Tuesday, March 23, 2021

The Gobs - 'Demo' digital (self-released)

Fans of Devo-core bands like Coneheads and CCTV or the reduced franticism of the likes of The Spits and Buck Biloxi are gonna really dig this new band out of Olympia, WA.  Actually when I first heard these demos I was almost positive that they were a part of the aforementioned Indiana DIY scene.  Metronomic drums, tight hardcore changes and muffled, haunting vocals scratch a very particular itch for many of us so might as well crank up The Gobs and scratch it.  Get it here.


Friday, March 12, 2021

OLD SHIT: Cartoone S/T vinyl (Atlantic)

 

I don't make it out to the record store very often these days and my latest trip to the local nerd depository was a prime example why- I took me about and hour and $50 to get through two letters of the alphabet!  Luckily it was long enough to come upon this superb LP.  Cartoone are apparently an Italian band from the late 60s.  If Moody blues had a little more toughness/swagger and filled an entire LP up with sleepers and heat-seeking jams they would sound something like these guys.  All the songs are sung in English and the entire album just continued to surprise me after I brought it home and blasted it on ye olde hi-fi.  The best part?  It cost me 7 whole dollars.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

REVIEW: The Sueves - 'Tears Of Joy' vinyl (MAGICATALOG)

From the Suicide-esque analog blips of a Korg mini pops[?] drum machine on the LP's opening track to the scratchy record-skipping, hidden-track-like sample of the album's conclusion 'Tears Of Joy' makes me feel glad I've got some Sueves back in my life.  Chicago's own illustrator extraordinaire and garage rock maverick Joe Schorgl has given us another collection of raw, frantic beauty that makes me feel nostalgic of the band's earlier work and at the same time offers up a new level of sonic complexity.  Recorded by Phil Lesicko of Manic Static Records it's not surprising to me that these two underappreciated scuzz purveyors have teamed up to create a brilliant, 14-track juggernaut of a record.  Get it here.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

REVIEW: Bruise Control - 'HMRCEP' digital single (self-released)

Being in a band is supposed to be fun, right?  Let's face it...in a world of seemingly infinite bands beating every niche to death through the blunt force of perceived genre orthodoxy it's cool when a band throws away the playbook and just fucking rocks.  Enter Manchester's Bruise Control.  They ain't reinventing the wheel or implying that's what a band should be doing.  They're just choppin' it up and having a damn good time doin' it.  Or who knows?   Maybe they're all a bunch of insufferable fucks that hate everyone and everything (including this review!).  If that's the case I'd advise them all to drink a tall glass of shut-the-fuck-up and step off my dick while I'm doing you a solid, ya whiny twats.  Either way I like the music.  Get it here.

Friday, February 26, 2021

REVIEW: yipee! - 'S/T II' casette (self-released)

This 4-song tape sounds like it's still 1993, you're still watching Mtv, they still play videos by bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement and Bill Clinton is still mostly known for playing the saxophone.  By the end of the last song my shirt had turned flannel and there were huge holes in my Guess jeans. yipee! fully commits to the bit.  Even the cover art looks like it was someone's last day at the CD Baby design department.  For all I know the Branch Davidians are still running amok in Waco, Billy Crystal is still hosting the Oscars and Donald Trump is just a guy who sucks at Casino management.  And ya know what, sonny boy? That's the way I likes it!  Now get the hell off my lawn!  Get it here.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

OLD SHIT - The Skabbs S/T vinyl (Jackpot Records)

Nevermind the British punk, here's The Skabbs!  Holy fuck!  Jackpot Records have resurrected some truly classic first-wave mania from Lawndale, California.  Seering riffs, brass-knuckles-to-the-dome vocals over stabbing, frantic rhythms that will have you shakin yo ass.  But watch yo self!  The Skabbs are long gone so they're not gonna be held legally liable when, in an epileptic fit, you toss yourself headlong off the balcony of your third story walk-up and impale yourself on a rod iron fence.  And remember kids: "SPRAY PAINT SMELLS GOOD."  Get it here.

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

REVIEW: Aaron Troyer - 'Trappings Of A Golden Myth' (No Coast)

I'm catching huge nostalgia vibes from Aaron Troyer's latest cassette release. Dire Straits? 80s Bob Dylan? A little Neil Young? This Columbus, OH native combines great folk rock songwriting with textures you might hear on a Traveling Wilburys LP.  It's not a style you hear too often these days, but maybe the music world is finally ready for some boomer adult contemporary throwbacks.  If this album doesn't remind you driving in a station wagon eating Arby's curly fries on a road trip with your dad then you sir are no red-blooded American.  Get it here.