Soccer Mommy

Noisem, “Birthing the Bestial”

A lot of what I like about thrash are when you’ve got really chunky, memorable riffs and some pyrotechnic squalling solos. So I ought to love this, right? But I dunno, it’s fine. I don’t really reach for it. I think I have a hard time falling in love with new thrash. Although this isn’t new any more, so maybe I’m just a bozo.

The Joykiller, “What It’s Worth”

This apparently is an LA supergroup, but I didn’t know that at the time. I ended up grabbing it because it was on Epitaph, the cover art was strange, and it was in the new release rack at Easy Street. By and large, I never regretted just buying random records, sometimes I found some great stuff. And sometimes, you end up with this record. Can’t win ’em all!

Soccer Mommy, “yellow is the color of her eyes”

This seven-minute tune is the centerpiece of Soccer Mommy’s record from last year, Color Theory. This record showed up on a lot of year end lists, and while I think it’s good, I’m a little lyric blind at times, so I’m not sure it’s grabbed me quite the same way it did others. But take a listen, if you like this, you’ll like this album.