Vial - Loudmouth

VIAL came up through Minneapolis DIY and then spent 2020 doing the only thing a young band could do that year, which was write. What came out the other side was LOUDMOUTH, twelve songs in thirty-one minutes with no interest in being polite about any of it. Released July 30, 2021 on Get Better Records, it is one of the sharpest modern riot grrrl records of the decade so far.

The band splits vocals across three members, and that rotation is the whole trick. Taylor Kraemer takes the hooks on "Violet" and "Something More," KT Branscom snarls through "Mr. Fuck You" and "Roadkill," and Katie Fischer steps out front on "Planet Drool." Underneath, it is bratty pop-punk energy welded to actual indie rock songwriting, all of it produced and mixed by Henry Stoehr of Slow Pulp with mastering from Ryan Schwabe. "Piss Punk" is the two-minute middle finger. "21" closes it out with more feeling than you expect from a record this fast.

Live, they have shared stages with FIDLAR, HUNNY, and Mal Blum, and the hooks land even harder in a room. This one has stayed a catalog staple for the label since the day it came out.

Back in print on vinyl, housed in a gatefold jacket with a full color poster included. If you missed the first run, this is your shot.

Two notes: the distributor sheet calls this a sophomore record, but the label and the band's own discography list it as the debut LP (Grow Up in 2019 was an EP), so I wrote it as the debut. They also say trio, which is true of the current lineup but not of this record, which was made as a four-piece, so I left the headcount out entirely. Let me know the vinyl color on your repress and I'll drop it into the last paragraph.