Living in Western, New York, there is a reasonably small pool of weirdos and outsiders consistently doing music stuff. I have been aware of  ECLECTIC BLEND for quite some time and anxiously awaiting their studio demo that has been in the works for multiple years at this point. Is that what I received when finally getting to see the band perform live? No. Instead, in true Rochester fashion a much more confusing release has dropped. A debut release in the form of a live cassette, allegedly recorded at the humorously… …READ MORE

I was sent the first ZERO BARS demo to review at the end of 2023 by MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL and I remember liking it ok, but really liking that amidst their fast punk songs the band slipped us a curve ball of a catchy WIRE-esque post-punk number. Lo and behold they do it again on this release! ZERO BARS from Toronto are back with their second cassette, Life and Hell, taking the glimpses of good we saw on Demo 2023 and pumping every aspect up. The fast hardcore-punk songs are more… …READ MORE

Second cassette from this stoned out three-piece from Schenectady, NY. Ten songs of riff-heavy, stoner-rock-infused fast punk. Don’t worry all you heady-heads out there, there are plenty of sludgy parts within this tape, too. Given the style, I was pleasantly surprised how short these songs are. Not a one of them gets even close to the two-minute threshold. It’s like if stoner-metal had the attention span of the hardcore-punk enthusiast. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, everyone, but save a hit for these Schenectaguys as they would surely do the… …READ MORE

Lo-fi mid-tempo post-punk from Sudbury, ON. Four absolutely killer, catchy songs, that lean a bit artsy from time to time, but not enough to be fully off-putting. I’m not often one to harp on the fidelity of a demo, and I do like this despite its sound quality leaving a bit to be desired. Having seen this band play live, however, I truly think that this is a band that would greatly benefit from a more professional recording. A very cool first demo, and I truly can’t wait to see… …READ MORE

Cassette release of the sold out LP on We Don’t Make It Records from 2019. Two-piece lo-fi garage / indie-pop band from Switzerland. Guitar and drums, both members sharing vocal duty. SUN COUSTO make a somewhat confusing statement on their bandcamp page: “hopefully we don’t know how to play.” Well… the playing on this cassette is loose and rather unpolished, but that isn’t automatically a bad thing. A uniquely interesting opportunity does arise from such a scenario — no rules, no theory, no overthinking. If it sounds good, that’s the… …READ MORE

Otherworldly, dancy, minimalist, plink-plunky new-wave. Completely timeless. You could have told me this came out anywhere from 1985 to now and I would have been likely to believe it. ODOR EATER is a Portland, OR based two-piece act, one of whom I believe is Harley from FUGITIVE BUBBLE who have an LP out on the mighty Sorry State Records. Label: Rotten Apple …READ MORE

Five tracks of lo-fi, mid-tempo, stomping cowpunk. A two-piece out of New Orleans, comprised of drummer, Stella, and guitarist, Roach, both of who share vocal duties. While it may seem that there’s nothing particularly spectacular about T.A.C.K.; the songs are incredibly simplistic, the band is merely a guitarist and a drummer, the recording is incredibly lo-fi, somehow when taking the product in as a whole none of that matters. This band is outstanding, the five songs on this tape are incredibly catchy and as a live band T.A.C.K. is wildly… …READ MORE

Absolutely blistering hardcore-punk from Atlanta, GA featuring members of JUDY AND THE JERKS and NAG. Lo-fi, relentless, disturbing as hell hardcore-punk the way hardcore-punk ought to be. Even has a DYS ‘Wolfpack’ cover uncredited on the track listing. What else can really be said? No nonsense hardcore-punk. Get into it. Recorded by Hampton Martin of BAD ANXIETY and driving force of Hattiesburg, MS DIY punk. Label: Earth Girls Tapes …READ MORE

Hot off the presses, a debut cassette from Montreal, Quebec. WAYS OF HIDING offer up 5 songs of spacey, atmospheric, dreamy, meandering post-punk. These songs are not for the short attention spanned, however, with songs averaging around 4 minutes each. I was in the midst of writing about how the incredibly raw recording was a very interesting and unexpected touch coming from a band of this style. Then I had the realization that the tapes are just dubbed incredibly lo-fi and at a slower pace than the songs are when… …READ MORE