Smashin' Transistors -- One of these days the state of California will have to pick a place to erect a statue in tribute to the Lazy Cowgirls. Or if not the the entire band at least to Pat Todd and Dee Dee Weekday. It would have to be the state that does it though cuz it's highly likely any of the bands they influenced in the post-post "Real Rock-n-Roll like the Rolling Stones" world don't have the cash to get it together themselves. It's not their fault or anything. It's just that they're out of step with what the majority of the straight world thinks is rock-n-roll. Hell, it's most likely some out there that actually think Michael J. Fox invented rock-n-roll because of what they saw in the "Back To The Future". It's a sad state of affairs but what can one do?
Unfortunately, not much so ya learn to deal with it, turn up the amps and pretend that those type of jerks don't even exist. Fed on a diet heavy on substances like New York Dolls slime, Sunset Strip sleaze and some of that white boy soul the Lyres would flirt with on more than just an occasion L.A.'s Quan & the Chinese Takeouts take their call of rock-n-roll duty very seriously. Dive bars all over the world could be shakin' to these two tunes if it was for that group of ironic jokesters that loaded 10 bucks into the jukebox so they could hear a bunch of Neil Diamond and Stevie Nicks songs. Eventually someone get's pissed, unplugs the jukebox and then waits for a fight. Of course the hipsters who thought the slew of bad songs were funny don't say a word and slip out the backdoor before things get hairy for 'em. That's then this band's cue to tune up, count off and get those in search of an actual good time to break more than a sweat.

Razorcake -- First they sent a demo in, it was good, and we would listen to it often. Then they took two of the songs off it and made this 45 on blue vinyl and limited to 100. Motherfuckers, they officially won me over. Quan And The Chinese Takeouts are a band that mixes early New York punk with '90s alternative radio; plus they have a synthesizer. I hate two of those three things, but they pull it off.

KSCR Radio - These guys and girl play real old-school Punk a la East Coast style first wave. This is garage Punk, pure and simple. It is a lot of fun. The riffs are catchy as hell, whether being played by guitar or portable keyboard. The music is down and dirty, although also pretty clear and comprehensible. The main drawback is that the vocals get overwhelmed by the other instruments so you often have to strain to understand (and sometimes even hear) the singer clearly. Nevertheless, this group has potential and, primitive though this recording is, they deserve encouragement. Since we support local bands, let's support this one too.—Barry Levine

Terminal Boredom - Two well-crafted albeit amateurish garage jams from this LA outfit. The keys, buried under the rest of the pop assault, still stick out like a sore thumb thanks to their supersonic pitch. I wouldn't mind so much if they contributed to some erratic interplay with the great cardboard box of a snare tone to make some righteously weird ass noise, but they seem to snub one another and remain jiving like they're not destined for glorious gay-noise romance, copulating in the hammock of West Coast punk-pop. Since that ship sailed, what's left is a really catchy punk romp on side A, sounding like a faster, harder, fuller and more instrument-savvy Dangerloves (with female vox just assisting the male ones), side B being maybe an attempt at late era Stooges on the highway to Kill City, but refined and replacing dirge-swagger with humorless sad pop. Can't knock 'em for lack of sincerity though: a self-released single, press of 100, cheesy stickers and a mangy die-cut sleeve that bears the record's silver labels – A insisting it was recorded in… get this… "Fabulous Quanophonic Sound!," and B a pint of lo mein. A sad qualifier for the "50¢ singles" box, me thinks, whether it deserves it or not. (BG)
(self-released // myspace.com/thechinesetakeouts)