Razorcake Issue #19

VARIOUS ARTISTS:Greaseball Melodrama: CDSixteen different tracks by sixteen differentbands, all compiled by EricDavidson of the New Bomb Turks. Youshould know what to expect… kick assrock’n’roll. This doesn’t disappoint.There are sixteen bands on here I havenever heard of before and I will definitelytry to find more material from ahandful of them (that’s the great thingabout compilations). The bands areRock’n’Roll Soldiers, Gypsy Witch,Baseball Furies, The Cuts, Lost Kids,Chargers Street Gang, The High Beams,Scat Rag Boosters, Geraldine, TheDiverters, The Hunches, Mystery Girls,Exxon Valdez, Colombian Neckties,The Blowtops, and The GoddamnGentlemen. Okay, not every band kicksass, but you wouldn’t have to push theskip button more then a few times onthis one. –Toby (Gearhead)VARIOUS ARTISTS:Hangover Heartattack –A Tribute to Poison Idea: CDWell if you just can’t help yourself andyou find you just have to put a tributerecord out, go whole hog, which is justwhat the people responsible for thisPoison Idea tribute have done. Sure, thecovers are great (thanks to Rat Bastards,Ratos de Porao, Agrotoxico, Paintbox,Kill Your Idols, Calibre 12 and a bunchof others), but the love directed at theband is really evident in the thick-assbooklet that accompanies this, whichincludes pictures, old interviews, JerryA.’s 1991 tour diary, and personal reminiscenceson why this band was soimportant. Slagging this off as anotherpointless tribute would be like shootingfish in a barrel, but it’s so obvious thatthose who put this together have theirhearts in the right place. You can’t helpbut feel great respect for ‘em, ‘cause it’spatently obvious they’re fans more thananything else. Recommended. –JimmyAlvarado (Havoc)VARIOUS ARTISTS: Hardcorefrom the Early Days: CDTwenty-five tracks of obscure-but-spotonearly Northeast American hardcore,released by an Australian label. Thoseof you who can’t get enough of KilledBy Death-style punk will plunge rightin. First up is Connecticut’s TargetCells’ Cerebral Hemorrhage demo from1982, of which about twenty-five wereoriginally sold viaMaximumrock’n’roll’s mailorder. It’s alittle rudimentary and not as exciting asthe Circle Jerks, who they cover, but it’sforceful and gets the job done. TheWhite Pigs (1982-1997) flirt withcrossover, and, thankfully, never takethe plunge in. There’s only one bigquestion mark hanging over the band,and I’ll leave it up to you, the reader, tomake the call: “Saying things that are onmy mind/ hating spics in the unemploymentline.” Last up is my favorite bandof the three, Chronic Disorder (1983-1992), who seem more discordant, spastic,unique, and revved up, like a hyperactiveDils (they’ve got a political sensibility)cross-spliced with the AngrySamoans (they’ve got a lot of snot). Nota bad split at all. Definitely a labor oflove. –Todd (Coldsweat)VARIOUS ARTISTS:Maybe Chicago: CDIf you’re paying attention to the righttypes of punk rock, you may have cometo this conclusion: punk rock is onceagain regional. The interweb’s fine forgetting info, there are improvements ininterstate communication, but there aredefinitely bands that are huge in theirhometowns who make considerably lessimpact the further they travel away. Ithink this is a good thing. It gives localscenes time to grow and mature, forweird cross pollinations, and an umbrellaof sound to develop. It also forcesfolks who love music to once again bevigilant seekers instead of wincing assome of their heroes desecrate themselvesby providing songs for cleaningproducts commercials. I’ll place MaybeChicago in a contemporary league withSeattle’s Dirtnap Across the Northwest,Southern California’s Hostage’s Tower13 and Hostage Situation, Minneapolis’No Hold Back… All Attack!!, andGainesville’s The Shape of Flakes toCome! No, you’re probably not going tolike every track on here, but it’ll giveyou a definite flavor and a barometer ofwhat’s coming out of Chicago’s garageyunderbelly in the near future. The onlycaveat