Now that we only have a total of 3 hours of sunlight per day (when we get sunlight) it's leaving me more time to listen to music instead of being outside like an idiot, right? So before I start compiling a 'year end' list I ought to maybe take stock of what just came through my speakers over the last month. And, jeez, these bands just don't let up. They just keep releasing records! What the heck! So I threw in a book too this time around.... which is about records.
CLOSET WITCH, “Chiaroscuro”
It’s been a few years since this midwest band graced us with a new record and when it finally comes out- and hoo boy was it worth the wait- they go and announce they’re going on some kind of hiatus. Well then, fuck me right? It’s fine. I’ll just rip this record over and over again and spazz out in my living room, lurking neighbors be damned. It’s really a perfect amount of music for a grind (more or less) band- 13 songs, 19 minutes. Anything more might be overkill, and the best bet is to leave people wanting more. Closet Witch definitely sound better and just a tad bit more structured than their last full length, where they certainly bow at the alter of Full Of Hell with less reliance on metal and noise (though there’s a bit of that to be found), as well as contemporaries in fellow Midwest grind maniacs Cloud Rat in terms of how well they execute this ridiculously fast pace while keeping things pretty chaotic too. Here’s to hoping they grace us with some shows, or more music not too long from now. But if not, well, this is one heck of an awesome record. (Zegma Beach)
DRIP-FED, “Leap For the Fountain” EP
I’ve been singing this bands praises for awhile now and here they go surprise-dropping this new EP on us all. So listen up, because I’m gonna sing some praises again. This band has done a great job, over the course of a couple of albums, of combining rowdy and raging hardcore punk with really inventive and catchy melodies making for some ridiculously fun songs. On this new EP they go in even more on the melodies and deft musicianship to create parts that can be a bit tricky, but still rattle around your head like the earworms they are. I think their last album, the exceptionally excellent “Kill the Buzz” had a little more aggression going for it overall in comparison. Still, this is a quality addition to their catalog, filled with clever lyrics, brief songs (4 tunes in 10 minutes is all you need honestly), and lots of fun riffs made for making you and your knucklehead pals run around in a circle and bouncing off each others heads. (self-released)
DUST MUSCLE, s/t EP
If this hadn’t been recommended to me by a peer whose musical opinion I respect I wouldn’t have had any idea this existed. Keeping it real low key dudes from Yautja (and formerly Coliseum) drop this EP full of off-putting ugly rock. They go for a lot of those more jangly clean tones with the guitars, but the garbled screaming and menacing structure of the songs make the whole thing sound kind of nauseating. I don’t mean in some gore-y death metal sort of way. More like a very uncomfortable feeling of everything around you being sort of messed up and disorienting. I’m sure it’s intentional. Don’t get me wrong, it still rocks. You just might need to throw up after you’re done rocking. (self-released)
“ESTRUS: SHOVELIN’ THE SHIT SINCE ’87” by Alpert Coyle and Scott Sugiuchi
I leaped at the chance to get a copy of this well ahead of it’s actual release date because while I don’t necessarily have an obsessive love of the Estrus Records catalog (which, if you do, I get it) I am an ardent fan of their whole ‘thing’- their consistency, their DIY ethic, their ‘family’ approach to working with bands, their making of a scene unto themselves, their willingness to try all sorts of crazy ideas, and most of all their art/presentation. I absolutely love how their records were put together, the logos, their ads, and all the fun that went with it. And a lot of that is due in large part to the tireless mountain of work Art Chantry put into much of the art direction of the label. Now this book looks pretty fucking fancy, but some of it was also present in the Art Chantry-specific book “Some People Can’t Surf” from quite awhile back. So I already had a familiarity going into this. However, this is a book about the record label. I’ve never been a huge garage rock guy, so aside from some more known bands in here (Man…. Or Astroman, The Makers, Mono Men, Southern Culture On the Skids, etc) much of this was unfamiliar to me. Yet the story of the label, and founder Dave Crider, was one I could relate to- energetic guy in a small town (Bellingham, WA) realizes not much happening in his town, starts a band, turns it into a label, books endless shows at a hole in the wall dive bar, things pick up, and the scene comes to him, label flourishes into one of the most prolific purveyors of trash rock in the world with an astounding dedication to their craft, both in sound and art and things are good. It’s what every small label out there hopes to achieve. So yeah, I like this story. I like the art even more. This is a hell of a good-looking book and it’s filled with cool stuff. (Korero Press)
EX EVERYTHING, “Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart”
Here’s four guys who clearly worship at the alter of the tangled and warped punk beauty of Drive Like Jehu, as much as they do the forward-thinking complex mathy hardcore of Botch. As another group in the Kowloon Walled City family of bands (as well as like a million other bands) those highlights are present in terms of the perfect tone of the guitars, the expert level of musicianship, and the crispy clean recording. So all those elements right there make Ex Everything worth at least a listen. However, their songs err a bit on the long side and finding a hook amongst it all can be quite the exercise. Their influences are clear, but can get a bit too involved for my taste, and thus some of the immediate impact you get from the first couple tracks starts getting a bit lost as the record winds on. I will say though, having just seen them live their energy on stage is incredible and they can go toe-to-toe with any hardcore band half their age on that front. But if you’re putting this on at home or something for a deep listen it’s take awhile to compartmentalize what they’re doing because they’re doing a lot. (Neurot)
FEVER SLEEP, s/t EP
