Featured Releases: August 25, 2022

Bad Breeding: Human Capital 12” (Iron Lung Records) I’ve been a massive fan of Bad Breeding since their first record in 2016, and through each of the four vinyl releases preceding Human Capital, my enthusiasm for the group has only grown. The trend continues with Human Capital, which to my ears is Bad Breeding’s best album. From the start, the most identifiable aspect of Bad Breeding’s sound has been their rhythm section, and they continue to melt my brain across these twelve new tracks. Bad Breeding has always seemed to come at hardcore sideways, their dense and clattering rhythms reminding me more of industrial music than punk rock. There’s the absence of swing, but also this way of finding rhythms inside of rhythms, creating a trance-like state that often gets jarringly disrupted by one of their trademark whiplash rhythmic shifts. Bad Breeding’s guitarist has also always been inventive, finding space in their dense onslaught for earworm licks, but there’s a sense of melody on Human Capital that feels new. Listen to the way he scatters light-as-air, Slint-esque chiming notes in “Community,” or the memorable guitar line in “Rebuilding.” As usual, the lyrics and political stance are also well thought out, with an essay on alienation under capitalism by band collaborator Jake Ferrell occupying the reverse side of the poster insert. Whether you come to Bad Breeding for the innovative take on hardcore punk, the intriguing political analysis, the spot-on aesthetics, or all of the above, you’ll agree that Human Capital is a highlight in the growing discography of one of punk’s most perennially exciting bands.

Mock Execution: Killed by Mock Execution 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Back in 2019, Chicago’s Mock Execution whetted our appetites with their Reality Attack 7”, and three years later they deliver the full meal. One thing I love about Mock Execution is that while a lot of contemporary bands base their style and sound on one micro-scene or even just one band, Mock Execution draws from a wide range of international punk influences. Faster songs like “Apocalypse Now” and “Stagnant Fools” sound like crasher crust, raw and primal gestalt in the vein of Gloom, Framtid, and early Anti-Cimex. However, Mock Execution is also excellent with a mid-paced song, whether it’s a Kaaos-style fist-pumper like “Insanity” or the more chugging, Totalitär-esque “Calm in the Chaos.” Things can also get pretty metal, as on the epic intro for “Enough Is Enough,” but whatever the tempo and style, everything is wrapped in the raw and urgent production and playing style I associate with the 80s scenes in South America and Italy. While my description probably makes Mock Execution sound scattered, it all adds up to a distinctive voice that sounds like no one else. Inventive songwriting, great musicianship, primal performances, sick artwork… I’m sold.

The Flex: Chewing Gum for the Ears 12” (Lockin’ Out Records) I often write in these descriptions that the label’s official blurb says all that needs saying about a release, and usually that’s because there isn’t much to say. That’s not the case with Chewing Gum for the Ears. It’s a complex record that I have complex feelings about, and the label’s description hits many of the points that went through my head as I’ve listened to this record over the past several weeks. The Flex has a lot of different ingredients in their stew, and some of them are ingredients I typically steer clear of, particularly late 80s / early 90s New York Hardcore. I don’t care for many modern bands who borrow from that era, but with the Flex there are so many other influences I really like—80s US hardcore, UK82 punk, d-beat—that I still love it. Chewing Gum for the Ears is a savage hardcore record, ripping and raw and raging in all the right ways. And even when they tear into one of those crowd-pleasing breakdowns (like in “Lost Cause,” for instance), they do it with a panache I can get behind. At the end of the day, The Flex is just a great band, and the proof is in this record.

Personal Damage: Violent Ritual cassette (Test Subject Records) The third EP from this LA hardcore punk band is yet another ripper. While it’s tempting to compare Personal Damage to the titans of catchy, 80s-style hardcore punk that came from their part of the world, the two bands that Personal Damage reminds me of most are from Boston: Gang Green and the Freeze. While Personal Damage’s demo was more on the Gang Green end, Violent Ritual leans more toward the Freeze’s sound on This Is Boston Not LA and Guilty Face. Like the Freeze, Personal Damage writes memorable tunes, and also like the Freeze they play almost all of them at blinding tempos. The call and response chorus in “Banned From Society” is designed to have you singing along immediately, and it succeeds. The searing, Agent Orange-inspired guitar lead is icing on the cake. The trick with this style is to keep it from sounding like pop-punk, and Personal Damage’s off-the-charts snot factor and their commitment to playing as fast and as hard as possible keep them on the right side of that line. Sadly, this isn’t streaming online anywhere, so you’ll have to take my word about how hard it rips. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, would I?

Romansy: Doves of Peace and War cassette (Cool Death Records) Doves of Peace and War is the debut cassette from this cryptic band from Melbourne, Australia. While I’d call Romansy hardcore, they’re on the artsier, more out-there end of that spectrum, filtering the 80s hardcore aesthetic through black metal rehearsal tapes, low-bitrate G.I.S.M. live sets downloaded from sketchy Russian blogs, and wanting to like noise music but just being bored by most of it. While hardcore is a big part of the mix, Romansy comes off more like an introverted home recording project, layers of various types of distortion and damage deployed artfully in a way that’s not beholden to replicating or simulating something that’s happening live in a room. As you might expect, the packaging is top-notch too; the tape feels unique and beautiful to hold in your hand (the unique packaging is another thing that makes me think of noise music). If you only like your hardcore dumb, you should probably take a pass on this one, but the smartypants among us will eat it right up.

Class: S/T cassette (Feel It Records) Concrete info on Class is scarce at the moment, but from what I understand, the band is based in Tucson, Arizona, and features the vocalist from Rik & the Pigs. With that last Rik & the Pigs record fresh in my memory, I was looking forward to this, but it turned out to be very different from what I expected. Compared to the Pigs’ snot and swagger, Class sounds buttoned up, or at least they’re not laying bare their status as total degenerates. Their music is way poppier, and they’re fucking good at writing and playing pop music. Every song is great, and each one seems like its own little world. “Steady Hands” has the golden hour shimmer of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and “Into the Night” channels the Flamin’ Groovies’ “Shake Some Action,” while “Wrong Side of Town” could be an outtake from the Dictators’ Blood Brothers. Class makes sense on the same label as the Cowboys, who also seem into classic songwriting, wrapping their carefully constructed pop nuggets in a distinctive cocktail of lo-fi aesthetics and 60s-garage-style workmanlike professionalism. Which is a long way of saying this tape contains five infectious power-pop tunes that maintain Feel It’s status as the label with the golden ears.