Reviews Archives - Page 13 of 57

Behind Deadlines – Status Quo

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[rating:8.5/10]

behind_deadlines_status_quo

Yay! New Ska!

I’m listening to “Status Quo” the forthcoming debut full-length album from Philadelphia based ska punk band, Behind Deadlines. The release features 10 peppy tracks, and is a damn nice way to start into this holiday season. [Edit, the album actually will have 11 tracks when released. The updated track listing is below.] I think the band and I may differ slightly with the punk to ska ratio. I’d say, that the punk portion is tempered a bit with funk. But hey, I’m not the arbiter of such things (or am I) Overall it’s a winning combination and more of what this world needs.

The album sounds polished. Mix is clean and the levels all seem to sit right where they ought to. I suppose this stands to reason. The production has a solid pedigree, having been recorded by Dan Malsch (Bigwig, Four Year Strong, Forever the Sickest Kids) and mixed by Mark Michalik (The Swellers, We Are The Union, Fireworks, Into It Over It, The Wonder Years).

Over the years I swear it’s become more challenging for me to decide on specific influences that bands have. They have to be pretty blatantly obvious. If I had to throw a few out there, I’d suggest Less Than Jake, Mustard Plug, Deal’s Gone Bad, and Bosstones. I might just be name dropping. Who knows? The takeaway is that fan’s of the aforementioned bands, will probably find some affinity for Behind Deadlines as well. Give it a whirl.

A few notes on individual tracks: I’m not a big fan of guitar solos, but the first solo on track 4, “Hey Dear Friend” is tasteful as all getout. I fully approve. As well, the horns that kick in around the 8 second mark on track 5, “Making Change” are damn tasty too.

I won’t spend a whole lot of time telling you what you already know. If you like ska, punk, fun danceable rock and roll, or any combination thereof, please checkout Status Quo and if you can, go check out a live show. If you’re not on the East Coast, the band is playing a few select dates on the Best Coast too.

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

Tracks:
1. Biochemistry
2. Sick Of It All
3. Laid Off
4. Hey Dear Friend
5. Making Change
6. Six Months
7. Sink or Swim
8. Optimism
9. Worthless
10. Escape From Philadelphia
11. Drinking to Brazil

Neverlearn – Start Tomorrow EP

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[rating:8/10]

neverlearn

I know I sometimes slack off, a lot, the last few years, but something that still inspires me to “pick up the pen” as it were, is getting refreshing new music from around the globe. Today is one of those days. Seriously, music, from around the planet, is linking us all. That is a seriously awesome connection. The technology we have available makes so much more possible. I suppose that maybe it takes away the former coveted knowledge, secret band thing of the old tape trading days, but waxing nostalgic aside, the unprecedented access to new music from far flung markets is fantastic. But I digress.

I’m listening to the Start Tomorrow EP by Finnish (Oulu, Finland) band Neverlearn. The four tracks are a quick burst of energetic, melodic punk rock. It’s maybe a bit on the pop punk tip with a hint of AFI-esque emo to it. On the whole I dig it.

The guitar leads are as smooth as the rhythm is tight. This is especially present on track 3, Gravel Pit. The vocals are pulled back and ever so slightly washed out. It gives the song an interesting far away sound.

Though there are only four tracks on the EP, it starts strong, keeps ramping up, and finishes stronger that it started.

Get some!

-Jerry Actually

NOBODYS – Hussy

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[rating:8.5/10]

nobodys-hussy Colorado’s porno-punks NOBODYS are back with HUSSY, their first record in 15 years! Original members JJ Nobody (Drag The River) & Randy “The Kid” Schumacher join forces with Adam Huscher & Steve Bauer (Buck O Nine)to take NOBODYS brash attitude, that you know so well, and have evolved into a full blown Rock N Fucking Roll Band.

Produced and Engineered by Chris Fogal (The Gamits) at Black In Bluhm studios. Hussy comes out late October of 2016 from Rad Girlfriend Records.

