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What’s up Sorry Staters?
What the fuck is happening? I feel like I was just writing for the newsletter yesterday. The course of my week just seemed to whizz by like one of those accelerated montage sequences in a movie, where I’m stuck in one spot but the color of the leaves is changing in front of my face. I’m at the store again with Dom and I’ve got an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I feel like I need to commit more time to smelling the roses. But how can one do such a thing when life is so busy? By the time all you newsletter subscribers are reading this, it’ll be the week of Public Acid’s record release party. Strictly a listening party (*wink*wink), so bring your headphones. The following Saturday, we’ll be heading up to DC to play a sick gig with Destruct and Abism from New York, whom I’m very stoked to see live.
Also, I wasn’t sure when would be a good time to mention this, but Scarecrow is finally repressing our first 7”, Revenge. It’s been a long time comin’; our first EP has been outta print for a long time. Me n Usman got a whole bunch o’ covers to stamp haha. Scarecrow is playing with Physique in Richmond on February 23rd, and I’m hoping we’ll have a few copies for sale at that gig. I dunno, we’ll see.
Alright, let’s talk about this Violin record. For whatever reason, this seems to be a title on Iron Lung that isn’t garnering as much attention as the other last several titles released on the prolific hardcore punk label. Currently, even though we’ve had the record in stock for a few weeks, there’s no listing for this new EP on Discogs yet. Personally, I can understand why it maybe isn’t as attention-grabbing as other records on Iron Lung. Based on the band name and visual presentation alone, Violin might have been something I would normally glance over. I mean, just the name “Violin” led me to assume the band sounded like pretentious, artsy fartsy post-punk or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I was dead wrong. Now, if any of my friends were to be like “what the fuck is up with this Violin band?” I would say, “Just buy it, dude. It RIPS.”
Let me stress this clearly, I was indeed surprised to discover that Violin is actually a hardcore band. Dropping the needle on this 7” totally caught me off guard. But before I get too entrenched in depths of rambling, let me talk about their first record before I dig into this new record: Violin’s previous LP was released on La Vida Es Un Mus back in 2022. Again, I can’t remember… maybe I gave it a quick listen? But I basically totally overlooked the record at the time. As far as I know, Violin is a project by just 2 dudes. On their initial release, I might describe Violin as what I often affectionately refer to as “weirdo hardcore,” or as Daniel describes in his write-up, “slightly left of center.” There are some quirky elements on the LP, while managing to still sound relatively heavy, which made me file them in a similar sonic category as a band like their UK peers Perspex Flesh.
On this new 7”, however, it feels like the boys in Violin made a conscious decision to strip down the sound, trim the fat, and bust out 4 songs of bare-bones, lean, mean, furious hardcore punk. I gotta say, I immediately prefer this 7” to their debut LP. I think taking a more direct approach to songwriting makes the band feel more explosive and powerful, and honestly, more memorable for that matter. For me, as much as I’m sure the visual aesthetic and presentation is an important element of the band’s “vision” or whatever, I think the artwork almost sells the record short. Violin’s propulsive take on hardcore is somehow air-tight in execution while also primitive and cavemanish. Harkening back to the tougher, meaner side of 80s US hardcore, there’s something about Violin that reminds me of Out Cold. In particular, the singer’s gruff, yet throaty, high-pitched voice reminds me a lot Kevin from the early Out Cold records. Only 4 songs, and every single one of them is fast. Not insanely fast, mind you… Iron Lung’s description deems Violin’s signature pace of 1-2-1-2 drumming as “violence tempo.” Which at first I was like, what the fuck does that mean? Then again, if I were to imagine this record as the soundtrack urging a pack of seething, rabid, frothing at the mouth degenerates to start raging, I understand exactly what it means.
Maybe due to the fact that this project is destined to be a raw, well-executed hardcore solo project sleeper hit not unlike Deaf Mutations, there was a part of me that wondered if Jonah from Career Suicide might be involved somehow. Come to find out that I fuckin’ called it, Jonah does in fact play drums in Violin. Daniel always talks about the concept of smart people making dumb music, and I think Violin falls into that category.
Violins? More like Vio-LENCE, am I right? If you haven’t even given this record a chance, I highly recommend you give it a listen. I’ll cut myself off there. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week (will probably be here before I know it),
-Jeff