Tales of the Salty Bag

Direct Hit! has been getting people pumped for well over a decade. Back in 2013 they came onto my radar through their debut LP on Red Scare, Brainless God . People were raving about this album when it came out, and I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a grower for me. There were songs on it that were very (sonically) '97 Blink 182 to me, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of that..because they were mixed in with songs that were 80s(ish) hardcore punk and the odd public domain twisting (after a good minute of trying to make heads or tails of the 90s pop punk element I realized that Direct Hit! [and Rational Anthem] are giving me that follow up to Dude Ranch that I've pined for [but with far better lyrics]). Brainless God was a roulette wheel of sounds. I typically get into the sonic elements before lyrics, so I can be a little slow on the uptake of concept albums, it took a while for me to really digest Brainless God. Luckily I took the time to really get into Direct Hit!, on

 In June of 2013 Bloated Kat Records put out 2 absolutely bangin' pop punk albums..who's album titles both referenced a band that I'm not terribly into (I'm not sure if there references were tongue in cheek or genuine [does it really matter? {no}]). Rational Anthem's Whatevermind on June 5, then Lipstick Homicide's Out Utero on June 18th (I still have the silk screened Out Utero 12" cardboard hanging in my kids room from the order). I've written about Rational Anthem before on this here blog, but I don't believe I've written about Lipstick Homicide (who just played their first show in a minute). On Out Utero Lipstick Homicide brings their Lookout/94 sound with a bit of bubblegum. Dual vocalists one cleaner (I think that's Kane Edwards) and one that's a bit more raspy (I believe that's Rachel Feldmann). Harmonies pop up here and there and everything's delivered with a bit of a sneer. The lyrics are cutting with a dry sense of hum