Cruelster - Lost Inside My Mind In Another State of Mind. The Singles Collection [IMPORT Green Vinyl] - New LP

Trashy Cleveland punk bashing it out like there's no yesterdays and no tomorrow, yanking the carpet out from under you. the fact that it's a collection of cuts from singles helping give it a great lack of direction, like some crazy person making their way across town after the bar closes, busting Strohs beer bottles over their own head, taking the jagged edge of the broken bottle to anything in sight, holding up a finger to say hold on a second, pissing in the sewer, heaving in the alley, marching on to chuck some concrete slabs through some plate windows. It's menace, it's fun like rust in your water and cinder blocks in your brain. It's like souped-up dumptrucks on destroyed rust belt pavement, it's like them Gumbys on the Flying Circus with their fists clenched and stomping on the blacktop, dumptruck Lumpy Gumbys punk rock.  It's ugly.  It's bullcrap.  It's great.  It's a Cruelster comp stomp. -- winch

 

So I have a problem: I hate everyone and all music. Well, OK, not everyone. But c’mon - you know what people are like. Honestly, they’re the worst. And fair enough I might not really hate all music, but let’s be honest: have you ever actually heard any music? I mean, jeeez. If I’m gonna listen to a record, I’ll need something that matches this misanthopy; something that really gets the neurotransmitters firing on all cylinders and ready to obliterate the feelgood factor. Something like Cleveland band Cruelster, basically. Cruelster are made up of members of Knowso, Perverts Again, and a plethora of other Ohio noiseniks. If it seems like you’ve seen that name before, it’s highly probable - they released a demo back in 2012 and have been sporadically dropping bundles of rough-edged sonic snot ever since, thanks to labels like Lumpy (whose own Dumpers are at the very least sonically adjacent) and Turbine Piss. This singles collection compiles all the non-album tracks they’ve released since that early demo to make a thrillingly ‘orrible racket. Twelve years’ worth of punk rottenness and general stupidity contained in 29 tracks and 40 noisy minutes. It is, of course, fucking brilliant. From the gleefully melodic dumbness (and Booji Boy-flavoured additions) of ‘My Embarrassment’ to the malevolent rumble of ‘Double Trouble’, not to mention a fabulously energised cover of Icona Pop’s dance-pop smash ‘I Love It’, every track here is a winner. It’s the perfect tonic for your rage and the perfect foil to a cruel world where everyone else’s disdain seems more pronounced than your own. You owe it to yourself to complete your record shelves with this instantly classic comp - it’s punk rock par excellence. And as for that ‘hating all music thing’... ah, who cares, this is all gold. Listen immediately, you’ll be causing chaos to its raucous brilliance before you know it. Will Fitzpatrick credits released February 23, 2024

They share members with Perverts Again, Bulsch, and Roobydocks, people is making some of the most innovative, interesting, and contemporary-sounding punk I’ve heard, and Riot Boys is an essential piece of the puzzle. However, even if you can hear how interesting, important, and great it is, it will still try your patience. That’s because, while other parts of the punk scene try to create a kind of punk utopia, Cruelster engage with the shit the rest of us do our best to ignore, and it’s fucking ugly." - Sorry Tate