VEE DEE - Furthur LP (CIQ07)

AVAILABLE ON VINYL ONCE MORE

VEE DEE appear to be the darkest and deepest on the Criminal IQ roster. The eclipe cover art (like the cover of the Bauhaus album The Sky Has Gone Out) reflects the emotional terrain covered in 60s psychedelic meets 70s/80s punk doom buggies. They have the potential, if they want to, to sculpt a vision as well as a sound. Flashes of lyrical provocation on cuts like "Flashes Of Her" and "Kaleidoscope Death Ray" make one think as well as drink and/or dance. I look forward to “furthur” experiments in their songs with harmonies, EXTRA fuzz bass, studio effects, and lyrics that probe existence while kicking your ass. If you want a band that rocks your head and your butt try Vee Dee as they stand out among many punk trios mining 60s-80s punk today.

From NOWWAVE
So, yeah, Vee Dee's debut album looks like crap on the outside. If you judged a book by its cover, you'd probably assume that these guys were a bunch of illiterate ex-con drunks getting by on one-and-a-half chords and an encyclopedic knowledge of anal sex. But put the disc in the player and BOOM, you got yourself a party. FINALLY we get another punk record with guts, balls, attitude, and something resembling real style ! These three Chi-Town ruffians play it loose and hard, grooving tough-as-nails 70s punk jams laced with lotsa requisite Windy City grit

From Aquariusrecords.com
"Huh, what's this? Vee Dee? It's got black and white, 'fucked up and photocopied' looking graphics, let's put it on...wow, some unknown punk rock outfit from decades past? The first song "Flashes Of Her" could be something
by Radio Birdman, or maybe even a song off of that Simply Saucer album... Now, this other track is reminding me of the Misfits. Good stuff. What's the story? Is this something outta the pages of Black To Comm fanzine? A band from one of those Bloodstains comps? Nope, these boys are from the here and now -- Chicago to be precise -- and they sure know how to make a retro-sounding (and looking) punk record that kicks ass.

Pedestrians - Future Shock CD (CIQ14) & LP (residue Records)
NEW!! LP IS ALREADY IN IT'S 2nd PRESSING!!
Former members of Chicago bands New Grenada, Dearborn SS, Dead Reckoning, and Trepan Nation leave their hardcore past to travel sideways in time and relative dimensions; simultaneously sounding like numerous late 70s to early or even mid 80s mid-tempo straight forward punk bands from various scenes and yet sounding timeless as well. The Pedestrians have a way of injecting meat and potatoes (okay fake meat for the vegans) arrangements into your blood and yet they remain distinguishable within the current Chicago scene of hardcore and punk n'roll. Their minimal attack sticks like a BBQ rib rack which compliments the sobering green (with red flashes)lyrical tea. The lyrics tend to be intelligent fragments of rage and despair that, when fused to the rock, has an almost Wire (Pink Flag era) effect. Mixing lyrical abstraction with quick scientific reductions of the history of the beat combo thus building their own weapon. They explore the possibilities of a few well placed dynamics shifts and other sparingly sprinkled curves once they have hypnotized you with their minimalism. I should also mention the snarling female backing vocals on "Caution Final Exit" are provided by Ashley from Signal Lost. This record made 8 top ten lists in Issue #273 of MAXIMUMROCKNROLLMAGAZINE Feb 2006.

REVIEWS
Suffice to say, this band plays driving punk rock that manages to sound both classic and totally fresh all at once – Maybe it’s their unique song writing sense that makes this one of the hands-down classics of 2005. - Maximumrocknroll Magazine

For the really great records there’s just not all that much to say, especially since my vocabulary consists of “rad” and “awesome.” But it’s pretty safe to say that if you like the inventiveness of Articles of Faith. The boiling-over anger of The Offenders, and the total steam roller feel of Fucked Up (and let’s face it – you do!), this is right up your alley. If you buy three records this year, this ought to be one of them. RAZORCAKE MAGAZINE # 30

In De Winkel LP/CD
Dan The Fan acted appropriately by dropping his pants onstage with The Krunchies (see CD insert); In De Winkel encourages outrageous behavior (high school lunchroom food fights included) as the clusterfuck of passionate energy ,driven by trebly, harsh, unrelenting, shrieking, and short impressive songs, jolts the id into action. Kevin's clean guitar tone cuts like The Feederz and JFA; Matt makes like Animal from The Muppet Show, Amanda's spirited piercing vocals should have been tape looped in deep echo for infinity through out the freakout part on "Not So Instant Karma”. The Krunchies will be remembered for In Der Winkel as it is one of the best high energy yet OBNOXIOUS and proud of it releases to come out of Chicago in some time.

