Dross - Nightmare World

This blog doesn't often live up to its name, but today's post ought to do the trick. You may recall I was crazy about a band called Dead Meat back in lockdown times. The London-based foursome released two great EPs of Bloodstains/Killed By Death style punk/hardcore and then called it a day. Band members Adrian Alfonso and Fisher announced the intention to start another group along the same lines. A couple years later, Dross has emerged from the ashes of Dead Meat. Adrian and Fisher found the perfect partners-in-crime to sustain the musical vision that began with Dead Meat. On vocals is the mighty screamer Paul Froggatt from The Cavemen. Cunha from the brilliant Trash Culture is pounding the skins. On its debut release Nightmare World, Dross kicks up a sound so bleak and ferocious that it makes those Dead Meat records sound like easy listening. Meeting at the intersection of trashy punk and early '80s hardcore, Nightmare World races through ten blistering tracks in less than 19 minutes. Froggatt, one of the most extraordinary punk vocalists of contemporary times, is fully in his element singing these songs about despair, misery, rage, violence, and the utter hopelessness of modern existence. The song titles alone ("End It Tonight," "Drug Fucked," "Losing My Grip," "Hateful Hellhole," "I'm Worthless") tell you pretty much everything you need to know about this album. And in case there was any doubt about Dross's modus operandi, a faithfully raging cover of Tapeworm's classic Killed By Death cut "Break My Face" makes it all crystal clear. Oddly enough, Dross will already be playing its farewell gig in less than two weeks as Froggatt readies a move to Melbourne. Nonetheless, Nightmare World is a thrilling debut that is absolutely for you if fast, scuzzy, and super-intense punk rock gets your heart racing. A vinyl release is coming later this year on No Front Teeth Records! 

-L.R.

https://drossdrossdross.bandcamp.com/album/nightmare-world
https://www.instagram.com/dross.uk/

Erotic Devices - This World Is Not For Kids

On their third full-length album, Berlin's Erotic Devices take an "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" approach to their tried-and-true '77 style pop-punk sound. Out on Wanda Records, This World Is Not For Kids dishes out 14 tracks of sing-along three-chord punk rock all running under three minutes. Opening track "I Want More" tells you exactly what to expect from the rest of the album. And chances are that once you hear the song, you will want more. I sure did! All these songs are fun, catchy, and played with maximum gusto. These guys don't take themselves too seriously, but they are seriously good at writing simple punk rock songs in the timeless style. Thank goodness that Wanda Records is still around to fill the world with music like this. If the Ramones, Lurkers, Boys, and Dickies are staples of your record collection, Erotic Devices are a band you're likely to enjoy. Be careful Googling that band name.

-L.R.

https://wandarecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-world-is-not-for-kids
https://eroticdevices.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EroticDevices/
https://mailorder.wandarecords.de/

Civic - Taken By Force

Wow. On its sophomore full-length album Taken By Force, Melbourne-based punk quintet Civic has just about knocked my head off. A follow-up to 2021's remarkable Future Forecast, Taken By Force finds Civic as locked in as ever to its high-powered, timelessly Australian punk rock and roll style. With force, fury, and conviction, the band continues to carry the influence of The Saints, Radio Birdman (Rob Younger produced the album!), Celibate Rifles, etc. fully into the 21st Century. If you're craving classic Aussie punk rock, you can't do much better than songs like "End of the Line," "Fly Song," and "Time Girl." These songs practically explode out of your headphones or speakers! Just as Future Forecast did, Taken By Force supplements the raw power of its more raging tunes with some impressive deep cuts. The brooding slow-burner "Trick of the Light," cryptic muscular rocker "Neighbor Sadist," and powerful pop track "Blood Rushes" are all successful detours from the band's otherwise blistering approach. The dark, post-apocalyptic feel of the album is no accident: the band retreated to the middle of nowhere (Elphinstone, actually) to record these songs in eerie isolation. Fittingly, the album begins with the sound of creepy sirens and ends with bleak synthesizer playing over the sound of ocean waves. This vibe imbues even the album's straight-ahead punk tracks with a deeply innerving sensation. In collaboration with living legend Younger and mixing & mastering guru Mikey Young, the band has realized its biggest, punchiest sound to date. The guitars sound massive; the drums hit so hard that you'll feel it in your bones. And those solos are pure fire! In typical Civic fashion, these songs burn hot without any diminishment of melody. Taken By Force is an exciting, absolutely great punk rock record inspired by the past yet equally in tune with the present. Get it now from ATO Records and Cooking Vinyl Australia!

