Death Wish Kids – “There’s Nothing In School They Can’t Teach You On The Streets” (Hopscotch Records)

I’m a huge fan of Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco’s bands (The completely forgotten Pretty Girls Make Graves and The Hookers) so enjoying the band Death Wish Kids is a no-brainer. The band wasn’t around for long enough to do more than a demo and this ep, but their sound was so brash and fast that I’m not surprised. It’s definitely closer to their formative years in The Hookers than it is to Pretty Girls Make Graves. The Death Wish Kids record starts out with the undeniably harsh “A.A.”, a song that’s heavy enough and contains enough guitar feedback to be more popular in the 2013’s hip-to-be-noisy scene than in any 90’s punk scene. The second track, “Hood”, is a one minute buzz saw guitar song with an unfortunate minor-bass riff. No Song on this record is longer than a minute and a half, a fact that works very well because the painful guitar sound and tremble-heavy cymbals force your ears to beg for a break. I think every song might start out with fast guitar followed by the rest of the band coming in (or in the case of the song “Lucky”, guitar followed by vocals), which makes the urgency of the record much more noticeable. You know what’s coming next, but it’s still exciting when it breaks through. Andrea Zollo’s vocals on this record are incredibly painful sounding. I imagine her forcing every track into the red and then not bothering with a second take on any of them. It’s a perfect fit for the music.
There are parts of this record that almost sound like Nine Shocks (specifically the main riff of “Outsider”) but there are still songs that really do a good job of telling the listener when this record was made. It’s not a completely unique record, but considering what the members of the band went on to do, it’s absolutely worth tracking down. Plus you get a Vibrators’ cover!

The fact that these two were able to make so many records together, and cover such a broad spectrum of music while still having a cohesive sound is what draws me to them. It doesn’t hurt that two members of the band (including Fudesco) went on to be in Murder City Devils, a band that “borrowed” the last track on this ep.

Sexy Kids – “Sisters Are Forever” b/w “Drown Me” – Slumberland

Slumberland resurgence as a powerful record label in the latter part of the last decade warmed my little pop-loving-heart. While the label never really went away after their 90’s heyday (they never stopped releasing records), they really didn’t seem to put out much that was noteworthy until the “Searching For The Now” series of singles they started releasing in 2008. There are a few really obvious standouts since the label restarted: the early Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Stilts, and Brilliant Colors records. There are also quite a few flops, and then a few records like this Sexy Kids single, which never really went anywhere, but contain totally amazing music.
The unfortunately named Sexy Kid released this single in 2008 and I never heard anything else from them or about them. I know that they were part of the band The Royal We, who put out one forgettable record, and an alright single that I think I sold soon after hearing it. The Sexy Kids might have some similarities to their previous band, but the execution is so much better. The first song is a straight-up Raincoats worshipping pop monster of a song. If Sexy Kids weren't from the UK, it would be easy to accuse them of ripping off the Silva/Birch vocal harmonies, but because of their Scottish accents, I’m willing to excuse it and enjoy how seamlessly they pull of the jangle guitar harmonies. There are also some pretty clear lines drawn to the almighty Black Tambourines but it’s impossible to ignore The Raincoats influence (or even Dolly Mixtures). It’s definitely Twee.
The flip side, “Drown Me,” could very well have been in an Wes Anderson montage, right up to the “hahahaha” bridge, bass fills, and hand-claps. There is a certain Belle and Sebastian quality to the chorus that again, I might only be attributing because of where they’re from, but the whisper guy/girl vocals don’t shy away from the comparison.
A follow up to this single would have surely made some important Top 10 lists, but again, another band that released one record and disappeared before anyone had time to take in how great it was.

Sacred Shock- You're Not With Us

(Residue Records, 2009)
I saw this in someone's distro for 5 or 6 bucks the other day.
I believe Sacred Shock, as a band, are responsible for a multi-format demo recording, a 7" proper, a split with Deskonocidos and this here LP. The band (post-Army of Jesus/pre-The Young, if we're speaking venerably) is still just as exhausting to me now as they were 4-5 years ago. Many bands have aimed for this end and they have missed in comparison. It's euro. It's Moto-. It's crusty as the Chihuahuan Desert (TEXAS FRIED). It's catchy a fuck because these RIFFS are singular. For any of the album's shortcomings (there are some), it more than overcompensates by offering riffs that you've never been presented with before. Not exactly, anyway...
Everything this band accomplished was done on the backs of forerunners, but who the fuck can be bothered by all that? If you destroy a painting yet admire the outcome, is that not still art? If you like punk music, then there will always be inalienable aspects of the form that can't be reduced. Accept that and appreciate what's being created before you. Or sit at home and grow bald with memories of the "glory days". Just don't ring me up.
MP

