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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 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 | 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
SUBMARINE SPACESHIP:
Self-titled: CDEP
This two-man band consists of a drummer and guitarist and generally has an indie rock style but with some strong drumming. The guitars seem to not come out and bite as much, though. Submarine Spaceship’s self-titled EP has eight tracks, some of which are titled after such celebrities as Brian Wilson and James Dean. The songs are short and there are a couple of throw-aways, but this seems like a good start. Evidently, these guys morphed into Bright Effs but they have since broken up. Oh well.
–Kurt Morris (Gnarly As I Wanna Be!)
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SUBMISSION HOLD:
What Holds Back the Elephant: CD
These female vocals are trying way too hard to be pretty. Somehow it reminds me of Zounds. Of course, that is if Zounds became a terrible hippie indie rock band. The bass guitar thumps through tracks and the guitar melodies carry along so redundantly they still can’t compensate for the art they are blatantly failing to create. I can imagine their shows having interpretive dancing, incense, and mimes. Vegan mimes. The songs’ lyrics are translated into three different languages—which is a spectacular idea—but whatever language, it isn’t my cup of tea. Gabe Rock
–Guest Contributor (G7 Welcoming Committee)
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SUBSET:
Dueling Devotions: CD
Jimmy got to Razocake HQ before
me and all he left me to review was this lousy CD.
–Donofthedead (Tight Spot)
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SUBSISTANCE:
Bleed, Sweat & Strive: CD
Dunno if it’s just me, or the current state of society or what, but it seems to me that so many punk bands big on proselytizing about revolution and change don’t really say anything specific. This has many of the same trappings of the anarcho-punk bands of yore, right down to its gasmask and crossed Billy clubs logo, and there is some talk in the lyrics about revolution, turning in blank votes, and living in a police state, but direct attacks on the power structure, the corporate money stream that funds it, the politicians who put a face to the system and the media that spreads its messages are largely absent. Is it out of fear that no mention of Bush, Blair, or Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper can be found, or that any corporation or media outlet is named outright as a problem? Really not trying to be facetious here—I really wanna know why the Dixie Chicks seem to be more “punk” and are more direct in voicing opposition than most of the spikes and leather set. The music? Polka-tempo hardcore, clean catchy and not particularly provocative.
–Jimmy Alvarado (subsistanceband@hotmail.com)
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SUBSONICS:
Die Bobby Die: CD
This Atlanta band has been keeping it crunk for so long that i have forgotten whatever it was i once knew about them, and now only remember that there was once something i knew about them but that i no longer know it. But at least i know i don’t know it! As it stands, the band reminds me about five percent of Love, five percent of Cher, about ten percent of the U-Men, and the other eighty percent of Lou Reed-slash-the Velvet Underground, from the period beginning after (but not including) White Light/White Heat and ending before (and also not including) Metal Machine Music (not surprisingly, the singer/guitarist /head dude goes by the telltale moniker of “Rockin’ Clay Reed.” Hmm... i wonder if he’s related to the dad from The Brady Bunch?). That is to say, not a bunch of flipped-out crap with cellos, nor a bunch of brain-blistering distorted guitar wig-outs, but that whole economical-yet-powerful approach of records like VU (a posthumous Velvet Underground collection that is actually their third best album) and/or Transformer (minus the whole he-she aspect of things). That is to say, they sound sort of like a cleaned-up Guided By Voices, but forced into a more traditional bass/drums/guitar framework, or sort of like M.O.T.O., but not punk/punkish. The whole affair is occasionally untidied by the fact that Rockin’ Clay Reed’s vocal register is a bit higher than Sweet Lou’s; therefore, in songs like “Why Don’t You Give Up on Flowers,” the entire faux-Velvets vibe is kinda wrecked by the fact that Lou Reed wouldn’t be singing that high in that key, which, in turn, brings to mind the old tale about how Eric Clapton started shooting heroin because he heard it would give depth to his voice, like it did for his idol Ray Charles. I played this album twice, then listened to the first four Velvet Underground albums in a row, which, as far as i can tell, makes Die Bobby Die a gateway drug of substantial insidiousness. Not at all a bad record. BEST SONG: Believe it or don’t, i like “Don’t Answer the Phone,” but i’ll also throw in “Garbage People” to maintain punk cred. BEST SONG TITLE: “Why Don’t You Give Up on Flowers” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Packaging is made to resemble the “Golden Book” series of children’s picture books.
