STL/Minneapolis connection. Computer virus punk/hc straight from the clown farm. Tape 1 on Side A, tape 2 on B. Risographed sleeves + an insert.

Our take: I’m not really sure what the deal is with this record… Lumpy’s description mentions rather vaguely that this project is a “St. Louis / Minneapolis connection,” but I don’t really know anything other than that. I am wondering, though, is the first track (which is titled “Pantallas”) a synth cover of “I Peed in the Pool” by Lumpy? Or does it just have a really similar chord pattern? Pantalla means “screen” in Spanish, so it doesn’t appear that the lyrics are a translation, but boy are the songs similar. Anyway, aside from that little bit of intrigue I should probably tell you that (on the a-side at least) Mala Leche sound to my ears like a synth-and-acoustic-drums combo, and while there are really not too many similarities in terms of songwriting style or vibe, I believe that whenever you hear a band with that setup of instruments you are legally obligated to compare them to the Screamers. However, something like Natural Causes’ or Ausmuteants’ synth-inflected take on the classic jittery punk formula would be a much better comparison. The songs on the b-side sound like they’re recorded with electronic drums, but the vibe is similar, if not a little noisier and more desperate. In addition to just being generally into the way this band goes about writing and recording songs, I really like the fact that there are nine fully-formed songs on this 7” record. Despite the vast difference in instrumentation, it feels like a mini-full length in a similar way to a lot of classic early 80s hardcore EPs. Anyway, that’s a whole lot of references to throw out, but if you’re into the more jittery and nervous bands on Lumpy like Muff Divers (particularly their 7”) and BB Eye I’d strongly recommend snatching this up.