Review: What's For Breakfast? Records - The Meltaways / Sunwyrm

The submissions for review I get generally fall into 4 categories: directly from a band/artist with a new album out; submissions from an band/artist with a 'new' track, submissions from PR Agencies (some good stuff comes thru but also some material that really does not meet the remit of the blog - I mean seriously, if you had actually looked at it you will see a noticeable lack of jazz funk/R&B/Grime/2 Step/Drum'n'bass/Pop!) and lastly submissions from labels, some big(ish) and some small, independent ones. It's this last lot that I really like - small independents are where the music scene is most creative and are the bedrock on which this crazy biz we call music is built. With that in mind had an email from Dan at What's For Breakfast? Records, highlighting a couple of new/recent releases. I listened, I dug, I wrote. What's For Breakfast? are based in New York and have a simple ethos: " simply to get great music together under one roof and make it easier for other like-minded weirdos to find something that may appeal to them. It isn't limited to any particular genre as long as something about it is intense in some way, shape, or form." - can't argue with that!

The Meltaways - 7" EP



The Meltaways are an all female trio (Allie Brasch - drums, Beck Kitsis - bass/vox and Maddy Strassler - guitar/vox) who hail from Brooklyn and who play some blistering garage punk that brings back memories of some of female garage greats - Thee Headcoatees, Friggs, The Gore Gore Girls etc. There are four tracks on the EP, starting with 'Friends First' which has all the swagger you associate with garage punk and New York. This is followed by three other tracks of hot, smoking garage action: 'Enough', 'Home' and 'Flight', each as good as the last. This is what music is all about...people who play good, solid stuff without a major lookin' over their shoulders...crackin' stuff indeed, as good a blast of garage as I've heard all year - raw, aggressive and fuzzy.



Sunwyrm - First Cycle



Now this really tickled my pickle. Ever wondered what the Butthole Surfers playing Discharge with Black Sabbath would sound like? Well, wonder no more, it would sound like Sunwyrm. 'First Cycle' is a cassette release from WFB? from June this year and it is a blast! Right from the get go with 'Death Of The Sun God' you just know that this is a slab of noisy goodness that will leave you breathless. The fuzzy, deranged psychedelia of the Buttholes with some raw punk vocals...what's not to love? When the band concentrate on the purely psychedelic, such as 'Licking Nectar From the Dragon's Eye (Soul Guillotine)' they sound as trippy and as fuzzy as hell, indeed, 'Mind In The Mirror' sounds as heavy as Blown Out. The production values are not particularly high, in fact it has a raw 'live' feel that, to me, adds to it's charm. To pick out stand out tracks is tricky, as they are all 'different' (obviously!)....'Strawberry Mare' has a spacey Sabbath vibe while 'Trippin' Out' is a fuzzed out almost hardcore punk thing going on. Needless to say I dug this big time and I eagerly await for these guys to produce more....gnarly stuff indeed.

Both The Meltaways and Sunwyrm can be purchased via the WFB? web-store here and they have a Bandcamp page here where some is streamed...and while you are there, be sure to check out the other goodies on offer. WFB? is a label I will certainly be keeping my on.