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+HIRS+, later renamed HIRS Collective,
a queer musical collective established in
Philadelphia in 2011 by vocalist "Jenna Pup" and guitarist "Scott Esem",
started releasing singles in 2011 (dozens of them) but put together an album only a decade later.
Friends Lovers Favorites (2018), with a cast of punk-rock legends,
contains 30 fast shots of grindcore, some of them only 20 seconds long.
Some of the most ferocious are:
What Is Love Without Purpose,
Friends Lovers Favorites
Demagogues,
Harmful Intent,
and the 20-second Women in Hordes.
There is little that is musical here, but maybe
Murdered by a Woman can claim to be a song.
The impact is generally stronger on the better produced
We're Still Here (2023), whose songs are also generally longer
and slightly more musical.
There are even anthemic choruses in We’re Still Here and in
Bringing Light and Replenishments,
and melodic refrains also star in
Unicorn Tapestry Woven in Fire and
So Anyway.
Judgement Night also adds doses of hip-hop.
You Are Not Alone abandons grindcore to simply scream the desperation
of the queer condition.
There is anger and angst throughout the 17 songs.
Burn Your House Down,
Public Service Announcement
Xoxoxoxoxox (featuring Yasuko Onuki of Melt-Banana)
can comfortably sit with the hardcore classics of the 1980s.
(Copyright © 2023 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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