Reviews for May.

Making your ears ring, making your heart sing

Mind me if I’m distracted from heavily delving into tons of new music, but it’s goshdanged beautiful out lately where I live. Flowers are in bloom, love is in the air, birds and bees are screwing each other’s brains out, if I understand the euphemism correctly. I’ve spent more time on my bike and less time in a car, thankfully. I just had family in town and they’ve never been here so they got to see all the sights and the best we got to offer out here. But behind the scenes I’ve been cooking up the next print version of this zine, as well as a couple records I’m working on you’ll know more about soon. So I’ve been distracted/busy. But that don’t mean this month was a slump for exceptional new music. Take a gander at these birds if you will.

BARATRO, “No Comply”

The American can duck out in Italy and low-key start a band out there, but they still cast a long shadow. There’s really no escaping the songwriting style and sound that vocalist/bassist Dave Curran has exhibited for years. His rumbling bass tone is unmatched and his scathing vocal attack is one-of-a-kind as he played a crucial role in the bulk of Unsane’s existence, and then the similar-sounding (yet shorter lived) Pigs. Now, with Baratro, on their third album, they…. wait, what’s that? They went and changed it up. OK, so I need to re-think this. Yes, Curran’s vocals and bass sound remain the same. The songwriting style is rather consistent. But they went and added a cello to most of the songs. There’s guests a plenty offering noise samples, cigar box guitar, and Eugene Robinson being Eugene Robinson on one track. There’s also a much more somber attitude throughout “No Comply”, a bit different than the steamroller riff machine present on previous efforts. Everyone’s got to change it up once in awhile and I guess this is Baratro giving some space to new ideas. The effort is appreciated, but the Cro-Magnon in me wants those reckless, crushing rhythms. You’ll find all that here, but it’s done more subtly, with added instrumentation, and an overall feel of morose throughout.

MOON PUSSY, “At the Pace Of Outrage”

I’ll be honest- Denver’s Moon Pussy’s previous albums, while enjoyable, were not visually anything to write home about. In fact, they looked super dull. But one gander at the colorful art that adorns their third album, “At the Pace Of Outrage” is enough to instantly get the eyeballs of curious crate diggers. Maybe cover art is an afterthought for a lot of musicians, but in my mind it’s an important aspect and I’m glad Moon Pussy, a band I like, has a sweet-looking new album that could possibly draw in some new listeners to their strange and heavy music. That being said, this is also the best-sounding/recorded album of theirs thus far. It comes off more clear, less lo-fi sounding, and pushes the volume in a way I enjoy. “Traffick” has a slow and brooding, heaving thing going on with lots of skittering guitar noise atop it while “Mail Knife” starts out like it was accidentally left off Sonic Youth’s, “Sister” before slowing down into a sort of hardcore breakdown kind of second half. “Leech” might be Moon Pussy testing the limits of curious new listeners with screeching guitar noise filtered through an oscillating/tremolo effect for most of the song. A catchy bass line keeps it all together though. But the overall modus operandi of the band remains the same- lots of strange guitar effects and unsettling bass runs filtered into bizarro punk. Shellac on poppers and launched into space. All the pretty parts removed from Sonic Youth and turned into three-minute screeds. The Skin Graft Records catalog if they stopped living in their car and got an apartment and a part time job they hated. The band is called Moon Pussy. Did you expect radio pop hits? Well, somehow they keep you humming and that’s a pretty big feat.

