P.S. Eliot-Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds LP (2009)

I'm posting this not out of a sense of obligation, or because it popped up in my inbox, but because this band is great and, although P.S. Eliot called it quits last year, they embody so much of what I love about punk, and loved when I was a 13-year-old rockin' out to Bane, and still, as an utterly nihilistic 26-year-old, want to believe in.

As far as I can remember, my 13-year-old self was into anarchy, feminism, youthful emotions, and a whole lot of insanity. Spilling yer guts to that special someone on a moonlit night in July. Drunkenly burbling out your emotions to yer friends as they patiently nod and sip on their .40s. Slam-dancing passionately, ignoring the hipster shitbirds who look at you reprovingly.

Yeah, P.S. Eliot, bad band name aside, sum up all of this residual level of emotions that still inhabit every punk album I listen to. DIG IT or forever find yourself asking why your high-school crush hates you. Lyrics lives heer.

Jimmy Files-The Nazz LP (2011)

Birmingham, Alabama's Jimmy Files drops eleven tracks that vary wildly on this, I believe his first, outing. Opening with a churning, crunching bit of garage hiss ("Low Lane"), the album shapes up a bit on "sad eyes," with identifiable guitar lines and an offbeat rhythm. "Sad Buddha" showcases the synth-ier end of the album: droning, distorted guitar notes hum around synth yawnings and muttered asides that are indecipherable.

The second half of the album feels like a series of half-sketched ideas, with pulsing beats and thoroughly trashed distortion everywhere. "Alien Kids" is the best track here, with a coherent rhythm (as in, it sounds like it's trying to fall apart), and sort of reminds me of Horrible Houses.  "Be a Lover!" is, frankly, self-indulgent acoustic wankery.

Overall, there's some interesting stuff on here, and if you're into the sort of lo-fi scuzz frequent on Drug Punk, you'll prolly dig it. Peeps it here.