The local fellas in Fever Sleep come from a long line of countless other bands and convened together clearly because they are lifers who just can’t stop the endless cycle of band addiction. Yes, we see it time and time again- these healthy young people pick up a guitar and it ends up being a gateway to the stage, and even when they try to stop- starting families, getting ‘real’ jobs, having kids, getting old- that demon keeps calling them back. Why, some of these people have 4 or 5 bands going at once! Some can count off dozens of bands they’ve been in over the years; their eyes sunken, pockets empty, flannel shirt tattered. Thankfully, Fever Sleep say ‘yes’ to band addiction and keep the devil in business. I’ve seen them a bunch, as they mostly operate at the local level, and I gotta say, the songs on this new 12” have a much darker and somber feel than how it all comes off live. I don’t mean that in a bad way. These are still energetic and heavily melodic grizzly punk songs. Yet there is a darkness, a cold melody that permeates throughout these tracks that alludes to bad times, tough situations and maybe, just maybe, the glass pipe of (dun, dun, dun) band addiction! (Thirty Something Records / Ashtray Monument)
GREAT FALLS/ RADIATION BLACKBODY split 7”
Yes, this is the third record Great Falls has released this year. But to be fair I think all the material was from the same recording session. Still, thanks an insane amount of output for a band so complex and emotionally devastating. And also to throw it all out there when they got a new drummer who put his mark on a bunch of these songs within the space of just a few months. Anyway, this is the last of it and it’s another fastball, face-smashing slab of almost grind at the beginning followed by a crushing, collapsing sort of riff at the end. If you heard the “Funny What Survives” EP earlier this year it’s very in line with that group of songs. On the flip side is Radiation Blackbody, a duo that I had no idea was still going. RB is 2/3 (or just the rhythm section) of long-defunct noisemongers Anodyne who absolutely punished eardrums through non-stop touring in the early aughts. Radiation Blackbody formed soon afterwards and they’ve just gotten weirder since. They toss out a blast of instrumental bass/drum knotty riff-mangling that will suit your interests if you enjoy Voivod if they smoked crack. It’s a quick little offering but comes with kind of a hefty price tag because 1) it’s a fairly small pressing and 2) the leverl of badass-ness that went into screenprinting these covers and assembling them is some next level shit. Pretty to look at, ugly to hear. (Ancient Temple/ 7 Degrees Records)
PAINT IT BLACK, “Famine” EP
It’s so good to see this band back with a relatively longer offering (still an EP though for all intents and purposes) where the band seems to give a bit of everything they’re known for. The first couple tracks (as well as the 30 second ripper “Serf City, USA”) go for that fast, direct, “CVA” hardcore style. Meanwhile, “Safe” takes on more of that overtly melodic style as heard on their second LP, “Paradise”. From there we get some of the fucking-with-convention experimentation the band tried out on “New Lexicon” with the rhythmic pounding of closer “City Of the Dead”, as well as the harrowing “Exploitation Period” where the bulk of the song is just a creepy bass line and vocalist Dan Yemin shouting his always compelling prose over it while strange background noise filters through. And I can’t say “The Unreasonable Silence” recalls anything from any of their other records, but it’s seriously the closest thing to a new Fugazi song since…. well, Fugazi. Paint It Black, 20 years on, still make important records with engaging, vicious music and I still consider Dan’s lyrics to be some of the most well-written screeds against the world at large- clever yet direct, insightful while still harsh. Just like their music. (Revelation)
RID OF ME, “Access To the Lonely”
Rid Of Me has always excelled at somber, emotionally-wrenching slow burners, and then all-out crushers and there is no point on their second LP where that is not on display more than the back-to-back tracks of “Gutted” and “Hell Of It”. The Philly crew really went all out on this one and put their all into it, and I imagine they are darn proud of it. I think it’s an overall exceptional effort with stronger and more developed songwriting, as the group has really gotten their footing (a lot of touring and members having played together in previous bands helps too). The record leans more into the slower, more melodic stuff with a sort of permeating sadness or remorse, though they often add a hefty dose of distortion to it all just to drive the emotion home. I’m always a fan of when they’re more upbeat (the aforementioned “Hell of It”, or “Libertarian Noise Rock”) because they can beat you within an inch of your life with a riff. The real challenge is bringing that emotion and they have truly managed that well. (Knife Hits)
TRAINDODGE, “The Alley Parade”
Truly a band’s band, Traindodge are the secret kept for the last 25 plus years that every band worth their salt in post-hardcore rock aesthetic knows about and worships, and yet amongst the masses they’ve remained largely unheard. But in all those years they have failed to release a dud of an album (and they have a bunch of albums). I remember hearing about this band in the late 90’s, whispered by other Midwest legends such as Giants Chair, Shiner, and Boys Life with reverence. Years later, when I had the pleasure of working with Portland post-hardcore rippers Prize Country they went and did a split with the group and I thought, ‘they’re still together?’ Fast forward another 10 years one of the Traindodge guys lives in Seattle and has a band up there and once again I thought, ‘they’re still together?!’ And FINALLY, over the spring I actually saw Traindodge live and witnessed just why so many bands hold this group in such high regard. Sure, they all look like the most dad of dad rock bands, and to an extent they are. However, you will be hard pressed to find a group whose sound is so pitch perfect, present, loud, and full. Their music is brawny but soulful, heavy but taut and precise, thoughtful without over-thinking it, and it simply rocks very hard. This is a great addition to their already exceptional canon of work. (Spartan Records)
