Man, I miss Drive Like Jehu. And from the sound of Ultra Dolphins' compilation EP Why Are You Laugh, I'm not alone. The drums, they bash. The bass, it undulates. The guitar, it sprays acid feedback with every strangulated spasm. There's nary a pleasant moment on the disc (which combines a limited-edition EP from 2003 and an unreleased track from 2004) -- just twenty-four minutes of ugly, surging post-hardcore. But whenever the songs threaten to hemorrhage with too much dissonance, the Dolphins find bizarre rhythmic hooks to clot your bleeding ears. Midway through "Shoont," Nate Rappole's guitar slams head-on into a classic Unwound noise groove as he screams "I gotta tell it like it is!" Preach on, brother.
