Back in stock: Punk/Hardcore

Review: This is a reissue of Bikini Kill's second EP, "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah". Recorded in 1992 with Tim Green (Nation Of Ulysses) at The Embassyia group-house in Washington, DC, it was the first Bikini Kill release to feature the band's song, "Rebel Girl." Originally a split EP with the Brighton, UK-based band, Huggy Bear, the B-side now features seven previously unreleased Bikini Kill songs drawn from era-appropriate live shows and practice tapes. The artwork has also been updated to include archival photos and liner notes from the Bratmobile's Erin Smith, Comet Gain's David Feck, and the members of Bikini Kill.

Bikini Kill was a feminist punk band based in Olympia, WA and Washington, DC, forming in 1990 and breaking up in 1997. Kathleen Hanna sang, Tobi Vail played drums, Billy Karren (aka Billy Boredom) played guitar and Kathi Wilcox played bass. Bikini Kill is credited with instigating the Riot Grrrl movement in the early '90s via their political lyrics, zines, and confrontational live performances. This EP is the second release in a larger campaign to reissue the complete Bikini Kill catalog on vinyl and CD.

Review: 'Neat Neat Neat' might have only been the second single released by The Damned, but its timeless longevity as an essential punk staple has seen it appear in episodes of The Simpsons and The Boys while Edgar Wright would give the track yet another lease on life by using it to score the intense opening chase sequence in 2017's Baby Driver. That's before even mentioning the vastly differing artists it has influenced with everyone from My Chemical Romance to Elvis Costello taking a stab. Pressed to artwork complimenting purple wax, this 7" offers a slice of cuts captured during a set in Mulhouse, France in 1994, with the classic single on the A-side, while the flip boasts a dynamic yet bizarre bevvy of covers, from the likes of iconic pop duo The Righteous Brothers ('You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin') to 60's mods The Craig ('I Must Be Mad') to Johnny Cash's 'I Walk The Line'.

Review: .Often considered to be one of the biggest commercial flops in music recording history, Standing In The Spotlight was the 1989 debut solo album from Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone. Released under his rap moniker Dee Dee King, the bizarre project served up an amalgam of old school hip-hop, late 50s garage rock and even doo-wop, all blended together in chaotic fashion, and led by Dee Dee's new gangster bravura. It's been noted that the hip-hop-centric attire seen on the cover was adorned by Dee Dee at his last few Ramones shows shortly before departing, which drew major ire from his bandmates. Tapping Marky Ramone to oversee percussion samples, and even enlisting Debbie Harry (Blondie) to provide backing vocals on 'Mashed Potato Time', and, 'German Kid', with the latter featuring vocals sung in both English and German (nodding to Dee Dee's growing up as an army brat), the album was crafted with every earnest intention of launching Dee Dee's solo career. Conceptually inspired whilst in rehab and used as a project of focus when embracing his newfound sobriety; the sheer enthusiasm and fearlessness of Standing In The Spotlight grants it a pass and a place as a truly absurd offshoot oddity from a vital member of the one of the defining punk bands.

Review: Needless to say, Fugazi were the kind of band whose first demo trounced most band's entire recording careers. Formed by four passionate musicians - from the ashes of Minor Threat, Embrace and Rites Of Spring - amidst a climate of idealistic fervour and youthful rage in Washington DC in the late '80s, this incendiary band took the energy and power of hardcore and broadened it out into a sound that was as expansive as it was incisive. This collection of ten songs, recorded incredibly at a point when the band had only played ten gigs, showcases an already unique and inspirational outfit creating a sound that would resonate around the hardcore scene of the world and way beyond.

Review: A work that surely needs little to no introduction, 'Repeater', was the seminal debut full-length from post-hardcore visionaries, Fugazi. From the demise of emo pioneers, Rites Of Spring, and hardcore punk godfathers, Minor Threat, came the enigmatic pairing of Guy Picciotto and Ian MacKaye, with the latter's burgeoning artistry left fully untethered to conjure a work transcendent of post-hardcore or alternative rock. Mapping out the blueprint for punk and alternative music throughout the nineties, even predating the likes of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', or Pearl Jam's 'Ten'; few projects have stood the test of time or been cited as such an integral influence by a dynamic range of artists from Rage Against The Machine to The Dillinger Escape Plan to American Football. Aggressive, expansive and highly critical of issues still plaguing our world today, from drug abuse to greed and privatisation, the ethos of, 'Repeater', (quietly referencing The Beatles' 'Revolver') has only swollen with time.

Review: One of the most vital hardcore punk releases ever committed to record, the self-titled Minor Threat compilation took the band's first two EPs, the original self-titled and 'In My Eyes', released in June and December of 1981, respectively, and collated them into a visceral work that has only grown more essential with time. Before expanding his sonic palette and abilities with Fugazi, a younger, more disillusioned Ian MacKaye led a cathartic barrage of hyper-intense, exceptionally brief pieces that reimagined punk at its most direct and extreme values. With the iconic cover of younger, exhausted MacKaye brother Alec (now of Hammered Hulls, formerly Untouchables, The Faith), hunched over despondently, and recreated by everyone from the likes of Rancid to even Nike (yes, that Nike), it goes without saying that the name Minor Threat, the singular image, and even the inadvertent push of the straight edge message due to the track of the same moniker, are all integral, historic pieces of the hardcore punk blueprint and subsequent memorabilia.

Review: Originally released in 1984 and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Initium would serve as the debut full-length from death-rock horror-punk outfit Samhain; the brainchild of Glenn Danzig (or Evil Elvis). Opting to disband Misfits in favour of redirecting his creative juices into a project he maintained more rigid control over, with the title even translating from Latin to English as "beginning", the LP marked a simultaneous embracing of more metallic, gothic rock and malevolent balladry, distancing itself from the Misfits' breakneck hardcore chaos. Arriving less than a full year after Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, the transitional growing pains are evident with deep cut 'Archangel' being originally penned with Misfits bassist Jerry Only, while 'Horror Biz' is actually a re-worked version of the early Misfits single 'Horror Business'. Featuring Minor Threat guitarist Lyle Preslar on several tracks, along with Reagan Youth bassist Al Pike making a singular appearance, four decades on Initium continues to resonate as a vital piece of punk rock/deathrock/horror-punk history with its laying of influential foundations.

Review: 76 High Street in Burton On Trent is, today, a pizza joint. Back in 1976, though, and throughout that decade and most of the following one, it was a hub of musical activity that hosted some of the greatest bands of the time. We're talking AC/DC, Dire Straits, Motorhead, Skid Row, Judas Priest, Suzi Quatro, Thin Lizzy and Ultravox. To name but a few.

More astute readers will have clocked that they can add The Sex Pistols to that list. The seminal punk outfit even opted to record their famous live album, Anarchy In the UK: Live at the 76 Club, at the address. Now we have this new edition of the record, which has lost none of its teeth clenched, anti-establishmentarianism, revolutionary feeling of the original. Simply put, this is what guitar music should sound like on stage - ferocious, unforgiving, and with the momentum of youth hell-bent on rejecting tradition.