A COMIC BOOK I MADE

For something a little different tonight, I bring you this brand new comic book I made. Enjoy.







































tHe ENd.

Review #148: NO-FX - NO-FX (EP) (1985)

NO-FX (EP)

Year: 1985

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore
Label: Mystic Records
Tracks: 7
Length: 11 Minutes
Style: Rebellious/Funny
My Rating: 6/8

NOFX formed in 1983 in Los Angeles by members Fat Mike, Eric Melvin, and Erik Sandin (that's a lot of Ericks... meh, not actually that much, actually... nevermind). While NOFX has basically hit relatively mainstream popularity in more recent years, the early years of NOFX were less pop-punk/melodic-hardcore oriented and more raw and hardcore punk-sounding. In 1984 they recorded a demo produced by Don Bolles of the Germs (the drummer) himself! Soon enough, they found a home on Mystic Records, and this was their first 7" EP ever.

1. Live Your Life
Starts out slow for a brief moment before speeding up to a fast speed. The verse is very fast and the chorus is slower. The song asks people why they give their money away to churches and religion instead of focusing on living their own lives. It's a pretty good song. Sometimes a set of more heavy chords will interval between a flowing riff.

2. My Friends
The first half is slow and the second half is fast. The song's about having friends that just use you and steal things from you and betray your trust for cheap laughs. Mike exclaims that his real friends are in his band.

3. Six Pack Girls
This one's a short song. I love the riff for this one. It's about a party where all of the girls are lame. However, after getting hammered the girls start to look pretty good, and you end up hung over with one of them the next morning!

4. Bang Gang
A slower song. It's about violent gangs, criticizing them for fighting "20-on-1", and their disregard for life. It's quite bassy. End of Side... A! For apple!

5. Hit It
This song kinda reminds me of later Black Flag, riff-wise. Much like Minor Threat sung about 'Straight Edge', eventually having their message over-exaggerated by a bunch of try-hard followers, this song refutes the aggressive Straight Edgers and Mike sings that he "has his own set of values". It's basically an anti-Straight Edge song.

6. Hold it Back
This one's about how hardly anything in life can just be divided into black/white matters. There are TWO guitar solos in this song! WAUW. The beat is cool in the ending part.

7. I.D.
Starts off with backwards talking. Probably something very EEEVIIILLLL. The song progressively gets faster and faster. The lyrics are about Mike meeting a drug dealer who promises to "set him free" from the stresses of everyday life, and him eventually get addicted. Then after the main part of the song there's a bunch of false endings and lead guitar-wanking... then another thrashy section is performed, and then there's yet ANOTHER fake ending before the real ending.

Well, that's the first NOFX record for ya. It's a pretty decent little EP, it's got some fast songs, some slower songs, the lyrics are pretty good n' stuff. The contents of it can be found now on a CD called "Maximum Rock n' Roll" that has the rest of their early stuff on it, or if you wanna track down an original copy of the 7", I'm sure that's possible also. Might have to go on some magical journeys, though... I hear they store some of these in a cursed Aztec ruin. So, just be careful! But anyways, yeah, it's a good EP and you should listen to it. Bye.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Live Your Life
2. Hit It
3. Hold it Back

Review #147: Happy Flowers - Songs for Children (EP) (1984)

SONGS FOR CHILDREN (EP)

Year: 1984

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Noise
Label: Catch Trout Records
Tracks: 3
Length: 10 Minutes
Style: Weird/Funny/Scary
My Rating: 6/8

Happy Flowers iz just one of those kinds of bands... part genius, part hilarious, part gloriously inept. And part legit, also. The band formed in 1983 (ten years before my birth) in Charlottesville, Virginia, by two members of a hardcore band called the Landlords... that band released one album called "It's a Teenage House Party With the Landlords". Shortly afterwards, the members of the band went their separate ways and John Beers and Charlie Kramer both decided to start Happy Flowers. John was now "Mr. Horribly Charred Infant", and Charlie was now "Mr. Anus". Two names I wish my parents had given me. "Songs for Children" was the first Happy Flowers release. You can just imagine a cute little 7" record in a store with nice kiddie drawings on it and a name like 'Happy Flowers', and hey, the songs are for CHILDREN, also! What fun! A naive parent would pick this up, play it on the record player to put the 2-year-old to sleep, and then ten minutes later the 2-year-old would walk out of the bedroom looking like Charles Manson. That's the greatness of Happy Flowers for you. The early songs of Happy Flowers have practically no structure at all, just grumbling guitar damage, screaming, and if you're lucky, dialouge that resembles lyrics. The 7" also contains the band's most famous song, "Mom, I Gave the Cat Some Acid".

