Various - Go-Kart Vs. The Corporate Gian (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Various

Go-Kart Vs. The Corporate Gian (2000)

Go Kart


I have nothing catchy to say to start this review, so let's just go band-by-band:

Anti-Flag - They rocked my emo ass, contributing 2 songs (1 is unreleased).

Plan A Project - These guys sound pretty good, but they are a bit sloppy. They also put on 2 tracks, 1 of which is unreleased.

Down By Law - Ugh. I thought Dave Smalley was better than this. 1 song is just about how crappy the radio is. Blah. They also put on an unreleased track.

Buzzcocks - These guys seem more "pop" than "punk" with their song "Runaround." It's a good, catchy song, but I always thought they were punk. Oh well. 1 song.

Lunachicks - Femm-fronted punk rock. I don't personally care for 'em, but a lot of people do. 2 songs, one's unreleased.

The Pinkerton Thugs - "Hi, we wish we could sound like the Dropkick Murphys, but we have worse vocals and melodies." For a name sounding that cool, they sound pretty wussy. They put 2 songs on here.

The Parasites - They're pretty darn pop-punk. 1 song is off of their new retrospective CD (read my review of it to find out more), and these songs are a pretty good representative of their sound. 2 songs.

Boris The Sprinkler - Come on man, it's Boris! 2 songs, I already had both, but they keep the energy flowing on the comp.

Doc Hopper - It's punk rock. All I know about them is that they did a split 7" with Horace Pinker a while ago. Their first song, "Loaner" is ok the first time, but gets better with each listen. 2 songs, 1 is unreleased.

Vision Of Disorder - Yuck. This sounds like REALLY bad 311 or Korn. This sucks ass, and does NOT belong on here.

The Candy Snatchers - I really wish I could see these guys live. I can almost feel the crowd surging and rocking back and forth to this band. This is punk fucking rock. 2 songs, one is unreleased.

The Unseen - This just sounds like static to me. Not too original, basic 77-ish punk, but they sound like they enjoy themselves doing it, so... 1 song.

True Love - This song fucking rocks, plus it's on a split 7" w/Nada Surf (who are way underrated), so I'll have to get it. It sounds very out of place on the comp since it seems to have a lot more pop sensibility and melody, but there's still some punk in it. I want more! 1 song.

Pseudo Heroes - Wow, this is about as mellow as punk can get. It actually reminds me of some of the earlier stuff by the Police, no joke. Apparently, Sam from Down By Law is in this band. I dig it. 1 song, it's unreleased
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Under The Gun - Nice punk'n'roll here. It's got a really catchy chorus, and a backing vocalist that can actually sing, which is a lot harder for punk bands to find these days. I'd check these guys out. 1 song.

The Sharpshooters - This is one of Dave Smalley's other bands. It's punk, it's got him singing, you know what it sounds like. 1 song, it's also unreleased.


Overall, this comp does a good job for it's purpose: a glorified sampler. Go-Kart made the thing worthwhile and set above other samplers by A) putting bands that aren't on their label but they still think are cool on it, and B) putting unreleased tracks on it. Out of the 25 songs on the comp, 8 were unreleased, from popular bands like the Lunachicks, Anti-Flag, and Down By Law. For the average 15 year old kid buying punk, this makes him feel the comp is a worthwhile endeavour. Plus, Go-Kart turned the CD booklet into a pseudo tabloid paper, which actually made for enjoyable reading. This gets almost 2 thumbs up, Vision Of Disorder and The Pinkerton Thugs keep it from getting the full 2.

[taken from A different kind of greatness webzine]