
Night Birds - "Bad Biology"The Jersey Shore/Brooklyn hybrid Night Birds fucking finally came through and released their four song Midnight Movies 7" on the No Way label. A long time we wait for this, Pee Wee. As expected--and desired--it’s a herkin’ jerkin’ whizz bang of a disc that’ll have you hanging ten on the nearest park bench in no time flat. To those who coddle copies of both the Flyboys EP and RKL’s Keep Laughing near their crotch: meet your dream band. Talk of a full length by the end of the year on the Virginia based Grave Mistake label gets my mayo pumping something fierce.
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Brain F - "So Dim"Speaking of Grave Mistake, they’ve put out some real stunners in the past few months, all of varying styles and what-have-you. The recent 12" by Deep Sleep entitled Turn Me Off is a scorcher that doesn’t easily squeeze into a category like "Weird Punk," D-Beat," "Skunkcore," "Weasel Emo," etc. and thus will probably be ignored by most. Fuck ‘em. If you still rock the 1.6 Band when you're alone, this should fit your bike seat just fine. Go ahead, spin it. I won’t tell your boat shoe wearing pals. Grave Mistake also just put out the second 45 by North Carolina’s Brain F. That one's kept me occupied many a drunken Wednesday afternoon the past few weeks. The way the snotty femme vox shoot out over the dense din gets me every spin. My nerdboy senses tingle with aural visions of X (Australia) playing smack dab in the middle of a dirt/dick kickin’ demolition derby. No noise nerds allowed!

The Astronauts - "How Green Was My Valley"As we go to virtual press, I’m still both shocked and stoked that the La Vida Es Un Mus label deemed the Astronauts debut LP from 1981, Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs, worthy of a re-issue. It’s a record that’s evaded my grasp for many a moonpie. Although the band seemed content to be lumped into the UK anarcho-punk scene of the time, there was certainly more in their bag of tricks than atonal sloganing--and the proof is in the vegan slop. The disc jumps from sounding like The Fall with a social agenda, to some oddball early 70s prog rock oddity/rarity in the snip of a pube hair. It’s enough to make me imagine The Poison Girls running through a rendition of "Supper’s Ready." Yes, this is that powerful of a listen. Reissue of the year thus far in my tiny world. This label also just released the 12” by Rettsounds faves Hygiene called Public Sector. If that record doesn’t convince you those chaps have the key to the true blue boredom sound, then I’ll eat my embroidered Engine Kid ski cap right here on this very television station. Score both discs here.
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Amsterdamned - "Dope"Also on the olde-timey punk tip, we got this Amsterdamned 7” the Gummopunx label did up recently. I recall reading the band's name in the Dutch scene reports from my older brother's issues of Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll. Back then, I was just a thumb dicked young boy. Today, 400 fucking years later, I finally get to hear them. Someone hand me my .44: I think my life is complete. Unlike their countrymen in B.G.K. or Agent Orange who fully embraced the raging thrash coming from the US, Amsterdamned seemed to take what they wanted from both the ’77 school and the new-fangled American Hardcore scene--sometimes literally! Let’s face it, the track "Traditie Ammeballe!" is more or less "Police Brutality" by the Necros. No matter how much hanky-panky was going on with their music style siphoning, there’s something in these tracks that shows Amsterdamned were truly groping for something of their own, and I can dig that most definitely. Bonus points for doing up the most non-straight edge sounding straight edge anthem ever with "Dope." Imagine a Crippled Youth era Matt Warnke writing lyrics for a band on Dangerhouse and you’ll be close to the correct alleyway.

Logjammers - "Hit 2"The obligatory Australian record we’ll talk about this time around is a mystery single I obtained from a group of Brisbane fucks who call themselves The Logjammers. Much like the first time I laid eyes on album covers by The Homostupids, Side By Side, or Fukrot, I knew immediately I was going to love this record. The sidelong track on the A Side is a shrill throbber that reminds me of an early morning comedown I had many years ago. I cured that one by playing "Brazen Hell" by Crucifix over and over again until I blacked out on the couch and awoke eight hours later with the needle wearing a deep scar into the run-out grooves of the record. By the way, that’s actually a pretty good memory. The two tracks on the flip are a little peppier, but still maintain a psychedelic punk-puke vibe that gets me right in the breadbasket. I hear this was some one-off "project" with no sign on the horizon of future releases. Say it ain’t so, people! Say it ain’t so!

Last week on Rettsounds.