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Record Reviews1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | 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| < Prev Section | Next Section >  RSS Feed
GBH:
City Baby’s Revenge: CD
Some records are really hard to listen to, not because of how good or bad they are, but rather because of what they evoke. This one is just such a record. I have so many memories tied up around this band and this album, from assorted fights to assorted drunken parties to being drunk and fighting at assorted gigs. It seems like it was last year or something when this was originally released and it’s actually been nineteen years. Nineteen fucking years. That is an absolutely mind-boggling concept, one my mind almost has trouble grasping. Yeah, it’s still a damn fine album. Yeah, the lyrics are still okay at best and the folks at Captain Oi were kind enough to include the “Give Me Fire,” “Catch 23,” and “Do What You Do” 45s on this. Yeah, I highly recommend it to those not familiar with the band Mykel Board once called “Great Big Hug” (a name that rolls outta my mouth in giggles every time someone mentions ‘em) although I will do so only after I tell them to pick up the Leather, Bristles… and City Baby Attacked by Rats albums first. But good GOD, has it been a long time! I usually try hard not to get all nostalgic for the “old days” or anything, but I’m listening to “Drugs Party in 526” right now and I just can’t seem to help myself. Don’t know about you all, but I’m gonna buy me a 40 of OE, put this puppy on LOUD and remember a time when buying a GBH shirt at the local mall was a completely alien concept.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Captain Oi)
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GBH:
Midnight Madness and Beyond: CD
This is the album where GBH and I parted company. There are some mighty fine songs on here. The songs that didn’t seem so hot so long ago are actually not so bad after all and the sound that made them huge can still be found in there somewhere, but the metal that was always bubbling under the surface began to become more prevalent and that, kiddies, made all the difference.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Captain Oi)
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GBH:
No Need to Panic: CD
By the time this one came out, I, and most of those I hung out with at the time, had pretty much written off GBH as yet another once-good band who’d sold their soul to rock’n’roll and stopped payin’ attention to ‘em (to be honest, today is the most GBH I’ve heard in one sitting in more than a decade). Damn shame I didn’t stick around for one more album, ‘cause this one is actually better than its predecessor. The metal is kept pretty much in check, the songs are pretty good and the tempos sometimes reach the speed of their Sick Boy days. Excuse me while I eat another heaping mouthful of crow.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Captain Oi)
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GBH:
Ha Ha: CD
Sounds like a demo. All the songs so far are the same speed as "Catch 23," too. In short, nothing to write home about, although the title "Sado Methodist" made me giggle.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Go Kart)
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GBH:
Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne: CD
At long last, a reissue of this legendary band’s greatest work, and all I can say is it’s about friggin’ time. This is it, kiddos, their finest hour. While the work that followed was by no means terrible, this is GBH at their best, a standard they have often come damn close to but have not quite surpassed over the years. Compiled on this beautiful hunk of plastic are the Leather Bristles, Studs and Acne mini-LP, the Sick Boy EP and the No Survivors EP and every song here, from the opener “Race Against Time,” through “Lycanthropy” past “Self Destruct” and to the closer “Am I Dead Yet,” is a classic. To sweeten the deal, they’ve included the original record’s “hidden” track, “Alcohol,” which makes its digital debut here. So mandatory it ain’t funny.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Captain Oi)
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GC5, THE:
Kisses from Hanoi/ Horseshoes and Handgrenades: CD
Glory be. It’s cool to hear from Razorcake #13’s cover boys, even if it’s a re-release. The increasingly more difficult to get Kisses from Hanoi LP, originally released by Outsider, cozied up to the Horseshoes EP, makes for some prime Cleveland fuck the man listening. This is the era where the GC5 came into true form. They shed the growing skins of being very sonically close to Rancid, established their footing, planted a political flag right in the ass of corporate America, and began making songs that simultaneously makes one want to raise beers and burn WalMarts to the ground. With lines like, “And I strive to bite the hand that's feeding me at last/ And carry on the banner of the working class/ When I'm dead on my feet or shackled to the beat,” you know what you’re getting. Gritty, while retaining class-act songwriting, they sound like a super amplified and pissed-off gang of Johnny Cashes, updated to suit today’s discriminating punk tastes. By all means, that’s a great thing. This is their most political work (Never Bet the Devil Your Head became more personal.) Some of these songs are four years old and I still pull them out and crank them on.
