The Riptones “Slant 6” (Sparkletone) Mix Junior Brown with The Ventures and the Stax sound and you have the excellent instrumental combo The Riptones. The rootsy rockers in this group got swing, rhythm and tasty licks that take us down…
The Strugglers “The New Room” (Tract Records) The Strugglers, a music project started by Randy Bickford, is a relaxed, mellow song-oriented project. The songs on the album are delivered with a something of a Southern drawl. Or, is that a…
The End “Transfer Trachea Reverberations from Point: False Omniscient” (Relapse) I guess one would have to call this experimental art metal. The music goes all over the map, but always remains hard, fast and furious, but not too fast or…
The Testors “Complete Recordings 1976-79” (Swami Records) The Testors is an underreported but messy, blatant little blotch on the New York punk scene of the last half of the ’70s. This 2-CD set of unabashed, unrepentant, explosive punk rock from…
Pepper “Kona Town” (Volcom Entertainment) I like my iced coffee with cream and two sugars. Kind of like my music, nice and light but not too sweet. Hawaiian natives Pepper brew a pretty decent blend. The triumvirate truly captures the…
Various Artists “Punk-o-Rama 8” (Epitaph) Nobody can bitch at the value that this Cd offers. 2 Cd’s and the disc is usually priced under $10, not too fucking shabby. For many kids, this cheap Cd has gotten many into punk…
Radiation 4 “Wonderland” (Abacus) When I first received Radiation 4’s self released album (of 1000 pressings) almost two years ago, I was immediatly hooked. It was as if Mike Patton’s little brother had started to hang out with some metal…
Randy “Welfare Problems” (Burning Heart / Epitaph) If it weren’t so true, I wouldn’t even mention it, but Randy falls smack dab into the whole wave of zipped up retro-garage rock. The Hives, White Stripes, The Strokes, yeah, you’ve heard…
Slaughter and the Dogs “A Dog Day Afternoon” (TKO Records) Old punks don’t die, they just release live records. Slaughter and his dogs are just about as old as they come, aren’t they? I mean, they’ve been a band longer…
Mondo Topless “Go Fast!” (Get Hip) Part of the charm of vintage, ’60s psych-rock is the primal, visceral energy channeled through the keyhole of the day’s available analog technology. The trend in the garage rock revival is to amp it…