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Safety

Greetings From the Sunshine State
Jetsam-Flotsam (2021)

Safety are far from a new band, but they’re new me. Heck, Greetings From the Sunshine State even sounds like a debut album title. Anyway, the band has been kicking since the early 2000s – which actually explains a few of the sonic comparisons I’ll make in this review of their new EP and first release since 2015’s released Congratulate … Read more

Tribulation

Where the Gloom Becomes Sound
Century Media (2021)

This is not the record that I would want to be Tribulation's swan song. However, if that ends up being the album's legacy, I will not be surprised. The group started out as an above-average brigade of blackened rock and rollers with overt death metal influences on 2009's The Horror. Within the next four years, the band would learn to … Read more

LMI

Excess Subconscious
HANDSTAND RECORDS (2020)

Oh my god, where should I start with this one? Saying you’re something doesn’t make you that thing! Just because this band smokes weed does not make them the genre “stoner punk.” LMI process elements of hardcore, punk and stoner music. But not the parts I enjoy about those sounds. Their logo and various cover illustrations are the most honest … Read more

DeeCracks

Serious Issues
Pirates Press (2021)

DeeCracks is not exactly new to the punkrock scene. Starting out as The Cretins in 2003, rebranding themselves to DeeCRACKS in 2007 this Austrian trio has some experience under their belts. Serious Issues is their fourth full length album. Next to that they have released a string of splits and EP’s. So I am surprised that Serious Issues is the … Read more

200 Words Or Less

The Dirtiest

Sovranista
Slovenly (2021)

Uno- Due- Tre- Quattro! Wowza, that’s a spicy meat-a-ball! A bubbling pot of Marky Ramone primo pasta sauce with a healthy dose of Calabrian Chillies will have this handful of Italian punk Rock traveling down your gullet, down to the cauldron of acid-eating liquids, and catapulted back up like a gigantic slingshot of acid reflux. Buzzsaw Johnny Ramone blistering cheese … Read more

Weekend Dads

Future Hangs
It's Alive (2020)

Sometimes it all comes together, even when you weren’t trying.I picked up this EP for review based, more or less, on its label – It’s Alive – which has released a lot of enjoyable records over the years. Then I thought, you know, this voice sounds like Future Girls. When you listen to the kind of DIY punk I do, … Read more

Book Review

Jim Ruland

Do What You Want - Bad Religion
Hachette Publishing (2020)

Bad Religion recently rode an extensive virtual bonanza, where they celebrated their fortieth anniversary with a series called “Decades”. i.e. four episodes where the band played songs live from each decade since the 1980s streamed from The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles and accompanied by interviews. Watching the first two episodes reminded me of how much Bad Religion coined my … Read more

Nopes

Djörk
Magnetic Eye Records (2021)

Nopes play that brand of melodic noise rock that pummels its listener in the face. It’s aggressive and abrasive, with big riffs, lots of feedback and barked vocals. The aggression sets the tone, but the nuance underneath the noise is what sets it apart from influences like The Jesus Lizard or Am Rep, with a base of Hot Snakes.While noise … Read more

Various Artists

Raging Nathans/Reaganomics - Midwest Duress
Rad Girlfriend/Red Scare Industries (2020)

2020 was a rough year -- so rough that I somehow stumbled across two different EPs from last year that end with songs about removing people’s faces. With that noted, I’m certainly curious what abstract and gory trends 2021 will bring…Anyway, Midwest Duress features Raging Nathans (Ohio) and Reaganomics (Illinois). Raging Nathans play modern pop-punk with a strong ‘90s influence. … Read more

Mars Addict

Lamecoaster
Electric Funeral Records (2020)

Mars Addict from São Paulo, Brazil released their debut album Lamecoaster last summer. Summer seems the right time for a record like this. I listened to it a lot on my morning walks the past week. For the first time in months we’ve had sun here. It really feels like spring all of a sudden. And Lamecoaster just added to … Read more

Book Review

Max Brzezinski

Vinyl Age: A Guide to Record Collecting Now
Hachette Publishing (2020)

Carolina Soul Records should ring a bell with anyone seriously into collecting vinyl as it is one the largest record sellers both in the third dimension as well as online along with having cultivated its own radio show and a far reaching social media presence.Vinyl Age sheds light on how the record collecting game has changed since the advent of … Read more

Mikey Erg

Mikey Erg
Rad Girlfriend Records (2021)

Mikey Erg deserves an honorary degree from somebody. The projects he fronts all have a healing, therapeutic quality, which is something we all need as the calendar flips.Billed as a “return to punk” after doing solo singer-with-a-guitar thing, the self-titled record is a statement that begins with its Clash nod cover. It’s loud and direct. It’s personal in that unique … Read more

The Lurkers

The Boys In The Corner-7”
Damaged Goods (2021)

Formed in 1976 in West London, The Lurkers have been projecting, pontificating, poignant punk rock and catchy chorused songs for 40-plus years. Currently comprised of three original members being Pete Stride, Nigel Moore and Esso. This is the second single to come off the 2020 album Sex Crazy with an unreleased track. Record Collector nerd alert the 7” is also … Read more

City of Industry

False Flowers
Amerikan Aesthetics (2020)

City of Industry is a hardcore band with their toes in a lot of corners of the scene. False Flowers is the third full-length from the Seattle band and the press sheet says it’s for fans of artists as diverse as “Ceremony, Dystopia, His Hero Is Gone, Converge, [and] Pixies.” That seems about right. This is heavy, but with mixed … Read more

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