MUTE-ANTS – Introducing 7” EP

Zou Gratz Records – Boca Raton (1996)

Jason Mutation – vocals & guitar

Joey Go-Go Pop – drums

Dave Ant – bass & vocals

Ryan Imal – guitar & vocals

Stereo Dance

Bored with this City

Dump Your Boyfriend

Burning Sessions

The Mute-Ants schtick centered on obnoxiousness. Personal obnoxiousness more than musical. Songs penned by Mr. Imal seem to center on genital warts, so, uh, if so inclined, proceed at yer own caution. Mr. Mutation’s songs don’t have the same degree of ick-factor and teeter between being “hits” (to me, anyway) in a ’77 kind of way and being inept and repetitive. I still can’t decide with “Bored with this city”. Overall not too bad – I think they also put out another 7” and a full length cd….You just never want to find yourself hanging out with them!

GODS DICK – Shitlife 7” EP

No Label – Boca Raton – 2009

Last Knife

Phud Hong

God$ Dick

Shitlife

Mid-knife Crisis

One Knife to Live

Amos White – guitar, vocals

Micah Grahat – bass, vocals

Mike Pineyro – drums, vocals

I can’t imagine a sane person, viewing this for the first time, feeling it’s worth their $5.00 ($5.00 is really $5.00 again!!!). Gods Dick is a terrible name for a band – I’m almost offended and I’m a heathen. The cover’s gaudy and ridiculous and ultimately pretty fukkin’ sad (but sealed the deal nonetheless) – and then there’s the song titles. I was pretty sure this was going to be a piece of shit in one fashion or another. One listen and I started to wonder if these guys were complete retards or perhaps………… students of Faxed Head. A quick check of Myspace confirmed it. Gods Dick are brilliant enough to be retards! You get proggy, punky metal with grunting vocals and slightly nihilistic overtones that had me rolling on the floor. But – I’m laughing with them, not at them. Easily the best $5.00 non-alcoholic purchase I’ve made this year. I am proud to be a Floridian once again.

DOUR (with Blatant Disregard) – 2222 / Simplify 7”

Dour Music – Boca Raton (1996)

I have never heard anything about this band….but, you’re in a store and see a 7” by a band named Dour with a Florida address…what are you going to do? My sleeve says “6 of 100”, so I’m one of the lucky. Though not exactly cheerful, they don’t quite live up to their name. Dour are generally typical up-tempo mid-90’s indie rock with female (I think) vocals. Songs are semi-memorable, drummer sounds like he’s working hard – I like it.

VIVA LE VOX / PAPERDOLLS split 7"

Boca Raton (VLV) and Miami (Paperdolls), Incest Records, 2009

Viva Le Vox:

Tony Bones, vocal, guitar

Manimal, drums

Scarecrow Jenkins, bass, vocal

Paperdolls:

Tara, guitar, vocal, ukelele

Guido, guitar, vocal, percussion

Down at the Laundromat (VLV)

Six Inches off the Floor (VLV)

Dark Cold Sudden (PD)

Woodburning Kit (PD)

Two very different bands here. VLV is a three-piece punkabilly outfit made up of a standup bass, tattoos and sideburns. Live you can hear how they came to rockabilly through Joe Strummer (through affectations and choice of covers) but the record is more straightforward -- one song is about hanging on and the other about hanging yourself. They are a high energy band with an acoustic feel so the sound is not particularly big. When I saw them in Lake Worth, some 40-ish English guy was heckling them demanding "real punk rock."

On the flipside, the Paperdolls play what the band calls 'doom folk.' I appreciate the description because I was sort of at a loss. This duo plays music you can enjoy while sitting down or at least looking down, but not as dull as that may imply. Some interesting guitar picking and vaguely mysterious lyrics.