Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Protectors / Egotrunk - Split CD

Untitled

Fixing A Hole (2013)

First of all, thanks to Kei for sending me a copy of this CD.  He had noticed that I reviewed another Egotrunk release a few weeks back and I had mentioned I was looking for more of their records.  Now that I have this split, it looks like there's just a mini LP called 19 that I need to hunt down.

The split starts off with a band called Protectors.  Unbeknownst to me (but knownst to others I'm sure), Protectors features Chris Charlton.  He was in one of my favorite mid 90s UK bands, Chopper.  I didn't realize he'd been releasing records with this band.  A quick google search tells me they put out a bunch of records that I knew nothing about.  I feel about a hundred years old and helplessly out of touch.  

Anyway, the two Protectors songs on this are quite good.  They don't sound much like Chopper, but instead take a less fuzzy approach to indie rock songwriting while still hanging on to those mid 90s hooks that I like so much.  The vocals are soaring and have an optimistic feel to them.  I like this a lot and need to find some of their other releases.

Egotrunk are from Japan and man do I love these two songs.  Tight, powerful blasts of 90s style pop punk with super dynamic guitar work.  "9.5" starts things off with relentless drumming and a catchy as hell riff.  What a great damn song. "Season 31 and Change" has those stutter stops with palm muted guitar in the verse and that just only makes chorus catchier and more impactful when it hits. The songs seem a bit more energetic and rougher around the edges than the ones on the EP I have, but I'm OK with that and think these are just as good, maybe even better.  Only one more record to find, if you see it, let me know. 

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