My New Vice

My New Vice – S/T EP (c) 2007

My New Vice:
1. A brand new band on the Northwest scene.
2. A brand new EP from the aforementioned band.

The new self-titled EP from Portland based My New Vice offers five solid tracks of darkly melodic post-grunge heavy rock. There is a punk edge here, but the song writing and arrangements come across as a bit more mature. Tracks three, “The Dead Never Lie” and four, “Mr Tremens” stand out particularly in their diversion from the usual pablum.

Both offer fairly different sounds with the former being bouncing yet brooding and the later having more sonic diversity with a soft jangly intro the quickly melds into what is easily the heaviest (though not the fastest) track on the EP. The final track, “Hell America” brings it home by kicking the tempo up and showing off the some of the more punk rock roots.

All in all, My New Vice pulls together some heavy rock while portraying a possibly dystopian future. If you live in Portland, by all means pick up a copy and check ’em out at a show.

–Jerry Actually

Murderland [Lights Out]

Murderland – Lights Out (c) 2007 Pirish Records Welcome one and all to Murderland, a four piece horror punk act from Santa Barbara, California.  Lights Out ponies up seven tracks of ghoulish macabre ala The Misfits, Balzac and others of the genre.  Albeit the Misfits influence is prevalent in the vast majority of horror punk style bands, Murderland doesn't fail to bring it with a contagious aggression of their own.  If you like your rock all punked up and ghastly scary, pick yourself up some Murderland, crank it up and lurch around your room like a zombie.–Jerry Actually 

Third Grade Scuffle

Third Grade Scuffle – Secrets Don't Make Friends … (c) 2006 Hailing from, of all places, Oklahoma.  Ok, so maybe there is a college that happens to be in Norman.  I guess that there would have to be to get a CD packed with horns and political ideals.  All kidding aside, I'm pretty damn pleased by what I'm hearing.  "Secrets Don't Make Friends, But They Can Rule The World" from Third Grade Scuffle is a pretty tight little EP.  The sound is reminiscent of Bosstones and/or LTJ, but with more aggressive attitude ala H20.  Add to that a political bent and you've got a damn good mix of hardcore and horns.  My only regret is that this is only an EP.–Jerry Actually 

Code 4-15 [Raise Your Glass]

Code 4-15 – Raise Your Glass (c) 2007 Pirish Records At first glance at the packaging of Raise Your Glass, I couldn't help think that Code 4-15 is going to be a rowdy drunk punk rock heavy on the sing-a-long choruses, something in the vein of Dropkick or perhaps Gang Green.  Instead what I found is a competent and catchy west coast punk band that leans a bit towards the pop-punk side of the spectrum.  Even with a cover of the traditional "Leaving of Liverpool", Code 4-15 comes across more Greenday or Bad Religion than anything East Coast.  Despite the bait and switch, I still think that Raise Your Glass is a good disk.  I don't know that it is paving the way for a Santa Barbara "Drink Rock" revolution, but it is still nice to hear some punk outta of the coastal enclaves.–Jerry Actually 

Chasing Victory [Fiends]

Chasing Victory – Fiends (c) 2007 Mono Vs. StereoIf you like your aggression light, turn on to Chasing Victory. Their new CD brings it mild and it just don’t quit. Neither good nor bad (like so many things I hear these days.) Mostly just mundane. They do , however, bring the occasional decent choral shout out on the title track and an odd synth sounding horn part earlier on. All the tracks seem pretty well groomed for radio takeover. Forced angst and breathy vocals over chucky riffs and a jangly bridge just don’t do it for me.–Jerry Actually

Bang Camaro

Bang Camaro – S/T (c) 2007 Black Sword Records

Wow! I don’t know if I should run screaming, far and fast or bust out my torn tight jeans and my long luxurious mullet and rock the hell out.

Bang Camaro certainly kicks it old school hair metal. They have an immense rock sound. In fact they have the sound that Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden and Motley Crue all jammed up together on the same stage might have.

