Charlie Continental - Singles & Jingles 2016-2021 Cassette

Snappy Little Numbers (2025)

Charlie Continental has a new release with a tape compiling a bunch of songs from other releases from 2016 to 2021.  Some of these I've heard before, others, not so much but it's always a nice thing for me to have tracks collected onto a single release.  Even if it's on a cassette.

I'm not going to go into the what tracks are from where game.  There's a little blue piece of paper with the tape that lays that out for you, but they are from tapes, flexis and comps that perhaps fell under the radar for some people.  Listening to them all in a row as an album vs here and there on other releases helps everything out a lot, particularly the short songs which somehow feel more substantial in the context of an album.

You've got some mid tempo rockers like "Monotony of Care" and "We're Getting Fixed."  There's quick hit jingles like "Quit Wastin' My Time" and "Nothing But Time."  There's even a ska song when "Be Much Better" comes on.  My favorite of the bunch is "Come Howl With Us" which hits me in a Sedatives sort of way with it's darker vibe, though maybe the spooky backing vocals could be taken down just a notch.

You might know Charlie's work with Spells, but there's something very charming about the cobbled together feel of this tape that hits in a very different, but equally excellent way.  It's definitely worth checking out.

Charlie Continental - Singles & Jingles 2016-2021:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/singles-jingles-2016-2021

Steve Adamyk Band - Live Cassette

Big Neck (2023)

While I acknowledge that it has been four years since 2019's Paradise, this stretch of time since the last Steve Adamyk Band album came out feels like an eternity.  Granted, there are some real world events that probably adds to that feeling, but I'l not used to waiting quite so long to hear something new from Steve & co.

For now, I'll settle for this live tape that Big Neck has released.  Now, I'm on record as to not really loving tape only releases, but if you're going to do it, a live album really feels like the way to go.  In a lot of ways it brings me back to my days in the mid 90s trading live bootleg tapes on the internet (so help you if you don't use Maxell XL II as your blank).

This was recorded in various spots, with the biggest chunks being five songs recorded in Philadelphia and another five from Brooklyn.  Then we have a few from Toronta, Japan and WFMU in New Jersey for good measure.  The songs are mostly focused from the band's first three albums and include some of my personal favorite heavy hitters like "Better Off," "Forever Won't Wait" and "Speed It Up."  The recording quality of each song is really solid and really captures the live energy the band has.  This is a really fun release, even though live albums are not usually my thing.  It's worth checking out.

Steve Adamyk Band - Live:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/steve-adamyk-band-live

Thirty Cassettes From Tetryon Tapes

I didn't post anything last week.  Part of it was I was tired and had a particularly rough week.  But part of it was also the fact that I wanted to get through a shit ton of tapes piling up over here.  Ugh, tapes.  I'm not always opposed.  Snappy Little Numbers and Big Neck have sent me some pretty rad tapes over the years.  But then there are times when you have too many tapes.  

This fellow from Buffalo has been sending me tapes for years via various labels.  A few good ones, and then some average and bad ones.  But it's just too many.  Recently he sent me a giant box full of tapes that I haven't wanted to listen to.  I'm blowing through all THIRTY of them in short, MMR style reviews.  I didn't like the vast majority of them, but there were a couple that were OK and one that was genuinely very good.  But my dude from Buffalo, do not send me any more tapes.  I'm not doing something like this again.

Utah Jazz - In Retrograde - Tetryon Tapes (2020)
This is loud, snotty garage rock.  Lots of yelling, not much singing.  The drummer is pretty solid and some of the guitar work is interesting, but the vocals just kill it for me.  They have at least two singers that I can identify and both yell a lot.  Not my scene.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/in-retrograde

Futuro - Os Segredos Do Espaço e Tempo - Tetryon Tapes (2020)
As far as the music goes, I don't mind this at all.  This band is from São Paulo, Brazil and they have gone after a kind of melodic punk that reminds me a little bit of The Estranged.  They've got good riffs, great drumming and the recording quality is strong, aside from the vocals.  Lots of weird echo that I don't think adds to things and in a comment likely to repeat itself a lot today, more yelling than I like.  I might just not be very punk rock.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/os-segredos-do-espa-o-e-tempo

Richard Hamilton - My Perfect World  - Tetryon Tapes (2020)
Hey, singing!  This is pretty nice in a Cars sort of way with some 50s pop thrown in for good measure.  The vocals are a little bit Warm Soda, with a hushed, almost whispered delivery at times, but these are really solid pop songs for the most part.  Pretty decent.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/my-perfect-world

