When you hear that Eric Davidson from the New Bomb Turks has a new band, along with a slew of singles you get excited. Such was the news regarding Livids and one of their first releases, the (Some of Us Have) Adrenalized Hearts EP for Oops Baby Records . The press release describes it as a recording which was "banged out." Sadly, it seems like that's less hyperbole, and more a statement meant to keep you from getting your hopes up. The songs are good, if a bit rough, but the [...]
Small Plastic Songs is the first release from a new boutique vinyl label called Record Collective Limited and features one song each from the forthcoming debut albums of four of Sydney's "most promising up and comers," according to the press release. What we know is that we've listened to the four-way split, and it sounds just dandy. The shoegaze-tinged, college radio flavored "Wind Shear" from Skullsquadron will instantly grab your attention, as will the additional tracks from Ya Aha , The Aerotrope Guild , and Restless Leg . "The Record [...]
Grave Mistake Records recently reissued Big Eyes ' demo 7-inch from 2010 as part of a co-release with Evil Weevil , who originally put it out. When Alex at Grave Mistake told me that it'd been recut and repressed at a different plant, I figured this was a good time to sit down and compare the two releases. Demo 2010 (as I suppose the record is now known) has new art, new labels, and it's also cut at 45 versus 33. Everything's different, at least in terms of the physical appearance, but [...]
Minneapolis musician and writer Nate Gangelhoff has an impressive CV. He's played in Off With Their Heads, Rivethead, and Banner Pilot, as well as a band that's recently put out their third full-length, The Gateway District . The quartet's remarkably well-known for a band that rarely plays outside of the Twin Cities area, but their pedigree is enough to interest anyone familiar with the current punk scene, with members of the Soviettes, Salteens, and Dear Landlord (to say nothing of Gangelhoff's laundry list of bands). Gangelhoff was kind enough to take time out of his [...]
The writer of Image Comics' The Li'l Depressed Boy , S. Steven Struble , is coming to your town this weekend. Well, if you live in Kansas. Specifically, if you live in Lawrence or Wichita. He'll be doing two long-term hangs on Friday and Saturday. Friday, March 22, he'll be at Astrokitty Comics in Lawrence from 11:00am to 6:00pm, and on Saturday, March 23, he'll be at Prairie Dog Comics in Wichita. Details for the Lawrence event can be found at its Facebook event page , and the same goes for [...]
Unsurprisingly, this entire LP plays at 45 rpm. Frankly, the only thing that would make more sense were it to be a 78. We loved that last release from The Shirks . Their "Cry Cry Cry" single was a monster, but this self-titled LP is pure pedal to the floor rock 'n' roll. The whole thing is fuzzed-out, blown-speaker fury, and it is an intense ride. Thankfully, it's also a short ride - the Shirks' style of rock 'n' roll, played as it is at 500 miles an hour, can seem like you're riding shotgun [...]
Within the last few years, I've developed a general manner of reading books such as Mark Goodall 's Gathering of the Tribe: Music and Heavy Conscious Creation (out now via Headpress ). When you've a thick book, consisting of many different subsections, and under each subsection a series of essays, you just have to work through it in fits and starts. What I'm trying to say is that Goodall and and the contributors he's lined up are going to lay some very deep ideas on you, and they're going to cover a lot of [...]
On last week's episode of the Nothing to Write Home About podcast, host Matt Pryor (the Get Up Kids, New Amsterdams, et al) was interviewing friend and fellow musician Joshua Berwanger about his time in the Anniversary and the Only Children, as well as talking about Berwanger's new musical project, Berwanger . In the course of the interview (which is really quite good, and a must-listen for anyone who was seeing shows in Kansas City during the mid-90s), Berwanger discusses the possibility of a reunion of his most well-known band, the [...]
Tenement , repeatedly mentioned to me as one of the best bands currently playing, is coming to Kansas City on Monday, April 1, as part of a tour with Give and Night Birds. It should go without saying that I'm absurdly excited about this show, because it's both early and cheap. Night Birds are an amazing live show, and their 20-30 minute set is worth the 40-minute trip both ways. Tenement's also supposed to be one of those bands whose live show will make you an instant convert and fan. That being said, [...]
Legendary psychedelic soul bluesman Swamp Dogg 's first two albums, Total Destruction to Your Mind and Rat On! see reissue today via Alive Naturalsound . I've had a chance to listen to both, and they sound amazing. They've still got that swamp funk to them, but the remastering job is just absolutely stellar. For those used to vinyl rips and bootleg CDs, these brand-new LP reissues (and first-time official CD releases) will blow your mind. Hopefully, this will lead to a new generation of folks getting into this somewhat lost musician. While [...]
