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Record Reviews1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 0-9| A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M | | N| O| P| Q| R| S| T| U| V| W| X| Y| Z| Below are some recently posted reviews.  RSS Feed
CARA BETH SATALINO:
The Good Ones: LP
Mellow and moody indie rock with dreary but heartfelt vocals. Brings to mind the Weakerthans but with a lady singing. Here and there, I can hear some distorted guitar parts which gives it a little bit more of a bite. This is college radio station material for sure so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Ms. Satalino suddenly gains quite a following. More power to her.
–Juan Espinosa (Bakery Outlet / Salinas, carabethsatalino@gmail.com)
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CAPITALIST KIDS, THE:
Lessons on Love, Sharing, and Hygiene: LP
I gotta say, it’s kind of funny at first to hear a band doing such a great Mr. T Experience/early-Green Day impression while singing about the evils of corporate welfare, their hatred of Ayn Rand, and their love of socialism. Something about major chords accompanying bleak statements like, “We live in a world of imbalance and disparity, where one’s manipulation severs another’s greed, some people live in comfort, others suffer, bleed, and die,” feels a little weird, especially when you sound like you’re singing about a girl you’ve got a crush on. But, honestly, Capitalist Kids pull it off. This is solid straight-up pop punk with straight-forward but poignant lyrics. Had they existed in 1996, when Noam Chomsky and Lookout Records were just about my two favorite things, they would have been one of my favorite bands, no doubt about it.
–Chris Mason (Toxic Pop, toxicpoprecords.com)
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BUDGET, THE:
Demo: Cassette
This is stupid Filth, Blatz, Hickey style hardcore from Asheville that is impossible not to like. While hardly indispensable, there were plenty of times I found myself wanting to spin songs like “GTA Garbage Truck,” a song about getting drunk, stealing a garbage truck, and disposing of hipsters, cops, crack whores, and fascists or the song “Titan” a song about squatting Titan (a spaceship or rocket, I presume) and taking it to Saturn where there’s free beer, room for all the punks, and “a godless town, where they build a church just to burn it down.” As a bonus, there’s an awesome surf song called “Water Boarding.” The hand-drawn insert is punk as fuck with a zine-like aesthetic. It’s just good times all around.
–Craven (Self-released, thebudgetpunk@gmail.com)
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BROONIES, THE:
Mid-Life Crisis: CD
Mid-Life Crisis is seven songs and thirteen minutes of crazy, rough, dirty-sounding punk. There’s certainly a ‘60s garage influence here, but from the moment I started listening to Mid-Life Crisis I couldn’t help but think this would be right up the alley of many a Razorcake listener. There are exciting bursts of energy that come through their music, such that I imagine The Broonies put on a good live show. They’re not afraid to tear it up and also be a little lo-fi and odd. The first track, “Hello Up There,” is a good example of this with its range of vocals and sound: screaming and spoken vocals, a Hawaiian guitar, trudging discordance, and a lo-fi mix. Not bad. While I got this on CD, you can also download it for free on The Broonies’ bandcamp site.
–Kurt Morris (aaronfreifeld.bandcamp.com)
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BROKEDOWNS, THE / WIDE ANGLES:
Split: 7"
The Brokedowns maintain a strong sense of melody and cohesion as they cram a lot of parts into their hardcore anthems. Their three songs sound like revved-up versions of the songs Paddy sings for Dillinger 4. Cool. Save for some techy guitars, Wide Angles don’t do much to expand on the Hot Water Music template. Two songs. The cover looks like late ‘90s zine art, and that makes me happy.
–CT Terry (cassettedeckmedia.net)
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BRIMSTONE HOWL:
Singles Collection: Cassette
Noisy garage punk with a real NickCave fixation would be the best way to describe this. I remember this band having several records out a few years back but don’t remember seeing anything recently. They are from Nebraska and this is a collection of their 7” single tracks. Fans of the majority of the output of In The Red Records would probably really like this band.
