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"Go Kart vs. The Corporate Giant 3" Various Artists |
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Great opening track by this thing called Capture The Flag - feels like I'm listening to early Cro-Mags, circa '83 or '84 with their addictive blend of Metal shred and catchy top of the lungs verses. The Control's one of the later model discoveries by the GK people and combine the exhilarating thrills of high speed Prog-core tightly wound and emitted amongst a two minute barrage of bottom-less dollar store style. Daycare Swindlers is one of my latest faves from the guys; a definite cross breed of early age H/C ala Crumbsuckers and Circle Jerks with little or no production effects and plenty o' raw factor to recall the glory days of non-for-profit Punk. Guff, not "Gutt" as I almost called them, and why not anyway, the same fate befalls us all after forty… they're the early fave for Pop crossover of the list on their charming "Making A Difference" contribution. Toxic Narcotic does a 180 and gives ya a little taste of venom with their "We're Not Happy Till You're Not Happy" down for life style of Hardcore/Noise in the finest English Dogs drunken fuck everything tradition. Go Kart's been making their move in the last year and several months. Not satisfied to stick solely in one end or another where Heavy Rock and Punk is concerned, yes, the buzz cut factor is in full effect in most cases, but as evidenced by the 18 or 20 contributors to this 30 track tirade, there's plenty for everyone to groove to in their gathering place of choice. Seemed for a while they'd been missing the boat or just MIA after some respectable but sporadic releases - now we're hearing all kinds of cool stuff from newcomers like Pseudo Heroes and Manda & The Marbles, to soon to be staples like Toxic Narcotic and Two Man Advantage, and the ol' school powerhouses like GBH, who just did a scathing new "Ha Ha" record a few months back - featured from it we find "Punk Rock Ambulance," a throaty sounding contender for one of the album's best; And then there's The Varukers, very much from that same class of yesterday's aggressive Street Core activists who even in old age, could care less about minimizing content or volume, and remain one of today's Hardcore extremists even after all the mileage they've logged. Hey let's face it, young or old, Punk music, at the core, will always have a fight the power quality that lives on in any age, any state, and recognizes no boundaries. INDK and Sick On The Bus are two more prime examples of yesterday's stick swingers smashing through nu-school rules of conduct. While many of these bands featured here, some twice over, are essential, there are other new arrivals with only a web site to call home and are the real sleeper hits - I mentioned Capture The Flag earlier, great band, given space for two songs, "Fly Like The Wind" and "The Zero Effect," and Guff, serving up a milder more melodic chunk of Punk and Power Pop; Revolution Summer's got an early out of control Ramones' feel on their "Qualitative Leap" tune before turning into a near dead ringer for AFI; definitely something we need to hear more of. So yes, there's many a worthwhile upstart to discover - and there's a few poorly placed copies scattered throughout, not so much for the "I heard that one before" quality, I mean, of course, but I don't go for this paint by numbers shit; if you want to be like Rancid, be like Rancid, or sound like Green Day but at least give 'em credit! Thankfully, the scales are tilted heavily towards world domination rather than mild opposition and cut and run. These guys ain't here to make any friends, they mean business and if you're expecting handshakes and well-intended niceties in the lyrics, you'll wanna book a flight to the Southwest. Brothers of Conquest, how could I forget them, probably the best heavy fuckin' Rock band no one's ever heard of, with their Death Rock, Punk, Metal, and booze-soaked Blues going on in one lethal dose of aural damnation that can't be fully appreciated until you heard their "All The Colors Of Darkness" in its entirety over and over again. The 3rd in the NY-based label's fight against the oppressive corporate giant reveals their deadliest offensive yet, with a varied assortment of Punk styles united under the flag of freedom and forward progress. Released byGo Kart Records: http://www.gokartrecords.com/ Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu] P.O. Box 20252
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