THROBBIN URGES - 'S/T' LP/CD PRESS

THE ODDYSSEY (THROBBIN URGES - "S/T" LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Loud, incorrigible scuzz-punk with frenzied beats, white-hot, overblown blasts of treble, and all sorts of other great stuff. Blabbering, distorted, driving riffs, and hyperdriven drums clatter along magnificently; they sound just barely in control… so fast, so good. Stupid-wonderful titiles like “Get Rad” and “Remote Control Pussy” provide as much background as you need–these cats have few redeeming social value. Maybe it’s the weird keyboard intro, but when I listen to this record, I want it to be the soundtrack to Surf Nazis must die. Did I mention that I love this? No? Well I love this.

SUGARBUZZ (THROBBIN URGES - "S/T" LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Ripping the heart from the chest cavity of the dusty punk rock corpse and hot wiring it up to a 12 volt battery making it dance like a chicken that has just recently had it’s head chopped off for a Sunday dinner.

Pagans and Reagan Youth flambéed over low budget scrappy, scratchy recordings made in living rooms across North America amongst shag carpets and bongs left over from parents 60’s love ins. Suburban houses filled with toxic waste and kids with three eyes and five arms playing mutant punk rock the way it was meant to sound. Raw, Fucked and Desperate.

Raw! Raw! Raw!

BMO'S WORLD (THROBBIN URGES - "S/T" LP/CD, Dead Beat)
I don't know quite what they're on about, but on a day like today, a day when I'm angry at the world for no reason whatsoever, The Throbbin Urges are just what I needed. Most of it has the sound of a home-made demo, with a total lack of clarity - just some guys in the basement bashing away. Sometimes, that's enough. Especially if they sound like they mean it, which these guys do. I can't catch a single word of lyric, so I don't know for sure, but they sound pissed off. Which isn't too surprising since they come from the middle of nowhere where there's likely nothing to be except angry. Kind of like where I live, only more so. Nice debut, boys.

NOW WAVE (THROBBIN URGES - "S/T" LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Occasionally, when I express the desire to perform oral sex on my significant other, she'll respond with the suggestion that I might not wanna go down there today, because she hasn't washed her "area" in a while, and it smells really "strong". Such warnings do little to deter me, and in fact intensify my yearning to visit the land down under. I mean, every real man knows it: part of the thrill of eating pussy is the smell. Pussy should smell like pussy, not a bed of flowers or a fruit salad. When I'm down there, I like it nice and stinky in all its sloppy glory. Cleaning it beforehand would deprive me of the complete clam-diving experience.

I feel the same way about punk rock music: usually it's far more satisfying if it hasn't been "cleaned up". Maybe if you're going for a poppy or melodic punk sound, I can understand the benefits of a little studio gloss or some general production cleanliness. But if you play raw, nasty punk fucking rock, why risk dulling your rough edge? Primitive, dirty recording is the way to go. A case in point: the Throbbin Urges' self-titled LP. Circumstances dictated a bone-raw, home-recorded approach for the album, and thank god for that! I just can't imagine liking this release as much if the recording were "better". The so-called imperfections - the distortion, the squeals, the hissing, the drowned-out vocals - are part of this recording's charm. There's a huge difference between lo-fi and "shitty" - and this Midland, Michigan trio demonstrates that ably on this scorching debut. The guitars will just about rip out your ears, but they don't obscure the precise, destructive drumming. You can close your eyes and easily imagine that the band's right in there in the room with you, and they're gonna tear the place apart! Right off the bat, it's clear that the Throbbin Urges are an absolute force. Every blown-out note, every decibel of clatter, sounds perfectly in place. The playing is tight and intense; the vocals are barely decipherable but wailed with vehemence. And although musical subtleties are hard to discern beneath the screeching wall of noise, the material is too strong not to shine through. Songs like "Sitcom Timebomb" and "Under Suspicion" jump out at you at once and demand to be noticed. Tackling various ends of the punk spectrum, from fast-and-fierce hardcore to mid-tempo rock n' roll to crazy "modern" punk, the group shows a good deal of range and the rare ability to sound "different" without breaking from a basic punk style. I'm never good at predicting these sorts of things, but I'd put my money on the Throbbin Urges becoming one of America's most acclaimed and buzzed-about punk groups in the very near future. Dead Beat's winning streak continues!

OUTBACK ROCK N ROLL (THROBBIN URGES - "S/T" LP/CD, Dead Beat)
Heading out of Midland,Michingan state, rumour has it that all the tracks were recorded in various living rooms, Adam from the band lives in a generator powered log cabin and the fact that Midalnd is a toxic wasteland you have the feeling what your in for.

This is not some shit lo-fi outing. Bands pay good money to studios to sound like this. The band are tight fast scuzzed out. Its not your standard garage rock n roll outing. These guys can be contenders. They have the songs, some are slower, others are like a punch in the face. Some have that angular feel to them that seems to be popular at the moment. Its tight. Sounds great.

OK Throbbin Urges, great name, first track has a weird organ feel to it similar to Lost Sounds, then it drops. Pure trebly feedback disjointed rock n roll noise.Sitcom Timebomb follows and the LP is then rockin out. You cannot go wrong with this, this is how it continues.

From start to finish, this is a great LP. Straight from CDr to vinyl, and nothing lost on the way. . There is good lofi and bad lofi. This is totally awesome. Of couse you get the extra track on the vinyl, so go buy it.

If you like Pagans, Dead Boys, Guitar Wolf, Tenngenerate, Carbonas, Feelers etc pick this up.