1. Mom, I Gave the Cat Some Acid
Starts off with the revving guitar sounds of what sounds like a really large animal dying and desperately trying to escape from a tar pit. Soon we hear Mr. Horribly Charred Infant moan a childlike "Moooommm...", looking for sympathy in this tone of voice, but this "Mom" character does not hear him, so then Mr. Anus speaks up. Soon enough, the wimpers turn into screams, and the two continue to scream, "MOM, I GAVE THE CAT SOME ACID!!!", while begging Mom not to tell Dad or the Police. I suppose this type of thing is so hilarious because it's so easy to envision it actually happening in real life. From the childlike vocabulary to the idea of a little kid accidentally giving a cat acid and then freaking out about it, the song pretty much paints its own picture with just one phrase. I wonder how much acid they were on when they did this... this song basically set the standard for the other Happy Flowers tunes, in that they became famous for the group basically screaming about childhood freak-accidents of noisy music. I think this song was on a compilation as well. But yeah, you haven't lived until you've heard this song. And once you've heard it, you've died. But then you get to live again. Now, for the B-Sides.

2. Meadowlands
Starts out sounding enough like a song with a melody, with a folky sort of electric guitar melody, with only a little bit of fucked-up shit in the background, until a really loud scream is heard, and the whole thing just turns into a heavy, improvised, noisy monster of a song. There's actually a little bit of a melody in there if you listen real hard, but it's so overshadowed by the chaos that dominates the song that you barely even notice it. Even after the guitars stop playing, you still hear that same scream repeated over and over again amidst the silence.

3. Requests
This one basically featured Mr. Horribly Charred Infant singing a bunch of random pop songs over a bunch of scary wild guitar noize with Mr. Anus sort of singing along in the background. Perhaps some people "requested" that they play these songs and this wuz the result. Then there's a bunch of feedback.

FUN FAKT: Hey, kidz! Did you know that if you play Happy Flowers music around a Flower garden, that the flowers will all get really Happy and come to life and then EAT YOU? No, really, it's true! What do you think tulips use those lips for anyways? THEY HAVE MOUTHS, DUMBASS! And stuff like that. These songs were later featured on the album "Making the Bunny Pay", which contains this EP and the second EP called "Now We Are Six". I'll review that one also sometime. But for now, hope you enjoyed my review and the wonderful music, and remember to play this music for your children all the time!

Review #146: The Faith/Void Split (1982)

THE FAITH/VOID SPLIT ALBUM

Year: 1982

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore
Label: Dischord Records
Tracks: 24
Length: 27 Minutes
Style: Angry/Emotional/Weird
My Rating: 7/8

The Faith and Void were two hardcore punk bands from Washington D.C. in the early '80s. The Faith was fronted by Ian MacKaye's younger brother, Alec MacKaye, and this was their debut release. Void had already released a 7" EP before this, and they are considered an influential band in starting the crossover-thrash genre (combining heavy metal and hardcore punk). Despite having many songs, the songs are often a minute or less in length, so the record totals up to just under a half-hour of music. And I dunno any crazy backstories for this one, so let's just get to it.

1. The Faith - "It's Time"
Pretty cool surf-y sounding beat and a great riff. The vocals have the classic D.C. snarl and it's a pretty damn solid track. Very angry-sounding. The chorus is a little more up-beat. The song is about wanting to get revenge on a judgemental society.

2. The Faith - "Face to Face"
Much faster! More melodic backing vocals are sung in the mid-section before the end of the song.

