Janitor Scum - And the Scums/Instant Music+2 (2018)

Janitor Scum has become one of our favourite local punk bands over the past few years, with their ramshackle shows and fuck it attitude. So two new tapes from them is pretty exciting.

If you've seen them before, Janitor Scum and the Scums more of what you'd expect, with Arielle spasmodically babbling along with the careening guitars and drums. You'd think the inclusion of lyrics here is helpful, but not always. We can't at all reconcile the lyrics of "Small Snail" with what we're hearing. But "Doris Dolores & Boris" is bang on, and sounds kind of like a Slits record being played at 78rpm - in other words, it's exceptionally good.

Instant Music+2 is just kind of weird. We guess these are some form of 4-track demo thing with drum machine and various noises - this has more in common with Janitor Scum side project Pankbend than the main band. Which is still enjoyable in its own right.

The Janitor Scums seem to be eschewing the internet, so you'll probably have to catch the band live to get a copy of these.