Mutant Love / The Yellnats - Split Cassette

Motorcycle Potluck (2019)

I'm not familiar with either of the bands on this tape (aside from an acoustic song from Mutant Love that's on a comp), but I've liked pretty much everything that Motorcycle Potluck has sent my way so far.  While the band names had me concerned that this might be more along the lines of high school neanderthal punk, I'm happy to report that Mototrcycle Potluck's streak is in tact and both bands are worth checking out.

Mutant Love falls on the gruffer side of the pop punk spectrum.  To me, they kind of sound like a mix of some No Idea bands like Dear Landlord or Shallow Cuts, crossed with the hooks and melodic tendencies of a band like Rumspringer.  All three of their songs are fast, energetic and pretty top notch.

The Yellnats don't have that same No Idea vibe in the two songs they contribute to this split, but they've carved out another section of the pop punk world to inhabit.  Both of their songs, but in particular "Small Town," have a vibe to them that I find similar to American Steel.  There's a storyteller feeling that they've got going here and combining that with their guitar racket yields a pair of strong songs.  They do make some interesting choices regarding breakdowns and tempo changes for their outros that I can't say I'm completely on board with, but there's good stuff here.

Mutant Love / The Yellnats - Split:
https://motorcyclepotluckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mutant-love-the-yellnats-split

Baby Blue / Triple Junk - Split 7"

Self Released (2018)

I picked up this split 7" as I really loved a Triple Junk 7" I bought last year.  Once a band like that gets their hooks in me, I'm always going to try to hunt down other records if I can find them.  Luckily I had some help acquiring this one.

We'll start off with Baby Blue as they are a band I hadn't heard of prior to this 7",  Their first song, "I Don't Wanna Be Your Sorry" is a mid tempo crunchy rock and roll song.  It reminds me a little bit of Blew for some reason, but with a much, much more prominent 60s rock flair to them.  The lead guitar solo in the middle is a little ridiculous, but it's a solid song.  "I Can't Let You Go" takes things down a notch and has a much more melodic feel to it.  I'm usually the sort that prefers the faster songs, but this time out the slower one gets my vote.

Triple Junk was the band I bought this 7" for and their songs do not disappoint.  I still think that they have a slight Gentleman Jesse feel to them, but if Jesse's songs were filtered through a band like Three Minute Movie.   "Make Up My Mind" has a slick verse built off of hanging guitar chords and bass guitar.  When the chorus kicks in is where this song shines.  Their 2nd contribution "Tax" has a bouncier feel to it with a choppy guitar driven verse and a hooky chorus that wouldn't be out of place on an early Weezer record.

Baby Blue / Triple Junk - Split 7":
https://babybluejapan.bandcamp.com/album/rocknroll-or-what

The No Marks / Spoilers - Split 7" - Gray Vinyl (/330)

Brassneck / Boss Tuneage (2016)

This fun little 7" came out on Brassneck records, familiar to some as one of the great labels that PopKid records got to co-release the Chestnut Road record with.  I've been a fan of Brassneck for a bit now.  In the short time they have been a label, they've managed to amass a catalog of bands that I'm really into.  One of the bands towards the very top of this list is The No Marks.

Their side of this 7" contains 3 songs, each highlighting a different strength of the band.  "Spirit" starts off with a cavernous drum beat that quickly bleeds into jagged guitar riffs and gravelly vocals calling into the night.  On "Guilt As A Control Mechanism" the band picks up the pace with a breakneck verse traveling at a thousand miles an hour, but just wait for the chorus that hook will pull you in immediately.  Lastly they serve up "Get Out," a 30 second semi-hardcore blast, not dissimilar from the sort of track Snuff would toss on a record to break things up.

Speaking of Snuff, that leads to the folks on the other side of the record, Spoilers.  Coming off the heels of a strong 12" EP (which I do have, but haven't reviewed yet), the two songs on this 7" are my favorite songs of theirs to date.  They have a strong Snuff influence, clearly seen on the organ fueled "The Same Again."  The backing 'whoa's' are right where you'd want them and there's a fast, catchy mod vibe that reminds me a lot of The 'Tone on top of the already mentioned Snuff influence.  

Their second contribution "Lost Your Way" is more straight forward.  It's faster, though I would say the drumming isn't particularly dynamic for most of the song.  Though everything comes together nicely at the end for an extremely poppy chorus.  It's the weaker of the two songs, but this is a band I will absolutely be keeping tabs on.  The flashes of brilliance they have are extremely bright.  All in all this is a pretty great 7".  Two bands making the kind of punk rock I want to listen to.