SLEAZEGRINDER
“The guitar reminds me of a bratty child scribbling on the walls with a crayon, and the drums are like silverware falling off the table. The songs are all about a minute long, and if they were any longer, than surely, the neighbors would be calling the cops already. “In De Winkel” is dizzy, annoying, screechy, and spectacularly obnoxious from end to end.”

ODYSSEY ZINE
“Some albums are so fierce that you have to just soak it in with your mouth agape – letting the tracks sift through your brain while you manage only a single thought… That thought being: “son of a bitch!”. This is a veritable aural stabbing with speedy tempos, rampaging, locomotive-wreck guitar riffs,
and loony boy/girl shrieking on vocals. This is an easy favorite for the year.”

Available NOW on Vinyl and CD

Raw Power LP/CD (CIQ12)
Originally planned as “Metallic K.O.” but Tom Jones threatened legal action. Paul Caporino and company unleash more rocking humdingers on the world dominated by pap (not inspiring pop/power pop/pop punk) including yet another fresh weenie song "Getting It Up For Physics." M.O.T.O. have a feel for common anxiousness, desperation, fear, vulnerability, and adventure people feel when hungry for love; simultaneously mining areas of great old Chicago power pop bands like Green with The RAMONES, DICKIES, DIDGITS etc. Energy and wit! Some organ (and kick ass harpsichord) and acoustic guitar are added for more texture. This years version of RAW POWER allows Paul to show his song writing muscle and coupled with the music they becomes “Ubermoto” leaving a song that sticks with you for a life time. These are yet more winning examples of MOTO's might which deserve to be played all over the country wherever there are radios available...especially in diners that have great milkshakes and creative ways of preparing fast food. MOTO makes great summer music!
This record was NUMBER 1 CD in the CHICAGO READER for 2005

REVIEWS
Who on Earth would call their album Raw Power? At first you think they don’t know what they’re doing, then you think their just stupidly audacious, then you find out that they’ve been around since 1988 and so it’s just a great reverse inverse record-geek joke.
They’re like “This is our Raw Power!” and they’re right; It’s two giant Balls on fire! – ARTHUR MAGAZINE

If Raw Power had been released in the late 70s it might now be ranked alongside the best of the Ramones or the Undertones. The 14 lo-fi, high-adrenaline tunes charge by in 34 minutes, and the band's boneheaded shtick belies a rigorous economy and focus. Caporino gets an impressive variety of shades from a three-chord palette: His snotty bubblegum melodies on songs like "Deliver Deliver Deliver" and "Piano Jazz Radio" can trigger surprisingly powerful swells of emotion. He does goofy gabba-gabba-hey punk rock with the best of them ("Getting It Up for Physics," "Flipping You Off With Every Finger of My Hand"), but his wise guy's take on adolescence is as sophisticated as it is funny -- he can invoke the ache of longing by denying that he feels anything. And on "Primeval" -- less a conventional pop song than a mantra -- he manages to make compelling music by repeating a single line for two minutes. Nothing against all the bands out there trying to guess which kind of punk will get fashionable next, but Raw Power is still gonna sound great in 20 years, when everybody's forgotten about Interpol -- it's rock 'n' roll without a sell-by date. (Bob Mehr)CHICAGO READER

Abomination 7" (CIQ11)
Self proclaimed “Gayest Band in Chicago”, The Rotten Fruits offer up this Uber-Spazzy 7” guaranteed to give you a chuckle. When we ran the ROTTEN FRUITS 7” we had reviewers all over the place crying out WTF? Try listening to side one of this and turning to side two without laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all – it’s impossible. One for the music snobs here.

FULL FRONTAL UK
“I sat there and laughed as I couldn´t believe these would be put out on record! Maybe they work better live when everyones pissed up and having fun?”
Excellent stuff…ahem
Thankfully MRR seemed to get it the gist of it. These queer punks have made a funny EP here. The animated, snotty and whiny vocals spew shockingly naughty messages. Their music can be a little simple, sloppy, and subdued, but the vocals elevate the energy and propel the songs into some serious absurdity. For example "Skinhead Boys,"a ska style tune, works well with the whole skinhead homosexual adventure-it leaves me weak-kneed and light-headed! Bold, brash, and beautiful!” We’ll leave it up to you.

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