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| 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
FED UP:
Sheer Poetry: LP
Weak ass bro hardcore played by knuckle-dragging imbeciles whose IQs are consistent with the number of their collective toes and fingers. If this steaming turd is “poetry” then the JerseyShore is Broadway theatre. I didn’t even bother listening to side B. No one should.
–Juan Espinosa (Welfare, welfarerecords.net)
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FANGS OUT:
Speech Shadowing: CD
Minimalist post-punk stuff from a group that appears to be a duo with other musicians occasionally pitching in when the need arises. The mood of a lot of the stuff here is kinda gray, as opposed to “dark,” though they are savvy enough to temper the inevitable artiness with enough pop sensibilities and end up with a tune or two that are gloomily danceable.
–Jimmy Alvarado (etxerecords.com)
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FALSE ALARM / YOUTH GONE MAD:
Split: CD
This phenomenal twenty-seven song split CD includes a full length from each band, with each featuring celebrity cameos. The Youth Gone Mad album includes some guest vocals and instrumentals from Dee Dee Ramone and the False Alarm album includes Cheetah Chrome, Rick Wilder, and De De Troit. Tragically, the singer of False Alarm (like Dee Dee Ramone) died a drug-related death a few years back. It’s hard to dissociate these bands from drugs, with almost every track taking on an aura of heroin punk. The final track, “Dee Dee Deceased” by Youth Gone Mad, is an eerie tribute if ever there was one. In any event, this non-glamorous set of albums needs to be heard.
–Art Ettinger (False Alarm, myspace.com/falsealarmrecords)
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FAINTEST IDEA:
Ignorance Is This: CD
This is on the better end of bands that sound like Rancid. The vocalist is better than usual, which I am finding is pretty key when you are playing in this arena. I don’t have to tell you that there are ska songs. The weird thing about this band to me is that the horns are ongoing. I find the horns a little distracting when the band is not playing ska riffs, but I guess you can’t have those guys just standing around like the Saturday Night Live band during a monologue. These guys are good at what they do; I’m just not that into Rancid.
–Billups Allen (TNS, tnsrecords.co.uk)
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FAG ENABLERZ:
God Hates Fag Enablerz: Cassette
No doubt the name caught my attention. Plus it set my expectations pretty high. I figure if you’re going to have a name like that, you better have the music to back it up. Something tough, something offensive, something good. Instead, the music on here is run of the mill punk rock without much of an edge or bite. “The Watcher” is their best track. It’s a mid tempo crawler with darkness. The type of song you listen to while driving around L.A. at night. “I Love You” is the other song on here (there’s six total), which is a bit of a quick tempo song that has a bouncy rhythm. It bogs down at one point when they slow the tempo down and speak then yell the lyrics over a drum and bass break. If they shaved some time off this song and focused it, then it would have been a better tune. A lot of filler on this one.
–Matt Average (heavychongo@gmail.com)
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ELF POWER:
Self-titled: CD
Athens, GA outfit that have been around for awhile, including a stint playing with Vic Chesnutt. There are eleven songs on here that fly mostly under the radar. Other than the fuzz-bass bomb on “The Concrete and the Walls,” there wasn’t too much here to draw me in. The artwork is pretty cool, though. Fans of low-fi twee pop may get a kick out of this one, but it was not my bag.
–Sean Koepenick (Orange Twin)
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ELECTROCUTIONS, THE:
Locked Gates/Lonely Roads: CD
Rock solid Dirtnap-tinged punk stuff with politically charged lyrics. The vocals aren’t the strongest aspect to this—in spots it almost sounds like a live recording—but they more than make up for it with good songwriting and on-point playing.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Big Neck)
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DRYCONDITIONS:
Into the Night (Black Light): CD
Swiss “post-hardcore,” which in this case translates to vaguely edgy pop stuff that could easily be slipped into the lofty echelons of alt-rock radio fodder.
–Jimmy Alvarado (808records.ch)
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DRI:
The Dirty Rotten EP: 7”
I wish I could say that this was my introduction to DRI. But, alas, I was a teenage butt rocker and the same older cousin who turned me onto Iron Maiden (or “the Maiden” as we referred to them) also lent me a copy of Crossover. And while I didn’t hate it, it didn’t live up to the tales of security guards being thrown through walls full of mirrors at a rather unruly concert attended by my aforementioned cousin. Being a bit unimpressed with the album, I largely ignored any and all DRI releases for a long time. Especially the ones where it seemed as if their hair just kept getting longer. It wasn’t until I heard Capitalist Casualties’ take on “Dennis’ Problem” that I was encouraged to give them a second chance, which meant taking a chance on purchasing a CD. You see kids, back in those days you had to actually go to a record store, search through racks, and pray to whatever deity you believed in that they had what you were looking for. Finally, you had to decide whether or not it was worth shelling out the money. CD’s have always been expensive, but back then you didn’t have the option of downloading a file online for free so you couldn’t really argue with the prices no matter how ridiculous they were. (Not to mention being the only punk kid in the record store with no one around to vouch for the purchase.) Buying the Dirty Rotten EP CD was the best decision someone else ever made for me, but even better than that was when they let me borrow it and then forgot about it. This was the DRI I was hoping for. The DRI that crammed an incredible twenty-two songs of pissed-off hardcore that remain timeless and largely unmatched in relevance and intensity. If you’ve never heard DRI and you fancy yourself a hardcore fan, you simply cannot go wrong with this record, presented here on lovely colored vinyl and on its original format. This is the holy grail of classic American hardcore punk.
–Juan Espinosa (Beer City)
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DRESDEN:
Final Hour: CD
Crust trappings—apocalyptic art, long strums on downtuned guitars, thrashy beats, metal riffage, growly/shouty vocals—coupled with often personal lyrics. This pigeonhole is usually not my preferred go-to spot, but these cats ain’t bad at what they do.
–Jimmy Alvarado (profaneexistence.org)
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