Solo project debut cassette out of Rochester, NY. LETTUCE HEAD is the brain child grown and cultivated by Graham Allan Balcomb, with sporadic help from a handful of other Rochester, NY heavy hitters. Musically, most may know Graham as being involved with Rochester lunatic freak-out project CLIBBUS, but I personally always think of him as being a part of underrated Rochester hardcore-punk band MISSLE CRISIS. LETTUCE HEAD takes us on a wild flanged-out journey and has a little something for everyone within this ten song cassette. At first listen I… …READ MORE

Six tracks of spastic, disjointed, panic-inducing hardcore-punk from the Windy City. Blistering riffs devoid of any sort of melody or sing-songy quality, CUCUY tears through these six songs in about ten minutes — still finding time for noisy intros, outros, and interludes. The frenzied, chaotic musicianship is as tight as the straight-jacket you may find yourself in after this cassette provides the musical equivalent of a nervous breakdown. It’s a breath of fresh air to see people still this hungry for punk as we get older. Hearing Ralph from THE… …READ MORE

Finally, a band who understands the correct pronunciation of that word. As a devoted fan of vintage sci-fi, I’ve often wondered why, whenever a visibly uncomfortable actor in a clunky tin suit shuffled across the screen, the townsfolk would flee in terror screaming about “robits!” I naturally took this to be the proper pronunciation. Who was I to argue with panicked villagers and 1950s radio announcers? Still, I used this band as an excuse to dig into the etymology of the word robot. The term was first introduced in 1921… …READ MORE

Second full-length release from Detroit, MI power-trio. If you’re already familiar with MOD LANG, who share a member with SHADOW SHOW, you know how these Detroit kids can nail retro-infusion style bands. MOD LANG have got to be the most authentic sounding throwback power-pop band I have ever seen, while SHADOW SHOW focus more on revival 60’s pop-psychedelia. “Mystic Spiral” comes closest to this stylistic choice and is the standout track of the 12 songs on this cassette. “On A Cloud” isn’t far behind, driven by BYRDS-esque guitar jangle and… …READ MORE

Only release by short-lived Montreal crust-punk group. Five riff-heavy bleak songs of angry, disturbing, metal infused crust. The guitar work definitely keeps your attention on these songs, complete with catchy riffs, down-tuned chugs, and even the occasional pinch harmonic. While I may not entirely be sure what their self-proclaimed genre term of necro crust is, with the use of such terminology I was expecting the production on this recording to be a lot more lo-fi and fucked up sounding. Don’t get me wrong, this recording doesn’t come off as sounding… …READ MORE

Debut release from Sydney, Australia. DUMBELLS play some sort of amalgamation of jangly indie-pop, glammy power-pop / rock-n-roll, PAVEMENT-esque alt-rock, etc. etc. etc. As I have noticed is often the case when a pop band is particularly good at what they do, people tend to hear in them the style which most resonates to them. This is incredibly catchy and a solid first release, even if it gets a bit too atmospheric and noodly for my tastes. There’s also very much a chance that sharing members with such heavy lifters… …READ MORE

Newest offering from NAG out of Atlanta, GA. Since their first demo in 2016 this band has brought us something like 3 LPs and too many EP’s / singles / splits to accurately count. Don’t think for a second that NAG doesn’t have any gas left in the tank, though. The seven tracks on Fear are as driving of output as we have heard out of this band. Dark, spooky, meandering post-punk, driven forward by drumming which at times could easily be misconstrued as being a drum-machine with how metronomic… …READ MORE

Debut cassette out of Gettysburg, PA. GARBANZO brings us 4 tracks of lo-fi, fuzzed-out garage-punk. Repetitive, catchy, flanger-heavy tunes with lazily delivered vocals.  As far as I can tell this is a drum-machine driven solo project but I cannot say that with absolute certainty. It’s snotty, it’s juvenile, it’s catchy, it’s pretty much all you could possibly hope for in a garage-punk project. GARBANZO, I love the bean and now I love the band! Label: Painters Tapes Band: Garbanzo …READ MORE

Newest offering from the Kill Enemy Records camp out of Pittsburgh, PA. Another ripping fast hardcore-punk band of the style which has become almost synonymous with this labels other output; ILLITERATES, LITTLE ANGELS, SPEED PLANS, etc. There’s at least some shared members with ILLITERATES, and likely others on the label, but who can really keep track. Six songs of blown-out, enraged hardcore, all of which clock in right around the one minute mark, many of which still finding enough time for a stomping breakdown. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite… …READ MORE

Six songs of distorted, no-frills, no-nonsense hardcore-punk. YELLOW GHOUL is a recording project from Buffalo, NY which is the brainchild of the drummer from PISSING MATCH / PURE HEEL. Rob recorded all the instrumentation then enlisted Buffalo musics unofficial mayor, hardcore-punk stalwart John Toohill, to write lyrics and record vocals to them. What we end up with is stripped down, driving, fast, aggressive hardcore-punk with none of the little psychedelic hooks we have come to expect from projects involving John; SCIENCE MAN, ISMATIC GURU, ALPHA HOPPER, (I could go on… …READ MORE