Named after the main guy behind the criminalization of marijuana, The Harry Anslingers are a wild German punk band whose newest record, Go Tranquility Base (sometimes known just as Tranquility Base), is a fun, fast romp through outer space.
The entire album, which lasts a little over sixteen minutes, tells the tale of the Apollo 11 mission with fuzzed guitars, echoed vocals, and afterburner drums. “Whatever you do, it doesn’t matter. Ease up!” they proclaim on opening track “Ease Up.” Life’s not permanent, so why take it seriously? The Anslingers know this, why don’t the rest of us?
“E.S.A.” (European Space Agency) has some of Davee Damage‘s craziest bass lines on the whole record. “Testimony” is an instant toe-tapper that will energize you far more than some electrolyte-laden drink you’d get on the International Space Station. “Super Chrome” sounds like it was recorded in zero gravity while aboard a classic, metal-riveted Flash Gordon spaceship spewing white-hot flames as it flies alongside warrior hawk-men.
“Second to None” is a bonkers punk rager coming in under two minutes but packing enough punch for a three-minute boxing round. I don’t know how Damage and guitarist Rudy Reefer can keep up with drummer G.G. Angslinger throughout it. “Upside Down & Out” gets off to a bit of a ska start with its bass line but soon cranks up the gritty fuzz and it’s pushing hard to escape gravity. The closing track, “Restricted,” somehow pushes even harder and faster. A live set from these guys must be like running a fifty-yard dash while being chased by a rhino.
Get on board their rocket ship and hold on for dear life.
Keep your mind open.
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This ten-track live recording of a Buzzcocks concert in Paris, France from April 1995 clocks in at barely over half an hour and packs more punch than a show four times that length by most other bands.
Starting with Pete Shelley yelling / singing “I Don’t Know What to Do with My Life” (the theme of pretty much everyone at various stages of existence), the band tears off to a great start with hammering drums by Phil Barker that sound like they might get pounded through the floor, crazy bass from Tony Barber, and walls of guitars from Shelley and Steve Diggle falling on you.
There’s barely a moment to catch your breath before “Love You More.” Diggle’s “Autonomy” comes at you like WWII fighter planes on a strafing run. You can feel the crowd is ready to burst (pun intended) during the opening guitar hum of “Orgasm Addict” – one of the best punk tracks to ever come out of the UK. “Promises” is a great example of the way Shelley and Diggle could write punk love songs.
“When Love Turns Around” is another great example, this one of the way Buzzcocks can groove. “Ever Fallen in Love (with Someone You Shouldn’t Have Fallen in Love With)” is Shelley’s fiery rocker about heartache and sexual confusion, and they up the fuzz on this version. “What Do I Get” is a perfect follow-up, with Shelley claiming / demanding, “I just want a lover like any other. What do I get?”).
“Oh Shit!” is one of their fiercest flip-offs, and they come back on for an encore of “Fast Cars” (which, if you weren’t aware, they hate).
It’s over all too soon, but it’s still a lot of fun. Buzzcocks are still touring with Diggle in the lead since Shelley’s death. Catch them if you can.
Keep your mind open.
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This was my first time seeing psych-rockers Acid Dad live, and even hearing a lot of their material, and my third time seeing Frankie and the Witch Fingersin as many months. Acid Dad were just in the first few dates of their tour, and Frankie and the Witch Fingers were nearing the end of theirs. Both bands came to play and to play hard at Ft. Wayne’s Brass Rail – a great dive bar venue downtown where any band playing there is practically in your lap.
Acid Dad
Acid Dad had the crowd jumping, and even moshing, before they were even halfway through their set. I liked their mix of psychedelic rock and post-punk and picked up their newest album afterwards.
Frankie and the Witch Fingers put on a killer performance as well, the best of the three I’ve seen. They upped the punk riffs in this one, and I’m starting to think it’s not an official show by them until their drummer is shirtless. They were also having a blast. They’re one of the most fun bands to see right now.
An official gig by Frankie and the Witch Fingers
Both bands will be playing at the Levitation Music Festivalin Austin, Texas on Halloween weekend, and both sets will be well worth your time. Check them out.
No, you didn’t miss three posts. I only attended day four of Chicago’s annual Riot Fest this year, and it was the first Riot Fest I’d attended. A friend scored some free tickets, and far be it from me to pass up a chance to see Devo and The Flaming Lipson the same bill.
This was the hottest music festival I’ve attended in a long while. There was little shade to be had, but sunscreen and taking frequent breaks between sets meant not suffering too much. A freshly made fruit smoothie from a vegan food vendor did me wonders.
