No Idea released a bevvy of beautiful records at the back end of last year, the best probably being the Rehasher record. However, this split between two full on punk rock bands isn’t too far behind. Having not heard anything by these two bands before, I was a little unsure what to expect. But I’ll certainly be checking out Orlando’s New Mexican Disaster Squad again because their ballsy Good Riddance-esque sound is particularly good. Having recently released a full length on A-F Records, they remind me a bit of Good Riddance with a more melodic side – it’s certainly a style of music that’s been lacking which is a travesty. Western Addiction don’t impress me quite as much mind. The San Fran mob had previously released a 7″ on Fat and they contribute one cover and three of their own tracks to this record.
NMDS kick things off with the energetic ‘It’s Called Integrity’ which has some pretty raw guitars and excellent gang vocals in the chorus. The bass-led intro and pick slide that kicks off ‘Social Divorce’ and the whole of ‘Porcelain End’ are highlights – if you were to check out any one of the songs from this release I would heartily recommend the latter. NMDS’s four tracks ends with a Bad Brains cover, ‘FVK’, which is a lot more attacking in style than their own songs. And it only lasts for a minute too. Western Addiction certainly have less shine on their contributions, with the vocals edgier than NMDS. There’s a real 80s feel here, so I guess if you’re into that kind of punk then you’re going to enjoy this band a lot – but for me NMDS do their thing slightly better. Their Naked Raygun cover is half-decent mind you. Still, you can pick this EP up on the cheap and I’d recommend you do so.
No Idea Records
Paul