Slug - Demo (2021)

If you love hardcore, these are four minutes of your life you definitely won’t ask for back. And if you’re like me, once you burn through the four minute-long tracks of Slug's Demo, you’ll start it all over again, and again, and again, and dream about how great a pit this would inspire. Savage beats, ripping power chords, chunky grooves, this band makes me wanna go to Cleveland, the tourism bureau oughta bow down and kiss their feet, or at least give them a van and some gas so they can come play a show here in New York. My favorite track is “Grow a Spine,” bursting with in-your-face, confrontational energy, as the singer growls, “I might be a slug but you're a fucking rat, you wear too many faces, a coward will never last, keep hiding in different places.” I was shaking my fist and singing along by the time the second chorus came around.

Florida Man - EP (2021)

This blog started off as a way to promote my radio show, which was mostly country, but as the title indicated, it wasn't all I listened to. I've fallen behind on the radio show, but I'm still hearing plenty of great music, new and old, so I'm gonna start posting some reviews.

Florida Man are three 15-year-old girls from Maine and their self-titled debut is punk as fuck. The opener, “Yesterday’s Air,” has a solid Stooges-like verse, the chorus kicks in with Sleater-Kinney ferocity. Track two, “Twilight Filter,” begins with a down-tempo groove that reminds of Either/Or-era Elliott Smith, wistful while still heavy, but the song really blossoms in the chorus with harmonies that evoke The Shams. “Lady Thimble” follows and is poppier than the preceding tracks, kinda folk grunge. The closer, “Lost in the Woods,” was my favorite, the melody and tight harmonies stand out as particularly impressive. This is a great EP, and while it reminds me of other bands I love it is not derivative or a copycat, there’s plenty of originality on this album. Keep guitars in the hands of young folks like Florida Man, they have plenty to say and sing about.