by GE 138

     From straight outta Sweden comes this most excellent piece of digitized music, which is the latest release from a band called Rotten Mind, and the release is called Unflavored. Why is it called that? Who knows? It's their 5th album in 7 years and it's a killer, and all I can say is where the fuck have I been?? This music is brilliant! Spacey, British sounding jagged guitar lines swirl and shimmer above a hard as fuck pounding bass / drum rhythm section that harkens back to my beloved  Joy Division if you can believe that! I even hear a lot of influences in Rotten Mind's sound, bands like Killing Joke, The Jesus Lizard, early U2, The Cure, Hanoi Rocks, The Refused, of course, I mean fuck, I could go on forever, and when I say 'influences' I'm not talkng blatant note for note ripoffs of aforementioned bands, but it's more like just capturing the soul, sound and the spirit of those bands, and laying it down as a foundation to the Rotten Mind's juxtapositional tunes, which is beatiful, to say the least. This band really is worthy of all the praise. The singer's distinctive, harmonious snarl is both instantly individualistic as Jello Biafra's, and as easily catchable as a case of herpes backstage at a Motley Crue concert back in the 80's. Songs like Die Young, No Direction, and Degenerates are as ferocious and politically thought provoking as they are catchy and dance inspiring. Gang Of Four were like that, and Rotten Mind got a little of that going for them as well. Rotten Mind are a phenominal band, and this release from them shows me why people are so slavishly devoted to them. I've definitely missed out on the first few years of this bands existence, but I won't be making that mistake anymore. I'm a huge Rotten Mind fan, and after you listen to this album, you will be too! 😊 Best Release of 2022??

Released by Lövely Records. You can find the label all over social media. Same with the band. Rotten Mind's Facebook can be found here, their Instagram can be found here, their Bandcamp can be found here, and their Spotify can be found here. You can find digital downloads of all their releases, as well as a very cool blue/black splattered vinyl version of Unflavored on the Rotten Mind Bandcamp page.

by GE 138.

     Do people still get excited about bands like the Dropkick Murphys? Hasn't that whole "Irish Pride" schtick been run into the ground? It hasn't huh? Bigger than ever you say? Le sigh. Oh well... on that wave of nostalgia with mandolin tinged melodys, sing-song vocal lines and an occasional blast of acccordion accents when appropriate, comes The Rumjacks, all the way from the great Down Under, like Crocodile Dundee down under and shit. They play an energetic type of Irish tinged tuneage that's catchy as fuck and from songs on here like One For The Road, Bloodsoaked In Chorus, and Across The Water, it seems like they'd put on one Hell of a show live. All I knew of The Rumjacks beforehand was something about their old singer being arrested and sent to prison for being a woman beating POS, but I didn't let that deter me from giving them a fair shake musically, so to speak. Brass For Gold is a great sounding record. It's well produced, mixed to perfection, all the musicians involved play well, especially the drummer, who sounds lke he's having a lot of fun laying all those catchy drum lines and hard hitting skip beats and accents, and plus, this sounds good when played loud, which is always a good thing in my book. 😉
     If you're looking for something new to drink along to when you're hanging out at your favorite corporate pseudo Irish bar, go right up to that jukebox on demand monstrosity they have hanging on the wall and type in The Rumjacks and give this album a listen. I bet you and everybody else in the place will like it. Bet.

Put out by Four Four Records. Available anywhere and everywhere Punk music is sold for pretty poly and as the cheap commodity it was always intended to be, places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Music, Tower Records, etc. The Rumjacks social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blah blah blah