Personality Cult “Dilated”

sfilzen — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 18:42:00 +0000

Personality Cult “Dilated” 2025. Dirtnap Records. Limited edition canary yellow vinyl (Green Noise Records exclusive). I’m lucky to be friends with Dirtnap Ken and got a sneak early-listen to the final cut this past spring; my reaction to the hard-hitting punk LP is the same now as it was back then: “holy sh*t, this is awesome!” We got a chance to see the band a couple of months ago at Dirtnap Records Fest over Labor Day weekend and they totally slayed. Dilated is the North Carolina punks’ third LP and their second on Dirtnap label. The opening lick from the first track, “Anticipating Action” grabs you by the combat boot and flings your ass onto the dance floor. Rat-a-tat tight and propulsive beats, relentless and furious guitars and melodically snotty (but not emo!) vocals make, for me, the perfect punk soup. Other top tracks include “Careful” and the lightning fast and explosive “To Be Alone.”

I couldn’t find any live videos from Dirtnap 2025 of Personality Cult but here’s one from Dirtnap’s 20th at High Noon in Madison, May ’22 (which we also attended):

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Personality Cult “New Arrows”

sfilzen — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:05:41 +0000

Personality Cult “New Arrows” 2020. Dirtnap Records. Punky power pop: fast, sharp, tight tight tight. New Arrows is Personality Cult’s second LP, though from what I’ve read the first record by a true “band.” The first record (s/t, 2018) was essentially a Ben Carr (Natural Causes, Last Year’s Men, Paint Fumes) solo project; New Arrows has him joined by Colin Sneed on the staccato’d drums, Johnny Valiant on the propulsive bass and Stephen Svancina on driving guitar. Carr handles vocals, guitar, “synth, etc.” (from the liner notes). My top tracks are the super-catchy opener “Nothing to Do With It,” the extra staccato’d rat-a-tat-tat’d “Pressure Point,” the excellent “Sharp Edges” which has a very cool and complex and bass-guitar interplay in a really really short song and “Telephone” which has a lot of fun taking guitar and vocals and warping them into a ra-ra-ring-ring of a telephone.

I’m pretty sure we caught Personality Cult play at Dirtnap Fest this past June (it’s getting hazy and we’ve seen A LOT of bands since then). They’re on the lineup flyer but I know that there were a couple of last minute substitutions and schedule-swaps and I wasn’t taking copious notes or photos those two days in Madison. But afterwards I made it a point to purchase records from all of the bands we saw (that I didn’t already have records from) — it helped that there was a sale that week on Dirtnap stock.

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Personality Cult “Dilated”

Personality Cult “New Arrows”