I’ve had no idea how this tape reached DIY Conspiracy HQ, but when my pal handed it to me at a local show I found my self inclined to put it in the deck and review it for the sake of someone else’s effort in sending a real tape up for a review.
So, here it goes.
Adjustment Center is a hardcore punk band from Arlington, Virginia, or at least their Bandcamp says that. For the sake of science, I’m writing this review while listening to the actual tape and not the digital download that is provided as well. The tape itself is nothing fancy—black DIY printed cover, xeroxed insert, plain black shell C10, probably home dubbed, exactly the way I like my punk tapes.
Four raw and straight forward tracks blast on here, two songs on each side to be more precise. Socially charged, angry, gnarly, and fast ’80s influenced hardcore punk. While I’m not super into it, it somehow weirdly reminds me of early Christ on a Crutch, and I loved them when I was 15.
With all said above, I am glad I got the chance to check the Adjustment Center’s 2018 demo. It brought me down the memory lane a bit and reminded me about some very important principles in DIY and hardcore punk. Whoever these guys are, they made an honest effort to record their music and reach out for some feedback (by supposedly sending out tapes for zines like this to review). I got a real tape at my hand, given to me by a friend at a show. I may be old, but I remember times where THIS was the way you discover the best music around. Having a physical object, a medium, certainly helped me pay attention to Adjustment Center’s message and made me eager to help spread it.
If I were to check the band’s music online, I don’t think I would listen to the whole 7.5 minutes of the demo cause you know how it goes, we’re busy people on the internet, we ain’t got time for that…
