This cover reminds me a lot of Secret Of Evermore... anyone? Or am I just nerding out really hard over here... If there's one band that have been getting a decent amount of hype these days, it's Night Birds... and I can't believe I've been sleeping on them for so long, even after I've seen them and had them recommended to me countless of times by multiple friends. After listening to The Other Side Of Darkness a few times, I have to ask: what the fuck was I thinking?! The [...]
Anyone who knows me knows that I can't handle repetition, my ADD just can't handle it (hey, this is why I listen to spastic punk rock). With that in mind, I've been spinning DC's Deathrats Self Titled 7 inch at LEAST 3 times a day, this shit completely blows me away. Deathrats play aggressive, female fronted hardcore and their 7 inch is easily one of the most brutal, yet catchy records I've heard in a long time. With 6 songs finishing in a mere 7 minutes, it's a quick listen... however one thing that really sets [...]
If you listen to ska at all, you know who Jesse Michaels is, and if not you probably at least have heard of his most famous project Operation Ivy, the quintessential ska-punk band. Perhaps you're a fan and have listened to his other band Common Rider (have I dropped enough names for you yet?) After Common Rider's demise Michaels went on sort of a musical hiatus, but recently came back to music with his latest punk band Classics of Love, and their Self Titled album is definitely a high energy punk album that any fan should check out. [...]
When you think of fast thrashy skate punk, I'm going to guess Sweden isn't probably the first place that comes to mind, but after listening to DS-13 (short for Demon System 13) that might change. These Umeå, Sweden punks certainly do their home country justice with their release of Thrash and Burn. Thrash and Burn is a quick listen with 10 songs finishing in a mere 7 minutes, but with their scathing, adrenaline junkie fueled punk rock, anything more would probably result in an overdose. With their English tongue in [...]
Friends, I know it's been a little bit of a while (I've been gone for work... boo) but today we celebrate Mother's Day... that day where we honor the one who has put up with way too much of our bullshit growing up, and still didn't kill us. Here's a little punk rock mix for all you punk rock moms. MP3: Youth Brigade – Punk Rock Mom The Vapids – Make Mommy Proud The Misfits – Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight? [...]
Shocking to probably many of you, Less Than Jake is still around and cranking out ska. Even more shocking to most of you, that music is still pretty damn good. Now I know that ever since they abandoned ska with their erhm ... pop-friendly In With The Out Crowd that they lost a lot of their older fans, including myself. However they had a return to form with their 2008 release of GNV FLA that was incredibly solid, and let me go ahead and say that their compilation [...]
This past Saturday, I headed to my old home state of NJ to catch a bunch of damn good street punk bands that do not play anywhere near often enough. The show was at Joe's Mill Hill Saloon, which was this small little dive with a stage in it's intimate basement, making it feel like any other house show (but with better bathrooms). Everything about the show reeked of Philly: almost all the bands (minus Blanks 77) and the crowd came out from Philly to party. I unfortunately missed most of the openers due to traffic, but I [...]
When I first heard Delaware/NJ's Caseracer's Self Titled EP some time last year, I was blown away by their cohesive melodic hardcore tunes, and anxiously waited for a new full length. I'm still waiting for a full length, but in the meantime they dropped three new songs on a split with Tampa punks Ink and Sweat. On the split, Caseracer opens up with "Uncomfortable Silence / The Death Of My Financial Security" which starts with a very Paint It Black-esque riff (which is NEVER a bad thing by the way), and immediately sets the tone for [...]
Metal-core for the most part has a bad reputation with both metalheads and hardcore fans. In fact, back in college it was the one thing my metal friend and I could actually agree on regarding music, citing the fact that it's usually not metal or hardcore enough and blending the shittiest parts of both to create one giant ball of mediocrity and disappointment. Converge is different, and they proved that with their 3rd release of When Forever Comes Crashing . While my favorite and the one I have the most connection with is their highly acclaimed [...]
Well we've finally gotten our first round of warm summer-esque weather here in Philadelphia, and I didn't waste a minute heading out to my ancestral homeland of NJ's beaches. On my ride over though, I needed an album that just reminded me of summer, and Mustard Plug's Evildoers Beware just hit the right spot. Released back in 1997, Evildoers Beware was actually my first introduction to the ska band Mustard Plug, and it was actually introduced to me by a die hard metalhead. Many moons ago, in the middle of my high school physics [...]