The first set we caught was by The Gories, who opened one of the main stages. They sounded loud and dirty, and I’d love to see them in a small venue, but I’m glad I finally got to see these Detroit punk legends.
The Gories!
We walked around Douglas Park and discovered the festival was widely spread out. Food vendors were in one far corner, while a smaller fifth stage was seemingly a half-mile away in the opposite corner. You’d think they’d wheel out some portable light posts with all that room, but no.
Up next were HEALTH, and one of my friends fell in love with them upon hearing their industrial set under sun so bright that their bassist / synth player had to cover his keyboards with trash bags so he could read the digital displays on them.
The sun wasn’t healthy if you weren’t wearing sunscreen that day.
After a nice break under a tree, we trotted over to the smallest stage to see Chicago noise rockers Melkbelly, who played a fun set that included a cover of Pixies‘ “Gigantic” in an attempt to make up for Pixies cancelling their tour this summer. They were so out of practice with performing live shows due to the pandemic that they forgot their merchandise in their van.
Melkbelly playing to a lot of local fans.
I scored some chicken tenders that were average at best while my friends scored an elephant ear. Riot Fest has carnival rides on site, and I can only imagine how many drunk attendees regret getting on them over the course of the weekend.
We returned to the Rebel Stage to see Bleached perform their first set in two years (according to them, and a running theme for live shows everywhere this year), right after a guy walked by us peddling mushrooms to anyone who wanted them. They sounded great, and I would’ve liked to have stayed for the whole set, but Devo was calling…
Bleached having a fun time in the sun.
The stage was packed for Devo, complete with a mosh pit and crowd surfers. It was a fun set in which they played nearly the entire Freedom of Choice album. The whole crowd was happy and still buzzing afterwards. One guy was high-fiving people and telling them, “You just saw Devo!” It was the first time my friend, Amy, had seen them. She said she smiled so much during the set that her cheeks hurt afterwards. A delight for me and my friend (and Amy’s cousin), Brian, was getting to hear Devo’s cover of “Secret Agent Man” live for the first time. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to hear it.
De-evolution is real!
Brian and I stuck around for the Flaming Lips‘ set. Brian hadn’t seen them before, and we couldn’t get close to the stage by they started – mainly due to them starting right after Devo’s set. It was still a good set, and nearly the same as when I saw them at Psycho Music Festival. Wayne Coyne encouraged everyone to take care of each other and stay healthy so live music can continue. Amen to that.
The Flaming Lips blowing sun-baked minds.
It was a good time (and Brian’s first music festival, no less), but would I go back? The short answer is, “I don’t know.” There were a lot of bad bands on the bill on day four, and I don’t think the other three days were much better. A lot of the bands playing the various stages sounded like Rage Against the Machine rip-offs, screamo nonsense, or pop-garbage. We got the hell out of there before Slipknot and Machine Gun Kelly started their sets and laughed as we passed a guy selling nitrous oxide balloons outside the park. I might return if the lineup gets better, and they’ve already announced another Misfits reunion for 2022, but Douglas Park-area residents won’t be happy about it…
Like the Cicadas of the previous Summer, the troupe of romping rock deviants, Godcaster, has reemerged from beneath the dirt to fill the atmosphere with unbridled cacophony. Saltergasp is a brief reintroduction to the shining sextet of David Mcfaul (keys), Von Kolk (flute, vox), Bruce Ebersole (guitar, bass), Sam Pickard (drums), Judson Kolk (vox, guitar), and their newest member, Jan Fontana (bass). It also acts as an unflinching demonstration of an ensemble doing away with frivolity—Godcaster is coming straight for your still-beating heart.
Today the new single “Hecky Skelters“ is streaming for your listening pleasure. Right out the gate, Godcaster blasts off with a tidal wave of cocophany. Mcfaul and Von Kolk’s dual vocals are both sinister and enchanting, satiating your skelters from start to finish. It’s a perfect return to form for the New York band, capturing the rambunctious energy of their live shows, which were sorely missed during the last year and a half of lockdown.
Saltergasp is a glimpse of something rarely captured—each track has been regularly performed and mastered during Godcaster’s ritualistic live-sets. In this manner, Saltergasp is both an extension of Godcaster’s first, immense collection, Long Haired Locusts, and a celebration of their euphoric public ceremonies that were impossible for far too long. The crisp drums and springy guitars on “Hecky Skelters” showcase the band’s innate talent for deliberate bombast. On the title track, the group conjures an instrumental suite that rips and toils between moments of anticipation and rapturous fury. “Tippy Hightailed It” is an equally funky and anxious tune that thrusts listeners into the center of growing auditory tension. Then “Tiger Surrogates Hunts the Praying Mantis” closes the EP with a lively, off-kilter incantation.
