Era Bleak
Demo 2018
Dirt Cult (2018)
Dirt Cult is one of the labels where I’ll check out a band based solely on the label’s history of releasing quality stuff that’s in my wheelhouse. I don’t know a lot about Era Bleak, and they’re a hair outside of the style I generally associate with the label. That said, they’re also blowing me away with the release of this 7-song, 14-minute album titled Demo. Is it actually a demo? I honestly don’t know, but the songwriting and recording quality seem almost too good for that to be the case. Sometimes I like to write a review without doing the background work. I find it gives me a less biased viewpoint because I have to hear what the band is about, instead of reading interviews where they flat out tell you what they think the takeaway will be. I can repeat the information from their bandcamp page though, which is that this is a Portland, OR group that shares members with Dark/Light and Piss Test. This is a diverse punk record that hits what you’d expect from the members’ other bands. There’s a defined sound that’s rooted in the early days of West Coast punk when the audience ran … Read more
The Get Up Kids
Kicker
Polyvinyl (2018)
The Get Up Kids seemed to take another break after their reunion full length, There Are Rules. Seven years later, … Read more
Red City Radio
SkyTigers EP
Red Scare Industries (2018)
Today’s story about wrong first impressions will be about Red City Radio, a some-kind-of-hyphen-punk band from OKC. I’ll admit I’m … Read more
Fashionism
Smash Singles LP
Drunken Sailor (2018)
Smash Singles collects all previous releases of Fashionism. Four singles to be precise (released between 2015 and 2017): Smash The … Read more
