[engl] DIG! The Ar-Kaics’ latest offering, Live in the Shit—an unrelenting assault recorded live in 2020 in Richmond, Virginia during the waning days of normalcy. This set combines familiar tunes, old and new, along with their first live performance of the unreleased protest song, “Outsider”. Songs run together at a Ramones It's Alive pace—“Sick & Tired” into “You’ll Be Mine” into “No Vacancy” and “Some People"—that propels the set towards a crescendo of damaged-psych oblivion via “Distemper”, “Easy” and “Long Way Down”. For all the out-of-tune guitars, fried vintage gear, and bum notes, the performance is tighter than 10 pounds of shit in a 5 pound bag—you can hear the ‘Kaics bustin’ out! Live in the Shit is a comprehensive demonstration of both where The Ar-Kaics have been and where they’re heading...just as soon as they can!

[engl] BUZZSAWS is the debut album by BROWER, the solo project of Nat Brower, resident of Ridgewood Queens and erstwhile NANCY and METALLEG compatriot, already championing the spirits and sounds of our most cherished Punk and Rock musical varietals the world over. After last spring’s Little Big EP (DIG007), BROWER is back, and the fire behind that ass is simply inextinguishable! Enter BUZZSAWS – a glam’d-out glitter-bomb of fuzz guitars and giant vocal melodies within the Venn diagram of Bolan, Bowie and Brett (Smiley). Like Little Big, each song is jammed full of sugarcoated harmonies, laser-beam licks and unearthly hooks. Unlike LITTLE BIG, BROWER shows his teeth on BUZZSAWS – and they’re gnarly, thanks to all the sugarcoated harmonies – with several dbs of gain and big city grit added to the mix. From the first crack! of the snare on “Real Girl”, the album opener, a barrage of big guitars and bonafied boogie – missing even in this year’s finer Rock’n’roll offerings – takes hold for a satisfying spin the whole way thru. Loyal glam-o-philes will clap their feet and stomp their hands to “Hacksaw” and “U N Him”, two of BROWER’s heaviest headbangers to date, pulling together the swagger of T. Rex or Iron Virgin with the whirring guitars and sneering ‘tude of Hubble Bubble. While “My Father’s Name Was Cat” – a storybook ode to our animal ancestors and dads who look like Cat Stevens – offers a psychedelic respite compliments of tripped-out, blissed-out synth layers; “Better Days” showcases BROWER’s tender side – in full display on LITTLE BIG – replete with dulcet sitar strums. AMANAZ covers closeout each side of the album, for two Zam Rock heavies re-interpreted as indispensible power pop bangers, epitomizing the eclectic Rock’n’roll DNA evolving in the BROWER petri dish. Recorded and performed entirely by the BROWER boy himself, Nat has somehow captured the over-produced gleam of the glam era from his bedroom home studio. In the flesh, Nat has recruited the perfect band (featuring members of DIRTY FENCES and VELVETEEN RABBIT) to get the BROWER show on the road, heralding the coming year, THE YEAR OF THE BUZZSAWS…

[engl] Haters be damned, and punishers beware; Dancer don’t suffer no fools! Here with an anthemic scorcher of an A-Side: “I’m Not Giving Up”, channels equal parts Cheap Trick & Thin Lizzy, delivering the ROCK GOD goods so convincingly its time to THROW your Kiss records out! Flip it over for “Teenage Punk”, a swirling synth punk slice of misfit solace with words to live by (“all our friends, we don’t have friends”). Six singles in, and Dancer proves there are sick new moves comin’ from the crew responsible for Apache, Glitz, and Slick! Recorded by Greg Ashley in a one and done press featuring awesome album art by the Human Lawnmower’s inimitable Avi Spivak.

[engl] Josephine is a singer/songwriter and shapeshifting drag yenta from New York. Her debut album “Music is Easy” is her grand opening statement. With Josh Hahn producing and Nat Brower providing rhythm, the trio make a warm & glittering hi-fi sound with a soulful glam pop style. Call it ‘soulgum’ or just call it ‘easy’...

[engl] In this time of social-distancing and rethinking old norms, Josephine and Hershguy put their heads together (remotely) to create Stocky Tunes, a celebratory rock’n’roll smorgasbord of far-reaching sounds and sonic bedlam. The glam-punk crunch and hard-rock wizardry of the pairs’ respective erstwhile projects (Dirty Fences, Brower, and previously Velveteen Rabbit) are all in play, with added forays into art rock and post punk (á la Roxy Music, Sparks, The Quick, the Slits, Gang of Four et al.). Doubling down on the adventurous and genre-shirking spirit of their solo efforts, Stocky Tunes is as iconic as it is peerless. Dig lyrics comprised of ribald Yiddish slang of yore (“Cockamun”, “Punim Pisher”, etc.) beside modernized protest songs of the day (“Walk Out Loud” and “This is Track 11”—FUCK 12!!!). Whether you’re already a fan, or a seeker stopping by, Stocky Tunes offers nourishment you’ll crave.

