STILL SINGLE

A space for thoughts on music and culture, as written by Doug Mosurock and a select handful of individuals. This is intended as a supplement to our regular feature Still Single, published on Dusted Magazine. Updates will run here more frequently, and may feature writing on music not covered in the column. Compact discs are still not accepted for review -- we have more than enough vinyl and the occasional cassette to worry about. Our Twitter feed keeps you apprised of reviews as they're published. It's kept locked and private, because with a name like @stillsingle, everyone thinks it's a dating site. Approvals happen whenever they happen.

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August 3, 2012

Stripmines – Crimes of Dispassion LP (Sorry State)

Massive-sounding – and massively pissed-off – neo-crust thrashola from North Carolina. RIYL: black Ts, record collecting, vegan food, hating injustice, Infest, what it means to record a hardcore record “really well,” screaming like Brannon, the idea of East Coast, Southern punk being inherently awesome. Hardcore, man … Is it a beginner’s music inherently or can you work in it as a form over a long period of time? Is it a form with rules that we reward for getting bent or adhered to? Is it a gateway drug or its own reward? What is its role (social/musical/etc.) in 2012 versus 1982? Versus 1992? Versus 2002? Is it less a pop culture or a folk culture? Is it a circle jerk? A ceremony? A waiting room? Crimes of Dispassionplays like part of a folk culture, but it’s refined and well-considered – thinking has gone into all of these songs, which dance with cliché before shoving it into the pit. Here the riffs surge into songs and the songs abide, which means a record that you can return to rather than use as a mark on your calendar or souvenir from a show. This is structured, dynamic stuff, owing as much to Infest as, well, Cro-Mags (the part of Cro-Mags’s music that, say, Hoax left behind).

Man, whatever happened to the random punk instrumental? “Brendan #1?” “Locomotivelung” That shit needs to come back. I had high hopes “Reversal of Fortune” was gonna be that on this slab, but no (good song, though). Word has it they have already engaged in that oddest of band past-times: Attempting to replace the singer. Given just how many bands will be ripping this stunner off in 12 months’ time, the audition line should be long. (http://www.sorrystaterecords.com)
(Joe Gross)

9 months ago • 0 notes