From start to finish, Saltergasp shines an otherworldly light on Godcaster’s Dionysian guitar frenzies. In just under ten minutes, the band reestablishes themselves as the leaders of an unstoppable sonic movement and begins to pen the next chapter in their dichotomous musical tale of shimmer and rot. Formidable and magnificent, Godcaster remains the masters of ferocity in our world and any other.
Savage Young Dü from Hüsker Dü is a four-LP / three-CD compilation by Numero Group of early tracks from the band, spanning 1979-1983. It’s jam-packed (69 tracks, 47 of which have never before been released, and there are scores more they could still put on another compilation – let’s hope so) with demos, live cuts, B-sides, and remastered cuts of their first singles and EPs. It’s essential for any fan of the band, or early 1980s punk rock, and completely bonkers. The booklet inside the set is a wealth of information, too, with interviews and stories from the band members (Grant Hart – drumsand vocals, Greg Norton – bass, Bob Mould – guitar and vocals) and many of their friends and early engineers / producers.
The first track is a demo version of “Do You Remember?” and it’s an instant classic with Norton’s chugging bass and snotty, bratty vocals from Mould while Hart tries to knock down the walls of the record store basement where they recorded it. “Sore Eyes” could’ve been a Buzzcocks track, and it’s neat to hear the band trying different musical styles and exploring multiple influences in these early tracks before settling into their “go like hell and blow out the speakers” sound. “Can’t See You Anymore” has Hart telling a girl he can’t date her anymore because she’s wants to much sex.
By the time we get to “Do the Bee” a couple tracks later, the band is already going nuts and screaming from the basement floor (while writhing around on it, according to the story listed in the booklet). Their cover of The Heartbreakers‘ “Chinese Rocks” is delightfully sludgy. A “rehearsal” version of “Data Control” has Norton’s bass tuned so heavy it could sideline for a doom metal band.
The live version of the fun “Insects Rule the World” ends with Mould proclaiming, “We’re not the most professional band in the Twin Cities,” but Hüsker Dü would go on to become one of the big three powerhouses of that area (along with Prince and The Replacements). The live cut of “Sexual Economics” has a cool post-punk edge to the rusty knife sound of it, and Mould’s solo is great.
“Statues” and “Amusement” are two early classics. The venue where the live version of “Walk within the Wounded” was recorded can barely contain the song. “I’m Tired of Doing Things Your Way” sounds like a fist fight is going to break out at any second. It probably did during “All Tensed Up” – a blistering cut. “Don’t Try to Call” goes by so fast that you barely have time to breathe before “I’m Not Interested” starts. Mould screams, “Fuck you!” to the small crowd at the end of a live version of the furious “Let’s Go Die.”
Grant’s drumming on a live recording of “Private Hell” is somewhat Devo-like, and his drum work on the following track, “Diane,” sounds like it inspired Dave Grohl. “In a Free Land” is one of many politically charged Hüsker Dü tracks. “What Do I Want” has so much angst that it makes you want to smash a wall with a hammer. “M.I.C.”, on the other hand, makes you want to smash the whole damn house. “Afraid of Being Wrong” is like being at the wrong end of a dodge ball game and the message is still resonant today.
Their cover of Donovan‘s “Sunshine Superman” is a fun inclusion, with Hart’s vocals and drum work both a hoot. By the time we get to “Everything Falls Apart,” we can hear hints of the future sound of the band. The collection ends with six loud, raucous live tracks, including a somehow even faster version of “Do You Remember?”, a Norton-heavy version of “It’s Not Funny Anymore,” and a version of “It’s Not Fair” that sounds like a 747 taking off in a hailstorm and closes with a minute of bass and guitar feedback before someone at the club shuts off their amps and calls them “one of the greatest hardcore bands in the country.”
This thing is a treasure trove, and not for the timid. It might flatten the unwary. In other words, it’s amazing.
If your band’s name is Shred Flintstone and your album is titled Unlimited Power, you need to have the chops to back up those things. Otherwise, you’ll be dismissed as a “joke band.” Shred Flintstone need not worry. They have enough chops to power a car-crushing monster truck.
Album opener “All My Friends Are Bread” starts us off with post-punk bass riffs Ed Weisgerber and guitar chords from Dan Barrecchia that sound like frantic radio transmissions from a military base being attacked by a giant monster. The whole thing turns into a wild assault on the senses in just a few moments. Wesigerber’s fury continues on the title track while his rhythm section mate, Joey Giambara, locks in everything with crisp chops. “Shred Durst” shreds harder than anything Fred Durst has released in years.
