A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Vapids’ Revenge Therapy LP. Beyond a certain point, it’s understandable how fans of any given punk band lower their expectations of new albums, when they’re announced. Part of that might have to do with the age of the band playing a role; whether they admit it or not, fans of four-chord punk expect the bands making the music to be young and snotty. It could be argued that such is the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Crisis Actor LP by Billy Liar. It feels unlikely on the surface because, like Henry Ford, punks often want to proclaim that, “history is bunk” – but the fact is that some of the permutations of punk rock that have passed through the mainstream are possessed of an undeniably accessible quality. Even on first listen, sometimes there’s just something about the music which is capable of hooking listeners really really hard...
WHO: NOT WHAT: Stop the World WHY: I did not think Stop the World would make such an impact on me, mostly because I didn’t think I could ever get used to the vocals. I still don’t think I like the vocals, but Stop the World sounds like a love letter to ALL; every note, every guitar solo, every melody, every tone. For someone starving for new ALL material (“two new albums, one instrumental”), this album is a reminder of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Dwarves’ Concept Album LP. To say that The Dwarves have been around and weathered a lot of pop cultural storms is an understatement. Since forming in Chicago in the mid-Eighties, The Dwarves have reinvented the concept of the revolving door; they’ve gone through band members (dozens of them – but guitarist Pete “HeWhoCannotBeNamed” Vietnamecheque and singer Paul “Blag Dahlia” Cafaro are the group’s core members), record labels (at least five) and...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Volores’ Ages LP. It may come as a surprise, but there’s a reason that I elected to review Ace Of Wands’ newest LP and Ages by Volores back-to-back: the albums feel like the work of two bands who could easily share a stage or a tour together. Both bands’ sounds feature a bit of goth and alt-rock in their artistic/creative DNA but, where Ace Of Wands clearly features some classic rock in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Heavy Machinery EP by SLIP-ons. There aren’t many ways for a band to write songs which sound unmistakably similar to the work of another group without sounding derivative. The only way that it’s possible to walk such a narrow and treacherous line is to be completely ignorant of it; the band in question just has to bull their way in and boldly be themselves – and any similarity that the group...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the On Further Reflection EP by Wrong War. At this point, now decades since hardcore reshaped the face of punk rock, it would be easy for someone who isn’t a part of the punk community (isn’t a fan) to not understand how anyone could get excited about “another punk 7”.” Really, that there’s a form and structure in place is impossible to deny; guitars are distorted, songs are fairly simple, lyrics normally...
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crashby Brendan Mullen (Editor), Don Bolles (Collaborator), Adam Parfrey (Collaborator) Are the Germs the best worst punk band of all time? Their album G.I. had some absolute bangers on them, but unfortunately, the band was led by a narcissistic art student who was more interested in manipulating people than actually making music. Also, the only good live show they played was their last one. Does that negate itself? I don’t...
Brutal YouthRebuilding Year Sometimes there’s an itch I just can’t scratch. Sometimes you’ve given up on scratching that itch until someone unexpectedly hands you the perfect backscratcher. Finding new music can be an impossible ordeal. Most people’s taste in music sucks after all, but in reality, the more you listen to music, the more you know what will speak to you. Every year it’s a never-ending cycle of listening to new music that have been recommended by friends and magazines...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Porterhouse Records reissue of the View From The Bottom EP by The Modernettes. What Porterhouse Records has been doing over the last couple of years has proven to be pretty thought-provoking. The label had already established a name for itself – releasing deluxe edition vinyl reissues from bands like Circle Jerks, Urge Overkill and All – but keeping a second hustle releasing reissues by even more obscure artists has really proven...