchair.” Okay, Silverchair? Yep, I can hear that now. The Melvins also make sense. I somehow never heard the Foo Fighters, though. Anyway, they are okay, I suppose, if you miss this sort of self-loathing and drugged-up drudgery. Yet they don’t really come across as having their own identity, nor do they craft memorable songs. It all blends into a general malaise and I am left like Cobain, wondering what the point is. - Ben
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Thee Merry Widows “Revenge Served Cold” People Like You Records | |
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There’s no doubt that psychobilly and horror punk bands are a dime a dozen these days. But as with any crowded musical genre, there are always a few bands that stand out. Sometimes it’s by putting a new twist on the formula, other times it’s just plain good old fashioned talent and songwriting. Thee Merry Widows fall into that second category, delivering rockers like “Aileen and “Black Widow” and dark ballads like “Revenge” and “Deadly Kiss” with equal skill. Only “Grave Robbers From Outer Space” comes across as filler to my ears. Otherwise, Revenge Served Cold is a thoroughly enjoyable album packed with good musicianship, strong vocals, and solid songwriting. - Bob Ignizio
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Miss 45 Self-Titled EP www.notalentrec.com | |
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This band’s press sheet is hilarious. Written by an international vagabond and former foreign legionnaire over at the ironically named No Talent Records, it boasts this Stockholm band to be more wondrous than his mountaineering in the Himalayas and more memorable than his dinners with the cannibal tribes of the Polynesian Islands. High praise indeed! He further notes that they are “the wet dream of every real rock & roll fan,” and have put their influences to shame. Influences cites include Johnny Thunders, New York Dolls, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Ramones, and most perplexingly: Frank Sinatra. I do like a press sheet that is willing to go all the way and not temper their descriptions with modesty or perspective. Actually, I took it to be a parody of the necessary evil that is a press sheet, and found it lovingly littered with rock & roll excesses, which in turn made me form a bond of kinship with the author, one Donovan Drax, who if that isn’t his real name I shall forever be disillusioned with the possibility of such a gentlemanly adventurer having such an apt title and will become inconsolably catatonic as assuredly as this here is a run-on sentence. Anyway, the music is decent if not overly memorable to my ears. They start a little more rocking than they end up, as the balance swings from more rock to more pop. There is a song called “(Everything is More Fun) When You’re High.” What about talking to policemen? - Ben
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Mofos “Six Pack Performance” www.garagepoprecords.com | |
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Having been a big fan for the Mofos’ previous outing, I was really looking forward to this CD. One of the things I really like about this band is the intense and edgy yet also evocative and mature songwriting. Whereas a lot of surf-influenced instro bands will hash out predictable archetypes for each song, or forego creativity altogether in their zest for tremolo picking and shreddin’ the gnar, the Mofos succeed in melding many diverse elements into their Noir-ish gestalt. You don’t just get another reiteration of basic themes or motifs to the point you already know where each song is going. Instead there is a complex interplay of light and shadows, and a depth to the waters that keeps them afloat where others sink. That said, however, for the most part this CD has less of the threshing momentum of their previous one, and its mood is even more stark and ponderous. While many tracks are slower, including a bleakly ominous dirge, they do still have strong cinematic traits and help propel the surf genre forward. It is not nearly as good as their last CD, though, which I think is somewhat due to the overall pacing of the album. – Ben
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The Mojomatics “Songs for Faraway Lovers” www.aliensnatch.com | |
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I am really enjoying this CD a lot. It’s like a chunk of golden goodness wrapped in wonderment and joy. The Mojomatics take cues from 60’s garage and pop, as well as blues and country, then melt them down in a crock pot and serve up a goulash that tastes at once strikingly familiar and yet oddly foreign. It’s like Shadows of Knight or The Standells sweating out an album with Bob Dylan at a Motor-Inn somewhere on the outskirts of New Orleans, but that’s not quite it either. Regardless, I like this more and more with every listen, and I’m sure it’ll get lots of highway miles on my drive from Texas to Alaska. If I were King of England I’d let them marry my eldest daughter. - Ben
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Monkey Son of a Donkey “Going Down” www.sshakingrecordss.com | |
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This one comes from Israel, sort of a noisy and dark garage metal. The vocals are guttural roars from some distant catacombs. The first track is called “Go Go Girls” with the lyrics, “Go Go girls with iron wheels Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!” But it sounds like pure evil and murder as it chugs along heavy, ominous, and dismal. What the hell? The booklet has pictures of a trashy strip club during the daylight hours with fat middle-aged guys walking by it. That’s kind of cool. The music is really lo-fi and sounds recorded in a big empty building with muffled vocals echoing off the walls. The song called “Ted Bundy” has the “Secret Agent Man” riff, and they do the most fucked version of “Good Golly Miss Molly” I’ve ever heard. I imagine these guys wearing black hoods with emotionally damaged fat girls on leashes. The press sheet says that they “upset radical feminist activists due to their misogynistic nature.” That cracks me up. Only the most radical feminist would fail to be wooed by “I’m gonna rape you, I’m gonna fuck until it hurts you, I’m gonna make you cry, eat shit and die.” I can’t say this was an enjoyable listen, but at least it was strange. - Ben
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Motorama “Dirt Track Specialist” www.lastchancerecords.net | |
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From the name and title I thought these guys would have a more conventional greaser punk style, but while they do fire up that Motorhead engine a little, the vocals are more dynamic and the arrangements have more complexity. They list Jesus Lizard and Nomeansno among their influences, and I think that really shows. Not just atypical, but damn good listening as well. - Ben
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Muddy River Nightmare Band “Who Will Be the Lucky Pierre?” www.lastchancerecords.net | |
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Drunken greaser punk played fast and chock full of extra carbs. I can’t tell if it’s because the last 20 things I’ve reviewed have sucked ass with hemorrhoids, but I am really appreciating this right now. - Ben
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The Mugshots “House of the Weirdos” www.mugshots.now.nu | |
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This Italian band threw me through a loop to describe. I think this would be best linked with the synth-goth or deathrock genres, both of which I hardly know anything about. Therefore, I am not sure if I’d be fully qualified to give one of those “they are good at what they do” comments, but it does sound like they are probably competent. It just isn’t my sort of thing at all. I would only listen to this again under threat of physical harm. The vocals actually reminded me of Faith No More a little bit and some of the more ethereal soundscapes were cool, but my favorite thing was the funny picture in the sleeve of goonie-looking guy with the hood acting all creepy. That has to be intentionally silly. – Ben
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Music From The Film “Playfully Abrasive” myspace.com/musicfromthefilm | |
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Having spent time since the 80’s in a variety of cassette-only noise bands, Gary Young has here assembled a little over an hour of his homemade sound experiments in which he plays glockenspiel, autoharp, Casios, chimes, toys, video games, bookends, banjos, turntables, ukeleles, horns, balloons, samples, and all manner of percussion. His long-time co-conspirator, Arthur Harrison, also adds some theremin and an “elaborate electronic circuit” called the “cacophonator,” which features “a group of 12 oscillators arguing amongst themselves.” The result is a fascinating parade of deranged ditties replicating the woozy effect of absinthe taken in a frontier saloon, poking at mutant babies through chicken wire with a wooden stick in the back of a rusty pick-up, or a soundtrack to watching rabies attack a dog’s brain in the microscope. Whether intense, brooding, or casually weird, Music From The Film creates a sort of scrambled consciousness that intimates danger but is tempered with innocence from the childish mind of a lunatic. - Ben
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Neurotic Swingers "French Fries, Guillotine, and Love" www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Plucking the bones of late 70's punk rock, this French band successfully takes that sound, plugs it into their own electricity, and lights up with something catchy and alive that other bands with similar circuitry generally miss out on. They've played with the likes of Radio Birdman and the Briefs, and have a nimble pulse pumping through songs that punch and flow with a timeless appeal. The pop hooks work well on most tracks, making me think this might be the disc to fill that aching void in your collection and complete you as a person. Or maybe not, but I liked it. – BL
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New York Rel-X “Sold Out of Love” www.tkorecords.com | |
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Pretty decent female-fronted street punk. It is professionally produced with lots of singalong choruses and rock-n-roll guitar solos. The singer has a serviceable voice but with an annoying Gwen Stefani waver to it that I’m not fond of. All in all, it is not bad, but not really thrilling either. Pretty generic. - Ben
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The Nifters “Allein” 2-song CD http://come.to/blackjuju | |
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To call this hardcore would diffuse the term of any meaning whatsoever. This is sort of nü metal Evanescence-AFI-type stuff from Sweden with mystical keyboards swirling in the background. It really has a commercial vibe to it. It makes me feel blank inside. - Ben
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Night Terrors “Cobras” www.bigneckrecords.com | |