Barrecchia’s guitar work on “Red Dawn” reminds me of early Nirvana tracks. “Friend of a Friend of the Devil” is, dare I say it, a bit psychedelic as Barrecchia sings about trying to run from his fate / sins and then learning to accept it / them. The three of them go nuts on “Big Gun” – a New Bomb Turks-like punk track with the vocal reverb turned up to eleven. “Escape from New Jersey” (the band’s home state) turns the vocal effects up to twelve and drops riffs and drum fills heavier than a dump truck full of broken concrete. “Dirty Boi” comes at you like Leatherface with its heavy buzz and frantic pounding. The album’s closer, “Always,” wraps things up with surf and even a bit of 1950s love ballad crooning.
So, yes, Shred Flintstone have the chops to back up their name and album’s title, as well as knock the speakers off your shelves or walls. If you’re thinking of installing solar panels to power your house, you could just plug this album into your fuse box and save a ton of money.
Keep your mind open.
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Let’s just start with this: Warish‘s new album, Next to Pay, is not a happy-go-lucky record. Lead singer / guitarist Riley Hawk has said that the album “is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die.” So, be prepared for what’s to come when you hear it.
What you’ll hear is a lot of rage, screamed vocals, blaring guitars, punk drumming, and throbbing bass. Warish’s love of Nirvana is prevalent on the album, as the influence of Misfits and Black Sabbath‘s crazier material. The title track opens the album with guitar riffs that sound like they’ve been deep fried as Hawk sings about time slipping away from him and the Grim Reaper getting one step closer each day. Hawk’s guitar on “Another No One” blares like a tornado warning siren. “S.H.M. (Second Hand Misery)” could’ve been a Bleach-era Nirvana B-side in another life. Hawk’s voice sounds like it’s going to crack at any second throughout it.
“Burn No Bridges” has Hawk trying to fight his way through physical and metaphysical storms. “Do you have a broken mind, or is it just your brain?” Hawks asks on “Say to Please,” a song that rages about the little guy fighting for the dreams of rich elitists. His guitar solo on it is a damn barn burner. “Seeing Red” is powered by Alex Bassaj‘s cool yet heavy bass walk. The drums and cymbals on “Destroyer” pound so hard that the song more than earns its name.
“Woven” is one of the jauntiest songs on the record, but is no less fuzzy and fiery. Hawk’s voice takes on Kurt Cobain qualities during the chorus. Bassaj’s bass cranks up on “Scars,” while Hawk tells everyone he doesn’t care what they think of him or anything else and new drummer Justin de la Vega puts down precision beats like Gatling gun rounds.
“Ordinary” takes on a bit of a doom energy and the vocals sound a a bit goth. “Superstar” takes off at about eighty mph and doesn’t let off the gas for a second. “Make the Escape” reminds me of Iron Maiden with its epic metal riffs and vocal styling. Hawk’s voice takes on a deeper tone and a break from the screaming he’s done through most of the album. The effect is excellent. The closer, “Fear and Pride,” brings back Hawk’s guttural growls and I’m sure will bowl over audiences once they get to play it live on a regular basis.
It’s a loud, heavy record, but what else do you expect from Warish? The band had plenty of rage to purge that was built up in 2020, and Next to Pay is here to help the rest of us burn that rage out of our system.
Coming in hot and heavy and all the way from New Zealand, The D4 are like a Down Under MC5 (who also are probably the inspiration for the band’s name). Their album, 6Twenty, is full of crunchy guitar riffs, thunderous drums, and horny, wailing vocals.
Take opening track, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Motherfucker,” for example. It bursts through the window like John Shaft swinging into the room with a machine gun and proceeds to lay waste to everything around it. Dion Palmer (AKA Dion Lunadon) and Jimmy Christmas unleash killer vocals and guitars throughout it – and every other track for that matter. “Get Loose” has Christmas craving for action while Daniel “Beaver” Pooley hammers out a snappy beat full of Keith Moon-like fills. He also gets the party started on “Party,” and soon Vaughn Williams is joining him with a wild bass line that inspires you to go nuts. The MC5 influence is clear here, especially in Christmas’ vocal styling.
“Come On!” yanks you out of your chair and tosses you into the crowd to either get sweaty or get the hell out of the way. Their cover of Guitar Wolf‘s “Invader Ace” is a lights-out rocker. Williams and Pooley barely give you time to breathe, and then the guitar solo comes in to clothesline you over the top rope. “Exit to the City” is the slowest track on the record, and I lightly use that term. It’s a swaggering bit of cock rock with cool phaser effects and another sizzling guitar solo.
