Former Members of Alfonsin & Bread And Circuits

On some old downloading binge I remember going after the band Breads & Circuits due to the involvement of Mike Kirsch & Jose Palafox of Swing Kids fame... And Please Inform the Captain This Is A Highjack! fame... And Baader Brains fame... And well. Just a shitload of really, really good bands. The band also includes Mag of Yaphet Kotto. But the true find I got out of this hunt was "Former Members Of Alfonsin" when I finally played their half of the split I was immediately blown away. So I am doing another double post.


First up is the split that brought me to discover this band in the first place! I did not zip the Former Members of Alfonsin section because the tracks are also on the full length I included. The songs are "Kinetic," "Devil's Vocabulary Test," "Hurricane" & "Magic Marker." Luckily they're even in that order on the full length.

Bread & Circuits sounds a lot like Please Inform or Baader Brains. You can definitely see where they were headed when you listen to it. It is not as sample heavy and holds onto some of the more aggressive tendencies of Swing Kids and Torches To Rome compared to the more tech-y style they adopted for the later bands. The vocals are distinctly Mike Kirsch's. That grating nasally yell of his sounds great surrounded by the heavy walls of guitar that this album has. The impact of "Shameful Library" is one that sticks.


I don't really know what it was about this band that got me immediately interested but within two songs I knew I loved it. I think it's that the guitar is boppy and sometimes approaches pop before stripping down into a flurry of quick hardcore riffs. It's fun like Books Lie or Dag Nasty except it's pissed off, political & straightedge.

Listen Here (Former Members of Alfonsin)
Listen Here (Bread & Circuits)
Download Here