Folk Festival Massacre

Following up their debut EP with a more filled-out full-length, Toronto’s Folk Festival Massacre artfully mix their brand of noisy indie rock with a dose of abrasive punk rock. Although this is something of a side-project formed by former Neck bassist Alastair MacLeod and featuring members of the Mean Red Spiders and Christiana, the sound doesn’t suffer the way side-projects can. Either by indulging the influences of their respective members or being half-assed imitations of their main bands. Listening to this may bring you back to the days of mid- to late ‘80s when labels like SST and Touch and Go and bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth jumped back and forth across the line between indie rock and hardcore punk. And while you’ll likely note the influences of the aforementioned, you can also pick out hints of early Wire and the Minutemen.