Notes from the underground.

SCUMPUNKERS ANTISEEN HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR a decade and a half, and to prove they're that old they just re-released their first two EPs, "Drastic" and "Royalty," on one CD put out by TKO. These heavyweights are bloody and scary, and still going strong, and this shit rocks... Nevermind the Dungeons & Dragons-esque cover, The Krays' A Time for Action (also on TKO) is some rockin' sing-a-long, fist-in-the-air punk that holds its own. Bring it to your next D & D party (hey, just kidding)... I dig One Man Army, and consider them sort of a guilty pleasure. There are a lot of bands that do the melodic '77 stuff, but these guys are just better than the rest. Think Stiff Little Fingers with power chords and progressions, and I swear they lifted some guitar from Devo's "Gates of Steel" on the first song "Victoria" off of their new LP, Rumors and Headlines on BYO... The Lost Sounds are a fucking mess, but brilliant. They just played Arizona on a Tuesday night to a crowd of about a dozen (unfortunately), but it was the be st rock and roll this town has seen in weeks. They got a flicking cello player! Jay Reatard fucking freaks out a bunch which is killer, but I was kinda hoping that the cello player would do some crazy stuff too, but he just kinda sat there. They've just put out an LP called Outtakes and Demos vol. 1 which pretty much sums up the content. Most of the songs are in different versions on various records, but this is a nice little collection of junk to supplement anyone's Lost Sounds collection. And go see them when they play, but tell more of your friends than I did so that there are some people to actually witness the shitstorm... My favorite LP of this month's crop has got to be The Baseball Furies' Greater than Ever on Big Neck Records. Kinda thrashy, it's breakneck speed punk rawk, with a hint of the Devil Dogs' attitude and style. Any band that mentions the pope in the first line of the first song gets bonus points in my book. These guys rule... Another re-issue this month comes in the form of the ROIR compi lation New York Thrash. It's hard to believe that some of this stuff is 20-years old, but shit like Adrenaline OD, Bad Brains (originally from DC, of course), Kraut, Stimulators, The Mad, and even the early Beastie Boys (sure, they used to be punk back in the day), still hold their own to this day. As punk became hardcore, these were some of the earlier purveyors... Top honors in the little record department go to the Black Lips' 7" "Freakout" on The Electric Human Project label. From Atlanta, the singer's got a twinge in his voice similar to Mike from Poison 13, and the music is dirgy, stompin' lo-fi garage stuff, bluesy and harp-addled. The Undead have a new 7" EP entitled "Rock and Roll Whore" which is a pricey import (on Munster Records) but rocks nonetheless. Catchy tunes, with wailing guitars a la Humpers, it's a big sound for three-piece.