PORTRAYAL OF GUILT, “Beginning Of the End

You got to hand it to Portrayal Of Guilt- they never really go for the same trick twice. They bounce through various subgenres with no hesitation, or concern for how their fanbase reacts to it, they just go for it. It doesn’t always land, but they get kudos for giving it a go and in the process, coming up with something generally wholly unique. Whereas contemporaries, and like-minded shapeshifters, such as Full Of Hell can also try their hand at various extreme subgenres they somehow can blend simultaneously driving in every lane while still staying in their own lane if that makes sense. Portrayal Of Guilt is intentionally driving on the shoulder, the sidewalk, through construction zones, on the wrong side of the goddamned road. In that respect from song to song they might not always sound like the same band, which can be disorienting. Seeing as the band started as, more or less, a homage to Majority Rule with some black metal parts has become a band that does whatever the heck they like from album to album. They have been wildly prolific and experimental throughout their tenure and I’ve grown to appreciate that quite a bit. Songs like “Total Black” and “Human Terror” may be more closely aligned with the Portrayal Of Guilt long time fans are familiar with. But on this record they’re giving a try at ethereal shoegaze elements with female accompaniment on one song, a track featuring rapping, and a few songs that have elements of creepy industrial and… er… nu-metal mixed in. Like I said, the group is unafraid to give most anything a go. By and large they pull it off because they’re Portrayal Of Guilt. You’re signing up for an extreme band taking extreme chances just by hitting ‘play’. So anything less than a dive into the unknown would be dull for this trio.

BIRTH (DEFECTS), “Fictional Days”

Baltimore grunge-y feedback aficionados Birth (Defects) seem to have had an on-again/off-again thing going for their fractured existence, but when they announced this album (shortly after announcing a live record that just came out recently) it was with the disclaimer that this was it. They were wrapping up as a band. So you get a half record of alternate takes of songs from their discography, as well as a second half of covers…. which is an interesting way to go out. May as well cite your influences as you’re headed out the door right? Why not? What have you got to lose? While some of the covers are known and quite obvious (a popular Nirvana b-side, and a later-era left field cut from Sonic Youth), others I have no clue about (The New Flesh, The Comsat Angels). They also opt for the slowest SSD song out there (“How Much Art”). All of it is very befitting for a band who spent their time sounding like catchy-nuggets-wrapped-within-the filthiest-sounding early Nirvana mixed with the most grating of Sonic Youth feedback mantras, and a dose of raw-ass hardcore. So if you are unfamiliar with this group this should totally inform you about the originals presented here, which are more of a sampling than anything for you to explore their other material. I, for one, suggest their excellent full length from a couple years back, “Deceiver/Mirror”. But you can be the judge.

GREAT FALLS, “Conscription” 12”

Listening to Great Falls it’s mind-boggling how they can create such complex and chaotic music and make so many goddamned songs. And they’re not like throwaways either. It’s all good stuff. Super chaotic and lots of wild part changes, lots of epic moments, songs that go from under two minutes to ones that stretch out to over 14, and they release tons of stuff, a lot of it in DIY small run batches of tapes, lathe cuts, CDRs, whatever. I’m waiting for a limited release on microfiche, packaged in screenprinted twigs, and delivered to you via carrier pigeon, limited edition of 12 only to residents of unincorporated Pierce County. Anywho, the point of all this is to say with numerous B-sides spread over various releases it helps to collect them all in one place right? Here’s where “Conscription” comes in. It’s 8 tracks, across a couple recording sessions. About half of these were from the sessions from their last LP and the rest from soon after that was released. IN that time they appeared on three splits, released a lathe cut, and even had a bonus track unheard until this release. This isn’t even the first time Great Falls has released a collection of B-sides and singles. I told you they were prolific. Why is this worth getting? Because this is also a one-sided 12” with an amazing looking etched B-side by guitarist/vocalist and all around exceptional artist/designer Demian Johnston. The collection focuses on Great Falls overall faster/shorter songs for the most part, which I happen to enjoy very much. They write some very wonderful long songs as well, but you won’t find those here. It’s kind of a non-stop brutal headfuck from start to finish- lots of gut-wrenching screaming, complex but strange, fucked up, and noisy non-stop riffing, absolutely bananas drumming, and heavy as all get out. There’s no way you read anything I write about and not know who this band is so I’ll just stop at this point.