The No Marks / Spoilers - Split 7":

https://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-no-marks-spoilers-split-7

The No Marks / Hyalin - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/110)

Brassneck (2014)

If you read this website on a somewhat consistent basis, you'll see two things repeated quite often.  1. I'm just a complete sucker for the music of the 90's, the music released then will always just seem like the best to me.  And 2. There has been a real resurgence in bands today taking cues and paying homage to bands from the 90's; which is A-OK by me.  Of all of the 90's things to stage a little comeback, the one I expected the least, but probably love the most is all of these new bands that sound like the glory days of the mid to late 90's UK punk scene.  I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, when bands like Broccoli, Hooton 3 Car and Chopper ruled the world, I never loved music more.

The 2 bands on this 7" not only take cues from that UK scene, several of the guys in these bands were actually part of it.  First up we have The No Marks.  They feature members of Crocodile God and Blocko. The 2 songs on their side of the 7" are phenomenal.  They definitely have that Broccoli-esque raspy vocal thing and intricate guitar playing down, but I find them to be a bit poppier and perhaps slightly more lighthearted than Broccoli was.  In particular the back and forth between clean guitar and fuzzy guitar on "About Tomorrow" really stands out as something unique.

Over on the flip side we've got Hyalin.  A band made up of folks from Blocko and folks from one of my absolute current favorite bands Chestnut Road.  All you really need to know is that of the 2 songs on this 7", one is a cover of the Broccoli song "Constance."  It's great as is their original "Clear As Glass."  If you imagined a band that sounded like a cross between Blocko and Chestnut Road, they would sound exactly like this.

This is just such a great 7" and really, everyone should check it out.  While you're doing that, you really also should make sure you have every Broccoli, Blocko, Chestnut Road and Crocodile God record you can find.  When you have all those don't forget Hooton 3 Car and Chopper.  Oh and you should really grab that donFisher 7" that Crackle put out.  So many record to buy...

The No Marks / Hyalin - Split 7":

http://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-no-marks-hyalin-split-7

Brokedowns / Wide Angles - Split 7"

Brokedowns / Wide Angles - Split 7", a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Cassette Deck (2012)

As 2014 has been pretty slow with new releases so far, I've been able to tackle a lot of the backlog that's been building up over the last few months. This 7" goes all the way back to my September trip to Chicago.

The Brokedowns are kind of your run of the mill gritty vocal punk band. Nothing really all that special, but certainly better than a lot of bands as well. Their first song is loud, fast, angry and short. There's not much time for it to really develop into anything. The 2nd & 3rd songs are called "Beast Resources IV" and "Beast Resources V." As the names would lead you to suspect, they are kind of linked together. They are both significantly more dynamic than the first song, though there still is quite a bit of shouting going on in the chorus of "IV." "Beast Resources V" is probably the best song on their side of this 7", in large part because The Brokedowns slow things down a bit.

Wide Angles are one of the better bands I've heard over the last few years. Their other 7"s and especially their full length, Smile More, are just essential. The songs on this split are just as good as anything else they released during their short time together. Significantly more melodic than The Brokedowns, Wide Angles really understand how to craft an energetic, serious punk rock song. With this seriousness, the still manage to cram tons of hooks into their songs. A great band that I truly wish hadn't decided to split up.

Wide Angles - "Painted In":
wideangles.bandcamp.com/album/wide-angles-brokedowns-spli...

Off With Their Heads / Morning Glory - Split 7" - Black Vinyl (/200)

Off With Their Heads / Morning Glory - Split 7" - Black Vinyl (/200), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Fat Wreck (2013)

I don't like all of the records Fat Wreck puts out, but over the years they've ended up with quite a few bands on their roster that I enjoy. Considering the mad scramble on their site that usually occurs when their limited colored vinyl variants go on sale, I've been pretty lucky over the years and I've been able to grab most of the records I wanted. For this split 7", it was actually the black vinyl version that was the most rare at only 200 copies, so of course that's the version I had to buy.

I do have a lot of Off With Their Heads 7"s. Seriously, I have a ton of these. I wouldn't call the songs on their side of this split essential, but they're pretty good. The first is a redone version of a song off their album Home called "Always Alone," though on this 7" it's called "Alone Again." It's kind of an acoustic take on the original, but not totally acoustic. It's good, but I like the original better. Their 2nd song is a Morning Glory cover; "Care Of Me." Not being familiar with the original I can't compare and contrast, but it's another OK song. Not bad, but nothing that really stands out.