–Mike Frame (Rainy Road)
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BLOWBACK:
Greed Runs the Clock: 7" EP
Any band that can get a couple of Dons (Zientara and Fury) involved in the recording of its music should be on to a winner. Not only that, but when the band has a significant amount of chops of its own to add into the mix, the results should be more than above average, at least. Coming out with guitars and drums blazing in an oddly Big Black style, this soon moves into a more standard angry punk / hardcore sound with a clear enemy to focus that fury towards. There is a bit of early Circle Jerks to be heard here, certainly on “Rats in the Middle,” where the vocals are reminiscent of Keith Morris. Musically, this manages to be varied enough over four tracks to sound fresh throughout, with quite a scratchy guitar sound that provides edginess to the proceedings. “Cassandra’s Lament” is the standout track with spoken word elements that are like a less manic Jello Biafra, leading into a catchy yelled refrain of, “The smoke stacks reaching in to the sky.” Blowback manages to cram an awful lot into under three minutes on this one track. The final track, “Smoke Break,” has a surprisingly comic feel to it, showing that punks can display a sense of humor even when remaining mad at the world. Certainly, this is one worth checking out. –Rich Cocksedge
–Guest Contributor (String Break, stringbreak.com)
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BLOODY GEARS:
Landscapes of Disease: LP
I’m not totally sure how I feel about this band. I get the Hüsker Dü comparisons, but I also hear a lot of darker ‘80s references like early TSOL and even 45 Grave. The guitar tone and the vocal approach lean a lot towards that gothic-influenced punk, but it doesn’t sound like it’s jocking a style. The rhythms are almost danceable like Joy Division or—as a stretch—Rudimentary Peni, and the singer croons with a raspy but confident approach. When the melodies reach outside his vocal range, he strains to hit the notes, making him sound desperate—like he’s standing on the tips of his toes, stretching out his whole body for something out of reach. The way the guitar riffs are arranged reminds me of fellow Deranged band White Lung, but the approach is far less aggressive. This record makes me feel anxious and out-of-sync, and I think maybe the members of the band felt that way when they were writing these songs.
–Ian Wise (Deranged)
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BLOOD POLLUTION:
Monster Truck Man: CD
The good part about bands writing lyrics in English when English is not their native tongue is that it can give them a wider audience. The bad part is that it can make them sound like a bunch of fucking assfaces to a wider audience. I’m not talking about little grammatical errors. I’m talking about lyrics that discuss the “race problem.” Here’s another nugget (typos included): “sluty girls make lots of noise bout equal rights, so boys looks like a women, when girls just wanna fuck, of course there have place some hi feeling shit, but after 3 cans of cheap beer they’ll fall to love pit.” I’m more confused than offended. Please write your lyrics in Russian, Blood Pollution, so I can ignore your music simply because it sucks without having to wonder what the fuck you’re trying to say.
–MP Johnson (bloodpollution.bandcamp.com)
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BAISEBALL:
Hot Stuff: 7" EP
I have no idea what the hell this French squad’s band name is all about—like, are they talking about one of the testicles of the bass player from the Devil Dogs?—and i don’t understand their English lyrics substantially better than when they’re singing en Français—but this band is spring-wound and tight and on their shit, and that’s largely all the lingua franca a sage consumer needs, ain’t it? Tuneful, rockin’ punk shit which gets extra points from me because their Eddie & The Hot Rods cover isn’t the best song on the record. I also think the skull and crossbones on the front cover is actually pretty cool; when’s the last time you heard me say that? I guess adding the sunglasses and the brain helped. Eat shit, Napoleon! Baiseball are storming your Bastille! BEST SONG: “Hot Stuff” BEST SONG TITLE: “We Are The Fame.” Hey, it’s original! FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I think this is the only record i own that’s got a guy wearing a Buzzcocks t-shirt depicted on the label.
–Rev. Norb (Stress)
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BADDAT FOR TRUBBEL:
Det Här Ar Inte New York: LP
A mix of garage, punk, some early Sixties…This is okay over all. There’s not a whole here that really gets your attention, outside of the really good “Sån är livet” with its saxophone. It’s as though all the songs on here are leading up to that one moment where they have this one really good song. After that, these songs are just kind of there and lack any real fire. Very tame and sterile. After a few listens, I’m still “ehhhh.”
–Matt Average (1-2-3-4 Go!, 1234gorecords.com)
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BABY GHOSTS:
Let’s Always Hang Out Together, Okay?: CD
Super, super sugary girl and boy-fronted indie pop. Some of the songs have little electronic 8 bit sounds to them, but it’s mostly just pure candy pop. It’s awfully cute with its anime-inspired cover and a ghost theme to all of the songs—too cute—but it’s not bad. I wouldn’t listen to it on my own time, but I wouldn’t kick someone out of bed for putting it on, either.
–Craven (Self-released)
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AWKWARD AGE:
Demo: CD
Sometimes I feel bad for bands that totally missed out on the era when their genre of music was cool. Awkward Age is playing breezy pop punk that skateboarding teenagers would have loved fifteen years ago.
