Various

Kung Fu Records gives us what could aptly be called "quality control for punk." Seventeen tracks on Punk Rock is Your Friend and not a stinker in the bunch. Kung Fu bands the Ataris, Mi6, Useless I.D., Antifreeze, the Vandals, Tsunami Bomb, Ozma and Audio Karate are all represented, and Fat Wreck Chords loan the comp No Use for A Name to preview material from an upcoming Kung Fu film soundtrack called Selwyn's Nuts. This isn't a Jackie Chan Hollywood punk-light record, this is the genuine B-list material, and really, isn't that the section all the cool kung fu movies are in? Listen to Ozma's "The Business of Getting Down" and you'd swear that the singer is probably doing some drunken monkey Shaolin shit in slipper shoes. About half the tracks are unavailable anywhere else, and of these the production values of Tsunami Bomb's demofied "Roundabout" and Useless I.D's "Jukebox 86" are the most taxing to the listener. Luckily, both songs make up for it with strong performances and inspired arrangements, most noticeably on the delicious reggae bridge of "Jukebox 86." Like I said, Sho Kosugi, not Jackie Chan.