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Not to be confused with the Night Terrors from Australia, nor Night Terror from Pittsburgh, Milwaukee’s Night Terrors are the ones that’ll make you sleep with the light on. Recorded by Alicja Trout at Tronic Graveyard and featuring key members of Sagger and the Mistreaters, the Night Terrors issue tortured screaming enveloped in bluesy rock ditties that get stabbed and infected by abusive guitar strains which bleed and clot through swollen riffs and jangly ganglions. It is uneasy listening engaged in light deconstruction of the usual rock’n’roll/southern rock idioms. My only reservation is that I am not really fond of the drunk-on-drano vocals. - Ben
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Nox “Psycho Radio Boom Boom!” www.noxandroll.com | |
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It doesn’t really matter that they are singing in Italian and I understand nothing they say because good-time party music transcends language. Not Psychobilly in the sense of most bands pooping on the genre currently, but more rooted in mid-tempo rockabilly gone retarded on surf and westerns. It won’t change your life but it may make the spare moments pass a little more pleasantly. - Ben
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The Numbskulls “The Last…” www.thenumbskulls.com | |
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Street Punk from Worcester, Massachusetts, that isn’t too shabby. The opening guitar melody of “Take It” is very close to Cocksparrer’s “Where Are They Now,” but the rest of the song is not at all similar, so it is probably a conscious homage. They kind of have a little Rancid vibe too, actually. Seems earnest and pretty solid, yet doesn’t really stand out for me. – Ben
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One Last Shot “From Riches to Rags” www.onelastshot.net | |
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Taking more than a little influence from old thrash metal and New York hardcore, this Brooklyn band has some good moments, but the throaty tough guy vocals force me to give this thing a wide berth. I also don’t really like the cheesier metal elements with that horrible 80’s guitar tone, and the choruses of the songs did less for me than a god that doesn’t exist. I guess what I liked was just when they kicked in like a speed metal band. - Ben
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The Ones Self-titled www.waxvaccinerecords.com | |
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This is a power pop band from Portland proffering punkish mid tempo rock that really isn’t bad. They’ve got a very late 70’s sound that’s a little softer than I generally go for, but is well-executed and catchy. The more I listen, the more I like it. - Ben
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The Pagan Dead “Spondalia” www.myspace.com/stygianrealm | |
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While the devil and Psychobilly music definitely aren’t distant relatives, The Pagan Dead bind them together in an unholy embrace with their esoterically evil take on the genre. Lyrically, visually, vocally, and musically they have decidedly darker alliances with the Black Metal genre than any other psychobilly band I am familiar with. I’d say the upright bass is the only link with anything remotely ‘billy, but then I doubt a band that anoints their bodies with a “daemon salve made from the fat of an exhumed child” is very much interested in genre purism… or purism of any sort. The atmospherics present in the Black Metal scene are here as well, with about 7 minutes of netherworldly brooding and build-up passing before the actual onslaught commences. I am no big fan or expert on Black Metal, but I can definitely see a musical improvement over this band’s previous dark offerings that would incline anybody with affinities toward malevolent music to appreciate this. Definitely not a listener-friendly album that will win over the faint-hearted or righteous, nor is it something I’d put on all the time, but when the morbid mood strikes, “Spondalia” can slake your thirst for evil. – Ben
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Pineapples from the Dawn of Time “Shocker” www.turkeyneck.com.au | |
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This acid trip was originally recorded in 1986 by some Aussie punk rockers wanting to satirize psychedelic music. The result is not bad, actually. Hilarious lyrics about “Freaky Gypsy Trees,” “The Flea That Ate My Stash,” Charlie Manson, and falling in love with a “Lighthouse Keeper.” Probably the most disturbing lyric ever is included on that last one: “Rock pools of octopus and crab, edible if you put it in a pan, tasty and delicious like the genitals of a baby.” Yeah, I think these guys had a lot of fun doing this, and some of the songs are actually decent too. - Ben
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The Pleasures of Merely Circulating Self-titled www.ettabelle.com | |
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Smart and punky indie-pop from Marfa, Texas. I really liked the packaging and the music wasn’t bad either. It’s an eclectic bag, with some songs outperforming others. Her vocals are pretty dynamic, at different times conjuring the Pretenders, the Epoxies, or No Doubt. I’m on the fence about how much I like this, though. There’s some pretty cool songwriting, and I really like the post-punk vibe that seems to come through at times, but some aspect isn’t fully jiving with my system. Definitely not a throwaway, though. - Ben
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Powersolo “It’s Raceday… and your pussy is gut!” www.crunchy.dk | |
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Kim Kix (ex-Godless Wicked Creeps) fronts this Danish 3-piece on their cross-eyed foray into Americana music. Appropriately enough, they pick up Andre Williams for “Hillbilly Child” along the way, and remain suitably drunk and whimsical on down the road. Blues, Rockabilly, Country and even Tejano music are all tinkered with, modernized, and weirded up for this eclectic brew of multiple musicalities. Often the results are quite interesting and even pretty catchy. It’s a fun band and, pound for pound, this album more than holds its own in an oversaturated marketplace where 100,000 Myspace bands vie for your attention. – Ben
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The Pulses “Gather Round and Destroy All Our Records” www.dirtnaprecs.com | |
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College/art rock unlike most other Dirtnap releases I have heard. At times it almost wins me over and then other times it’s just really bad. Still, I kinda like it. A guilty pleasure that veers into wussy territory, losing me at times. I tried to check out their website which is unnecessarily fancy…even with a cable connection and I had to wait a good spell for each section to load. I tried to read the review section and I couldn’t even get it to work. With about 50% of Americans still using dial-up I can’t imagine how frustrated they must be. – Ben
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Red Dons “Death To Idealism” www.derangedrecords.com | |
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A continuation of the Observers (with the addition of a couple new players), The Red Dons are more unpredictable and accomplished than their former band. I liked the Observers a lot, but this is remarkable. No genre tag is going to really encapsulate this… maybe post-garage punk? A burning melancholy propels the album, but without an overwhelming somberness that makes it too much. There are melodic anthems but also an edginess to the jagged guitars that cuts through the songs with a desperate hope. One of the top releases of this year. Amazing. - Ben
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Red Red Red “Mind Destroyer” www.bigneckrecords.com | |
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At first I was thinking, “damn, another punk band going extreme lo-fi to seem more edgy and intense,” then I realized, fuck, these guys ARE intense. This is blasting auditory savagery worthy of elbowing in next to the Baseball Furies’ early output. Bloody knuckled heathen music that’ll claw its way into your skull. – Ben
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The Revisions “Revised Observations” www.dirtnapsrecs.com | |
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If you like the Observers or the Red Dons, you’ll want to get this disc featuring Douglas Burns and Husayn Sayer performing acoustically and recorded in a home studio. There is some sparse instrumentation added by other musicians on drums, violin, and cello, and Burns also plays the piano on some songs. I’m not going to lie, at first the songs didn’t thrill me, but after listening for a while I started to get on board. Burns wrote all the lyrics (and also does the outstanding paintings on the covers of this and his other bands’ albums). A few songs like “No Wars” have good sentiment but come off a little too hippie. However, there are plenty others here with unusual flavors that’ll stick to your ribs. - Ben
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SÄH “06/06” www.phratryrecords.com | |
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Each track on here lunges past the ten minute mark, and is mostly instrumental. Even their songs titles are long, but damned funny. To wit: “Inside you is a part of me scared shitless” and “I lost my leg in the war and all I got was this stupid muppet foot.” Musically I don’t know where to begin describing them. It is often light and atmospheric, but can bring down the weight of two drummers and strong-arm a distorted guitar when in the mood strikes them. In general, the songs experiment with rhythmic structures and dissipate into soft interludes, or they slowly build, louder and more intense, then decompress. I think a lot of pot went into making this. I can see it hitting you differently depending on your mood - boring, irritating, engaging, or pleasant. Right now I am very sleep deprived and being lulled away by it. Not sure if I’d ever be in the mood to actually listen to it again, maybe in the background as I painted or something, but I think I’ll keep it around for another tryout. The artwork on the packaging is pretty cool too. It is human anatomy melded with trees and plant life, which really isn’t an original concept, but it’s done well. - Ben
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Scott H. Biram “The Dirty Old One Man Band” www.bloodshotrecords.com | |
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This is some great ole time foot-stompin’ hillbilly blues brought up to date in a kind of post-gospel punk apocalypse. With the exception of a couple tracks on this disc, Scott H. Biram goes it alone with just a guitar and his left foot of righteousness beating a path for his gritty vocals, which sound like their coming at you over a CB radio. You get the feeling that this Texan is truly driven by some sort of spirits: whether they be good, evil, or bottled. In fact, in 2003 he was hit head-on by an 18-wheeler at 75 MPH and was back on stage with a wheelchair and an I.V. only a month later. This definitely isn’t wussified phony country crap, but it also isn’t a one-dimensional showing either, as throughout the proceedings he incorporates a broad range of emotions ranging from humor to anger to regret. The music mines nuggets of tradition from the hills of the past, leaves them caked in dirt and mud, then hurls them through your living room window. Yet somehow you just can’t get mad about it. – BL (Read a newer review of Scott Biram's latest CD on Page 13.)
