Vaz

Scum-pop blasters Vaz are a consistently underrated Brooklyn treasure. Vocalist/guitarist Paul Erickson and spasmodic herky-jerk drummer Jeff Moordian have outlived all your favorite scenes--both emerged from the distressed clobber of AmRep stalwarts Hammerhead and released full-length records on practically every cool label in the '00s (Gold Standard Labs, Load, Narnack). Their fifth album, Chartreuse Bull (Damaged Rituals), adds second guitarist Tyler Nolan and accidentally stumbles into the cassette Renaissance. Their first tape release (and easily their most aggro to date), Bull is 11 charred burners as taut and ugly as secretly bubblegum as anything in their gotta-catch-em-all catalog. Their ill-tempered blast and squawk updates AmRep's sinister sizzle for more extreme days, still teasing it with the boldest, brashest, shiniest hooks in the nu-pigfuck underground--think Queens Of The Stone Age getting a Pissed Jeans makeunder. Album highlight "Blockade" is two minutes of swinging-from-the-rafters grime-bluster that somehow lets Erickson's ghostly melodies shine through some fairly merciless muck. - Village Voice

“Not sure how we managed it, but this is the first we’ve heard from noise rock heavies Vaz, which is kind of weird for a couple reasons, one, this is their 3rd or 4th record so far at least, and those past records were on some seriously kick ass labels, and two, Vaz is in fact two members of the late great AmRep outfit Hammerhead, who we LOVED. But better late than never, and this is indeed a serious chunk of blown out super hooky and heavy noise rock, pop at its core for sure, but wrapped in some thick, crumbling ultra distorted riffage, not to mention some tripped out psychedelic guitar action, anchored by the drums, a wild chaotic pound, and the vocals, surprisingly melodic, which positions Vaz more alongside other poppier heavy rock combos like Torche, but Vaz definitely twists up their sound, atonal and off kilter, jagged and frenzied and frantic, sleeping easily from twisted crunch to soaring hookiness and back, with a definite brooding downer pop vibe running through some of the songs too. And some ridiculous hooks tucked amidst all that crunch and pound. We gave this a quick listen when it first came in, and thought it sounded pretty good, but when we finally sat down to really dig in, it quickly became a new fave, sounding suddenly like some impossible hybrid of Nomeansno, The Melvins and Torche, with a hint of the WipersÉ and we’ve been listening to it like crazy ever since, which pretty much says it all.

Killer stuff, and definitely recommended for fans of heavy pop and poppy heaviness. Packaged in swank silkscreened jackets, includes a free download as well. ” - Aquarius Records

Nolan and Erickson don't complement each other as guitar players so much as antagonize or taunt. When Moordian enters the fray, he does so with reckless abandon, setting a breakneck pace that he's seemingly perpetually in danger of losing. Yet despite of all these chaotic collisions, Vaz never veers off-course, instead banging out no-hold-barred rock tunes that mete their righteous fury with a sense of song. - Pitchfork Media