Ottowa were a Midwestern grind band in the mid-’90s, from the era of spazzing that lead up to the powerviolence explosion a couple of years later. These thirteen songs were originally on a split LP with Jihad, and have been remixed and re-released with new cover art as a 12” 45, minus the (inferior) Jihad side. I’ve had the original of this record since high school, and these short, furious songs made it onto a lot of mixtapes back then. I’ve been meaning to dust that record off, so this review gives me an awesome excuse to revisit an old favorite. I’m in my early thirties and am discovering that some of the music that I loved as a teenager has not held up well (Koff! Koff! Lifetime, ahem!). Luckily, Ottowa still shreds. The music is grindcore with two singers who don’t do the stereotypical dustbuster/nails on chalkboard back-and-forth. The songs are well written, too, swinging between blastbeats and half-speed parts to make dynamic hardcore blasts. You could file these guys alongside Infest, Crossed Out, Man Is The Bastard or The Locust before they got keyboards.
–CT Terry (Residue)