VA - DeKalb Brawl City [2012]

This comp arrived in my mailbox some weeks ago, and finally I can share it with you. For those of you who don't live in Illinois, DeKalb is a town at the western extreme of Chicagoland, out on the Emperor Reagan Expressway. It's isolated enough from Chicago to have grown its own punk scene in the past few years, and the label Don't Panic, It's a Distro have assembled this compilation of the town's premier DIY artists. Sounds range from the thrashpunk of Sick/Tired (featuring members of MK Ultra & Weekend Nachos) to the World Inferno-infused ska stylings of Danger Boy to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it electronic glitch of Gonzo Violence to the folkpunk of Davey Dynamite ... you get the idea. For a comp with such a variety of genres, one might be tempted to write it off as being 'all over the place.' Truth is, it works together really well. Usually you can't pay me to listen to metal, but when the tracks from Minimum Wage Assassins and Baptism came on, I actually kept listening. It's possible you won't dig every track on here, but there's definitely something for everyone.

1. Hasta Lumbago - Race Car

2. Turbo Vamps - For My Boys

3. Sick/Tired - Sky High

4. "Richardson" Richardson - Beard Option / Incestuous Scene

5. Danger Boy - Dinosaur Neil

6. The Stockyards - Dead Roses

7. Minimum Wage Assassins - Chopped Up Burnt Left for Dead

8. MZRCDXVL - Pace

9. The Rales - First World Decay

10. Nobelium 102 - Unicorn Genocide

11. Davey Dynamite (& Friends) - Up and Down (Live from College Ave)

12. Gonzo Violence - Ghetto Tactics

13. Seasonal Men's Wear - Ice Climbers

14. Baptism - Ezway

15. A - DeKalb Raw Pity

16. Sleeping Under 47 - Rain Comin'

17. Jim Crowbot - DeKalb Brawl City

DeKalb Brawl City - listen/download here
Don't Panic, It's a Distro

[p.s. - 100th post! here's to the next hundred]