Hard Girls
Floating Now
Asian Man Records / Specialist Subject Records (2017)
Hard Girls are a complex band – or maybe they’re not. They sing about hard life choices, serious moments, and buying candy and cigarettes. A post-punk influence and precise arrangement style seamlessly blend into a more traditional pop structure. At its simplest definition they’re a punk band, but that doesn’t feel like it hits at the fact that both vocalists actually sing and the songs are don’t feature a sing-along chorus regardless of utilizing concise and direct formulas.Floating Now is their latest full-length. In searching for descriptive genre terms, post-punk is the most applicable but it doesn’t quite hit the mark either. The songs progress and wrap up neatly in three to four minutes with an emotional bent instead of the angular guitars that suit much of that style. There are staccato guitar-picking moments, like in “Camera,” but it’s followed by Robert Pollard-esque (Guided By Voices) Ooo-ooo smooth and melodic vocals. “Echolocation” is like the softer songs in Fugazi’s catalogue but instead it’s delivered in a lush and underspoken vocal tone rather than their coarse shouts. As a whole, consider the mathy guitars of post-punk’s greatest but with a soft-spoken and heartfelt ’90s college rock vibe.After considering those two musical … Read more
J. Hunter Bennett
The Prodigal Rogerson: The Tragic, Hilarious, and Possibly Apocryphal Story of Circle Jerks Bassist Roger Rogerson in the Golden Age of LA Punk, 1979-1996
Microcosm Publishing (2017)
After pilfering the band’s vehicle in 1983, the man in charge of the 4-strings, a reprobate by the name of … Read more
No Use for a Name
Rarities Vol. 1: The Covers
Fat Wreck Chords (2017)
I harbour a weak spot for No Use for a Name, a band that eventually became a melodic pop-punk band … Read more