Ciggie & The Darts - Liquor, Leather, Denim & Darts - Tetryon Tapes (2020)
More garage rock style tunes.  The songs are solid and even kind of catchy at times.  There are parts that remind me of Supersuckers aside from the vocals, which are pretty bad.  I don't know why, but I can only picture them coming out of an animated anthropomorphic cartoon animal that's the comic relief part of a crew helping to fight crime or solve mysteries or something like that.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/liquor-leather-denim-darts

Cage Kicker -  Parasitic Future - Tetryon Tapes (2020)
OK, this is hardcore.  Very fast, very loud, completely unintelligible screamed vocals.  I have never liked this sort of thing and can't tell the difference between good hardcore and bad hardcore.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/parasitic-future

Erik Nervous - Bugs​!​! - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This one is all over the place.  There's some hardcore, some garage, some synth-pop and some Ween style weirdness.  I give Erik Nervous credit for being able to genre hop and pull off each of them pretty well, but I can't say I liked listening to any of it all that much.  It's weird, but I'm not sure it's weird in an interesting way or weird in a what the hell is going on sort of way.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/bugs

Baby Tyler - Vol. 2 - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
More yelling.  This time over muted, robotic sounding guitars that have some sort of weird effects or compression on them.  I can't tell of the drums are drum machines or real drums.  They don't sound precise enough to be a drum machine, but the tone (do drums have tone? I don't know what to call it) sounds all metallic and odd.  I don't like this.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/vol-2

Flea Collar - A Hole is A Hole - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This sounds like a high school hardcore band who can't quite play fast enough to really get the hardcore sound they want so they're kind of more like a sleaze punk band.  Sounds like it was recorded on a boom box.  Next.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/a-hole-is-a-hole

Evinspragg - Precognitive Dreams - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This is another one of those one person band sort of things.  Eric Mayer is credited with guitar, bass, drums, synth, vocals, engineering and photography.  I'm not sure which of those things is really his forte, but the songs are mainly weird synth driven things that are probably trying to sound a little bit like Devo or something kind of like that, but they're much darker and no fun at all.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/precognitive-dreams

Lotus Cookie Recipe - Cook Book - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This whole tape only has three songs and is three minutes long. They are an instrumental band playing a sort of sludgy metal sort of thing maybe?  The guitars sound like the second half of the Beck song "Asskizz Powergrudge (Payback! '94)."  I don't know how to write about something so short with so little going on.  This seems like too little music to warrant the plastic needed for a tape release.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/cook-book

Danny's Favorites - There Still Punk - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This one is pretty fun. It's got a bit of a power pop vibe to it (though kind of rough around the edges), there's a little surf influence and most importantly there's hooks!  Actual catchy choruses.  I don't love this, but it's a breath of fresh air after the last few tapes.  I would even go so far as to say maybe give this one a quick listen if you're checking out the Richard Hamilton record.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/there-still-punk

Spike Pit - 2 Heavy Metal 4 Punk - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
Judge this book by its cover.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/2-heavy-metal-4-punk

The Shine - The Shine - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
OK, this one is flat out great.  If these guys put out another tape, I'm totally fine with it being sent to me.  This is 50s/60s style guitar pop.  Lots of energy, great hooks, solid vocal harmonies.  If the recording was a little bit better, I would think anyone that likes bands like The Resonars would be totally into this.  Legitimately a very fun tape.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-shine

Richard Hamilton - Kiss Touch 2000 - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
I'm writing about these in chronological orders starting with the oldest tape on the Tetryon Bandcamp page.  So that's why this one isn't next to the first Richard Hamilton tape.  Kind of more of the same.  Totally fine solo/band sort of stuff.  Still has that Cars vibe a bit, though in general maybe a little more mellow.  It's totally fine.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/kiss-touch-2000

Richard Hamilton - Memory Palace - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
OK, this is probably too much Richard Hamilton for me at this point.  Had I heard them a little more spaced out, maybe it wouldn't seem like overkill, but at this point I'm ready to move on.  This one feels a little more lo-fi than the others for whatever reason.  More like 90s four-track tape label stuff.  Again, not bad, but I don't need three tapes by this guy.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/memory-palace

Thee Hearses -  EP II - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This is weird robot synth.  It's fast and not boring, so that's good.  There's also a sci fi vibe that is interesting, but it ultimately ends up feeling like some band in an 80s movie that ends up getting eaten by a monster later in the film.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/ep-ii

Woodstock '99 -  Woodstock '99 - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
I'm not sure what I expected from a band called Woodstock '99 where the tape cover is a picture of Fred Durst skateboarding.  But I definitely didn't expect to like it.  Run of the mill hardcore here.  Recording quality is better than most, but as I've said many times, I don't know how to judge hardcore.  Maybe this is great, maybe it's terrible.  My brain can't process it as anything other than noise.  I would say it makes me feel old, but I felt the same way in the 90s.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/woodstock-99

