Featured Releases: February 5, 2024

Alamoans: S/T 7” (Kill Enemy Records) Kill Enemy Records, the label that introduced us to Speed Plans and Illiterates, among many others, brings us another Pittsburgh gem with this debut vinyl from Alamoans. Alamoans’ sound is unique. They have parts that are straight up caveman hardcore, like the first part of the record’s first song, “Licking the Boot.” The beginning of that track has a dead simple riff and one of those mid-paced pogo beats that makes it sound like something crazy is about to happen, but over the course of the record, the guitarist increasingly goes off-script, employing screeching Keith Levine-isms across the top of the rhythm section’s violent stomp. While they don’t sound too similar, Hoax is a band who had a similar mix of brutish rhythms and guitar parts that could veer into arty territory. Really, though, I can’t think of another band that sounds like Alamoans, and with a sound that’s immediate, powerful, and original, I think this is a really strong EP.

Hacker: Psy-Wi-Fi 7” (Beach Impediment Records) We liked the previous 12” from this Australian hardcore band, and they’ve moved to Beach Impediment for the US pressing of their follow-up. Hacker is a great fit for Beach Impediment because, like other Beach Impediment bands such as Golpe, Warthog, and Long Knife, they’re a great hardcore band that oozes personality. Hacker has a great frontperson with a snotty, raspy voice, a thick Aussie accent, and the ability to land a big hook (see “Scammer”). The band is bruising too, and as with Golpe and Warthog, their mid-paced riffs sound like they probably inspire craziness in the pit. “Deliverator” is a highlight, bouncing between a big, groovy riff that wouldn’t have been out of place on Feel the Darkness and breakdowns that sound like straight up death metal. Great songs, great performance, great recording, great packaging… no weak spots here.

Violin: S/T 7” (Iron Lung Records) Iron Lung Records brings us the second record from this London hardcore project—their first was on La Vida Es Un Mus—and the label is a fitting home for Violin’s slightly left-of-center hardcore. Honestly, though, this record dials back the quirkier elements we heard on Violin’s previous record, leaning more toward straightforward hardcore. Violin’s particular take is burly and propulsive, reminding me of early 80s Boston bands like Negative FX and SS Decontrol. I love the term “violence tempo” that Iron Lung uses in their description, and it’s apt for the relentless propulsion on display here. We get a taste of the weird stuff, though, with some heavily effected guitar emphasizing the quirky lead riff in “Subservient” as well as a chaotic section where noisy synth squalls swoop into the mix. If there’s such a thing as thinking person’s dumb hardcore, this is it.

Dridge: Dying Out 12” (World Gone Mad) Second album from this long-running Philadelphia band whose work has been championed by World Gone Mad Records. I can see why WGM is so into them, because Dridge is an interesting, original band. A pithy description of what’s happening on Dying Out might be “Amebix meets Electric Wizard,” but that warrants some unpacking. Dridge resembles Electric Wizard in their glacially slow tempos and the vintage fuzz tones on the guitar and bass, but the vocals are snarling, legible, and very punk-sounding to me. Dying Out is also mixed like a hardcore record, with the drums and vocals way up front. The guitarist and bassist are also very spare in their playing, leaving lots of open space in the music and often lying back and just feeding back for bars at a time, sometimes even going completely silent for entire sections. With long stretches without vocals as well, this leaves Dridge’s emphasis squarely on the drums, and this is a drummer worth listening to. I know everyone makes fun of the phrase, “it’s about the notes you don’t play,” but it’s applicable here, as Dridge’s drummer is locked in a give-and-take with silence throughout these very long songs. This might be a deep reference for anyone outside Raleigh, but Dridge’s drum-forward doom reminds of the band Confessor, an underrated Earache Records band anchored by a similarly captivating, virtuosic drummer. I also have to mention the incredible moment in the title track when the singer shouts “let’s go!” and the already slow tempo drops in half, grinding to a sickly, dehydrated crawl. We’re not known for pushing slow music at Sorry State, but fuck… this rules.

Checkpoint: Drift 12” (Erste Theke Tonträger) Erste Theke Tonträger brings us yet another great new band from Australia. Like the Spllit LP I wrote about last week, Checkpoint’s debut LP, Drift, has some of the surface-level trappings of egg punk—namely the wobbly, underwater-sounding production—but lacks the tossed-off feeling I get from some similar-sounding bands. Checkpoint’s music is ambitious, their songs dense with ideas and meticulous in their composition and arrangement. Some parts are unexpected, like the tropical-sounding breakdown in “Friends” or the almost orchestral outro section of “Break.” The record’s crowning achievement, though, is the nearly twelve-minute “10th Dimension Advertisment Apocalypse.” You’d think a twelve-minute song would be full of long, droning sections or a lot of aimless fucking around, but it’s not like that at all. No part of “10th Dimension” feels like a throwaway or a time killer, and Checkpoint weaves through the song’s numerous twists and turns with confidence. It’s clear Checkpoint is aiming at something bigger than just another entry in the latest punk fad, which they emphasize with the lyrics for “Teachers pt. II,” which name-checks dozens of Checkpoint’s influences, locating the group in a long tradition of outsider music as diverse as Can, little-known Gong sideman David Wise, and the Oh Sees’ John Dwyer. If you liked that Spllit LP, or if your taste encompasses both underground punk and the mannered compositions of Sparks, Drift is well worth your attention.

Consensus Madness: S/T 7” (Iron Lung Records) Debut vinyl from this new Chicago band. I recognize some of Consensus Madness’s members from their previous hardcore bands, but there’s more to Consensus Madness than just hardcore. They sound like they’d fit just as well on a hardcore bill—their music is certainly fast and tough enough—as they would on a garage-punk show. Songs like “Stop” and “Animosity” have a surf element to the riffing, which works perfectly with the fast but laid-back, beach punk-style rhythms. And there are some cool hooks, like the killer, Carbonas-esque guitar lead in the bridge section of “Behind.” A+ lyrics too, looking critically at the systems that both enable and inhibit us and reckoning with what it means to be a cog in those machines. I also love that while Consensus Madness has the hookiness of garage-punk, they gave us a hardcore-style 7-song EP rather than a teaser two-song single. Catchy, powerful, cool-ass art… great stuff.