Many genres can be used to describe the newest record from NewYork/Long Island band Shiverboard—grindcore, noise, metal—but whatever words you use, there is no doubt that their newest album Hacksaw Morrisette is intense. Over 15 songs the three piece group pummels listeners with frantic guitars and bass by Alec C and James W, who also provides the vocals, and blistering drums by Rob C.
The title track comes roaring in immediately, with violent imagery of severed limbs and blood. As the band explains, “Hacksaw Morissette is an album about severing personal relationships to become fully independent. Using a hacksaw to slice off a romantic relationship gone toxic, or sever yourself from a group of friends you’ve grown out of. ” Indeed, much of the album sounds cathartic as fuck, with James W moving from full throated screaming to more guttural noises as he seemingly exorcises some demons. James even approaches a black metal shriek at times.
It isn’t nonstop pure brutality, however, with bouncy punk basslines being found on “Drug Test” and droning sludge on “Chainsaw Twins” and “Vitamins of Darkness.” Yet even these songs do return to the uptempo chaos the band is most comfortable in. Album closer “Barracuda Cemeteries” tricks listeners with an almost funky outro, before slamming eardrums one more time. Production on the record is clean and allows for all the distortion to come through while not overpowering the vocals.
The band, who have cultivated a reputation for high energy performances, will be appearing at a number of local shows to promote the new album, including 6/22 at Hart Bar for the Cybergrind Fest. You can keep your eyes on our weekly show listing for more dates.
Rebelmatic DCxPC Live Vol. 18 Rebelmatic Live at Fuzz Fest WV
Live albums are not as ubiquitous as they once were in decades past, but a great one can still be iconic and essential. A great live album not only catches a band’s energy and personality, but also crowd’s energy and interactions. DCPC, a label run by Scott Pasch, specializes in live vinyl, an idea that spawned from the proliferation of livestreams during the pandemic and has since carved out a very distinct niche in punk and hardcore.
For volume 18 of its live series, DCPC , along with Shiny Dome Records, captured a set from New York hardcore giants, Rebelmatic, during Fuzz Fest WV in Morgantown, West Virginia. Rebelmatic are an absolute force live, with kickass hardcore anthems, relentless energy, and superb musicanship. All of that comes through loud and clear on DCxPC Live Vol. 18 Rebelmatic Live at Fuzz Fest WV.
“Pony” kicks off the record in a fury, the band immediately on fire. Alkatraz’s near-metal guitar intro gives way to straight-ahead punk rock delivered the Rebelmatic way. Ramsey Jones is a flawless drummer, his snare rolls and tom-tom patterns sounding studio-perfect. Karnage adds depth and musicality on bass, especially underneath Alkatraz’s solos. And, of course, there’s Creature, aka Creech, his New York-accented growl sounding so fierce, delivering powerful vocals and inciting the crowd to match the band’s energy.
The chants of “Re-bel-ma-tic!” start immediately. Creech, from the stage, sees all—who’s dancing and thrashing and who’s maybe slow to respond. Some of the most entertaining and endearing parts of the record is hearing him try to get every single person in the audience involved, calling in the passive folks more than calling them out.
“You right here, my friend,” he says to someone in the audience, breathless after a particularly searing “Insult to Injury,” “you are not participating. We need everyone to participate to make this more of a celebration.”
From there, the band launches into “Blood and Gold.” Alkatraz’s descending “Rise Above”-style guitar intro is joined by an absolutely blistering snare roll from Jones. From there, it’s pure punk rock celebration, as intended. Creech bellows the singalong chorus hook, with Alkatraz and Karnage barking “Blood and gold!” behind him.
Rebelmatic live in Brooklyn (photo by Kate Hoos)
“Show N Prove” is a powerful NYHC stomper, and the West Virginia kids no doubt moshed their way into oblivion. Creech’s vocals are particularly intense during this tune, as he seems to reach for something extra. “Hey yo, don’t die asleep/hey, yo, don’t die a sheep” is a classic hardcore hook.
