Various
Destroy All Art Volume 2

"Destroy All Art centers on the late ‘90s, as bands like the Reatards, Clone Defects, Functional Blackouts, and Baseball Furies, on labels like Goner and Rip Off, among many, really embraced the Killed By Death comps and the most sizzling, comically violent, lo-fi sounds of the original late-‘70s punk era. The Beatles/Rolling Stones/Kinks debates of underground trash rock went from Ramones/Dead Boys/Damned to Electric Eels/ Pagans/Crime. And yes, if those names seem to be chronologically more obscure, Destroy All Art offers no bells to ring. But this second volume offers a ton of crazed sounds that will ring your bell!

There are speed-spazz crashers like the opener, “Ride Baby Ride” from the Conmen and the Neumans’ “Ready to Go.” “Social Skills” from the Seculars take a pair of pliers to a Teengenerate-ed run-through and make it all about exploding trash can snare ker-plunks. There’s some Mummies-loving, like the Arch Villians and The Nubees, who probably kicked around their tinker toy instruments in a damp basement somewhere.

A few other unexpected rib-jabs abound that add intrigue, like the stray wah-wah stomp at the end of the Knotts “I Don’t Wanna Know, I Can’t Be Around” and the screeching sister on “Surfing Queen” from the Babysitters Club. The swishy glam-punk of “Neutral Eyes” (The Ignatz), and the kindred bubblegum heart in Rust’s “Two-Faced” are almost groovy for a KBD-indebted crew. Almost.

Compared to the first volume though, Volume 2 of Destroy All Art leans a little less towards the “art-damaged” end of that decade’s punk – Aerosol Species’ “Chick Revolt” falling best into that camp – and powers along on a scraggly garage rush. Jetpack’s “Throw Down” is probably the most physically smashy track on the comp, featuring some great chorus yells in the back that make you imagine what this band could’ve done, maybe even make a classic ‘90s garage rock album, if they’d hung around." - Eric Davidson (Please Kill Me / New Bomb Turks)