GAY KISS - Rounded Down

Arizona's Gay Kiss have unleashed their final offering, the four song Rounded Down EP, and in keeping with every minute of their previous material, it's a monster. Throat tearing vocals and pulverising riffs abound, and this might be their heaviest release to date. I've loved this band from chord and beat one, and I'm gonna miss 'em.

Taste of bootleather on your breath

GAY KISS Preservation Measures

A couple of years back I loudly sung the praises of the first Gay Kiss LP, an incendiary slice of manically tempo-changing hardcore, laced with a heavy dose of AmRep style noise rock. Since then we've only had a couple of short cassette releases to tide us over, so the email from bandcamp the other day announcing the release of Preservation Measures was a very welcome sight.

Preservation Measures is the long-awaited second full length from the Arizonan juggernaut, and if the amount of blogs it's showing up on this week is any indication, I'm not the only punk who's been jonesing for it. Musically, these twelve (eight new) tracks sound very similar to 2013's Fault - fast hardcore, loaded with blasting riffs and memorable hooks, punctuated by the kind of breakdowns that raise the hackles and give you goosebumps. If I noticed a real difference on the first few listens, it's the inclusion of some five-piece era Black Flag/BL'AST influenced moments, something which never gets old for me. The band's noise rock tendencies are also noticeable once again, this time in the form of some subtle power electronics that wobble and oscillate in the background.

One observation, not a complaint, is that the guitar (or maybe even the whole mix?) seems a bit more subdued on this album. Solution: turn it the fuck up! Finally, it's really nice of the boys to include the lyrics with their bandcamp download. Way to go.

So, another shredding album from one of the most powerful, original and sincere hardcore bands going today. A definite early contender for album of the year.

listen/buy/die

Gay Kiss

With the exception of JFA and The Meat Puppets' first album, I've managed to remain shamefully ignorant about the Arizonan punk scene over the years. But ever since the state's draconian anti-immigrant law (SB 1070) made world news three years ago, it's occurred to me that it's a place that probably needs more punx.

I am now one more incredible band less ignorant about Arizonan punk, and unless you've already been devastated by the powerful urgency of Gay Kiss' hardcore assault, you're about to get schooled too. Since getting their 2012 album Fault a few months back, I've been spinning their tunes on a daily basis, which also includes a previous EP called Dumpster Rules and a three song 2013 tape release.

Musically they mix up insanely catchy hardcore (lots of cool time changes and breakdowns) with just enough AmRep style noise thrown in to make it interesting (but not enough to make it, you know, not hardcore). Also, the singer's growls and grunts give me goosebumps.

This nine song album will make you stand up and move with absolute ragers like "Storms" and "Compassionless", but when "New March" hits, I hope you don't like your TV too much, cuz it's going out the fuckin' window.

Pay what you want/can/probably should at Bandcamp.