FACS / CHIMERS split 7”

It’s wild to think anyone makes a split 7” in 2026. What used to be a cheap way for a couple bands to introduce themselves has become an economical nightmare where all parties involved (consumers included) have to wonder if it’s worth charging $6 per song…. and there’s only two songs. I’m a huge fan of Facs so price is not really an issue for me when it comes to that group. However, as the split 7” used to be a way to discover new bands at a cheap price (it was called ‘taking a chance’), I’m not sure how well this is going to go over for people who otherwise wouldn’t know either of these groups. Physical media notwithstanding, you can just hear this online anywhere, so maybe it’s all a moot point. So Facs dropping a new track is always going to be interesting to me and this is no disappointment. It remains consistent with their slow-motion sprawling post-punk beginning with a rather minimalist rhythm that eventually breaks into huge tidal waves of guitar and then a sort of upbeat proggy third act. They give you your money’s worth. Chimers, from Australia, is new to me and their brief contribution left me needing to explore their other material to get an idea of how this stacks up. If you catch their last LP they have this wonderful Mission Of Burma meets post-hardcore thing going on. Their song here, “Red Chair” is a bit faster and more spontaneous, and doesn’t quite offer the range of dynamics other material has. But it’s a good track nonetheless and hopefully leads listeners to scope out what else they have to offer.

PLOT, “Food Chain”

This group caught some ‘how did anyone miss this opportunity?’ energy and grabbed this moniker in an age where most bands can’t be bothered to do a basic search and use some name that has already been taken a dozen times over, or go with the stupidest name imaginable. It’s so simple, but pretty brilliant all the same. Plot. That’s it. It’s good. Catchy name aside, I caught this trio at Caterwaul last year and was really feeling what they were doing, having literally nothing to go on, I just took a chance on them (and they had that cool name). I could sort of place the sound, but not quite. However, on their third LP, now I feel I got it: think the futuristic synth punk of noisy voyeurs Milemarker and The VSS meets up with a small dose of proggy spaciness. It’s a big sound that is achieved through just heavily distorted bass (and occasional guitar), drums, and a colorful palette of varying synths. They often lean in on dense, pulsing, low-end scuzzy-sounding synths, but will switch it up where you pick up those more spacey sounds as well. I’d say Haunted Horses could be in the conversation as well, even though they lean more into the grating industrial side of things. They’re kindred spirits if anything. Nevertheless, Plot offer an interesting follow up to their other exceptional material with a focused LP that goes through ebbs and flows of slower, spacey futurism and frantic, noisy density that whips right by. Great stuff to ruin a dance party to, or cause some property damage at said dance party.

JOHNBOY, “Anthology” 2xLP

As a disclaimer I don’t make a habit of reviewing Record Store Day releases (most all of it is useless garbage). Additionally, I’m generally reluctant to review reissues of any sort because there is more than enough new music being made that is worthy of attention. But I’ll make the case for Johnboy because a) barely anyone ever heard of them and b) Southern Lord Records has a great track record for unearthing rare and obscure gems and doing them justice. So Johnboy existed in Austin in the early to mid-90’s and their sound certainly has a combination of some unlikely elements from that era that I like quite a bit. Aside from their name popping up every now and again I had never heard a lick of their music. So it’s cool it was brought back into the discussion of things heavy, strange, off-kilter, and largely unknown. While based out of the fertile Austin scene the music feels like it drew heavily from the math-y workmanlike sturdiness of Chicago bands aligned with labels like Divot, Mud, or Southern, mixed with the anti-social clattering noisiness of early Unsane’s in-the-gutter NYC scumminess. While back then Austin was known for it’s bevy of mind-melting harsh noisy bands, they often seemed to be primarily influenced by lots of weird drugs. I’m not casting any assumptions upon the membership of Johnboy, maybe they really dug into the jazz cabbage or LSD. But something about their approach makes me think they spent more time in a library, or factories, than zoinked out on 3-day acid trips. Their music doesn’t have a lot of vocals and when they do start shouting it’s buried a bit in the mix, so it’s a bit tough to know what they’re going on about. This is a pretty dense discography with 20 tracks, lots of visuals, and a 20 page booklet to go along with it. And like most Southern Lord releases they keep prices pretty low while keeping quality exceptionally high. I say take a chance and roll the dice.