New Band: Trash Talk

Now I'm really showing the diversity of what I've been listening to lately; yesterday it was mellow indie/hip-hop, and today it's fast paced hardcore. Now, for those that know me fairly well, you'll know that I absolutely love hardcore in just about every form ('cept most generic post-hardcore posers). The crowd that hang around hardcore gigs are generally dickheads, but I try to ignore them the best I can.

Now, enter Trash Talk. This is bloody fantastic material. I've yet to discover any band (even some of the all-time faves) which have managed to rack up 200+ plays in just a few days. They are defined by their pace and aggression which just makes me want to crack a bottle on someone's head and wreak havoc. Pretty cool, eh?

Well, here's what I've got sitting in my library:

1. Walking Disease EP

2. Self-Titled

3. Plagues

4. Steel Trap/Trash Talk Split

5. 2005 Demo

6. Live at United Blood 2008

What really sets Trash Talk apart from the rest of the angsty hardcore kiddies is the song length. Now, song length is key for music of this intensity. Each track on Walking Disease EP and Self-Titled sits at around 40-60 seconds, which really helps to condense a piece of work which can actually be listened to from start to finish without having to pause and conduct relaxation techniques.

I also found the lyrics to be quite exceptional as well, since they compliment the strong (to say the least) riffs and drumming to a full extent. You'd love lines like 'rip me, stab me, pull me, fuck me...' too, yeah?

I wouldn't recommend listening to their material if you're fairly new to hardcore as this is pretty much as heavy as it gets before crossing into trashcore. Seasoned listeners are required.

4/5.

New Band: Why?

In this new open-minded attitude I'm trying to adopt, I decided to take some baby steps and dabble into some alternative/indie/hip-hop. At first it might seem at little ambitious to fuse such genres together, but I really enjoyed the product; that is, product of Why?

Now for the music (haha, it's becoming a bit of a catchphrase!). The following are the albums I have sitting in my library:

1. Elephant Eyelash

2. Alopecia

3. The Early Whitney EP

4. Miss Ohio's Nameless

5. Rubber Traits EP

6. Sanddollars EP

7. The Hollows

All in all, it's a fairly impressive discography if I might say so. In particular, Elephant Eyelash contains some interesting experimentation that doesn't particularly have an orthodox feel for a hip-hop/indie record. They are eager to chop from lo-fi, avant garde, prog, rock...so I guess it's suiting that they're signed to AntiCon Records.

Lyrically they also stand out from the crowd. The traditional lyrical rulebook for hip-hop is thrown out the window for a more refreshing taste of a genre that seems to frequently be coming under the spell of generic 'homeboy' type clones.

Apparently there are several projects by the members of the band, so I'll have to locate a few records by 'em and write up some reviews.

3.5/5.

New Band: Reatards

Well, Hughie needs to get with the times. This garage-punk outfit rock as hard as I could hope for with catchy riffs, wailing vocals and lyrics that make me cringe - 'did he just say that?!'

Apparently, the front man, Jay Reatard, died fairly recently. I'm upset about this and yet I've only been listening to them for a few days. For me, I think that's a strong indicator for a good group; getting attached and dragged in a short period of time. Hardly any bands do that to me.

Now, for the music. The various melodies, loops and riffs remind me heavily of an angsty second-coming of Ramones. This is a winner. I really can't be bothered writing up a review for each individual album, but here's a list of what I've got sitting in my library (listed in order of preference):

1. Not Fucked Enough

2.Grown Up, Fucked Up

3. Teenage Hate

4. Bedroom Disasters

I'd imagine there'd be more material floating around cyberspace, but hey, those albums are an excellent starting point. I put Bedroom Disasters last as it isn't particularly compact; it seems to be like Sonic Youth's Dirty -just a mashing of tracks with no direction.

One facet of their work that I really like is the song length. For me, length is everything. I have the attention span of a fourteen year old on Viagra when it comes to music, and with an average song length of 1-2 minutes; I am suddenly calmed down.

Also, the dude that died - Jay Reatard, has solo material. I'd get on that shit too.

Hugh.