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(c) 2009 Pee Records
[rating:3/5]
Up until recently, and by that I mean when this disc hit my door, I hadn’t ever heard of Strenght Approach. This is, of course, too bad for me. It is also too bad for fans (who also haven’t heard them) of anthemic hardcore punk in the vein of H2O and Sick Of It All (albeit more of the former than the later) Despite my shallow knowledge pool of all things international hardcore, Italy’s own Strength Approach has a new disc out on Pee Records. (at least for Aussie distribution) “All The Plans We Made Are Going To Fail” packs 15 original musical numbers, 1 obnoxious noise track and 2 covers (Black Flag and the aforementioned Sick Of It All) 18 tracks in just under 35 minutes. I like the sound of that. By that I mean that I like the sound of this disk. Now that I’m thinking about it, the vox remind my ever-so-slightly of John Connely of Nuclear Assault. You? … Here’s the important bits though: Good disk, action packed. There is some interesting guitar work and the music is tight and a piece of listening advice, this disc sounds good loud. Tell your neighbors that I said it was ok to crank the stereo.
-Jerry Actually
Loudog hails from Braunschweig, Germany. Formerly known by the less appealing moniker “cumshot”, the band changed names in honor of their appreciation of Sublime and late (Sublime) singer Bradley’s dog. Kito delivers 11 tracks of upbeat roots ska with a bit of punk edge blended in. If I had to draw some comparison I would say that Loudog sounds a lot like a more ska oriented Millencolin. I’d also say they remind me of another band and I’m not sure who it is. I’m gonna go out on a memory loss limb and say that they sound like Umbrella Bed. Prove me wrong. If they do or don’t sound like someone else, what the do sound like is enjoyable. As usual it is refreshing to hear sounds from outside of my continent. Of note, Kito is released under the Creative Commons license. So maybe some enterprising young sound systems can mash some of these tracks into a wicked dub mix, no? It’s your call, but I like it. That said, I would have scored it a higher than a 3/5, but I think some of the tracks could have had a bit more pep.
Sadplant … A manufacturing plant that makes sad? An unhappy houseplant? Not sure, I can’t find the one-sheet that came with this new Sadplant disc, but damn! This band from Connecticut has got it going on something fierce. Formed in 2007 this release marks their fifth DIY effort and out of their own studio as well. Don’t wait too long to grab this one though, ‘cause there is a new new release slated for November. I have to admire this band for their sheer energy. They are nothing if not prolific. The music is catchy and punk rock with a unique style that you don’t often get these days. It is especially rare when you see a band cranking out this much material and it doesn’t end up sounding like musical Xerox. I’d like to say more, but frankly I think the new material is in my mailbox. No seriously, keep on with the rock-n-roll onslaught. Incidentally, the bonus track fucking sucks. 😉
The good folks at BYO Records were kind enough to send me their new retrospective CD and DVD release, “Let Them Know – The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records”. In several words, totally flippin’ rad. Back eons ago in the hard-scrabble Los Angeles Punk rock scene there was a handful of bands, no organization and nothing even close to the internet to get the word out about the minds music and attitude of the American youth. They desperately needed something.
