One of the sheer pleasures of doing pastepunk is the abundance of diversity that comes through my stereo. For example, I just wrote two reviews for stuff from Deep Elm Records, primarily an indierock/emo label, and now, while writing this, i’m listening again to the ghetto/squatter/ska/punk/thrash/monkeyballs styling of the incomparable LEFTOVER CRACK. This shit is crazy! For many people, LEFTOVER CRACK are an exceptional view into what many of the elder punk icons had in mind before the great mainstream attention of the mid to late 90s “lightened” up the term punk. LEFTOVER CRACK are raw, dirty, pissed off, dangerous, highly unorganized, shockingly brillant, and devilishly good in creating a sound that has no business to be heard anywhere but in the bowels of underground punk rock. Although there’s a slew of killer qualities about “Mediocre Generica,” the one that stands out the most is LEFTOVER CRACK’s, highly visible presence in attacking homophobia as it still is a dear issue to be spoken about. Overall, there’s buckets worth of leftist sociopolitical lyrics, some more well defined than others, but LEFTOVER CRACK sure do speak their mind at all times and never hide behind a curtain when things border on controversial. This album was originally titled, “Shoot the Kids at School,” but due to some legal complications, the title was changed. However, in getting back to the point to what LEFTOVER CRACK had intended, there’s a short essay in the lyric booklet raging on about how it’s okay in America to settle in mediocrity for the sake of ease and the heavily existant stench of non-obvious racial prejudice that has existed in suburban pockets for years. The banned title makes an appearance as well in the context of the rant. Again, LEFTOVER CRACK hit with pinpoint precision. If your ears don’t mind a slightly shattering sound with splinters of meat-grinding sloppiness and anger, “Mediocre Generica,” is hardly a product of what its title might suggest. In fact, this disc is one of the most original, inspirational, and contempt causing pieces of plastic in a long, long time.

Hellcat/Epitaph