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The Scurvies “Night Prowler” www.boottohead.com | |
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Having just returned from more than two months in Alaska, I can completely understand why these guys from Fairbanks have traveled up to ten hours for a house show and often camp out in the wilderness while on tour. It is easy to become a jaded punk rock scenester in a big city full of subculture kids, multiple venues, endless great shows by touring bands, and awesome record stores, but you wouldn’t take all that for granted if you lived just below the arctic circle in the second largest town in Alaska that is still well below 100,000 people. While not iconoclastic by any means, these guys do have the right spirit and are definitely listenable. The lyrics can be pretty funny (“heart of a lion and wings of a bat!”), but they aren’t taking themselves too seriously. They put me in the mind of Electric Frankenstein a little, but I think they do have potential. Not bad. - Ben
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The Set of Red Things “Who Touches Pitch Defiles Herself” www.myspace.com/thesetofredthings | |
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It is always fun to try and saddle bands with genre tags when they actively try and refute them. Not every review can be a lengthy metaphorical description, and genres help people get an idea what someone sounds like. The Set of Red Things I guess would be artsy post-hardcore laden with guitar effects and a frenetic avante garde striving. Bilingual female vocals rant and scream through angry political diatribes and poetic deconstructions. It’s intentionally abrasive and confrontation, and runs the gambit from “please make it stop” to “that was kind of cool.” I respect their effort to try new things, but it sometimes seems like forced histrionics. – Ben
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Shark Pants “Automatic Pinner” www.undergroundgovernment.com | |
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I think Shark Pants is one of the most grossly overlooked bands of greatness around today. Seeing them live on a good night rattles the soul with transcendent stirrings as they instinctually deconstruct punk while still managing to remain more glandular than cerebral and rock the fuck out in a non-pretentious display of existential catharsis. While I don’t think their recordings have ever captured that fully, they still are nothing to blow your nose on. This one has four newer songs and three previously only available on the vinyl version of their last record. I think Isaac’s vocals sound strange on the new songs, but I still really like them. The older recordings feel more accurate, though. I defy anyone to listen to “Fitty Bup” and not feel fireworks go off in their nervous system. - Ben
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Sinking Spells “The Devil At My Side” www.sinkingspells.com | |
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Goth pop? Vocals sound emo and put me off in a big way, but go nicely with the emo lyrics. Music is nice and gentle, somewhat entrancing while also melodramatic. Could be a good soundtrack for one of the more intelligent teenage dramas on TV, whatever those are. - Ben
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The Slow Poisoner “Roadside Altar” www.theslowpoisoner.com | |
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Andrew Goldfarb is the Slow Poisoner, a gifted comic artist and one man band playing a sort of Gothicana music that works best on songs like the dark folk-tinged “T.B. Blues,” the new waviness of “The Hex,” and “The Colorado Trail,” a nice singing cowboy tune. He has some solid ideas on this album (aside from the obligatory Diddley beat), but unfortunately he is not a very good singer and that is a constant distraction. I feel bad saying that, since he seems like a great guy, but the vocals do effectively keep me at bay. Maybe adding reverb instead of doing a direct line-in would help, while also adding to the surreal ambience he’s aiming for. - Ben
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Soulshake Express S/T EP www.beatville.com | |
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Groovy blues punk jams that aren’t too bad. These guys are from Sweden but sound like they’re from South Carolina. I’ve heard much worse. - Ben
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Spector 45
Sampler 2005 www.spector45.com | |
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Coming from Dallas, this young band fresh out of high school is already putting shame on many of the hacks who’ve staked claim to the “greaser punk” territory over the years. This disc is definitely haunted by some 50’s rock’n’roll melodies, in much the same way that the Ramones were, but this doesn’t come off another as bargain bin clone aping that formula. Instead, those familiar elements are twisted into a sarcastic punk album with pop hooks and an earnest delivery. When he sings about being in love with a senior citizen who can by him beer and porn, I believe it. The songs are upbeat and catchy, but with a touch of vinegar to keep it from being too sweet to stomach. Yep, this porridge is just right. – BL
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Spin CD EP www.spinrocks.com | |
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“Hey Ben, when you talk about vacuous studio-enhanced lowest common denominator modern pop rock bands that make you shudder to the very core of your being, what do you mean?” Well, my imaginary inquisitor, go ahead and gag on this putrid piece of pointless pabulum and you’ll understand what I mean. I’ve heard better noises coming from old men with tuberculosis coughing up wads of bloody phlegm. - Ben
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Spitzz “Touche Pussycat” www.spitzz.com | |
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East Coast punk rock’n’roll with emphasis on the rock and sounding a little more Midwestern from time to time, at least according to my internal geographic spectrometer. Then again, sometimes they go so far off the East Coast they almost resurface as British punk. Big nasty guitars work their way up and down three chord progressions with a plodding fatalism then toss out occasional riffy solos like cigarette butts onto dry highway berms. I hate always having to figure out what other band a given band reminds me of, but they do seem infected with the same bacteria as Throwrag, “I, Meat” has a certain New Bomb Turkishness, and “Next Life” has a New York Dolls aftertaste. At first I listened to this CD and liked it, but nothing really stuck out. With repeated listens it really starts to differentiate and distinguish itself, making my initially polite kudos turn earnest. - Ben
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Sprague Brothers “Changing the World, One Chick At A Time” www.wichitafallsrecords.com | |
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This Country/Roots rock duo boasts tight vocal harmonies and a deep love and knowledge of mid 20th century music… enough so the music feels natural and not borne of kitsch or cliquishness, even at their most silly moments (such as the cool vintage western delivery on “She Took My Spittin’ Cup,” reprised later by “She Brought Back My Spittin’ Cup”). There are also a few ballads, some good Rockabilly numbers, and a handful of instrumentals that range from Surf to Western Swing to even Ska. Known to be big fans of the Everly Brothers, they actually do a song here with Don Everly’s son, Edan. Singer Frank Lee Sprague has a high tenor voice that works as well here as on his strikingly authentic Mersey Beat album. Most songs are originals with some bonus cuts at the end including The Blasters’ “American Music” and “The Girl Can’t Help It” by Little Richard. The general mood of this album is soft and relaxed, and while the cover and title may be a little off-putting, there’s a good amount of worthwhile music on here that surpasses its packaging. - Ben
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The Staggers "The Sights, The Sounds, The Fear and The Pain" www.hauntedtownrecords.com | |
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I love the Staggers. I love them like a really great pizza, like a beautiful sunset, like a warm, fuzzy goat. This is a reissued disc that has videos on it! I can watch the Staggers when I am alone and in need! Damn good horror inspired rock n roll, but not lame ass trendy shit that we are being beat over the head with...no sir! The Staggers are 100% original, pure grade rock that sound like no other, and no other can compete. Every song on here I adore. I would play the Staggers at my wedding and funeral. They make a song out of a Shel Silverstein poem! I can go on and on and on. –Lisa
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The Stripper Killers
“1888” CD-R demos www.stripperkillers.com | |
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Simple and straightforward hardcore punk with rumbling power chords and angry vein-popping vocals. Still, there is some tunefulness to it, as well as a seasoned grit that makes songs like “Dead or in Jail” ring true. – Ben
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Sunday Valley
