TWOFR: Rhino 39 x the Carbonas

TWOFR: Rhino 39 x the Carbonas

Rhino 39

Self Titled

(Nickel and Dime, 2007)

Nuggets and all of the KBD compilations have served to illustrate the point that, if your band has one really good song, it might only be part of a shitty album – that is if your band even got around to recording the ten songs it knew.

Rhino 39 can not be categorized alongside those acts though. Their various compilation appearances as well as their lone single point towards what could have been an indispensable artifact of the ‘70s LA/LBC punk scene.

Along with those released sides is an unearthed clutch of tracks recorded with original singer Dave Dacron. It’s always difficult to pin point the birth of a style, and some point to this work here as early hardcore. That point can be debated, of course, but Rhino 39 performing alongside Keith Morris era Black Flag serves as indisputable evidence.

Rhino’s songs range in theme from group think on “Xerox 12? to the suggested murder on “Small Art”. It’s in this later song that the lines “Pull the trigger/In the schoolyard/Make yourself feel bigger” appear. The eerie similarity to the words of Darby Crash can’t be more apparent – in addition to hilarious.

One aspect of this band that set it apart from its contemporaries, at least on studio recordings, is the inclusion of an electric piano. “Pack of Lies” instantly recalls past LA bands of an altogether different era and genre while still working forward to change how rock is played (i.e. fast and dumb). The self-titled compilation assuredly isn’t geared toward casual punk listeners, but it has more than just filler that only collectors could want. And if nothing else, watching the performance video included on the second disc with its dusty images and sound from another source is pretty amusing.

The Carbonas

Self Titled

(Goner Records, 2007)

There’s no reason to dissect this – there are no ulterior motives. And I would guess that if I did, the dudes in the band would think that I was some sort of ass (which I am). However, this obviously does fall into the Ramonsey category of punk. The Carbonas are what one should expect from a Goner Records band: tight (and simple) songs with hooks. Both these qualities are on display in “Journey to the End” which includes the couplet “I hear what you’re saying/You’re talking ‘bout me”. Injected with a bit of Southern-drawl, the line leaves little wanting, even if the bridge is rote punk. I do think that there’s some harmonizing on “Didn’t Tell You a Lie”, which is probably a lie about a lie, but whose keeping track. A point to be made though is that if one started this disc in the middle, the listener might not readily realize that something had been missed. Each song is roughly the same tempo and sports the same structure – that’s not a criticism, that’s a description. The one criticism (in addition to the kinda bitchy one about why there need to be five dudes to play this) put upon this quintet is that this “album” is about 20 minutes long. Maybe that’s all they could muster, but since it flies by so quickly, I suppose that’s a good sign.