The Stranger:
Rabbits, Monogamy Party, Brokaw, Fist Fite
(Josephine) Stockholm has a rabbit problem. The city is so infested that it burns bunnies en masse and uses their cremation to heat the Swedes. Still, the rabbit population survives and thrives. Portland’s Rabbits also deserve credit for being fruitful, hardy, and incendiary. They survived the minimal treatment of their debut 2011 album on the stalwart metal label Relapse and came out on the other end with this year’s scorching sophomore album, Bites Rites, on Seattle’s Good to Die Records. The near-blown guitar speakers and blood-sport drumming of their Sonic Youth homage “Meth Valley 99″ is worth the sticker price alone. In other torrid news, pigfuck-rockers Monogamy Party recently opened up their relationship to include former Pleasureboaters guitarist Ricky Claudon. Come see him do it for the first time tonight. BRIAN COOK
Willamette Week:
Rabbits, Fist Fite, Monogamy Party, Brokaw
(Club 21) Oh, those guys in Rabbits are a funny bunch. It might not seem like it, listening to the Portland band’s pulverizing, brain-mashing metallic punk, but the dudes have a sense of humor that bites as much as their music brawls. Take, for instance, the group’s latest release: a two-song flexi disc that looks like a postcard, one side featuring a cover of the early Black Flag classic “Wasted” (represented by a drawing of a crushed can of Coors Light), the other a version of Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge” (represented by a crumpled Coke can). It’s not only just the sort of awesome memorabilia we music editors love finding in our mailbox, it’s also a nice joke on the twin indulgences of the hardcore lifestyle. Rabbits might often sound frightening, but really they’re just having fun. MATTHEW SINGER