Self-titled www.sundayvalley.com | |
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Take Appalachian Kentucky, a hint of bluegrass, some folk, a dash of good old rock n roll and a healthy dose of George Jones style country and behold, you have Sunday Valley. It should be noted that Billy Blitz’s (the Staggers) guitar sound is as recognizable as his world famous sideburns. You get 7 tracks on this self titled disc and as a whole the album is well put together, solid, great musicianship and energetic. Truthfully though, I’m not really getting into it. I really want to get into it, but I just can’t. The vocals are a little over the top for me. –Lisa
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Superchrist “Headbanger” No contact info listed. | |
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Superchrist play classic metal with proficiency and a healthy sense of absurd comedy. The cover looks like it was taken from a “Left Behind” book jacket, and they’ve one-upped W.A.S.P.’s “Fuck Like a Beast” with their “Fuck Like a Priest.” Other songs include “Eat the Evidence,” “Make Them Die,” and “Electric Penis.” It’s even dedicated to “headbangers everywhere.” They crack me up. I’ve heard several other lovingly ironic metal bands in the past, but this is the best one. I don’t know how often I would ever listen to this, but it’s actually very well done. - Ben
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Suzy Wong and the Honkeys "We’ll Cum to the CuntTree” www.myspace.com/suzywongandthehonkeys | |
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Not terrible punk rock demos by this young band with angst-filled lyrics about being an inhuman monster, lots of feces, and giving annoying babies the pillow treatment. I am glad there are still pissed off kids venting through music. - Ben
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The Templars “Clockwork Orange Horror show” www.templecomberecords.com | |
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Here you get an early double 7” from 1995 by the U.S.’s best Oi band, now available on CD with a bonus song that was previously on a different 7” (“Modern Day Ripper”). There are 7 songs, including 2 covers of Angelic Upstarts and Major Accident. If you are into Oi or street punk even remotely, you already know this is crucial for your collection. If you’re just getting into it, this is a nice place to start. The hammering of clean guitars, savage vocals, and garage-y production all combine to make this a solid boot to the temple. – BL
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Tension Wire “Rips, Punctures, Tears, & Fractures” CD-R www.tensionwire.com | |
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Combining elements of pop-punk with post-punk, there is some vision and heart in this music, but I’m just not enjoying it. Maybe it’s the vocals that keep me at arms length, but nothing else really clicked into place for me either. Sometimes that just happens. - Ben
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The Terminals “Forget About Never” www.dead-beat-records.com | |
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Lo-fi soul punk that roils and romps with a dirt-flecked face inside an atmosphere that is both noxious and euphoric. Sinewy guitars tense and swell atop spewing clouds of organ dust while drums cut through in slashing swipes. Then the vocals rain down in torrents and soak it all into your skin until you are thoroughly mired in a smoggy glaze more pure and perfect than any sparkling mountain stream. While a couple songs are mixed a little too lo-fi with the vocals a tad too buried, this is still seriously standout stuff from a Nebraska band who’s going to have trouble topping themselves. – Ben
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Those Poor Bastards “Hellfire Hymns” www.thosepoorbastards.com | |
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There is something undeniably creepy about these guys, even as they plant forked tongues in their cheeks. For their second CD of dark gothic country ruminations they continue the tent revival tradition in our modern dustbowl era with an almost vaudevillian piety. Funny and desperate, religious and sinful; they represent a fascinating paradox for you to contemplate while slaughtering the hogs or tilling the fields. - Ben
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Tom Savell “You Just Gotta Love It” www.stillfumin.com | |
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Wow. If this is meant to be funny, it really is. “So Deep Within You” is a smarmy 70’s prog-rock dance song that actually features the line, “cool wind is blowing through your crazy hair.” That just made my day. Throughout the disc you get super cheesy Santana-type guitar solos and keyboards jamming along to a collection of mostly covers (Neil Diamond, Frankie Laine, etc.) done with a romantic hippie sensibility. It creeps me out a little, actually. One of the guys who played on this album played drums with Zappa and Journey, so there’s that. I’m not sure if this is actually supposed to be funny any more. Songs are slow, long, and pretty dull… on top of being really hokey. - Ben
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Tranzmitors Self-Titled www.derangedrecords.com | |
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They remind me of the Exploding Hearts, 999, and bands of that ilk. Catchy bubblegum punk and new wave that’s done very well. Builds on what was started with Jeffie Genetic and the Clones, and you’d swear this came out in 1983, such is the authenticity of the sound. Very enjoyable. – Ben
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Tunnel Of Love “Rockin’ Rollin’ Bitches” www.bigneckrecords.com | |
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They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This CD confuses that distinction. They slog out lo-fi 4-track garage punk that sometimes goes down like a shot of Wild Turkey on Christmas morning, sometimes comes up like a shot of Wild Turkey on Christmas afternoon. It really reminds me of listening to a taped band practice, with high and low points in the noisy mix. Not essential by any means, but likeable enough with all the weird charm of an ugly dog. - Ben
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Turbo 350 “Too Fast” www.turbo350.com | |
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From Memphis by way of Austin, Turbo 350 is the classic rockabilly three-piece but without the pedantic attention to recreating that Sun Studios sound. Instead they beat and holler a little more modern design into the faded blueprint. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but it’s still good melodic roots-inspired rock’n’roll. I liked the instrumentals the best because they were the most musically interesting, and also because the vocals occasionally put me off, especially on the slower songs (I couldn’t listen to the ballad). That said, I can easily see myself drinking a pitcher and enjoying these guys live. - Ben
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Turbo A.C.s “Live To Win” www.acetate.com | |
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I have to admit, I was prepared not to like this. I had never really heard them, and had the impression they were just another greaser rock band. Well, while they may fit into that scene, they really rise to the upper echelons of it. Having held their own through many trials and tribulations since 1996, their music has a sort of classic rock’n’roll swagger with a lot of punk rock determination, while grabbing snatches of surf, and spaghetti western along the way. That description doesn’t sound all that unique, but they manage it in a way that makes it almost transcendent, as their approach sounds both intuitive and yet somehow unexpected. Plus, instead of bland lyrics about Johnny and his hotrod, they actually manage lines like: “Don’t be paranoid, enter the void / Steroids tabloids tainted bio-flavinoids.” There’s enough flow throughout the CD to do a hip-hop remake. The songs will tackle common subjects, but the words take on a linguistic playfulness sadly missing in a lot of rock’n’roll. Instead of using reiterations of moldy clichés as a backdrop for power chords, they actually spent as much time on their words, which seeps sincerity even when the subject matter isn’t all that weighty. The opening track “Nothing’s Forbidden” starts as the standard renegade rock’n’roller anthem, but the lyrical nihilism gives it a kick: “Deep fried cyanide, insane certified, outta sight, out all night, fuck fight… all right! Turn off the simulator turn on the stimulator, in the 70 RT Challenger, soaking wet drenched with sweat, blood and beer with no regrets.” This theme returns again on their cover of ZZ Top’s “Bad Nationwide,” and the final song is a western ballad about a showdown at the “Hell’s Kitchen White Castle.” The Turbo A.C.s are completely invested in their music, and exude confidence instead of desperation. - Ben
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Turbo Lover “Cock of the Walk” www.turbolovers.com | |
