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 wafting smell of hydroponic lurking from the shadows, stale beer, sweat from unwashed armpits masked by the putrid lingering undulating swaths of patchouli. Ah, the 90's when rock and roll went underground in the trenches rebelling against the polished sounds of pop, punk by numeros and just general instant squeeze cheese pulsing through a fart machine. How romantic. Guerrilla Teens bring back that sweat, swagger, bashing your teeth out with a microphone, amplifier and pounding animal skins. Guerilla Teens lurk in shadows like Universal Monsters of a bygone era. Let's hope they emerge from their crypts under a full moon and put out a couple more slabs of dripping delicious vinyl. Heavy Medication deserves mentioning, continuing their outstanding output and great taste in delectable high-energy rock and roll. I tip my top hat to Derrick @ Heavy Medication Records out … Read more
Surely by now, you’ve heard their name. Joyce Manor have been writing soundtracks for heartbreaks and hangovers for nearly two … Read more
Formed in Tokyo in 2002, Crystal Lake have spent more than two decades shaping their own high-velocity hybrid of metalcore, … Read more
I knew of Tired Radio, but I didn't really know the band's work. When Red Scare announced they'd signed the … Read more
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Hailing from Paris, France, the bizarrely titled sextet We Insist! recently unveiled the fourth LP of a chronicled and equally reclusive catalogue. With a small following at home-base and even fewer listeners worldwide, new ears could be quick to assume that a moniker of implied force alludes to some kind of emblematic punk rock romp that's heavy on the garage sound and even heavier on the pedestrian metaphors that come with the amateurs of this trade. While the title of this new album only boosts that theory, which would be an incorrect one, the truth is that it's nearly impossible to define conclusively just what the hell kind of a band We Insist! truly is. What exactly does that mean? Well besides these guys taking smatterings from the many influences … Read more
Interesting little slab we got sent to SPB by a Mr. Ed Young. Two originals and a cover, recorded in Jay Reatard’s living room back in 2005 as the title suggests. So that would be around the time of The Reatards’ Not Fucked Enough for anyone keeping track. Jay had apparently just switched from analog to digital recording but it … Read more
Split records have always worked best when they feel intentional rather than convenient, and Bombs Away! lands firmly in the former category. Bringing together East Bay veterans Tsunami Bomb and Oakland’s The Hammerbombs, this six-track split (three songs per band) doesn’t just unite two names but captures two complementary approaches to Bay Area punk that still feel vital decades into … Read more
Sarasota, Florida’s Floating Boy have been grinding for seven years, quietly shaping themselves into a band that lives and breathes the ethics of Fugazi (if you couldn’t tell by their track inspired name) and the emotional chaos of DIY punk. Their debut full-length, Perfect Place, is the culmination of that time. There are ten tracks of anxious, politically charged emo-punk/post-hardcore … Read more
I've reviewed a lot of Brokedowns records over the years. First, I'll say I love the band and I honestly feel like they keep getting better. Second, I'll say that this record threw a couple of surprises at me. The band play multi-vocalist poppish punk in the school of Dillinger Four or Errth, albeit more on the angry side. There … Read more
When I started my end of year list this year I asked my pal Joel from Portland’s Dumpies to share his best of 2025 playlist with me. Several songs caught my attention which I, in turn, went and checked out the albums from which they had come. The one that has quickly climbed up my year end list over the … Read more
Deathcore is a genre that’s constantly threatening to eat itself alive. For every band trying to push boundaries, there are ten more content to recycle the same breakdowns, the same vocal gymnastics, the same studio-polished violence. Osiah, however, have never been interested in playing it safe and their latest EP Aion is proof that they’re still operating on a level … Read more
Ramleh is a cornerstone of the UK industrial and noise underground. Staring out in the early '80s, they are one of the pioneers of noise and power electronics alongside the likes of Whitehouse and Sutcliffe Jügend. But, beneath the havoc and the sonic debris, Ramleh always carried an emotional pulse. It is what separates their finest moment, Hole In The … Read more
Crippling Alcoholism have always navigated a delicate balance between musical depth and immediacy. A blend that few bands attempt, let alone master, but Crippling Alcoholism's two previous full-length records, When The Drugs That Make You Sick Are The Drugs That Make You Better and especially With Love From A Padded Room did exactly that. With a foundation formed through post-punk … Read more
There are no signs of slowing down for Australian jazz masters The Necks. Following the release of the excellent Bleed in 2024, the legendary trio makes a return with their 20th full-length record, Disquiet. Long-form compositions are nothing new for the trio, but here they dive headfirst into a three-hour tour de force, traversing the abstract and meditative territories they … Read more
Is The Eradicator a joke that's been going for 10 years (the band), or for 35 (the skit)? Does it matter? Well, only in the sense that I question how much material the Kids In The Hall-inspired hardcore band can cull from a 5-minute skit. (Maybe 10 minutes. The character was revived in 2022's Season 6.) Why do I bring … Read more
Standing between genres can act as a vantage point. For Prayer Group, sitting at the intersection between noise rock and hardcore has armed them with the necessary arsenal to propel their anger and frustration forward. And so, through a series of EPs and singles, this work culminated in their 2022 debut full-length, Michael Dose, where The Jesus Lizard methodology collided … Read more
For experimental rock artists torn between noise-rock abrasion and torturous drone immersion, one side usually wins. It is either a certain sentimental and ethereal quality or an oppressive noise dimension that prevails. But there are some acts that can balance between these worlds. Names like The Angelic Process, and of course Low exemplify this strange balance in different ways. A … Read more
I believe the first I heard of this album was when Wild Honey released the limited edition It’s All About The Music concept 7” EP back in July. Exclusively released for the Punk Rock Raduno festival, IAATM is a three song 7” but only sort of? The concept: one garage-rock anthem, three versions- one is slowed down, one is regular … Read more
Formed around the tight-knit chemistry of brothers Xavier and Vincent Morency with drummer John Muggianu, Canada’s Second Harbour are that rare modern post-hardcore band that sound equally comfortable bleeding and building. Their new four-song EP, Coalesce, marks both their SharpTone Records debut and their clearest creative statement yet. The title isn’t just poetic, it’s literal. This is where the band’s … Read more
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