Author: Jerry Actually

Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso – Curse of the Unsinkable Ship

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© 2012
[rating:8/10]

Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso - The Curse of the Unsinkable ShipAh ah Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso. (known further as JCFHA) what wacky blend of ska/funk/punk/calypso have you crafted for us? Well, I suppose that actually rather describes it. The new release by Tampa’s JCFHA, “Curse of the Unsinkable Ship” is, in fact, a blend of Ska, Funk, Punk, and Calypso.

The album holds 15 tracks. This includes both a prologue and epilogue, so consider it 13 musical numbers and some guidance. Conceptually it reminds me of the ska classic, Full Trucker Effect, by Johnny Socko. The tracks are often a bit lower tempo, but that story telling vibe is there. Granted, the storyline is slightly less cohesive. JCFHA seems to be a bit more focused on the comedic elements of their “theme” album. That’s fine. Not judging. Just saying.

Comparisons aside, the album is fun. It has an exceedingly casual vibe and is very very party. However, I’m only halfway through. Things could take a darker turn. I’ll go get a refreshing beverage and let you know.

…

Ok, so the album does take a darker and a bit unusual turn around track 10, Suburban Wasteland. If you’re from the suburbs, then you know the specific kind of hell the song speaks of. I suspect that in their haste to escape the ‘burbs, JCFHA took a wrong turn and ended up in the sticks as track 11 gets decidedly country. Humor still intact, the release travels on.

At the end of the day, what you in Curse of the Unsinkable Ship is a none-too-serious, but seriously fun blend of ska heavy rock-n-roll. If you’re at all curious, check ‘em out here: http://www.reverbnation.com/johnnycakes Seriously check ‘em out. This band has a steel drum player. How cool is that?

-Jerry Actually

Up For Nothing – In Trance

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© 2013
[rating:8/10]

Up For Nothing - In TranceBrooklyn’s best kept secret, or so I’m lead to believe by their bio, is a little band called Up For Nothing. Perhaps you remember them from last year’s “Twelve Stories Down”. If not, never fear as there is always time to pick up on what you’ve been missing out on. 2013 brings us a new batch of tunes, five to be exact, in the form of “In Trance” The new EP brings more beloved punk rock sounds with a bit more polish that only comes with hard earned time.

The tracks have a positive vibe, even in situations where the content may be squarely in the opposite direction; up-tempo and nicely orchestrated. Part of this overall goodness must surely due to incredible production. From the band’s bio, “these songs were recorded and mixed by Pete Steinkopf (The Bouncing Souls) and mastered by Stephen Egerton (The Descendents)”. If that doesn’t pique your interest right there, you might wanna just keep on walking.

At the end of it, you get five new punk rock tracks by a solid punk rock band. If you’d like to hear more, check out some of the band’s tracks here: http://www.reverbnation.com/upfornothing

–Jerry Actually

Top 10 of 2012

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Wow, would you look at the time? Just do it, ok? By it I mean take a look at a calendar. It is almost 2013. Seriously, what happened to 2012? I’m old. I comment on the passage of time. Get over it. Truly though I wish I had been a little more productive here at !upstarter in 2012. I’m sure that a great number of awesome tunes slipped through my tenuous grasp.

Sometime between a day job and a band project of my own I managed to squeeze in time for 25 reviews this year. That’s one per fortnight, I guess I shouldn’t sell myself short on production. I’m sure that last year wasn’t much different. But down to the guts and glory, if you made the list, a big round of applause. If you sent something in for review and I missed out on something awesome, there is no penalty for re-submission. Without further adieu, I present the best of 2012:

1. Morning Glory – Poets Were My Heroes

2. The Downtown Struts – Victoria!

3. Classics of Love

4. The Atom Age – The Hottest Thing That’s Cool

5. Masked Intruder

6. Harrington Saints – Pride & Tradition

7. The Real McKenzies – Westwinds

8. The Ducky Boys – Chasing The Ghost

9. Problems – Make It Through The Night

10. Eli Whitney & The Sound Machine – Mickey

Masked Intruder

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© 2012 Red Scare Records
[rating:8.5/10]

I’m big time late to the game. That generally seems to be the case. I’m finally getting around to listening to Masked Intruder. I’m speaking, of course, about the self-title release on Red Scare. I know they have some new stuff coming out in cooperation with Fat, but I’m not talking about that right now ok?

