Horse Thieves - "S/T" c20, Mole People - "Mole Scroll" c40 (Tolmie Terrapin Press)

Since taking up the cassette criticism vocation I've heard the good and bad of most any genre one can imagine: doom, punk, lo-fi pop, sythn-pop, ambient, drone, dance, noise, etc, but I've yet to hear bona fide country jams. OK, so maybe Los Angeles' Horse Thieves is more country-punk than say a traditionalist might hear 'em, but fuck it...I LOVE THIS BAND! Their twenty minute EP is so rawhide enjoyable I can't keep from playing at least once a day...It's damn fantastic. The slide guitar playing has me slapping my knee every time and the vocalist is like a drunk (or drunker) Kris Kristofferson mixed with some whacked out Meat Puppets slouch (not any of the acid punk rock however). Every song is good, tight, and under three minutes long. I love me some terrifying hiss scum noise blasts, but as an average listener I have more song based records in my collection than metal machine disciples so when an honest to God BAND cassette falls into my lap I always pray to my analog Buddha that it doesn't suck. "Red House," the first cut, accurately sets the cow punk dive bar on a Saturday night scene that lasts for the rest of the EP. Perhaps it's my Austin, TX home drfting into my brain as I listen to Horse Thieves, but I'm thinking about cold pitchers of Fireman's #4 and hot buzzing amps...and it makes me feel good. DO IT. BUY Horse Thieves!!

Mole People's Mole Scroll is presented wonderfully as it comes with a small booklet of poems that comprise the lyrics to the songs of the album, glow in the dark labels, and moody mysterious cover art. The demented No Wave Residents-ish vibe of the twenty song project is solid from start to finish, but I had little emotional response to the music. Honestly, rats and moles and sewers and grime all make me interested not and grossed out. I'm not being objective...tough. The guitars do crunch and squeal pretty nicely and the vocals are often treated to menacing proportions...I'm just not into creep rawk. Many listeners will probably think I'm dead wrong and that's fine. Give the Mole People a chance and prove me incorrect.

Listen and Buy HERE.

THE DICTAPHONE "Past.Future.Void" c32MOLE PEOPLE "s/t" c19RUBELLA "Dragger" c11(Tolmie Terrapin Press)

The Dictaphone is a one man punk band from France who does original songs with some goth, industrial and no wave elements. The singing is really snotty in the best sense, each song has a kind of different production sound and the whole album is really killer. There are a couple of covers on here and he even does a version of "Shark Fucks" by Tronics (original). Are you kidding me? "Shark Fucks?" This is dude is so cool! Highly recommended. Listened to the shit out of this. Thanks for waking me up from my synthesizer induced coma. There are actually some keyboards and electronic noises from time to time, but also lots of real guitars and drums. Guitars doing wacky things. Comes with an insert and a piece of film negative.

More rawk music from Cleveland's Mole People. Grungy, bass heavy a la the Melvins, but also chiming and psychedelic during the vocal passages. The music is very well recorded too. Mole People pack a punch. The songs usually go through a few sections and incorporate some more melodic and rhythmically complex segments that alternate with the heavy onslaught. The vocals, don't always match the toughness of the music, but that can actually work out in these guys favor most of the time. I bet Mole People completely destroys in a live setting. Comes with a lyrics booklet.

Well we can't all be winners, now can we? Two out of three ain't bad, and this less said about the Rubella tape the better. This is like Sparks (who I adore) meeting some twisted form of electronic pop punk in hell. If that sounds cool to you, then I'm lacking the proper words to describe exactly how this made my skin crawl. Run me through with a spear. Please. Kill me now.

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