REVIEWS of some recent 7"s: Government Warning, the Crunky Kids & more!
I'm hoping to get some more interviews up here soon-- I've got some good ones in the works! But take that with a grain of salt as I've been saying it for a while. I did take some time to write some words about some of the better 7"s that have happened into my paws as of late. Some of them are newer.... some not so much. They're all pretty good. I've got another batch I'll post in the next few days as well.
Government Warning- Arrested 7"
After a stellar 7" and subsequent LP, along with countless shows having kids swear by their intensity, I'm sure no one is looking here to be reading about this new-ish Government Warning 7" for the first time. That said; I'll keep it brief. It seems that Government Warning seem to have gotten popular for their tight and nimble approach to hardcore; they rather adroitly keep the pace quick while keeping the riffs catchy and even tuneful. In that respect, their stuff counts amongst some of that great late 90's era Out Cold material. However, it's the title track that opens up the record that really stays in your craw. It slows down the pace just a tad recalling a more SoCal hardcore sound-- a more aggro DI perhaps? And then the guitar solo in the second half of the song just nails it. Great record.
(Grave Mistake)
the Crunky Kids- Theories of Hate and Time 7"
Some Clevo degenerates you might recognize from other bands (H100s, 9 Shocks Terror, Upstab, etc) get together to record a 7" of messy, distorted, lo-fi hardcore. If any of that means anything, your expectations should be rather high. While the Crunky Kids don't add any new ingredients to the mixture, they do good job of proving it's not necessary if you can pull it off well. This single is driven by pure piss and vinegar. It sports the production values you might expect to find on a garage-punk single, but trades in the twangy guitars and staccato rhythms for distorted lo-end and Poison Idea-style ruckus. Nice!
(Schizophrenic Records/ My Mind's Eye)
Dry Rot- Permission 7"
It's probably not the best candidate for a review at this point because this debut Dry Rot 7" has been out for a while now, and might very well be out of print. But I keep coming back to it and it might be because this little has so many of those qualities that make hardcore 7"s nice little fetish objects. First of all, it seemingly came from nowhere (well, California)-- a band I had not heard before, with very little background information accompanying this aside from lyrics and credits. Well done, yet simple and ambiguous packaging. Yet, it manages to pack a good wallop of off-kilter hardcore into side one-- 7 songs to be exact. Fast and out of control musicianship with anvil-sounding drums that bring Infest or even Neandrethal to mind. On side B, and this is the kicker, is a slower, rhythmic jam in the vein of Sonic Youth or a quieter Dinosaur Jr with a good amount of noises (sounds like someone running a tone generator through an echo-plex). Totally throws you for a loop, but juxtaposes nicely with side A. I think these guys released a follow-up 7" on Painkiller which I have not heard, but if they can figure out a way to integrate both into their sound, they might be onto something pretty interesting. If not, they'll still be a pretty kick-ass hardcore band.
(Cold Vomit)
Nightstick Justice 7"
Ronald and Noel from Amsterdam team up to release this short hardcore single on their Way Back When and Even Worse labels. My understanding is that N.J. are a young band from Northern California and this is their vinyl pressed on to wax. They wear their influences on their sleeve a bit, and with a name like "Nightstick Justice" you can guess as to what one of the major points of reference might be. They boast a nice fuzzy bass sound like Negative FX, and similar thrashy stop/ start song structures that aim at sounding like simple bursts of blind rage. Given that, the lyrics aren't exactly nuanced, even for thrashy hardcore (over the course of a whole album, even Choke got a couple of verses of good wit in there), but when they slam into one of those breakdowns, that hardly seems the point.
(Way Back When/ Even Worse)
Government Warning- Arrested 7"
After a stellar 7" and subsequent LP, along with countless shows having kids swear by their intensity, I'm sure no one is looking here to be reading about this new-ish Government Warning 7" for the first time. That said; I'll keep it brief. It seems that Government Warning seem to have gotten popular for their tight and nimble approach to hardcore; they rather adroitly keep the pace quick while keeping the riffs catchy and even tuneful. In that respect, their stuff counts amongst some of that great late 90's era Out Cold material. However, it's the title track that opens up the record that really stays in your craw. It slows down the pace just a tad recalling a more SoCal hardcore sound-- a more aggro DI perhaps? And then the guitar solo in the second half of the song just nails it. Great record.
(Grave Mistake)
the Crunky Kids- Theories of Hate and Time 7"
Some Clevo degenerates you might recognize from other bands (H100s, 9 Shocks Terror, Upstab, etc) get together to record a 7" of messy, distorted, lo-fi hardcore. If any of that means anything, your expectations should be rather high. While the Crunky Kids don't add any new ingredients to the mixture, they do good job of proving it's not necessary if you can pull it off well. This single is driven by pure piss and vinegar. It sports the production values you might expect to find on a garage-punk single, but trades in the twangy guitars and staccato rhythms for distorted lo-end and Poison Idea-style ruckus. Nice!
(Schizophrenic Records/ My Mind's Eye)
Dry Rot- Permission 7"
It's probably not the best candidate for a review at this point because this debut Dry Rot 7" has been out for a while now, and might very well be out of print. But I keep coming back to it and it might be because this little has so many of those qualities that make hardcore 7"s nice little fetish objects. First of all, it seemingly came from nowhere (well, California)-- a band I had not heard before, with very little background information accompanying this aside from lyrics and credits. Well done, yet simple and ambiguous packaging. Yet, it manages to pack a good wallop of off-kilter hardcore into side one-- 7 songs to be exact. Fast and out of control musicianship with anvil-sounding drums that bring Infest or even Neandrethal to mind. On side B, and this is the kicker, is a slower, rhythmic jam in the vein of Sonic Youth or a quieter Dinosaur Jr with a good amount of noises (sounds like someone running a tone generator through an echo-plex). Totally throws you for a loop, but juxtaposes nicely with side A. I think these guys released a follow-up 7" on Painkiller which I have not heard, but if they can figure out a way to integrate both into their sound, they might be onto something pretty interesting. If not, they'll still be a pretty kick-ass hardcore band.
(Cold Vomit)
Nightstick Justice 7"
Ronald and Noel from Amsterdam team up to release this short hardcore single on their Way Back When and Even Worse labels. My understanding is that N.J. are a young band from Northern California and this is their vinyl pressed on to wax. They wear their influences on their sleeve a bit, and with a name like "Nightstick Justice" you can guess as to what one of the major points of reference might be. They boast a nice fuzzy bass sound like Negative FX, and similar thrashy stop/ start song structures that aim at sounding like simple bursts of blind rage. Given that, the lyrics aren't exactly nuanced, even for thrashy hardcore (over the course of a whole album, even Choke got a couple of verses of good wit in there), but when they slam into one of those breakdowns, that hardly seems the point.
(Way Back When/ Even Worse)
Labels: 7", Crunky Kids, Dry Rot, Government Warning, Nightstick Justice, reviews
posted by danscheme at 1:49 PM
1 Comments:
Interesting to know.
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