issue #02 pdf - Razorcake

999
“English Wipeout” CD
Two live recordings from “back in
the day,” both of which suffer from
some pretty lousy sound, especially
the second one. Of note is the inclusion
of a live song they apparently
never recorded. I personally wouldn’t
pay for this. -Jimmy Alvarado
(Overground)
ACTIONSLACKS
“The Scene’s Out of Sight” CD
Nausea-inducing post-Nirvana college
pop. Maybe it’s a good thing
that Cobain is dead, ‘cause hearing
what he wrought woulda killed him.
-Jimmy Alvarado (Self-Starter)
AGAINST ALL AUTHORITY
“Nothing New for Trash Like You”
CD
This album is a collection of AAA
seven inches and songs from comps.
Stuff like the four songs from their
first seven inch, a cool song from a
cool but long lost comp put together
by one of the Voodoo Glow Skulls,
and a cover of a Pist song from a
split seven inch AAA did with them.
I’m a pretty big AAA fan, so I have
most of these songs already. Still, it’s
nice to have them all together on one
piece of plastic and not have to flip it
every three minutes. Plus, I realize
that most people don’t have most of
this music and it’s not really readily
available. Since it’s a Sub City
release, part of this album’s profits
go to charity. This album benefits the
Radiation and Public Health Project,
a group that does research regarding
cancer from radioactive pollution
(the program that AAA refer to at the
end of their last album “24 Hour
Roadside Resistance”). It’s a worthy
cause and a good collection. -Sean
Carswell (Sub City)
ALKALINE TRIO
“Hell Yes” b/w
“My Standard Break from Life” 7”
Against-my-better-judgement,
catchy-as-hell songs that lick the
razorblade separating pop and punk
which bleeds in the same way as
Green Day when they go to balladeer
mode. Tight, well written, gettin’
girls wet while dudes can shake their
fists along types of songs. If it helps,
think of the Weakerthans with a couple
of nuts and less wounded warrior
poetry. -Todd (Lookout)
ANASAZI, THE
“Calculating Components and
Compound formulas for Mass
Population Reconstruction” CD EP
Extremely noisy thrash that, somehow,
failed to pique my interest. I
loved the song titles, though. -Jimmy
Alvarado (Troubleman Unlimited,
address too small on back of cover to
read)
ANN BERETTA
“New Union...Old Glory” CD
This doesn’t suck, but
60
“Critics are like eunuchs at a gang bang.”
-George Burns
their attempts at sounding inspirational
fall miserably flat. I found
myself skipping from one song to
the next after the third track. Jeez, if
I’d wanted to listen to Rancid, I
woulda put on a Clash record. -
Jimmy Alvarado (Lookout)
ANTI-FLAG
“Underground Network” CD
Musically, this Anti-Flag is melodic
hardcore in the vein of Good
Riddance or the newest
Propaghandi. It’s fast and powerful
with enough melody to make it
catchy. Lyrically, this is an intensely
political album. Usually I’m pretty
one-sided about political punk.
Basically, if I agree with the politics,
I tend to like the band. If I don’t
agree with the politics or it’s completely
dry and preachy (like
Fifteen) I don’t like the band. Anti-
Flag add some new figures to this
equation. Not only do I like the
music and agree with the politics,
but it’s incredibly well done. Not
only do they sing songs about US
“practice” bombing (with real
bombs) in Vieques, Puerto Rico, but
they include text alongside the lyrics
from former US Attorney General
Ramsey Clark informing you of
what exactly is going on in Vieques.
Along those lines, Anti-Flag back up
their other songs with bits and pieces
from magazines like the Progressive
and writers like Noam Chomsky.
Howard Zinn even wrote a piece on
the US invasion of Panama in ‘89
specifically for these liner notes.
Wow. This brings political punk to a
whole new level. It’s like Z
Magazine put to punk. And then, just
when politics threaten to become
overwhelming, Anti-Flag throws in
the cool, funny, and distinctly nonpolitical
song “Spaz’s House
Destruction Party.” Do yourself a
favor and check this out. -Sean
Carswell (Fat Wreck Chords)
ATOM AND HIS PACKAGE
“A New Thing in a New Town”
8-track
You read it right. 8-fucking-track. I
happen to own an eight track player.