is that the recordings are uneven.Some of the songs seem to be on astereo that’s walking away from you attimes, but that’s also part of the charm.My personal favorites on this: The HotMachines, Baseball Furies, Tyrades,The Ponys, and Functional Blackouts. Avaliant effort. –Todd(Postmersh /Criminal I.Q.)VARIOUS ARTISTS:No Thanks!: The 70’s PunkRebellion: CD box setThe folks over at Rhino did it again withthis four-disc library of essential ‘70spunk listening pleasure. The included100+ page book itself houses some seriouslybad ass reading in the sense that ittalks about each song and band in thebox set’s listed order, not to mention thecomplete info listings of each song listedin the back. And the band pictures…tons and tons of wonderful band pictures!Included on the discs are someNYC band staples like the New YorkDolls, Ramones, Cramps, Blondie,Dictators, and Talking Heads, not tomention Ohio transplants the DeadBoys (who, after relocating to NYC,were to be managed by the owner ofCBGB’s, Hilly Cristal). The goldenstate of California shines here, too, withBlack Flag (Keith-era), X, The Weirdos,The Avengers, Fear, The Dickies, DeadKennedys, Germs, The Dils, Runaways,and that other Ohio transplant band, thealmighty Devo. A great selection ofwhat the UK had to offer back thenturns up here with the likes of TheDamned, The Clash, The Jam, ElvisCostello & The Attractions, TheRezillos, Generation X, Buzzcocks, anda neat-o, edgier version of “The Wait”from The Pretenders (including yetanother Ohio native, Chrissie Hynde).With the 100 songs total in this collection,there’s bound to be some voiceraisingconcern as to why this band orthat band didn’t get included. All I cansay is go make your own damn box set,cocko. I do have to give props to a fewbands that should’ve been included,even if they are all LA choices: TheControllers, The Skulls, The Zeros, TheGears, and The Plugz. But, to be fair,I’ll also add that it was refreshingly coolto find Aussie legends The Saints, aswell as Stiff Little Fingers from Irelandincluded in this set, too. For those ofyou who are waiting in line to suck JohnLydon’s dick, you can all go home,‘cause you ain’t gonna find any SexPistols here. Why? It seems that it wasn’ta personal choice with Rhino that thePistols didn’t get their spot on here.Word has it that Lydon was being hisusual twatish self about the whole songlicensing situation. Pretty fucking smallfor a guy who toured in a chartered buslast summer and held concerts with hisother Sex Pistol wash-ups at big venueslike the Greek Theatre in LA. Christ. Iknow it’s wrong, but I keep saying tomyself, “Why couldn’t it have been himinstead of Strummer?” That’s just life, Isuppose, so go figure. Then go grab thisbox. –Designated Dale (Rhino)VARIOUS ARTISTS:The Rock HorrorPunk Rock Show: CDOpening with Me First and the GimmeGimmes is a good idea, but it’s prettymuch downhill from there. Or so Ithought. –Megan (Springman)VARIOUS ARTISTS:Untitled: CDIt was a grand idea for this record labelto provide me with a list of bands toavoid in the future, but it’s really not abad idea to include stuff like, oh, say,the title of your album when sending itin for review. –Potsi (Say Ten)VENA CAVA:So Evolved, Inhuman: CDWow, this is really good. Sort of likeJawbreaker-ish pop punk with male andfemale vocals. It took a couple of listensto grab me, but once it did, I washooked. My only real complaint wouldbe that they don’t sound very confidentin themselves, but I can definitely seethis band moving past that on their nextalbum. And the cover of “We’reDesperate” was not the best decision inthe world. But still, this is pretty highlyrecommended. –Josh(Don’t Quit Your Day Job)VINDICTIVES, THE:Muzak for Robots: CDThis really is muzak. No, really. –Sean(Teat Productions)WEIGHT, THE: Ships: 7”Mellow hippie shit for patchouli huffers.