3. The Faith - "Trapped"
The song starts out sounding like the song before it, but the riff is much better. Then it changes up a lot in the chorus, with the ascending razor-sharp chorus riff.

4. The Faith - "In Control"
Starts with a slow section with a near-perfect guitar riff that just sounds really fucking awesome. Then that part ends and the song speeds up and the riff changes. After that part, the song repeats a little bit of the slow part one more time before ending.

5. The Faith - "Another Victim"
Fast. Sucks I don't know the lyrics. Not easy to figure out when Alec sings so damn fast.

6. The Faith - "What's Wrong With Me"
I love the little drum roll that intervals in the beginning of the song in the verse section. The chorus part is fucking awesome, with a little bit of extra guitar over-dubbed to harmonize with the main rhythm guitar, and adds to the flavor of the melody in that part.

7. The Faith - "What You Think"
Yep. Fast song yet again. This one's about the singer not caring what society thinks about him because they don't understand where he's coming from or his views on life anyways.

8. The Faith - "Confusion"
Slow, heavy intro. Eerie little lead guitar bits in that part. Alec's voice sounds all echo-y as he sings of his inner delusion and confusion that torments him. Then the song gets fast in the chorus part. The next section repeats the first part except the vocals are angrier and more intense this time around. Then another fast part. The song ends with some wisps of feedback.

9. The Faith - "You're X'd"
A song about posers in the Straight Edge scene who only claim it as their lifestyle as a fashion trend and secretly partake in drugs and alcohol anyways.

10. The Faith - "Nightmare"
This song's fast but not quite as much as the other ones. The tempo is sort of like "Circle One" by the Germs. The chorus riff is pretty cool.

11. The Faith - "Don't Tell Me"
Awesome verse riff! I love it. The song is pretty simple -- about people complaining about problems and pointless shit when we've already got our own problems to deal with. Great solo at the end.

12. The Faith - "In the Black"
Starts off with a weird backwards part. Then after a bit of jumbled bass, the song 'really' starts, and it's more mid-tempo. It's the longest song on the Faith's side. The melody here is more depressing and downbeat than the other songs. The song ends very abruptly! And that's the end of the Faith's side. Time for some Void...

13. Void - "Who Are You"
Starts out kind of weird, with some fucking around with the speeds, and then a false-start, and then the song just fucking blasts off like a rocket! John Weiffenbach sounds like an even angrier version of Ian MacKaye, and the synchronization between the vocals and the instruments with eachother sounds so shaky and strategically erratic that it just sounds like a big fucking blast of musical violence! Almost a response to the Faith's "Don't Tell Me" from the other side of the LP where this time the song's protagonist is mad because nobody ever listens to his problems! The song's chorus goes "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY AM I HERE??".

14. Void - "Time to Die"
Extremely aggressive and abrasive song! Kind of like a freakish cross between Minor Threat, Black Flag, and the Germs. The first riff is very cool, and the verse riff sounds real catchy, and then just sort of dark in the third riff. Seriously, this guy sounds like he's about to fucking lose it! I love it.

15. Void - "Condensed Flesh"
Very fast, with lots of tempo pauses and some parts feel like pure noise rumbling beneath your ears! An early version of this song can be found on the "Charred Remains" compilation tape.

16. Void - "Ignorant People"
Slow, heavy metal-style intro. The verse is full-speed-ahead fast, and the chorus is just like the intro riff and speed. A really fucked-up guitar solo can be heard near the end of the song before the song goes for an extended version of the verse section. The song attacks ignorant conformist people who "think they're individuals" when they only conform at every turn.

17. Void - "Change Places"
Slow, ominous intro. This song is pretty interesting in the sense that the tempo is constantly shifting between kinda fast and very fast, often when you don't expect it coming.

18. Void - "Ask Them Why"
The intro's slow and heavy. The verse and chorus are very fast, and John still sounds like he can barely keep up with the rest of the band. I like the riff that plays at the very end of the song.

19. Void - "Organized Sports"
My guess is that, well, this one iz about sports at school. Slow chorus with a shouted chorus that goes, well... uhh... see the title. Dude. There's some pretty fucking funny-sounding sped-up vocals in the background in the chorus section.

