Vicious Mistress Records – “Punk In The Streets Vol. 4”
Vicious mistress is a small, independent record company based in Connecticut that puts out a small amount of releases, mostly comps.
That stands for compilations for those of you not directly involved in the music industry like I am.
Ha! I’m more likely involved in the old, drunk, punk writing on his laptop industry when I’m not in the chewing the ears off of young people at the punk bars industry.
But this is actually, the fourth Vicious Mistress punk collection and I can say that this is, unequivocally, the best. (There he goes with the big words again.)
If your familiar with TNB you know that we regard bands from Connecticut with high esteem and two of my favorite bands- Damn Broads and The Lost Riots are on here.
But there’s also quite a few crazy, Oi bands- my latest obsession. One that might not be sweeping the nation but is surely making me feel like a young, girl again. Frolicking through the cornfields of her hometown, heading back to her homestead- being greeted by the anxious, dirty and leery-eyed farmhands.
Sorry, that was someone else’s life, not my own. I will now try to steer the ship back on course.
What I meant to say is, this is a great compilation full of great bands and music and hey!- they’re only asking two dollars for it! Why, that’s less than what you pay for a fried bologna sandwich at your local deli, I bet.
So let’s grab some potato salad, a half sour dill pickle and dig right in:
They are best damn all broad band out of Compton, I mean Connecticut. Damn Broads take the intensity of Public Enemy with the aggression and velocity of Minor Threat among with the snarl and righteousness of riot grrl to create an awesome, original style. “Looks Do Kill” is one of the best songs on this compilation, but I imagine it would be amongst the best on any compilation of songs.
Worst Enemy “Pogo BOis” starts out with bongo-like drums that continue throughout the song. With the vocals barging in and declaring, “Oi! Oi!” this song has some really Great! Great! stuff. Like fuzz guitar, shouted football chant chorus’s and excitement and guts. “I don’t have any money ’cause I pissed it all away.” Most likely on getting pissed!
The first thing I notice about Shitzen and their song “Piss Bomb” is how much they remind me of Bad Movies, from Boston, one of my favorite and now defunct bands. This song has great, riot grrl vocals spiked against some hurtling, hardcore rhythms. “Oh, no- damn your whole damn world.” This song has punk attitude, grrl power, heart ripping emotion and explodes in hardcore fury and frustration creating something wondrous to behold.
Menudo Death Squad is another great, pogo band with their song “Pogo To The Drunk Tank” that catches the aggression and energy of early punk with the raw recklessness of hardcore. And then bum rushes us out of the bar towards the police station even before we’ve had a chance to finish our last pint.
The Monkeychunks deliver a Ramone/Queers like song that is streamlined with a hardcore rhythm that creates excitement and fun. “Emo kids are full of shit, who the fuck is into it? And I hate emo.” No argument here and this band is full of goodness, grit and passion.
I just reviewed “About You ” by The Lost Riots so, though I won’t add much I will say this is probably my favorite song on this album. And any song that can make me think of Lou Reed and Bon Scott, simultaneously, can’t be too bad.
“Spiky Bike” by Police Shit has an over the top rhythm, a poppy guitar lick and melodic vocals and swim in the chaotic seas of one my favorite bands, Rictus Grin, a great Oi band from Salem MA. Here they create the same sense of creativity, wildness and fun- so I say, dismiss the warning of sharks in the area and dive right in!
“Street Threat” moves along on a hardcore blast with vocals that are low but different than the usual death metal growl. And though this song tosses in almost prog like chord changes, this band seem to move more with the element of thrash. “Fuck the people that want me to change.” This band has a unique style that works tremendously and need not change at all.
Now some submissives have a vicious mistress. But mine is understanding, strict but gentle. She pats my head when I’m a good pet and I realize, I would do anything to please her- as if I really had any choice.
She’s actually kind and mellow and treats me how I should be treated- poorly, but also, kindly with a knowledge that boys are here to do heavy lifting, serve and little else.
But this album is unlike my mistress- it’s unrelenting, some might say sadistic, in it’s overload of pleasure, of pleasurable songs set to overload the pleasure centers of our brains, causing them to short circuit.
It’s riveting, it’s raucous, it’s rock’n’roll- not the cheap, generic, geriatric version of classic rock but the Little Richard/Jerry Lee Lewis set your piano on fire, set your hair on fire, kind of rock’n’roll.
Just so that we’re clear here.
(Slimedog)
