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Maximum RNR review of 2022 EP Compilation "The Sound of Cape Breton"

www.maximumrocknroll.com/band/tj-cabot/
"This mainstay of New Brunswick’s trash-and-slash rock scene has been kicking it around the island for a good bit. You get three (count ‘em, three) EPs inserted onto one plastic disc, and the songs are a good carry-on of ye olden Rip Off Records sound, or prime-time Goner Records racket, albeit a little cleaned up production-wise. The songs are catchy and dance-worthy as hell, with even a tinge of classic glam on songs like “King Grove,” or ’78 DICKIES speed-pop on “Away.” If you’re like me, you’ll be wondering how you missed out on this for so long. It’s all fun with a capital “PH,” and you should get on the bus real soon because this guy’s going places."
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www.gridcitymagazine.com/chewin-out-a-rhythm-with-tj-cabot/

"I set out to write a few words about TJ Cabot’s latest EP before realizing it is the third in a trilogy of EPs released in 2022. And as we all know, you can’t just open a book somewhere past the middle and hope to make sense of the story. Sure, you will come away with a story but will it be the intended one? Probably not. But I tried. Honestly, I did. But Pissin Ammo was just so good, I needed more.

Pissin Ammo was released in October. And there are a lot of things I like about it. It’s fast. It’s dirty. And each of the five tracks on this EP sound as though Cabot is just holding on for dear life, wrestling with an energy that even he isn’t sure he can control. But he does.

Cabot is as close to a garage rock hero as we New Brunswickers might ever have the pleasure to hear, or call our own. I would go so far as to say he is a one-person rock and roll machine, even though he is backed by a quartet of musicians (thee Artificial Rejects) on SD Action, the first EP in this series released back in February. The following two EPs, King Groove and the aforementioned Pissin Ammo, are all Cabot. Guitar, bass, drums, and voice. His music plays on the well-oiled forms of early punk and garage music. Chorus-verse-chorus-verse-out, leaving no room for much of anything else besides a few well placed, tasty four-bar solos. With the exception of Spin Out, a song originally released by the Wonderful Grand Band, a comedy-folk group from St. John’s that at one time or another included such notable Newfoundlanders as Ron Hynes and Mary Walsh, along with several other members of the comedy troupe CODCO (Yes, I had to look that up), the remaining thirteen songs are all Cabot and are as good as any garage-inspired-punk-rock-and-roll you will ever hear. Possibly better. "

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fasterandlouderblog.blogspot.com/2022/10/tj-cabot-pissin-ammo.html

"I have done TJ Cabot a great disservice with the nature of my coverage of his recent run of home-recorded output. In focusing on rumor mongering over the disintegration of his musical partnership with his backing band Thee Artificial Rejects (and in particular, his turbulent relationship with multi-instrumentalist, street preacher, and suspected embezzler Millhouse Deville), I have shifted the focus away from the stunning quality of the recordings themselves — which on their own merits stand as top-tier specimens of 21st Century budget punk. The newly-released Pissin Ammo is the third in TJ's trilogy of digital EPs released this year, following February's SD Action and July's King Grove. Cumulatively, these three releases form an album's worth of material that rivals the best of this year's punk rock LPs. And having received the sad news that Phone Jerks are no more, I find myself valuing these recordings all the more deeply. Thus it serves no point for me to mention how a debate over pizza toppings or a broken promise to not draft Calle Jarnkrok in fantasy hockey may have led to TJ Cabot having to record Pissin Ammo all by his lonesome. Far more significant is that this is some of his best stuff to date — probably his most essential release since his legendary and now out-of-print debut Demos Recorded in the Anus of the Maritimes came out in early pandemic times and saved us all from eternal despair.
Pissin Ammo is nothing short of what we've come to expect from TJ Cabot. It's raw, raging, and equally conducive to mild toe-tapping and the thrusting of one's fist in the direction of deserving targets. As always, TJ kicks up a blistering mish-mash of turn-of-the-millennium budget trash, early American punk rock, and no-fucks-given snot-core. "Explanations" finds TJ temporarily possessed by "I Got A Right" era Iggy Pop. "J​.​A​.​G. Turned Me Into A Mutant" pulls off the "hardcore Devo" thing as well as I've ever heard it pulled off. The Wonderful Grand Band cover "Spin Out" is a stone cold banger and an indispensable lesson in Maritimes popular culture history. Saving the best for last, the title track is so full of piss and vinegar that it almost makes Phone Jerks sound like a yacht rock band. What a fine way to cap off a trilogy! The sound quality is absolutely textbook for a budget/garage punk release. You're always walking that fine line where you want to retain the savage rawness of a recording without making it sound like shit. With James O'Toole working his mastering magic, these tracks hit that sweet spot just north of sounding like shit.

I know a $14 investment in three digital EPs is a big ask in inflationary times, but I think TJ Cabot's entire 2022 trilogy essentially functions like what might have been the top punk rock album of 2004. Perhaps some enterprising and progressively-minded label folk will bid for the opportunity to compile these releases onto a long playing record. It's a bummer that I will never have occasion to write about Phone Jerks again, but that band did its job and made garage punk great again. And something tells me that all the ex-Jerks (TJ Cabot included) will be regularly featured on these virtual pages for many years to come.'