-L.R.

https://civicivic.bandcamp.com/album/taken-by-force
https://www.instagram.com/civic_aus/
https://www.civicivic.com/
https://open.spotify.com/album/1NUubkYUM67c9aG6jZ65Jv
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkZyzbQBuScrox1lRx0ivjA
https://cvaushop.com.au/products/civic-taken-by-force?_pos=1&_sid=74828543d&_ss=r
https://shop.atorecords.com/product/ATLP490/civic-taken-by-force-red-vinyl?cp=null

Tee Vee Repairmann - What's On TV?

Some friends of mine have been heavily touting the debut album from Tee Vee Repairmann for several weeks now — promising that it was going to be something special. They weren't wrong! I put this album on, and I was hooked instantly! Out on Computer Human Records in Australia and Total Punk Records in the U.S., What's On TV? is the first full-length release from Tee Vee Repairmann, aka Ishka Edmeades (Satanic Togas, Gee Tee, etc.). What I love about this album is that while it touches on numerous musical styles, at its essence it's simply a great catchy punk record. And that's the sort of thing that never goes out of style. It reminds me of something that might have been released on Dirtnap Records in the early aughts, yet it's very much in line with the best of modern-day budget punk. TV recorded this album in his living room on a Tascam 488 MK1. But if you didn't know any better, you would probably not expect this was the work of a one-man-band. All the way through, the songwriting is terrific. These tunes are loaded with killer hooks, awesome guitar work, and appealing everyman vocals. A few tracks ("Out of Order," "I Can't Figure You Out," "Bus Stop") are as good as anything you'll hear in the current power pop world. Elsewhere, TV turns out his latest Devo-inspired gem on the fantastic "Checkout Queue." In a more straight-ahead punk style, "People (Everywhere I Go)" is truly an anthem for our times. What's On TV? (great title, by the way!) is no doubt one of the best punk albums of recent memory. You'll hear bits and pieces of power pop, garage punk, "weirdo" punk, new wave, etc.; and yet it all comes together perfectly thanks to Ishka's unique talent and vision. If you're a regular reader of this blog, this album should be very much up your alley!

-L.R.

https://teeveerepairman.bandcamp.com/album/whats-on-tv
https://totalpunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/whats-on-tv
https://totalpunkrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/people/Total-Punk/100064115920535/
https://computerhumanrecords.bigcartel.com/product/chr010-teevee-repairman-what-s-on-tv-lp-preorder

Screeching Weasel - Anthem For A New Tomorrow (30th Anniversary Edition)

I rarely review reissues. But within moments of discovering the 30th anniversary edition of Screeching Weasel's Anthem For A New Tomorrow in a Rum Bar Records care package, I knew I'd have much to say. It had been at least 25 years since I'd even played this album, yet these songs were so instantly familiar to me that it was like I'd just heard them yesterday. And my first impression was to think to myself, "My god, this album really holds up!" 

It still seems impossible to me that 1993 was already 30 years ago. When you're the age I was when Anthem came out, you think music from just ten years prior is "old." Now I still think of this thirty year-old album as one of the bona fide classics of "modern" pop-punk. I'd go as far as to say this album was instrumental in spawning pop-punk as a genre onto itself. Some would argue that Green Day's Dookie in the following year was the real game-changer. But in my book, the last three decades of pop-punk largely trace back to two albums released in 1993: Anthem for a New Tomorrow and The Queers' Love Songs for the Retarded. These two very different records perfected the recipe, which has since been copied by literally hundreds of bands with varying degrees of success. As I listen again to Anthem, I'm struck by how influential it turned out to be. Just listen to Ben Weasel's snotty vocals, John Jughead's lead guitar style, and the Ramones-based chord progressions. Regardless of what you think of the countless imitators (and I like a lot of them), you'd have a hard time denying that the Weasel/Jughead/Vapid/Panic era of Screeching Weasel produced some of the greatest pop-punk ever made. And while the preceding efforts My Brain Hurts and Wiggle are also worthy of classic status, Anthem for a New Tomorrow was next level stuff. Re-reading the liner notes about sensory overload, the overmedicated masses, and the emptiness of modern existence, I'm struck by how prophetic Ben Weasel's vision was. And the music, while not quite as radical, was visionary in its own right. Anthem was the '90s answer to Wire's Pink Flag — a sprawling yet remarkably efficient expansion of the punk rock form. Why make a pop-punk record or a hardcore record or a Ramonescore record or a pure pop record or a modern punk record when you can put all of that on one album in a way that makes perfect sense? 