Anywhat, this new release busts 13 tracks of pop punk that is way too Descendents for a band named Masked Intruder, especially a band bedecked in a rainbow of ski masks, with songs of felonious intent. I was seriously expecting to hear some Blood for Blood style hardcore come pummeling out of my speakers. Instead I was gently assaulted by pleasant pop punk sounds that have a feeling of Descendents, Queers, Teenage Bottle Rocket and other bands that in essence sound zero like hardcore.

This is not a bad thing by any means. I’m fully digging on this disc and like the subtle trickery that I really brought on myself by making name based assumptions. I, as usual, like the fact that the songs are geared for short attention spans. Nothing hits the three minute mark, though some do come damn close, but never at or over … that is the key, right?

Ok, so bottom line, pop punk as only pop punk can be. The legacy of Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys lives on in a new form that has more distortion and guitar riffery, yet charmingly still has coordinated outfits, which as we all know, is critical.

–Jerry Actually

NOFX – Self Entitled

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© 2012 Fat Wreck Chords
[rating:8/10]

NOFX has a new album out. I’m sure you’ve all heard it by now, or at least heard people talking about it. I know I have. People have said things, and I’m paraphrasing, like “back to their roots” and “sounds like ribbed”. In retrospect, that person could have easily said, “smells like ribs”. I’m not sure. I haven’t been really paying attention lately.

At any rate, NOFX have been at it a while; not quite the elder statesmen of punk rock, but damn if their not a heartbeat or two away from that title. So, grizzled and well into middle age, the gentlemen dusted themselves off and kicked out their 12th studio album.

Self Entitled give you twelve tracks of music that sounds a damn lot like NOFX. It’s snotty punk rock with a mix of social commentary, self-deprecation and politics all entwined. So I suppose you could say, “back to their roots” or “these guys are still around?”, because the new release really kind of works on all those levels.

I guess the sum of it is that if you’re a NOFX fan, you’ll likely enjoy this. If you’re out of loop, you’ll probably stay out of the loop, unless of course you’re in faraway lands where the band seems to like to tour a bunch nowadays.

Seriously though, Self Entitle is a fine record that undoubtedly no one but NOFX could have put out. It’s got their scent all over it.

–Jerry Actually

The Zeroes

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The Zeroes

© 2102 Patrick Roesle

[rating:9/10]

It’s the end of the millenium. Somewhere in the shopping mall saturated, suburban New Jersey, The Returners are riding high on the last wave of Ska. Charlie, Sal, Jack, and Joe are fresh out of high school or there about. The world is theirs and nothing stands in their way. So starts what rapidly turns to inauspicious beginnings of The Zeroes, a new novel by Patrick Roesle. At its heart The Zeroes is a story of growing up, growing apart and coming to the bitter realization that even with all the drive and all the talent and all the potential, sometimes life leads nowhere.

The book is presented in a narrative manner by a character that I can best discern remains nameless throughout. He’s Charlie’s best friend and a talented comic artist, but the storyline takes a very first person aspect and is viewed almost entirely from this lens. Charlie, of course is the brains behind The Returners a four piece, ostensibly 3rd wave Ska band with Sal on drums, Jack on bass and Joe on trombone. But this isn’t a book report.

Sufficed to say, things get bad. Nothing goes as planned and the best intentions fall to pieces. Despite the best efforts, people get out of high school and leave town. Relationships drift apart. Dreams are dashed. People snap. People become cynical and jaded. Inevitably there are those that remain behind.

The Zeroes is a fantastically depressing read. It is perhaps an epitaph upon the dying embers of the last wave of Ska or more likely, it is a somber note that not everything works out. For those of us that lived through the turn of the last century, especially ones who were into Ska, Punk and Hardcore, the book reads like a chapter out of life anywhere in the USA. The bands, the shows, the friends, the triumphs, and the failures could have all happened to any one of us.

The stark, visceral reality, combined with the sonic backdrop of my relative youth makes this one hell of a book. It reminds me of what life would be like a bit less than a generation after Salad Days. A little more jaded and a lot more East Coast, but still a wild ride that doesn’t always work up where you wanted to go.