Found Drowned - Not Bad! - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
This is instrumental surf music.  Much like I just said about hardcore, I can't really tell if something is good surf music or bad surf music (unless someone is super obviously ultra-talented or particularly bad).  But unlike hardcore, I pretty much always like surf music.  It's easy to listen to, great for background music and essentially never makes me angry.  This is a discography tape, so there's really a bit too much on here to digest in one listen, even if the songs are all quite short, but in pieces it's a fun listen.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/not-bad

Spit Kink - Get It - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
My brain keeps reading the band name as Spin Kick instead of Spit Kink.  I think Spin Kick is a better name.  This is some electroclash stuff like I would have been annoyed by in the early 2000s.  It's noisy and full of synth and repetitive drum beats with fuzzed out robot vocals.  Not for me.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/get-it

Space Danish & The Sewer Diamonds - Six Dungeons - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
I have no idea what this is supposed to be.  It's really slow, electronic, synth stuff that at times feels like a low budget sci fi soundtrack and at others a soundtrack for an 80s video game that was rejected for being too creepy.  There are vocals, but I don't know what they are saying.  They're more like spoken word, but have an odd gruffness to them.  Baffled by this one.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/six-dungeons

Werewolf Jones -  Terminal Velocity - Tetryon Tapes (2021)
I've actually written about this band before as Big Neck sent me a live tape of theirs a few months ago.  I didn't love it then and I don't love this one now.  It's that same thing where the vocals just don't have enough melody to them for me.  The guitar riffs are dark and sludgy and this feels slower than their previous cassette that I wrote about.  It's mostly one of those things where it's just not my cup of tea.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/terminal-velocity

C​-​Krit - C​-​Krit - Tetryon Tapes (2022)
On the Bandcamp page it says "C-Krit is ???"  I couldn't agree more.  Lots of feedback.  Fast songs. Screaming vocals.  The sort of band that would start playing at a VFW hall and then you have the sudden urge to go find a soda machine or run to the car or take up smoking or whatever you can think of to go to another room for a bit.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/c-krit

No Fix - Neon Dreamz - Tetryon Tapes (2022)
The tape cover made me think it was going to be hardcore, but it's actually more in the garage rock world.  The vocals are a little snottier than I personally prefer, but the band is tight, the songs are constructed well and it's really not bad at all.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/neon-dreamz

Touchhole - Touchhole demo - Tetryon Tapes (2022)
This is more experimental and noisy.  It's mostly drums and distorted vocals.  I'm sure there are people out there that dig this style, but it's not the sort of thing that really makes any sense to me.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/touchhole-demo

Spooky Visions - Spooky Visions - Tetryon Tapes (2022)
I like the artwork on this a lot, so I was hopeful it would be spooky surf music or something like that.  This is more like Stranger Things sounding synth with electronically altered vocals speaking some sort of weird robot poetry.  Synth is a dirty word for me, so I'm probably not the real demographic for this.  Other's milage may vary.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/spooky-visions

Eyes and Flys -  Manic AM - Tetryon Tapes (2022)
High energy guitar riffage with totally blown out vocals.  More on the garage spectrum than anything else I can really compare it to.  They're playing fast and energetic without bleeding into hardcore, so I'll never knock that.  But it's the vocals that just don't do it for me.  Too much echo/feedback on them to really hear what's going on.
https://tetryontapes.bandcamp.com/album/manic-am

Nervous Tick and The Zipper Lips - Something's Gotta Bleed - Kafadan Kontak (2020)
I almost stopped after that last tape as it was the last one on the Tetryon Bandcamp page, but I decided to try to finish things up and tackle the rest of the tapes as well.  I've gone this far.  This one is fine I guess?  It's not overly yell-y or synthy.  The guitars have a nice sort of churning propulsion to them, but it's just not really the sort of thing I'm interested in.  I'm just the type that needs more of a hook.
https://nervoustick.bandcamp.com/album/somethings-gotta-bleed

Nervous Tick and The Zipper Lips & Ricky Hell - The Covid Collaborations: vol. II - Self Released (2020)
I was sent three of these Covid Collaborations tapes.  Volumes II, III & IV.  Not Volume I for some reason, but that's OK.  To quote the Bandcamp page so I don't have to find a way to rewrite this three times: "Each volume will feature Nervous Tick and The Zipper Lips and another recording artist. Both parties will record an original song, a cover of a song by the other party, as well as a song musically to have the other party finish with vocals and whatever else is needed."  So that's what we're getting into here.  The Nervous Tick songs sound like the stuff on their other tape.  It's solid musically, but not something that really appeals to me.  Ricky Hell is more synth that I don't find particularly exciting, but it's also not really bad.  The combo songs where they are singing over each others music is an interesting concept and the one with Ricky singing over the Nervous Tick music is probably the best song on here.
https://nervoustick.bandcamp.com/album/the-covid-collaborations-vol-ii

