HARD FEELINGS - Swell (LP)

Apparently, Doc Corbin Dart or Paul Curran is leading a small-musical-instrument-wielding Warriors-type gang of EastBay via South Florida punks through the slush-covered streets of Duluth, Minnesota. If that sounds like your kind of uproar, Swell… will not disappoint. Oddball nasal vocals howling out personal grass-isn’t-always-greener lyrics over jangling guitar and crashing drums. The lyrics border on stream-of-consciousness, but contain just enough one-line nuggets to be relatable (“But by the end of these nights when we feel alright only to wake and it’s all forgot”—”Bright Side of Life”). Do Ya Hear We? festers got graced with a Hard Feelings set this year, which puts a lot of context around which side of the punk bread their butter is on. Re-purposed screen printed covers and a Xeroxed one page lyric sheet round out this superb release. Like Rembrandt, I’m ready to follow the Hard Feelings gang into enemy territory and leave their tag on every available wall. -RAZORCAKE