There’s another great interlude afterward, Creech encouraging the crowd to get to know each other. “If you don’t know each other, introduce yourself. I don’t care about all the social shit, say ‘Hello, my name is blah, blah, blah.’”
Shows, especially punk and hardcore shows, can sometimes be a little edgy and maybe off-putting for some. He’s quick to make sure everyone knows it’s an inclusive space.
“We’re at a social gathering. I want people to feel comfortable, I want people to have fun. Is that OK?” The crowd assures him it is so.
The positivity remains present during a tight-as-fuck “Born to Win,” a pogo-worthy rager. Creech seems to invoke a bit of Jello Biafra in his vocals during the chorus, “Oh baby, you/you’re born to win!” Jones is phenomenal here, his perfectly tuned snare cracking with such life, I can’t imagine anyone was left standing with their arms folded.
Rebelmatic live in Brooklyn (photo by Kate Hoos)
It’s a near-impossible task for a live album to match the intensity and magic of actually being at the show. But, hell, if this record doesn’t come damn close. The recording itself is pristine, serving as a no-frills, accurate depiction of Rebelmatic as an exceptional live band. They don’t need any trickery. Set up good mics and let them do their thing—which is what we get with DCPC Live Vol. 18. It’s as close to being there as you can get without sharing sweat with someone you just met.
DCxPC Live Vol. 18 Rebelmatic Live at Fuzz Fest WV is available now via Bandcamp.
SAVAK is a workhorse. They play tons of shows with bands both known and unknown (check out pics of SAVAK with Jawbox in 2022), and consistently put out records of intelligent and tightly crafted post-punk/jangle-pop. Flavors of Paradise leans more on its melodic side than its angular side, resulting in a record that seems to have more space and air without relinquishing any of the bands sonic power. And if it’s one thing Savak has, it’s power. The trio of Sohrab Habibion (vocals, guitars, bass, keys, percussion), Michael Jaworski (vocals, guitars, bass, keys, percussion), and Matt Schulz (drums, percussion) deliver a punchy and lean record with “no guests, no edits,” as the band states.
Vocally, Habibion and Jaworski share two sides of the Lee Ranaldo coin, the tuneful and the poetic. Jaworski kicks off the record with “Up With the Sun,” a driving, hook-y rocker. As the title suggests, lyrically, it’s a look forward, away from the current hellscape we’re mired in:
Up with the sun
Open eyes to a new dawn
Up with the sun
Left behind a broken body
And nobody in the void to hear me scream
Up with the sun
Shine a light on everyone
The illumination theme continues with “Let the Sunlight In,” in which Habibion and Jaworski are somehow able to make a very catchy chorus out of listing different years, 1953, 1961, 1972, 1985. I’m singing it as I type! “The New New Age” rages with incisive commentary on the cynical meta-ness of the Metaverse:
“Paid Disappearance” is pogo-worthy post-punk, feeling like a mix of Le Tigre and Gang of Four. “What Is It Worth” is a fantastic, moody jangler that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Guadalcanal Diary record.
There’s a warmth to Flavors of Paradise that allows SAVAK’s melodic prowess to come more to the fore, while still being chock full of driving guitars and Schulz’s particularly powerful and precise drumming. The record is “lean, spacious, and lively,” the band says, and I would agree. Matthew Barnhart (Superchunk, Bob Mould) deserves credit for production that serves each song and lets the band’s strengths come through. The angles may have been rounded off a bit, but it’s all killer, no filler. The SAVAK train keeps a-rollin’!
Split releases are a time honored way for bands that admire each other to team up, to the benefit of both them and fans. In this tradition comes the new split from Brooklyn groups Desert Sharks and A Very Special Episode, aka DS + AVSE. Rather than simply submitting two songs from their back pocket to include on the split, the two bands decided on the theme of the four classical elements and composed the tracks based on that. Desert Sharks tackled earth and water with “Deeper” and “Siren Song” while A Very Special Episode were tasked with air and fire in their contributions “Airwaves” and “Smolder.”
Desert Sharks get the split started off right, as “Deeper” kicks in right away with thick, throbbing bass. The song is a perfect slice of the dark grunge the band is known for and will have audiences moshing. The recording makes great use of panning, so listen on headphones if possible.