In the wake of this latest reissue, I've heard a lot of people identify Anthem as Screeching Weasel's very best album. And I would absolutely concur. There are so many songs on this record that I'd describe as "classic Screeching Weasel," and none of them sound the same. "I'm Gonna Strangle You" is vintage "snotty" Screeching Weasel. "Falling Apart" is perhaps the band's finest pop song. "I, Robot" combines textbook Ramones worship with a critique of American society that's grown even more spot-on over the ensuing decades. "Totally" is a song you'd play for aliens to explain what pop-punk is. On the surface just a silly song poking fun at a sitcom episode, "Peter Brady" dispenses a valuable and now-more-than-ever relevant lesson about bullying and human cruelty as facts of life. "Claire Monet," a thoughtful meditation on how one can be the epitome of cool one day and boring & ordinary the next, hits me way harder in my 50s than it did in my 20s. The lovely instrumental "Talk to Me Summer" has always been one of the songs I most closely associate with this album, and it remains a standout. It inserts two minutes of serenity into an album otherwise designed to simulate a panic attack. And yet it does not sound out of place. 

Remixed by Mike Kennerty and mastered by Justin Perkins, this 30th anniversary reissue of Anthem For A New Tomorrow is a joint venture between Monona Music and Rum Bar Records. If at some point over the last 30 years, you ended up selling off your Screeching Weasel albums, this one is definitely worth re-purchasing and experiencing anew. If you never bought this album because you had it in your head that you hated pop-punk, this release just might turn you to the dark side. Or if you're like me and have forgotten how good this album was, listening to this reissue will be like reconnecting with an old friend. Screeching Weasel in the early '90s was perhaps the most critical band in making me want to write about music (you have them to blame, ha ha). Listening to Anthem for a New Tomorrow today, I can hear what twentysomething me was so excited about. But I think fiftysomething me has a far greater understanding of what makes this such a remarkable record. And isn't it wild that the CD is only $13— no more than what you would have paid in 1993? Anthem for a New Tomorrow is one of those albums that just sounds like the '90s. Push play, and it's like you're hopping on a time machine. But nostalgia aside, it's one of the greatest albums of its kind ever made. If you love pop-punk, this is one of those releases you need to own. 

-L.R.

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/anthem-for-a-new-tomorrow-30th-anniversary-edition
https://www.facebook.com/screechingweasel/
https://screechingweasel.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RumBarRecords

The Prostitutes - Alternates: 2017​-​2021

I'm always grateful to have an excuse to write about The Prostitutes. This is one of my favorite bands of all-time and to me one of the greatest American punk groups of the modern era. I feared that my previous review of The Last Two would be my final statement on this musical entity that has been a fixture of the punk rock scene since 1996. But an odds-and-ends collection titled Alternates: 2017​-​2021 has turned up out of nowhere, and I will jump at the chance to add another chapter to my book on The Prostitutes. Kevin McGovern, who for all intents and purposes is The Prostitutes, put together this collection largely to give these songs a second life. What results is the closest thing we've gotten to a Prostitutes full-length album in 14 years. Recorded between 2017 and 2021, all these tracks are alternate takes of songs released as singles over the last four years. Most of these songs were originally released in the peak pandemic years, and they may have been overlooked (as digital singles sometimes are these days). As an album, they fit together remarkably well. With the release of the track "Shake Rattle Die" in April 2020, The Prostitutes' turn to a more modern, experimental sound became apparent. Six of the remaining eight tracks on Alternates were originally released from 2020 to 2022, making this album the perfect bridge between "classic" Prostitutes and McGovern's current band The Trouble Seekers. If you missed these songs when they were singles, now you can conveniently own them in the form of one last excellent Prostitutes album (probably). 

