Subhumans
- Death Was Too Kind (Alternativetentacles.com)
ONE of the two pillars (the other being D.O.A.),
of the Vancouver, BC, Canada hardcore punk
scene was The Subhumans. Both Social Distortion
and Reel Big Fish have expressed their gratitude
toward them. Now, The Subhumans have joined
Alternative Tentacles' apply titled “Reissue
of Necessity” series. Death Was
Too Kind is a collection of songs from
the early years, lovingly remastered from
the original source material: The very first
single “Death to Sickoids” (only
500 copies were pressed); the “Firing
Squad” single; the self-titled EP produced
by Bob Rock (who went on to work with Metallica,
The Cult, Offspring, etc.); and the “Look
at the Dawn” and “Pissed Off…
With Good Reason” LP’s. All have
been remastered on CD and vinyl from the original
tapes. A powerful and personality-laden set
of songs, The Subhumans’ explore real-world
subjects and creative concepts with great
playing and somewhat bizarre songs. Even though
The Subhumans’ made their initial assault
back in the late 70’s and early 80’s,
the album has a freshness, and the topics
are as relevant today as they were back than
- some even more so (“Firing Squad“).
Every once in a while, a band previously lost
in genre mire emerges from the crowd sounding
as fresh and relevant as they did back in
the day, and sometimes even better than the
current competition. The Subhumans could have
been just another hardcore punk band, but
they’re not. Tight, fast, blurry in
spots (which is a good thing), but never indistinct,
they invest their wit and wisdom in these
ten songs without apology. If you tried to
give punk rock another name, you might call
it “The Subhumans.” Don’t
miss this one. - Phil Rainone
MV
& EE - Drone Trailer (midlevel.com)
Well, this has to be one of the shortest
band names ever! You don’t get even
an inkling about who MV& EE are - heck,
you can even change the letters around, EE
& MV- don’t make no difference!
But the band, consisting of Matt “MV”
Valentine and Erika “EE” Elder,
don’t come up short on the music on
“Drone Trailer.” The band also
consists of The Golden Road, which includes
Doc Dunn on lap steel guitar and vocals, Mike
Smith on pedal steel and electric guitars,/
vocals, and James Anderson on drums. The six
song EP opens with a Neil Young-inspired cosmic
rocker, “Anyway.” A reverb-rich,
echo-drenched tune about spacemen and all-things-cosmic.
On “The Hungy (that’s how they
spell it), the band again taps Neil Young’s
mojo, but this time from his “Sugar
Mountain” era. From there, they hitch
their wagon to a space ship and blast off
for an intergalactic jam, but not a warp speed,
more like The Dead’s “Dark Star.”
They like to take their time, enjoy the ride,
and watch the scenery. You just know it’s
gonna be a long strange trip! The title cut
opens with a light, petal steel intro that
slowly morphs into a vocal number, sounds
like they could break into “Playing
in the Band” ( a Dead classic) any minute.
Even though the similarities are many, MV
& EE, and their ace band advance the genre,
but not without nods to their past reference
points. - Phil Rainone
Fighter/Lover - EP (Fighterlover.com)
This five song EP (they’re putting
the finishing touches on their upcoming full-length
album) has the feel of Family Force 5‘s
80‘s new wave spunk, with Hunchback’s
mad, electronic wizardly. And there’s
- Holy crap!! “Girl from the North Pole”
(you can check out the video on the band’s
website or You Tube.) I just flashed back
to the 60’s - not necessarily a bad
thing. IRON BUTTERFLY! It opens with an instrumental
that reeks of metal on metal, that shrieks
with teeth-grinding feedback! It’s time
to breakout the lava lamps kids (I’ve
got two of ’em)! Like Danger Mouse,
Fighter/Lover’s bread and butter is
dance-inducing, trippy sonic experiments,
over wailing digital feedback, nasty at times,
with sublime guitar licks. When these neo-
New Wavers get their glam funk on, and all
the world is a better place! Fighter/Lover
will be at The Vanishing Point, Brooklyn,
NY in January, Check their website. - Phil
Rainone
CD Reviews 
