Some grimy and blistering hardcore from this Providence, RI trio on what would be their debut and chuckle worthy titled LP. White Load previously laid waste to ears around the globe with a string of equally mind damaging singles, thus making this debut one of raised interest. One would think that with a whole full-length at the disposal of White Load that they might be tempted to wander into the woods some or just fuck with listeners, however the band keep to the straight narrow with this record and I cant praise them enough for doing so. There is nothing but short blasts of unrelenting hardcore at budget recording quality to be found on this LP to further pollute your already filthy deranged mind. Absolutely raw, ripping, and uncompromising from start to finish, at the end you nearly feel lucky that it’s only a little over 20 minutes long. I mean, what else is there to expect from something that was recorded completely at a place called “Vomit’s Hole”. Awesome record.
White Load – Nothing is Funny (stream)
White Load - Void (stream)
To pick up a copy of Wayne’s World III b/w Godfather IV just hit up Load Records.
It’s interesting now to go back and listen to early Slices material and hear a band that was briefly flirting with some of the ideas and sounds that would come later. Even when their debut LP Cruising came out, I don’t think I was really prepared for the leap that they would make with that album, to which they managed to refine their hardcore/noise-rock approach and filter it down to a nearly perfect blend. However, it remained nasty and downright disturbing at times. In between records the band released a single on Kemado, which I didn’t really take much away from other than it sounded a bit more rockin’ than anything I’d heard before. Now that I’ve listened to the bands follow up LP Still Cruising (great name by the way) a handful of times, maybe I should have paid a bit more attention to it.
The albums opening chords for “Still Cruising/Trying to Make a Living” lead the listener to believe that this could head in the direction of the previous album, an unsettling trip into grimy bad vibes hardcore, but that’s all flipped on its side when the sound of motorcycles fire up and Slices dive right into full on rock n’ roll mode. Littering the tune with the needed distortion and more importantly riffs to make it a true stomping good time, it’s a furiously paced tune that hints at some of the Didjits higher points. A good portion of the more flat out rock moments on this album do actually. As the band would have it though, those are only a few key parts of this record. What Slices do with Still Cruising is somehow inject the bits of hardcore/noise in places and in ways that don’t even seem unusual at all. It’s fused together so smoothly that the transition from a thirty-nine second blast of hardcore like on “Human Resources” into the catchy rock styling of “Why Do You Make Yourself Sad” and then into the calming elevator tones of “Forever Cruising”, makes all the sense in world. I would say that Still Cruising is so brief that it doesn’t necessarily give one time to process it, but I’ve sat down with it a few times now and still manage to get lost every time in its pure rock heart. Easily one of the best albums I’ve heard all year.
Slices – Horse Race (stream)
Those interested in picking up Still Cruising can do so by hitting up Iron Lung. They also have it up for digital download on Bandcamp for anyone that is interested in that.
As one of the many “music listeners” or “dipshits” (as Kim Phuc lovingly put it on their blog) that take pleasure in crafting an admittedly pointless top whatever list of records at the end of the year, I held out starting work on said list until I had a chance to hear the bands full-length debut Copsucker. C’mon guys, I was smart enough to not make one until I heard YOUR record! But anyway, holding out hope that it would arrive sometime by the end of the year, the album was originally slated to be released what seems like eons ago on Parts Unknown. However, shit happened and that fell by the wayside until Iron Lung announced sometime mid this year that they would be releasing the bands debut. Fantastic. It’s certainly been a long time coming and holy shit were those first three singles a killer precursor, right? It’s mid-December now and Copsucker is officially out there. I can start my list. Thanks guys.
I imagine it’s pretty easy to figure out what I think of this record based on what’s already been said. But if not, well then it’s fantastic and pretty much what I had hoped in hearing from the band. I hadn’t anticipated in seeing all three a-sides from their singles ending up on the record, but really those songs are so gosh darn good that for those that haven’t heard them they absolutely need to be on here. As for the new tracks, well they aren’t too shabby either. Crafted in the same ominous mold of ringing noisy post-punk as before, as a combination of new and old here, this record absolutely rips. The track “Yeti” that was previewed on Youtube a month or so ago certainly stands as one of the highlights here, but only by a small margin, and that says plenty about the strength of Copsucker. There isn’t a single lull to be found on here, just a pure straight through blast of intensity/energy. This certainly comes highly recommended.