–Rev. Norb (Slovenly, www.slovenly.com)
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SUBTONIX:
Too Cool for School b/w Rich Boys: 7"
With an up-front saxophone and a strident female vocalist, it's almost impossible to not mention that they sound a lot like X-Ray Spex, but beyond the easy comparison is an extremely edgy, all-girl Italian five piece that aren't mining cemeteries and fucking musical corpses. At times, the sax comes across exactly like a siren, and the vocalist isn't so much interested in sounding as operatic as Poly Styrene, as she seems to be choking back and lashing out, which definitely serrates their edge. In the background is a band that sounds like they could be on Rip Off Records; well recorded lo-fi tension wrapped nice and tight around a steady beat. What a nice suprise.
–Todd Taylor (Vida Loca)
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SUBURBAN & COKE:
It’s My Party and I’ll Get High If I Want to: CD
Punk rock trio from Perth, Australia wins the award for nastiest album cover ever. But it is the music that’s important here, folks. The songs are sharp and quick and most are under two minutes. “History ‘N’ Shit” and “Mosquito Whiskey” will earn repeat listens with me. Unfortunately, after two years of raising hell, it looks like these dudes have packed it in. Oh well, they can always reunite in five years.
–Sean Koepenick (Self-released)
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SUBURBAN NOISE:
El Sonido del Suburbia: CD
Italian emo/pop punk in all the horrifying hues those words imply.
–Jimmy Alvarado (sp-records.com)
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SUBURBAN SHOWDOWN:
Any Minor Inconvenience Must be Eliminated: CD
Suburban Showdown’s one of those bands that you’ve heard approximately one trillion times before and you most likely know well before you actually hit the play button if it’s going to be your thing or not—it’s gruff and growly and repetitive and firmly entrenched in all the trappings of crust punk. All the requirements are here: A-B-A-B rhyme schemes, stark black and white graphics, a Discharge cover. However, they’re also keeping things at a relatively amped-up pace—we’re only looking at ten songs—and they’ve managed to tackle an interestingly broad range of topics, both as punk consumerists and those in the outside world. Ultimately, they’re pissed, and there’s a great howling undercurrent of fuzz on those guitars, and while this particular genre is pretty played out for me personally, there’s no doubting the fact that Suburban Showdown manages a pretty nice attack here.
–Keith Rosson (Rodent Popsicle)
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SUBURBANITE:
Self-titled: 7”
This is another New York that sounds more like a Boston skinhead band from the ‘80s than they do anything else. I know the description makes the band sound apocryphal, but if this brand of top notch hardcore is becoming a trend, I wholly welcome it. If SSD had written songs about how isolated and awkward they were in the mid- ‘80s instead of making a bid for commercial success (and gotten a vocalist worth a shit), How We Rock may have sounded something like this. “Not the Same” is one of the meanest hardcore songs I’ve heard in a long time and the chorus riff is devastating. I like bands that play fast but can pull off slow songs without losing any of the fury. The record has an anxious and paranoid feeling throughout and I get the same feeling reading the lyrics to this as I did when I heard No Comment for the first time. I listened to this like eight times while writing this review and now I don’t trust anybody.
–Ian Wise (Youth Attack)
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SUBVERSE:
Aural Regurgitations: CD
Subverse were a late ‘80s Vancouver thrash band who toured with MDC. This thirty-three track CD collects their EP, split 12” and demo. While their metal/hardcore fence riding sounds kitschy in 2012, they play with a newness and sincerity that makes this totally kick ass. If you’ve ever risked life and limb to steal a Metal Blade tape from your older brother’s room while he was in the garage huffing paint, Subverse will hit a pleasure center. Snap it up if you like Voivod and Anthrax.
–CT Terry (bosstuneage.com)
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SUBVERSIVES, THE:
From Here… to Nowhere: CD
This is supposed to blow – older looking American (or living in America) guys going back to UK punk roots. It’s an activity that’s been whipped more than a mistreating slave. But, for some inexplicable reason, this CD isn’t only catchy solely an old familiar way. (Like, “Ooh, nice Partisans riff” or “so that’s what the Toy Dolls would sound like when they’re pissed” or “Man, the best of Cock Sparrer, that’s some great shit.”) The Subversives have actually introduced new wrinkles to a genre that I thought had been dry cleaned, hung up on a rack, and sold back as new to bondage pants-wearing teens at the mall. So, if you’re at the store and your hand’s burning from touching Total Cash Register, and you want something that’s heavy, catchy, and you don’t feel like they’re singing solely to sell records to thirteen year olds with tall hair – and you like U.S. Bombs’ War Birth or Dropkick Murphys Do or Die – this ain’t a bad soundtrack to spend an evening playing darts or bowling to. Thumbs up.
–Todd Taylor (Charged)
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SUBWASTE:
Broken Machine: CD
Fresh and clean-sounding street punk. Soaring guitars and lots of gang backup vocals. I would have expected myself to listen to this once and move on, but it’s really growing on me. I really like the singer’s voice and the songs are catchy in a good way. I’d say this is better than anything that Dropkick Murphys have put out lately, but not as good as Street Dogs, if that makes any sense to you.
