Record review!

The Vinyl District have said some nice stuff about our new record!

Rabies Babies, S/T 10-inch (Damaged Goods) This UK-based label has become something of a fixture in this column, which is tribute to sustained quality since kicking into gear back in 1988. This consistently comes partly through focus as the discography is loaded with raw no-frills punk, snotty and snarly, both contemporary and in reissue. This new 6-song set from the Rabies Babies fits into Damaged Goods’ equation but also expands it a little, as these UK feminist garage anarcho punks (who’ve been at it since 1999) bash out a racket that would’ve fit just fine on one of the Kill Rock Stars comps or perhaps on a 7-inch in K Records’ International Pop Underground series. To get a little more contemporary, they could easily end up on a future volume in the Emotional Response label’s Typical Girls endeavor.

Rabies Babies divide their record into halves by mood, with the first side angry, opening with the inspired screed against victim-blaming “Rape Is Rape, Even If the Rapist Is in a Band That You Like.” They also tackle casual sexism in cycling in “On Your Bike” and being trapped in a madhouse (which sucks) in “Madhouse.” The flip is the fun side, as “Party,” “La La La” and “I Fought the Floor and the Floor Won” illuminate that Rabies Babies like to enhance their good times with booze. Cheers! The musical glue that holds it all together is rough-throated with beaucoup amp gunk, so that not only did Riot Grrl come to mind more than once and specifically Bikini Kill’s “Suck My Left One,” but also a few spots (like “Madhouse”) pointed back to the ’80s Cali hardcore scene. A stirring blast, short and sweet at 12 minutes. A-