Watching the ascendence of Bristol based rockers Mother Vulture, has been a joy over the years, for my money there aren't too many bands that beat them in the live stakes, always owning any stage they take to and immediately winning over the audience with their groove-laden, punk/stoner hybrid which is like garage rock on amphetamines.
Since their debut album they've been strapped to a rocket, appearing at numerous festivals and in support of some massive bands, winning over the crowd every time with songs from the debut record Mother Knows Best but like with all bands they are constantly creating so only a few years later and they follow that up with new full length Cartoon Violence.
If that brings to mind images of Daffy Duck bouncing up and down or Wille Coyote being hit with an anvil, then the musical equivalent is Mother Vultures irresistible concoction of heavy, fuzzy noises, exploding out of the blocks with Mike Check, this Cartoon Violence blasts away with some major similarities to a band like Turbowolf.
As the bass throbs with guts beneath some frantic, Big Muff riffs, there's wild vocal shouts and breathless drumming across every track here. Almost like Mother Vulture never want to put their instruments down and just keep things loud and unchained.
They were able to bring a lot of what they do on stage to their debut but with the maturity they now have, Cartoon Violence not only features more complex arrangements, augmented with samples and asides, (including one Mr Benji Webb), but seems to me like it's sequenced like a live set.
After three speeding rockers there's the massive Band Of Skulls-like swagger of Slow Down and The Masquerade brings the dreamy beginnings of Houses Of The Holy Zep before erupting into some Muse-esque choral, a great mid album epic, as Phoenix begins Side B with more sneering garage rocking.
Cartoon Violence is a record that just flows, a listening journey where there's never much chance to tune out. With the experience they have gained over these past few years on this second full length, Mother Vulture marry their incendiary live performance with more sophisticated songwriting that doesn't move the goalposts to far from their core noise making. 9/10
Godzillionaire - Negative Balance (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]
Mark Hennessy is an underrated storyteller, poet, songwriter, and whatever you want to call him, that had gone under the radar for far too long.
In the 90s, Mark was the main man in the criminally underrated band Paw, who put out some killer records and even got as far as having an MTV Buzz Clip with their video for the amazing song Jessie. Paw put out a couple more records that were both killer and commercially ignored, for whatever major label BS reason you want to put on it.
Mark continued to create after Paw, most recently with the Kansas-based band Godzillionaire, who were even somehow more under the radar then Paw ever was. Enter Ripple Music, who put out their most recent record, 2025’s Diminishing Returns, with said returns being the record all over a ton of year end lists, including mine, at number three, in a stacked year. Now, Ripple is stepping up again, this time re-releasing Godzillionaire’s 2020 record, Negative Balance, to ensure this album gets the love that all that Mark and band have created deserves.
Negative Balance is a moodier record than Diminishing Returns, with a track like the grungy Ballad Of The Topeka Gentleman, where the guys do their best Soundgarden, with excellent results. Where Diminishing Returns was delightfully all over the place style-wise, Negative Balance sticks more to that vibe, with songs like Ghost, the epic Reciprocating Engines (Love Theme from "Negative Balance"), and the crunchiest Godzillionaire song, Never Say Goodbye As A Warning.
Negative Balance is a moodier record than Diminishing Returns, with a track like the grungy Ballad Of The Topeka Gentleman, where the guys do their best Soundgarden, with excellent results. Where Diminishing Returns was delightfully all over the place style-wise, Negative Balance sticks more to that vibe, with songs like Ghost, the epic Reciprocating Engines (Love Theme from "Negative Balance"), and the crunchiest Godzillionaire song, Never Say Goodbye As A Warning.
90s style alt-ballad Smoke sounds like the Lemonheads in the best sort of way. Mark’s best vocal performance is on the up-tempo ripper The Song That Left Town & Didn't Leave A Note, while Holy Roller may not be a cover of the Mother Love Bone track, the song is right out of the Pacific Northwest. There is not a skip on this record, and the whole thing is meant to be heard end to end, with all of the snippets and interludes. So great.
