Tilt

I'm not sure what's going on these days, but it seems like none of the punk labels are eager to put out new records. Or is this the calm before the storm? Fat Wreck Chords' latest studio album for example dates back from July (Good Riddance) and it doesn't seem like they'll be putting out a new release later this year. After NUFAN's live record, a couple re-issues of their old New Red Archives releases and a re-issue for Swingin' Utters, now's the time for a gathering of demo's and unreleased songs from Tilt.

Surely all of you know Cinder Block is fronting this hooky melodic punkband with her identifiable voice and poetic lyrics. I already knew this band since their Lookout-period (early 90's) and was a truly very big fan of them until their second release for Fat. Why did it change? It has nothing to do with them changing their style, but only because I have that "heard it before" feeling with their latest 2 albums. The band has been together for about 10 years, although there was a short break-up in 1996 for about a year, and they had several bass-players but recently original bassist Pete Rypins rejoined the band. This album is a good indication of the evolution this band has gone through in this decade. I think it's quite obvious they've evolved into a much more fluently sounding band that picked up quite some technical baggage along the way. Strangely enough the most recent songs on here sound much harder then the early songs. I could be wrong and maybe should listen to those old records again, but I thought they sounded heavier in their early years. From demos recorded at Gilman Street in 1992 to out-takes from their latest studio album, it's all here, topped of by a few covers: "It's Who You Know" (originally by X), the theme song to the TV show Carmen San Diego (which I never heard of) and the Dukes of Hazard theme. If you have doubts about buying this because you're afraid about the sound quality I can assure you there's nothing wrong with that because a lot of the material has been re-mixed to result in a perfectly clean-sounding disc.