Here's a split from these two Brazilian punk rock acts. First up is Estudantes from Rio de Janeiro, playing a pretty raw sort of garage rock/punk style. The recording is really rough, with a little bit of distortion on some of the vocals, a rugged guitar sound (and performance), and then a fairly solid rhythm section holding things down. Their songs are pretty short and straightforward with a little bit of a quirky 80's California punk sound (mainly due to the tight bass runs and some of the snottier vocal shouts). This isn't bad, but I'm not that into it just because the recording is a little bit flimsy and inconsistently mixed for me. Their style isn't my favorite either, and I don't think the guitars should be so sloppy on occasion, but they do have some cool things going on. I definitely like the faster and more aggressive direction of tracks like "Br@snet Punx" a lot, and their cover of the Circle Jerks' "Beverly Hills" is definitely a winner (here called "Bervelly Rio")! Next up are the Evil Idols from Curitiba. Their style is actually fairly similar to that of Estudantes, straight down to the garage rock types of chord progressions and the really dry, rugged recording. They also have some Californian sounds happening, but this time it's more in a not-so-chaotic Black Flag sort of way (musically - especially in tracks like "Evil Idol"). One thing I enjoy more about the Evil Idols is that they're tighter and a bit more energetic/catchy, there are a lot of rocked out riffs that really pack a punch (see "Bike Age"). They're diverse too, because "Your Boss is the Enemy" even throws out some surprising oi influences and a bit of melody as well. Pretty cool. The CD comes in a slim cardboard slipcase with images of collaged newspaper that have some drawings, photos, and handwritten tracklists placed on top of them. Inside is a large foldout black and white insert on matte paper with more collaged layouts and lyrics, illustrations, etc. It looks pretty damn cool. Each band gets one side of the insert, and all of Estudantes' lyrics are in Portuguese, with Evil Idols opting to sing in English. The Estudantes side of the insert doesn't offer English translations, but the illustrations (simple scribbled looking "comics" in a way) might hint at a sort of socio-political message... for example the drawing of a teacher pointing to some lines on a blackboard while holding a gun that says "Made in USA" on it. Evil Idols, on the other hand, sing about life's hardships, drinking, tattoos, more drinking... you get the picture, right? This is a solid split, nothing earth shattering, but it holds its ground. I'd have to give it to the Evil Idols overall, though.
[L?j?]
Running time - 26:51, Tracks: 15
[Notable tracks: Quero Morrer, Bervelly Rio, Br@snet Punx, Bike Age, Evil Idol, Lotus]
L?j? Records - http://www.laja.com.br