–Jimmy Alvarado(Sabot Productions)WESTERN ADDICTION:Remember to Dismember: 7”I miss Dick Army, the tragically overlookedNYC trashy pop/ hardcore unitthat could spin a melody into a tight tornadowhile spilling out some trulyinsightful lyrics. (Get Unsafe at AnySpeed if you see it in a bin.) Althoughnot quite as fast as Dick Army, WesternAddiction’s singer yells and shouts, butin a melodic way that’s basically used asanother rhythmic instrument (which Ilike). Fortunately, they also have thesame knacks which keep Dick Army ona constant rotational cycle through myCD player: rough melodies, nice lyricaltwists (“without rhyme or treason,”“stark raving glad”), and instrumentsthat all play towards a bigger whole.Nice. My only question? Is “apparating”a real word? –Todd (Fat)WHISKEY & CO.:Self-titled: CDFor the past twenty years, pop musicwith a southern accent has been posingas “country music” and has given countrya bad name. Now, here comesWhiskey & Co. to change all that. Thisalbum goes back to what I love aboutcountry – the remorse of a fucked uplife, the pain of the working class, theway a banjo or violin can sound in thehands of someone who knows how toplay it, the beauty of an open chord, andthat steady, comforting drum beat thatthumps along at about the speed of mypulse or the bumps on the road whileI’m driving away from the city. My onlycaveat about this album is that thesinger will remind you of a countrifiedNatalie Merchant. You’ll get over thatafter a couple of listens, though. FAN-TASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT:one of the members of this band used tobe in Asshole Parade. Go figure. –Sean(No Idea)WILLOWZ: Self-titled: CDAs might have been apparent over thecourse of the last few issues, i was, for atime, more or less completely obsessedwith this band and their almost unfathomableability to sound like The GreatLost 1981 Posh Boy Records band. Ifound myself breaking the contents oftheir first single down into a host ofbrief, intra-song sonic events, and runninga mental Google search on eachtiny song fragment, in the attempts toID the origin of every beat pattern,every chord progression, every note andsonic idiosyncrasy that transported meback to, i dunno, junior year of highschool or whatever, when me and myposse (of two) would sit around my parents’living room after school, spinningwhatever mysterious new 45s i hadmailordered that week and readingFlipside, occasionally consulting a roadatlas to find out where exotic-soundingplaces like “Upland” and “Cerritos”were. Buuuuuttt... just like with allthose bands whose singles we dug in1981, the at-least-somewhat awaitedalbum, as always, fails to meet the(admittedly lofty) expectations projectedupon it by myself, the consumer(who, naturally, is always a bit disappointedwhen he doesn’t hit his bestcase-scenarioprojection of an albumcomposed of about twelve a-sides) (andone cool cover). The “a-side” of thealbum (or diskly equivalent) is still prettycool, like some manner of Red(d)C(K)ross Xerox from an era of theband that never actually existed; the “bside”gets flat-out weird with a balladseemingly crooned with three guitarpicks under the singer’s tongue, afemale-bassist-sung slop-fest, a pyschoutnumber not terribly unlike TheCraig’s “I Must Be Mad,” and “EndSong,” the dumbest album-ending“Gloria” rip-off since “Seven Toes.” Idunno. I guess we can still go out, buti’m not stalking you any more. BESTSONG: “Meet Your Demise” BESTSONG TITLE: I used to like “Equation#6,” but now i think i like “Meet YourDemise.” It’s so much more swashbuckling.FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIAFACT: Special Thanks: Robbie Fields,Andre Duguay, Madeline FollinMcKenna, and the Willowz StreetTeam! –Rev. Nørb (Dionysus)ZENO TORNADO ANDTHE BONEY GOOGLEBROTHERS: Self-titled: CDThe cover describes this as “dirty dopeinfected bluegrass hillbilly hobo XXXcountry music,” and that pretty muchsums things up nicely, although I’d beinclined to add “brilliant” tothe description as well.Imagine Andy Griffith as adoped up porn hound and youain’t far off. –Jimmy Alvarado(www.voodoorhythm.com)101