3 out of 5

Label: RobotRadio Records

Producer: Paper Chase – assuming John Congleton, Red Worms – “Manu Fusaroli e Gigi Battistini”?

The Red Worms stuff is a little iffy – their first track on this split rocks effectively, but the lyrics make you question if the band just lucked into a good riff.  Then their second contribution – “Pop Song” – feels like, well, it feels like a radio punk pop song, which I guess could be the point.  Their last track returns to the sort of on-the-fence feeling, like the punk bands you listened to in high school that weren’t on the radio but you felt like would be if they could be.  Make sense?

So I’m listening to this more for the Paper Chase tracks, admittedly, and though Out Come the Knives is from “Hide the Kitchen Knives” era – though this is a different version, a more acoustic-y, and honestly a tad more haunting version, as Congleton sounds less produced and more unhinged – the other tracks (I think “I’m Your Doctor Now” was on a KRS comp later on) feel like the manic energy of PC’s first album, which is a bit overwhelming when listening to it all at once, so having those tracks broken up by Red Worms punky stuff is actually a good blend, and they are solid Paper Chase songs, dark and delirious.

Not an amazing split, but it’s enough that I would listen to something else by either band if this was my introduction.