Lawrence's the Rackatees and Omaha's the Shidiots have their upcoming split 7-inch off to the plant for test pressings right now. Let's hope these two gruffly poppy punk acts will have some new vinyl in time for our favorite warm-weather activity: opening up the windows, putting the speakers right up next to the screens, and annoying the neighbors while we drink beer on the front porch. As for pressing details, they're doing 300 copies (each band will have 150 copies) pressed on randomly colored vinyl. It's looking like the release date will be mid-April [...]
It's a rare occasion when I'll suggest that you go watch shitty YouTube videos of a band to get an idea of their sound. Given the nature of China Rats ' single, "Nip It In the Bud," with its hooky refrain and artfully-placed stop-and-go aesthetic, I wanted to really like these boys from Leeds. However, its production is so clean, the whole "Buzzcocks meet Undertones with a hint of the Sonics" vibe their publicist is pushing just doesn't work for me. But you watch a video of them doing "To Be Like I" live last year at London Calling, [...]
Wake EP by Wake In rare thing, we're just going to tell you to go listen to this EP from Richmond's Wake . We got the e-mail announcing the impending vinyl release of the self-titled 7-inch yesterday, and promptly started listening. It's snotty hardcore, and while Rival Mob might be the big new in terms of hardcore releases this week, take a moment (quite literally, less than ten minutes) to listen to Wake. It's almost better than a big cup of coffee to wake you up and get you moving. It kicks off with [...]
Brooklyn's Marine Electric have a nifty idea with their recent full-length, Restrained Joy . They recorded the instruments live, and then recorded the vocals later. It certainly lends the instruments a certain urgency and heft that one can only get from a live setting. That said, though, there's a flipside: the vocals seem rather flat in comparison. It sounds good, but the vocals just seem to lack the resonance held by the instruments. You lose the slight echo and reverb that a live room gives you when you step into a booth to sing. [...]
The upcoming release of Till Death... A Guide to Love and Loss is sure to be a big deal for fans of New Years Day and its frontwoman, Ash Costello , as well as Kriz DK of the Genitorturers and Deadstar Assembly. It's a wonderfully shot series of photographs by Jeremy Saffer , and the concept is that it "shows what it might be like to date a Gothic matriarch, like Morticia, Elvira, Lily, etc. prior to them meeting their Gomez or Herman." It's a 70-page, full-color hardcover, with the images within [...]
The first long-player from Run, Forever in a year and a half - and the first recordings from the band in over a year - Settling is an album that's been long-awaited. Now that it's out on Tiny Engines , what do we have? Run, Forever's sound on Settling is the natural successor to the late '90s / early '00s acts who filtered alternative rock through a pop filter (i.e., the entire Drive Thru records roster). On this LP, Run, Forever flip the equation, filtering alterna-pop through an indie rock filter. [...]
They still make screamy, angular indie rock, thank heavens. I'd been afraid that screamo had co-opted this style of delivery almost completely, but Jowls ' Cursed , out now on Tiny Engines , comfortably delivers screaming and impassioned lyrical delivery from breakdowns and mall hair. Cursed is jam-packed with metronomic pulses which abruptly shift, lurching and jerking into another cyclical section, which will itself be punctuated by agonized vocals. The first side's three songs hew so closely to this template that it's almost as if it's one long song, each track seperated [...]
The latest EP from Philadelphia's Ex Friends , Twisted Around , is an enthusiastic bit of punk rock which hearkens back to the '90s era of Gilman Street. It's street-punky and anthemic, with a rock 'n' roll - not hardcore - influence. Ex Friends have a hint of that Philly punk style one hears in the likes of Kid Dynamite or Paint It Black, but more along the lines of the Loved Ones. Ex Friends are lyrically simplistic, but the enthusiasm behind them make the entirety of this 7-inch an absolute joy to hear. Additionally, lyrically [...]
We've demonstrated some love for Berwanger a lot recently, and it'll only ramp up now that the band's getting ready to release their full-length, All You Can Eat , later this spring. In advance of all of that, however, will come this split 7-inch with TK Webb on California's Creme Tangerine Records . Berwanger's contribution, as you can see, is the track "Neon Corners." No clue as to when the split will see release, but keep an eye on the band's Facebook page for more updates. You can [...]
The past couple of weeks, I've been driving to work, listening to the same CD - namely, the fourth volume of the Yo Gabba Gabba "Music Is... Awesome!" series of compilations. For them's that don't have kids, Yo Gabba Gabba is a show on the Nick Jr. cable network, and was co-created by Christian Jacobs, who readers of this site might better know as MC Bat Commander of the Aquabats. Anyhow, the show has tons of musical guests, and everyone from the Aggrolites to Peter Bjorn and John has [...]
Rock Star Journalist
Top 10 MP3s of the Week (5/24)
Disclosure – When A Fire Starts to Burn
Daft Punk: When anonymity goes wrong
Earl Sweatshirt ft. Mac Miller – Guild
Boards Of Canada - Reach For The Dead
