Words by Jim Testa
Jim Testa founded the highly influential zine, Jersey Beat in 1982 which he continues to edit to this day. Through writing for his own publication and a number of other outlets, including as a staff writer for Hudson County’s Jersey Journal, he has championed local, regional and national up-and-coming bands. Punk has always shunned credentials, but rest assured that Jim won’t lead you astray.
GRAND SLAM
SLUDGEWORTH – Second Time Around (Red Scare Industries)
For a band that barely made it out of the early ’90s alive, Sludgeworth have had a remarkably long afterlife. Formed in Chicago by Dan “Vapid” Schafer and Brian “Vermin” McQuaid (after Screeching Weasel broke up for a while), the group lasted just long enough to release a lone LP, then disappeared into the kind of cult status that tends to grow quietly but steadily over decades. That reputation makes Second Time Around feel less like a comeback than a continuation that took the long way around. Thirty-five years after What’s This?, Sludgeworth sound like they picked up right where they left off—older but not softened.
What set them apart in the first place still applies. While their roots are firmly in punk, Sludgeworth always leaned harder on melody than many of their Chicago peers. You can hear traces of Naked Raygun and The Descendents, but the band was never chasing pop so much as honing sturdy, no-frills songwriting. They occupied that interesting middle ground where hardcore kids started writing indie rock songs without quite admitting it yet.
If anything, the surprise isn’t that Sludgeworth are back, it’s how natural it sounds. There’s no attempt to update their style or chase relevance. Instead, they double down on what they did well, and it not only holds up just fine but comes with a message: You can’t change the past, the future is unwritten, make the most of today. For those who were there the first time, it’s a welcome return. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that some bands didn’t need a long discography to leave a mark.
HOME RUNS
TAXI GIRLS – Static (Stomp Records)
Montreal’s Taxi Girls waste zero time making their case on Static, a debut LP that sounds like a band that already paid its dues somewhere else. The trio bangs out a familiar but effective blend of pop punk, garage, and power pop, and they know exactly how to work it. “Say It!” sets the tone with that classic quiet/loud tension, moody verses cracking open into a bright, punchy chorus, while “Secret Handshake” dials things back just enough to show they’re not locked into one gear. The standout, though, is “Don’t Leave Me Hanging,” a fast, no-frills ripper that perfectly combines urgency and melody. The songs are tight, the hooks land, and the harmonies seal the deal. Static doesn’t reinvent anything, but it doesn’t need to. It just does the job really well.
TRIPLE LUTZ – In the Hands of an Angry Mob (SBÄM Records)
Portland’s Triple Lutz bill themselves as the world’s only “Tonya Harding-core” band – “half queer, half femme, half bald” – which sounds like a joke until you hear the record and realize they don’t need a gimmick at all. In the Hands of an Angry Mob is all velocity and attitude, blasting out of the gate with “Trigger Warning” and barely pausing for air after that. They mash hardcore, old-school punk, and a little garage into something that feels chaotic without falling apart. “Don’t Wake Daddy” is a standout, hitting that sweet spot where everything sounds like it might derail but never actually does. Lyrically, they’re not subtle. Think agitprop with a sense of humor: climate collapse, broken systems, mental health, and a general refusal to play nice. It’s the kind of thing that could come off like a checklist, but the delivery sells it. Front person Asher and guitarist Kay trade vocals in a way that keeps everything on edge – half shout-along, half meltdown – while the rhythm section of Sean and Lily keep things moving at a pace that doesn’t leave much room to breathe. When they do slow down, the message just hits that much harder. The whole thing feels immediate, a little unhinged, and very much alive. If you’re still insisting punk is dead, this is the kind of record that suggests the problem isn’t the music – it’s where you’re looking.
TOILET RATS – Black Cats (Sweet Cheetah Records)
The backstory here reads like a late-night public access fever dream: Tommy Ratz, holed up in some Minneapolis bunker circa 1985–86, surviving on sewer-soaked magazines and degraded VHS tapes while cranking out this record in total isolation. Sure. Back on Earth 1, Toilet Rats is the brainchild of Thomas Rehbein, who may not actually live underground but clearly isn’t operating on the same wavelength as the rest of us. Black Cats sounds like what happens when someone feeds a pile of vintage synths, drum machines, and guitars through a maze of effects pedals and just lets it all run wild. There are moments that nod toward Pretty Hate Machine-era Trent Reznor, but where Nine Inch Nails went all-in on gloom and self-seriousness, Toilet Rats keep one foot in the gutter and the other on a banana peel. It’s goth-industrial with a sense of humor—unsettling, but not above cracking a grin. The songs hit hard and stick fast. There’s a dense, mechanical throb underneath everything, like you’re trapped inside a factory that’s somehow learned how to write hooks. Over that, Rehbein delivers vocals that wobble somewhere between unhinged and oddly charming, recalling early Devo if they’d spent more time watching horror movies than art films. It’s weird, it’s noisy, it’s occasionally ridiculous… and it’s a lot more fun than it has any right to be.
ADULT MAGIC – Are You Even Happy? (Dead Broke Rekerds)
If there’s a strategy for avoiding the sophomore slump, Adult Magic may have found it: take seven years between your debut and next release and come back sounding like you never left. Featuring members of Iron Chic, Broadcaster, Sister Kisser, Crow Bait, and Get Bent, the band sits comfortably in that overlap between pop-punk and ’90s alternative, where big guitars, strong melodies, and a steady rhythmic push do most of the heavy lifting. Are You Even Happy? is packed with thick, distorted chords, driving bass lines, and vocals that hit with conviction. It’s a familiar sound, but one that still works when it’s played this well. The band rarely lets up, though when they do on tracks like “Sore Eyes” and “Drift & Drive,” there’s a little more room to hear what’s going on (it would help if the lyrics were easier to find; these seem worth spending time with). “Seneca Mantra” leans more into melody, “Sick Sad World” channels a Bad Religion-style urgency with a pointed edge, and “Roll Along” closes the album on a more reflective note, stretching out to make its case for perseverance. It may have taken a while to arrive but Are You Even Happy? delivers what you’d want from a band like this: energy, hooks, and just enough substance to keep it from being disposable.
HURRY – Zoned Out (Lame-O Records)
If you’re the type who files everything into neat little genre boxes, you might hesitate to call Hurry “punk.” But loosen the definition a bit – add some crunch, some emotional fallout, maybe a little depth – and Zoned Out fits just fine. Matt Scottoline wrote these songs in the aftermath of a long, stalled-out relationship finally collapsing, and yeah, you can hear it. The record leans heavy on reflection and regret, but it never drags. Instead, it finds that sweet spot where heartbreak turns into something oddly comforting. The guitars shimmer more than they snarl, the melodies stick around longer than you expect, and Scottoline’s vocals carry just enough fragility to sell the whole thing. “The Dumbest Person You’ve Ever Seen” is the obvious standout, landing somewhere between Fountains of Wayne’s bittersweet precision and Teenage Fanclub’s warm haze, basically catnip for anyone who still believes a great chorus can fix your day. From there, the album splits itself with a brief instrumental breather before Scottoline leans into his inner Westerberg on “Complications” and the quietly devastating “Loving In Reverse.” Zoned Out is a well-crafted, deeply felt record that understands exactly what it’s doing, and does it really well. Sometimes that’s more than enough.