The Morning Glory side of the record is a cover of the OWTH song "Nationality Anthem." This is pretty terrible. Their take on it turns it into something that sounds like one of those old late 80's early 90's skate punk bands. It just sounds weird to me.

It's a cool 7" that they were able to sell when they were on tour together. It's a record I need to keep my Off With Their Heads collection complete. However, It isn't something I see myself listening to particularly often.

Off With Their Heads - Care Of Me:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwB0BseBfhg

Morning Glory - Nationality Anthem:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dW6A20hfzw

Chestnut Road / New Alaska - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/50)

Chestnut Road / New Alaska - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/50), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Speedowax / Brassneck (2013)

As soon as I saw that I could buy more Chestnut Road songs, I was ordering this 7" as fast as I humanly could. 2 new songs by a band responsible for one of the absolute best records of the year. These 2 are just as incredible as anything on their full length, with strong influence by some of my very favorite bands. I've said before, if you ever even remotely liked bands like Broccoli, Hooton 3 Car or Leatherface; Chestnut Road is a must listen.

Honestly, this could have been a split with anyone and I would have bought it, so I went in to New Alaska without any expectations. Their songs are loud and kind of dissonant. The singer is certainly shouting a lot, but never screaming or making things unpleasant to my gentle ears. I don't know that they are a band I would listen too all that often, but honestly, they're much better than I expected them to be, especially since their songs were really just extra stuff on a Chestnut Road 7" in my mind.

My copy is numbered out of 50, bought direct from Speedowax. I'm not really sure what the variant breakdown is to be honest, but no matter which version you end up with, this (and the Chestnut road full length from earlier in the year) is a record worth grabbing.

Chestnut Road / New Alaska - Split 7":
brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chestnut-road-new-ala...

Big Eyes / Mean Jeans - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/200)

Big Eyes / Mean Jeans - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/200), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Dirtnap (2013)

Split 7" by a band I'm familiar with and one, not so much. Mean Jeans have been slowly winning me over these past few years with their Ramonesy, at time nonsensical, pop punk. They turn in one of the best songs I've heard from them on this 7", I Miss Outer Space. A sugared up blast of sing along choruses and lyrics about having an alien heart and missing a black hole . The 2nd song, Since You Left, is a Big Eyes cover and it's another burner, though I'm admittedly not familiar with the original, so I can't make a fair comparison between the two.

Big Eyes is a female fronted punk band, who are definitely taking cues from 90's bands like The Muffs, but who don't really tie it all together for me. At least on the 2 songs on this 7". They're not bad and if you miss some of those old 90's bands, this might be more up your alley than mine. As usual for Dirtnap, the 1st 200 are on colored vinyl, and you know I have to keep up on my Dirtnap releases. Just about the best label going these days.

Big Eyes Side:
bigeyes.bandcamp.com/album/big-eyes-mean-jeans-split

Mean Jeans Side:
meanjeans.bandcamp.com/album/big-eyes-split

Dr. Frank / Kepi Ghoulie - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/100)

Dr. Frank / Kepi Ghoulie - Split 7" - Red Vinyl (/100), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Surfin Ki Records (2012)

I've always had an affinity for split 7"s. I think a lot of that is due to just how many were released back in the 90's and how that led me to discovering so many new bands. You buy the 7" because of the band you like, you end up with new songs from a band you never heard if. It was a cool way to take risks back before it was so easy to hear most things online. This split 7" pairs one of my all time favorites, Dr. Frank of the Mr. T Experience with the front man of a band I just never clicked with, The Groovie Ghoulies.

The Kepi Ghoulie side is a cover of the MTX classic Two Minute itch from their Milk Milk Lemonade record. It's primarily acoustic with Dr. Frank lending in some backing vocals. The Dr. Frank side is a also a mostly acoustic cover of a song called My Computer Said Kill, which I'd never heard before, so I can't compare it to the original. Supposedly both were recorded together in 1 sitting and it kind of sounds like that. Both seem rushed and the recording quality of the vocals is pretty rough. The record belongs in the collection due to having to keep the Dr. Frank/Mr. T Experience collection complete, but I was kind of disappointed with the actual songs on this guy.

Unfortunately, I just can't find either of these songs streaming online anywhere. So I guess ignore my earlier comment about being able to listen to most things online before you take a chance on them.