Category: Punk

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© 2013
Rating:

Brooklyn’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

I have to be honest, 2012 did not blow me away when it came to music. It almost disappointed me, I couldn’t even bring myself to listen to, let alone buy, the three records from one of my all-time favourite bands. The year started off well, and there were some releases that I really enjoyed, but there were some lulls at times. I may have missed a lot, but the ones that made my list would have probably made it either way.
1) Jesse Lebourdais-I Go By The Sound. I reviewed this one when it came out, the record is awesome. He’s a Canadian singer, and definitely doesn’t receive the fanfare he deserves.
2) The Menzingers-On The Impossible Past. I liked this album instantly. While this album isn’t in constant rotation, I put it on when the time is right.
3) The Gaslight Anthem-Handwritten-I will be driving along sometimes and just catch myself saying “*&%$, this guy is cool!”
4) Cobra Skulls-Eagle Eyes 7”-“Eagle Eyes” has to be my favourite song this year. I wasn’t even a fan until I read a blog post about them, then took a listen for myself and got hooked.
5) Teenage Bottlerocket-Freak Out! This was also an album that turned me on to this band. I always liked them, but I couldn’t say no to this one.
6) The Magnificent-Bad Lucky. I really enjoyed this album, and out of all the ones to make this list, it is one that deserves more air time than it gets.
7) Pennywise-All or Nothing. As a big Pennywise fan, I was skeptical of this one at first, but Zoli Teglas filled in wonderfully. With that said, I am more than excited for Jim Lindberg’s return to the band.
8) Anti-Flag-The General Strike. This is also a good album, that deserves to be taken off the shelf more than it is.
9) Operation Ivy-Hectic and Energy. I know these aren’t technically albums from 2012, but to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group’s inception, Epitaph reissued both records, and these albums still hold up nicely in today’s musical landscape.
10) Riverboat Gamblers-The Wolf You Feed. I bought this when it first came out, out of loyalty and not really hearing much. Up until about 6 weeks ago, I would have considered this for a worst of 2012 list. But I put it on, and got into it a bit more. It isn’t what I expected from them, but it is a bold evolution for the group that doesn’t cheapen the final product.

I remember the day this album came out (November 6th), I was sitting around lamenting the fact that my son will probably never experience or enjoy music stores the way I did as a child.  Even bigger stores like CD Plus, Music World, and Sam the Record Man appealed to me.  There was always something good kicking around the store.  I added many cds to my collection that I found in these types of stores on sale for 2 for 20 dollars or something like that.  I remember when Music World was shutting down, I actually found Pennywise’s About Time and The Fuse for a deal like that. At the time I was so excited, it had been over ten years since I had first heard About Time but I had never owned it.  One thing that also sticks out in my mind is that Tuesdays were new music day.  If something came out that I wanted I usually made sure I had it on release day. 

Now, I walk into an HMV (a very rare occurrence) and I usually leave and feel ashamed because I didn’t knock over the shelves or perform some other type of vandalism.  I can list a billion things that I feel are responsible for the downfall of music stores, but I will only name one, the internet and downloading music. 

Until the release date of this particular album, I never realized the  benefits of dowloading music.  That is the ability to circumvent new music Tuesday’s and release music anytime you want.  That I am thankful for.  Recently, Minneapolis’ resident hardcore punks Triple Crossed released a 5 track EP titled Raised on Ice, and it was done on a non-Tuesday, and it was done late at night. 

That isn’t even the best part, the music is.  With this album you get 5 hard hitting hardcore tracks that all come in at under 2 minutes in length.  I’m not much of fan of the hardcore genre, but I do like these guys.  I think it is because that everytime I listen to them I feel like there is a guy holding a camcorder and another bunch of kids riding around on skateboards nearby.  When I hear music like it, it makes me feel like there is still hope out there for music, and that although I have a billion reasons to blame for the fall of music stores, there a few good reasons to like the direction it is taking.

I have had this album kicking around since its release date and I have listened to it a few times, but tonight I finally took the time to pop the cd in and actually listen to it.  After listening, I figured while I was catching up on last week’s episode of The Walking Dead I would take the time to review the album. 

Last year, Polar Bear Club released Clash Battle Guilt Pride and it made many best of lists for 2011, including the top spot in my own.  I think I called the album the group’s “coming out party” a sort of “taking it to the next level” if you will.  So when I bought the album I thought I was mostly getting live acoustic versions of those songs.  I was wrong.  Included on the cd version are two cover songs, and the remaining 7 are songs which cover  their entire catalog. I am not saying that is a bad thing, I did like Chasing Hamburg, but not nearly as much as the record that followed.  So while these songs did not introduce me to anything new, what it did is let me experience and hear the songs in a different way.  Songs such as “Light of Local Eyes” or “Burned Out in a Jar” would not have made my favourites list from Chasing Hamburg but hearing them acoustically live gives me a new appreciation of them.  The live versions really showcase Jimmy Stadt’s vocals and bring new life to the songs.

My one issue with the collection is that it is only nine songs long, unless of course you received a digital download after buying the vinyl, in which case you got an additional 4 tracks including “Drifting Thing” and “Screams in Caves” which are two of my personal favourites from the band.  If it wasn’t for hearing the 4 additional I would have enjoyed Live at the Montage a lot less, but still it is a good live record that paints a new light on some older songs.

(c) 2011

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We Hate You is an album that clocked in late 2011 from Spanish punk rockers, The Pink Elephants. This new disc is the follow up to the 2009 release of 100% R&R Liquor. On the new album, this Barcelona band offers 13 tracks of punk / pop punk blend in a manner similar to a lot of early 90s punk (at least to my American ears) The accent brings a nice new spin to it that keeps it fresh.

The tracks are mid-tempo and clocking in around the late two to three minute mark. A bit lengthy for me, but by no means a stretch of the attention span. The sounds are familiar (hard to not have that anymore) but the band is plenty able to make those familiar sounds their own.

At the end of it all, what I get from this is the grand idea that if I ever visit Barcelona, and The Pink Elephants are playing, I know I’m going to try to catch that show.

–Jerry Actually

So a while back I asked Jerry if he had anything that he needed reviewed, he told me he would send me something over.  He sent me a link for a German pop punk band named One Mile Left. I didn’t have anything else I wanted to write about, plus Jerry buttered me up a bit by telling me they liked my Pennywise review.  So I took a listen without knowing anything about them, and not reading their bio. From the first few bars all I could think was Blink 182 circa Enema of the State. The guitar and vocal melodies were eerily reminiscent, and I could only picture the webcam scene from American Pie where Jim is trying to get it on with Nadia and the guys from Blink 182 are watching with a monkey.  Well the funny thing about that is that I later went back and read their bio that they sent and they mentioned being inspired by the pop-punk of The same time and actually mentioned American Pie as being an influence.

Don’t get me wrong, these guys aren’t carbon copies of Blink or anything like that, in fact they don’t  have the same use of humor in their music, but when you listen to the music there is no doubt about the bands and time that the music was influenced by.

With all that said, I like them, maybe it is just nostalgia and longing for my younger years considering I turned 32 today but this is something I could listen to.  I have loved pop-punk since the first time I heard “Longview” and this brings me back to those earlier years. Check them out, for fans of those late 90’s pop-punk years they are definitely worth a listen.