If you were a fan of Desert Sharks’ 2023 release The Tower (read our review) and especially the lead song “Medusa,” you’re going to want to pick up this split on the strength of this track alone. Luckily, the Sharks aren’t done with us, and “Siren Song” is even sludgier, leaning into haunting vocal harmonies intoning “I want to drown under the waves of your gaze.” Full Time Aesthetic premiered the fittingly spooky, chilly video here.
Flip the tape (metaphorically speaking if you’ve picked this up as a digital release, although the split is also available as a cassette) and A Very Special Episode comes roaring in with “Airwaves,” a punkier but no less gritty song that punches its way through three minutes of headbanging fun. For the finale, “Smolder” brings the tempo down and switches the time signature for a swaying, burning torch song with bruising dynamic changes and soaring vocals.
Clocking in at only four songs long, this is short but sweet, as so many splits are, very satisfying for fans of both or either band, and a great introduction to them if you are unfamiliar. DS + AVSE is out on Substitute Scene Records on March 8th; you can find Desert Sharks on Bandcamp, Instagram and Spotify here and AVSE on Bandcamp, Instagram and Spotify here.
For their fourth studio album, Mannequin Pussy have decided to venture out of their comfort zone. As should be expected of a group that has been around for over a decade, I Got Heaven finds the Philadelphia band (consisting of Marisa Dabice on vocals and guitar, Maxine Steen on guitar and synths, Colins “Bear” Regisford on bass and vocals, and Kaleen Reading on drums) experimenting with their sound and composition. Rather than writing alone at home, the band convened in Los Angeles with producer John Congleton. Of this change, Dabice said “…this was shedding a lot of those hermit-like qualities to do something intensively collaborative. Your best work comes when you allow other people into it.”
While their brasher, punkier tracks may be the ones that more often come up on playlists (they are certainly the ones I am more familiar with) Mannequin Pussy has always been capable of toning things down. They start this record off with a title track that is anything but, however, as “I Got Heaven” comes ripping through the speakers — or headphones, and give it about ten seconds, I promise they aren’t broken. “If I wanted it you really think I’d wait for their permission? / For protection and assurances that all would be delivered?” Dabice asks as she rails against Christian hypocrisy, and also poses maybe the greatest rhetorical question of our time: “What if Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?“
By the third track the versatility of the band is really on display. “Nothing Like” is an undeniably poppy song delivered by a band capable of musical violence, in a way that reminds me of Smashing Pumpkins “Perfect,” although I find it disappointing the band turned to AI for the video. Things get even softer for the first half of “I Don’t Know You” before the interruption of some good fuzzy grime.
But lest you forget how to truly rock out, “OK? OK! OK? OK!” is here to melt your face while being treated to Regisford’s equally compelling vocals. “Of Her” and “Aching” are in the same vein; these harder songs are all in the second half and only given a break by the mid-tempo, dynamically changing “Softly.” (I have to admit the track listing on this album puzzles me.)
I Got Heaven features clean crisp production that is never too slick or overdone and allows all the instruments to stand on their own. The ingredient that ties it all together is as always Dabice’s vocals, with her command of everything from screaming howls to delicate melody. As she sings on the lead track “I got a loud bark, deep bite!” Overall it’s a solid outing with a few skippable tracks, and it’s nice to see the band trying new things. I Got Heaven is out now on Epitaph Records. The band will next play in NYC on 5/16 at Brooklyn Steel.
Mary Timony has been through a whole lot since her last solo record, 2007’s The Shapes We Make. She’s flexed her power-pop muscles with the beloved Ex Hex, and has been a force behind two supergroups, first Wild Flag and more recently, Hammered Hulls. She’s also experienced the travails of love and loss along the way. Now she has channeled the sonic changes and emotional challenges of life into her latest solo record, Untame the Tiger.
In the years leading up to recording the album, Timony dealt with the end of a long-term relationship and the death of her father, which both provide much of the inspiration for Untame the Tiger. Despite the title, the record is mostly subdued, subtle, and contemplative, with muted and compact production that never gets too high or low sonically. (Timony produced the album with long-time collaborator and essential podcaster, the drummer/composer Joe Wong, and Dennis Kane).
