A MIXED BAG OF REVIEWS FOR YA.

 

I know I’m extremely partial to Wipes, so rather than some biased puff-up about how great they are I’ll just give you the facts.  They haven’t been around long really but they’ve been prolific- a full length and split (both released by yours truly), as well as a 7”, several comp appearances, and now this new tape EP “Vacuum” showing off what they’ve been up to lately.  One of the things I love about them is that they can take a very simple riff and then just beat it to death through tons of distortion and feedback to the point where you’re just as honked off as they are.  All four of these new tracks move rather slow, as in focusing on the sludgy side of the band but opener “More To This” has one of their well-worn bizarrely melodic leads while the other three focus more on blunt force.  They released this one locally so follow that link to the Lehigh Valley and get crushed.

But let’s cut to the big guns here: It’s already been a big year for some of my favorite noisy bands, what with both Pissed Jeans and Gouge Away releasing awesome new records.  Now we got Metz entering the fray with their fifth formal outing, “Up On Gravity Hill”.  What do you do when you’re as prolific as these guys and you’re this deep into your time as a band?  Is it any surprise they’re trying out some new things here?  On one end it’s the same Metz you know and love.  On the other, they take those melodies (both in the vocals and guitars) that they regularly display under sheets of guitar scree and distortion and bring them up front.  They also go in on songs that stretch out a bit more, which they will do with a lot of their fan favorites in the live setting, playing with some longer form tracks.  But this is the overall cleanest-sounding Metz record to date.  They’re still writing mostly the same kinds of songs, they just recorded them a bit differently to be honest.  “99”, “Glass Eye”, and “Entwined” are rippers but I bet every one of these tracks will sound massive live, which I fully intend to experience when they out my way next month.

Following up on that, as in bands I’m seeing next month, Couch Slut are the kind of band where if you were to encounter them on the subway you’d be torn between feeling compelled to call a crisis line to do a wellness check on them and slowly backing off to the next train car because these people are fucked up and you don’t have time for that mess in your life right now. One their fourth full length, “You Could Do It Tonight”, I’m considering calling 911, but also compelled to watch the carnage like slowing down when passing a car wreck on the highway.  Though I think members here lived in bumfuck, PA the band is basically NYC and I make that distinction because they feel like true heirs to the throne of Unsane’s NYC scum-rock crown; the kind of filthy, mean, and fucked up harshness that came from existing in the city in the 80’s.  Couch Slut kind of bring that harsh unease to the present tense with stories of self-injury, bad jobs, and lots of drugs.  “The Weaverville Home For Boys” is some total nightmare story that I really hope is true, or gets made into a John Carpenter movie.  Crazy visuals, as always, ties this whole thing together.

On to the category of ‘follow-up’s to things I picked up on not too long ago and they already have something new out’ bands and there’s a few:

Edging dropped their hilariously titled “Concrete Cumming” EP just recently (I mean, along with the band name there’s definitely some humor there) and it’s awesome when a band can be a total force between great music, addressing some serious ideas while being engaging, and still have a bit of fun to back it all up.  Their live shows look like they’re completely off the hook and musically?  Well, let’s say this leaped out at me when I caught wind of them a few months back because I’m all for saxophones in punk.  And this is some wild-ass saxophone punk.  Sure, they toss in a more chill, slower vibe here and there like middle track “Dawn”.  But by and large the songs are short, the music is fast, the vocals are howled, saxophone is wailing, and you’re flipping out or dead if you’re not.  Compared to their last release I’d say they doubled down on some more harmonized vocal parts to make things a little catchier, but they still manage to teeter on the edge of chaos and ass-shaking punk rock.

