Limp Wrist "Thee Official Limp Wrist Discography" CD
[Cheap Art]
Sheesh! 41 tracks of gay straightedge hardcore, literally, in a mere 34 minutes! I'm sure most people know that former Los Crudos vocalist Martin Sorrondeguy fronts this band, and represented herein are a slew of short, fast, to the point hardcore tracks with basic structures and all out yelling vocals that have a really dry, hoarse ring. The material was taken from their "Don't Knock It 'til You Try It" demo, the "What's Up With the Kids" 7", and the self-titled LP, with some unreleased material and compilation tracks thrown in to make things complete. The sound is no frills hardcore/punk and to be completely honest there's not a great deal of variety, so most of the songs sound similar to one another and aside from the somewhat unique air of the vocals it's a pretty traditional sound that doesn't really break any of the rules. But my guess would be that that's the point. Expect songs that tend to run an average of 30 - 45 seconds each with basic power chord rhythms, a little bit of a rock 'n' roll vibe at times, some slightly noisier riffing or guitar textures on rare occasion, and of course fairly speedy tempos (after all, the songs are short). "No Choice" is a cover by The Faith, but unless I missed something I think everything else is original material. "Define" is the first song that feels a little angrier than the others; "Cruisin' at the Show" opens with bass and comes off as a bit catchier with its solid rhythm and brief spurts of discordant notes in the distance; "Limp Wrist" is more midpaced and anthemic (as any song sharing its name with the band should be), standing as one of the most memorable tracks herein; "Brotherhood" has some forceful note bends that stand out from much of the other playing, and its bass break continues a bit of a darker edge; "Thanks" is among the more memorable of the faster and no nonsense tracks; "Angry Queen" is shorter, faster, and more pissed than many of the other tunes, while "The Ode" is midpaced and has a strong rock feel and "Complex" continues a that vibe with more of a pounding bass presence; etc. Seeing as this is the band's complete collection of recorded works there are some duplicate tracks, and most of the original versions sound almost identical, but it's still cool to have everything documented in one place. As far as the sound quality goes the recordings are a little raw (intentionally) and kind of have a dated sound to 'em, but it works fine. The guitars are somewhat loose and aren't going for an overly distorted sound, which gives the rhythm section more room; the drums sound fine and the bass tone is great (I wish it were more dominant); and the vocals rest right alongside the guitars at the forefront. There are a few different recording sessions involved here, but all of the material plays through without a hitch and sounds very fucking cohesive, so that's awesome. There's a little bit of variation in clarity and fullness, but not enough to distract from the continuity. The layout keeps it pretty simple with a brightly colored full color cover and black and white innards, including a brief statement of the band's coming together/intent, all of the lyrics, and plenty of photos. Needless to say there's a pretty hilarious sense of humor throughout, and I actually got a kick out of a lot of the content. Many of the tracks definitely have an underlying serious message, but for the most part lyrics like, "Bring on the drag kings with their big fake dicks, I'll hang with hustlers, leather boys, and punks, I'm just not down with this normal world junk," kind of give you an idea of what to expect. But there are plenty of attacks on religion, macho bullshit, homophobia (of course), etc. Also included is a little over 10 minutes of CD-Rom footage that's basically a live set recorded in Los Angeles. The quality's actually pretty good, both the audio and the visuals, considering it's just a handheld sort of thing. There's plenty of between song banter and all that stuff, so... that's not a bad addition at all. 41 tracks is a little much of this action to take in one sitting, even at just over a half-hour, but this is a solid collection of entertainingly humorous hardcore with a message, and I think things have been handled well as far as documentation and such is concerned. Not too shabby. (7/10)
Running time - 34:07, Tracks: 41
[Notable tracks: Define, Cruisin' at the Show, Limp Wrist, Brotherhood, Thanks, The Ode, Complex]
Cheap Art Records - http://www.cheap-art.com

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