The Chisel "What a Fucking Nightmare"
London based punk army The Chisel return with album number two. They up the production, the intensity and the anger on the Jonah Falco produced What a Fucking Nightmare. It’s a crushing and relentless selection that mixes oi!, hardcore, and street punk. this is pure blood, sweat and beers.
“The band was once described as a ‘fucking nightmare’ to be around, whilst we are lovely people we do embrace the chaos that comes with all of this so found it fitting to title our next album as such. The songs themselves mainly follow this theme but relate to all aspects of life. Lyrically, it is more of the same… no metaphorical meanings, no fantastical story telling, no pretentious bollocks…. Just tales of a life lived as it will always be.”
Th' Losin Streaks "Last House"
The album was recorded at Louder Studios in Grass Valley, California, with Tim Green (Nation of Ulysses, Fucking Champs) behind the board. Green played piano on several tracks, and Anton Barbeau – a friend of the band since the beginning – plays organ on some cuts. All of the band members – Tim Foster, Stan Tindall, Mike Farrell and Brian Machado – contributed to the songwriting, and the album also features a cover of The Weeds classic “It’s Your Time.” The album cover and other photos were shot by their pal (and Bay Area punk legend) Al Sobrante.
We asked the band what the record is about. This is what they told us:
This album is about true love and good times. And bad decisions. It’s about breaking down. It’s about coming apart. It’s about sleeping rough. It’s about Dyer Lane. It’s about shaking it til you make it. It’s about EKO, Silvertone and Supro, Vox (Super Continental) and the Hohner Marine Band. It’s about 2” tape. It’s about the plague, and politics, and war or hands of time. It’s about the ice cream man after the apocalypse. It’s a trans-world punk rave up. It’s about Link Wray, The Sonics and the Downliners Sect. It’s about The Rolling Stones covering Sam Cooke. It’s about Folk
Rock. It was about time slipping away (but it’s not now). It’s about bullshit. It’s about being too late, always too late. It’s about getting old. It’s about those who never will. It’s about the person you dream about but never get. It’s about nothing in this world. It’s about surviving T-Minus self-destruction. And about the other side.
The Cavemen "Ca$h for Scrap"
New Zealand’s THE CAVEMEN are back with a new long glob for a dirty and dilapidated world, and it’s as grimy as you’ve ever heard from the wretched brethren. “Ca$h 4 Scrap” scrapes up more than enough degenerate garage-punk trash with unavoidable forays into theme of death, demons, and even amputation, making sure to stop for a kiss on your daughter’s lips along the way. YUCK MOUTH SAY MUAH! “Booze, Ciggies ‘n Drugs” is the first single, and leaves us wondering how many types of cancer these ghouls have among them, and if all four Cavemen share a brain tumor. “Leather Boys” is solid gold junk shop stomp, and the rest… well, you know by now how THE CAVEMEN rock’n’roll – the ONLY way, because any other way ain’t!
Chayse Porter "Endless / Boundless"
From Earth Libraries:
How to describe Porter’s solo work…mischievous pop? Cotton candy spun with barbed wire? Beatle-esque, Burt Bacarach-inspired soft rock left to freeze in the warped confines of a funhouse mirror? Whatever your preferred descriptor, Endless / Boundless is a fresher, more direct record than the high-concept psyche excavations of Chay’s Palace, his 2022 sophomore album.
Where Palace was painstakingly crafted with vintage analogue equipment in a studio, Porter opted to compose and record Endless alone in his basement, before the bursting seeds of ideas had any chance to wilt. “I didn’t want to sit on an idea too long and allow the inspiration to fizzle out. It was more important for me to express myself immediately and directly, than ‘correctly,’” said Porter.
While Porter may have used the humble and convenient confines of his basement to write and record the album, engineer Brad Timko gave the final mix a sparkling sheen at the legendary Studio B in Muscle Shoals. However, don’t let this polished sound fool you – there are darker corners of Endless / Boundless to discover along the winding path of these nine songs. **
Said another way, there’s more than just the “dreamsicle skies” of “Rolls of 35”, Endless’ relaxed earworm of a lead single. Porter is intentionally releasing the record’s breeziest material first to welcome listeners in before they reach the thornier, stranger expanses nestled within the tracklist. “I compare it to like…I want you to see the stick that’s holding up the crate and say ‘Okay, that cheese looks really good. But…why is that stick there?’” said Porter with a wry smile.
Lyrically, Endless ruminates on unrequited love, toxic American exceptionalism, and, in one of the record’s lighter moments, unexpected kindness from strangers. There’s jubilant dream pop (opening stunner “Bleeding Hearts”), shoegaze with threats of violence (“Lead Pipe Cinch”), and a cinematic instrumental centerpiece best enjoyed with eyes closed (“Copter”).
With the record on the way and a live band assembled and ready to go, Porter has left listeners a trail of breadcrumbs in anticipation