20. Void - "My Rules"
The first Void song I ever heard. There was another version of it on the "Flex Your Head" compilation. Awesome fast verse section, and a memorable-as-hell slow chorus part. I love it.

21. Void - "Self-Defense"
Don't know the words to this one. It's fast. It has a shouted chorus. Yeah.

22. Void - "War Hero"
Echo-y, spacey intro. Very fast. John's vocals are a little more muffled here. Gotta love the awkward tempo-shifts that happen in the chorus. The song ends in some clashing and bashing of noize at the end.

23. Void - "Think"
Second Void song I listened to. The vocals here are just about as loud and screamy as you can get without just sounding ridiculous. First half iz fast. Second half is slower and has a cool riff that goes perfect with the singing in that part. Neat backwards solo. And then MORE FAST MUSIC! HOLY SHIT!!

24. Void - "Explode"
The song begins with an ominous noodling about of the guitar and a one-note weird guitar noise. This is repeated, gradually faster and faster as Johnny just laughs n' laughs until the song segues into an extremely fast section that quickly does 'explode' into pure noise and musical chaos. And then, my friend... you die. YOU DIE! YOU DIE! YOU DIE! AAAGGGHHH!

Well, I strongly recommend this. I hadn't listened to the whole thing aside from a few songs prior to this review, but it definitely feels like one of the better hardcore albums I've heard. The Faith songs are fun as hell and very well-written, and the Void songs are overflowing with energy and hit you with un-expected twists at all the right times. Most of the songs here are great. So, definitely check this one out. Basically a step or two higher evolved than Minor Threat.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Don't Tell Me (The Faith)
2. Time to Die (Void)
3. In Control (The Faith)

Review #145: Sonitus Revolution - There is No One Way to Dance (2006)

THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO DANCE

Year: 2006

Genre: Punk Rock, Folk, Psychedelic Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk
Label: Wrong Island Records
Tracks: 8
Length: 19 Minutes
Style: Dark/Emotional
My Rating: 7/8

"There is no one way to dance"... this iz something that is very true... are we to river-dance? Do jumping-jacks? Ballet dance? Tango? Waltz? Tap-dance? Slam-dance? Square-dance? There are so many ways to do something that can only be summed up in one word: DANCE. D-A-N-C-E. 'D' for "Does". 'A' for "a". 'N' for "Nightowl". 'C' for "Catch". And 'E' for "EDS". "Does A Nightowl Catch EDS?". Of course not! Nightowls are SUPPOSED to be sleepy during the DAY, dumbo! But I digress.

This is the first and only full album from the Sonitus Revolution. It iz a band consisting of Jay Briggs (a.k.a. Jaysonitus), Chris DiMaio, Frank Federici, and Phil "Meatball" Montalbano. The band formed in 2005 and has occupied New York, playing music since then. Jay Briggs has also been a member of the band Grrrl Friend, and the group released a split live album with Duffy Wrong Island's other band, Bionic Senses in 2007, the year after this album came out. Bdee from his own band, the Venomous Oranges has also been in this group at one point. Anyways, time for a little overview on this record... the album is steady mix of funk-influenced punk rock and psychedelic folk music, ranging from the hot sounds of "Laius" to an electric psychedelic instrumental, "Raga I", to a dark, poetic acoustic piece known as "the Burden". Now, as I always do, I shall assess this songs one-by-one. So let's begin!

1. Laius
As I said before, the very best song on the album. For some reason, though, I've always felt that the best song should go at the end. But you've gotta have something to draw the people in, right? Well, anyways, this an absolutely awesome song with a beautiful guitar sound and elements of funk and psychedelic rock alongside the completely awesome punk rock melody of the song. The tempo and the riff just work perfectly alongside eachother. The bass line is always interesting, and just before the song steers too far off-track in the chorus section, it returns back to that awesome verse riff, but there's always little things in the background to make the song diverse and never boring. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Jay really does sound a lot like D Boon to me. However, he has the hair of a fucking Ramone!

