Fruit Punch and queercore quartet Youth of Togay split a 7" here, but take turns. Make your own joke.

With a name like Fruit Punch, one might guess the band has the same gimmick as Youth of Togay, that being straightforward, old-school hardcore that promotes homosexuality through oddly perverse lyrics. Well, one of those things is right -- the music. Judging from their decidedly non-gay-related song titles ("Test of Faith," "You Must Be Mistaken," etc.) and the moderate amount of decipherable vocals (they provide no real lyrics on their side of the liner note), it seems they track along more traditional hardcore punk lyric territory (their MySpace page confirms this, saying they're "raw, political, vegan straight-edge hardcore"). It kinda reminds me of the Demetri Martin bit where he talks about wanting a rainbow T-shirt that mentions, "not gay, but supportive." Musically, there's a definite Infest influence here, present on the incredibly brief "Test of Faith," but they mix it up here and there with tempos, the level of aggression and guitar tones. "Dedication" is just as short as "Test of Faith" but it's more ragged-edged youth crew. It's fairly solid stuff (one song sounds like a faster, more melodic Chain of Strength), but their last one, "You Must Be Mistaken" is pretty crappy, starting off with some tough-guy vibes and with a recording noticeably shittier than anything else on the record for some odd reason.

And of course, Youth of Togay do the same ol', same ol' here. However, I can't tell if they're originals this time around or more parodies of notable hardcore anthems. If it's the latter, they've got me stumped, and expose what already obvious deficiencies I have in my hardcore knowledge. But the songs are musically solid -- think late '80s crew (good, kinda Turning Point-ish riffs in "Put Your Stolen Base in Me #46") / '90s revival thereof -- and the diverse array of vocalists (only two, but you'd guess at least three or four from the respective delivery styles) keeps it fresh. Also, nice parody of a certain satire here, adapting the intro of "Bears on the Prowl" with one of the most quoted (and best) videos to ever appear on YouTube. The extremely up-front lyrical descriptions about poop chutes and man juice do get old quick, though, as one might imagine.

Some decent output here. There it is again.

STREAM
Fruit Punch - You Are Your Own Monster
Fruit Punch - You Must Be Mistaken
Youth of Togay's entire side