Familiar Traps
Bad Channels, 2024
9/10
Steve Carface is actually Cullen Gallagher, who also heads up the Brooklyn punks, Demoted. The 14 songs here don’t stray too far from his full band work, where brief, loud and raw punk comes with a youthful and energetic spirit.
“Too Soon To Say” starts the quick listen with pounding drums and searing guitar that would sound great following The Replacments’ “Fuck School”, and it isn’t long until the throbbing bass of “Nightcap” is met with softer singing amid a post-punk haze that gets abrasive at the end.
Further along, the 1 minute blast of “Blacking Out From Boredom” comes with a darker mood and biting vocals, though it’s the shimmering guitar and slight droning of “Void” that’s textured with mystery and warmth and alone is worth the price of admission.
“Corner Booth” and “Don’t Pick Up (pt. 2)” finish out the record, where the former is dense, powerful and even a bit sludgy, and the latter is 23 seconds of fuzzed out atmosphere.
A diverse body of work that can parallel hardcore punk from the early ‘80s, just as it can Fugazi’s late period work or even The Melvins, there’s so much greatness to be explored here.
Travels well with: Demoted- Shit For Brains; Seized Up- Modify The Sacred