If I can be as concise as possible, Vulture Feather was my biggest ‘holy shit, where did this come from’ band of last year.  Granted, I came across them just shy of the new year but it still counts.  Their debut LP, “Liminal Fields”, they released last spring should be on your immediate list of things to check out because it’s damn near perfect.  For those who love the sound of Lungfish this is your replacement fix. Think lots of clean guitar, trance-like repetition, fantastic melodies, and wailing vocals.  So now that I’m in the loop I was quick to snap up this new 10”- “Merge Now In Friendship”- they released that is three new songs (though it feels like four) and it takes a bit of different turn in terms of overall feel.  “Liminal Fields” was full of shimmering, beautiful songs.  The first two tracks here have more of a dark feel (despite the opening track being titled “Friendship”), and the B-side sort of continues a bit of that darkness before it breaks into it’s second half (hence the EP feeling like a total of four songs) where it turns into that familiar full and shimmering sound of their LP.  It’s not exactly what I hoped for from the band, but it’s a nice placeholder until they deliver another full length.

Finally, there’s not much that’s more immediately gratifying than hardcore played super fast and angry.  It’s that quick shot of adrenaline that’s just so satisfying.  It’s even better when the people playing it are actually really good at their instruments and Planet On a Chain prove that once again on their newest album “Culture Of Death”.  Their resume of past bands reads like a fastcore directory of royalty so you know you’re in good hands with this.  The riffs are sharp, the sound is huge, the drum fills are constant and mind-boggling, and writing about records like this is super easy because there’s no deep nuance to be described.  It’s fucking fast, it’s hardcore, and it will make you want to drive your car off a cliff at full speed.  ‘Nuff said.

And now to a few things that are very new to me, and that I have enjoyed very much:

First off, I’m fully aware that I’m an incredibly predictable person.  It serves as both a positive and a negative.  On one end predictability can equal boring. On the other hand, it also makes me reliable and I know I have very good taste about certain things.  So trust me when I say that the new album from DC’s Tosser, “Sheer Humanity”, is fucking great.  I’m a total sucker for big, heavy 90’s guitar rock and Tosser must have taken a time machine and followed me around high school taking notes and then crafting songs based on sounds farting around in my brain all day.  They take cues on tone and drawling vocals from the likes of Hum, but also energetic rock that harkens to riff-sniffers like Smile, Shift, Dino Jr, even some time-change fuckery and feedback worship you’d hear in a Helmet dirge.  I think they have been a band for awhile now and have some other stuff under their belt so the real question is ‘where have I been this whole time?’

Continuing (the joke will pay off in a moment) on bands from DC, I need to preface that we all have some of those people who no matter what band they’re doing you’re going to check it out because you trust in them as musicians to give you something of value.  Continuals (ba-dum-dum-pssh) are one of those bands. I know they’re not going to really ‘get out there’ per se, but they have enough bona fides in their resumes to have Dischord release their debut album (after a few singles).  So Ryan Nelson (of The Most Secret Method, at one time of Beauty Pill) and Darren Zentek (of Kerosene 454, Oswego, Channels, Report Suspicious Activity, etc) are the two names here I know.  Some of those bands I listed are favorites of mine of the DC realm.  Continuals doesn’t really sound like them, though I’ll say there are similarities between this and some of the stuff Nelson was a part of when he was in Beauty Pill and musically it reminds me quite a bit of Zenteks project Oswego.  It’s mostly relatively mellow, but there’s always cool drum stuff happening, especially with interesting arrangements and patterns.  Is it what you might expect from something released on Dischord these days, that being middle-aged fellers who used to sweat it out in basements playing very loudly who now hash it out on the weekends playing interesting music at a respectable volume?  Yes.  Is it still good?  Oh yes.

Lastly, there’s been quite a bit of fanfare around the locals in Amusement.  And while they’re a new band they’re hardly ‘new’ as members have resumes the length of a telephone pole.  The excitement is palpable as I caught their first show last summer but didn’t actually see much because I was crammed into a basement the size of a shoebox with like 200 other people. If this group isn’t already booked to play Fest those Floridians need to put down the Pabst and get crackin’ on ensuring this is every attendees favorite new band.  So even though they will surely appeal to that crowd with their nods to stuff like Samiam and Leatherface there’s a bit of Northwest dirge in their sound too with some chunky guitars and great tones reminiscent of Seaweed.  They put it all out there for ya with not one, but two different debut 7”s.