–Todd Taylor (Thick)
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GC5, THE:
Never Bet the Devil Your Head: CD
Just when I thought everything had been said and done with street punk and the genre was starting to play itself out, along came this new GC5 album to destroy all my preconceptions. I’ve been trying to figure out what sets the GC5 apart from all the street punk bands that came and went within a year or two of that first Dropkick Murphys album. I scratched my head over this as I listened to this album again and again. Finally, I realized that it’s not one thing that sets this album apart. It’s everything. It’s the fact that they owe as much to the Workin’ Stiffs as they owe to Cocksparrer. It’s the new energy and anxiousness they bring to their songs. It’s their ability to stick a slow, acoustic song in the middle of the album without killing the flow of the album and without coming off as a second rate bar band. It’s the way they can sneak outlaw-country-style lyrics reminiscent of Waylon Jennings or Kris Kristofferson (yeah, Kristofferson’s a weenie of an actor, but he was a great songwriter) into their songs, like this one: “I got my education in the ivory halls/ Found the pulse of the nation on truck-stop toilet stalls.” It’s the way they completely rip off the Swingin’ Utters in one song, yet somehow get away with it. It’s little bits and pieces, and the way they all fit together. I got their first album, Kisses from Hanoi, a couple of years ago and have listened to it consistently since then. I was hoping their follow up album would be as good, and Never Bet the Devil Your Head definitely holds up against their debut. The lyrics are less political on the new album, but there’s still a lot of great lines. And the wanking guitar solos from the first album have been replaced by more solidly constructed songs. It’s a fucking awesome album.
–Sean Carswell (Thick)
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GEARGRINDER:
Demo 6-06: CD-R
Although “sloppy, spastic thrash” is an apt description of what this Minneapolis band does, they’re actually more accomplished than that description would lead one to believe. They are, indeed, speedy in their delivery often, but they also throw in different time signatures to keep you on yer toes. The lyrics are pretty danged good too, coming off as almost literary in some places. Not bad at all.
–Jimmy Alvarado (no address)
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GEARS, THE:
Rockin: CD
Dionysus reissued this album over a year ago, but since they were nice enough to send it to me and because it's such a good album, I figured I'd review it. This is a reissue of the Gears 1979 album, "Rockin' at Ground Zero," plus their "Let's Go to the Beach" EP. The original is a great album. The Gears played a twisted kind of sixties, Southern California rock'n'roll, kind of like a greaser Clash before The Clash went disco. You can hear the hot rods in the parking lot and bounce along with Axxel G. Reese's singing and feel like dancing and even get invited to dance with "Don't Be Afraid to Pogo." You can also hear very clearly who dominated the Cramps stereo before the Cramps started a band of their own, or who X started out ripping off. I guess it's always this way, but I still get surprised when I think of bands like the Cramps and X garnering all the praise for being punk visionaries while listening to the Gears and seeing where that vision came from. And, unlike a lot of old punk reissues, the Gears really could play and still sound cool in 2001. I'm just stoked to have this on CD.
–Sean Carswell (Dionysus)
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GEARS/D.I.’S, THE:
Rockin’ at Ground Zero/Rare Cuts: CD
Rockin’ at Ground Zero is one of those releases that anyone even remotely interested in underground music should have in their collection, period. No discussion, no hall pass, no excuses. Yes, it is indeed that goddamned essential, a pitch-perfect example of what happens when girl-crazy, A-bomb fearin’ teenage brats intent on giving punk a rockabilly undertow instead stumble upon bona fide art. It’s been released in a number of incarnations and formats over the past nearly thirty years, and this time they’ve augmented the album’s original fifteen tracks and the oft-included three-track Let’s Go to the Beach EP with five additional demo tracks, so if you happen to be one of the total dweebs who has yet to procure a copy, now’s the time, bucko. Not long after the Gears threw in the towel, Axxel and Dave started a new band, the D.I.s, and for the next few years L.A. punkers confused them with Casey Royer’s band D.I., another legendary Southern California punk rock band in its own right. Axxel ’n Dave’s band took the Gears sound as its foundation and veered off in a number of interesting ways, first following many of their early Hollywood punk peers into roots rock and then slowly adding in some of the hard rock and glam influences that, by the end of the ‘80s, dominated the L.A. club scene. Collected on Rare Cuts are twenty-two tracks spanning their ten-year existence and feature a slew of sidemen who made their bones in some of L.A.’s greatest bands. Maybe it’s age, ’cause I clearly remember seeing the D.I.s a number of times when they were around and really not thinkin’ too much of ’em, but what I’m hearing here causes me to revisit that assessment. Most of what’s here complements Rockin’ at Ground Zero quite nicely, illustrating what happens when you get enough of a chance to take an idea so far that you end up back where you started, which is pretty much what happened—as I recall, once the D.I.s bit the dust, the Gears were back in action, and they’ve more or less remained so ever since.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Hepcat)
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GEE STRINGS, THE:
A Bunch of Bugs: CD
There is nothing subtle about The Gee Strings. For instance, there is a song on this album called “Let’s Make Up and Screw”. Straight ahead, aggressive, catchy punk rock with lady vocals. I liked it while I was listening to it, but forgot it as soon as I turned it off.
