Hot Track Alert

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Anticipating the release of Warthog's new eponymous 3rd 7", I feel like the opening track "Culture?" has probably been played to death -- and rightfully so.  But out of the 4 devastating tracks on this EP, I thought I'd focus on the closing track and longest cut on the record.  "Coward" starts at a trudging pace.  There's a quiet break just preceding a slow dirge of a riff just before they kick into this stomper.  

This song is like a perfect and disturbing hardcore sandwich. The start and finish of the song bookend a fast part in the middle that erupts into a cacophony of multiple noisy guitar leads.  The singer snarls, "It's easier to sleep at night when there's no one left to care for!" -- just before slamming back into the mosh.  

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Recording a cover can be cool and a great idea, but it can also be really lame and unneeded.  This song is the former by far.  It's a song that fits Primetime's sound but they also make it their own.  The original is from 1963 by Ginny Arnell, and before hearing this I was not too familiar with the song. But yeah I mean the true highlight is the lyric "I must have a penis for a brain".  The whole comp rules though as was previously stated.

(full album stream from Impose magazine)

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I keep getting the opening synth line to this song stuck in my head.  It's super catchy and really builds the base of the song.  With very sparse vocals and simple repetitive guitar it makes the synth line seem even more like the focus of the song. Killer stuff.  Impose is streaming the whole album at the moment on their site

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Flanger overload!  This whole record is amazing and rips but man that break is so killer along with the following insanity in this song, making it one of my favorite.  Everything feels like it's falling apart into chaos.  Lots of bands try to do it but rarely nail it like this.

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I've been a fan of sax in punk records for a long time.  Me and Daniel have talked many times about how some shitty sax playing on a punk record can make it memorable.  While there is sax on this song the real highlight on it is the bells/xylophone/whatever it is.  Hopefully having this on punk records becomes a thing.  It's really what sold me on the Brando's Island record and it gives this song an interesting light hearted feel.

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It's probably been very obvious over the years that everyone here at SSR is a huge Good Throb fan.  While the song The Queen Sucks Nazi Cock has a tantalizing name and is a killer song, more in the vein of the LP's angular bass driven sound, the song Scum has been my go to on this 7".  The drum work is straight up Penny Rimbaud snare work mixed with one-two beats that really carry the song and add great dynamics of intensity.  Definitely the more straight up banger on the 7" but I find myself listening to it a couple times before finishing the rest of the record.  

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One of the big debates around the store lately is whether the a-side or the b-side of this blistering single from TV Crime is better. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter because this single is an embarrassment of riches, but all the same I'll weigh in on the side of the a-side, with its slightly knottier, and in my opinion more memorable, lead guitar line. Like I said, though, declaring a victor here is splitting hairs... if you're into Good Vibrations Records-style power pop both of these songs are essential.

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It's not easy to choose my favorite track from Fried Egg's new EP, Delirium, but if I had to pick I guess I'll choose "Eggshells," if only because it's longer and, therefore, there's more of it. This is also the slow burner on the record, and I think it always sticks out when a blistering fast hardcore can write a real fist-pumping mid-paced track. Great songs, great performance, great production, great packaging... an absolutely essential EP.

Jet Reason - Guitar Wolf
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Ummm... did Guitar Wolf recently stumble into a Zyanose show or something? The other day Seth put on the new Guitar Wolf album, T-Rex from a Tiny Space, and the opening track, "Jet Reason," absolutely floored me. It's one of the noisiest, most chaotic, visceral, and thrilling songs I've heard, and it shows that you don't need a million studs on your jacket to create a truly wild noise. Looking for a streaming link to make this post, I was surprised to find that the band actually went to the trouble of making a really cool video for this, the noisiest, nastiest, and wildest track on the album. After this track, T-Rex from a Tiny Space largely settles into more familiar Guitar Wolf territory, but man, this track!

Oh, and after listening to this for like the fifth time in a row I just noticed that the song's main riff is pretty much just "Filler" by Minor Threat. No wonder I like it so much.

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My favorite track on this killer debut 7". The whole thing has a slightly trippy, Zouo-type vibe, but I feel like on this track the Pose get just a little bit freakier, to absolutely brilliant results. I mean, dig that awesome, Rudimentary Peni-esque guitar lead! Limited to only 250 copies, so don't sleep on this one.

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"Mommy" originally appeared on 90s DC punk band the Suspects' first 7", but those tracks have been paired with their Voice of America LP for Grave Mistake's reissue. "Mommy" is about as straightforward as a punk song can get, but I think that's why I love it... the big, broad melodies immediately recall the early, Static Age-era Misfits, but more than that the song reminds me of a time when Social Distortion-style walking bass lines were permissible, when you could both sing and scream in the same song... in a word, when aesthetic expression wasn't hamstrung by the unspoken edict that you have to pick a sub-sub-genre and stick with it.

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Perhaps it's cliche because I like punk and this is probably the punkest song on Tenement's new album, but after my first few listens this is my favorite song on The Self-Titled Album. That weird, skittering rhythm in the intro (pieces of which crop up a couple of times throughout the track as well) manages to walk this fine line between ALL-esque math-punk and straightforward catchiness is so distinctive, so infectious, and so memorable that I swear I remember it from their live set from around a year ago, but I could be deluding myself. I am really glad I'm not in Tenement, though, because it seems like it would be really, really hard to play.