Purveyors of a whole world of pop punk and power pop music, Spanish Label Ghost Highway Recordings will be best known for distributing records by The Dahlmanns, Bullet Proof Lovers and Electric Frankenstein. Their contribution to a series of charity releases ‘Music For Gloves’ not only gives a quick insight into the label’s wares, but offers fans a few previously unavailable gems for a good cause.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
NEGATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS – Hell Is…Much Better Than This
Bringing together ex-members of Strike Offensive and Victorian Whore Dogs, UK crust punk/hardcore band Negative Thought Process are an angry bunch. ‘Hell Is…Much Better Than This’ finds the trio absolutely raging through a half dozen tracks in under ten minutes, but also stretching out musically a little further than you’d expect from a band so heavily influenced by grind/crust sounds. It’s all relative, of course, as its difficult to stretch too far when you’ve set boundaries that dictate that nothing should exceed two minutes, but NTP often sound so much more interesting than a lot of similar bands.
ROO PANES – Pacific EP
In the old days, record sales were everything. Bands measured their success by gold and platinum discs. With the advent of the internet – and more specifically the ability to stream music at the push of a button – the measure of success gradually changed. In a world of Spotify and Apple Music users, Roo Panes is a runaway success, having had his music streamed millions of times.
CAPRA – Capra EP
At the beginning of 2020, Capra only had one release behind them, but that was already enough for the band to have shared stages with hardcore champions Today Is The Day and sludge/doom legends Eye Hate God. Their ‘Unholy Gallows’ single showed them to be a hardcore tour de force; a band capable of mixing metallic riffs with the kind of punk-oriented intensities you’d find on a World of Pain or Gallows disc. They already sounded like they were heading for a great future.
MIKEY ERG – Bon Voyage EP
Best known as a member of The Ergs!, Worriers and sometime collaborator with For Science and House Boat, the ever-busy Mikey Erg embarked on a solo career in 2011. His second full-length album, 2019’s ‘Waxbuilt Castles’, found Erg moving away from his typical pop-punk and taking more of a singer-songwriter stance. Often veering into (pre-country music) Ben Kweller territory, it sort of suited him, but came as a surprise for some fans.
For those who disliked Mikey’s more reflective side on that album, some consolation comes with 2020’s ‘Bon Voyage’ EP’ moving back to punk. The EP was specially commissioned by Stardumb Records and Mikey immediately thought about the punk EP’s of his youth, of how they were often a gateway to a new band, often featured exclusive tracks and often featured a cover tune along the way. ‘Bon Voyage’ ticks all of those boxes.