“Heartbreaker” has Christmas yelling about losing a lover while the rest of the band gives him moral support by flattening any walls around him. “Running on Empty” isn’t a Jackson Browne cover (which would’ve been amazing), but rather a fun garage rock track that has a rock-solid rhythm from Williams and Pooley. “Ladies Man” has the confidence of the Tim Meadows‘ Saturday Night Live and film character, and great organ work from guest Cameron Rowe. Their cover of Johnny Thunders‘ “Pirate Love” is a great tribute to him (and The New York Dolls).
“Little Baby” screams right on by you like a runaway armored truck, “Rebekah” has an undeniable rock groove that catches your attention no matter what you’re doing, their cover of Scavengers‘ “Mysterex” is an ode to “nine to fivers” and “soul survivors.” The album closes with “Outta Blues,” in which Christmas sings, “I’m outta blues, but I’m okay,” making us wonder which part of that statement is correct (and all of the instruments are right-on throughout it).
It’s a great debut record of rock sizzlers beginning to end.
Keep your mind open.
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What do you do when you spend a good chunk of your young adult life as a touring rock band, build your identity around said band and said touring, and then have all of that yanked away from you by a pandemic?
If you’re British rockers Shame, you look inward, ask yourselves “What the hell were we thinking? We’re more than…whatever we were during nonstop tours and parties.”, and refocus on how they (and the rest of us) were going to deal with reality in 2020 and beyond. You also write and record an outstanding record like Drunk Tank Pink.
Named after a color used in jail cells to calm, you guessed it, drunks, Drunk Tank Pink has Shame taking their angry, bratty punk sounds down multiple avenues that include post-punk influences like Talking Heads and pop icons like Elton John.
“Alphabet” starts off with snappy drums and singer Charlie Steen telling us flat-out “What you see is what you get.” He and his mates are through with perceived notions and crafted images. They’re just as pissed and antsy as the rest of us, and Sean Coyle-Smith‘s guitar certainly amplifies that notion. “It just goes on,” Steen sings on “Nigel Hitter” – a song about repetition and how life can and will continue whether you want it to or not. “Born in Luton” has Steen raging about feeling trapped alone in his own home (“There’s never anyone in this house!”). The song dissolves into a slow burn of boiling anger at a world that botched its collective response to the pandemic and thus left millions feeling like him.
“I should just go back to sleep…In my room, in my womb, is the only place I find peace,” Steen sings on “March Day.” It’s a rather plucky song about depression, with Steen poking fun at himself and realizing that self-medicating his way through the pandemic wasn’t a good idea. “Water in the Well” has a deceptively wicked bass line from Josh Finerty and some fun horror movie imagery and great percussion from Charlie Forbes that runs around the room like a cackling gremlin.
“I live deep in myself, just like everyone else!” Steen yells on the wild “Snow Day” – a barrage of punk and prog fury that has great, sly lyrics like, “I know what I need, I just haven’t got it yet.” Finerty’s bass is at the front of “Human for a Minute,” which would be a great name for a Gary Numan song but sounds more like a slightly heavy EdwynCollins track with its groovy swagger and lyrics about finding a new identity with a new lover (“I never felt human before you arrived.”).
“Great Dog” builds and builds to wild, mosh pit-filling riffs and then plunges off a cliff at the end to leave you breathless. “6/1” has Steen proclaiming, “I pray to no God! I am God!” He’s determined to be in control of his own destiny / fate / life, even more so as he watches so much of the world tear itself apart over petty things while the rich get richer. Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green‘s guitars on “Harsh Degrees” come at you from so many different angles it’s like you’re being attacked by a a dozen Shaolin monks. “I need a solution, I need a new resolution and it’s not even the end of year,” Steen lazily sings on the closer, “Station Wagon.” He’s looking for something, anything, to turn a lame year into something worthwhile. We were all doing that in 2020 and still are not even a full month into 2021. “Look up there. There’s something in that cloud. We’ve seen it before,” Steen says. “Won’t someone please bring me that cloud?”
Drunk Tank Pink comes to us in 2021 to remind us that, yes, 2020 was one of the worst years ever (“No one said this was going to be easy,” Steen says on the final track.), but, you made it here if you were lucky. You survived. You have the moment, the moment all of us have had and ever will have, to move forward and emerge stronger.
You can come out of the drunk tank with a new perspective. It’s okay to acknowledge what you suffered. There’s no shame in that. This album reminds you to put that rage down after you’ve acknowledged it, to learn from it, and to keep moving ahead.