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Taking their name presumably from one of the funnier Judas Priest songs, Turbo Lover draws on a variety of 80’s arena rock influences and has some chops to pull it off. While I think a lot of the hooks and melodies really work, others I find less appealing, and sometimes the songs overstay their welcome as they plod on towards the five minute mark. The vocals aren’t bad, but they don’t really cut loose the way I want them too. Actually, I feel that way in general. The music stays mid tempo and doesn’t ever really jump up and smack you with enough attitude or energy in a genre known for its salacious swagger and cocksure flamboyance. On the other hand, this isn’t the kind of music I generally listen to, and it surely is better than Britney Fox or White Lion. - Ben
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UV Rays “Night of the Living Dudes” www.garagepoprecords.com | |
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Not bad. Snotty punk vocals glue riff-ridden arena rock with the vented venom of hardcore. Lyrics mix discontent with drunken levity, and there’s a cover of Gang Green’s “Alcohol.” Worth a fondle in a dark room. - Ben
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Velvetone “Switchback Ride” Crosscut Records | |
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This German roots rock outfit seems to descend directly from a Blasters lineage rather than falling from the more common Stray Cats family tree or trying to claim a 1956 Sun Studios pedigree. Guitars are clean, with a sort of Americana twang, and there are a couple great hypnotic, dark highway tunes on here, albeit riding on more of a pulse than a gallop. There is also a cool zydeco song sung in French, although the accordion is a bit too low in the mix. While most often they remind me of the Blasters, they also bring to mind the Finnish band, Moonshiner. – BL
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The Vestiges “The Promised City E.P.” www.thevestiges.net | |
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Um, not a fan of this. The vocals are weak and the music isn’t grabbing me. I’m tempted to say Lame, and I’m not really one to resist temptation. They claim to sound like the Kinks and the Replacements. That’s a negative, they do NOT sound like the Kinks and the Replacements. –Lisa
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Victor Bravo “Shut Out The Sky” www.victorbravo.com | |
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Four songs here and I am kind of on the fence about these guys. They play two-piece rock with extremely nasal vocals and a bit of an arty/garage edge to it that I like. The songs are a little long, though, and the vocals teeter precariously at the border of snotty and annoying. It is super cool that they do a song about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, though. – Ben
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Voice of the Mysterons “They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven Upon Their Heads – or – Come Hell or High Voltage: An Electromagnetic Rapture – Rock Shock – Apocalypse in Dramatic Dialogue with Damned Abaddon’s Lost Lads and Lasses.” www.boottohead.com | |
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First thing that hit me about this band was the singer’s vocal resemblance to Jello Biafra, which is not at all a bad thing. They don’t hanker to be a retro-punk act, but instead lunge forward with terse auditory muggings and arcane lyrics holding onto endless rhythmic kicks, twists, and spasms. If you ever listened to Rudimentary Peni’s later output you’ll have a foundation for the apocryphal wordplay, then add a little dab of Nomeansno and a heaping glob of grandiose cosmology mixed with biblical mythology to top it off. Possibly one of the only overtly Christian bands that I actually like, owing largely to their eccentricity, Voice of the Mysterons could be singing about Zeus and Thor engaging in epicurean depravity with robotic elves coated in druid fluids and I’d be equally interested. The disc has a vaguely cinematic feel to it that would fit with a Guillermo Del Toro film. Strangely, the songs come off playfully theological, leaving me to wonder if it is somewhat lighthearted or faithfully ostentatious. This album may be too musically and conceptually obtuse for the casual rock’n’roll fan, but I’m keeping it around because of its structural integrity and creative lyrical whimsy that evinces an archaic stream of consciousness. - Ben
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Volt Self-titled CD www.intheredrecords.com | |
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I don’t know what this is exactly, but I like it intensely. Volt transmit bizarre underworld avante-garage alchemy from their headquarters in France, and invade your mind and body with their jagged sonic tentacles. Male and female vocals intermingle inside some sort of electrosexual cytoplasm that ruptures with rhythmic dissonance and deconstructed synth beats whap you across the brain stem. I’ve actually heard one of their songs covered by the Tyrades a couple years ago, and am very happy to have arrived at the source. - Ben
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The Wankers “No Need for a Solo… It’s Back to Basics” CD-R www.damnwankers.com | |
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By their own admission, these Kentuckians draw from punk and funk as well as garage and grunge. I’ve known about these guys for a while, and though they seem like good folks who do a lot for the scene down around Cincinnati, I am just not too fond of this CD. It’s pretty bland, but for the most part you won’t have to spit anything out. - Ben
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Way-High Men “Let’s Get Arrested” www.thewayhighmen.com | |
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I like the band name, but the music falls pretty short. Obviously influenced by metal, but they play pretty slow with no real interesting switch-ups, catchy choruses, or profound musical aptitude. They fit into that gearhead cowboy Southern Rock niche, but don’t really get ahead of the pack. Pretty boring actually. - Ben
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Willycranes ”Gone Fighting” www.willycranes.com | |
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Punkabilly/Greaser Rock from Finland. They aren’t breaking any molds, but they aren’t too bad either. The guitars are really energetic and the music in general is tight, but the vocals are just so-so with no standout hooks, yelling out the standard sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll lyrics. – Ben
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Wildphyr “Movement” www.wildphyr.org | |
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First, it took me ten minutes to figure out what the hell the name of this band was. Why the fuck would you use a logo that looks like it is written in Sanskrit? I had to look deep in the liner notes for where they wrote out their website address. The artsy foldout poster of the band all looking in different directions was pretty rewarding, though. I guess this is alternative rock or something. They are good musicians, but the music itself is terrible. Un-good in inventive new ways that exist in some parallel universe far removed from our normal conceptions of good and bad. It also comes off pretentious at every level, while not being as nearly profound as it longs to be. I am sure they are really trying to pursue their vision, but I would only play this again if I worked at Guantanamo Bay. - Ben
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Zombina and the Skeletones “I Was A Human Bomb For The F.B.I.” www.zombina.com | |
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Here is a 3-song EP of a pop/punk rock band with silly but fun lyrics whose brief stint in my player had me shaking my bootylicious rump. While the first track went on a bit too long with the repetitions at the end, I still enjoyed all three tracks. The second song is a perfect bite-sized pop number with keyboards where she sings "I love Rock 'n' Roll more than I love you." I will keep my ears open for anything else that comes a long from Zombina. – Lisa
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VARIOUS ARTISTS - COMPILATIONS AND SPLITS | |
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Antagonizers / Main Street Saints Split CD www.streetanthemrecords.com | |
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The first 7 songs are by the Antagonizers and are decent street punk’n’roll. It’s pretty typical fare, but at least you won’t be licking dog anuses to get rid of the taste. The Main Street Saints, long defunct, have 7 posthumously released tracks here. While I liked Tim and the American Upstart zine he did for a short while, I have to say that the Main Street Saints have never really been my cup of tea, although one of my old friends was obsessed with them for a while. They do sing-songy Oi anthems with pretty weak lyrics, bland instrumentation, and bad singing. I wish I liked this more. Sorry. – Ben
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Bone Machine / Mutzhi Mambo “Storie Nere” www.billysbones.it | |