Nervous Tick and The Zipper Lips & Obsoletism - The Covid Collaborations: vol. III - Self Released (2021)
Here's volume II, this time with Obsoletism.  The Nervous Tick songs are more interesting to me this time out as they are a little catchier, but the vocals are still tough for me.  If they were a little smoother, I'd probably be more into it.  The Obsoletism songs are nice and catchy.  A little garage-y and little power poppy.  The vocals have something of a snarl to them, but it's not off putting the way some snotty punk singers come off.  For the combo songs the best one again is the one with the Nervous Ticks music and the Obsoletism singing.  
https://nervoustick.bandcamp.com/album/the-covid-collaborations-vol-iii

Nervous Tick and The Zipper Lips & Eyes and Flys - The Covid Collaborations: vol. IV - Self Released (2022)
This is probably the least interesting of these Covid Collaborations.  I'm kind of at a loss on what to say at this point.  The Nervous Tick songs are pretty much the same as the others I've heard, but "Dulce Fulnente" decides to add in this excruciating high pitched noise during what I think is the chorus.  Pretty rough.  Since I didn't like the vocals on the Eyes and Flys tape, I wasn't surprised I didn't really like them on this collab tape either.  Again, this is just not my scene.  
https://nervoustick.bandcamp.com/album/the-covid-collaborations-vol-iv

Night Court - Nervous Birds Too Cassette

Snappy Little Numbers (2022)

A few weeks ago I wrote about volume one in the Nervous Birds double cassette epic from the band known as Night Court.  That one came out in December and this second tape was just released in May.  I tried to get this one written about a bit more timely than the last one.  But I'm just one guy with two ears and can only consume so much music at a time (which seems to be getting harder and harder each year that I continue to age).

Nervous Birds Too isn't really any different from Nervous Birds One.  And I am one hundred percent, completely fine with that.  In fact, I applaud it, because this is exactly the sort of thing I want to hear more and more of.  Tight, catchy songs with someone rough, lower fidelity production.  It captures all of the energy of the songs but never sacrifices the insane amount of hooks.

Last time I mentioned that this is a group that's straddling catchy garage rock like So Cow or Wavves, but is also putting in a Pavement-y indie rock perspective and I stand by that statement for this tape as well.  This is great stuff, so great that I will now insert my annoying comment that I wish these had also been released on vinyl. Tapes, you know?

Night Court - Nervous Birds Too:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/nervous-birds-too

Night Court - Nervous Birds! One Cassette

Snappy Little Numbers / Debt Offensive (2021)

This lingered a little longer than I would have liked as it was released this past December.  On my birthday, no less if the Bandcamp release date is accurate.  Snappy Little Numbers does a great job of unearthing bands that fit pretty perfectly into my wheelhouse.  So much so, that I even forgive them for putting out some of it on tape.  Debt Offensive is no slouch in the quality releases department either and Night Court is yet another example of this.

I watched the TV show Night Court a lot as a kid.  I'm not sure I really understood all of the jokes, but they had a wacky cast of characters and Yakov Smirnoff as a recurring guest star.  Gold.  Nervous Birds! One is also gold.  They have a lo-fi guitar sound and beat it into submission resulting in song after song just crammed full of catchy hooks.  

There are times where I hear Wavves, other times where So Cow feels like a good touchstone and still others where Pavement or Guided By Voices seem to make the most sense.  It's an album oddly anchored in early 90s indie rock and early 2010s garage rock, but somehow they mesh perfectly together.  

For me, if you put out an album that's this catchy and memorable, I'm going to be a happy guy no matter what fidelity you're recording in or what era has most inspired you.  Night Court has done that and it seems that Nervous Birds! Two is already lined up for release really soon.  Color me excited to complete the duology.

Night Court - Nervous Birds! One:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/nervous-birds-one

Exploding Eyes - Live at Bello Bar Cassette

Big Neck / Primitive Screwhead (2021)

Exploding Eyes is the third Robert O'Braidaigh band that's had a live tape recently released on Big Neck/Primitive Screwhead.  I wrote about The Things a few weeks ago and just last week I tackled Cheap Freaks.  This week, we have the second to last cassette from Big neck; Exploding Eyes.

