The Grumpies

Who Ate Stinky? (Recess)
by Scott Hefflon

Jesus fuckin’ Christ! Ya know how when you play a record at the wrong speed (think back, we’re talking vinyl now… Ask someone if you must), it has that wonderful tinny sound, and everyone sounds like The Chipmunks? And if it’s a loud rock album, the guitars still have teeth? That’s what The Grumpies sound like. With a male and a female singer (screamer, yelper, shouter, sneerer, whatever), it sounds like a punk Atari Teenage Riot at times, or perhaps what (oh boy) Red Aunts, Bratmobile, and all that noisy grrl punk stuff coulda been if I hadn’t hated most of it so much. While sure, Who Ate Skinny? is sure to give you a hell of a headache after a while, it’ll be worth it. Once you get past the sound quality (and trust me, that takes a while), there’s a non-stop guitar assault of pure punk guitar slop and manic drumming and bass beatings. I think. But who wants to “get past” the sound and dissect this beautiful mess? Thing is, it’s somehow, ulp!, catchy, yet in one of the most abrasive-sounding, feedback-strewn ways I’ve heard in some time. Perhaps fans of garage punk are used to this (or have lost most of their hearing), but I just can’t get past how much this grabs me by the dick and drags me around the room, slamming me gleefully into anything that looks like it’ll leave a mark. Buy this, play it loud, and give everyone within earshot a splitting headache. Like Gremlins on crack squealing X-mas carols and abusing small furry animals, like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house band, like… Shit, you get the point.
(www.recessrecords.com)