HEX RECORDS 25th ANNIVERSARY SINGLE SERIES- APRIL- WIPES COVERING KARP!

 

I first met Ray from Wipes when he was in the band Tile.  Tile was basically the predecessor for Wipes and share a very similar sound.  I had heard their music a few months before and was hooked on it’s massive sludgy punk ugliness.  We got to know one another and we would chat regularly, and I made it known how much I’d love to work together.  My intent was that I’d always do a record or something for Tile, but it didn’t come to pass.  Instead, Ray started Wipes to carry the torch and we finally had a chance to work together on a record. 

Now let me talk a bit about KARP.  I love KARP.  I love that they embodied humor, that touch of something that’s in the water of the Northwest, and most of all that friggin’ bass tone.  Holy shit that tone.  I randomly came across the self-titled LP when it came out, and likely while I was traveling around the Northwest, and I bought it just because it looked cool and they had a cool name. These days, as superficial as it may seem in the whole spectrum of reasons to put a record out for a band, getting a sound like KARP did really makes an impression upon me.

I can’t say for sure if KARP is an influence upon Wipes, like consciously.  But I think Wipes are able to take those sort of super ugly sounds, and tons of feedback, and turn it into a super catchy riff and to me that’s golden.  So I tasked them with covering KARP with the sole restriction that it be something from the self-titled LP and they came back with the repetitive, dirgey monster of “Forget the Minions”.  That being said, I’ll take a page from Ray’s past body of work and reappropriate it in my own way as a greeting to Wipes:  You’ve Got a Friend in the Northwest.

Speaking of which, WIPES are going to embark on their first trip to the Northwest very soon.  How’s that for timing and kismet?  Here’s the dates:

Friday, May 3rd- Portland @ Fixin To (Hex Records 25th anniversary show)

Saturday, May 4th- Seattle, WA @ The Kraken

Sunday, May 5th- Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown

Now go listen to the cover:  https://hexrecords.bandcamp.com/track/wipes-forget-the-minions

CAN'T BELIEVE ALL THIS NEW STUFF I'M WRITING ABOUT OVER HERE

There’s almost too much this month.  I’m admittedly overwhelmed.  I might even have to push a couple great things to next month, but I’ll try to get it all in here.  Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked.  So let's converse about some new stuff.

I’m starting things off with a very biased review because this is a band that is very near and dear to me, both in their recorded output and as people.  I’ve had the distinct pleasure and privilege to release the last couple of USA Nails records and now they are off to bigger and better things with their brand new LP “Feel Worse” and I wish them all the success in the world.  That all being said, if you’ve liked any of their other records you will be completely satisfied with this one.  Like their other records it’s got a big opener, a bunch of fast and catchy/quirky/noisy rippers, a couple offbeat more experimental tracks (that are also still somehow really catchy), and a couple slower ones as well.  They manage to meld the best of post-punk, noise rock, chaotic punk, and wild guitar effects and everything they do is immediately memorable and fun.  Naturally, I’m a bit partial to the material I had a hand in releasing, but this one is just excellent and I’m super proud/stoked for these English gents.

And that brings us to Cell Press, a clan of Canucks who I’ve had the pleasure of releasing material for in members other bands.  Honestly, what a group of sweethearts making some of the most abrasive math-y/gnarled music around.  If you need an introduction you get dudes from Great Sabatini and Bleak bringing those same sort of twisted and chunky riffs supported by some of the wildest drumming you’ll hear north of Niagara Falls.  And I’ll go on permanent record that Mark McGee is by far one of the nicest people you’ll ever encounter.  Maybe it’s all that Tim Horton’s up there keeping the Canadians happy.  Or perhaps they’re mainlining all that coffee and maple syrup getting them juiced up to create insane heavy music like this.  Mesh early Mastodon, best-era Melvins, and fellow countrymen KEN Mode and you’re getting an idea of what Cell Press is up to on this second release from them.  But you know they all listen to Kittens too because no self-respecting Canadian skips on that.

