Once a band that everybody from Greensboro slagged as a lame house band, Geezer Lakers have reached that point where their sample- and trumpet-infused aggro-metal grunt Ôn' pound makes kids country-wide sweat and swagger for the tasty joy of it. What troubles me is that the Lake have achieved a near-bionic precision that however impressive only reveals how much they practice. On the split with VPN, they give us a nervous quiet/loud tune without the showy dynamics but there's plenty of artful distortion and moaning. And no horn. Very Pleasant Neighbor, from NY, draw the tension even tighter with crazed girly vox carrying the song through lots of kooky changes. The other single is on a Blacksburg, Va., label that put out a Bike Face 7" last year. (Franz Kunst)