I honestly can't believe it's been nearly four years since Paint It Black has put out any new music, and anyone who has been reading this little ole' blog for a while knows how bad I've been jonesing for some new tunes from Philly's finest (although in their defense... Dan's been busy being a new father and playing with old bands while the other members have been touring with their own respective bands). So how exactly does the brand spanking new Invisible EP fare? Well, let me just say I've been listening to it an average [...]
It's the fucking Paint It Black record release show! I've been stoked on this show ever since they announced it, and the fact that Philly local hardcore dudes Bad Side and female fronted hardcore band Congenital Death were on the bill were a huuuuge plus. I headed to the sold out First Unitarian Church, and while hurting a bit (sprained my ankle, didn't help my cause at World Inferno ) I planned on completely losing my shit regardless. Bad Side: It didn't take long for me to completely lose my shit, [...]
Last night, I headed to Philly's own Union Transfer to see cabaret punks The World Inferno Friendship Society. I missed most of the opening bands, but got there in time to party World Inferno style (slamdancing/waltzing/general rowdiness). The venue itself was probably at half capacity or so, which made for plenty of dancing room, a nice welcome for once at an Inferno show. Unlike other punk shows, when you see World Inferno, it's always just a giant party. The band took the stage, and is tradition, immediately broke into their call to arms "Tattoos Fade". We immediately responded [...]
From the ashes of a bunch of Philly bands comes Bad Side, the hardcore project containing members of Lighten Up, Cobra Lung, and GA$H. I'm going to keep this one quick in the spirit of the music, but I've been listening to their demo nonstop for months now. Bad Side's 5 minute demo captures what hardcore is all about: raw, fast as fuck aggressive music that is sure to entice plenty of stage dives. While I hate the overuse of different "-cores" (it's all just fucking punk rock man), these guys definitely remind a lot of some of [...]
Bad Religion played Philadelphia this past Monday, and I missed it. I've been feeling terrible about it, so I've been pretty much listening to Bad Religion non-stop all week. The album of choice I've been spinning is their highly influential Suffer. Released back in 1988, Suffer was Bad Religion's third full length album and the one that really defined the sound of modern South Cali punk. The songs are more polished and more melodic than their hardcore masterpiece How Can Hell Be Any Worse , and in my opinion features some of [...]
Usually I'm not one to post about band news as much as reviews, but I'm so stoked on this: hardcore veterans Paint It Black are streaming two new tracks from their upcoming 7 inch "Invisible" which is the band's first new material in 4 years (fuck, it's been that long?) Bonus points: Dan Yemin mentioned that he thinks all of the other bands he's involved in will also be active in 2013 (Lifetime, Kid Dynamite). Stoked. These songs completely shred, and I'll see you Philly punks at their hometown record release show next Sunday. [...]
Ask 10 people their favorite musical artist from Jamaica, and 9 out of 10 are going to say Bob Marley. The other person is probably going to get Jamaica confused with Cuba and go on some rant about Communism (fuck that guy). Unless you're hanging with a bunch of knowledgeable ska nerds (don't worry, you're in good company here), you're probably not going to get Desmond Dekker as an answer, although he is hands down my personal favorite and one of the most influential artists to ever come out of Jamaica. Desmond Dekker's third full length release [...]
After their stellar release of In Desolation (which was my favorite album of 2010 ) Minneapolis punks Off With Their Heads certainly set the bar high. I'm happy to say though that the band definitely delivers with their 3rd full length album Home . Off With Their Heads still bring their flavor of Dillinger Four-esque gruffy pop-punk, and remain catch as ever without really losing any of their punk sensibilities. While Home is a bit more polished than any of their previous works, the songs are sure to still induce the beer [...]
We know you've got drinking to do today, or wearing of green, or maybe you're just hanging out and don't give a fuck about St. Patrick's day. That's cool. Here's your soundtrack of the day. MP3: Against Me - Pints of Guinness Make You Strong Dropkick Murphys – Amazing Grace Flogging Molly – Light of a Fading Star Smoke or Fire – Irish Handcuffs Darkbuster - Irish Hub City Stompers - Fuck [...]
Sometimes you can listen to an album that will completely take you back to a particular point in your life. For me, Big D And The Kids Table release How It Goes takes me back to my sophmore year in college where I grabbed it the day it came out in 2004. By that point, I already been a hardcore Big D fan for a few years (I even had the wristband that I wore religiously along with my Rise Against wrist band) and was highly anticipating the release for a few months ever since I heard them [...]
Battle of the Midwestern Housewives
HAERTS – All The Days
iTunes Leaks Kanye West’s Yeezus tracklisting??
PREVIEW: Hyperbits – Karekare (Original Mix)
Stream: Disclosure – When A Fire Starts To Burn