But now to rewind just a bit. Last fall I had the chance to finally see Deaf Club and the expected level of spastic chaos was most certainly to my satisfaction.  In short, they fuckin’ killed it.  And it led me to thinking about bands firmly rooted in punk/hardcore but doing something next-level, pushing the sound into dangerous and exciting territory.  And I think by teaming up with both HIRS Collective and Fuck Money for a split you get three of the most forward-thinking/sounding hardcore bands around.  I better not have to tell you about HIRS and how much they rule.  You need to know this.  Deaf Club and HIRS collaborate on their side of the split for one original that is all chaos, blast beats, noisy guitars making alien sounds, and wild riffs.  They also duo on a cover of “Tourettes” that is most definitely apt for both groups.  The B-side is newer Austin-based Fuck Money who have a similar approach to both Deaf Club and HIRS, but incorporating more electronic element, or at least grating industrial sounds that are melded into their nihilistic punk.  This is all tied together with some most excellent art from the one and only Paul Rentler who makes some of wackiest collages of freak art around these days.  It’s crazy to think Sub Pop co-releasing this as well, but big up’s to all these bands for doing something rad.

Shifting gears, and moving towards some more publicly anticipated releases, Gouge Away make an awesome return after several years away.  I thought for sure they were either donezo, or became extremely part-time.  But here they are with “Deep Sage”, an incredible release showing the group expand their sound even more, taking new chances, and having them pay off in a big way.  Plus, I can claim them as locals since half the band lives in Portland now.  I was genuinely elated when they did a one-off show here in January to test out some of these new songs live (the album was apparently written in spurts between 2018-2019 before they took a big hiatus with playing in other bands, moving, some pandemic thing, etc) and it just makes me incredibly happy to have a wonderful new record from them.  To me they’re still the same band regardless if they’re doing long fuzzed-out blissful tracks like “Dallas”, or fully embracing Fugazi guitar antics like on the title track and “Idealized”.  But if you dig the stuff you heard on “Burnt Sugar” that’s still here too on tracks like “No Release” and the super catchy “Spaced Out”.  This will probably end up being one of my favorite records this year.

Moving ahead, this ought to have been the lead because it’s the most well-known of the bunch, but when you’re six albums in as a band what can you do to change things up a bit and keep people interested without alienating them? Maybe that’s a question that was on the minds of the guys in Pissed Jeans and their newest album “Half Divorced”.  They’ve always been a really interesting band to me as they somehow stumbled onto exceptional popularity early in their career despite never really touring much at all.  They were picked up by Sub Pop early on, but continued to maintain a basement-level attitude about playing shows.  I can attest to this as I booked them at a community center where they just traveled up in a car with as much gear as they could pack in at some point while “King Of Jeans” was out in the world.  They have that rare opportunity to do short runs of shows in places and sell them all out (which was the case upon seeing them very recently) while just using all borrowed gear from the opening band.  And they still completely slay live.  The more I listen to “Half Divorced” it comes off as another worthwhile Pissed Jeans record, though I guess, if anything, they lean more into punk-hardcore pacing and approach to many of the songs here than on other records that I felt emphasized the noise rock angle more.  And maybe it’s all in the way this one was recorded as the production is a little cleaner.  But really, that’s about it.  They continue to do sobering lyrical humor better than most with deadpan observations about the mundane bullshit of adult life (i.e.- the record title and songs with names like “Helicopter Parent”).  This is the type of stuff to make you scream at the umpire when your kid gets a bad call on a strike at the youth league game and the other parents look at you like they’re considering calling child services.

