Year: 2026

I really had no thoughts or expectations about what LUCKLESS was all about when I was preparing to listen to this cassette. Very unassuming, minimalist artwork surrounding a four-song cassette, labeled with a label maker. LUCKLESS is a four-piece band from Toronto, ON comprised of guitar, bass, drums, and synth. Vocal duties are shared between…

This band has been kicking around for a while at this point. I booked them on a tour in the early 2010’s and they were absolutely outstanding. Blistering, relentless hardcore-punk from Fort Wayne, IN. A group of people that when they rolled up to the gig you simultaneous felt the desire to befriend them and…

Jake King has been operating under the T.T.T.T. banner for a few years now, while also releasing music as J. KING, JACOB KING, and now… JAKE KING. From release to release I find myself having no idea what to expect, since the stylistic lines between these aliases tend to blur. My gut feeling has been…

Five song solo egg-punk project from Montreal, QC. I’ve seen the tape named ICSTQ standing for I Can’t Stand To Quit, but on both the front cover and the spine of the cassette there is no “I” in Can’t Stand To Quit. The tape begins with the allegedly titular track of “ICSTQ” which starts off…

Popping this cassette into the tape deck of my 1989 Dodge B350 tour van, I was convinced that something was broken. The stereo salvaged from the junk yard? One of the speakers? Maybe the tape itself? I can’t begin to count how many records I’ve heard that begin with the classic “uh-oh, your stereo might…

Chicago / Northwest Indiana area supergroup featuring members of NANCY, LIQUIDS, and BLEEDING GUMS. Supergroups sometimes stumble under the weight of their own hype, fans expect fireworks but all they get is smoke. Not here, tho. This is absolute goddamn perfection. Catchy rock-n-roll riffs mixed together with no-nonsense, no cheat-beat punk. Hell, the first ten…

A group of long-running Rochester, NY heavy hitters delivering Revolution Summer–inspired post-hardcore. Well crafted songs with no shortage of riffs, and it’s good! Dare I say… too good? The recording is very clean, slick, and professional. More often than not, that can act like a strike against a band for someone like me who prefers…

Extremely limited-run posthumous cassette discography from the Capital Region of New York state. The full output of the band was a demo cassette released right around the turn of the century and now also a live recording of the final ECFU set. Of course I should mention that the band featured future members of ACID…

Debut solo-project release, every aspect done by Krystian Quint, best known from being in Detroit garage-punk band THE STOOLS. Personally, when listening to this tape I hear 9 songs of well crafted power-pop / glam-punk / rock-n-roll, but I’ve always said that music on the ‘pop’ spectrum allows listeners to hear what they want to…

Three-piece alternative rock band from Moline, IL, or maybe just a solo project in disguise, as the cassette credits only “Jakob Fucking Martin.” The A-side has seven tracks, while the B-side is hand-labeled: “Side B: ????”. The big reveal for me was that mine was blank, though online I discovered that the band offered to…