Autobahns - First LP

Feral Kid / Legless / Phantom / Magüt (2024)

I have a little pile of records people sent to me to review that's building up, so I'm trying to get through some of those.  Autobahns are from Germany and four labels went in on putting out this album.  Other than that I don't really know anything else about them other than the music that is on this LP.  I'm not sure I have that much to say about it.

It's fast punky rock with something of a Marked Men style guitar attack, if the Marked Men only recorded their albums in the sea and didn't have interesting chord progressions.  The guitar tone on this record is pretty silly and I can only describe it by saying that it wounds like a cartoon version of what a guitar being played underwater would sound like.

The vocals are ultra distorted to the point of being incomprehensible and they're pretty much screamed on top of being fuzzed out.  Is this better than your run of the mill hardcore band?  Yes, absolutely.  But it's not really good either.

Autobahns - First LP:
https://feral-kid-records.bandcamp.com/album/first-lp

Various Artists - Big, Big Wave LP - Mixed Color Vinyl

Feral Kid (2022)

This is a compilation album.  I feel that comps are really a thing of the past at this point.  I never really see them anymore, but were it not for comp albums there are so many bands that I never would have discovered otherwise.  This particular album focuses on a pretty specific scene, a burgeoning one in Hattiesburg, MS.

Most of the bands on here get two songs, but not all of them.  The songs represent many genres and for whatever reason, most are very short with over half of them clocking in at under two minutes.  Now there's definitely stuff on here that's not for me.  The breakneck screaming of Fumes isn't the sort of thing I would listen to on most occasions.  Same with the sludgy, stoner rock of Stellatone (they're one of the bands that only got one song on this) and the Stranger Things synth of Control Room.

That said, there are a few bands on here that I thought were pretty solid.  Pleather is a band that I have a 7" by, and their Baby Shakes-ish guitar pop is enjoyable.  The Squirms put forth a serviceable rock and roller called "Stiles."  It's not amazing or anything, but it's totally fine.  My favorites on the album are the two entries of Ded Jewels.  Both are fuzzed out guitar tunes that have a slight debt of influence to the sort of early rock of the late 50s and early 60s.

Is this the sort of compilation that I bought in the 90s, the kind that instantly alters my taste in music?  No, it's not.  But there are some decent songs in here and it definitely changed my opinion of what could be happening in towns like Hattiesburg.

Various - Big Big Wave:
https://feral-kid-records.bandcamp.com/album/big-big-wave

Antler Joe and the Accidents - Go Commercial! 7"

Feral Kid (2022, Reissue)

This is a reissue of a 7" that originally came out in 1981.  It's apparently quire rare and sought after and if the sales history on Discogs is to be believed, it has regularly sold for many hundreds of dollars the few times it's actually been sold.  Well, much to the dismay of those that shelled out major cash, you can now grab it for seven bucks.  Score.

Musically, it's OK.  I like it better than I do most snotty punk rock of this era.  People throw around phrases like Killed By Death style and while that means very little to me, I know there are others that base their entire existence around those words.  The songs are catchy for the most part with slightly nasally vocals, but there's enough melody there where the record doesn't sound like a parody of itself.

Of the three songs, I like the last one, "Who Needs a Woman Like You," the best.  It's not super different from the other two, but there's some fun saxophone going on that makes the song stand out more to me.  I'm not really the target demo for this record.  I'm old and like old music, but I'm not as old as the folks that came up in this scene, so it tends to sound dated to me and I have no personal connection to it from my youth.   As songs, they are perfectly serviceable old, catchy punk songs, but it's not the sort of thing that I tend to gravitate towards.

Antler Joe and the Accidents - Go Commercial!:
https://feral-kid-records.bandcamp.com/album/go-commercial

Spit Kink - Yes To Everything 7"

Feral Kid (2020)

This record is actually a lathe cut 7" of the band's cassette demo.  I'll take any kind of vinyl over a cassette, so kudos to the label for that one.  That said, this isn't a record for me.