One thing I will say about the three Robert O'Braidaigh bands is that I'm not positive I would know they had the same front person had I not been told.  While the bands all have that sonic garage sound, the music varies quite a bit,  Exploding Eyes appear to be the most recent of the three bands with this show's recording having taken place on February 27th, 2015.  There's definitely some psych rock influences here with the repeating bass lines that allow for some lead guitar noodling and plenty of instances where the music drops out completely for moments of solo vocals only.

The fidelity of this record is totally solid.  Levels are nice and even and everything is pretty clear.  The band sounds like they're having a blast and I can only imagine that it was a pretty high energy show.  I have one more tape to go from this batch, it's been the one I've been saving for last I was already an existing fan of the band.  But that'll be next Monday.

Exploding Eyes - Live at Bello Bar:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-bello-bar-february-27-2017

Cheap Freaks - Live at the Olympia Cassette

Big Neck / Primitive Screwhead (2021)

We're at tape six of eight from the Big Neck/Primitive Screwhead folks and this time out we have a 2013 set from Cheap Freaks.  This is another great sounding recording.  The levels are all nice and balanced, you can hear the vocals clearly without them overpowering everything else and in particular, the keyboards sound great.

Cheap Freaks are trading in the sort of stomping 60s-ish sounding rock and roll that makes me think of bands like The Sonics.  There are hooks all over the place, but they never soften the kinetic tempo that the band is churning out.  The show itself sounds like it was probably a blast as the band is just humming along and full of energy.  The drumming stands out as being particularly excellent.

After six tapes of live recordings, I don't know that I'm changing my opinion of live albums as a whole (typically never been a huge fan), but I'm warming up to the idea that it is possible to capture some exceptional performances that are definitely worth preserving.

Cheap Freaks - Live at the Olympia:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-olympia

The Hot Pockets - Live in Koln 10/18/2001 Cassette

Big Neck / Primitive Screwhead (2021)

Tape number five from the Big Neck/Screwhead pile.  This time we've got a band that I have at least heard of, likely because of their excellent band name and the fact that they put out a record on Alien Snatch.  The Hot Pockets existed in the late 90s and early 2000s and cranked out a few 7"s and one LP.

This live show from 2001 is a fun and energetic set, though it's probably the first of these live tapes that does have one of the trappings you find in some live albums.  The vocals are too loud in comparison to the instruments.  This is an issue with live albums probably going back to the beginning of time and the fact that this is the first one of these Big Neck/Screwhead tapes that has this really shows the quality of recordings they've been working with for the most part.

For the most part, the bands original material is pretty fun and I wonder what would have happened if they were around during that 2008-2012 stretch where I feel like garagey rock and roll really took over the punk underground for a spell.  Another solid tape, but probably sits right in the middle if I'm ranking them. I also could have done without the Guns N Roses cover, but that's probably just me.

The Hot Pockets - Live in Koln  10/18/2001:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/the-hot-pockets-live-in-koln

The Art Gray Noizz Quintet - Live at 66th Congress, Friday 13th 2020 Cassette

Big Neck / Primitive Screwhead (2021)

With this one, I am halfway through the Primitive Screwhead/Big Neck live tapes that I have.  While I am saving a specific one for last that I am very confident will be my favorite, this tape by The Art Gray Noizz Quintent is at the top of my list at least until I get to that eighth tape.

I think the main reason I dig this tape the most right now is because I can't help but hear some Drive Like Jehu nods here and there.  Sure, the vocals are way different and there's saxophone and trombone players, but at its heart, I feel an embrace of dissonance and intricate chord progressions that give me those Jehu vibes that I like so much.

This is another band that I'm hearing for the first time as a live recording.  Not usually the most ideal way to dip your toes into listening to a new band, but luckily the sound quality of the record is pretty solid.  The vocals are a little echo-y, but the band sounds tight and has just a gigantically fully sound.  I'm definitely going to have to poke around and see what else this band has hanging around as my curiosity has certainly been piqued with this tape. 

The Art Gray Noizz Quintet - Live at 66th Congress, Friday 13th 2020:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-gray-noizz-quintet-live

Werewolf Jones - Stroh Down - Live at Outer Limits Lounge 2019 Cassette

Big Neck / Primitive Screwheads (2021)

3rd live tape from the Big Neck folks, this time we've got Werewolf Jones.  If nothing else, I really dig the band name and the artwork, so it moved up to the next spot on the list as I attempt to catch up on all of these tapes.

We'll start out with the live show fidelity.  It's still not quite as clear as the Ar-Kaics one, but it is an easier listen that The Things tape from last week.  You can definitely hear the instrumentation very clearly and the vocals, while a bit quieter are still solidly audible.  If anything, I'd probably be less into this if the vocals were louder in the mix.

