Abnormal

 Selected Discography:

Playing for Pussy (Tiger, 1997)

Not much information about this Oslo quintet as they the Tales from the Fat Side 7" on Hit Me! Records which is included on their one full-length, Playing for Pussy. Loud melodic hardcore not unlike Guttermouth or any other SoCal "bropunk". The recording is cruddy with an overall mushy feel and the vocals being drowned out by the roaring skate punk riffs. Lyrically, Playing for Pussy is mostly dumb bordering on offensive songs about drag queens, Mom putting you on a diet, and really dumb "skit" about ladies fawning over the dumbest acoustic balladeer ever. Oh, there's an attempt at a ska song about falling in love over the internet (Netscape, even!) When Abnormal tries to be somewhat serious they rally against politicians and straight edge. Overall, Playing for Pussy is another overlong (over 50 minutes!) that's rages with its catchy yet simple riffs ripe to grind an ollie or something. If this was an ep and not as sophomoric, it might be a decent run-of-the-mill skate punk album. Oh well. Of course, this CD wouldn't be complete without a hidden track of the band fucking around with a stupid dance track.    

The Abducted

Selected Discography:

Self-Titled (V.M.L. Records, 1997)

There isn’t much information out there on The Abducted. From what I gathered they were from the D.C, area and this eponymous release was their one and only. The album is 19 songs in just over a half hour that’s chuck full of straightforward hardcore thrashers mixed with Ramones styled Lookout! Records punk of the Queers or Screeching at their most ferocious. However, The Abducted also isn’t afraid to whoa-oh their way through a couple of their more melodic tracks. Lyrically the band hates a lot of things: high school, emo kids, boneheaded skinheads, more emo kids, and most of all, you. It’s not all vitriol as The Abducted is smitten with that American Girl who they want to take to the drive-in. They also like Judy even though she’s a serial killer. Pop-punk with fangs and claws.

A

Selected Discography:

How Ace Are Buildings (Tycoon/London, 1997)

A vs. Monkey Kong (Tycoon/London, 1999)

Started in the mid-1980s as the prog influenced, Grand Designs, this Suffolk, England band decided to do 180 by fusing baggy pants Grebo psychedelia with baggy pants SoCal melodic skate rock. It’s all loud guitars and catchy riffs on A’s first full-length, How Ace Are Buildings. The entire album is ripe for whatever X-Games/Warped tour is coming near you with its head bouncing hip-hop drumbeats, Britpop keyboards, and nonsensical singalong lyrics that conveys a general feeling of bratty adolescent fun as well as post adolescent angst. The album only suffers in its overlength of both the runtime of the album as well as the songs. The follow-up, A vs. Monkey Kong suffers from the same problems as its predecessor, the songs are too long and there’s too many of them. However, this time the punk energy is on the backburner as the band tries to rewrite Blur’s “Song 2” several diverse ways to underwhelming success. Songs like “Old Folks,” “Miles Away” and “Jason’s Addiction” recapture the catchy boisterous fun of How Ace Are Buildings, but the rest of the album is mishmash of undercooked melodic alterna-punk tunes with a bunch of bloops and bleeps with lyrics about missing Lake Tahoe.