INCH SCRAPER: HARDCORE 7″ REVIEWS OF FULL TOILET, GIVE, AND H2O

[The seven-inch record is a cornerstone for hardcore and the format continues to serves as an essential platform for disseminating music. Characteristically shorter song lengths make it possible for a band in this scene to make a statement over the course of multiple tracks and provide it in a way that is affordable. The purpose of the Inch Scraper column is to identify and offer short critiques of some new and recent releases in the 7″ format.]

The latest installment in Give‘s informal multi-label singles series, Flower Head (Youngblood) further exploits aspects of that mid-90s post-hardcore sound that so few contemporary artists care to anymore. That’s what makes this DC act so special, at least to this greying alt rock aficionado. The titular A-side does the angular thing with an almost sleazy swagger, while the flip “Kiss The Flame” goes full Quicksand on our collective asses.

The final volume in H2O‘s city-themed covers seven-inches, DC (Bridge Nine) might as well have been called Dischord, hardly a surprise given how that one label defined the sound of our nation’s capitol. Toby Morse and the gang stick to purist punk rock hero worship here, hardly wavering from the original Dag Nasty, Embrace, and Government Issue source material. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. The strategy works well, moreso than on the cringeworthy NYC record.

A most confusing release, this crammed, or rather, clogged debut 7″ from Full Toilet seems an odd fit for today’s Sub Pop, though it’s good to know that the label still remains willing to put out a real noisy oddity. Hardcore in a sorta peripheral 1980s West Coast way, these thirteen spazzy bursts hardly ever cross the one-minute mark, the record ending before it had a chance to begin. Lo-fi punk enthusiasts, Kurt Bloch trainspotters, and record store weirdos take heed. Others, maybe not.

-GS