Glyders “Forever” 2025. Drag City Records. Chicago-based bluesy, glammy and riff-heavy hard psych,  Forever is Glyders fourth LP (their first two look to be cassette and possibly digital-only releases). Gobs of 60’s and 70’s sounds (Beatles, CCR, T. Rex), kinda similar to King Gizzard but less space jammy (usually – “Hard Ride” is pretty trippy and Side B’s “Steppin’/Tell Me About the Rabbit” is like a million minutes long). I haven’t seen Glyders perform, to my knowledge, but they did play at Milwaukee’s Psych Fest in ’24. Tracks like “New Realm” bring in their Chicago roots with a blues-forward guitar sound but that track also has some exotic flavors noodling around too. One of my top tracks is the psych-stomper “Stone Shadow.” The opening track “Super Glyde” is another great trippy rocker while “Moon Eyes” and “Thousand Miles” go a bit Americana twang.

Red Rockers “Condition Red” 1981 415 Records. The debut LP from New Orleans-based 80’s punks. Of note: their cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” features Jello Biafra on backup vocals. It’s a good pairing as Red Rockers are less Cali or east coast hardcore which would become more widespread the next year or two, and more Clash, (they opened for The Clash when they toured Louisiana and Texas in early 1982), The Dils (from whom they got their name from) or DK in their political punk style. Their official first release, an EP from ’80, features a few of the tracks that appear on Condition Red: the single “Guns of Revolution” (also the EP’s title) backed with “Teenage Underground” (also on this LP) plus “Nothing to Lose.” My top tracks are the short, sharp and punchy “Peer Pressure,” “Grow Up,” the anthemic and politically biting “Dead Heroes,” the aforementioned Johnny Cash cover “Folsom Prison Blues” and the dark “Hold On.”

The Art Gray Noizz Quintet “The Art Gray Noizz Quintet” 2022. Bang! Records. The debut LP from the noisy, sometimes sludgy, frequently bizarre post punk band whose members have some solid noise rock pedigrees (though I admit to not knowing most of them: Lubricated Goat, The Beasts of Bourbon, Woman and Live Skull) and collaborations/show billings that include Lydia Lunch, the Scientists and Mudhoney.  Fronted by Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm), he says, “The quintet was originally put together as a one-off to play at the afterparty for the film Color of Noizz, which is actually a tribute to Tom Hazelmeyer and Amphetamine Reptile Records.” (from a article/interview that can be found here) I’m guessing the band (and Stuart) put on quite a show – I’m pretty sure Joe picked up this record last year or so at a show here in Milwaukee that I didn’t attend – the vocals are dark and gritty, Wait-esque but a bit less gravelly. Deep spine pounding bass balanced by occasional high-end saxophone squawk, some tracks are swampy (“Take Over This Town“) while others are fairly ass-shakey, including a couple of my top picks: the psychedelic stomping opener “A Call to You,” “Life of Crime” (which is actually a cover, the original by The Weirdos), the thundering sludge of “Here’s Johnny” and “Harder.”

Here’s a performance of AGNQ with Lydia Lunch from last year.