-Jerry Actually

(Oh, for the record, Permanent Revolution is a brilliant record.)

BAD RELIGION TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM

True North Delivers Maximum Intensity With Stripped Down Sound

Preeminent punk band Bad Religion will release their new album True North this January 22nd on Epitaph Records. In a world still brimming with rampant anti intellectualism, inequality and oppression, the band’s signature brand of sonically charged humanist dissent seems as relevant as ever. On their newest record, the storied band deliberately revisits and refines the powerful and melodic Southern California sound they helped to define.

“We went back to our original mission statement of short concise bursts of melody and thought,” co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz explains. “The intent was to record stripped down punk songs without sacrificing any conceptual density.”

The album’s first single is a propulsive anthem succinctly called “F*ck You.” As the band’s singer and co-songwriter Greg Graffin explains, “If any band should have a song with that title it should be us. It just sounds like a perfect Bad Religion song.”

Listen to the new Bad Religion single “Fuck You” by going to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF0Mia7oYvA

[youtube xF0Mia7oYvA]

Produced by the band and Joe Barresi, True North celebrates the stirring power of cogent punk in the face of pain and adversity. The result is one of the band’s most emotionally accessible albums to date.

“I think working within certain restrictions took away the mental aspect and let us devote more attention to conveying feeling,” Graffin says. “We all go through pain and the best elements of punk give us hope in those dark times.”

While some tracks such as “Robin Hood In Reverse,” “Land of Endless Greed” and “Dharma And The Bomb” ardently address pressing world issues, others like “Hello Cruel World” veer into a far more expressive terrain. The album’s title song “True North” utilizes a wall of guitars and charged beat to explore issues of alienation and loss informed by Graffin’s recent life experiences.

“The song is written from the perspective of a kid who is running away,” Graffin explains. “He says ‘I’m out of here, I’m off to find true north.’ It’s about recognizing that you don’t fit in and trying to find a truth and purpose. Those are all classic punk themes.”

“I think we both really responded to the challenge of writing short and fast songs on this record,” Gurewitz adds. “The constraints set us free. Like moves in a game of chess, there are really as many variations as there are stars in the galaxy.”

Fans are invited to pre-order the album by going here: http://www.kingsroadmerch.com/bad-religion/region/

For more information:
www.epitaph.com
www.badreligion.com

Tiny Fighting Trees – Bath Salts

(c) 2012

[rating: 8.5/10]

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Richmond, VA punkers Tiny Fighting Trees have a new EP out. “Bath Salts” will fuck you up, make you bight someone’s face off and shit!

I’ll keep the review short and sweet like the songs. Punk, check! Fast, check! Kick ass, check! You get four tracks and they are all pretty damn rad. You, current reader, should click this link and check this band out, ok? https://tinyfightingtrees.bandcamp.com/ (be careful. My browser said this sight was dangerous. OK! You’ve been warned.)

At any rate, cheers to the Tiny Fighting Trees for keeping up the fight.

–Jerry Actually

Lili Champ – Vientos

(c) 2011

[rating: 8/10]

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Did you know that there is punk rock in Chile? Seriously! It is fucking rad. I’ve said it before, but I’m so glad that I can be a part of it. I can’t travel the world nearly as much as I like, but when bands like Lili Champ are kind enough to send their music to me, I feel like I am a much bigger part of it than I really am.

Vientos is an eight track of upper mid-tempo punk rock in somewhat of a Social Distortion vein, musically but with vocal lines and sing-a-longs that are much more resplendent of bands like Millencolin or … you know, I don’t really know. It is a punk rock sound that I dig and I’m not sure that I need much more than that.

The songs are a blend of Spanish and English language. Some I get. Some I do not. My Spanish is at about an ADD two year old’s level, so that isn’t the most helpful. I’m pretty sure track five, “Entrecerros” is a cover, but I can’t quite tell. That isn’t really the point though. The point is. I’m rocking out in San Diego to punk rock from Santiago! That is pretty much fate, isn’t it?

Bottom line is some kick ass new tunes for you and your amigos to rock the hell out too, right? http://lilichamp.bandcamp.com/

–Jerry Actually