Authors: Steve Richardson
Local Review: Mañanero – Self-Titled
I like lo-fi, but you might want to listen to this album on some high-quality speakers. In my car’s weak sound system, I was ready to give up on Mañanero, but at home, I had much less trouble making it through the album. … read more
Review: Fidlar – Self Titled
In the songs of Fidlar, with titles including “Cheap Beer” and “Wake Bake Skate,” and lyrics like, “I drink cheap beer so what fuck you,” the subject matter reminds me of a less trashy take on The Trashies. … read more
Review: Ex-Cult – Midnight Passenger
The moment the vocals come in on Midnight Passenger’s opening track, “Shattered Circle,” you might notice yourself thinking, “Hell yeah, young people with a new take on late seventies/early eighties L.A. punk.” … read more
Review: Destroy This Place – Destroy This Place
If Destroy this Place came out in the late ’90s or early ’00s, it would have been cozy snuggling up between Ozma and Green Day on my CD rack. Musically, not much sets this album apart from earlier power-pop, but vocally, a few tracks stand out. … read more
Review: Cy Dune
No Recognize jumps right into action with heavy but bright guitar (think King Tuff guitar tone) hitting rhythmic chords and hammer-ons that become the backbone of the opening track, “Where the Wild Things.” … read more
Review: Creative Adult – Psychic Mess
Creative Adult Psychic Mess Run For Cover Street: 02.25 Creative Adult = Mayyors + Gray Matter + The Vibrating Antennas Imagine the sound of an ’80s goth-influenced group that you can’t place between punk and new wave. Now, if you can imagine dropping the needle on their LP, coated with a fine layer of mud,
Review: Carnivores – Second Impulse
A drumbeat just shy of lo-fi, a thin, spineless guitar with a tone so frail and twangy it feels cute (which is not a bad thing) and a 60s-sounding synth unite Second Impulse despite the vocalists switching from one track to the next. … read more
Review: Brief Lives – Whistleblower 7”
I prefer the B-side, “No Voice.” This track captures the DC punk sound better by slightly upping the speed with a steady thumping beat and quick guitar creating the backing the vocals call for. … read more
Review: Bass Drum Of Death – Self Titled
When a single overridden guitar chord introduces the 10-second snare-drum-roll opening “I Wanna Be Forgotten” (the first track), the endless 15-second snare-intro of Cheap Time’s “Living In The Past” comes to mind. … read more