4 out of 5

Label: Triple X

Producer: Dave Sardy

Man, I love this kinda shit.  I could gobble bands like this up for days.  DAYS.  And then probably get sick and have to go on a twee diet for a while, but whatever.  All part of the circle of something or other.  So Spongehead was part of the late 80s NY sludge that coughed up acts like Barkmarket and Cop Shoot Cop, so its fitting that ‘Market’s Sardy is here to produce (and Doug Henderson from Spongehead will pop up tied into Sardy projects… and Tod from CSC gets tossed in the mix as well).  Spongehead didn’t seem to make as much of a splash as other groups in the scene, and though the loud trashy stomp is appealing, you can tell why – the elements feel culled from other groups and mixed together to make a sorta’ unique sound.  It’s not that it’s not good and won’t get your head a’noddin’, but the lyrics – a rather predictable brew of cynical topics talked about crassly – have been slathered upon our ears by more creative writers, and the song structure / style – skronk-heavy hardcore noise with a thick and rumbly low end bass and drums – wants to be tough so bad but doesn’t always have the chops to pull it off.  But do I like the band?  I love them.  However, bite-sized is probably the best way to sample them, since it comes and goes before you start tuning in too closely to those lesser-than aspects.

‘Brainwash’ also has the benefit of one of the band’s best songs – the title track, actually – as well as being led off by a rollicking fuck-all cover of ‘Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey,’ which shows that the band could play the duff out of its instruments as they improvise explosions of noise all over the song.  It’s a perfect lead-in, and the energy carries over to ‘VR’, which is good, since the treatise to internet sex is the rather dated.  ‘Plumber’s Lament’ is where things get a  little shaky, the general ‘river of shit’ metaphor just relied on very some general grimness and sorta stealing the production style from a ‘Gimmick’ Barkmarket track… y’know, assumedly thanks to Sardy.  But the title track plus two others bring the EP back around to solid ground, each stumbling across rockin’ sounds that do the job for their 3 minute runtime.

Sardy is certainly a boon here, clearing up some of the hiss that made Sponge’s full record a bit of same-soundey after a while.  But I’m unsure what the point was to include a radio edit of ‘Plumber’ as a secret track.  It’s a pretty pointless wait for nothing new.

If you’re looking to flesh out your 90s hardcore catalogue with some gritty street-level stuff (and you’re always going on about that, for christ’s sake), then here’s the EP for you.  Go find it in a used bin somewhere and help the store have room to put out more cheap goodies.