2. Sociopath
The song eases in... drums first, then bass, and the rhythm guitar. The melody here is more ominous, but still pretty up-beat. The chorus riff and the bass combined together sound real cool on the chorus. What iz pain? What iz pleasure? What iz sadness? It's... SATURDAY! "What Am I??", screams Jay at the end of the song. A sociopath, that's what. Know how I knew that? 'Cause the answer's in the TITLE!

3. Black Dwarf
This one's an acoustic song. The guitar has a real nice sound here. I think it might be the mixing. Just those couple top strings sound real good. Nice use of double vocals here. Too bad there's no lyric sheet for this album that I know of. The guitar melody sounds very good in the part where they sing "the stars are there preserved with care". The song becomes shifts to a much less peaceful repeated chord after that, and then ze song... ENDS.

4. Raga, I
Kind of reminds me of "My Broken Head" by Grrrl Friend that I reviewed a couple days ago, except less creepy. There is the tinkling of the brass, an odd electric melody, a synth piano tune, as well as some unsettling sounds droning on in the background. No vocals on this song.

5. A Match Made in Human
This song is played with two mandolins and a simplistic bass beat of a drum, as well as more singing from Jay and the gang about friendship and relationships between human beings. I can't quite get into it that much, but it's still a good song. Sounds like folk music from another country of descent, but I can't quite put my finger on what that would be.

6. Borderline
This is one of the faster songs on the album. More of a "normal" song, I suppose. The song starts with a clean electric guitar sound, but in the first verse, there is also an extremely distorted guitar dubbed over, giving it almost a hardcore sound. There's also a very cool guitar solo 2/3 through the song. There's a live version of this song on the album "Draft Beer, Not Students".

7. The Burden
Another acoustic song. An acoustic guitar with some synth droning in the background for the needed ambience. Jay's not really singing here as much he's just reciting a poem that he probably wrote.

8. Overactive Mind
The melody for this kinda reminds me of an early Dinosaur Jr. song (like their first album). Somewhere between folk and punk. The chorus is pretty upbeat sounding. Cool mid-section with an also cool guitar solo in that part of the song. The song fades out right when it ends and that iz the end. Of the album.

It's a very unique and underrated album. But then again, it's harder than it has been to get noticed these days. But yeah, I think there just may be something for everyone on this record. You get some cool rock n' roll songs, some cool non-rock songs, fast stuff (sort of), slow stuff, upbeat songs, depressing songs. It's a pretty damn talented piece of work. Just recently the band re-released this album through Jay's own new record label, "Dinosaur in Vietnam", in 2009. Aside from this album and the "Draft Beer, Not Students" album, you can find more Sonitus Revolution songs on the Dinosaurs in Vietnam compilations. There are two of them so far, one from last year called "Save Our Heads for the Future" (with one new song and a great re-recorded version of Laius), and one released this June called the "Crude Oil Compilation", with one new song under the name "Jay Briggs and the Oily Rainbows". So yeah, you can download this album for free from the Dinosaur In Vietnam website, so definitely give it a listen when you can. So for now, stay legit. And have a fucktastic weekend! BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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(P.S. - Isn't that cover-art just plain awesome?)

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Laius
2. Borderline
3. Black Dwarf

Review #144: Cop Warmth - Centaur Cop Top (EP) (2008)

CENTAUR COP TOP (EP)

Year: 2008

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Noise
Label: Disaro Records
Tracks: 3
Length: 3 Minutes
Style: Angry
My Rating: 6/8

Cop Warmth is a band from Houston, Texas. The group formed circa 2006 and they have released a demo tape and one 7" vinyl EP with three sawngs on it. The line-up consists of Craig (guitar), Nathan (bass guitar and drums), Dan (other guitar), and Marky G (bass guitar and drums). Yeah, the band doesn't have a huge-ass history as far as I'm aware (unless they'd like to tell me otherwise), so let's get right to this...

