Featured Releases: September 25, 2023

Bato: Bato’s Factory: 2023 Promo cassette (Not for the Weak Records) Not for the Weak Records has been releasing these promo cassettes before some of their LP releases, and rather than truncated previews that become obsolete once the full release comes out, they’re cool little snapshots that preview the record while offering a special treat for fans. The recent Consec promo tape featured songs from their LP, but from a different, live-in-the-studio session. Now this new one from Bato previews one track from their upcoming album alongside a few other treats. You get that new track, re-recordings of two older tracks, and two covers: Corrosion of Conformity’s “Minds Are Controlled” and CCR’s “Up Around the Bend.” All the Not for the Weak-affiliated bands have different styles, and Bato to me sounds like a pure USHC band… the kind of group that could have been on an old Mystic compilation (though they play a fuck of a lot better than most of those bands). Nowhere is that more apparent than on the CCR cover, which sounds so much like the half-joking, half-serious classic rock covers that appeared on so many 80s hardcore records… when they try and hit those high notes, I just lose it. I’m looking forward to Bato’s upcoming album, but I won’t get rid of this promo once it’s out.

Death Index: Civilized by a Lie 12” (2 Mondi Collective) Death Index is a 2-person project featuring Carson Cox from Merchandise and Marco Rapidsarda from Smart Cops, La Piovra, and Psico Galera. They released a 12” on Deathwish Records back in 2016 and did a US tour, and now seven years later they’re back with a new record and a fairly new sound. If you liked that first record, the core elements are still here—drum machines and hardcore punk—but they’re subsumed into a much richer, more varied sound. “No Cure for Madness” and “Human / Machinery” have the big pop hooks of the best Merchandise songs, while “Spirit” has the tense, “where is this going?” feeling of Throbbing Gristle’s early records. “D.O.G. II” has the closest sound to the digitalized hardcore of Death Index’s first record, and many tracks incorporate the raw, heavy dance music vibes of the 90s Wax Trax scene. It all sounds very three-dimensional and very free, especially against the background of an underground punk scene in which so many bands seem hemmed in by their self-imposed aesthetic boundaries. Civilized by a Lie may be a little harder to get a handle on because of its heterogeneity, but I think that wideness of scope is also one of its biggest strengths.

Fuerza Bruta: Contra 12” (Warthog Speak Records) It’s been seven years since Fuerza Bruta’s previous full-length, and if Contra has been in the works that long, it shows… it’s a compact, action-packed oi! album that goes from hit to hit without ever feeling redundant or generic. As the label’s description notes, it sounds like there’s as much classic Spanish and South American punk in Fuerza Bruta’s sound as oi!… many bands from those parts of the world take a lot from the Clash and the Pistols, and I hear the anthemic choruses of the former and the latter’s beefy riffs all over Contra. Fuerza Bruta can do straightforward, punky oi! with the best of them—see the upbeat “Librepensador”—but the whole of Contra is shot through with subtlety and craftsmanship that is relatively rare in the oi! scene, which tends to value things that are more straightforward and direct. I imagine fans of Mexico’s Mess would like Contra; while Fuerza Bruta doesn’t sound exactly like them (they aren’t so reminiscent of Blitz), there’s a similar elegance and power to the songwriting. And much of Contra transcends oi! entirely, with moments like the scorching yet melancholic guitar solo in “Regreso del Verdugo” edging into Leatherface territory. A succinct, powerful, and highly re-playable record.

The Dweebs: Goes Without Saying 7” (Crew Cuts Records) This debut from the UK’s the Dweebs is a total scorcher. Even though the Dweebs dabble in styles that rarely do much for me, their energy, speed, and power win me over. To me, the Dweebs have a lot of Can I Say-era Dag Nasty in their sound, but they’re way faster and punkier… imagine if Dag Nasty started early enough to have tracks on Flex Your Head and they might have sounded something like this. The drums are right up front and blaring in your face just like on those early Dischord recordings. There’s also some youth crew in the mix; while there’s only one breakdown, something about the vocalist’s clean shout makes me think of bands like Turning Point. The songs, though, are so short and punchy and delivered with so much speed and dexterity that a Career Suicide comparison wouldn’t be out of line. I also love that, while the Dweebs’ sound has so many reference points, their visual aesthetic doesn’t rely on cliches. Like I said, this might be slightly outside Sorry State’s wheelhouse, but it’s so ripping I can’t help loving it.

The Hazmats: Skewed View 7” (Static Shock Records) The Hazmats bring us their second single of vintage-sounding UK jangle on Static Shock, and consider my appetite whetted… I want to hear more from this band! The Hazmats sound so timeless, like they could have come out at any time between the 60s and today with their hypnotic jangly guitars and gentle vocals. It’s pyschedelia viewed through the punk prism, and it makes me think of staying up until the wee hours of Monday morning to catch the latest new sounds from the UK on 120 Minutes. Both songs are excellent, but as on the first Hazmats single, it’s the guitar hooks that push this band into the stratosphere… just check out the b-side, “Wondered,” whose nimble, Johnny Marr-inspired riffing serves as the song’s main hook. Just like the first Hazmats single, this is great, but leaves me thirsting for more.

Private Lives: Hit Record 12” (Feel It Records) Hit Record is the boldly named debut full-length from this Quebecois band. While it’s up to the world to decide if the title is ironic or not, I can confirm that Hit Record is, if nothing else, an excellent underground pop album. Feel It Records has been staking out this lane of hooky underground rock music, punk-inspired but not punk in the mohawks and leather sense, and Private Lives are a perfect fit. Their songs are brash and energetic, played with grit, but with big hooks you can’t ignore and a vocalist you just want to sing along with. They remind me of so many bands who live in that space between punk and pure pop… the Busy Signals, early Midnite Snaxxx (which reminds me, there’s some 60s girl group in Private Lives’ sound too) the Exploding Hearts, the Real Kids… I hear parts of Private Lives that remind me of all those bands, but the through-line is a take on rootsy power-pop that doesn’t lean on nostalgia, but places the emphasis the pure pleasure of a great hook.