15 years is a mighty long time to go without a new record. Usually if there’s that much of a lapse in band activity, the band is essentially dead, but ya know, sometimes shit happens. Well that’s what we have here. Some shit happened and brand new batch of a musically aggressive breed of ramones-core has once again sprung forth out of Colorado. Hells yeah.

I’ve not been overly pleased for the last few iterations about the crap that I’m hearing. Everything’s been “postpunk” this and “prerock” that. Everybody has an angle. Well cut the crap and let’s get back to the Sex Drug (Sex) and Rock & Roll that we loved in the first place.

Thankfully there are bands such as NOBODYS that can muster up the gumption to kick out 13 new tracks of noteworthy punk rock. Oh sure, that averages less than a track per year in their hiatus, but you know what, I’ll take what I can get and I’ll like it!

Standout numbers include the aforementioned “Sex Drugs Sex and Rock & Roll”, “Beer for Breakfast”, (I really like the stripped down hollow sound on this track) and the auto-biographical “Joe Queer Kicked Me Out.” (The exceedingly Queers sounding riffs on this one are hilariously fantastic)

The band will have an album release show at JJ Nobody’s bar, The Triple Nickel Tavern in Colorado Springs on October 29th with Ray Carlisle from Teenage Bottlerocket will be performing acoustic at the release show. Limited Midwestern tour dates, including shows with The Mr. T Experience will follow.

You’ve got a day to be early. Get some!

Pre-order the record from Bandcamp at: http://radgirlfriendrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hussy

Or pre-order the color copies directly from the website at:
http://radgirlfriendrecords.storenvy.com/products/18103847-rgf-062-nobodys-hussy-lp

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

nobodys

Track listing:
Not Loving You
Know It All
Sex Drugs Sex And Rock & Roll
He Moved To Denver
Do It All Again
Beer For Breakfast
Drop What You’re Doing
Joe Queer Kicked Me Out
Kick Me While I’m Down
Who Invited You
She Thinks I’m Sexist
Bad Business
She’s Nuts

Dead To Me – I Wanna Die In Los Angeles

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[rating:8/10]

dead_to_me_die_in_la Here’s a bit of news that you’ve probably already heard. Jack Darlymple is back with Dead To Me after his six year hiatus from the band. The band is working on a new album and in the meantime, there’s a new EP out.

I’ve got the three tracks on loop this morning and I’m, as expected, digging the sounds coming out of my speakers.

The sad thing about EPs is that they can leave you wanting. The three tracks are lyrically intense and feel personal, representative of breakdown and recovery after Tyson “Chicken” Annicharico’s “nonstop drug and alcohol abuse leading him to, in his words, “a psychotic break” which resulted in his admission into a psych ward in San Diego in early November.”

Though brief, I’m happy to hear the band returning to form with solid punk rock and depth that belies a genre that was once panned as a juvenile product of the working class.

Cheers
-Jerry Actually

Tracks:
I Wanna Die In Los Angeles
Tune It Out
Comforting the Disturbed and Disturbing the …

The Mr. T Experience – King Dork Approximately

The Mr. T Experience – King Dork Approximately
© 2016

[rating:8/10]

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mtx_king_dork_approximately If there is such a thing as “pop-punk legends” The Mr. T Experience, or MTX as they’ve become known are surely among them. Admittedly I am not the biggest pop-punk genre and haven’t really listened to MTX in years. As it happens the band hasn’t put out anything new in about 12 years. I guess that kind of makes me still in the loop.

2016 brings us back around though. There’s a brand new MTX album. King Dork Approximately, not so coincidentally the same title as the recently released young adult book by MTX vocalist/songwriter “Dr. Frank” Portman. (The new book is the sequel to the acclaimed “King Dork”)

The new release offers 12 tracks of very poppy music with tinges of punk here and there. The songs are sweet and well crafted. It, in a way, is what would have happened in an alternate universe 1960s USA if the Beach Boys would have drifted more towards garage instead of surf. I guess what I’m getting at is that the songs are resplendent of teenage love songs, but with more edge that comes along with the societal norms from a different era.

