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He’s a happy little duck! the Chief Tail vocalist blurts with glee again and again during the shortest track—aptly titled “Happy Little Duck”—of their debut self-titled effort. It’s simple and to the point. This track, in particular, was more than enough justification to warrant a full podcast review as Connor is wont to expound upon zany punk tunes. The photo of the Tasmanian Tiger was an instant sell too. Beyond this belter of a track though, sloppy, disheveled, and clamorous are all sufficient words to describe the punky noise rock gutter denizens. Disorderliness reigns chief, however, they achieve a tone that incites a rambunctious vigor through the vocalist’s heatstroke ramblings coupled with contagious rhythms and grimy grooves.
Chief Tail formed in the winter of 2019. They emerged from the long-dormant ashes of PCP Roadblock (1995 – 2005), a troupe of abrasive Richmond-based noise-slingers of which Chief Tail retains three of its original four members. I failed to find a slew of information regarding Roadblock, but if some grainy YouTube videos are anything to go on, they seemed like a berserk bunch. Anyway, subsequent to their early 2019 congealing they constructed a fistful of succinct, feedback-splattered punk spew, which was recorded by Steve Albini over in Chicago. And at the turn of this new decade, Reptilian Records unfurled the Tail’s 19-minute auditory acrimony into the mighty shitpipes underlying every American city.
We are seldom inclined to name drop, but both Connor and I would not have known of this gem’s existence if it weren’t for the folks in Chat Pile. In traditional fashion, we’re five months late to the fray to speak about Chief Tail’s debut, but this discussion was quite a jovial excursion relative to our recent ramblings. We spend well over double the album’s length reviewing it (typical), making pathetic forts out of used cigarette butts, and suffocating in its pungent miasma. Thank you so much for tuning in!

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You can acquire a digital copy of Chief Tail via the Reptilian Records Bandcamp page. If physical copies are more your jam, you can grab some neon pink wax over at the Reptilian Records website. Be sure to follow the quartet over on Facebook and Instagram to stay in the know about new tune developments.
If you’d like to support us beyond listening to our podcast, you can do so by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. There you can read all of our notes for each album review episode we publish, gain early access to every episode before its official release, and acquire an embroidered From Corners Unknown patch, button, and stickers if that’s your thing.
Tomorrow, Tim and I are dropping a lengthy podcast review of the sophomore LP from the Dark Souls-inspired progressive metal band Firelink. Thank you to Duncan Park and Matt Braymer-Hayes for supporting us here.
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