Tag: punk rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past year or so, Memphis, TN-based  quartet Nots and their Stateside label home Goner Records have become JOVM mainstays as I’ve written quite a bit about both the band and their label; in fact, Goner Records have quickly established themselves as the label home to some of the country’s best hardcore punk and hard rock bands, as they have been the label home to the likes of Ex Cult, whose Midnight Passenger and Cigarette Machine EP have been two of the best (and angriest) punk albums I’ve heard in about 5 years, OBN IIIs who have released several albums of swaggering power chord party rock in the vein of early AC/DC, the late Jay Reatard and several others. And with the release of their debut effort, We Are Nots, the Memphis-based quartet comprised of Natalie Hoffman (guitar) and Charlotte Watson (drums), Madison Farmer (bass) and Alexandra Eastburn (synths) started to receive national attention for material that sounds as though it owes a debt to the 60s era garage rock, punk and new wave – but with a frenetic, unhinged and very visceral feel.  Personally, I think the Memphis-based quartet’s debut effort should have received much more attention as their sound and aesthetic can be compared favorably to The Fall, Bikini Kill, Protomartyr, The B52s and others.

Renowned British indie label Heavenly Records licensed Nots’ We Are Nots and are releasing the effort across the UK on the 20th. The quartet will touring across the UK and the Ehe European Union to support the British/EU release of their debut effort — and to further celebrate the British/EU release of We Are Nots, the band in concert with Heavenly Records released a 7 inch of non-album material featuring “Shelf Life” as a B side to their latest single “Virgin Mary.”

“Shelf Life” is a messy, murky, lo-fi garage psych rock song comprised of relentless, chugging guitar chords, propulsive drumming, layers of distortion and feedback and shouted vocals that rushes in and out in a breakneck 1:43. And although the song kick ass, it manages to reveal a band that’s subtly and playfully expanding their sound while remaining familiar.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past 6-8 weeks, you may have come across a post or two about the Austin, TX-based quartet VIDEO. The band which features members Bad Sports, Wiccans, Radioactivity and The Wax Museums have developed a local and national reputation for being pioneers of a genre that they’ve dubbed “Hate Wave,” which possesses elements of punk rock, hard rock and melodic dissonance. In other words, their sound is loud and absolutely furious.

The band’s latest full-length effort, The Entertainers is slated for an October 30 release through Jack White‘s Third Man Records, and the album’s first single “New Immortals,” was a scorching thrash punk song with a sneering, in-your-face because we don’t give a fuck about anything vibe. The album’s latest single “Shackles” sounds as though its drawing from The Sex Pistols “Pretty Vacant” and Public Image, Ltd. as the song consist of slashing, angular guitar chords, propulsive drumming and shouted call and response vocals paired with the same we don’t give a fuck about anything vibe of the album’s first single, complete with a bitter, snarling irony. And if it doesn’t inspire a sweaty mosh pit in a dark club, there’s something deeply wrong with the world we live in.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Featuring members of Bad Sports, Wiccans, Radioactivity and The Wax Museums among others, the Austin, TX-based quartet VIDEO have quickly developed a reputation for a sound that posses elements of punk rock, hard rock and melodic dissonance; in fact, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past few months, VIDEO may be familiar, as the members of the band consider themselves the pioneers of a new subgenre, which they’ve dubbed “Hate Wave.”

The band’s latest full-length effort, The Entertainers is slated for an October 30 release through Jack White‘s Third Man Records and as I’ve mentioned you might remember that I’ve written about the album’s first single “New Immortals,” a scorching, trash punk song with a sneering, in-your-face because we don’t give a fuck about anything vibe. The band initially released “New Immortals” as a 7 inch with the latest single, a live recording of “Nothing Lasts Forever.” Clocking in at a little under 90 seconds, the song is a furious, nasty and noisy bit of trash punk that kicks ass, takes names and sounds a though it would incite a furious mosh pit — or a riot.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bad Bad Hats’ Goofy, Salad Toting Video for “Shame”

Psychic Reader, the debut full-length effort from the Minneapolis, MN-based trio Bad Bad Hats has received quite a bit of attention across the blogosphere, since its July release through Afternoon Records. The album’s first single “Shame”  is comprised of angular […]