Some sort of algorithm out there is doing its job to point me in the direction of bands I end up liking quite a bit.  Such is the case of Force Model, whom I really know nothing about aside from being located in Los Angeles.  I gave their debut full length "Found Camera" a listen on a lark and ended up loving it.  Force Model doesn’t really stick to one particular thing, but are certainly rooted in punk/hardcore, and also leaning pretty hard into 90’s underground alternative.  “Hangnail” is probably the track that perfectly showcases all their varied styles into a cohesive mix of catchy hooks, a heavy and driving chorus, hauntingly melodic bridges, and a loose punk tempo through much of the song.  The same can be said of the closing title track, which brings back a lot of energy after a couple more atmospheric tracks before it, with gigantic choruses/finale and an almost psych punk feel akin to more recent Fucked Up material (with sung vocals in place of gruff shouts).  Earlier in the record you get a couple fun, fast-paced punk stompers in “Temple/Bus Stop” and “Variety Jones” and I’m quite partial to those as well.

And while on the subject of notifications, but those I have somehow chosen, I keep getting messages from Daze about stuff they’re releasing and in all honesty, a lot of it doesn’t do it for me because I’m really not into beatdown hardcore.  Still, every once in awhile something from them catches my attention and in this case, when I saw the record cover for their newest release from Kidnapped I had to check it out because it looks like it could have been pulled from an Unsane B-roll. Yet “Disgust” doesn’t sound like what I thought it would but it still makes sense with the unpleasant cover art.  Think more furious powerviolence in the vein of skullcrushers like Infest, but with some heavier moments that recall when legends like Nasum wouldn’t blink at tossing in a breakdown to their warp speed grindcore.  Kidnapped follow a similar route, though not as concerned with technicality as they are with a ham-fisted approach to playing incredibly fast and with an attitude like a garbageman in a picket line.

I thought it would be nice to give a little highlight of hardcore-punk coming out of both where I grew up (Syracuse) and where I now live (Portland) in regards to new releases from bands from both towns.  First off, from my online view 3000 miles away Syracuse is dealing with a bit of a renaissance as of late with tons of wild shows, a slew of new-ish bands, and what appears to be a lot of new people coming out to see shows and I couldn’t be happier to know that’s happening in my storied little burg.  At the top of the heap are local metallic hardcore juggernauts Deal With God and their first real EP “The Bitter Die Hard”, six tracks that fall somewhere between the moshy hardcore that has been the calling card of my hometown for decades and the dark metallic assault of Integrity. While that may seem like nothing new in hardcore it’s the massive sound Deal With God gets on this EP, as well as their delivery that make it exceptional. And, ok, I’m a bit biased because I like to see people from back home get a win.  They keep most of the tracks short and sweet, mostly fast, and enough in-and-out breakdowns to keep you on your toes.  Honestly, you get everything you could want in a heavy hardcore song in the 73 seconds that comprise “Apparition”, so deal with that.

On my side of the country you get a far different hardcore vibe from the local Portlanders in Jade Dust who just dropped their third record, “Grey Skies”.  Jade Dust draw far more from late 80’s DC/Revolution Summer style hardcore and maybe a touch of East Bay melodic punk, and while it’s a far cry from the metallic rust belt hardcore I grew up with it’s a style I also adore and Jade Dust does their thing really well.  I’d say they draw deep, like real deep, because two of these tracks are covers- one from classic Dischord punks Ignition and the other from Chicago 80’s HC group Articles Of Faith.  I mean, who covers stuff like that these days?  Or this decade even?  That stuff is very lost to time.  But if you want an idea of what Jade Dust sound like those two reference points are quite apt I’d say.  While it’s a far more melodic affair they whip through 8 tracks in under 20 minutes, and like all their other records there’s some really cool art that adorns this one that makes you feel like you’re hiking out here in the Northwest.