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Both of these bands are from Italy and they each contribute 6 songs. I don’t what it is about hearing Rockabilly done in other languages, but it just grabs me more. Perhaps it is the decontextualization of American music that adds a layer of weirdness and intrigue to it. Perhaps it just veils the often stupid lyrics common to the genre. Either way, I find myself enjoying Bone Machine. Even though they touch on some of the usual Rockabilly song structures, Bone Machine paints them with more of a punkish tint and darker hues. I also like the production, which doesn’t sound too modern and flat, and the guitars have a nice tone. Most songs have throaty male vocals, but there is also a nice cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots” sung by a female. While Mutzhi Mambo also sings in Italian with similar vocals, they have something of a slower creepy sound that gets a bit more eccentric and is pretty decent as well. Not a bad split. – Ben
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Boxcar Satan / Graves Brothers Deluxe “Blackwater Rising” split CD EP www.dogfingers.com | |
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The CD starts off with Boxcar Satan doing a cover of Charlie Patton’s “High Water Everywhere,” which is apropos since this CD is a benefit for Gulf Coast non-profits providing mental health care. It is also a damn fine cover. Next is the Graves Brothers Deluxe covering Boxcar Satan’s “Shoot Down the Sun” in greatly altered form, which since that is my favorite Boxcar Satan song, I felt I’d much rather listen to the superior original. I can’t tell if Boxcar did a better job on the Graves Brothers song they cover since I’ve never heard the original, but it’s a quiet, stalking jazz number until the forceful thrusting at the end. The Graves Brothers Deluxe also do a cover of Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Don’t You Just Know It,” a song you’ve heard whether you realize it or not. I’d say Boxcar Satan wins this battle, despite GBD having a member of Subarachnoid Space (whom I’ve liked for eons), but this is more of a charity match, so the mentally unsound are the real winners. – Ben
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Fat Skins / Last Laugh “Welcomes to Arizona” Split CD www.step1music.com | |
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The Fat Skins have been holding up the Oi scene in Phoenix for quite some time now, but I never really gravitated towards their releases much in the past. Lyrically, there is some good stuff here, like on “Bright Future” where they almost go against the usual drunken fighting theme with the chorus: “Drink in the morning you fight at night / Better watch your step it’s gonna end your life.” That level of astuteness gets somewhat undone, though, with some funny lyrics on “Never Admit Defeat”: “Lion’s pride it tears your limbs to bloody stumps of victory.” Other songs, however, redeem the pack and express frustration at politicians who manipulate with empty promises and play off the public’s fears, with cops who enjoy the privilege of being above the law, with prisons filling up from broken homes hit by unemployment, desperation and domestic violence. I’ve read reviews of these guys where they get blasted for their alleged political beliefs, but from what I can tell here, they are a bit more complicated than the average flag-waving moron. Last Laugh hail from Tucson and continue in a similar vein, albeit in a more personal way where the death of friends, daily hardships, and moments of self-doubt get injected with a hard-won perseverence. Singer Mike Villalobos has that low, razor-throated growl of a voice to accompany what mostly seems like an inner struggle in his lyrics. Also worth mentioning is that some tracks feature Justin Valdez from the Last Call Brawlers on guitar. As far as the music on this disc, though, I am probably a little biased with my tastes. The style of Oi that I generally like is either ultra-melodic like Cocksparrer, or fists and elbows Oi-core like 86 Mentality. Both of the bands here inhabit more of the in-between area, with mostly mid-tempo songs that don’t get very melodic, nor do they hit you with a flurry of fury. They do good at what they do, though, and with each band doing a cover of the Undertones there needs to be a couple extra marks for that. – BL
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Fuzztones Illegimate Spawn Various Artists www.fuzztones.net | |
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It’s a double-disc, 42 band global tribute to the Fuzztones, whose career has spanned more than a quarter century. Bands include Sparkling Bombs, Staggers, Fuzz Faces, Mad Juana, Preachers, Morlochs, Defectors, paranoiacs, the Sextress, Marshmallow Overcoat, Frantic V, Jayne County, Nikki Sudden, Plasticland, Hank Ray, Strange Flowers, Cosmic Goblins, Deadbillys, Sonic Temple, scores of other garage, punk, and psychedelic bands from all over Europe, the U.S., and South America. What more can a Fuzztones fan want, aside form the Fuzztones, of course. - Ben
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“God Save The King: A Psychobilly Tribute To Elvis” Various Artists (Rockin’ Raven Records) | |
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I’m not gonna waste everyone’s time determining who really did these songs originally, although it does kick off with Nigel Lewis and the Tombstone Brawlers doing Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” It is a pretty good version. In fact, surprisingly a lot of these tracks pass muster, including Batmobile, Spellbound, Lucky Devils, Cosmic Voodoo, Memphis Morticians, Guitar Slingers, Spinballs, Asmodeus, Ripmen, etc. I’m probably not going to wear this one out, but it was a fun disc. - Ben
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“In The Cole Mind: Tribute to Fred Cole and Dead Moon” Various Artists – Double CD www.lastchancerecords.net | |
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I only saw Dead Moon twice, but I can tell you they were great live… one of the best bands I’ve seen in recent years. This collection has 40 bands from all over the world paying tribute to one of the truly great but largely unknown forces in rock’n’roll. Almost all of the bands included I never heard of, but they’ve got good material to work with. – Ben
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“An International Tribute to the Man In Black” Various Artists www.rebellionrecords.nl | |
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Most of the 29 bands included here are mainly Punk and Oi from the Netherland, Denmark, USA, or Great Britain. You get Strongarm & The Bullies, Reno Divorce, Peter Pan Speedrock, Emscherkurve 77, Discharger, Pug Uglies, Dead 50’s, Sweet Poison, Banner of Thugs, Razorblade, Hateful, Badlands, Subculture Squad, the Regulars, etc. Some are decent, many aren’t too interesting, and some are awful. - Ben
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“Jukebox Year Book 2006” Various Artists www.lastchancerecords.net | |
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Comp ranges from decent to less than memorable punk and rock’n’roll from The Ones, Scott Deluxe Drake, Moneychangers, Reptillian Civilian, 8 Foot Tender, The Slip Its and Pure Country Gold. Only overtly bad tracks were the breezy and limp light rock of Crack City Rockers and the girl-with-a-bad-voice-and-a-piano song by Morgan Grace that sounded like a horrible musical performance at the community theater. Overall it’s pretty good, though. - Ben
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Lanterns / This Flood Covers the Earth Split CD www.historymajorrecords.com | |
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It took me a while and some internet research to figure out which band was which since the packaging is unclear. Then I further misread how the tracks were listed and got confused, but now I think I’ve got it right. I believe the Lanterns are the better of the two San Diego bands and they play a sort of artsy indie rock with soaring reverby guitars in layers and an overall hypnotic transcendentalism. This Flood plays a heavier post-hardcore that has some good moments too, but can drone and have an overall sound that is unappealing to my ears. While neither band is perfect, and may be an acquired taste, this was something out of the ordinary for my review pile and therefore stuck out more than it might to someone schooled in these types of music. - Ben
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“The Mahones vs. Catgut Mary A Celtic Punk Title Fight” Split CD www.shitenonions.com | |
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The Mahones from Canada serve of top-tier Irish folk deeply in the vein of The Pogues, and have been doing so long enough to release no less than seven prior CDs. While they capably do justice to their chief influence (Pogue Mahone), they don’t really distinguish themselves too far from that template. Still, their four songs are highly enjoyable, as are the four served up by Australia’s Catgut Mary. Catgut Mary has more gruff-style vocals over top the Irish folk-influenced rock. One thing I enjoy about Irish music is that it demands somewhat sharper lyrics than other genres, with no small amount of wit and heart necessary even when jovial simplicity is the song’s raison d’être. While neither of these bands disproves that theory, I’m still not overly smitten with either of them. Both are talented (I’m partial to the Mahones for the heavyweight championship), and I’d prefer listening to either of them over countless other bands, but they’re not so good that they stick out from the pack of Irish-minded musicians. - Ben