1. Anksciyeti
What? Angsty yeti? The closest word I was able to find was "anksiyete", but I have not yet discovered the meaning of the word. I shall update this later. Extremely noisy in the beginning, almost like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/no-wave sort of thing. Complex lead-guitar melodies in the verse sections, and a crashing beat like some blows (not the good kind) to the face. Extremely noisy, with the guitar, and vocals are mixed pretty distorted (a common trend in modern punk). The bridge section is pretty awesome and deep-sounding. Then the ending part of the song just features the band screaming "ANK-SCI-YE-TI" over a shrieking guitar and drum pound before pausing and repeating. Very unique-sounding.

2. Dancing is My Bad
Not very long. This song has a more straight-forward beat. But there is still a lot of neat lead-guitar super-abrasive stuff going on. The bass melody iz nice, though.

3. Jamz Allen
It's JAMZ ALLEN, the secret brother of GG ALLIN! They repeat the name of some guy named "James Allen". Fast, abrasive, reeks of breaking glass. I'm pretty sure they're singing in spanish in the later part of the song.

So, if you're able to, give this record a spin. The real stand-out track here without a doubt is "Anksciyeti" (the first song), but the other two songs are decent. The band's music conveys noise-punk anarchy over hardcore beats and lyrics, and it works well. What may initially sound like a very unskilled band making noise is really some well thought-out shredding combined to sound, well, insane! You can listen to the contents of this 7" if you follow the link I supply below:

http://www.last.fm/music/Cop+Warmth/Centar+Cop+Top+E.P.

Bye. Stay tuned for the next review tomorrow!

Review #143: Grrrl Friend - B-Sides & Rarities (2009)

B-SIDES & RARITIES (Grrrl Friend)

Year: 2009

Genre: Punk Rock, Folk Rock
Sub-Genres: Post-Punk, Hardcore
Label: Wrong Island Records
Tracks: 14
Length: 41 Minutes
Style: Emotional/Angry/Fun
My Rating: 7/8

Yup, more of your favorite grrrl friend: GRRRL FRIEND! WHOOHOOOO! Alongside their newest compilation record, "Isolation, Chronic Masturbation & Daydreams" (the title being taken from a line from one of their songs) -- this is the OTHER compilation. And while originally only 7 songs upon its release, it has been re-issued or so to speak to contain TWICE that much. For those of you who suck at math, that's 14 FUCKING SONGS! YAEY. And this one basically contains every song the band has recorded in the studio that's NOT on "Isolation, Chronic Masturbation..." blah blah blah. It also contains a few acoustic demos and live recordings as well. Material recorded from 2007 - 2009 (the early years of Grrrl Friend). Time to review this masterpiece. I will just put in what I've said about a song if it's already been covered on a previous album, unless I think what I said when I reviewed the aforementioned could be improved upon/de-stupidified. Okay, NOW time to review!

1. Probably (Acoustic Demo)
This is an acoustic demo version with both Duffy and Cora on the vocals this time, playing the classic song that opens their first EP. However, this version doesn't feel as erratic as much just totally blissful and everybody should listen to this song. The chords just sink into your skin, they're so good. Unfortunately, it doesn't contain the ending part like the other version does.

2. The Rag (Acoustic Demo)
Duffy really needs a fucking cigarette. Anyways, this iz an acoustic version of the SECOND song from "The Rag" (first Grrrl Friend EP), and it's pretty nice. No boingy sounds here, though. Excellent riff and vocals and lyrics. Slow in the verse parts, and fast in the chorus parts. Very catchy.

3. My Broken Head
A creepy, weird sound-collage with very strange and scary noises floating around your hearing range and Duffy mumbling things in a creepy, muffled way. If there's anything he's actually reading here, it'd be nice if were explained. It's only a minute long.

4. Homesick (Live)
A recording of a live performance of the band playing "Homesick", one of the songs from "the Rag". The guitars here sound very electrifying and fuzzed-out as hell. Here's my description of the song from an earlier review: This one's a little slower, like "Mine"... driven like a gear in a great machine or a tiny falling snowflake, there's neat lead guitar here... just peddling along like a... bicycle... or something. Heh heh. The rhythm guitar here is a bit more heavy than the other songs, like grunge or something. Here, the vocal duties are sort of different... Duffy sings high-pitched, and Elyssa sings more low-pitched. When the lead guitar doesn't sound all sparkly, it's got a crazy sound to it like a ripple in a lake of ACID. The song sort of reminds me of the feeling of going back home after a long, exciting journey. Duffy yells, "DO IT, JAY", and Jay whips out a neat-o guitar-o sol-o on command.

