Labels: self released
Review by: Alex Deller
A twin attack from the depths of Pittsburgh on this neat n’ hefty lil 10″. Both bands are new to me, so we’ll start with T-Tops since they feature a familiar face: Jason Jouver, who’s been lending his bass skills to the resurrected Don Caballero. These guys play scungy, lunge-y rock music that roots itself in the world of Karp, Tad and the Melvins but can’t seem to hide a cheeky fondness for ZZ Top. This, of course, means their brand of ROCK is dirty, low-slung and sticky, so if you happen to graze a knuckle while flailing along to their three songs then ferchrissakes get yourself a tetanus shot. Their pals Cyrus Gold have decked their side of the split out in some fantastically lurid artwork that features a three-eyed barbarian woman with a wolf head for a hand standing astride a cymbal-crashing baboon. While this gives you no indication whatsoever as to what their music sounds like, the comparisons that spring to mind … Coulier, Life Detecting Coffins, a more fun Majority Rule … are hardly likely to ring any bells either, so let’s just say they deal in wibbly-wobbly technicalities, occasional knockabout rock-outs and hoarse, lung-parched vocals that all falls somewhere between math-rock, the dying days of 00s screamo and a thinly-veiled loved of heavy metal.