Vacation “Zen Quality Seed Crystal” 2019. Salinas Records. Garagey, gritty noise pop from Cincinnati, Zen Quality Seed Crystal is listed as an EP on Vacation’s Discogs page, but with nine fully realized songs, I’m not sure why (maybe it’s because it’s at 45rpm). If counted as an LP, it would be their 6th or 7th full-length release. My top tracks include the locomotive, chunky guitar opener “Hole That Once Held a Screw,” noisy dream-popped “Captain Unsensible,” the fuzzy garage rocker “Tricks of the Big Cat Trade,” and the weird yet hypnotic beat of “Professor Messenger.” I’m less crazy about the waltzing, fun-housed “Me and Mr Bathory” – it’s a bit ear-grating – and while “Capitol Drive” is really decent, it feels pretty formulaic pop-punk especially when put into context of most of the rest of record which has a more experimental, intentional lo-fi (or rather “mid-fi” in their words) sound – think recording in the stairwell of a cold industrial warehouse while singing into a cardboard tube. That said, they probably played this track when we saw them in April 2022 at the Cactus Club: it most likely ripped hard and I danced my a** off.