It's a bunch of drum machine style beats with some bass, a few electronic flourishes and distorted, spoken word style vocals.  It's honestly kind of annoying.  I'm not exactly sure who listens to this sort of thing.  I try to be open minded when I get a record sent to me to write about, but there are moments where all I can really do is shrug my shoulders and move on to the next one.

I'm at a loss for words, other than it kind of reminds me of what that band in the High Fidelity movie sounds like.  You know, the Kinky Wizards.  Also of note, every song starts with a gong blast. Why? I don't know. Best I can do is tell you to go to the Bandcamp link and give it a whirl.  Maybe you'll see something that I don't.

Spit Kink - Yes To Everything:
https://spitkink.bandcamp.com/album/yes-to-everything-demo-2020

Pleather - Wasting Time With Riot 7"

Feral Kid (2019)

This 7" showed up in the mail a couple of weeks ago courtesy of Feral kid records.  It's the debut slab of vinyl from Pleather, hailing from Mississippi.  On the 7" are two really short and economical pop songs.  While neither are anything that I find particularly exciting, I don't think they are bad either.

To me, Pleather sound like a cross between Baby Shakes and that old 90s band The Brentwoods. The guitars have a treble heavy tone to them and there's definitely a throwback vibe in their rock and roll music.  Lyrically, the songs are kind of light on typical rhyming structure.  There are couplets in "Wasting Time" that build off of each other, but the construction of the song is a little out there.  "Riot" doesn't have much rhyming either and appears to be about either a cat or a dog (or is a song with such deep meaning, I'm far too stupid to pick up on the possible hidden metaphor).

Both songs clock in at about a minute and a half, so if you happen to love the songs, they're over pretty quick.  Though the flip side to that would be if you hate them, at least you don't have to listen to them for any sort of extended duration.  I'm in the middle.  These songs are just OK and they don't stick around long enough to make any more of an impression on me than that.

Pleather - "Wasting Time":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjYoxV7K9Qg

Pleather - "Riot":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVg10ix1ri4

Radiation Risks - Headless Horseman Flexi

Feral Kid (2017)

This is the first time I've been sent a flexi to review since I started up this website.  Right away, that stood out.  Plus, while I can't say I like the artwork, it's definitely colorful and attention grabbing.

I reviewed another Radiation Risks 7" earlier in the year and while I do like the songs on this new flexi more than the older 7", I still can't go so far as to say I like this band.  But I don't dislike them.  It's complicated.  I like the music quite a bit.  It's fast and upbeat with jangly guitar, fun chord progressions and pretty decent hooks.  I find my head bobbing along when I listen to it and in particular I just love the guitar tone they achieved with this recording.  They should bottle that stuff.

By only hang up is that I'm not really partial to the singer.  Though, again, it's a big improvement from the last 7".  I still think the band as a whole would benefit from some more melody in the vocals and a less ferocious delivery.  This singer kind of feels like he's still trying to transition from a hardcore band into whatever Radiation Risks is turning into.  The progression is happening and change is obvious; these are much better songs.  But, i don't think that the band is there yet.  If they truly embraced the pop songs that they're writing, I think they could be great.

Radiation Risks - Headless Horseman Flexi:

https://radiationrisks.bandcamp.com/album/headless-horseman

Pissing Match - Break The Seal 7"

Feral Kid (2016)

Let's get out the hardcore checklist out.  Band is called Pissing Match. Check.  7" has fifteen songs on it. Check.  The longest song is thirty-eight seconds long. Check. Song titles are written in that Crass font. Check.

I do not understand this sort of thing.  It sounds like Anal Cunt, but less metal and not as funny.  If you like growly shouting, maybe you'll like this.  I don't.

For future hardcore band and label people, I appreciate the sentiment, but it's a waste of a record to send stuff like this to me. I'm just not going to enjoy it like you do.  Let's call it a shortcoming on my end and an inability to broaden my horizons.  I like pop.

One last thing, does anyone know why the monsters on the record cover are so mad at that tire?

Pissing Match - Break The Seal 7":

https://pissingmatch.bandcamp.com/album/break-the-seal-3