Bless Goodwill and their Dollar
Days. It happens to be rigged directly
through the stereo and set as
Phono #2, for glorious instances just
as these. That’s the good news. The
bad news is that the fidelity of this
eight track is really poor. I’m casting
no stones, looking no horses (gift or
otherwise) in the mouth, it’s just that
after hours (literally) fiddling with
all the adjustments I could think of
(including trips to the 99 cent store
for some speaker wire alchemy), I
can barely make out the songs.
Either I get this weird, low-cycle
bass hum that sounds like a giant
hydroelectric generator through ear
muffs, or it’s so tinny I fear glass
shattering. Just to show you how far
I went to try to get this to work, and
be as scientific as possible, I popped
in my “control group” 8-track, The
Best of Guy Lombardo and His
Royal Canadians’ “The Sweetest
Music This Side of Heaven.” It
sounds great. Lush strings, and tons
of verve on the “I’m Looking Over a
Four-Leaf Clover” medley. Pop in
Atom again, and, unfortunately, not
much of anything that be construed
beyond an industrial noise band’s
wet dream with a wee bit of Atom in
the distance. For completists. FYI,
it’s a live recording from March of
‘00, and from what I can tell, all the
material has been previously
released. On the weird side, I just
realized that I’m credited for the
photo on it (which I didn’t take), but
not credited for a source photo on his
new album, “Redefining Music,”
(which I did take). No hard feelings,
just my type of luck. -Todd
ATTRITION
“The Hand That Feeds:
The Remixes” CD
I guess even manic-depressives need
tunes to disco dance their troubles
away. -Jimmy Alvarado (Invisible)
BAD FORM, THE
Self-titled 7” EP
Sloppy, occasionally fast hardcore
from these Jersey guys. I had to
check where they were from, ‘cause
they sound like they coulda come
outta San Francisco’s vats scene
circa 1981/82. They got that raw
hardcore sound popular in them
parts, say like Capitol Punishment,
early Condemned to Death or Sick
Pleasure. The singer sometimes
reminds me of the guy who fronted
Long Beach’s Crewd, too. Good
stuff here, even if it sent me on a
weird nostalgic head-trip. -Jimmy
Alvarado
BANTAM ROOSTER
“Fuck All Y’all” CD
I guess the title says it all. Actually
they’re reaching out to the
NWA/Eazy-E fans in all of us. The
angriest duo in garage rock today
enter the ring without any pity for
album number - oh who’s counting
when all of them do the same
“cathartic” trick for those mentally
jaded by life, love and the pursuit of
happiness. Tom Potter still screams
and yelps like a teenaged buttfuck.
“This Time” has a great “wall of
sound” Spector-ish vibe which
mutates into a churning, burning,
full throttle classic Rooster tune,
“Shitlist + 1” (damn, you gotta give
‘em credit for inventive song titles).
This is Bantam Rooster at its best -
unleashed, unabashed, ripped off,
pissed off - all the emotional rollercoasters
of a Spanish soap opera
wrapped into the three minute blues
punk song. That ladies and gentlemen,
is the beauty of Bantam
Rooster and if you don’t understand
it, you can take your spoonfed, wideeyed,
spoiled rotten, luxury lifestyle,
candy ass to the curb - so I can kick
the shit out of it. -Namella “Take No
Prisoners!” J. Kim (Sympathy for
the Record Industry)
BIG IN JAPAN
“Destroy the New Rock” CD
Whenever I listen to Elvis Costello, I
think about how cool those songs
would be if the guitars were louder
and the songs were faster. If they
rocked, basically. Because he does
have a great voice and he does write
great songs (remember that Elvis
Costello was one of the original
punkers [at least according to the
“Understanding Music: Punk and
Reggae” documentary at the
library]). I just grow old waiting to