Midwest Duress pairs up two bands from the minor league metropolises of Dayton, OH and Joliet, IL. Even if the cities they call home suffer from an inferiority complex, the bands should not.

Dayton sits on the west side of Ohio, about two hours east of Indianapolis and an hour north of Cincinnati. It’s the home of an impressive aviation museum, and the ever prolific Raging Nathans. 2020 has seen The Raging Nathans put out an ambitious full length, three splits and a live EP. All five were also at least co-released by Rad Girlfriend Records, the label owned and operated by Raging Nathans frontman Josh Goldman and his wife.

The Raging Nathans contribute three new songs to Midwest Duress. The first two, “Can’t Relate” and “Worry About Yourself” feature the melodic punk and elevated songwriting that the band has been displaying over the last couple of years. Catchy songs with the perfect balance of cynicism and sincerity. Grown up punk rock songs. The catchiest song might be the most immature, but still, “Fuck You” is a short blast of fun.

Joliet is about an hour southwest of Chicago. Like so many of the Windy City’s sprawling suburbs, It’s home to some notable pop punk bands including The Reaganomics. The band released their most recent full length, The Aging Punk, in 2019. They represent the Red Scare Industries side of the record, but new Reaganomics tracks are generally hard to come by.

The Reaganomics are undoubtedly a pop punk band, but they employ the same type of dark humor as their neighbors The Brokedowns. This is especially true on the first of their three songs, “OK Day”. “Song in A” is less than optimistic, while “Tear Off Your Face” is just plain weird. Both are memorable tunes.

Everything The Raging Nathans have done this year is worth checking out, if not not picking up on wax. Midwest Duress is no exception. The Reaganomics tracks are a nice bonus. Grab a copy of this Rad Girlfriend/Red Scare joint while you can.