While a bit darker and moodier, Negative Balance shows that Godzillionaire would have been huge in the early 1990s and should be considered one of the top tier heavy underground bands out there today. The band and Ripple Music are doing everything they can for the latter to be a thing. While the album titles may tell you different, Godzillionaire is going nowhere but up. A must listen for anyone. 9/10
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin - Misty Woman (Black Throne Productions) [Rich Piva]
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin has always been a bit of a mystery to me and others who love their 2020 record Misty Woman. The San Diego trio dropped this modern day psych rock fuzzy classic with little fanfare except for the people who knew. I was not one of those people until a couple years later, when their brand of fuzzy psych goodness hit my ears and I immediately fell in love with the tone of Brennan Justice’s guitar and the steady yet creative rhythm section of Jeremy Luvaas and Anthony Defreitas.
While a bit darker and moodier, Negative Balance shows that Godzillionaire would have been huge in the early 1990s and should be considered one of the top tier heavy underground bands out there today. The band and Ripple Music are doing everything they can for the latter to be a thing. While the album titles may tell you different, Godzillionaire is going nowhere but up. A must listen for anyone. 9/10
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin - Misty Woman (Black Throne Productions) [Rich Piva]
Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin has always been a bit of a mystery to me and others who love their 2020 record Misty Woman. The San Diego trio dropped this modern day psych rock fuzzy classic with little fanfare except for the people who knew. I was not one of those people until a couple years later, when their brand of fuzzy psych goodness hit my ears and I immediately fell in love with the tone of Brennan Justice’s guitar and the steady yet creative rhythm section of Jeremy Luvaas and Anthony Defreitas.
These guys drip sixties and seventies psych goodness and totally get it. By this time, however, the vinyl was long sold out and your reviewer had to tackle the thought of spending triple digits on Discogs to snag me a copy. But, alas, one of the heroes of this story, Black Throne Productions, has swooped in to re-release Misty Woman on vinyl for the first time in years, bringing a record only a chosen few were able to experience out to the masses to spread the love and mind-bending, killer nine tracks (plus a bonus)
I mean the guitar work on Which One Is The Jellyfish? The added organ work to the already perfect track? The amazing title track that drips with reverb and great vocals? The opener with one of the most killer tones in existence? What about the two part Rider In The Desert Sun, a slow burn that builds and highlights Luvaas and Defreitas chemistry and a nice chunky riff and some shredding from Justice?
I mean the guitar work on Which One Is The Jellyfish? The added organ work to the already perfect track? The amazing title track that drips with reverb and great vocals? The opener with one of the most killer tones in existence? What about the two part Rider In The Desert Sun, a slow burn that builds and highlights Luvaas and Defreitas chemistry and a nice chunky riff and some shredding from Justice?
The nine tracks on Misty Woman create such an atmosphere, as if you are wandering through the desert, noticing every detail of your surroundings, until suddenly, without warning, you are surrounded by trees and a door, leading to somewhere your human mind cannot comprehend. Hey, you get a bonus track on the vinyl repress too, Magic Touch, a song off their Miramar Sessions EP which was the original sessions for what wound up being Misty Woman. Of course it is excellent as well.
Misty Woman is a modern classic not enough people have heard. Thank you Black Throne Productions for making this available again, because everyone needs to hear this record. Amazing stuff and I hope this means new ACC stuff is on the horizon. But for now, enjoy this, there is no way you will not. 10/10
Misty Woman is a modern classic not enough people have heard. Thank you Black Throne Productions for making this available again, because everyone needs to hear this record. Amazing stuff and I hope this means new ACC stuff is on the horizon. But for now, enjoy this, there is no way you will not. 10/10
The Jewelry - Powder (Adventure Cat) [Matt Bladen]
Formerly known as Killgurls, the no more marketable The Jewelry, formed in 2024 but if you asked them about marketing and radio play they would probably answer with a sneered "like you know, whatever" (points if you get the reference).
This is because even though they are a new band their music has it's roots in the music of early 90's, on this EP there's loads of riot grrrl punk snarl (Julie's Lunch) and grunge/alt rock wooziness (Cake) with influences from L7, Hole, Verucca Salt, Nirvana and The Pixies (Spoonfed).
At times it's beautiful, others it's noisy, but it's always something new but sounds familiar if you were a teenager during 1994. Aidan Jacques (guitar/vocals), Vanna Rose (bass/vocals), and Sal Stinson (drums) probably weren't even born in 1994 but they manage to make a noise that is authentic to that era of Generation X disassociation.
With all that is happening in the world maybe we need a bit more of a grunge attitude, The Jewelry sparkles with incandescent rage and they won't do what they tell them on Powder. 7/10
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