Review: Originally formed in 1980 in Reno, Nevada, 7 Seconds are often credited as one of the most vital and criminally overlooked pioneering hardcore punk acts. Following on from their much-adored 1985 EP-cum-LP Walk Together, Rock Together, their 1986 follow up New Wind featured slower tempos and a notable imbuing of melody, with the project going on to be credited as an integral blueprint for the hardcore scene's eventual embracing and transition into pop-punk and indie rock. This long overdue reissue from Trust Records arrives complete with the complimentary Change In My Head, which is a totally new take on the classic album featuring tracks remixed in their entirety by Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) alongside Inner Ear Studios' Don Zientara. Restoring and reimagining unreleased cuts from the original LP such as 'Change In My Head' and 'Compro', these bonus tracks offer a fresh snapshot of 7 Seconds in transition, but still very much firmly rooted in their hardcore ethos (before literal U2 comparisons would arise with later output). This limited double LP also comes with a 24-page oral history featuring unseen photographs, flyers, and memorabilia.
Review: The sophomore Bad Brains album, and last before their initial break up (the first of many), is arguably just as essential as their self-titled debut. Not only because it features a hefty amount of its predecessor's cuts, redefined by the late, great Ric Ocasek of The Cars (responsible for manning the boards on several vital punk and alt rock releases, just ask Weezer), but it also made clear that the dynamic melding of hardcore punk fury and deep-rooted understanding of reggae nuance was far from a fluke. If anything, 'Rock For Light', marked the true arrival of what is now commonly considered to be the most boundary-pushing, talented and visionary acts to ever see the beauty within the cacophony.
Review: This is a reissue of Bikini Kill's second EP, "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah". Recorded in 1992 with Tim Green (Nation Of Ulysses) at The Embassyia group-house in Washington, DC, it was the first Bikini Kill release to feature the band's song, "Rebel Girl." Originally a split EP with the Brighton, UK-based band, Huggy Bear, the B-side now features seven previously unreleased Bikini Kill songs drawn from era-appropriate live shows and practice tapes. The artwork has also been updated to include archival photos and liner notes from the Bratmobile's Erin Smith, Comet Gain's David Feck, and the members of Bikini Kill.
Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, DC, forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early '90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances. This EP is the second release in a larger campaign to reissue the complete Bikini Kill catalog on vinyl and CD.
Review: Kurt Cobain favourites and Texan punk outliers Butthole Surfers don't know when or where exactly this live recording was made. But who cares!? The most important thing to know is the recording is gnarly and the band sound out of this world with their blend of noise, punk and psychedelic rock a truly idiosyncratic affair. Highlights on here include 'The Annoying Song' with singer Gibby Haynes' belligerent use of a toy megaphone. The guitar solos are top notch here, too. While 'Human Cannonball' is a thrilling number that you imagine created raucous circle pits at the actual show. It's great to see technology put to good use and cleaning up old live punk shows and getting them sounding this powerful.
Review: Since forming in 2016, The Darts from Phoenix, Arizona have built a fierce global presence with their fuzz-drenched garage rock and high-octane performances, fronted by the ever-driven Nicole Laurenne. The Nightmare Queens compiles the best green lights from the band's first two LPs, both long since sold out, and adds two extra brand-new thrashoffs, recorded on the road during their 2024 Europe Boomerang tour. Gritty melodies, vampy hooks and punk-drunk energy beam like blood moon rays across 'Get Spooky', 'My Heart Is A Graveyard', and 'Love You to Death'.
Review: Originally released in 2001, The Argument would serve as the sixth and final full-length from Washington D.C. post-hardcore visionaries Fugazi (led by Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Guy Picciotto of Rites Of Spring). Released in tandem with their Furniture EP, the project continued the band's further experimentation and internal dissection of a subgenre and style they were creating, curating and bastardising in real time. Making extensive use of cello and piano, while weaving in more unhinged spoken word diatribes, the project falls in line with the latter-day art punk of Red Medicine and End Hits, while providing a bookended finale of incomparable intensity, equally disgusted and concerned with the war-torn world at large and man's constant inability to find better means of facilitating change. Often cited as not only the band's best work but a monolithic cornerstone of the scene at large, this repress naturally lands courtesy of MacKaye's own Dischord Records and arrives on artwork complimenting blue marbled vinyl.
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