GLOWING RED PILL (LP/CD) REVIEWS

First full-length offering from the youngest (and the label honcho) of the X! Records roster. After a coupla' good 45's and a cross country jaunt with the Terrible Twos, it was their live show that sent them to the top of my list this year. Hell, it made me re-think the 7"ers and now I get it…those discs are Aces! Hard edged noise of the "indie" variety...from way back when it was okay to still use that term. Art-damaged like their other Michigan brethren, but still holding their own without keyboards or any real space-y effects. Lots of whirlwind spasmodic guitar throwdowns and even a dance beat here and there. Anthems like "Voice was Lost" and "Basement" make miss my college days of collecting show posters for T&G, SST bands and the like. Back when stuff like this had appeal and circulation of more than 300 measly singles. Word was spread through full page ads on the back of Flipside or Your Flesh or something NOT on the inter-webs. Some references could be thrown around here: early Lee Renaldo penned SY tracks. The Discord back catalog (maybe a hint of it in the dry throaty vocal styling….a hint.) But I don't wanna' pigeon hole them as a retro-act…plenty of modern NOW-isms as well. Yeah, these kids have something "speshul" going on in them there pick scrapes. Thankfully it might be to late for Ritalin to grab hold and ruin it... (RSF, Terminal Boredom)

Bore from the core of Detroit, Michigan, The Frustrations are a three piece punk act that borders on thrash. But for the sake of being taken seriously, whatever retro hangups are involved in liking/loving a noisy basement band these days aren’t worth discussing. With every song, the Frustrations freak out and expend a specified amount of energy slamming guitars and pushing the tempo faster and faster. Citing the town of Hebron, North Dakota as a core influence, the Frustrations jump all over the midwestern map of punk sounds from dreary cynical songs like “Overrated” (“snort it up your nose and strike a pose”) to degenerate anthems like “Voice Was Lost” (“there was a gun to my head /I did it for her”) to maximum threshing on “Halfway on Fire” (“hopelessness brings in every day”). There are no templates at work here, which probably makes The Frustrations a great live act. Fuzz breaks and instrumental sections that border on surf make Glowing Red Pill awesome and legit. Their style of music brings back a lot of collective unconscious memories of the days of Amphetamine Reptile, but try and suppress as many as possible. Go down in the basement and check them out, if you get lucky Tyvek will be playing too. (www.x-recs.com)
(Steven J. Knezevich-DUSTED MAGAZINE)

A nice mixture of punk, its artier strains (every now and then I hear a little bit of early Sonic Youth bubbling up along the edges), and skronk here. They aren't afraid of being noisy as hell, but they're sure to temper it with more traditional song structure and some much-needed drive. –Jimmy Alvarado (Razorcake)

If you like your music a little on the snotty side, then the Frustrations are tailor made for you. The last time I had the pleasure of reviewing them was two years ago with their 7" single release, Nerves Are Fried. With this CD, their first full-length release, the group has ample room to dig deep and wide to fully explore their brand of trash-bin noise.
The band's sound is caught somewhere between proto-punk and the early dissonant days of 90s-era hardcore. Relentlessly driving, droning, moaning, and whining, they do their best to avoid any semblance standard rock fare. It's pure rebellion without a cause, and it finds beauty in the noisy ugliness. (Mish Mash)

The name "The Frustrations" would lead one to believe the members of the band are a disgruntled bunch. After seeing them live, hearing their singles and now their new full-length, Glowing Red Pills, it's easy to see their instruments are actually the ones that are probably frustrated. I mean, after all, these guitars and drums have to endure sets of absolutely fucking blistering proto/futuristic punk. Imagine a slab of vinyl that had the love residue of Devo, Clone Defects, Spizz Energi and Joy Division thrown all over it. Imagine it! That's kind of what you get with The Frustrations: Punk tastes that remain extremely original and experimental. (Eric Allen, Real Detroit)

EXPLODING MIND 7 INCH REVIEWS

Die Stasi have wrecked havoc all year, only the Frustrations Exploding Mind 7-inch on the label was lost in my pile. Too much TV Ghost and Zola Jesus around these parts, so it was easy to overlook this Detroit band I've never seen or heard of. Good thing the Butthole Surfers are back together, and they're crustier than ever. Oh, excuse me, "Exploding Mind" gives me the perfect excuse to not download Suicidal Tendencies and Nothing's Shocking in one sitting. Frustrations tend to do it all, like going in and out of a late-teen nitrous hit with cultural respectability intact. And to boot they do a cover of Devo's "Freedom of Choice" without traipsing on the toes of that stoner band that did it years earlier. Almost lost, soiled gold for the archives—thankfully this one didn't get shuffled away. (Kevin J. Elliott, http://agitreader.com/)

Try to recollect how many bands out there the have managed to detonate a surfwagon with a bunch of effect pedals, jitter-freak fanaticism and something that'll get a few in mixed company yell "AM-REP!" Hard, isn't it. Then if you even do think of one was the explosion just some anticlimatic thing where it's some drunk guy in his backyard catching toads and stuff an M-80 in their mouth. Okay, maybe you weren't expecting the demolition of a building but some sparks maybe a quarter mile high at the most and a piece of flying stray metal or some shards of glass making people turn away and start heading for the doors. Y'know, something that has an good idea what they are doing but haven't read the safety handbook. The Frustrations cross currents and trip over wires making blinding blue sparks from time to time. Chord progression originated from 60's teen bands get dismembered just to be reattached backwards and upside down by a few kids who link laser surgery has something to do with the feedback from the Velvet's "I Heard Her Call My Name". The jagged scars might make some gasp but it functions very well in it's own disordered way. (Smashin' Transistors)

When "Exploding Mind" unpredictably locks on a choice, snare-heavy Caribbean-influenced riddim, we're all rewarded. This shit is bananas. Tossing a Devo cover ("Freedom of Choice") on the B-side just further proves that they know how to bring the noise. Grab their self-titled full-length on X! for even more weirdness. (Ben Blackwell, Metro Times)