Tenement

***n the summer of 2009, Appleton, Wisconsin punk group TENEMENT prepared to embark on yet another trip across the United States in their 1986 Dodge short bus. Like their recording sessions of the time period, their method of travel was often grueling and economical. They played with brutal honesty and they lived with brutal honesty. After a violent incident that resulted in a lot of blood, a lot of broken glass, and the dismissal of half of the rhythm section from the group, this behavioral pattern would ultimately lead to the demise of the first major lineup of the band, and usher in a new era of introspection and experimentation. In 2011, their first two full length records, Napalm Dream and The Blind Wink, were released only a few months apart and lead to Tenement's widespread recognition as one of America's most notable melodic punk bands. Four years later, they released what many critics, from The New York Times to Rolling Stone, viewed as their major statement and first big achievement—Predatory Headlights. This newest singles collection, Bruised Music, Volume Two, represents the time between the release of their 2011 LPs and their 2015 sprawling double album. Bruised Music, Volume Two is not only a collection of singles, but really a collection of transitional tunes that would form the basis of their present sound and distance them from their early juvenile aesthetic and more simplistic approach to the punk idiom. Much of the material heard within was recorded at home on 8 track machine and cassette recorders; though a small portion of it was engineered and mixed by Napalm Dream and Predatory Headlights' production mastermind, Justin Perkins. These selections have a distinct sheen and lend a signature quality to the record as a whole.