5. Ouch!
This one isn't even a "B-Side" (how could they have b-sides if all of their albums are digital or CDs?), or rare! But alas, here it iz on this album. Here's a description of my song on an earlier review: Another one of my favorites, here. Starts with just guitar and vocals. It's very soothing and uplifting. It's almost like the soundtrack to getting stoned in the summer. "TV controls the world, it's hard to cope" -- a sad but true lyric. In the second verse, the drums and the other cool weird sounds come into the mix. The chorus is very aggressive and chaotic, contrasting from the relaxed verse sections. If I knew all of the lyrics to this song, I could say more. Musically, it feels equivalent to watching yourself skip through the park in slow motion in Super-8 or something like that. What a beautiful song. After the second chorus, there is an outro section which consists of nothing but a repeated melody being played on an acoustic guitar.

6. Toole & I (Acoustic Demo)
Another acoustic demo. This was the closing song for the Grrrl Friend half of "Some Say It's Genetic". It's a mid-tempo love song, presumably about a person and his "Toole" and their loneliness together. Or maybe I'm completely missing the point. Probably am. YES!

7. Deceptacon (Live)
This iz a cover of a song by Le Tigre (featuring Kathleen Hannah). This was from a performance at a release party for a movie about Mia Zapata from the Gits in 2008. They play the song quite well, with a nice warm guitar sound like a boiling vat of water. It sounds very different from the original version... more Grrrl Friend-y, I suppose. And they played it RIGHT IN FRONT of Kathleen! Very good song. It's not necessarily easy to notice at first, but the icing on the cake here is the quieter lead guitar melodies playing in the background. THAT is fucking good.

8. The Flow
One of my favorite tunes from the "Grrrl Friend" EP (the second one). It has a nice crunched-out guitar sound, a great riff, nice beat, and to top it off, some apathetic-sounding horn-like keyboard playing. There's really only one riff for this song, but it's a good one, so it iz okay. Somewhere between completely pissed, tired, and motivated. Duffy screams like a wild animal here. There's a nice little keyboard solo towards the end that sounds like an organ. Great touch.

9. Fleet Would Mock
Another great song from the second EP. Description from another review: I'm guessing that this one's title is supposed to be a play on the name of the band, Fleetwood Mac. But this song starts out pretty calm, with just Duffy singin' and an acoustic guitar. Then the drums start drumming, and then somehow, the acoustic guitar somehow transforms into a noise-spewin' electric one, and Duffy is now yelling instead of softly singing. Seriously, the guitar sounds weirdly awesome, here. Almost sounds like a DJ scratching a record or something, but I'm pretty sure that the DJ (who happens to be Duffy Wrong Island) is just scratching his guitar (that should be a euphemism for masturbation). Makes me think of walking down into the sunset in the melting snow.

10. Tsantsa
Know what a tsantsa is?? It's a goddamned shrunken head, kidz! This was the last song on the second EP. The verse is wispy and ominous sounding, and the chorus is very slow and fuzzed out. The chorus is kinda catchy in an abstract way. You just gotta love the slow chugging of that part, and how the lyrics just roll with it.

11. I Think of Demons
A Roky Erickson cover. Once you've gotten out of the water and dried off, you can walk away listening to this one. It's a lot more straightforward than the other songs here... because it's a cover. It's a pretty catchy, nice song. It's about demons and stuff. Good guitar riff.

12. Cast a Shadow
This one's a Beat Happening cover. Great acoustic guitar sound... actually, it starts out acoustic in the very beginning, and then quickly morphs into an electric one with not a whole lot of distortion... the lead guitar is so fucked up here, but it's awesome. You can credit that to Jay Briggs of the Sonitus Revolution, who was in Grrrl Friend at this point... "Cast a shadow on my ERECTION" -- hah!! The song fades out...

