MDC - Corpses Of The Ultimate Dominators {Yellow Dog} Wow - what a fucking return! Coming hot on the heals of the great comp (reviewed below) is this brand new 18-tracker that sees MDC (now standing for Magnus Dominus Corpus) firing with all guns blazing. Musically, this is a razor-sharp combo of the classic debut album and 'Shades Of Brown' - yep, real prime-time MDC. Lyrically, it's more potent polemics laced with cynicism and humour from USHC's most out spoken vocalist. Bush gets frequent (and deserved) bashings, as do the cops, employers and posing Punks (howdy Blink 182!). MRR's old Editor, the deceased Tim Yohannan gets a timely tribute and there are even blazing renditions of old gems 'No More Cops' and 'Nazis Shouldn't Drive'. Packaging is great, with full lyrics and graphics. Man-o-man, is it great to have Dave Dictor back and in such confrontational and impressive form. You really shouldn't need me to tell you that this is a mandatory purchase. Awesome.

ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES - Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah {Fat Wreck} Yet another GIMME DOLLARS release that perpetuates yet further their cash-for-crap swindle. What you get here are 14 listed tracks (although one is an intro), recorded live - as the title suggests. The covers this time include BLONDIE (not even funny), Carpenters, Led Zep and a take on The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ which, I concur, is pretty smokin’. And it being a Bar Mitzvah, there’s ‘Hava Nagila’. In case you don’t know the deal with this band of dollar-diggers, then it’s a super-group (a realm that used to be the exclusive reserve of pretentious Prog-Rockers) featuring members of NOFX, SWINGIN’ UTTERS, LAGWAGON, RKL and FOO FIGHTERS. I have no problem with those bands individually, in fact I rate them all. What I DO NOT rate are fuckwits who record a bunch of covers, Punk them up ‘for the kids’ and flog the product for full price! Y’know, if this is a ‘fun’ or ‘side’ project - prove it! Sell the albums at a reduced cost. Let’s face it, Fat Mike is NOT short of dollars these days - those matching suits and matching guitars (is this fucking Iron Maiden or something?) prove it!! Anyway, there’s some CD-ROM footage of the Bar Mitzvah too, which is actually quite fun. Cheesy, crass, lucre-laced, commercialised cartoon ‘Punk’. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

THE MENTALLY ILL - Gacy’s Place: The Undiscovered Corpses {Alternative Tentacles} The forefathers of Chicago Punk/Hardcore are often cited as NAKED RAYGUN, EFFIGIES, BIG BLACK, ARTICLES OF FAITH and maybe SCREECHING WEASEL. Prior to all of those was THE MENTALLY ILL - a bunch of sick fuck-ups who released the obnoxious ‘Gacy’s Place’ EP back in ’78. It was very much of its time - non-conformist, offensive as hell and brimming with the effervescent cadence of a freshly awoken right to the freedom of expression. Sound-wise, it’s on a par with the likes of VILETONES, ‘Forming’-era GERMS and SNIVELLING SHITS. Tracks like ‘Cum Twat’, ‘Split Crotch Straight Jacket’, ‘Tumor Boy’ and ‘Gacy’s Place’ (an ode to serial killer John Wayne Gacy, hence the CD’s title reference to unreleased tracks/corpses) instantly tell you these schizoids have a greater kinship with the likes of G.G. ALLIN, MEATMEN and DWARVES than SHELTER. Gotta say, parts are totally unlistenable (see ‘Aryan Rock’). A good five tracks could have stayed well and truly unreleased. That said, the remaining 15 tracks are essential slabs of fucked-up, twisted, offensive and warped Punk Fucking Rock that sadly seems long gone that the archivists will love. ‘Chart Punk’ (an oxymoron if there ever was one) fans - avoid.

MILLIONS OF DEAD COPS - Now More Than Ever (Beer City} What an awesome fucking band and what an important band. I honestly think MDC is one of the most important bands in Punk history. Their brand of political, out spoken Hardcore was never equalled – not even by the DEAD KENNEDYS. With this release Beer City give us 31 biting tracks spanning the band’s entire back catalogue including such classics as ‘John Wayne Was A Nazi’, ‘Business On Parade’, ‘Drink To Forget’, ‘Cock Rocker’, ‘Missile Destroyed Civilisation’… Oh man, every track is an essential slab of passionate, ferocious and intelligent US Hardcore. As with the version Rhythm Vicar released in the UK, the packaging is the only thing that lets it down. Admittedly, this version is better than the UK release cuz there’s an extra track and all the lyrics are printed, but hell – this IS MDC! Trust me – everybody needs an MDC release in their collection. This is a great place to start.

MILLOY - More Than A Machine {Household Name} I gave this band’s debut 2 EPs great reviews back in the print version of Scanner. There was a sublime power about this UK band. When I moved to NZ, I kinda lost touch and never heard this, the debut album, on its initial release. Thankfully, HHN has reissued it and it has more than fulfilled the potential shown by those singles. Musically, it’s as advanced and adventurous as HOT WATER MUSIC in its prime but played with the ferocity of AVAIL. There’s some killer arrangements (check out the end of ‘Dibs’) coupled with a great ‘wall-of-sound’ production. Where many bands that simply rip HWM fail, is in their lack of identity. Thankfully, MILLOY has a knack for writing fantastic, ascending, life-affirming choruses - as is best demonstrated on ‘Eveready’, the incendiary ‘Hammer & Blades’ and disc highlight, ‘Less Said’. You also get two extra tracks from the band’s split with BILLY NO MATES. The production is a little more polished and lacks the intensity of the album, but musically it’s more of the mercurial musical magnificence. Best band in England? Top 5 at least.