And that's probably the thing for me, musically.  I'm not really one who's super interested in the sort of singers that get really yell-y.  While the vocals do fit the punishing guitar riffs, it does slide a little too much into hardcore hollering for my personal taste.  But if nothing else, that guitar player really knows how to play fast.  It's pretty impressive even if it's not my favorite thing I've heard lately.

Werewolf Jones -  Stroh Down - Live at Outer Limits Lounge 2019:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/stroh-down-live-at-outer-limits-lounge-2019

The Things - Live at Temple Bar, Centre Dublin, May 24, 2004 Cassette

Big Neck (2021)

Working my way through the pile of live tapes that Big Neck sent over.  Today we have The Things and a show recorded back in 2004.  The Things are another band that I'm not really familiar with but it makes me wonder how that band name was still available in the early 2000s.  On Discogs, they are The Things (2), so I guess they had a somewhat early claim to the name if nothing else.

Sound quality-wise, this tape isn't anywhere near as clear as last week's Ar-Kaics one.  This is a bit more rough and ready, sounding like it might have just been someone in the crowd with a recorder.  It's not bad or unlistenable, but it does kind of cement my feeling that hearing a band via a live album as your first exposure to them isn't really ideal.

I do like it though.  There's a creepy organ going on and the general sound of the band is very similar to one of the great Canadian bands of the new millennium, Sedatives.  The Things are a little bit more in debt to a garage rock sound that Sedatives, but both are chasing hooks in a Wipers sort of way.  

The Things -  Live at Temple Bar, Centre Dublin, May 24, 2004:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-temple-bar-centre-dublin-may-24-2004

The Ar-Kaics - Live In The Shit Cassette

Big Neck (2021)

I'm going to start the new year off by trying to blast through a pile of tapes that have built up over here.  Big Neck records sent over a bunch of tapes featuring live sets by several bands.  I think I have eighth of them in total, so we'll start with this one by the Ar-Kaics.

I'm not familiar with the Ar-Kaics and I'm always a bit leery of hearing a band for the first time via a live album as live albums aren't usually my thing on the best of occasions.  That being said I was pleasantly surprised by how clear the recording is on this tape and how good the band sounds.  There's a bit more "oh yeah!" hollering going on than I typically would engage in if I were at a show.  But the Ar-Kaics have a stomping garage sound that makes me understand the desire to do some rock and roll shouting.

The set list is nine songs long and clocks in a bit under a half an hour, but there's no wasted moments here.  The band barrels from one song to the next, tighter than a very tight thing.  After listening to this tape, I'm pretty curious about what the band's studio records sound like.  I may need to take a moment on their Bandcamp page to poke around a bit.

The Ar-Kaics - Live In The Shit:
https://thearkaics.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-the-shit-2

The Christmas Bride - Dark Romance Of A Midnight Wanderer Cassette

Snappy Little Numbers (2021)

I eagerly await packages from Snappy Little Numbers.  In addition to the pretty consistent quality of their releases, my favorite thing is how some records just come out of left field and are not the sort of thing I would have discovered if they were not coming out on a label I trust.

Case in point is The Christmas Bride.  This is an album that doesn't fit neatly into any preconceived classification.  The record is all kind of over the place, though it is bound together by pretty strong hooks in every song.  Maybe in parts it has a pop punk vibe, but the guitar playing is out of this world with crazy riffage and leads that would really be more at home on a heavy metal world than how they're being used Dark Romance Of A Midnight Wanderer.  

The other thing that I can't get out of my head is how I keep thinking a lot of these songs wouldn't be out of place as a non-parody song on a Weird Al record.  Not that they're overly silly or humorous, but there's this energy and dynamic feeling about them that remind me of the sort of pastiches that Al has been perfecting over the last forty years.

Man, this has been kind of a shitty description of the album.  Sort of pop punk, sort of Weird Al with heavy metal lead guitar?  That sounds terrible, but this tape is not.  It's a fun and interesting listen with songs written by an extremely talented guitar player and bristling with energy.  That's the intangible quality that's so hard to capture but always makes me go back to an album again and again.

The Christmas Bride - Dark Romance Of A Midnight Wanderer Cassette:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/dark-romance-of-a-midnight-wanderer

The Human Pigs - Poop Stick Around Cassette

Poop Stick (2019)

What's the theme for Fridays? Two year old tapes that I've never listened to.  This is actually the last tape left in my pile, though I do have one more oddball thing that's been sitting around that I'll be writing about next week.  The band with the coveted honor of being the very last tape I wanted to listen to is The Human Pigs.

