Daydream

Daydream

Reaching For Eternity

Black Water

***Co-released between Black Water and Sabotage, Reaching For Eternity is the third album from Portland, OR’s Daydream. To say this newest offering paints outside the lines of the average punk record is an understatement. By any measure, this is a through and through hardcore punk record, but there are many pop and art elements giving these 12 tracks a quality that necessitates multiple listens to fully grasp the depths of what this record has to offer. Very smart lyrics that are delicately yelled over top notch musicianship brings to mind more modern groups such as CRAZY SPIRIT, STRAW MAN ARMY or POISON RUIN mixed with the FLUX OF PINK INDIANS, DISCHARGE and the entire Dischord Records catalog (at least from VOID to FUGAZI). These songs are as tough as they are beautiful. Uncomforting as they are soothing. Genre defying without feeling disingenuine or cheesy. Bottom line is: this is one of the better, more creative punk records of 2023. Also comes with a big lyric sheet including Jodorowsky-esque photo’s of the band that intrigues one even further to ask, “who are these fucking weirdos?!” and a poster for your wall to boot.

Daydream

Mystic Operative

Dirt Cult

***"Daydream has been one of my favorite PDX bands for several years now. Their sound is difficult to describe. It’s noisy and chaotic but held together by riffs and melodies that will get stuck in your head for days. It sounds like Lebenden Toten through a Jesus Lizard filter. This is the band’s second LP. Their first was released by Symphony of Destruction in Italy, and seemed to go under the radar, at least in the United States. On their second LP, the band takes on the commodification of every aspect of our lives. The band writes about the record, 'We are designed and raised to be soldiers, informants, producers, and workers for the state. The more categorized we are by identity, the easier it is to be commodified; all culture, ideas, and thoughts throw into countless algorithms. Just as any of our sacred experiences continually changed—joy and loss, oppression and pain, sexual and gender deviancy, bliss and enlightenment—so do their tactics. Every moment has the potential to be capitalized on or commodified. Every moment offers them useful data to sell to you, implicate you, or both. They empower us to inflict violence and implicate on another. Relation and even existence feel impossible without their tools. But there are moments, those sacred moments, that are unique to us. WE have to fight the operative to keep those experiences ours, without giving it to them for their uses. Watch out for the mystics, inside and out.'" Limited to 300 copies on...