–Jennifer Whiteford (Dead Beat)
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GEE STRINGS, THE:
Bad Reputation: 7"
I’ve often sat and pontificated: What would have happened if Penelope Houston of the Avengers didn’t become a big, German adult contemporary pixie after her divorce from punk rock, and instead secretly was in a German band that fucking ripped it in relative obscurity? Weirder things have happened. If we didn’t have stuff like history, facts, and figures, you can just lay back and imagine The Gee Strings picking up where the Avengers dissolved. I can bask in that quite nicely. The b-side, “Dullish,” is the gem. No flabby skin, no reek of cashing in, just perfect punk. The cover of the tune that Joan Jett made famous, “Bad Reputation,” ain’t too shabby, either.
–Todd Taylor (Stereodrive! c/o Green Hell)
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GEE STRINGS, THE:
Arrest Me: CD
Jean-Luc at Headline Records convinced me to pick up a copy of this album. He told me that they sounded just like the Avengers, but with something more to it. And he’s right. Like the Avengers, The Gee Strings have really cool female vocals and good melodies. But there is something more to The Gee Strings. I wouldn’t say that they’re better than the Avengers. Just that The Gee Strings have learned how to speed up the mid-tempo, catchy songs. There’s a good variety to the songs, so that, even though all the songs do have a lot in common with each other, listening to the album doesn’t sound like you’re listening to the same song twelve times in a row. And, if you listen to it enough, each song is guaranteed to get stuck in your head for one full day. If you’re thinking that you need to listen to more female-fronted bands, here’s a good place to start.
–Sean Carswell (Dead Beat)
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GEEKS, THE:
Dreamland in Machineland: 7"
Strange piece of vinyl here. Two songs from 1982, courtesy of a band that apparently started playin’ bebop in the late ‘60s and later added punk to their sound. What’s it sound like, you ask? Imagine the Cows if Ornette Coleman was their chief songwriter and he was in a pisser of a mood. As can be expected, me likey lots.
–Jimmy Alvarado (S-S)
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GEHENNA:
Negotium Perambulans In Tenebris: CD
Fast, punishing hardcore rage, reminiscent of long-gone DC greats United Mutation. I can't understand a fuckin' word he's sayin', and the lack of a lyric sheet doesn't help matters much, but he sure sounds pissed about whatever it is he's singin'. This is well worth whatever you pay for it, and I suggest you seek it out. Now.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Crawlspace, PO Box 41031, Long Beach, CA 90853)
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GEHENNA:
Negotium Perambulans In Tenebris: CD
Fast, punishing hardcore rage, reminiscent of long‑gone DC greats United Mutation. I can't understand a fuckin' word he's sayin', and the lack of a lyric sheet doesn't help matters much, but he sure sounds pissed about whatever it is he's singin'. This is well worth whatever you pay for it, and I suggest you seek it out. Now.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Crawlspace)
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GEHENNA:
Land of Sodom II & O.D.R.I.E.P.: EP + CD & Flexi
As anyone who’s ever been privy to experiencing their Negotium Perambulans in Tenebris album can attest, one doesn’t so much listen to Gehenna as be assaulted by them. Void is the only band I can think of at this moment that can swim the dark mooshy waters between hyper-speed hardcore and metal in such fucked up ways and not only get away with it, but somehow carve a psychopathic cubbyhole all their own. Wave after wave of bludgeoning sonic virulence comes crashing down on you in short, sharp wallops, and just when you think you’re coming up for air, here comes another to drag you gasping down to the bottom. Collected here is a “redux” of an earlier release that apparently had some availability issues when first released, plus a CD with the Upon the Gravehill album in its entirety accompanying the tracks from the vinyl. The flexi, a limited edition item available only by ordering the EP directly from the label, consists solely of a barnburner of a cover of DRI’s “Yes Ma’am,” recorded during the sessions for the aforementioned Negotium album.