They achieved this honor by having the first song on the tape be one called "My Dad Should Have Pulled His Dick Out."  That was more than enough to kick this one to the back of the pile.  But, now that I've finally listened to it, I can say that the whole thing isn't as bad as I would have thought going into it.

Don't get me wrong, it's not good and across the board the lyrics are just awful.  But there's more musical competency on display here than I would have expected and vocals aside, it's probably the easiest Poop Stick release for me to get through start to finish.  There's an element of catchiness to the songs and there isn't a constant barrage of screaming and wild drums.  There's something of a 70s punk vibe to it, particularly in the way the guitar rhythms are constructed.

Not that snotty 70s style punk is really my bag either, but can tolerate it way more than hardcore.  At least there are song structures here, which is more than I can say about a lot of bands.  If these guys stick with it and maybe change up their subject matter in an attempt to be slightly less 'shocking,' they could be on to something in a few years.

The Human Pigs - Poop Stick Around:

https://poopstick.bandcamp.com/album/poop-stick-around

Science Man - Demo Cassette

More Power Tapes (2018)

OK, as I clean up the tape backlog, I cannot fathom how I have one from 2018 still hanging around.  Seriously, this is almost three years old?  I sure feel like a scumbag for never listening to it until now.  Not that I probably would have had much to say about it three years ago that differs from what I think about it now.

It's all right for the most part.  The production is pretty solid and it sounds better than your typical demo tape that has a skull on the cover.  The guitars are kind of sludgy on purpose and the vocals have a harsh edge to them that kind of vary back and forth between growling, changing and yelling.  There's something about the song "Science Monster" that feels like it could have been a noise B side to a Beck Mellow Gold era release, but not one of the ones I'd listen to all that much.

The band appears to have gone on to put out two full length records and a 7" since this tape came out.  Maybe it'll be a collector's item someday.  I don't know that I would have expected them to go on to great things based on this tape, but it's not anywhere near as bad as some of the others I've listened to over the years.

Science Man - Demo:

https://scienceman.bandcamp.com/album/demo

Third Year Freshman - Demo Cassette

Self Released (Probably 1995 or 1996)

So, here we have a change.  A tape I bought on purpose.  This is a demo tape by the band Third Year Freshman from West Chester, PA.  The poppy punk scene in northern NJ that I was hanging around in when I first started college in 95/96 was a ton of fun.  But it also wasn't made up exclusively by bands from NJ.  Weston, Plow United and Third Year Freshman were a big part of that scene and would come up from PA all the time to play shows.  I'm going to paraphrase something that I heard a person say once: m"You always love your weirdest kid the most."  That was Third Year Freshman.

And they were my favorite local band in that little scene.  Fronted by Tom Martin, armed with an acoustic guitar and a bevy of crazy ass songs, it was impossible to not love them.  Mid 90s pop punk was pretty goofy as a whole, but Tom & crew always took it to the next level.  I have so many great memories seeing them play our local shows and always pulling off something crazy.  

My strongest memory was when they played at Flipside records, opening up for a Mr. T Experience in store.  Except the Mr. T Experience got lost and never showed up.  Third Year Freshman played for a while that day trying to fill time as we tried to figure out what was going on (this is 1996, so not real cell phones or GPS to speak of back then).  They made up songs about some of the people who randomly came in to shop and I remember a song about a patron in a red sweatshirt that was particularly excellent.

This tape is from my favorite era of the band, when their drummer only played a snare drum and just stood up next to the other two members of the band.  I saw them with a full on drummer a bunch too, but there was something magical about that snare only line up.  The first thing that's interesting about this tape is that it contains some songs from the band's only CD, Senior Year.  But most of the versions on this tape are completely different and feature the snare only version of the band, whereas the CD has a full drummer.  Maybe they were taking these songs for another spin once the lineup changed.  I'm extremely certain the CD with the full drummer came before they switched to the snare only line up.

It also features "Disneyland." Arguably one of my favorite songs of theirs that ended up coming out on their split 7" with Wally.  That 7" is the record that I think really captured the band at their peak (and their magnum opus "Two Days Ago I Turned Punk Rock" from the Dad, I Can't Breathe compilation).  But this tape is such a fun nostalgic listen for me and I'm pretty psyched one popped up on Discogs last year.

The Illiterates - Demo Cassette

Poop Stick (2019)

Ugh, another tape from 2019.  Where did these all come from and how have they been buried for two years?  I'm still trying to get through them all, but man, I don't really like listening to tapes.  Anyway, next up is The Illiterates. They were freshman in high school when they recorded this.  The good news is that even though it took me two years to listen to this, they haven't graduated yet.  So, bonus.

