pratter...

RAW NERVE. new orders = banner days here, and this one was no different, with many different records to rifle through and play, shitting our neighbours to near tears or imagined fisticuffs (again, it ain't TOECUTTER, so no harm, no foul in my book). anyway, first up is an lp on 'youth attack' by RAW NERVE. i must admit to being frequently underwhelmed by this label's output over the years apart from obvious gems such as BUCKET FULL OF TEETH's three 7 inches' (though i am yet to hear AEROSOLS...any good, anyone?), but this record is pretty fuckin' raging in a post-VOID (split lp-era) kind of way, and not dissimiliar to DRY-ROT's more straight ahead material, though with the odd blast-beat and a less idiosyncratic approach to riffs and structure. side-b is of more interest to someone such as myself, with the group stretching out and building tempo and intensity with three tracks spread over it's entirety, but the a-side starts off with promise, and though not completely delivered upon, this is a good record, well worth owning - if not to sell to some 'screamo' kid for an inflated price at a later date (ok, i wouldn't actually do this, but one can dream of a hell worth working toward).


DRUNKDRIVER. i have brendon of NEGATIVE GUEST LIST to thank for hippin' me to this group of fucking nutters, and though i am late to 'em (not unlike my recent 'discovery' of NO MEANS NO, thanks to my friend evan - my cave is pretty warm and decked out with a beanbag, ya see), i am no less enthused with the lp that arrived today - 'born pregnant'. DRUNKDRIVER have apparently released four records since this 12", and after inhaling said release twice, i am convinced that i NEED to do more research when brendon or daniel's (DISTORT) descriptive writ immediately piques my interest (VILE GASH 7" is pretty good too - thanks mate!). DD consist of guitar, drums and vocals in regards to instrumentation, but what they achieve with said objects is crazed, pretentious and repetitively smashed sound(s) that make me want to jam right fucking now. inspirational? only if your scope is limited to the idea that genuine misfits are the only people worth listening to (musically or otherwise), like myself. DRUNKDRIVER could well bore the shit out of most, due to their pursuit of riffs that are barrelled into one's blinkered skull again and again, without much, if any variation. BRIAN ENO has been quoted as stating (to paraphrase) that metal was the first ambient music, due to the fact that if the listener isn't COMPLETELY concentrating on said sounds, that it makes for a fabulous background to well, any mood or situation. DRUNKDRIVER (though not metal by any means) works as foreground and background, and i doubt that i could pay them a bigger or more apt compliment than this.