13. Homesick
The studio version of "Homesick".

14. By a Thread
One of the most unique Grrrl Friend songs. Duffy n' Elyssa on vocals. It's a very soft, serene song. The bass is pretty easy to hear. At one point, there's a BACKWARDS solo. I thought that was pretty cool. It's a cool-down after a storm of coolness, I suppose. The song ends, and then so does the EP.

So, THAT iz the B-Sides and Rarities album. Funny, 'cause unless Grrrl Friend hasn't been telling us something, there really aren't many b-sides. The songs are all nice, though. A lot of cool little rarities and songs from other albums that seem to just be on here just 'cause. The first half of the album are actual rarities, and the second half are some songs from the other records. But the songs are all great, so please do check this album aut. BYE FOR NOW.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Probably (Acoustic)
2. Deceptacon (Live)
3. Homesick (Live)

Review #142: Pukeoid - Demo (EP) (2010)

PUKEOID DEMO (EP)

Year: 2010

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore
Label: Not Normal Tapes
Tracks: 8
Length: 6 Minutes
Style: Angry/Dark
My Rating: 6/8

Pukeoid is a new hardcore band from Indiana (not terribly far from where I'm from), and they're pretty damn wild! They formed in August 2009 (about the same time I started doing White Noize songs), and this iz the band's very first offering. It's a nice eight-song cassette tape with a bizarrely sexy cover, and only one song is barely over a minute, so who could go wrong with THAT? Well, let's see how very wrong this could go, so let's listen to this six-minute mash of mayhem...

1. Neva Follow
Slow intro. Quickly turns into a fast thrasher! Damn, this iz an angry sounding song... it's about not wanting to fall into the trap of the conventional enslaved average lifestyle that most Americans follow.

2. T.V. Junkie
Extremely fast on both ends of the sandwich, but slow in the middle. This song also attacks conventions of the American lifestyle, accusing people who watch television shit all day of being useless human beings filling their minds with corporate garbage.

3. Choke
Excellent riff! Slow part in the middle. THISSSS SSSSSSSSOOOOOONGGGGGGGGISZZZZZZZZ PROBABLY ABOUT CHOOOOOCKING...?

4. Shot in the Head
Once again, nice riff. This one's a little more mid-tempo. First song I heard by the band. It's about feeling empty and bored in society and feeling like there is no purpose for life.

5. Suffocate
Shortest and fastest song! I imagine a great slam pit going on with performances of this song. This song's about having suicidal thoughts. The song has a totally awesome riff, too.

6. Gimme Death
The only song that even gets to a minute long. It's a slower, heavier song, which adds some nice variety to the mix... some weird, creepy lead guitar notes also sorta float around here. In the middle, there's a fast part, but then the song gets slow again. Once again, the lyrics here are about suicide, but this one also talks about cutting and self-mutilation. An accurate portrayal of the emptiness of being a young person in a dead middle-american society.

7. Shame Society
Another good riff. It slows down a tiny bit at the very end, and there's a really nice guitar solo after that.

8. Line of Fate
Good tempo variations here -- it goes from really fast to just sorta fast. This song's about wanting to just end the entire world to rid it of all of its problems. Pretty good closing song.

Well, it's pretty good, and it's kind of exciting to know there's a new band that's actually kind of close to where I live that sounds really good. Maybe sometime I will get to see 'em! But yeah, this tape definitely scrapes into the jadedness of the youth today in our culture. In a society that completely ignores the real misfits and loners and continually rewards conformity to their desired standards, many of us often feel completely alone and many times suicidal. That's what the songs on here are about. The music is pretty good; not much that hasn't been done before, but it feels pretty damn real, so it's all legit and stuff. If you enjoy super-fast, raw-as-shit hardcore punk, then I recommend you check it out. OH! And check out this wondrous POSTER that comes with the tape!



Hope you enjoyed my review. Check the band out on MySpace or whatever else you want if you hate MySpace.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Suffocate
2. Gimme Death
3. Shame Society