5 out of 5

Label: Expert Work Records

Produced by: M. Quinn (recorded by, New Tongues / ? (Mad Anthony)

Sort of atypical tracks for both contributing bands equals a great pairing of noise rock; any small criticisms I could make – without the notoriety of New Tongues covering Fugazi, both they and Mad Anthony are arguably “generic” sounding in the scene – the performances are great enough to send one out to explore both bands further, which is ideal, and then to bump things over the line, proceeds from this (both physical and digital) go to charity.

Theming on Black Lives Matter, NT turns Fugazi’s flippant punker Great Cop into a brutal, anti-police diatribe through attitude alone, and yeah, I’m maybe suggesting I like NT’s cover over the original. They expand the bridge section towards the end to be a full-on noise freakout, and adjust the punk spits of MacKaye’s singing into hardcore shouts – more of an accusation than something you’re snidely saying while kicking rocks.

On Mad Anthony’s side, ‘Bad Apples’ spoiling the bunch obviously slots into the same subject matter well; I love the way this flips between spoken vocals and shouted ones, and the way the kind of hardcore post-rock vibe shifts more into punk towards the end. This was pulled from an anthology album, apparently; MA’s sound that I’ve heard tends more towards revivalist rock of the Stooges / garage rock variety, so that they leaned so convincingly into hardcore (with New Tongues Shane Johnson attributing vocals, but still) is noteworthy.

…Although maybe that’s a negative if you do explore other tracks from each band, since NT tends more towards a slightly industrial-flavored post-rock over the hardcore vibes here – i.e. this 7″ somewhat misleads – but whatever, that also makes the songs here uniquely worth listening to.