The phrase a "second life" is very fitting in the case of the songs on Alternates. Hearing these nine tracks together gave me a new appreciation for this material. This is not just a treat for super-fans. This is a really great 21st Century punk album that fully captures the darkness and despair of the COVID era. If this were your first time hearing The Prostitutes (and perhaps it will be), you'd definitely want to hear more. McGovern as an artist concluded that he took The Prostitutes as far they could logically go, and certainly he was right. The Trouble Seekers are a remarkable, visionary band, but they are something new entirely. Yet this last gasp of The Prostitutes was a brilliant precursor, and that's captured fully on this album. It's bookended by "Shake Rattle Die" and "Nineteen." It would be fitting for the last-ever Prostitutes track to be "Nineteen," which reflects on the suburban dread and chemical abuse that inspired so much of McGovern's youthful songwriting. "Nineteen was so lame," he screams, bringing perfect closure to a quarter century of The Prostitutes. Perhaps it's the different studio takes, but the whole feel of this album is more edgy and post-modern  — yet still totally punk rock. The guitars get denser and more complex. The vocals are distorted just enough to sound surreal. Synthesizers are used judiciously. I think the reason I'm usually so lukewarm about "post-punk" music is because it almost never sounds like this. Even in middle age, McGovern has lost nothing in terms of vocal fury or sharp lyrical edge. The aforementioned tracks plus the likes of "Shapeshift," "Needle in the Red" (think angrier Psychedelic Furs), and "Sick To Death of Myself" are among the best songs McGovern has ever written and definitely merit being heard with fresh ears. 

As I listen to Alternates, I find it astounding that one could acquire music this good without paying a cent. Has the overwhelming abundance of new music constantly dropping into the digisphere finally taken the shine off of free music? I would hate to think so. How can you pass up a deal this good? The Prostitutes were the best, most exciting punk band to come out of Pennsylvania in the 1990s, and even this last gasp of output holds its own against the group's most celebrated releases. Most of the band's releases (including its undisputed masterpiece, Can't Teach Kids Responsibility) are name your price downloads from Bandcamp. If you do elect to pay a little something for these downloads, your kind donations will be used to recover the cost of a busted car transmission. And lord knows transmissions aren't cheap.

-L.R.

https://theprostitutes1.bandcamp.com/album/alternates-2017-2021

https://www.instagram.com/tutespunk/

https://thetroubleseekers.bandcamp.com/

CC Voltage - "Berliner Pilsner"

CC Voltage aka Chad Cornies (The Spitfires, Dysnea Boys, Autogramm) is one of the best dudes in this underground punk/rock and roll universe that we're all part of. He's a fine songwriter, excellent bass player, and now a highly respected publicist. We can add "lead artist" to his resume with the release of "Berliner Pilsner," his new solo single on Snap!! Records. And while this is a CC Voltage release, it's truly a group effort. CC got together with some good friends and made a ripping rock and roll record. On board are fellow Spitfires Jason Solyom, Graham Tuson, and Jay Millette along with the great Rich Jones (Black Halos, The Yo-Yo's, The Loyalties) and More Kicks' James "Sulli" Sullivan. CC had me won over with the title alone. There are few things in life that make me happier than a good pilsner. But of course this is not really a song about beer. It's a song about the good times you enjoy with friends while you're drinking that beer, and it reflects back on CC's years living in Berlin. This catchy, feelgood rocker is the perfect song for a post-pandemic world (we're getting there, right?). We can realistically hang out with friends in close proximity again, and of course we might enjoy a good drink or two in the process. This song could almost be a beer commercial, but it would be the best beer commercial ever aired. Hooks are abundant, the guitars are pure fire, and the beat is irresistible. Far more than a celebration of the past, "Berliner Pilsner" is also a potential soundtrack for your good times of the present. Stock up the fridge, invite some friends over, and bask in the joyful noise. On the B-side, "Bummer Party" is an anthem in its own right. With its powerful riffs and massive chorus, it's the ultimate party song — or perhaps more properly, anti party song. If you're craving some no-nonsense, high energy rock and roll, CC Voltage and friends have got you covered. Vinyl will be limited to 300 copies.

-L.R.

https://snaprecordsspain.bandcamp.com/album/cc-voltage-berliner-pilsner-fun-7076