Finally, I wanted to shout out my old friend Rob Pennington and his new-ish band Jupiter Hearts, who just released their second EP, “All That Pain You Left Behind”.  For one thing, I thought my dude was done with being in bands.  I also thought Jupiter Hearts was a one-off thing.  But here they are making more music and it’s further refined into a cohesive sound.  If you know me you know I love bands that can take from the DC/Dischord sound (any era really) and turn it into something cool.  Jupiter Hearts does just that by being a melodic hardcore band that definitely has it’s fair share of Faith/Ignition/Embrace influence.  The songs are primarily upbeat but have a sort of somber tone with “Two If By Sea” exemplifying that feeling the most as it moves slower than the other songs but is the standout track (to me anyway).

HEX 25th ANNIVERSARY SINGLE SERIES- MARCH- NAW COVERING BAD BRAINS!

 

In an attempt to get out of my own comfort zone of bands I already work with, or friends I’ve known for a long period of time, I thought of Atlanta’s NAW for this next cover.  I don’t really know any of them at all. 

The only thing I really knew about about them ahead of time was that I liked their name a lot.  Is it a Southern drawl of saying ‘no’, or is it a phonetic spelling of being chewed up and torn apart?  Could it be both?  Whatever it is it’s clever and I like that.  They have a great way of mixing metallic grungy heaviness with a punk leaning and vocals that alternate seamlessly from almost harrowed clean singing to one of the most evil screams you’re bound to hear.

So when I was drawing up a list of bands and songs I wanted to see covered I knew Bad Brains had to be on that list.  They basically invented hardcore.  And I thought to myself, ‘who, out of current bands that I know and appreciate, can do what they did?  Who has the technical skill to pull it off?  Who has a voice that can emulate HR’s manic howl and anthemic croon all at once?  How low can a punk get?’  And I thought ‘Naw has those qualities and I believe they take an amalgamation of subgenres and mash them into something exciting…. the same way Bad Brains can.’  Naw chose to cover “I Against I” and they stay true to the original’s quick-paced first half but then transform the second half of the song into a freaky mutant sludge befitting a band that has an original streak of their own going on with their own music.  I’d expect no less.  Thank you Naw for contributing “I Against I” to this series.  So yes to Naw.

LISTEN HERE

HEX RECORDS 25th ANNIVERSARY SHOWS!

 

We've done enough hint-dropping, date-reminding, and jibber-jabbing, so it's about time to drop the actual lineup for the Hex Records 25th anniversary shows! It will be held on Friday, May 3rd and Saturday May 4th. Both shows are happening at The Fixin To in Portland. You can get tickets in the link listed.

We're happy to have Gaytheist , Great Falls , The Helm , a couple pals from the East- Brain Cave and Wipes , as well as alumni from Kinghorn , and a some bands we just like- Coffin Apartment and Yellfire ! So maybe see ya in May?

TICKETS NIGHT 1

TICKETS NIGHT 2

REVIEWS ARE FOR LOVERS

 What's up with February?  All of a sudden literally everything starts happening.  Like, 50,000 records just came out or were announced, and I've bought tickets to like 20 different shows all of a sudden and now I'm checking my calendar for what's happening in like October?  How the heck am I supposed to know that?  I have to check my work calendar probably three times a day just to remember what I'm supposed to be doing that day.  Cut me some slack.  Any way, here's a bunch of cool stuff that caught my interest this last month.

This month I want to lead off with a few bands that I clearly have a conflict of interest in discussing so I’m going to be biased.  But then again, I’m generally talking about stuff that I like anyway, so believe it or not the payolas are not being raked in over here.

