McRad/Frontside Five

In 1984, Tony Hawk was doing a Frontside 5-0 to Lipslide Revert. Here we have skate punks Frontside Five and McRad reverting back to 1984, with the former inhabiting the thrash of D.R.I. and the latter remembering the Orwellian age through archival live tracks from the era. 50/50 Split (set for release this Friday, October 12, at 3 Kings Tavern) is a bit of a misnomer, as Frontside contributes eight tracks to McRad's eleven, but the styles, speeds and volumes contained within are the real disparities. Frontside Five is tighter than ever, filling the bowl with speedy riffage reared on Suicidal Tendencies. Drummer Robdogg blurs his sticks with gear-jamming precision. Spewing vicious tales of freestyling and flatuence, Brandon Stolz calls out skate tricks like a square-dance barker. McRad, meanwhile, offers up trippy dub that rises in smoky swirls. Odd production and jazzy street poetry supplant the need for hallucinogens. The first gig at CBGB provides the heavily echoed "Anthem," which follows a Specials ska formula, while the act's final performance, "Mondo's Revenge," breaks down in audience chaos.