Menace Beach
Ratworld
Memphis Industries (2015)
Though many people – even those who weren’t around when the system was - could probably rattle off several of the more popular NES titles of the 8-bit era, there was a whole world of games existing outside the realm of the familiar gray plastic cartridge. Developed by independent publishers, unlicensed NES games appeared in misshapen, strangely colored plastic housing and ranged in quality from the wonderful (Micro Machines, arguably the most fun racing title for the system) to the weird (the violent and somewhat gory early car combat gameDeath Race) to the downright wacky (the zap gun abomination Chiller, to say nothing of the handful of games based around Biblical stories). If nothing else, the frequently eccentric content seen in these games provided a definite alternative to the mainstream titles which carried the Nintendo Seal of Approval. A musical group named after one of these dodgy “misfit toys” might be expected then to be boisterous and off-the-wall, but that description doesn’t quite fit when applied to 2015’s Ratworld, the debut full-length from England’s Menace Beach. Given the inspiration behind the band’s name, the outstanding overall quality of this release may be a bit unexpected as it tries to mine … Read more
Mishka Shubaly
Cowards Path
In Music We Trust Records (2015)
If Nic Cage from Leaving Las Vegas had cut an album, it might sound something like Mishka Shubaly’s Coward’s Path. … Read more
Underground Railroad To Candyland
The People Are Home
Recess (2015)
I wasn’t sure what to make of Underground Railroad to Candyland when I first saw them. They were a very … Read more