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"More to Enjoy Volume II" Various Artists www.theunfair-records.fr.st | |
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Some great music fills this 16-track compilation of mostly French surf and garage bands, alongside some from Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, and Argentina. Some favorites include The Challengers of the Unknown, Star and Key of the Indian Ocean, The Surfacers, The Monsters, The Ronnie Rockets, Ducky Boys, Vegomatic, Fantastic 3, and especially Autoramas. A cool comp worth investing in. – Ben
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“Noise Makers: Ring In The New Year With Yep Roc Records” Various Artists www.yeproc.com | |
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Get treated to a 15-track sampler disc full of our favorite bands from Yep Roc including Rev. Horton Heat, Th’ legendary Shack*Shakers, The Moaners, Los Straightjackets, Ronnie Dawson. Southern Culture On The Skids, Dexter Romweber and many more. This is a great introductory disc for reeling fresh blood into this type of ‘billyish devil music and it’s also awesome for us old timers who are well versed in all that Yep Roc has to offer. This also makes a splendid party CD to put in if friends come over unexpectedly and you didn’t have time to make a mix CD to jam out to. Good Stuff. –Lisa
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“Northwest Kicked In The Nuts” Various Artists www.lastchancerecords.net | |
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25 bands fronted by women. Hell Candidates owe a debt to Iron Maiden, while most others deal in some manner of punk rock. Favorites are The Triggers, AntiWorld, Sado-Nation, Amazombies, Pist-Uns, Cootie Platoon, and The Del Toros. Honestly, though, most of the songs aren’t very good. - Ben
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"Pain In The Big Neck" Various Artists www.bigneckrecords.com | |
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Normally, when a press sheet proclaims a disc to be "the best compilation out there, ever!" I chalk it up to the bullshit boasting of an overzealous ad-man, and I brace myself for some wretched racket that'll make me puke on my lap. However, this CD came from Big Neck Records and it features 20 exclusive tracks from bands such as The Baseball Furies, The Catholic Boys, The Locomotions, The Blowtops, The Sick Fits, Sweet J.A.P., Trailer Park Tornados, and more. There is an overwhelmingly eccentric and trashy garage punk rock ribbon tying all these disparate sounds together like a present for your deviant appetite. Some tracks have some broken blues undertones, some go towards noisy/distorted 60's rock (think Yardbirds filtered through a David Lynch movie), and some are just furious lo-fi rock'n'roll. The Tears sound a lot like Paul Revere and the Raiders, Lost Sounds are an awesomely bizarre synth punk band, and the Jack Jimmy Hoodlums kick off the proceedings like rabid earth-eating planetvores. Other great tracks are by The Rabies, The Moo-Rat Fingers, Mockba, and Mhz. So best comp ever? I'm not sure, but I'm gonna be listening to it a helluva lot. - Ben
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“Rock-Around The ECC vol. 1” Various Artists (Empire Music) | |
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30 tracks of hit-and-miss rockabilly from around Europe, plenty of good stuff here to check out. The sheer scope in countries is impressive (who would have thought of rockabilly in Estonia the Czech Republic?). Bands include Komety, Marco Di Maggio, Antonello Persiano, Aces Wild, Mad Men, Atomic Boogie Band, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, Hick-O-Rhythm, Fireball Steven and the Halebops, Slapbacks, Sabrejets, and many others. – Ben
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The Ruined / Destructors 666 “777” 4–song split CD (Rowdy Farrago Records) | |
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Two songs by each band, both Halloween influenced and playing a metallic punk. Each toys around a bit with synthesizers. The Ruined have cooler song arrangements but extremely lousy pop choruses. I’d pass this up. - Ben
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Rupture / Nerds Rock Inferno
Split CD www.scareyrecords.com | |
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Rupture were a hardcore scum punk band from Australia whose singer, Gus Chamber, died 5 years ago. The 15 songs here have Jeff Clayton of Antiseen and the Boss of Nerds Rock Inferno filling in the vocal duties for the controversial hate-fueled band. The music is primitive and basic, but often pretty good with a very 80’s hardcore sound. If you get weary of occasional far right fightin’ words shouted as angrily as possible, this might not be for you. Nerds Rock Inferno have a fuller, more modern guitar sound, but are no less sonically scathing, delivering southern rock inflected hardcore from Italy. On the whole, not really my cup o’ tea, but I get a kick out of it in small doses. - Ben
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“Sonidas de la Calle” Various Artists www.broncobullfrog.com | |
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This is a Bronco Bullfrog Records sampler with 25 tracks from European Street Punk and Oi bands. Most of it is mid-tempo with barking vocals, but some of it is more melodic. Most of it is pretty terrible sounding cookie-cutter crap that bores the hell out of me. Bands included are Social Combat, Frontkick, The Fucking Bastards, Alta Tension, etc. Malas Cartas wins for best band. – Ben
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“$UP and Destructors 666” “No Parasan” 6-song split CD (Rowdy Farrago Records) | |
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The first three songs are by $Up and are some heinous blend of metal and ska as run through a monkey’s colon. Destructors 666 play melodic metal Oi that is much better, although the Sonics cover just reminded me how much I’d rather listen to the Sonics. - Ben
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"We Ain't Housewife Material" Various Artists www.dionysusrecords.com | |
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This comp collects a wide array of all-girl punk, rock'n'roll, 60's garage, and stuff I don't know how to categorize but some of it sounds intriguing. Twenty songs here by bands from all over the globe including the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, USA and the UK. Some notables are Flowermulu, The Dirty Burds, Candyrag, Red Bacteria Vaccuum, Demolition Girl and the Strawberry Men, Astro Babys, Mensen, Betty Blowtorch, The Gee Strings, and Blaire Bitch Project. Ventra from Italy does a weird electro-rock that is actually cool, while Frill is kinda artsy/progressive in a good, yet somewhat eerie, way. The bands here are pretty well-selected, and the comp for the most part keeps your track-skipping finger at bay until the end. - Ben
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“Yells From the Crypt” Various Artists www.gravewaxrecords.com | |
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This is a cool comp from a cool label focusing on the creepier fringes of surf and garage music, with some good psychobilly bursting out here and there as well as several bands putting a dark gothic spin on old-timey country ballads. Standout artists include Route 66 Killers, Those Poor Bastards, The Coffin Daggers, Rainer Hass, Colonel Sander’s Grave, Sons of Perdition, Muleskinner Jones, Lona & the Love Objects, Joecephus & the George Jonestown Masacre, Cooterfinger, Dexentonados, and Lonesome Wyatt. Only a couple tracks really put me off. Overall, this is a great place to get your toes wet if you’re tired of the millions of bland bands flogging the typical horror themes without nuance or originality. - Ben
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7" Records | |
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Mack Stevens kicks off the A-side of this jukebox gem with the “Hog Maw Stomp,” which is a good rockabilly romp that properly launches this promising new label on their premiere release. The B-side is Canada’s honorary hillbilly, Bloodshot Bill, in top form doling out Phil Gray’s “Pepper Hot Baby,” and letting his own sun shine in through the cracks. I can see why both of these artists are on the same label. They each have strong 50’s influences with a primitive realism that belies any superficial caricature, coupled with loads of personal gravity that makes you drawn to their music. Add Al Foul to this roster, and you’d have yourself a formidable trinity. This, like all releases on Hog Maw, is vinyl only and limited to 500 copies, so get one soon. – Ben
