Labels: salinas
Review by: Alex Deller
The Modern Machines are back with two more stabs at their enjoyably dishevelled punk rawk, somehow managing to muster a racket that’s almost impossible to dislike even when they’re not quite firing on all cylinders. “Today’s The Today (Tonite’s The Nite)” is typically great, fast-paced, rambunctious and mussing up the likes of Husker Du, The Clash and The Replacements in amiably sloppy fashion. Second cut “Bad World” is slightly more throwaway, a loose, party-hungry number packed full of whoopin’ and hollerin’ with a beer bottle slide guitar interlude and the kind of gusto that’s nigh-on impossible to maintain, almost collapsing in on itself by the time things are all wrapped up.
Elsewhere, The Measure’s “Portland” kicks in with a reliably punchy melodic punk base and some reedy vocals that seem to want to bust out and soar, like maybe The Get Up Kids midway between “Four Minute Mile” and “Something To Write Home About.” They round off their side with a slapdash take on Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, making fuller use of their boy/girl vocal combo and even going so far as to include a dollop of wheezing harmonica which, whilst not a dead loss by any means, leaves you rather wanting for another original ditty instead.