Various – “Noah Found Grace” – Social Music Records

In 2010 I signed up for the Social Music Records Club because a few of the records interested me, and because they had helped (along with Mississippi Records) put out “Oh Graveyard You Can’t Hold Me Always,” a really fabulous collection of gospel songs that span the last century and cover straight soul songs, choir groups, r&b, and even a pretty unbelievable anonymous song. Sure, Mississippi might have a somewhat shady connotation with a lot of blues collectors, but this LP was fantastic, so buying into a music club related to it was a no brainer for me. After what seemed like 2 years of waiting, I finally had all of the records in the club, and the “Noah Found Grace” compilation was a clear standout. Recently I’ve seen three different copies for under 5 bucks, so it’s earned its way into the Doll Bin Rippers blog.
“Noah Found Grace” is a compilation of Jamaican gospel music from the 60’s and 70’s (I assume). Of the 17 tracks on this album, I had only heard of two of the artists, Otis Wright and Ken Parker. Not surprisingly, both of their tracks are solid, but somewhat more surprising is that every single song on here is solid. I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase records by any of these groups if anything surfaced.
Most (all?) of the songs are standards that all fit together well and I’d wager that anyone familiar with southern gospel or folk music has heard most, if not all of these songs. But there is something very different about the delivery of the Jamaican versions. The guitars almost all use slides that sound closer to calypso guitar than Folkways, and the vocals all have a very eerie recorded quality to them. There is something slightly more upbeat about the rhythms, but it still sounds much darker than a lot of other versions I’ve heard. Whatever mixing and mastering was done to these songs was done well, because the record plays through like a well sewn shirt. A lot of compilations sourced from bad or old masters end up sounding like garbage (re: most of the blues compilations that live on shelves in my house), but Social Music did a very nice job making this record sound like it was all recorded in one shot. I think the biggest weakness this album has is that the art is just bad. It’s just a sticker with almost zero information on it, including a complete lack of the fucking title of the record! I get that it’s supposed to feel more personal or intimate or something, but it just comes off looking cheap and being very confusing for someone that might want to buy it. I think it’s why online, where you can see what’s actually on the record and where the hell the record is from, it actually sells for more than a few dollars, but in stores where you don’t have instance access to google, people are left holding a record with no information and a big cross on the cover and just put it back down. It’s a shame that any of these records end up in budget bins because it’s SO GOOD and will end up being passed on by tons of people that might really dig it.

Timber – "Timber" 7” – Something Crucial Records

One of the most fun shows I’ve ever played was at a pool in Gaithersburg Maryland. The wonderful Ambrose Nzams (and Pat?) set us up with a pool and food and getting to see a group of very young suburbanites called Timber absolutely kill it was pretty awesome. I knew nothing about this band when we played with them, and I still don’t really know anything other than that I have this 7”, and a tape that is two other demos from 2007 and 2008. This record is five songs of “emotional” punk that came out much too late to be a part of the hip screamo scene of 2002, but was gone too early for the current influx of this genre. There are guitar heavy parts that would make Cap’n’Jazz fans swoon, there are a few faster punk parts, and there are catchy sing-along choruses on almost every song. All of the music on this is concise and well executed, which isn’t always the case in this genre. It’s also recorded really well, another thing that seemed to be missing from a lot of bands that played this kind of music. The drumming really makes a few of these songs. The track “Ritual Curse” is especially powerful because of the rhythm section. What would have been a song that had zero standout qualities ends up being mix-tape worthy because of the drum-heavy mixing.

I think that "sincerity" is often something that gets tacked on to shitty bands to make their inability to write songs excusable to young punks, but in the case of Timber I feel like I should actually say it: These almost cringe-worth lyrics actually seem sincere. The track “Youth Wasted on the Young” is the clear standout on this record, and its lyrics have a total sing-along-anthem quality to them. They sing about actual things instead of weird vague poems about leaves or bushes or anything, which is nice, and I’m impressed that a group of young people writing lyrics like this had the guts to print them in the insert instead of hiding them “artistically” in some distorted ugly photoshop botch job.
It’s a shame this band didn’t continue because while this is a pretty good record, it still feels like a record made by novices. It works for them, but with a few years under their belt I feel like this band could have actually been able to do more. The songs that are good on this record are REALLY good it’s just a shame that I’ll never hear anything else from them.   On the other hand, a band like this could have very easily become a boring rehash of a kind-of-alright genre, so it's possible that their demise was for the best.