–Ty Stranglehold (Warbird)
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SUBWASTE / TOMMY GUSTAFSSON AND THE IDIOTS:
Split: CD
Wow, total sleeper hit of
this issue. Wasn’t expecting much at all from this, and then both bands just
blew me away. Terrific stuff: catchy and anthemic. Owing heavy nods to their
fellow countrymen in Bombshell Rocks and Smalltown, every song is so goddamn
bright and hook-laden, I was singing along by the second time I ran through
this, and that’s saying something. Using the framework and template of, say,
the first few Stiff Little Fingers records but updating and modernizing it;
goddamn, what’s not to like, right? Subwaste’s the more jagged of the two, if
only because of the fact that the vocalist’s got that extra ounce of snarl in
his pipes. TG&TI are swimming through similar (rad) waters, but they’ve got
a very slight rock/rockabilly thread buoying up their end of things. It’s
albums like this, ones that totally come out of left field, that make me so
stoked to review for yon ‘Cake.
–Keith Rosson (Warbird)
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SUBWAY SECT:
1978 Now: CD
Contrary to what happened later, there was once a time when punk was more about how you approached music than what you played. Just take a listen to Wire, The Ramones, Billy Bragg, The Slits, Television, and the Weirdos one after the other and you’ll see what I mean. One of the odder, more interesting bands to come out of the first wave of English bands was Subway Sect. Led by Vic Godard, the band’s lack of full-on distorted guitars and arty take on pop music stood in stark contrast to the hullabaloo of bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash (the latter of which they shared a manager, Bernie Rhodes), but their output was just as vital and edgy as anything their more popular peers produced. Although the original lineup managed a single, Rhodes sacked the bulk of the lineup while the band was in the midst of recording its debut album, and all but the song “Ambition,” which proved to be a popular single, was lost to time (although rough mixes have apparently been bootlegged over the years). Some thirty years later, Godard and most of that original lineup have decided to rectify that situation by going into the studio and re-recording the album. Given the length of time that has passed, the result is surprisingly good, with the songs and the performance both retaining the necessary vigor to give it that needed punk edge, and the quirkiness of the songwriting keeps them sounding very much “ahead of their time,” even thirty years down the line. While those who think punk is solely about Black Flag, Ramones, Rancid, and any band that sounds like them, will no doubt be sorely disappointed, those with a broader understanding of punk’s role as wrecker of the status quo will find this to be one of the genre’s most important releases.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Overground)
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SUCKINIM BAENAIM / ACHZAVOTH:
Split: EP
Fuckin’ horrible! Suckinim Baenaim sound like Black Flag dialing in a version of Process of Weeding Out. Some decent riffs, but the jams go into a black hole and are forgotten about as quickly as you hear it. Achzavoth are annoying with their keyboard tone that sounds like a busy signal. The vocals are shouted and moaned, and are shrill and nasally. The stop/go time signatures are tedious, the lyrics are disposable, and this record was a waste of petroleum and money.
–Matt Average (Family Business, myspace.com/familybusinessrex)
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SUEDEHEAD:
(so) Frantic: EP
Second four-song vinyl EP from this new southern California band featuring members of Hepcat and the Distraction. The first single from Suedehead was an instant classic, so expectations were high for this one. This band perfectly combines mod, soul, two tone, and Britpop influences into an amazingly strong sound. In some respects, it comes off a lot like what Style Council were trying to do, but instead of being unlistenable it is some of the best music I have heard in years. The second single continues that trend, I am happy to say. Great vocals, amazing songs and playing; this sounds like a band that has been together for five years and toured the world. In reality, they are just getting started and I cannot wait to see where things go from here.
–Mike Frame (I.S.R.S.)
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SUFFERING LUNA:
Blood Filled Bong: Cassette
Blood Filled Bong is one grotesquely weird, innovative metal tape. It’s a seven part movement, starting with an intro/skit of a ritual, in which, cops, immigration officers, oil company CEOs and filth of that ilk are getting decapitated. You hear their blood being poured into a bong, then the gurgle and huff of someone taking a giant rip. Then the first song kicks in, it’s a thrashing, snarling number with some crazy industrial bleeps and screeches. This is followed by a slow, dirgey number with ambient growling vocals and thick, layered washes of sound. From there they build tension with a noisy, atmospheric bridge and then pick up the pace a bit. Things move like this, variant, but always heavy. Eventually, I lose track and it becomes the one long piece that it’s intended to be. It all ends with a wing nut, paranoid Leftist rant, which makes absolutely no sense, but sounds awesome. This is enthralling, menacing anarcho metal for the strong of heart.