Kim Phuc – Yeti (stream)
Those looking to pick this up can do so through Iron Lung. However, if digital is your thing then it’s available through Bandcamp. Either way, don’t sleep on this one.
Here we have two east coast bands in Black Kites and Convulsions pairing up for this split release out on Glory Kid/Adagio830. This would be the first time for me hearing Black Kites, which plow through six tracks of max effort heavy hardcore on the a-side of this one, or five if you want to get technical about it. If fierce/passionate hardcore in the area of Disembodied, His Hero Gone, etc. is your thing, then I imagine these guys are already part of your record collection that features numerous copies of the same album on different limited colored vinyl. I kid, I kid…if they aren’t, you’ve likely missed out on the limited blue copies anyway by this point so try and keep it together. Anyway, in all seriousness, it’s probably worth poking around the discography of these gents. They’re obviously into it, and not too shabby of musicians either.
Last heard from Convulsions when Glory Kid passed along their debut 7-inch a year or so ago. Enjoyed it then and probably made some Deadguy or Botch comparisons at the time, no clue. Anyway, these six tracks provide a far better representation of the band I imagine. There is a lot more variation, that’s for sure. They make an odd decision in kicking off their side with a cover, of “Gasoline” by Karate no less. The tune itself is fairly true to the original, obviously dirtied up some however. They follow it up with a track that sounds like it could have been on a split single or comp put out by Clean Plate or Bovine in the 90’s, cool stuff and sort of wish there was more of this out of the tracks they have here. Don’t think anything else approaches the level of “heavy” showcased on that tune. From there the band sort of retreats back into the comfort zone of vaguely mathy groove hardcore with a larger sludge sounding thing going on than I’ve heard before from them. Nevertheless, dug their side quite a bit.
Black Kites - Used (stream)
Convulsions – Decompression Sickness (stream)
For those interested in picking up the split here in the US, Glory Kid has it covered. For those overseas, Adagio830 has copies available. Enjoy!
Finally got my hands on this highly anticipated LP from St. Paul hardcore scuzz slingers Condominium. It follows a string of rather impressive 7-inches that saw the band emerge from more straight forward hardcore/punk to the realm of weird and abrasive that has since ushered in numerous comparisons to one of their home states staples, Amphetamine Reptile. While the singles certainly had a penchant for the noisier outsider vibes of hardcore, I could still never fully connect the dots between the two. However, with the bands debut LP Warm Home it’s certainly a much more logical and appropriate link than ever before instead of just merely being a convenient one. With Warm Home the band is allowed some freedom to really out do themselves with the weirdo vibes here, setting aside a couple tracks of strange tortured strings and tuneless noise to greatly drive the point home with “Why Be Something You’re Not” and album closer “An Arbitrary Choice Between Infinite Coexisting Realities”. However it’s the albums lead track “Life is Amazing” that is up there for me as one of the best tunes I’ve had the pleasure of hearing all year and is no doubt one of Condominium’s best moments thus far, combining a nearly perfect balance of hooks and bad attitude aggression. The only downer to be said about Warm Home is that it’s over far too soon with just seven tracks in 22 minutes. Here’s to hoping these guys have more in the pipeline ready to go soon, as Warm Home has certainly got me hooked.
Condominium – Life is Amazing [MP3]
For those that are looking to pick up Warm Home, it’s available through a number of distro’s currently. I believe Permanent and Grave Mistake still have some copies of this. Run of 752, go get it. Enjoy!
Straight up melodic hardcore/punk here from Maryland’s Deep Sleep on their debut album Turn Me Off. No surprises really if you’ve had a chance to take a listen to their singles leading up to this ripper. They’ve made noticeable steps on each one from what I’ve listened to. Keeping it short and upbeat, Turn Me Off doles out the hooks while riding a heavy Descendents and Angry Samoans sort of vibe. One of the best qualities about the band is that the music isn’t bogged down by shoehorning in any sort of outside trend that inflicts a number of “hardcore” bands these days. Deep Sleep concern themselves with short blasts of catchy punk that merely represents the type of unifying aspects that hardcore often can achieve in a live setting. It’s pretty much no bullshit, just have some damn fun and the band latches on and lets it fly with that mindset for roughly fifteen minutes. If this sounds like your type of thing, then make it a point to check out this record and turn it up.
Deep Sleep – Live Forever [MP3]
Those looking to pick up Turn Me Off can easily do so by hitting up Grave Mistake where it is currently available along with a host of other fine releases that label has put out over the past few months. Get on it!
