North Lincoln - Midwestern Blood LP NIR 251
A few years ago, somebody coined the term “Midwestern beer-belly despair rock” to describe a handful of bands emanating from the greater Illinois/Michigan era, and the moniker couldn’t be more aptly fitting for North Lincoln.
Hailing from the reeling metropolis of Grand Rapids, deeply rooted in a community that rode the post-industrial wave of collapse and still struggles to keep its head above water, North Lincoln embodies a newer wave of working-class punk rock that ditches the anthemic trappings of Boston and New York and instead builds on the melancholy hymns of luminaries like Jawbreaker and Leatherface. They’ve added a healthy dash of Hot Water Music’s hoarsely-shouted defiance to craft their own niche - desperate without implying resignation, helpless without feeling hopeless, downhearted but never defeated. It’s furious mid-tempo rock heavily steeped in distorted minor chords, all tied together by lyrics that scrutinize the turbulent personal and social relationships found in their community and, more likely than not, mirrored in our own.
LP is colored vinyl and includes a download code!