–Lauren Trout (Self-released)
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AUTONOMY:
The Art of Work in the Age of Digital Reproduction: LP
Musically, this is pretty good. Kind of like a politicized Pornography-era Cure: crashing guitars, a dark and plodding bass, tribal to minimal percussion. A very dark and moody sound. However, the vocals really ruin this. Sometime he does a good job of it, but all too often the emotion is overwrought, or he just sounds flat. It’s really hard to overlook this and just listen to the music.
–Matt Average (Dirt Cult, dirtcultrecords.com / Social Collapse, socialcollapserecords.bigcartel.com)
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ATOMIC BRIDE:
Dead Air: CD
This Seattle five-piece includes dual male and female singers with two guitars, bass, keys, and drums. Dead Air is comprised of ten songs that play out over thirty-eight minutes. The sound seems influenced by surf and garage punk, and emerges reminiscent of the B-52’s. When I was in fifth grade back in the 1980s, I went to a carnival at the college in my hometown and my friends and I had a video made of us pretending we were a band and lip-syncing to “Love Shack.” If I remember correctly, I played the keyboard. It was pretty funny.
–Kurt Morris (atomic-bride.com)
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APACHE DROPOUT:
Bubblegum Graveyard: LP
I was hesitant to review this album initially since I’m friends with the group and was in a band with vocalist/guitarist Sonny Alexander. But hey—I didn’t buy too many new records this month, so here I go! Second full-length from these Bloomington, IN rockers and their second release on Chicago, IL label Trouble In Mind. I don’t want to say this album is more straight-forward than their last, but the vibe is less eerie and the vocals are less reverb-y. Apache Dropout often gets tagged as “psych,” but I don’t necessarily agree (I’d consider ‘em more Troggsian). They obviously rock in a ‘60s way, but avoid the trappings of what I associate with psych, like silly analogies to tangerine dreams and green grass skies. The songs’ subject matter is pretty reality-based, like long drives in the Midwest (“I-80”) or powerful orgasms (“Katie Verlaine”). Good bass tone that grooves. Drums are low in the mix and keep the drive simple, what we around here call the “caveman beat.” Drummer Seth Mahern was the singer of the late John Wilkes Booze, Sonny is/was/will be in too many bands to remember and bassist Nathan, well you know what, I can’t remember off the top of my head what other bands Nathan has been in, besides the greatest frat rock cover band since The Sonics, Sir Déjà Doog And The Wasted Knights.
–Sal Lucci (Trouble In Mind)
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ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE:
Brain Damage: 12" EP
This is well-played and passionate thrash / crossover hardcore. I’ll give ‘em that, but it’s really generic. And without a lyric sheet or any other information on the band, I find it hard to make this throwback record relevant. I have no idea where this band is even from. The only thing I can figure out is that the lead singer likes to perform shirtless. I was curious about the song “Night Terrors,” another boring thrash song on the album that I might have gotten something out of if there were printed lyrics. You see, I have Night Terror Syndrome. It’s a shitty sleep disorder that’s pretty hard to live with. Most people don’t know what it is, so when the term is used, it’s usually used to describe nightmares. If this song is actually about night terrors, it would make it relevant and meaningful to me. However, no lyric sheet.
–Craven (Social Disease)
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ANCHOR:
Recovery: LP
Seems like the past few straight edge records I’ve picked up have been a cut above all the shit that has come out in the past twenty years, especially in the lyrical department. Along with Poison Planet, and a few of the other bands I’ve heard on Refuse (which seems to be the world premiere straight edge label these days), Anchor put a lot more thought into their lyrical subject matter. They sing about apathy, and the political implications it has, animal rights, the eternal search when you feel lost, and more. Never really delving into clichés, or taking the safe and tired path. Musically, they draw from the past couple decades more than the usual ‘88 source. The style is modern with effects added in the studio for more emphasis on certain lyrics or to add a little more punch in the music. The guitar dominates the sound with a heavy and loud drum sound right behind. There are some straight up rock elements here as well, but done in a way where it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s more in the breakdowns and some of the riffs. The vocals are loud and shouted, but the words come across clear, and, at times, you can hear some cracking, which I like. Pretty good record. It comes housed in a gatefold cover with and a twelve inch lyric booklet with a bunch of well-produced photos. Whoa!