Timony’s guitar playing will always be a focal point, but perhaps just as compelling are the song’s vocals and melodies. She can be a soulful vocalist in a non-traditional sense. Her straightforward, unadorned vocal delivery convey the weight of lyrics, describing her sense of loneliness, sorrow, frustration. There is a confessional feeling to her vocals, like she’s talking even when singing. The dynamic and floating harmonies from guest vocalist Betsy Wright, her Ex Hex bandmate (who will join Timony on tour in March), are essential, adding a sad beauty to Timony’s more direct melodies.
In keeping with the overall subtlety of the record, Timony’s legendary guitar playing ability is evident, but in a different way than Ex Hex’s hard rock or the more European classical style of Helium or her early solo career. Her mastery of various guitar styles—acoustic, slide, fuzzy riffing, catchy melodic lead lines—all help serve the songs.
“No Thirds,” the album opener, is an evocative, driving tune (both in rhythm and subject matter). One can imagine her driving through the non-stop through the desert as the sun sets, til the dawn reveals new possibities alongside residual pain, as she sings “Brand new day/it still hurts like hell”. Wright’s haunting harmonies add emotional complexity to Timony’s melancholy vocals. Timony’s acoustic strumming provides the rhythmic pulse along with drummer Dave Christensen’s infinite groove. Bassist Brian Bettancourt keeps it simple along with the acoustic guitar, then works his way in and around Timony’s various lead passages. Her multiple lead overdubs counter and complement each other as the song closes.
“Dominoes” is pure indie pop, served up light and simple. “Kept saying I just wanted a friend/but my only emotion is to suffer til the end,” she sings atop a simple acoustic chord pattern. Timony and the band ease into a Rolling Stones-style groove to drive the song home, with her adding simple, yet tasty slide leads.
The desert vibes return on “Looking for the Sun.” Here, Timony shows off her ability to create atmosphere with some psych-folk. Once again, her acoustic guitar playing is the focal point, with a catchy, repeated motif throughout that counters her vocals. Timony’s electric guitar makes a beautiful appearance as the song closes, with subtle fuzz tones and a simple lead pattern that create an epic closing-credits ambience.
On the back half of the record, we reach the emotional crescendo as nightfall descends on the sonic desertscape she has created, particularly on “The Guest” and “The Dream.”
“The Guest” starts as hazy, melancholic country, Timony plaintively singing, “Hello, loneliness, you’ve come back home/You were the only one who never left me alone.” Her slightly deadpan delivery can’t mask the sadness behind the lyrics. Wright joins in for airy harmonies to really tug at the heartstrings. Once again, her deft closing guitar leads serve to drive the song’s emotions home rather than launch the song into another dimension.
Mary Timony in 2019 (photo by Kate Hoos)
“The Dream” slows things down, with an insistent, eerie arpeggiated guitar line. She begins: “I had a dream that nothing was really real.” The chorus relieves some tension with big chord strums and swelling strings—but not really, when she sings, “Can you hear the violence of spring, hear it ring from everything?” What a line. We think of spring as new beginnings, new life—but that is inherently violent, isn’t it, to be born or to reemerge from dormancy or turmoil. Her struggle between sweet oblivion and painful rebirth is laid bare, haunting the song’s conclusion, “I don’t wanna run to the dream.”
Untame the Tiger reveals emotional layers with each listen. At first blush, it’s pleasant and mellow listen; as you hear more of Timony’s life sung through the lyrics, the cozy production belies the raw emotion of her words. The psychedelic folkiness of the music helps soften the blow of the sadness and uncertainty she is expressing in each song. She has a long, storied history of laying her feelings out in her songs, but this record feels like a more pointed exercise than spilling ones guts. The pain of the death of relationships and towering life figures, like a parent, is universal. These feelings are universal and the record feels less like a private confession than a reaching out for mutual understanding.
Untame the Tiger is out now via Merge and available on Bandcamp and all major streamers.