MILWAUKEES - Angel With A Knife {Boss Tuneage} There’s something about this wannabe rock star 4-piece from New Jersey that really annoys. From the self-praising sleeve notes (which state the band’s previous album was a ‘masterpiece’ and describes themselves as ‘viscerally gripping’ - not to mention possessing ‘songwriting prowess’ and name dropping Miller Beer and fucking MTV features!) to the anonymity of the music, something just shouts BLAND!!! Listening to these five tracks - two of which are from the previous, self-proclaimed masterpiece, ‘This Is A Stick-Up’ and three equally dull tracks that didn’t ‘fit the mood’ of ‘..Sitck-Up’ - is no different from listening to Pearl Jam or Bush or the obligatory sub-average Rock band on Top Of The Pops. The band, while being proficient has always - and still does - lack anything that sets it apart from the depressing plethora of like-minded wannabes. I bet the MOR-hacks at ‘Rolling Stone’ love these guys.

MINT CHICKS - F**k The Golden Youth {Flying Nun} I have a huge distrust of bands that put an * in any swear word that appears on the front of their records. It usually means one of three things. 1) The band is dictated to by the record company that fears the offending word will hinder sales. 2) The band lack the backbone to print the offending word for fear it will impede sales and diminish popularity (not to mention offending their own parents). 3) It's an ironic, artistic statement that's incredibly pretentious. Having now heard this disc, my cash is firmly on #3. Imagine half-hearted AT THE DRIVE IN chaos mixed with a WIRE-esque attempt at experimentation with a hint of THE DICKIES in the more accessible areas ('I Don't Want To Grow Old' in particular) and you're kinda close to the Indie-Rock dross here. 'Nothing Is A Switch' includes a dismal hippie work-out that would have bored the ranks at Woodstock while 'Opium Of The People' could be U2! 'Silver Homeless Man' came close to impressing but generally I kept thinking of one word: contrived. The MINT CHICKS may lack conviction, but here's what I think: FUCK THE PRETENTIOUS PUNK PRETENDERS.

THE MOB - May Inspire Revolutionary Acts {Overground} Superb 20-track comp from one of the finest bands to emerge from the 80s UK Anarcho movement. This compiles everything the band recorded that doesn’t appear on the reissue of the band’s classic album, ‘Let The Tribe Increase’. The core of the material here is taken from the oft-bootlegged and rare ‘Ching’ cassette release. Highlights have to be the plaintive pleas behind ‘I Wish’ and ‘I Hear You Laughing’. Production is rough with a lot of background noise, but you gotta remember this was recorded at the band’s London squat in ‘81. What it captures is what a lot of bands today - who go straight into a professional studio - miss: it's real, intense, cloyingly claustrophobic and the anger present on ‘White Niggers’ is literally frightening. You also get the pre-CRASS mix of the legendary ‘No Doves Fly Here’, five tracks from the ultra-rare ‘Tribute To Bert Weedon’ cassette, an unused ‘Crying Again’ and four live tracks from ‘83. The booklet features informative liner notes, photos, cuttings and a piece by Kill Your Pet Puppy zinester Alistair Livingston. If THE MOB mean nothing to you, you should get the aforementioned ‘Let The Tribe...’ disc before this. If you are a fan already (like me), this will simultaneously thrill and intimidate and you may be surprised at just how fresh a lot of this material still sounds.

MODERN MACHINES - Taco Blessing {Recess} Blasting outta Milwaukee come this 4-piece sounding not only as if they are from prime-time Minneapolis, but sounding like the perfect welding of 'Flip Your Wig' HUSKER DU and pre-'Let It Be' era REPLACEMENTS. Yep, this is intense, barroom Punk Rock with vocals spat out in the best of Bob Mould tradition under which a ragged, loose and thrilling 'MATS rock 'n' roll pulse beats with enough energy to pacify a hyperactive 5-yr-old. Lyrically it embodies the 'MATS also with opener 'Zero Kid' and 'Tail Lights' (which could also be the band's very own 'Hardly Getting Over It') being album highlights. Neat garagey production, cool cover artwork; all in all, a corker. My only complaint is that it's way too short at only 8 songs - but hell - what a ripping 8 songs!

MORMONS - Statement Of No Statement {Nickel and Dime} These fellas, hailing from LA, have been going for about eight years and have only now got round to releasing their first official album. Interesting gear it is too; think BAD BRAINS playing BUZZCOCKS, or BLACK COUGAR SHOCK UNIT gone New Wave. It's really well put together too - wigged out and frantic yet hugely danceable as in EPOXIES or REZILLOS. Apparently, live, the band dress as Mormon Missionaries, ripping the piss outta the mainstream - something I heartily applaud. Reminds me a bit of the stuff Seattle's Empty Records would put out - no bad thing! Looking forward to album #2.