I haven’t had the opportunity to read the book to which this album is apparently the soundtrack, but the songs make me feel like that it is early teen / junior high / highschool lit, geared towards the awkward and the weird. The worried and the harried. I’m well past that age bracket of my life, thankfully, but the core still resonates strongly to a guy who never really outgrew his own reign as King Dork.

The self-referential bits aside, King Dork Approximately is as tender of a pop-punk album as you’re likely to ever get. If you’re down with a little bit of bubble gum and want to reminisce about the good ol’ days of Lookout Records, grab yourself a copy and give it a spin.

Cheers,
Jerry Actually

Anti-Nowhere League – The Cage

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the_cage File under old punks don’t die. For the second time this week, I’m listening to brand new music by an old school Brit band. Yesterday I was checking out a new track by trash stalwarts, Lawnmower Deth, and now I’m rocking a brand new album from veteran punk rockers, Anti-Nowhere league.

If you’re like me, your familiarity with ANL is from Metallica’s cover of So What off of Garage Days. Outside of that I had very little knowledge of the band until this new album. Kinda crazy how times changes and influence circles around. Now I’m listening to the bands that influenced the sounds I liked in the day instead of the bands that were under the influence, so to speak.

At any rate, I’m listening to a brand new album, The Cage by Anti-Nowhere League, out today (05/13/2016) and I’m digging it. 13 tracks of energetic punk rock with enough maturity under its belt that you know that it says what it means and means what it says. Tracks are tight and well produced. The songs are well balanced sonically. Vocals don’t overpower the backing tracks and the bass isn’t drowned out by the guitar. It’s got guts; quality guts!

As much as I’m enjoying it, there is some wanking solos that I could totally live without. Sometimes I dislike (ok, most of the time) when punks grow up, learn how to play and then have to prove it. … God damn punks! I trade the guitar solos for more songs for more awesome alcohol fueled sing-a-long tracks like #9 God Bless Alcohol!

For reals though, this release is some solid brand new punk rock by some serious veterans of the game. Look for them live at some of the upcoming Punk Rock Bowling events.

On a side note, WTF festival franchises? Festival events used to be cool and almost mythical. Now there’s a dozen in every town. Perhaps I’m being a bit of a snob, but I think it waters down the scene.

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

Exalter – Obituary For The Living

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[rating:8.5/10]

exalter-cover Ok, so funny thing. I’ve been waxing nostalgic a bit lately and listening to a lot of the 80s Thrash Metal that I grew up on. I still love it, but it kind of went away when Metallica and Megadeth got so damn popular. Well outta nowhere and into my inbox comes some brand new Thrash that sounds like it’s from the days of old. Freaking awesome! Wilder still these cats are cranking the volume and firing metal missiles from Dhaka, Bangladesh! Crazy. Oh yeah, it happens that the new album drops today.

Obituary For The Living busts it out old school correct with rampant riffs, shred solos, and guts and gristle vocals. The songs certainly run a bit longer than my more recent short attention span can contend with, but the intensity is so high that I’m not left feeling bored. I may be off base, but I can hear influences of Sacred Reich, Nuclear Assault, Exodus, Testament and the whole core sound of late 80’s Bay area (and beyond) Thrash scene.

exalter

Don’t think that this is just a rehash of yesteryear though. The songs are all legit in their own right and writhe and undulate with their own dark energy. If I weren’t sitting at a desk typing this right now, I’d be bouncing off the walls making my own circle pit with the house cats, for realz.

So if you’re a fan of the old school of thrash, do yourself (and the band) a big ol’ favor and checkout “Obituary For The Living” the brand new release from Exalter.

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

Tracks:
1. Tortured Innocents
2. Surrounded by Evil
3. Sacrificial Immolation
4. Nuclear Punishment
5. Throat Cutters
6. Thrash Resurgence
7. White Phosphorus Shell

UGLYBoNES – Growing Concerns

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[rating:8.5/10]

UGLYBoNES is a four piece hardcore/thrash punk outfit running out of the Windy City, (Chicago for those of you living under rocks) They’ve got a new album to jam up into your earholes. It’s entitled Growing Concerns and it will crush you.

