Essential listen, from and , band featuring Nick Vicario (, Crisis Man), the album with loads of variety and nonstop great cuts, sounding like a jaunt through the wooden-floor rooms and hallways of a big old house where the student ghetto hits the graveyard, edging toward anarchy if you could get your shoes on the right foot, all alone with yourself and your thoughts, the others have gone home, the rescue dog long-eared on the rug, the hamster running around the metal wheel in the other room, the music recalling some of the best of the UV-influenced underground-rock outfits from places like Ohio and New York in the mid 1970s but sounding fresh as the equinox breeze that pushes open the curtains and breaks the fever, the stench of sweated sheets still lingering like a nurse in the room but that just makes the ginger ale in the paper straw taste sweeter, the dark of sick and death still lurking like the metallic glint of an aggie eye in the head of a feral cat in the dark corners of the room but you chuck back the blankets and step out and do a little two-step jig on the wooden floor, destined to become one of the best LP releases of 2021. -- winch (green noise records)
"Hailing from Los Angeles and coated in a layer of warbled analog glory comes the debut full length album from Smirk, the solo project helmed by Nick Vicario (Public Eye, Crisis Man). These 11 meticulously crafted tracks originally appeared on two small run cassettes in 2020 and have since been remastered at North London Bomb Factory and paired with fresh artwork from Smoking Room. A trebly & wiry punk sound comes into effect straight out of the gate, reminiscent of the early Dangerhouse Records singles as well as the “Bloodstains Across...” comps (to be more precise). But there's far more to Smirk - with great songwriting, precision, and instrumentation that seem to emanate from a past that never was, bursting any preconceived sub-genre bubbles from this reality and those parallel to it. ‘LP’ is a tour de force of bratty, pissed off punk energy. 'LP' comes packaged in a reverse board sleeve with download code. released March 5, 2021. Mastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory. Art by Smoking Room."