First off, the homies in Brain Cave have just released their second full length, "Foot Off the Gas".  I’ve been championing these Cleveland fellas for a few years now and even went on to release a split for them.  They’re a prolific lot, releasing numerous EPs and singles over the years so it’s good to see another full length from them.  This time around they opt for a heavier, chunkier, noisier production and the songs err on a bit of the slower side as opposed to a couple of the 7”s they did recently with the exceptions being the fast opener “Neologism” and mid-point “Displaced”.  They give a try with clean vocals and an almost slacker vibe on “Death Weapons”, which is a change for them.  But for the most part you’re getting what you are accustomed to with this band- gruff vocals and driving, chunky post-hardcore that gives equal love to noise rock as it does melodic heavy punk.

Next is Cower.  Gareth from USA Nails lends his talents to this project, though if I understand it correctly Wayne Adams is the main player here.  Wayne is a well known studio engineer in the UK and has recorded all the USA Nails material, as well as a million other bands and plays in a myriad of other projects (maybe most notably Petbrick).  But Cower isn’t some post-punk/noise rock thing, nor is it some technical death metal band despite the cover art here likely leading one to assume such.  Cower is goth-y industrial music that does find itself dipping it’s toes into post-punk occasionally.  I was really surprised how much their last LP “Boys” stuck with me, as I don’t typically get into this sort of music. But it’s engaging, strangely catchy, and brooding.  “Celestial Devastation” follows a similar course.

OK, so I can’t get through this without giving a heavy nod to the Texans in Porcelain.  Steve has been a trusted pal for several years now and post-Exhalants (yeah, I did a record for them, you see a trend developing here?) he really wanted to go all-in on Unwound worship, and how can you blame the guy?  They’re one of the best to do it.  So along with members of Superthief (who were also pretty stellar) and more I don’t know about Porcelain came to be.  They’ve been sitting on this full length for a hot minute and now it’s out there for all to absorb into their brains.  Despite wearing influences proudly upon the sleeve I’ve always noticed Steve to have a particular way of playing. riffing, and laying out songs and I’ve always found it to be engaging and exciting.  Even though Exhalants often pushed heaviness to the apex you could hear those strange melodies and that exists in Porcelain as well, just minus the overwhelming blast of volume and distortion.  So whether they’re ripping through the quick and abrasive assault in “Vanity” or the huge, gargantuan chorus in “Plastic” Porcelain has offered a solid debut of a record.

Next, Chimes Of Bayonets arrive with their first full length after a couple of 7”s.  The trio have been playing together, some in other bands with each other, for many years and that familiar playing style is represented in full here with a sort of rough and tumble math rock that if you’re old and obscure like me you’ll hear hints of stuff as wide-ranging (yet very cool) as Forstella Ford, Atombombpocketknife, and Kerosene 454.  Oh yeah, and it also comes in this fancy package with a screened clear slipcase thing so it looks extra cool.

OK, so here’s a few things new on my radar and not just bands/musicians I’m already familiar with dropping some stuff that’s spinning my wheels.  First off, Suntouch House went and dropped a new EP out of nowhere so that came as a surprise to me.  Their debut EP last year kicked my ass and why wouldn’t it?  Colonial Wound dudes doing another one of their 5,000 other bands and it all rules.  This time around Suntouch House feels a little more reigned in in a way that sounds like they’re a bit more comfortable with who they are.  It just sounds a bit tighter and this whole thing comes off like an unreleased Deadguy record with a more grooving rhythm section.

Going down some kind of noise rock wormhole I came across the Toronto-based Sundowner and their debut EP “Asbestos Tiles”.  Let me tell ya, it’s pretty wild.  There’s a lot of spit and vitriol going on with these furious punk/noisy jams but they got the good sense to introduce some shimmering leads here and there, like on the almost space-y “Petty Tyrant” and a reprieve of rhythmically chunky and melodic hardcore on “Glazed Eyes”.  I see a lot of promise of what lay ahead for this new band.  Cool stuff.

Edging may have released this record back in the late Summer but it’s just getting to my ears and holy shit, this is some great hot-shit badass punk.  I’m going to make this as simple as I can for you:  when you play ripping punk rock and you add a saxophone to it your band automatically becomes 100 times better.  So congratulations to Edging for discovering that secret recipe, and writing short songs that fall somewhere between the blown-out freak rock of Big Clown and wiry ensemble punk of Mallwalkers.  Bonus points for naming your record “Good Sex Music”.

