Big Neck is a (mostly) singles-only label that specializes in the noisiest, fuzziest, most freaked-out garage punk slop you ever heard in yer fuckin’ life. Although I’m sure most of the bands on Big Neck really are there to ROCK, at least a couple of ‘em sound like they are playing with such tuneless and reckless abandon just to piss you off. It’s all part of the charm of the “Big Neck Sound”, you see. I dunno if this is the first label sampler they’ve put out, but it’s cheaper and technologically easer then buying two fistfuls of 7 inchers and flipping the things all night, so bravo to the BN boys for selling out, just a little. There’s even some brief liner notes inside, explaining exactly where the seeds of Big Neck were sown- in a now defunct rock dive in Buffalo, New York. Which is just perfect, don’t ya think? “Pain in the Big Neck” (hah!) presents an assload of nerve-wrecking slop n’ roll, some of it as boss as can be, some of it a godawful, unlistenable trainwreck. Those are the tracks I like best. Actually, the snotty Kinks-meets-The Mummies stomp of the Tears’ “You’re All Talk” is a definite highlight, and that’s one of the more melodious songs on offer. On the other side o’ the spectrum is the grunting, screeching, fuck-on-the-floor dirt-punk savagery of the Moo-Rat Fingers’ “Suck on This”, which sounds like rabid dogs killing each other. In a good way. In between, you’ll find lotsa swell sonic action from ol’ faves like the Baseball Furies, the Functional Blackouts, and Cock N’ Roll survivors (and ramshackle souleaters) Sagger, plus lotsa wild, new (to me, at least) sensations like Mockra and the Babies. Although not for the faint of heart (like there’s any of those around here), “Pain the Big Neck” is the perfect introduction to this vital and fiercely independent label. Also, if you play this loud enough, it will burn a hole in the wall, so it’s got that going for it, too.
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-Sleazegrinder