Where do I start.  This sounds like a high school band.  The recording is super rudimentary and is fuzzy and blown out.  The songwriting doesn't really do anything for me and there's nothing particularly interesting going on.  You could have said a lot worse about me my freshman year.  What I will say is at least one of the guitarists is obviously very talented.  If he can figure out how to harness those powers for the forces of good, there's potential there.

I don't want to be super negative about this.  It's not something that I'd ever listen to much and since I'm about thirty years older than these guys, I'm not really their demographic anyway.  But I will say that I'm really happy and excited to see that there's still a subset of kids in school that want to play instruments and be in a band.  They could have just as easily ended up listening to shitty music and being super stoked on cryptocurrency.  I'll take kids playing bad punk rock over that any day of the week.

The Illiterates - Demo:
https://poopstick.bandcamp.com/album/demo

DZTN 1980 - Ode To A Dead Earth Cassette

 Different Kitchen (2020)

This is the 2nd DZTN 1980 cassette that I've been sent.  While there were moments on the first one that I liked, I was begging for some drums and bass to take the songs to the next level. On Ode To A Dead Earth, we've got drums. And bass.  And it really adds a lot to the overall sound of the proceedings, even though I don't think I could ever say I really like it or would want to listen to it all that much.

Me, I like my rock and roll a little more straightforward and my hooks a bit more obvious.  DZTN 1980 has crammed this tape full of swirling guitars, biting vocals drenched in echo and a dreamlike vibe that is punctuated by vocal yelps straight out of a nightmare.  I'm sure there are plenty of people that would be into this sort of thing and I do think the addition of drumming makes it feel more like a band.  But this just isn't my scene.

I can't even come up with a really great comparison.  It sort of reminds me of a lot of that early 2000s slow, dissonant indie rock that had some notoriety, but an attempt to tie this to a specific band from that era is pretty fruitless.  I didn't like that stuff back then, so it's doubtful I'd make any sort of comparison that makes any real sense to fans of this sort of thing.

DZTN 1980 - Ode To A Dead Earth:
https://dztn1980.bandcamp.com/album/ode-to-a-dead-earth-lp-2020

Fan Fiction - No Frontier Cassette

Just Because (2019)

How do I have so many tapes from 2019 sitting around?  I guess running out of new records to write about isn't completely a bad thing as it's forcing me to dig around through the unlistened to piles, but I kind of can't believe I have stuff this old that I never played.

I kind of wish I got to this earlier.  While I could never say that anything on this tape is out of this world awesome, it has a handful of pretty solid songs on it.  There's definitely a 90s slacker rock vibe to it, but in more of a midwestern crunchy way than a Pavement-y indie rock sound.  For some reason I keep thinking about Armchair Martian (who are not really midwestern, I know) but with about half of the energy and a little more sloppy twang to them.

I'm not really sure what to make of it.  I like it in parts, but it starts to feel a little repetitive as you move through the tape.  I wish they were a little more energetic and punk rock in parts, but it's pretty enjoyable for the most part.  A band with potential I think.

Fan Fiction - No Frontier:
https://justbecauserecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-frontier

Pitch & Bark - Two EPs Cassette

Snappy Little Numbers (2020)

Each side of this tape is an EP by Pitch & Bark.  The A side Nowhere Near Ohio was originally released in 2012 and the B side Father Hoxy came out back in 2011, though it has been remastered for this tape.  I can't say I was familiar with this band prior to receiving this tape from SLN HQ, but I do like what I hear in places.

At its core, this is a tape that embraces the off-time rhythms of late 90s post punk and mixes it with the attitudinal indifference of a shoegaze heavyweight.  Even when the music starts to build up its intensity, the vocals are almost always delivered in a steady, almost monotone way.  The most vocal intensity on the whole tape is during the song "Throat" on the B side, but but even that is pretty restrained when compared to the pantheon of rock and roll singing.  This description probably sounds like a knock, but keeping the vocals mostly subdued is actually a very effective way to put more focus on the instrumentation swelling around it.

I can kind of hear some Malkmus in the vocals, but musically this makes me think a little bit more about bands like Karate or Sweep The Leg Johnny, even though Pitch & Bark are much more restrained.  It's an interesting mix and one that probably shouldn't work if you look at it on paper (or if you're reading this crappy attempt at explaining it), but it does click for the most part and sounds a lot better than I'm probably describing it.  Go have a listen.

Pitch & Bark - Nowhere Near Ohio:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/nowhere-near-ohio-reissue

Pitch & Bark - Father Hoxy:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/father-hoxy-remastered-reissue