[engl] DIG! Records Archeological Division presents Strung Out on the Line, the all but lost private press powerhouse LP from SHATTERBOX. The band formed in 1979, at a major and sketchy (read: majorly sketchy) generational crossroads for what threatened to be the last gasp of Rock’n’roll in the ‘70s, and the new directions it’d take in the ‘80s. Recorded in their Seattle basement, the band utilized a mobile studio unit ala a low-rent D.I.Y. Exile Main on St., and self-released the album on New Year’s Day 1981 in an unknown – or, at least now forgotten – quantity, and an array of handmade album art designs: stencil and spray paint; paste-on Xerox cutout; and bare-white factory sleeves, SHATTERBOX never followed standard operating procedures and Strung Out on the Line captures the band’s wild and ragged original sound and style in full. Newly restored and re-mastered by David Eck from the original quarter-inch reels and housed in properly printed jackets with liner notes displaying the numerous versions of album art and an oral history from the band’s sole surviving member, Richard Pleasant, this LP is finally receiving the presentation it deserves – now, nearly forty years down the line. Rocketing through twelve brash and energetic cuts of exuberant Punk Rock and raw Power Pop, the album sonically falls somewhere between THE HEARTBREAKERS, NERVOUS EATERS and either –or, better yet – both iterations of THE GIZMOS. Archetypal subject matter ranging from Sex to Drugs and onto Rock‘n’roll are all addressed on tracks like “Anytime”, “Got To Have It”, “Dance Tonight”, “Just Can’t Help It”, “Go Down” and “Brand New Girl” – typically all in the same song! More complex themes surface on a Proustian examination of time (“Time”) and the quantifiable burden of modern life (“Too Much Traffic”), while the band’s own creative force can be summed up by the chorus to “Pop City”: Ain’t nothin but a rock song. Ain’t nothin but a pop song. Ain’t nothin but a punk song. So whose doin right or wrong? Strung Out on the Line is an unlikely album for rediscovery, given its diamond in the rough mystique – the precious few remaining copies fetch hundreds in collector circles – but fortunately for today’s rocker, there’s no expiration date on the musical contents contained herein. SHATTERBOX made their own way, shirking record industry conventions and sidestepping the musical trends touted by their Hardcore Punk and New Wave peers, to create something at once their own, and now ours again.

[engl] Can you smell what The Whiffs are cookin? Hint: it’s not Phish, Meatloaf or a String Cheese Incident. Nope – Kansas City’s prodigal sons of power pop are sticking to what they know on Another Whiff, their debut full-length for Dig! Records. Since 2017’s Take A Whiff EP, the band has been busy allowing their auditory aromas to ripen with the addition of Joey Rubbish (of The Rubs) for a fuller, more robust sonic bouquet. While the band can still get it up for Stiff Records – their pop-centric punk remains in full force – the album takes detours down lonelier roads in broken-hearted ballads from the heartland. No rocks left unturned on a journey forged by pioneers like Chilton and later Westerberg, the looming legacy of Petty and the cosmic country harmonies of The Byrds before them. In a year’s span, The Whiffs took their time recording, on and off, in their makeshift basement practice space: Electric Babyland. This pace and environs allowed the new lineup to coalesce, and get tour-tight on the road with La Luz, Bad Sports and Patsy’s Rats. The result is a unique album that is at once sprawling in direction and precise in execution, with all the sonic stank you’d expect from sweaty beer plied basement sessions. Out of the gate, “Shakin All Over” will register to all of the senses, like you’re squatting in the corner of the basement, imbibing with the band and absorbing every hit from Jake’s C&C kit (note the frivolous plug for Jake’s drum company). After untold nights into the wee hours of the morning, 14 tracks emerged as Another Whiff. Expertly recorded by Joey, mixed by Vince Lawhon and mastered by Jordan Richardson; the final package sounds like the sum of its parts, and all the beers in between. Another Whiff shirks a sell-by date and trends de jour, in favor of honest guitar driven, vocally infectious love songs for the ages. Timeless tunes and the triple-threat of Rory, Zach and Joey’s vocals set The Whiffs apart from their peers. Three distinct songwriters with their own personal flavors, delivering three-part harmonies for a unique rotation of upbeat punk belters (“Now I Know”), achy ballads (“She”) and triumphant tearjerkers (“How Could You”) that our troubled troubadours dispense like a Greatest Hits Factory for the last half-century of all of our all-time favorites.