This is the first full-length LP from Hog Maw Records out of France, and they’ve unleashed some outstanding Texas rockabilly by longtime genre staple, Mack Stevens. I’ll confess, I’ve not heard a lot of Stevens’ back catalog, but if this slab of vinyl is any indication, it is definitely worth looking into. His excellent vocals get propelled along by an inherent feel for the jangle, thump, and eccentricity that made me love the genre in the first place. Nowhere else does this eccentricity seem more apparent than when he tells a tale about being disfigured by sideshow freaks or sings a song about the tsunamis that hit Indonesia being “a warning from God,” followed immediately by a song called “Gonna Get Me Some Strange.” But possible religious predilections or freakish amputations aside, while a lot of modern rockabilly comes off as uninspired, spurious, and impersonal to me, it is people like Mack Stevens that give it a pulse and keep it from being just cultural kitsch, even while having a laugh. – Ben
DFHC play horror-themed garage punk and manage to be a cut above most shlocky and tiresome horror-punk bands out there. I like that they’ve incorporated an organ into their sound, and the lyrics aren’t “we are zombies, woah-oh!” or some such lameness. I am not completely bowled over and dazzled, but I am warm to its cold touch. - Ben
Political garage punk that goes beyond hollow sloganeering, spikey do’s, and the musical flatline you normally associate with political punk. The Electrocutions demonstrate that you can play good rock’n’roll with a social conscience as well as slug out great punk rock that builds on the prototype rather than following it verbatim with a cultish devotion. There are four excellent songs here that are inventive and catchy with a quick pulse keeping the hopes of curmudgeons and jaded naysayers alive. - Ben
These newest nuggets of frantic fervor seem to have been wrestled from the clingy clutches of a madhouse mastermind between forced injections of haliperodol by faceless folks in white suits. Criminally sinister stabs of pointed punk rock that plunge between the 4th and 5th vertebrae to leave you gasping. Produced by Alicja Trout and 5 troubled psyches. Yes, everything is very clear to me now… I know what I must do... I will obey. – Ben
www.bigneckrecords.com The last two songs recorded by the Functional Blackouts are on this 7”, and they are a couple of black-lunged venom spitters brimming with noxious brilliance from the very epicenter of their choking souls. Then there are two songs by K.K. Rampage, who sound like the demented creatures that trouble the minds of the criminally insane with incessant urgings toward knife play and recreational butchery. All in all, a record so good you might want to be buried with it. - Ben
The A-side proclaims “R-n-R is Dead” while also demonstrating why. B-side offers harder rock with ‘My Head” then goes way more poppy with “Walking Like a Panther.” There’s not really much to say about this band. I’ve heard this a lot before and better. The guitars sound flat and the vocals lack goodness no matter what mode the band is in. Perhaps they’d be better if they had a better recording. I love lo-fi production, but this just sounds amateurish and nothing about the songs stuck out for me. – Ben
Here is a Canadian punk-pop trio focused on baseball. The A-side is more catchy and a superior punk tune, but the poppier B-side has the line, “Freeze on a line drive and you’re liable to get doubled off,” when it’s common knowledge that “only rookie wimps get doubled off.” A better value than a $5 stadium beer. – Ben
This record has “Code of the Freaks” from his full-length album with 2 non-album tracks on the B-side. All songs demonstrate Stevens’ humor and dead-on rockabilly sound. Enjoyable. - Ben
Pure, uncut, ultra-potent fun with a street value far exceeding the asking price. Taking cues from the most esoteric corners of the rockabilly landscape as well as plundering buckets of bullion from the mineral rich depths of the garage rock strata, this French maverick plays rock’n’roll that’ll shake your face and make your ass fall off. You know how some music is so intuitive and in-the-moment that it’s hard not to like? This isn’t scatological avante garde brain gunk, but rather a nutrient rich body buzz you feel in your bones. - Ben
These are the next two 7”s in the series dedicated to the Cosmic Psychos, whom I never really listened to before, but Dull City touts as the greatest punk rock band ever. I’m not sure about that claim, but if these covers are any indication I am sure they weren’t too shabby. Most of this is good, upbeat rock’n’roll played loud and disgruntled with spaced-out guitars in overdrive piloted by bands from England, France, Finland, and many from Australia. You get choice covers done by Lothar, Jerry Spider Gang, Spank My Jones, The Dry Retch, Hell Crab City, Meatbeaters, Interstater, and Gazoonga Attack. Well done. – Ben
They fit 12 songs onto this 7” seething with maladjusted anger, psychosexual underdevelopment, and nihilistic teenage humor. See song titles such as “I Can’t Wait to Hate You,” “Fat Fucking Idiot,” Disgusting Little Rat,” “I Wanna Fuck Right Now,” along with covers of the Queers and Loli and the Chones. I remember arriving late to their set at the Cleveland Horriblefest and seeing them running out the door past me with a dead eel that they had hurled into the crowd while still alive. They seem to have really pissed people off. Sonically, this’ll give your ears a good thrashing of muddled lo-fi chaos. For some reason I find it charming. - Ben
I’m not really surprised that one of the most ardent proponents of vinyl records (Todd Taylor, co-founder of Razorcake) has extended his publishing imprint into a music label and put out two 7”s for two of his favorite bands. I am not surprised mainly because Todd is one of the most hardworking people I’ve met… especially in the punk rock scene. Who else would endure a year of paperwork (as well as perpetual hassle and audits forevermore), to become the world’s first non-profit punk rock magazine, while also publishing books (Gorsky Press), working on his own novel, freelance writing for other publications, and working on countless other projects? If the guy wasn’t so humble, earnest, and immediately likable, you’d hate him for being blessed with seemingly unlimited amounts of drive and ambition while you sit at home drinking beers and watching Total Recall. I’ve read a lot about Tiltwheel in the pages of Razorcake, but have heard very little of them until now. They do a cover of Toys That Kill and have two new songs on here, both with funny titles: “Talkin about eatin’ pussy and drinking a bucket full of cum in a town full of pig pens” and “Yet another obligatory pertylike Tiltwheel song except this time it’s like magic poetry.” The latter title really shows they don’t take themselves too seriously, even though the music comes across as being very heartfelt and personal. The musical style is of a genre that I am not too familiar with, so I am not on solid ground here, but they do make me think a little of Leatherface or Vena Cava. I am tempted to say it is a sort of folk punk, but it’s not like you can hear Woody Guthrie in it. It is very modern sounding. I can see fans of Radiohead or Weezer liking these guys even better. It’s like college rock for unpretentious dropouts. Hell, I don’t know. I will say this, though: while I may not research their entire back catalog, this record did grow on me and I will keep it around. Now, Toys That Kill. I am familiar with their music and a fan, and listening to both bands back to back I can see where there is some overlap. As with the other 7”, TTK offer two new songs and one cover of Tiltwheel. Toys That Kill sound a little more anthemic, and I would say more “punk” sounding. Honestly, I was kind of worried about reviewing these two 7”s and having to say something bad, but I actually ended up enjoying it. I may have slightly broader tastes than the next guy, but it is pretty undeniable that what these bands do, they do exceptionally. - Ben
The album cover has a cheeseburger wearing sunglasses. I took that as a good omen, and I was right. The trashed out budget rock’n’roll on this limited pressing is done exactly right, following in the footsteps of the Mummies and similar bands that you either know or you don’t. This is the musical equivalent of holding a beer bottle above your head and trying to catch whatever you can of the foamy downpour as it splashes across your face. Once you’re in that happy zone of sloppy contentment, there’s no turning back. - Ben
Very cool gatefold 7” with colored wax commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Blowtops with 6 covers by 6 bands. First off you get Jay Reatard doing “Venom Victims Wine,” which is of course well worth owning, followed by a properly dark and brooding treatment of “Judas Order” by Tractor Sex Fatality that has less vocal hysteria and more organ than their own output, and is fantastic. Then there is Vilent Lover’s Club, which features Odie of the Baseball Furies, and sounds like an evil Lou Reed from a parallel universe, but unfortunately the song drags a little at the end. Next is the Mistreaters with a great driving rock-n-roll performance of “Cannibal Lust,” then The Radio Beats’ take on “Brasshead Smash” with a careening momentum that constantly veers and threatens to wreck, then The Trailer Park Tornados wrap things up with “Within These Walls”. All in all, a worthy release sure to please the garage punker in your life. – Ben | |
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