Cop Problem Cop Problem
Prejudice Me Records/War Torn Records
If you want nine minutes of fist-raising, street-occupying d-beat rabble n’ roll, look no further than Philadelphia’s Cop Problem, whose debut 7″ self-titled EP is a not-so-hidden agenda of tight and brutal hardcore punk for lawbreakers and change makers. The three songs on this one (“Monuments,” “Along For the Ride,” “Blinded By Power”) are deadbolt gut shots supremely effective at inciting a rage-riot-revolution progression of action, with vocalist Deborah Cohen the crusty match to our paper handbill hopes and dreams.
Wizard Rifle Speak Loud Say Nothing
Seventh Rule Recordings
It seems I’m always going on about how Brooklyn is a hotbed for some outstanding music — and with good reason — but out West, Portland, Oregon is giving it one hell of a run, boasting bands like Lord Dying, Red Fang, Ape Machine, Danava, Grails, and Yob (okay, they’re actually from Eugene, but we’ll count them anyway) just to name a few. And now, of course, Wizard Rifle, who just about take a little bit of every one of those aforementioned bands, pop it all in their scrap metal chompers, chew it all up real good, and then spit it all out into what is the musical equivalent of the album cover art, which is the amazing creation of drummer/vocalist Sam Ford. Ford and guitarist/vocalist Max Dameron two-man their way through what will be classified in critics’ circles as avant-garde noise rock, but all you need to know is that it’s heavy, strange, and completely schizophrenic, like Lightning Bolt playing in your laundry room while Valient Himself and King Buzzo strangle each other to show their bizarre appreciation. Speak Loud Say Nothing, the band’s full-length debut, is such a derisive and callous mix of punk, math rock, and doom that you’re certain the rotten racket is going to reach right out and smack the hip grin off your face, but instead it doesn’t seem to care one shit about you or what you do. At all. Which only makes you want to love it more.
Listen to “Tears Won’t Soften the Steel” from Speak Loud Say Nothing!
The Hip Priests Full Tilt Bullshit
No Balls Records/Ghost Highway Records
The rock n’ roll manifesto as translated by The Hip Priests is clearly defined by Full Tilt Bullshit‘s opening saliva-covered salvo: “Sonic Reproducer”. Pretty simple, really. While they may not necessarily be young, they are awfully loud and exceptionally snotty, and it’s been years since the UK band last jammed up my radar with their super lubed hot rock action. The frothy fun of 2006′s Number of the Priests EP and 2007′s full-length Tight ‘N’ Exciting had all but fizzled out in my mind when I caught wind of a 2011 split with Electric Frankenstein, and just like that the boys were back. It was like the ghosts of Stiv Bators and Fred “Sonic” Smith were smiling down on me, and now there’s even a new full-length album of garage punk madness to get all revved up about. Bruising bastards born to lose and booze, The Hip Priests busted out of the demise of The Divine Brown and the X-Rays with a mission to mash the spit-saw energy of bands like The Stooges, Dead Boys, The Dictators, Gluecifer, Turbonegro, and The Hellacopters into a greasy gush of over-sexed, electric awesomeness. Despite the time that’s passed, and the fact that during the album’s recording the band split with their singer and the studio lost the entire album (the band obviously got themselves a new singer and re-recorded the whole damn thing), The Hip Priests are still a fully functional rock n’ roll hard-on that has come to fuck and get fucked up, and Full Tilt Bullshit charges its way through a singular vision of masturbation (“Wrist Action”), ejaculation (“DNA Dynamo”), provocation (“Loud ‘n’ Lewd”), and titillation (“Outta My Head [Into Your Pants]“) like a bull in a knickers shop. Only for the cheap n’ loose among us, this one.
Check out the video for “Sonic Reproducer” from Full Tilt Bullshit!
Cop Problem
Wizard Rifle
The Hip Priests