So this is the 12th Mixed Bag Review!! Anyway for this one, I thought what might be fun is to keep it local. So for this one, I have selected 7 bands making this the longest Mixed Bag Review. Also three of these bands also have their first albums dropping today October 10th 2025!! So with that, let’s take a look…..
Witkin: Things I Might’ve Said- OK so I only really heard of this particular artist because she and her band were scheduled to play at The Corbin Bowl but I guess the rest of her band weren’t able to make it so she sang her songs with an acoustic guitar. Now, normally, I am not a fan of acoustic guitar performances. I find the songs that people perform to be about some person that broke their heart or some tragedy or whatever blah blah blah. It’s all very boring derivative and I still am not a fan of acoustic performances. However (and this is a big however), she got up there and basically played her songs, and none of her songs were about any of that sort of stuff. I actually found myself enjoying her songs on an acoustic. Like who knew? Anyway, her songs are quite good and as of today, October 10, 2025 her debut album officially drops. This is just a really good overall solid rock record. I mean that’s the best way I can describe this. To quote my fellow podcast cohost Mr. Brian “It’s like David Bowie meets T-Rex meets 90s alternative” and you know what it absolutely is. It’s a really cool mixture and honestly her record release show on October 18th is going to be tons of fun. Even seen her live she just has a great amount of energy and it’s gonna be really awesome to see her perform these songs properly. Now there is an EP called I Hate My Brain and the songs that are on that have just been added to this album but they’re good songs nonetheless. Anyway, the record release show at Corbin Bowl in Tarzana is going to be fun and I would encourage anybody that can to attend. That said I’m going to give this album 9/10.
Standouts: Last Year’s Ashes, 1973, Conversations
Greyhaven: Keep It Quiet- I had never really heard of this band and they were highly recommended to me by my podcast cohost and friend Brian so of course I had to check them out. Now they are another band in this review, whose album drops today and I must say, this is a really good album!! I feel like sometimes recommendations can be either hit or miss and this one definitely is a hit!! Like this is a band that I would love to see open for a band like Better Lovers or something. They have a lot of melodies, but there’s also a good amount of extreme vocals and going from harsh vocals to clean vocals for this band is pretty damn cool. Again, another one of those bands that you can just feel the energy when you listen to this album and if this is their debut album, then a band like this makes me excited to hear what they have to offer next. I’ll give this album 8.5/10
Standouts: Shatter And Burst, Satellite In Love, Cemetery Sun
Nine Necks: Nine Necks- OK so this isn’t really a full length album but rather a 5 song EP. It does remind me a lot of bands like Botch and you can tell this band has a lot of energy. What I like about this too is that there’s a certain type of rawness to it that you don’t really hear on a lot of debut EP’s. To be quite honest this is a band that I could see playing festivals like Warped Tour. It will be interesting to hear what they have to offer in terms of a full length album but for now this EP it’s pretty damn good. They’ve also played shows at The Corbin Bowl and they will be booked again so if you have the chance to check them out, definitely do so because they are a lot of fun. I’m going to give this EP 9/10
Standouts: Learn To Fight, Ghost
Spark Of Life: Plagued By The Human Condition- much like the band Nine Necks, I’ve been fortunate enough to see them when they’ve played Cobalt Presents shows, and there are another one of those bands that puts on a really great performance!! This album of theirs is a pretty good post hard-core album and for some reason it kind of reminds me of that band Angels And Airwaves. The singer does sound pretty similar to Tom from that band and as I said before, it’s just overall great post hard-core album, especially for newer bands these days. Again, if you have the chance to see them the next time they play a Cobalt show or any other show for that matter definitely check these guys out and give their album a listen. It’s quite enjoyable and I’m going to give it 8/10.
Standouts: Note To Self, The DH Is A Joke, UNTITLED
Madam Bombs: Girl With A Fuse- so this was a band that came across my radar because when Spotify creates playlists, they are on certain ones. I kept on seeing their name pop up and I decided to give them a listen. This is a six song EP so it was pretty short and it was pretty good. It’s sort of hard to lump them into one type of genre, but I guess if I had to compare them to other bands, I kinda get Bikini Kill meets L7 with some indie rock thrown in for good measure. Again, it’s only a six song EP so I’ll be curious as to how their first full length album. My guess it’s going to be a lot like this, but you never know. Anyway, this is a young and up-and-coming band that should definitely be checked out. They do have a couple of other singles on Spotify and those should definitely be listened to. I’m gonna give this EP 8.5/10
Standouts: Walkie Talkie, Mr. Popp, Melt
The Anti-Groupies: Pretty Vicious- OK so much like a few of these other bands, my podcast cohost and good friend Brian kept on bringing up this band so much so that I decided to give them a listen and became a fan almost immediately. They’re just a fun kind hard rock inspired meets punk band. Now I have been waiting a pretty good while for them to finally release their first album which also drops on this day, October 10, 2025. Up until then they had pretty much just only released singles, and I was getting to the point where I wanted to put them in a mixed bag and I was on the verge of doing so with just the songs they had out. There are a few of those that are on here, but for the most part, there are songs that I have not heard before. This album is just a great collection of really good songs. Like I said before it’s definitely got a hard rock meets punk sound and well. The collection of songs are good that’s just what this album is a collection of songs. Now I get it for the first time maybe they were excited to finally be putting out their new album, but my only real nitpick with this album is that it doesn’t quite flow as well as as other albums. As I said, it just feels like a collection of songs. The biggest thing that this album needs work on is the sequencing. This is another one of those bands that even though they just put out this album, it’ll be interesting to hear their follow up. I’m gonna go ahead and give this album 8/10.
Standouts: Ghost Of You, Read The Room, It’s Not Me It’s You
Idle Heirs: Life Is Violence- OK so what makes this band significant is that it has members from the band Coalesce and if you’re expecting that sound you need to look elsewhere. This is not a copy of that band, but something different and in a good way. I would say the best way to describe this album is it’s very atmospheric, moody, and it’s actually pretty dark. I do like the atmospheric sounds mixed with the harsh vocals. It makes for a really cool sound and I feel like this is one of those albums that kinda takes you on a bit of a journey. I don’t know maybe I’m just listening to it differently but either way this is one of those albums and bands that need to be checked out. This was also one of those albums that I had to listen to a couple of times in order to appreciate it overall something different and worth checking out so I’m gonna go ahead and give this one 9/10
Standouts: Pillow Talk, Lemonade Stands, Jaded Mountain
Well, as I said in my introduction, this is the longest and biggest mixed bag review that I’ve done so far but each, and every one of these bands are great in their own, right. There are a good amount of local bands to the LA area, but if you live in that part of the world go and support them. If you would’ve asked me years ago, if I would listen to any of these bands I definitely would’ve said no. However, bands like these really just prove that rock is not dead in fact it’s far from it. A lot of of these bands in this review are also very very young which means they’re going to keep putting out new music and I’m really looking forward to all of the follow up albums that these bands have to offer. Be it their first full length album or their second full length album, these are all great bands. Also please go and check out my cohost and good friend Brian’s review on the Witkin album. https://audioeclectica.com/2025/10/10/album-of-the-week-witkin-things-i-mightve-said/
Sinister Reviews 