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16 brand-spanking-new recordings from this fantastic Indiana punk rock n’ roll group “Hot Liqs” is a total god-send. Sixteen new Liquids recordings, making a return to approximately 75% of their songs that have found their way onto cassettes in the past, along with what I believe to be a completely new instrumental, “Howdy”. By now, everybody is already way past-familiar with the Liquid’s splendor, but be prepared to be impressed even further with the majority of these recordings. A number of these tracks have such radical changes that can instantly revitalize year-old material. “Sick Shit”, “Dumb as Fuck”, and “Heart Beats True” are the first few songs with significant changes that come to mind, but a number of other tracks follow suit by further embellishing the already brilliant music through additional chords and hot, hot licks. The Liquids has never sounded so fresh before. It may only have one new song, but this is easily my most favorite Liquids release, hands down. So many gems make a much welcome return, like “I Killed Donald Trump” (now stylized as “I Killed D.T.) and “Permission Slip”. Hell, “Dumb as Fuck” only appeared on their “Live at Mat’s House” cassette, meaning this is the song’s first real appearance on a stand-alone release, as far as I can tell. I think it goes without saying about how good this release is, it’ll be sure to woo anyone who considers themselves a Liquids fan."
Our take: Indiana's Liquids have been tearing up youtube for a while now with a series of well-regarded demos, but this month sees them finally wading into the realm of vinyl, and I couldn't be happier about that fact. Hot Liqs is undoubtedly the record of the month, and easily the record I've listened to the most since it came out. Now, it's not for everyone... there's a hint of Lookout! Records-style pop-punk in here that will turn some people off, and obviously if you're not into the whole Coneheads / CCTV thing this probably isn't going to be for you either. That being said, Liquids have elements of those bands' sound, but are also a little different. There are some of those slightly quirky rhythms and a bit of that direct-into-the-mixing-board guitar sound, but Liquids are a lot more straightforward and more punk than Coneheads in particular, with a denser, thicker guitar sound and more of a balls-to-the-wall approach. I also really like that they don't write all of their songs at the same tempo or with the same chord progressions; there's a lot of variation on Hot Liqs and that's one of the things that keeps me coming back to it... there are a lot of great moments on this record that only come around once, and you just have to listen to the record again if you want to hear it again, which I must admit is hardly a chore. I imagine this will probably be sold out by the time that most of you are reading this, but hopefully we can get more copies in stock because this is, without a doubt, one of my favorite records of 2016. Highly recommended.