–Jimmy Alvarado (A389)
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GEHENNA:
Negotium Perambulans in Tenebris: LP + 7” EP
Most metal-tinged hardcore—or hardcore-tinged metal, whatever—does fuckall for me. Too often it’s too pretentious, too quasi-macho, or too boneheaded for me to spend more than a few minutes paying attention. Gehenna’s 2000 debut album has always been one of those exceptions for me, something that shits all over both worlds and ends up its own feral beast. From the opening salvo of “First Blood” to the final assault of “One Way to Die” eleven tracks later, Negotium… is an unrelenting shower of caustic slivers of rage set to tempos that rival DRI in their pre-Crossover prime. Yes, the metal is there, but instead of an endless barrage of chugga-chugga-guitarsolo-chugga-chugga, it blackens the core of what would otherwise be another exercise in speed, adding seething virulence and heft instead of wankery. This time around they’ve included their version of DRI’s “Yes Ma’am,” an outtake from the session previously available as a limited edition flexi, and a three-track bonus EP limited to three hundred copies that contains a couple o’ comp tracks and an alternate version of “Bite It.” If you missed it the first time ‘round, I highly recommend you get it while the gettin’s good.
–Jimmy Alvarado (A389)
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GEIN AND THE GRAVEROBBERS:
Gruesome Twosome: CD
Two discs packed full of horror-inspired surf music. Disc one is the band’s Songs in the Key of Evil album, along with the Humanoids From the Deep EP. It’s perfectly executed, but bland. Disc two is where the good stuff is. Their Passion of the Anti-Christ album draws inspiration from metal. It’s about as ominous as you can get while still staying in the sunny realm of surf.
–MP Johnson (Necro-Tone)
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GEISHA GIRLS:
In the Monotone b/w Last Touch: 7”
I’m encouraging the shit out of this latest crop of art rock, post new wave rock’n’roll that borrows not only from the usual suspects (early, pre-disco Wire and Gang Of Four), but brings in kung fu lessons learned from clenched fists and tightened vocal chords, like the Middle Class (who they cover) and Street Trash (the band that Mike, the drummer, was in), which lends a nice bit of knuckle to the suspected, angular flexibility. Nice, nice, nice. Fits right next their contemporary neighbors who I also admire muchly: The Fuses, Manikin, and Headache City.
–Todd Taylor (Project Infinity)
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GEISHA GIRLS:
Self-Titled: 7"
I’m probably gonna get hate mail for this, no doubt most of it from the band, but “In the Monotone” reminds me of Robert Smith fronting a buncha dudes tripping on early U.K. post-punk. Don’t get me wrong, the song is seriously fucking good, as is the Middle Class cover on the flip, but homeboy sounded like he was very much in touch with his inner Cure.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Project Infinity)
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GEISHA GIRLS:
In the Monotone: 7"
It's never a good thing when the record's meant to be played at 45 rpm, but seems like it would be better at, I don't know, 100 rpm. Ack. I blame my complete and total sugar addiction and immaturity for not really liking this. I need fast songs that make me jump up and down! Yes, I am really that stupid! This is early ‘80s-ish new wave, but not at all in a 20/20, The Beat, et.al kind of way. More, um, collegey? More, uh, graduate school? If this were a cereal, it'd be one of those cereals that are in the health foods aisle instead of the regular cereal aisle, so only the non-plebeians buy 'em. Ack!
–Maddy (Project Infinity)
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GEISHA GIRLS:
Self-titled: 12” EP
There’s definitely a strong Gang of Four feel here, with Robert Smith-ish vocals, which may sound like charted territory in their own rights. Geisha Girls have created something that is interesting and inventive, without coming off as overly arty. The bass and drums seem to keep everything grounded as the guitar or vocals ventures, giving it a balanced and full sound. The bassist is also in the Checkers, and the drums are the sweet beats of none other than Sexual Chocolate of the Four Letter Words. The recording (by Lavin of Civic Minded Five and Dan of No Fraud) captures the rawness without sounding muted or hollow. Only 500 copies made (on three different colors of vinyl, no less) available directly through the band or Disgruntled mailorder.
–Megan Pants (jsr, geishabooking@hotmail.com)
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GEISTER:
Night Terrors: 7”
Alternatively eerie and sexy, this horror-themed, mid-tempo Canadian band is an original treat. Dual male-female vocals reminiscent of X with creepy lyrics and a goth tinge make for a very fun ride. The vocals are quite rangy, going from pretty to ugly screams quickly, which is great. Fans of horror punk wanting something less cheesy than the psychobilly cornball shit that’s so popular these days won’t want to miss out on Geister.
–Art Ettinger (Moloch, molochrecords.com)
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GENDERS:
Self-titled: EP
Six hardcore bursts spinning on all cylinders but without much gas in the tank. A watered-down version of Find Him And Kill Him.
–Juan Espinosa (Prgnt, no contact info)
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