Pissbath

My life has been a D-beat D-esert lately, so i was excited for the chance to see Pissbath, a glorious noisy/distortion-y d-beat band from Murfreesboro Tennessee, last weekend. The main thing that stood out in their too short but sufficiently energetic set, was the quality and presence of vocalist Melissa Hurley. She and the band gets so into what they're doing, and the music is so distorted and raw that the whole room gets abraded, scabs over, and is picked open again with every song.  The band is sloppy and fast but it distracts from none of their goodness (If you want musically tight technical d-beat go get on a time machine/boat to Sweden).  Been in a D-beat D-esert? Check out demo I and demo II and quench yourself with some pissbath!

Shoppers

Shoppers was a band from Syracyuse that rightfully kind of blew the fuck up in 2010. I missed my chance to see them play but their recordings are plenty and incredible and i like them so much i even spent like way to much time just now watching videos on youtube of them playing live which is something i never do. Opps.  This band reminds me of manic-depression. The manic part is their music, It's noisy and riddled with feedback, its punk, it has a circulatory system that gets you pumping. You could almost call it poppy but really its just kind of speedy and frantic though there is some beautiful melodic riffing/moments of clarity you only get after speeding around in a fuzz. The depressive part of Shoppers is the lyrical content which covers bases uncommon to this style of music because its kind of sexually provocative and bold and jilted-loverish and worry-some. If I found these lyrics in my friends notebook I would be like, "dude you are fucking brilliant, but uhhh.. are you okay?" Anyways I am not worthy of reviewing shoppers. Everything they released was brilliant and most of it can be found here. (I'm in love with IV off of 'silver year' and I off of 'you shot me and i woke up in my next life') Let their music speak for itself but I'm just gonna say, if you don't like Shoppers you should probably make an appointment with your Veterinarian. Because you arn't human and there is something for-real wrong with you.

Recreant

Recreant is a four piece band from Tampa, Florida, who I saw in April at a Black and Brown benefit show in Chicago. I was so impressed with their performance, that I spent my last 10 bucks for the week (normally reserved for burritos or vodka depending on how the weeks going, vodka lately) on their self titled record which was released in December of 2012.  There was a lot going on as they played and I wanted to see if anything was lost in recording or if they really were as fucking good as I and everyone else at the show seemed to think. You can  distinctly pick out a gaggle of different contributing styles in Recreants music which is what i'm talking about when i say there's a lot going on. As their band camp describes it: "Cheddar wanted a screamo band, B wanted a grind band, Tristan wanted a crust band, and Jesse wanted a metal band, so we just threw it all together, mixed it with that Florida flavor, and made what we like to call swamp core." Also included are dual male and female vocals, and some pretty shredding electric violin, leaving no base uncovered. No base uncovered including spoken word, on the track VII which to me, because that's not really my thing, is the weakest part of the album (admittedly, I'm not really qualified to say what is or isn't good spoken word). I strongly prefer their self titled 2012 release over snakes and vultures which was put out in 2011 (Just sayin'...).
Although Recreant is one of those bands you really ought to see live, I am pleased with my purchase over all. For 10 dollars does not buy many burritos or very much vodka and this record is crammed to the brim with more than 10 bucks worth of a little bit of everything.

Goners

I'm officially crushing hard on the Columbus punk band Goners. Crush is the word i want to use because their music makes me feel excited, melancholy, hopeless and i can't get it out of my head.
Goners have been busy in 2012 releasing a self titled tape in June (under the name Murmurs) and Endless Suffering in October 2012. They just recorded a 7'' through Shout Out Loud records that come July 2013 will set up permanent residence in my record player, which i need to buy, just for this release.
Their poppy melodies are not my usual fare and i can't exactly explain why i love them as much as i do.  Let's explore… Is it catchy? Hell yes its catchy, like, every song is going to lodge itself in your brain and set up a shanty town of poppy riffs and depressive lyrics. Is it relatable? Fuck yes it's relatable, unless you're like a machine or a total piece of shit, or someone who has never experienced self doubt or sadness. How are their live performances? Oh i don't know, remember how you felt the first time you ever went to a basement punk show? Goners have harnessed that and have it at the ready every time you see them play.
So wait, why do i love Goners so much? This is going to sound corny, but this is music you can feel. Lately, i've felt like a jaded old maid. Goners make me feel like a jaded high-schooler all over again.

Salome

Salome is a defunct Dooooooom metal band from Annandale Virginia whose vocals are done by the extraordinary vocalist Kat Katz. Kat is also the vocalist of Agoraphobic Nosebleed which would be worth checking out if you like grindcore, specifically drum-machine grindcore. Now Agoraphobic Nosebleed is not my cup of tea, but Salome is fucking fantastic Doom. The band is baseless (!) but the guitar is tuned so low you won't even miss it.  Their self-titled full length album which was released in 2008 has less focus on vocals (they seem thin and more in the back ground) has a really melancholy feel to it but is otherwise a fucking masterpiece.  I better like 2010 and Salomes' final release Terminal just because Kats vocals are front and center of this album right where they should be and you get to hear a fuller range of abilities from everyone in the band.  The only thing that isn't perfect for me is Terminal gets a little weird and noisy on "An accident of history" which is like a million minutes long. I've heard it's a brilliant noise composition but to me it just sounds like a bunch of fucking feedback. Maybe more of a problem with me than with Salome.

Damad

Damad was a female fronted sludge crust-metal crossover band from Georgia in the mid and late 90's, some of whose members are now in Kylesa. Victoria the vocalist is my vocal idol, my personal ideal for vocals; super husky and totally makes the guitars responsible for picking up the melody rather than her voice. She uses a more feminine scream to punctuate different parts of the songs, and this is a pretty fucking prime example of metal crust crossover.

 

HOMOMILITIA

Homomilitia was a anarchist punk crust band from Lodz, Poland. They are forever doomed to be compared to Nausea because the have duel male/female vocals and were around in the 90's. I don't really get the comparison. Most of their songs are about being gay supposedly, and that's awesome but i don't speak a lick of Polish so there's that. They sound great regardless and if you like snotty vocals and crusty hardcore you should go ahead and give them a shot.