Pure Intentions is a hard hitting punk band first emerging in the Chicago scene in 2020. Since its formation by Joe Asshole and Tommy Volume, they have since added Judson Jones in 2024 to become its current standing trio. During that time, these guys have spread their gritty sound by touring the United States while gaining a strong following along the way. On January 30, 2026, the band released its debut self-titled album, Pure Intentions, with a promise that it “brings that classic raw energy that has been missing from music,” according to the band’s official website. This LP starts “Nocturnal Aggression” with a thunder of sound with the drums leading the charge. It’s fast, it’s gritty, and the guitar definitely demands your attention. I immediately picked up the “classic raw energy vibe” that this band advertised. It reminded me of my high school days standing in driveways listening to the band playing from the garage. “Vindicate” has a certain fight song quality about it and has the catchiest chorus on the album. Get ready for a screaming guitar over a steady drum beat. It has just enough controlled chaos to fire up a crowd and get them rowdy. Throw … Read more
Ok full disclosure, I sung backups on (allegedly) three of these songs and one song is a cover (albeit a … Read more
Heather The Jerk is a project from Madison, WI musician Heather Sawyer -- a scrappy punk band with garage and … Read more
If you were lucky enough to catch Toys That Kill live last year, you were maybe treated to a set … Read more
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If Myspace, YouTube, and various messegeboards have shown me anything in 2006, it is that kids love to mosh. From videos of kids moshing in their bedroom, living rooms, classrooms, and even in the middle of the street, kids across America love throwing the fuck down. The problem is that the soundtrack they are wind-milling and spin-kicking to is complete garbage. I hear song after song of girl-panted eyeliner sissy boys whining about their ex-girlfriends while ripping off the worst of At the Gates and Throwdown. Kids, I give you the new soundtrack to homestead annihilation, Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six from the Chicago hardcore band The Killer. Better Judged by Twelve than Carried by Six is no less than 13 tracks of metallic riffing, double bass … Read more
Split LPs can be a gamble, but Talk Trash With lands squarely like a swift kick to those tender testicles dancing in the steel-toe-boot category — ten tracks of loud, unpolished punk mayhem that feel tailor-made for sticky floors, smoky blue air (ahh, remember those years?), piss puddles for those who can’t miss a note, and the smell of a … Read more
Citric Dummies might be the band I saw live the most often in 2025, yet I put off a thorough review of their latest LP until the calendar turned to 2026. Anyway, Split With Turnstile, besides having a great title, continues the band's garage-punk sound that draws from a deep array of influences from eggpunk to '80s hardcore while mostly … Read more
Breakup records usually announce themselves with a band. There is betrayal, shouting, and doors slamming shut. Finis Amoris Est, the new EP from UK post-hardcore outfit Pageant Mum, takes a different route. It’s a record about what happens after the blowup, when the noise dies down and you’re left alone with the quieter, harder questions. Across these four tracks, the … Read more
Pat Todd is a roots rock and roll incarnate — a relentless road dog, grinding it out night after night with his hot-as-buckshot band, The Rankoutsiders. His shows are raw, electric, and lived-in, a testament to decades on the road. With a career spanning over forty years, Todd has earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working men in the … Read more
If you like your pop melodies wrapped in fuzz, your shoegaze grounded in real songwriting, and your records best experienced front-to-back on a quiet night, Dewey’s debut is absolutely worth your time. There’s something disarmingly unpretentious about Summer On A Curb. Dewey don’t arrive with a manifesto, a scene-policing attitude, or a sense of calculated cool. Instead, this Parisian quartet … Read more
There’s a certain kind of band that makes sense immediately once you see them live. Place Position is one of those bands. Before Went Silent ever landed on my speakers, I caught them at a show I played in Dayton, and they were the kind of band that quietly steals the night. There were no theatrics, no posturing, just total … Read more
Hailing and wailing from Soweto, South Africa, rising from the ashes After The Storm comes pounding like a fierce berg wind. Don’t let this trigger your ancraophobia; they are only here (hear) to rip your sagging, middle-aged flesh from your living corpsicle sonically. Ah, Daddy—yes, Son—tell us about a time when punk was raw, dangerous, and would generally stomp your … Read more
There’s a certain honesty that only comes from bands who’ve spent years playing to half-filled rooms, basements with bad wiring, and bars where the PA is optional. ANTI BODY, the new LP from Brooklyn emo punks Awful Din, sounds like it was built in those spaces. Not as a gimmick, but as lived experience. This is a record that feels … Read more
As I review Mariachi El Bronx's latest album, IV I'm not going to pretend I'm well-versed in the deep cultural tradition that inspired The Bronx to adopt this project well outside of their fiery hardcore "main project." Instead, I'll grade it on "do I like it" merits. And I definitely dig the rhythmic and festival Latinx flavors. If you're familiar … Read more
There’s a fine line between dark rock that feels theatrical and dark rock that feels transportive. On Death Knocks, Hoaxed land firmly in the latter. This is an album that doesn’t just flirt with atmosphere but commits to it fully, wrapping heavy riffs, melodic hooks, and occult-tinged drama into something that feels natural and not staged. Three years in the … Read more
There's a time to be cerebral and there's a time to tell it like it is. Carnivorous Flower lives by the latter. Their debut has 10 songs: 18 minutes in total. Each of the songs is catchy as heck and you can pretty much singalong on your first listen. It's "simple" punk with peppy energy and a lot of heart. … Read more
Richmond, VA has always had a way of bending punk into something sharper and stranger, and Sub/Shop feels like a direct product of that tradition. Their EP democatessen isn’t a debut in the wide-eyed sense but a statement from musicians who’ve already spent years inside heavy, confrontational music and are now choosing precision over spectacle. Across six tracks, Sub/Shop delivers … Read more
One-eyed wind-up dancing eyeballs boppin' and weavin' with Scott "Deluxe" Drake and Jeff Fieldhouse from the one and only and never replicated the almighty "The Humpers". I was lucky to see them back in the 90's in Toronto at a hot, sweaty club in the dead of summer, back when there was a blue hue of cigarette smoke, a faint … Read more
Surely by now, you’ve heard their name. Joyce Manor have been writing soundtracks for heartbreaks and hangovers for nearly two decades now. They create short songs with their hearts on their sleeves, while sticking to that distinct Southern California mix of self-deprecation and sincerity. From the lo-fi charm of their 2011 debut to Never Hungover Again’s cult-classic status and the … Read more
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