–Matt Average (Refuse, refuserecords.prv.pl / refuserecords@gmail.com)
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ALL OUT WAR:
Truth in the Age of Lies: LP
A well-done reissue of a very important piece of metalcore history. This is from a time when there was no defined aesthetic for the genre; it was just something that happened when some punk kids from a few cities around the U.S. decided to try their hand at metal. The original run of this record came out over twenty years ago when these guys, along with bands like Integrity, helped set the scene for the Victory Records craze of the late ‘90s that turned into the awful Ferret Records bullshit that hit later and had less and less in common with the punk scene as it evolved into generic drop C riffs and karate moshing. This is a record by a group of five fuck-ups who had the same goals and intention of any other hardcore band at the time: put out a record, hang out with your friends, and maybe open for some good bands. How far have we fallen? There’s no point in talking about the way the band sounds, because I imagine that I won’t change anyone’s opinion by talking positively or negatively about them. I will only mention that this reissue sounds fucking fantastic. Organized Crime did a great service to the original design and sonic qualities of this record and it’s refreshing to see a reissue of a higher profile release that’s more than a shitty digital cut of the record thrown inside a flimsy cardboard sleeve for sixteen bucks.
–Ian Wise (Organized Crime)
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ALASKAN:
The Weak & the Wounded: 12" EP
Heavy and drawn-out modern metal that seems to have influences by bands like Kylesa and From Ashes Rise, but with some late 1990s emo introspection parts in the songs. The vocals are dry in sound and delivery. It’s as though they’re really trying to give the songs more power by screaming their heads off. But despite all the things they do in the songs, from the time changes, movie samples, and all that, the songs don’t have any real grabbing power. They tend to drone on and on, building up this wall of sound, and it goes nowhere that you would want to follow as a listener.
–Matt Average (Dwyer, dwyerrrcords.com / Moment Of Collapse, info@momentofcollapse.com)
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ALASKAN / CO-PILOT:
Split: LP
Very well produced post-rock that has that repetitive, hypnotic thing going for it. I find that my mood greatly affects how I feel about this record and this genre in general. The whole of it reminds me of Explosions In The Sky (a comparison I’m sure both of these bands would scoff at), but with doomy metal parts thrown in. The Co-Pilot side has no vocals and just trudges on for a full ten minutes. It constantly feels like it’s building towards something, but it’s all tension and no release. While I see what they’re going for, I don’t think they do it very well. Some of the riffs build up considerable momentum, but they create a feeling of aggravation in you before just changing to something else instead of resolving the issue presented. If there was a narrative or real structure to it I could see the merit in their sound, but this all sounds like it was made to define itself with the aesthetic rather than accomplish a clear goal. The Alaskan side provides a clearer statement of intent, and the vocals do help steer the listener towards their endpoint, but I still feel like they may have just mic’d all the instruments and hit “record” with no clear idea of where they were going to go.
–Ian Wise (Treaty Oak)
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ZULUS:
Self-Titled: CD
Bauhaus, Specimen, and some of the most notable of ‘80s U.K. goth punk is resurrected by these blokes out of NYC. Where others have resorted to imitation as flattery, Zulus has reformatted the old standard of Peter Murphy cries and thrumming bass lines. “Kisses” draws on a whale call of a guitar chord to flesh out a cacophonic death knell of relationships past. The tail end of the album turns the corner toward hardcore punk on “Tremolo” with a spastic crescendo of drums and guitars. The production is a little muddy, but their revamp of ghouly tunes shines through the flotsam. Those who own Tones On Tail and The Chameleons UK, take note. Who says every day isn’t Halloween? Recommended.
–Kristen K (Aagoo)
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ZEBRAS:
Self-Titled: LP
The sides of the LP were recorded a couple years apart, and it’s interesting to trace this band’s evolution. Basically, Zebras are a skewed, gloomy metal band with a Moog. The earlier material borrows the surging dynamics of chaotic hardcore, while the newer stuff was recorded with a more precise drummer, and moves into Today Is The Day/Am-Rep territory. It’s got catchy moments and brutal moments and the whole thing is just recorded with bile. Certainly not a fun listen, but definitely a good one.
–CT Terry (Secret)
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WOLVES AT BAY:
Only a Mirror: LP
Prototypical, unintimidating emo-core with Victory Records-styled production values. You’re looking for Decibel, guys. Not us.
–Juan Espinosa (Animal Style)
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WHITE WIRES:
WWIII: LP
After two nearly flawless LPs I would have thought impossible to say that White Wires have really stepped it up on this record, but that’s just what they’ve done. So yeah, if the two previous records were almost perfect, I have to say that this record is about as perfect as it gets. The intermittent jokey songs that I always found a bit off-putting on their previous records are gone, leaving room for fourteen infectious garage pop singalongs without a hint of filler. And perhaps this record is a bit more “mature,” but it’s still unmistakably a White Wires record. In fact, I’ve yet to think of a single suitable comparison, which is great when you realize that their songs generally consist of between two and four chords. Brilliant!
–Chris Mason (Dirtnap)
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