The release contains 10 tracks, ninety percent of which clock in well under the two minute mark. Rapid bursts of sonic aggression without being over the top ear bleed screamo assault. (totally up my alley as screamo razer vocals are fn lame)

The tracks are all solidly constructed on a foundation of the angst of fading youth. The lyrical delivery is drenched with intensity and the musical accompaniment is fraught with urgency. The overall effect is a cavalcade of pretty rad hardcore punk.

The only downside I can think of is that the tracks have a very consistent pattern of insisting on a slower breakdown segment. Not saying they don’t have merit, but it can get a bit formulaic by the end.

Any downside aside, this band deserves a little bit of your attentions. Go check out their tracks and kick ‘em down some dough so they can continue to rip this shit up.

http://uglybones.bandcamp.com/

Cheers!
Jerry Actually

Tracks:
1. Set Off 01:44
2. PCAF 01:20
3. Not The Same 01:39
4. Obscene 01:17
5. Grown Up 00:54
6. Office Destroyer 00:30
7. SUX 01:20
8. Took Too Much 01:19
9. Bendz 02:25
10. Lazy 01:38

The Coffin Daggers – Aggravatin’ Rhythms

[rating: 9/10]

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coffin-daggers I’m am giddy to no end listening to a fully instrumental Surf album by a band that has Viktor Venom (of Reagan Youth and Nausea) on lead guitar. Why wouldn’t I be? The idea that a vestige of 80’s East coast hardcore punk can transmute into some of the best “dark” surf music that I’ve heard in some time is, to say the least, incredible.

The one-sheet lets me know that all the tracks were recorded on 16-track 2” analog. How sweet is that? I kinda wish I would have had the album to review instead of the CD. If the digital version sounds this good, I can only imagine the vinyl is phenomonal!

Aggravatin’ Rhythms abely drops a lush soundscape of 14 tracks of riff-laden surf rock, the likes of which are rarely heard in this day and age. It’s strikingly reminiscent of foundational work from artists such as Link Wray and legendary guitarist Dick Dale. A more modern surf sensibility is certainly present as well and I can’t help but draw comparisons to by Man or Astro-man and Phantom Surfers.

I was listening to this album the other night and a description kept bubbling to the surface as I listened to track four, The Sinister Urge, “boozy apreggiated dive bombs are reverberating around the interior of my car only to launch into Gilmour-esqe soulful leads. Brilliant!” Sure it lacks some context in the middle of this, but I assure you that when you arrive upon said track, you’ll totally understand.

I’m not sure that I’ve done a write-up for an instrumental release in the past. This very well may be a first for me. So without knowing fully where to go with this, I’m going to go suggest that Aggravatin’ Rhythms by the Coffin Daggers is one of the finest surf albums I’ve heard to date. Seriously this album rocks. Get some!

https://cleorecs.com/store/shop/the-coffin-daggers-aggravatin-rhythms-cd/

Cheers,
Jerry Actually

Bankshot EP

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[rating:8/10]

At this very moment, I’m listening to a new EP from a band called Bankshot. They are a ska punk band outta Davenport, IA. The five tracks on the self-titled release bring me back to the sweet 3rd wave days when all of my favorite bands came out of the Midwest and college towns, and sometimes from Midwest college towns. As I listen I’m reminded of old Mustard Plug, Los Rudiments, new acts like I Voted for Kodos, and the combined roots of multiple generations of punk and ska.

The music on the whole is energetic and upbeat the way in the way that you’d assume if you knew anything about skapunk. In keeping with the nature of the genre, track length is short (generally) and the songs are rather rapid paced. The tracks can, at times, seem a bit busy and perhaps careening towards falling apart. That’s not a bad thing per se, as within those same attributes, there’s the raw urgency of youth. a quality which rarely transcends later years. The production is sparse and suited to the material. There’s a very garage rock / old school sound to the recording. I think it provides a sense of how the band might sound live.

With only five tracks, it is a brief introduction into what has the potential to be a very promising band if they can keep on refining and defining their sound.

You can listen to the Bankshot EP here.

Cheers!
Jerry Actually