Eunuch - Castration 7" [2013]

Ok, I haven't been writing much lately but this record came in the mail months and months ago so I gotta get back to it. Here goes:

Mid-tempo grooves, Stooges riffs, and a whole ton of mental anguish and paranoia borne out of the desperation of living in Kansas City, Eunuch bring no new tropes to the grungepunk idiom on this bass-driven 7" out on XO Press. Not that they care, and neither should you. This is not a record for sitting around, craft beer in lap, searching for some kind of political or cultural message within it. No, this music demands thrown bottles or a lurching dance. Love or hate I mean; look at the other acts on the XO roster: names like Meat Mist, Robert Plant's Dingleberry, a record entitled 'Pussy Cola,' (Fugs, anyone?) ... this KC crowd doesn't seem to take itself to seriously. Listen to 'Endless Drone Strikes' enough times, though, and the bass will drive you mad. 

Listen here. Inquire with soitoldthemto@aim.com to obtain a physical copy.

Dirty Work - Tour Tape [2012]

In case it was not yet clear to you that Kansas City harbors some of the wildest hardcore around: enter Dirty Work with an elbow to your gut and cinderblock flying dangerously close to your face. Seriously, each of the three times I've seen these guys since last September has surely ranked among the more chaotic and violent shows of 2012. But too often bands hide weak songwriting behind their live antics; not so here. I defy you not to get "Bloody Concrete" stuck in your head. You won't be able to resist strutting around your room and jumping off your bed into the wall. Its lyrics are insufferably juvenile and full of self-loathing, which suits the music perfectly. The rest of this tape keeps the madness at cranked up through its five minutes, leaving you reeling in a manic stupor with bruises you'll be discovering for days.

Chicago DIY label Eat the Life put out both the tour tape and the Dirty Work demo. You can hear/download both on bandcamp. And stay tuned, because EtL will be releasing Dirty Work's vinyl debut sometime soon!

Meat Mist - SMUT LP [2012]

Saw these dirty punks play in Urbana tonight. Meat Mist hail from Kansas City, Missouri (which is evidently the place to be for raw noisy punk these days) and irrupt a raucous equalizing distort that dares you to listen to without earplugs. (My own young tinnitus is on its way and these guys helped it along.) I dunno what to tell ya -- it's gonna be pretty easy to decide whether you like this or not but I'm into it. I was sorta reminded of Homostupids, or perhaps a sloppier Big Black/Rapeman.

Meat Mist recently released the LP SMUT on the XO Press imprint, which deals in scummy Kansas City noise punk and black metal and the like, so check that out. A four-song digital preview of the 14-song LP is free + PWYW, and their previous releases are along the same line. Give 'em a listen, they won't disappoint. To nab a physical copy, get to a show on their 3.5-week US tour sharing stages/floors with a host of great bands (dates below).

MEAT MIST US TOUR SUMMER 2012
AUGUST 1 Lansing MI @ 4th Culture Studios w/ Texas Instruments, Borrowed Time, DSS
AUGUST 2 Cleveland OH !!!NEED HELP!!!
AUGUST 3 Syracuse NY @ Badlands w/ Death Camp, Flip Shit, Natural Selection
AUGUST 4 Allston MA @ w/ Districts, Matahari, Strike to Survive
AUGUST 5 NYC @ Charleston w/ My America
AUGUST 6 Philadelphia PA @ Underground Arts w/ Wiccans, Heavy Medical, Cop Problem, Britches (STL)
AUGUST 7 Atlantic City NJ @ Boneyard
AUGUST 8 Columbus OH @ Legion of Doom
AUGUST 9 Cincinnati OH @ Kirby House w/WHITE WALLS (12" release)
AUGUST 10 Indianapolis IN @ Skull Mannor
AUGUST 11 St. Louis MO @ No Coast Sk8 Shop w/ Shaved Women, Trauma Harness
AUGUST 12 Birmingham AL @ TBA w/ Japanese Women
AUGUST 13 New Orleans LA @ EUCLID Records
AUGUST 14 Houston TX @ SuperHappyFunLand w/ A N G S T
AUGUST 15 San Antonio TX @ Houseshow
AUGUST 16 Austin TX @ 29th Street Ballroom w/ Naw Dude, Bath Salts, Ghetto Girls
AUGUST 17 Denton TX @ Houseshow w/ Innards
AUGUST 18 Oklahoma City @ Bad Grannies w/ CHUD, GRG
AUGUST 19 Columbia MO @ Hair Hole w/ Gay Uncle, Coward 

Meat Mist bandcamp