Planet Minivan

(Dyslexic)
by Jon Sarre

This is an Illinois scene compilation, done on the cheap. You know, Xeroxed cover art, and drums that mostly sound like some guy banging on pots and pans in a basement. Other than that, there’s some good stuff here. Roll the highlight film…

Apocalypse Hoboken kicks off the whole shebang with “Oreo,” a pretty good punk song. They fuck everything up on their second number, a ready-for-the-mosh-pit cover of “Stand By Me.” Maybe if they didn’t smoke so much pot they would’ve left Ben E. King alone. Then there’s Offsides, who play bad hardcore, but the singer kinda sounds like Choke (of Slapshot). Is that homesickness talking? Points added for Boston nostalgia. I also liked Sidekick Kato, but they should ditch the topical name because it was never funny or clever. SKK is definitely influenced by early hardcore and they do an OK job with it, too. Same goes for Tiny, who earn extra points for keeping their songs short. Tommyrot has their moments, but they broke up. Awww… we hardly knew ye! Slapstick is Bosstones-esque ska-core, but the vocalist tries to sing like Dickie Barrett (c’mon, don’t you have your own voice?). Their cover of “Earth Angel” is stupid, though. Poonjab plays a kind of lo-fi hardcore, or maybe that’s just the recording quality. “Blindcat” is a good song. Limpspork sounds like Primus and ensures that Planet Minivan ends with a bang, not a whimper. As an added bonus to all you Illinois scene enthusiasts, Jerkwater, International Hoodwink, Shift, and Gaffle also appear on this compilation. Not too shabby at all.