Reviews

So now that I'm a DJ, I've started reviewing albums to get them submitted to the music library. I totally stole like a whole sentence from someone, but here they are:


Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack
Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America
RIYL: Bread and Circuits, Torches to Rome, Econochrist, Moss Icon
"Karma Collection Day"

Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America is the quintessential mission statement of hardcore. After years of legal struggle, Clean Plate Records finally brings to light the second and final LP by Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack, a record which craftily challenges society and demands absolute cultural reformation of the United States and its groupthink. Mike Kirsch (Bread and Circuits, Torches to Rome) assembled this Californian combat team to triumph over the void of creativity to which most hardcore music today succumbs, and, in doing so, achieved immeasurable victory by creating an album that is more than just another "Fuck you" to the United States’ warped sense of capitalism and the Bush administration. In addition to their iconoclastic punk rock anthems, the band scatters these collage-like samples between songs that pull from various speeches, films, and even some original material. Also, the passionate sentiments of Stokely Carmichael during his speech at the 1968 Black Panther Party’s "Free Huey P. Newton" rally can be heard throughout the album. Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America is an unequivocal landmark and milestone for hardcore music. It is such a tragedy that this band broke up because, in the end, the message of this record falls victim to the same thing that befell Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton, and the rest of the Black Panther Party. In the end, these are just words.



In First Person
Lost Between Hands Held Tight
RIYL: You and I, The Assistant, Reversal of Man
"The Beast"

Thick, heavy, and sincere. Lost Between Hands Held Tight is the band’s debut album and the third release by Paramnesia Records. In First Person builds on the screamy, emotive hardcore sound of its members’ previous bands (You and I, The Assistant, A Petal Fallen) while trying to be an existential and socially conscious effort. In First Person and Mike Brennan at Paramnesia Records did a fantastic job of putting this record together. It’s an incredible gatefold release, complete with a screen printed insert, and very DIY. The album begins with the absolute intensity and political audacity of tracks like "The Beast," "Item #14," and "Kanye West Was Right" before moving into the more melodic and somewhat D.C. sounding "Alfred Hitchcock." The fifth track, "...And Time is Running Out" puts drummer Vanessa Espinal’s (hooray, a girl on drums!) vocals up front which is a much welcome addition to the album.