I’ve said this before about bands on here, but if you know anyone in this band or what they’re up to now, please let me know.
“You say the youth gets wasted on the young well fuck you. I know exactly what it is I’m living through.”

Poison Planet “Boycott Everything” 7” (Refuse Records)

Happy (late) Edge Day my collector scum friends! This next post comes a day late, but every day is a good day for the straight edge in my book. West Hasty has been a close friend of mine for many years, and after some cooersion he finally felt like adding his voice to the Dollar Bin Rippers. He has immaculate and unapologetic taste in hardcore punk ranging from first wave DC to whatever is hot in Malaysia this week. His collection is nothing but raging, and according to a rumor I heard, he's never sold a single record that he's purchased. Anyway, here is West's take on a should-be-classic straight edge release:

POISON PLANET immediately caught my attention due to the fact that their name is taken from the song of the same name by one of my personal favorite bands – Corrosion of Conformity. The paradox here though is that this band is an anarchist, straight edge, vegan, and pro-animal liberation band, with the cover of this very 7” having a very Crass Records feel to it. Why is that a paradox though? I mean all of those things seem to go hand in hand right? They do…but typically that ideology/aesthetic is most often executed by either really shitty spinkick metal, boring “epic” crust, or some jug blowing, hippie fuck who worships Penny Rimbaud. POISON PLANET is none of those. Actually, Poison Planet is totally ripping hardcore rooted in the 80’s sound, not unlike their namesake C.O.C, or maybe SSD (particularly in the vocals) with some very obvious Black flag influence as well; especially in the first song “Liquor Flesh Trade”. As soon as the needle drops on “Liquor Flesh Trade”, it comes in with a steady hi-hat roll, followed quickly by a single string riff like one that maybe Ginn himself may have indulged in towards the end of the “Damaged” era. There’s even a discordant, noisy Ginn-esque solo in the track as well. Simple, but speedy riffing throughout these 5 tunes, executed extremely well with everything else falling into place perfectly. The 49 second closer “Tidal Leveling” does just that…it levels you. It’s a mid-paced stomper that you feel will eventually burst into a swell of speed, but just like “that” it’s over just as quick as it began, no fast part to close it, just an abrupt ending that leaves you wanting more.
The 7” version of this record released by Poland’s own Refuse Records seems to be overlooked due to the fact that it was re-released in a much more striking 12” format. Apparently the band really wanted to add a lot more topical imagery and more essays, thus making the 12” format appropriate I suppose. An ignoramus like me who thirsts for nothing more than ripping hardcore can be appeased by the 7”, but if you want to flex your head as well, then maybe you should check out the 12” version. Either way, not cramming these 5 songs into your earholes would be a huge disservice to yourself.
-WJH

Puberty – “Invitations” b/w “Parties” – Telephone Explosion Records

Susanna Welbourne and Lars Finberg get together with Shins guitar player and other Intelligence related side projects to put out one single, and it sounds exactly like you expect it to. It’s catchy, a little groovy, and fun to listen to.
The single, “Invitations”, is a real head-bobber. The bass drives the song while the wandering surf/shins guitars wobble in and out opposite the vocals and bubble induced keyboards. It’s a little bit of a downer in the way that you want it to be, but it still is poppy enough to continue listening for all four minutes. I’m not sure the bass riff changes a single time during the long side. It sounds not unlike an A-Frames b-side, but it’s pretty clear Finberg didn’t write the song by himself.
The second, aptly titled song, “Parties” is a an outright jam with a woodblock as the primary rhythm section. It’s faster, the drums and guitar and tighter, and it feels less like an opium den and more like an In The Red CD sampler. I like the song a lot, but at the end of the day I feel like this song is just a more digestible Intelligence song with a pretty nice riff overtop of it. “Invitations” really is the standout on this single. Another Finberg project that only lasts one record.

If you’re in a band and putting out a record, put your goddamned name on the record.