Ok, and here’s the crazy part. Bang Camaro has a 20 man ensemble Chorus for monster power rock/ballad/metal use on … the choruses. I suspect it is very difficult to get them to play in a small club. Then again I guess with a big big sound like this, Bang Camaro ought to be heading to a summer festival arena show near you.

If you like your rock as big as your girlfriend’s bangs and riffs as tight as Mike Reno’s leather pants, you will love this. I have to enjoy it in spite of myself. It’s a great amalgamation of the music I loved almost two decades ago.

–Jerry Actually

Capital [Moment of Silence EP]

Capital – Moment of Silence EP (c) 2007 Fresh outta Brooklyn!  Capital makes good with a five track debut entitled Moment of Silence.  Capital are a rock/punk trio from New York and have a melodic quick paced though somewhat post-grunge sound.  I ain't saying that's a bad thing, just think thick wall of sound, heavily compressed music with layers as dense as a Seattle fog.  All in all a good effort by a new band on the block.  They keep the rock focused and fast and they have enough aggression that the rock aspect doesn't become wanking.  In a word, promising.  I'm anxious to hear more. –Jerry Actually

Rizorkestra [American Guitar]

Rizorkestra – American Guitar (c) 2007 Unstrictly Roots A while back, on a walk through the local art museum, I encountered an exhibit that grabbed my attention.  As I looked the content over, it began to seem over-processed and almost sterile.  Nested on the wall next to each piece, were statements from the artist typed out on little scraps of matting board.  I can't recall specific quotes but I remember one that read something to the effect of… “If Picasso were here in the 21st century, he would use a computer for his work too.” I was astonished. It seemed almost like a betrayal of human expression to me. I always believed the formula should be:Human thought process>Medium>Art – NOT – Human>Processor>Product.American Guitar is a nice break from the over-processed, over-produced shit  we hear everyday.  It is true, bluesy, folksie and unpretentious. While it provides no angst or punkiness, I would recommend taking a listen.  You may be surprised to learn that somewhere out there, people are still “paying respect to the roots”.–Krystal Tolle

Bamboula [Guilty Pleasures]

Bamboula – Guilty Pleasures (c) 2007 Wow man! These guys are rocking! Bamboula ROCK ROCK ROCK!! What a great 3 piece. The have a great psychobilly sound with a west coast flair. Their 14 great tracks take you in and the CD holds your attention the whole way through. I must say I would love to see these guys live, because if they can have this much energy on a studio release imagine what they could do live. So I would highly recommend checking these guys out. . It seems like the only down fall is it might be hard to get a hold of this CD but they do have myspace and a website. I give this release 8.5 out of 10.–Joey Socko

Chris Murray- Slackness

(c) 2007 Unstrictly Roots
[rating: 4/5]

I have to start by telling you that I've been anticipating this release for quite some time and because I'm a fan, this may come across as a bit biased.  For the unaware among us, Slackness is a collaborative project between Chris Murray and The Slackers.  I'll have to admit I was taken a bit by surprise with Slackness.  I wasn't sure what to expect, so let me tell you what I got.  12 great tracks of the heart and soul of ska.  The recording offers up a smorgasboard of ska reggae and roots, some old and some new.  Slackness starts with a great cover of "Janie Jones" and into a more traditional Chris sounding track that appears to be co-written with Dan Potthast of Mu330 fame. (admittedly I'm assuming here based on the writing credits.)  The CD continues into a few remakes of older Chris songs with the added twist of being backed by The Slackers, one of the hardest working bands in ska today.  I particularly enjoy "Rastaman Rock", a tuffed up version of the original.  The tracks close with a ironically upbeat war protest song entitled, "Why We Go To War".  I guess this is like the magical moment when someone got their peanut butter on someone else's chocolate.  If you've ever wondered what Chris would sound like backed up by a full band of the caliber of the Slackers, give Slackness a whirl.  Out now on Unstrictly Roots  In closing, you can tell that Chris Murray is totally OG … Check that freakin' bling homie!

–Jerry Actually