Anti-Gravity Bunny

Ava Luna – Wrenning Day (Infinite Best)

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Alright you guys, this is it, the last time I try to persuade you of the ways of Ava Luna. I’ve given you their first two self released CD-R EPs, 3rd Avenue Island & Services (now available together on one slab of vinyl!), and now they’ve dropped their debut full length, also on vinyl (obviously). It’s a fuckin stunner. These guys have really honed in on something spectacularly original, a hopefully trademarked brand of sexy soul punk. Mostly drums n synth, with some guitars & strings thrown in to liven shit up and keep it classy, but Ava Luna’s secret weapon are everyone’s fucking voices. Carlos’ is incredible, powerful, gritty & smooth, hitting falsettos like nobody’s business, and the girls, oh my god those honied female harmonies are elating, they bring this shit to the next level. If you’ve been following Ava Luna since 3rd Ave, then Ice Level may seem a bit less abrasive. They’ve toned it down a bit, but it still gets rowdy as hell and loud enough to annoy the neighbors. The beats still sway between simple & danceable to jerky & even more danceable. They do the quiet-loud thing so well, mostly due to the quiet parts being so fucking captivating, just a lonely slow beating drum, maybe a little synthy melody, and the most beautiful vocals you’ve ever heard. So unbelievably fucking good. Shake it, be serenaded, work it, swoon, sexiness abound. This is the real deal you guys. No more fucking around. Time to join Ava Luna’s soul punk party.

Fuck Friends – Too Drunk To Tattoo (self released)

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Download Vomit On The Bible And Kickflip The Cross

Philly’s newest (so this isn’t new I guess whoops) black punk, courtesy of the dude from Lonesummer. A lot like Lonesummer, instead of infusing noise with black metal (or is it the other way around?), he’s destroying punk with a raw BM bomb. Gritty & brutal as fuck. Tinny walls of guitars, mumbling blast beats, and incomprehensible vocals. Songs titled “Straight Edge For Satan” and “Busted Lips And Bent Records” you kinda know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s like if The Frogs attended Satan School, their harshest songs run through an acid bath, then coated in shattered glass & angst. Not quite a joke because it’s too fucking cool, but not taking itself too seriously either. Awesome as hell. Pay what you want for this beast and maybe it’ll be reincarnated on a cassette.

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Note: I got a massive batch of 15 tapes from Peasant Magik. I debated on either giving a few of them the regular full blown review treatment or doing the burst shot quick & dirty reviews to get through as many as possible. I chose the latter. So this is one in a slew of short portraits of some of the newest Peasant Magik releases.
 
As soon as this tape starts up, you’re lost in the fuzz. ROCKIN fuzz. It’s full of high-energy bite-sized punkgaze with obscured boy/girl vocals and even more obscured pop riffs. There’s epic melodies and a slight cosmic feeling that sounds a lot like if Hum made a shoegaze record. I’m sure if Hum did that it would be 100 times better than everything else in the world (including Pet Milk) but this is still a cool enough imagination primer. Either way though, Pet Milk is definitely going for that old school C86 vibe in a truly awesome way. Also, they cover MBV’s “Paint A Rainbow” and they do a pretty decent job.