JOHNS- GRIFT MARKS 12" LP

JOHNS- GRIFT MARKS 12" LP is $12.00. plus shipping.

JOHNS- GRIFT MARKS 12" LP- Submitted for your individual subjective perceptual experience, an audio stimulus presented in the long-playing format and created by a collective consciousness known as JOHNS. GRIFT MARKS presents itself as an impressive and creative debut of minimalistic dark garage rock ‘n’ roll racket, with equal parts melodic cadence and haunting noisy tension. With eleven angular, sharp, and damaging proto punk tracks that slither deep into the psyche, JOHNS brings to mind elements of musical acts like PILE, HOT SNAKES, PC WORSHIP, X, THE WIPERS, EX CULT, and early QOFTSA, while at the same time scarring your senses with their own unique and jarring audial invasion. If sentience is necessary for the being to perceive, GRIFT MARKS is a minimalistic way of defining consciousness.

PRESSING STATS-First pressing of 500 LP’s (with 400 on Black vinyl, 100 on White vinyl). LP includes digital download code with bonus tracks, and a sticker.

REVIEWS- I Buy Too Many Records- Let me tell you, I sure to appreciate it when someone sends me a record to review. When they go that extra mile and actually send me a full album, that just makes it better. The real cherry on top is when said record is actually pretty good. This Johns album fulfills all of the above mentioned criteria. I'm not going to say Grift Marks is a total home run, instant classic sort of a record. There are a few songs sprinkled throughout that don't really do it for me. These tend to be the slower ones where the vocals get a bit more shouty than I like, such as on "Thrust" and "The Blurry Tongue." I was never much of a hardcore guy, so when things start to take a turn in that direction, I tend to tune out a bit. That being said, a solid chunk of this record is really strong. Johns are playing a darker guitar pop. I immediately think of bands like The Estranged or Nervosas when this is spinning. The guitar is dark and murky with a tendency to downstroke. The vocals have a little bit of static and definitely fall in the same range as what The Estranged dabbles in. They never quite hit that revered Red Dons territory on this record, but I can certainly see fans of all three bands I've mentioned being interested in Johns. Probably worth a listen below.

REVIEWS- Suburban Voice- An off-kilter, melodic indy rock record and that's probably a rather broad description. Let me try to narrow it down a bit. Harmonized vocals, tuneful arrangements that aren't overly poppy and an overall somber ambiance, getting downright funereal for songs like "Here Comes The Snake" or "Erase Them." It works better with guitar-driven, uptempo songs like "Palace of Ill Control" and, especially, "Cemetery." There are Wipers-ish guitar licks at times, although Johns aren't a tribute band by any stretch. Only a handful of tracks that are truly gripping. While this does conjure images of shades-drawn, sitting alone in the room despair, it's still not consistently electrifying.

REVIEW-JOHNS • Angular and somewhat minimal punky rocky sort of thing here. The songs are tuneful, catchy with bouncy and heavy rhythms, and everything moves forward at a moderate pace. Think of Volcano Suns crossed with Ex Cult. “Here Comes The Snake” comes on with a slow, spacious, and repetitive guitar riff that sets up the mood of heat and dread allowing the bass to seamlessly come in to give it all weight and push the whole affair forward before washing out into a jagged and and slightly noisy ending. It’s on the second side of the album where things really gell, with songs “WWYRT” (with it’s quick tempo and it’s dark and stripped to the bare essence guitar riffs), “Wasteland” (which has a guitar riff that recalls Sonic Youth around the time of albums like Daydream Nation and Goo”), and the backing vocals on “Erase Them” that call from the darkness, as well as the bridge that turns and builds into something more rock and roll. (UsandThemblogspot)