PELIGRO SOCIAL
No Religion
(Tankcrimes)

THE FUNCTIONAL
BLACKOUTS
The Very Best of the Monkees
(Dead Beat)

MOTHERFATHERS
Kolchak!
(R.A.I.G.)

WORLD BELOW
Repulsion
(PsycheDOOMelic)

MEMFIS
The Wind Up
(Candlelight)

THE HUGUENOTS
Discography 

(Hydra Head)

ATAVIST
II : Ruined

(Profound Lore)

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Downright brilliant compilation release from this criminally underrated Chicago garage rock mongers. Strident, obnoxious, fast, edgy, violent, quick, super killer, are all adjectives that can be thrown around when dealing with the subjects in question. Really, checking bands as great as The Functional Blackouts makes you realize the endless well of talent that thrives in each (we hope in each) major American city. And if not, well then this was a diamond in the rough. And that may have been the band's perfect formation, their righteous state. As The Very Best of The Monkees attests; The Functional Blackouts played blazing fast, short-riffed raging punk rock numbers that literally jump out of the speakers because of their blistering energy. "Rat's Cage" is sort of Buzzcocky or Stiffs, Inc-influenced, rooted on repetition and alternating between out of control and getting down with the classics. "In My Vacuum" is like ghosts just came to life only to mess things up or to tramp you in the back and "Selective Memory" sounds like an under produced and regurgitated Ramones. Like their heroes, The Functional Blackouts were also prone to kick their songs into movement via counting, except they did it backwards with a quick '4,3,2,1'. Once the countdown is over, things are not the same any longer

The Very Best of The Monkees packs eighteen cuts; in short it compiles the band's singles and rarities from the band's beginning to their timely demise five years later.  In long; it includes songs from the band's out of print singles with Goodbye Boozey, Wrench and Electrorock, along with cuts from their split with Fashion Fashion and The Image Boys, their upcoming split with KK Rampage and three unreleased tracks. Like any compilation the sound quality varies, in this case from raw to rawer to always raw and in your face. That proves to be the most perfect angle for the band.  Not for the faint of heart, nor for the easily annoyed, (and if you are not annoyed by their relentless cover of Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag" then you are sure to dig this deeply), The Functional Blackouts ebullient bursts of energy pack more volts in their short seconds of musicality than a whole thunderous night under the Amazonian thunder storm.

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