So, Baratro is a band that Dave Curren, most known for his long time two-ton bass duties in Unsane, started after moving to Italy and joined up with a couple other pisans to continue sonically crushing skulls.  In all honesty, I thought maybe this was just a project because they did one great EP a few years back and then silence.  It’s like there was a pandemic or something that got in the way of being an active band.  So anyways, I wasn’t expecting them to return.  But it’s 2024 and here we are and there’s a Baratro full length.  So not to bring up old shit, but you listen to this and it becomes very clear just how significant Curran’s songwriting was to his time in Unsane.  You hear it all over this.  Not only does the man have one of the heaviest bass tones in all of recorded music history but his dense and ham-fisted riffs are unquestionably the sort of thing to give you a migraine, or make you, as the opening song title implies, “Fight the Parking Meter”.  This is a very easy sort of record for me to get into as it totally speaks my language and if you like aggressive music that will blow your wig off with it’s sheer heaviness than pal, Baratros got you covered.

Finally, J Robbins makes his return with a new solo record after some sporadic singles over the last couple years.  And by ‘solo’ I mean he wrote all these songs, but has some exceptionally wonderful people along to play on  the record with him, including his Report Suspicious Activity and Channels bandmate (and one one of my all-time favorite drummers) Darren Zentek.  J Robbins is up there in that same general age range of people like Ted Leo, Walter Schriffels, and John Reiss whom I all consider to be some of the great American songwriters to emerge from the punk scene of the late 80s and early 90s who are still writing, recording, and playing out incredible music.  J is certainly in that group.  He has a sense of melody like no other and his intricate playing, particular cadence with his vocals, and sense of songcraft (not to mention a wildly talented recording engineer) is completely unique to him.  He’s said in a recent interview that on this record he’s made an attempt to be less obtuse in his lyrics and more straightforward about what’s he conveying, though I’ve always thought he’s had a great way with lyrics and wordplay, and that remains here as well.  Most poignant is how open he is in using songs on “Basilisk” as a means for getting through, and celebrating, the life of his son who sadly passed away a couple years ago after life-long medical complications.  That’s a tough thing to do.  The effort, as a whole, is a great listen.  If you’ve somehow lived under a rock for the last 30 years and don’t know who J Robbins is think maybe stuff like Bob Mould, the aforementioned Ted Leo, or literately any of J’s older bands like Jawbox or Burning Airlines.

MONTHLY COVER SERIES #2: HEADLESS HORSE!

Headless Horse is the project band I was invited to be a part of with Rob Antonucci from Achilles (and like a million other bands) that was started during pandemic stuff.  We had talked about doing a band together for literally 20 years and it finally took shape when we recorded an EP of songs a couple years back.  

I knew that with this covers project I wanted to contribute myself in some way besides just organizing it.  And with that I decided a good band for Headless Horse to tackle would be Sick Of It All.  I realize most of the people who enjoy things I put out look for left-of-center, weird and abrasive, noisy, sludgy, what-have-you.  And I love all of that.  But a big part of my musical DNA is hardcore.  Like, hardcore-for-the-hardcore hardcore.  It’s what I came up in, despite always having a foot in other types of aggressive, or underground music.  There’s a whole boatload of bands from the hardcore scene I have taken a lot of influence from, and I decided Sick Of It All would be a worthy inclusion because they are always there.  They have been a consistent force in music for over three decades.  They’re still one of the best live bands you could go see and have more energy expressed in one song than most bands have in their entire discography.  And still nobody cries while the innocent die and the guilty go free.

Go on and check out "World Full Of Hate" at the link below: 

https://hexrecords.bandcamp.com/track/headless-horse-world-full-of-hate