–Craven (To Live A Lie )
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SUFFERING MIND / PROTESTANT:
Split: 6” EP
I have a few odd size records, like the 5”, or the 10” and 8”, and most of them are pretty disposable—more about the novelty of size than the actual music. Not the case here! This six incher is a crusher! Protestant don’t disappoint and just get better and better with each new release. Their two songs here are definitely some of their best material. They open up, go for it, and cause a lot of damage in the short amount of time allowed for the format. Heavy and fast, with a good dose of low end, the sinister atmosphere doesn’t bog down the delivery. These two songs have a way of working themselves into your memory with only a couple listens. I just know I’m going to be mentally referencing “No Peace” sometime in the next week, “Dig deep! Dig deep!” Suffering Mind are more on the grind side, with the pummeling percussion and abrasive dual attack of guitars and vocals (one high, the other throaty and gurgly). I’ve set my standards for grind incredibly high in recent years due to the sheer amount of shit bands playing this style. Suffering Mind definitely stands out above the pack and should appeal to anyone who likes music that is a bit heavy and, well, brutal. Their two tracks go by in a blur, but it’s a damn nice blur.
–Matt Average (Halo Of Flies, halooffliesrecords.com, To Live A Lie, tolivealie.com)
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SUGAR DADDIE:
Hell or High Water: CD
Anything with this much pirate imagery can’t be all bad. Yet, I don’t suppose that these guys knew there was going to be a movie with the same name as their song, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” when they started recording. Musically, this is sort of a grunge with Cookie Monster vocal thing. Lyrically it’s a weird sort of cock rock meets children’s rhymes, with an Andrew Dice Clay sort of twist. “Mother Goose just got an abortion from a man named Dr. Seuss,” is an actual line. Dr. Seuss appears again later to steal the singer’s wallet in another song.
–rich (Thorp)
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SUGAR EATER:
American Idle: CD
On the whole, a fairly uninteresting six minutes wasted on faux-snotty, smart aleck punk and a limp (no pun intended) cover of the Circle Jerks’ “Operation.” That said, let me say that if you’re in a so-called “punk” band and you feel the need to do a “clean” version of one of your songs, especially when the bass player goes by the first name “Fellatio,” then you really need to reassess your involvement in this punk thing, ’cause it’s painfully obvious you just don’t get it.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Eyephat)
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SUGAR SKULLS:
The Waking Hour: CD
Every time I hear the first (title) track, I want to say it sounds exactly like (LA’s) X, but as the rest of the business flows past me, I have to eat that thought (it’s okay; it tastes like Lucky Charms). Boy singer and girl singer weave a harmonic cat’s cradle over bouncy-but-not-frantic instrumentation – instrumentation which often includes a small horn section that lends texture rather than asserting itself as horn section per se. There’s at least one cussword if that’s your criteria, but mostly it’s just a charming, sometimes pretty, mid tempo listening pleasure.
–Cuss Baxter (BAK)
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SUGAR STEMS:
Beat Beat Beat: 7”
I’m not sure what a sugar stem is, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that this band is amazing! Super catchy power pop/pop punk. Two songs. Both so catchy, great vocals (vocal gender note: female! Yay!) Kinda Riff Randells-ish, and quite possibly better than the Riff Randells, which is quite the feat! Plus they’re from Milwaukee, my hometown. Plus, the cover art features teeth playing guitar and drums while holding a lollipop! If this were a cereal, it’d be Froot Loops! Yum! Yum! Yum! If this band released an LP, I can’t imagine it not being in my top ten of the year, unless NoBunny released ten LPs! If you like power pop and you don’t get this, you are dumb!
–Maddy (Bachelor)
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SUGAR STEMS:
Greatest Pretender: 7”
Two tracks of cute and cuddly pop punk with vibrant, clean-toned guitars and a vocalist who sounds an awful lot like Cyndi Lauper at times. If you’re into the power pop bands on Burger and worshiped the Dangerloves, then you’re in for a treat.
–Juan Espinosa (Certified PR, certifiedprrecords.com, sugarstems.com)
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SUGAR STEMS:
Like I Do: 7”
Perhaps it’s somewhat unfair to review this single when the rest of my review materials consisted of raging hardcore releases, but I’m confident that I can remain objective. That said, I’m really not feeling this at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on the sweeter side of punk rock (I was in The Steve Adamyk Band, for Pete’s sake), but Sugar Stems are just a bit too, I dunno… twee for my liking, I s’pose. I’m sure there are a shit-ton of pop punk nerds who’ll be drooling all over this, but I guess I just don’t see how this even begins to fall under the punk umbrella. Meh.
–Dave Williams (Certified PR)
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