RVIVR - Dirty Water EP

New RVIVR EP. And there was much rejoicing. I like me some of this co-ed foursome, even if they are from Olympia. The Rumbletowne crew has been dropping a pretty serious amount of RVIVR product this year, all of which has been pretty quality. dirty water keeps the streak going with five songs, assumably digitized by Iron Chic axeman Phil Douglas. Big sound here, with a couple unexpected horn section turns and a fine showing from the rhythm section that doesn't always translate live.

RVIVR is currently homebound and laying low in Oly for a bit after touring Europe (with a dalliance in Iceland) for most of October, but there is mention of yet another EP on the Rumbletowne page, so stay tuned to JS-NYC for more news on that. In the meantime, get dirty water here and set to rocking.

R

Iron Chic - Shitty Rambo EP

Iron Chic is another reshuffling of the Long Island punk rock deck, featuring ex-Latterman dude / engineer / cigarette aficionado Phil Douglas and Lubrano from Small Arms Dealer as well as three other whoa-ohing miscreants that like themselves some pop-punk mixed with Braid-y Midwestern 90s rock (who themselves were jocking Chapel Hill pretty hard).

The Iron Chic demo got a lot of love from JS-NYC to Bloomington. I could have sworn that Iron Chic went the way of the Potboiler and the Get Bent, but if they have songs this good I hope they stick around for a bit. All four songs are bangers, but Don't Tell Me Stupid, Don't Show Me Fuck You and Shit/Giggles occupy the number 1 & 2 slots for now, but I'm just into the double digits with playing Shitty Rambo so standings may very well change. My ranking aside, pick this EP up here immediately from Dead Broke Rekerds. Nerds may be excited to hear of limited vinyl options. Yippee.

xo

R

Jonesin'/Shang-a-lang split

Got a chance to catch up with Dave Bierling over the holiday, which is as awesome as you might suspect. In shooting said holiday shit, it came to light that one of the main proprietors of the If You Make It empire was the drummer for the dear departed Potboiler. Yet another reason to lament the passing of that stellar franchise.

That said, IYMI has got the Jonesin'/Shang-a-lang split up in the download section. They put it together for their Summer tour last year and it's well worth checking out. It's a bi-coastal affair, with Jonesin' representing from Long Island and Shang-A-Lang repping for New Mexico, I believe. I'm more of a Jonesin' guy, as they are purveying the sound that the current crop of Phil Douglas-curated rock that currently rocks my little world. The two songs have an early Hot Water beard/PBR vibe that has more of a Mats-y spin than a Dag Nasty one. It's good, and free here. Jonesin' web world portal is here.

Shang-a-lang I'm a little moe ambivalent about. The ratty original they ponied up for this split has a an early Built To Spill overloaded-single-mike-in-a-rehearsal-space sound that is not helped by digitization, but is still kind of catchy the first couple of times. The other song is a Lou Reed cover. Having suffered through any number of insufferable art school VU Lou Reed jockers (as well as LR personally) in the last couple decades, I will not entertain the notion of the New Mexican version of same, but grab the songs here and check out their web presence here. Maybe it'll work better for you.

Donate to IYMI, fools.

R

If You Make It demos, part four: Iron Chic

Iron Chic are another of the many bands that have sprung up in the wake of the dissolution of Long Island's Latterman franchise. This one features guitarists Phil Douglas and Bran Crozier. Vocals are from the enigmatic Lubrano from Small Arms Dealer. The band is not all that far removed from Latterman or, by extrapolation, late-period output of Hot Water Music or Jawbreaker. They are kind enough to offer up the five songs that comprise their demo on their web page here or for free on the If You Make It page here. It's well worth checking out, and you sure can't beat the price. Five songs in under fifteen minutes, but lucky for you audio files don't wear out and you can play this over and over again. Just don't spend too long contemplating exactly how Iron Chic is going to 'take the future and fuck it to death' like they threaten on Sensitive Dependence. That's not a good visual. At all really.

R