Tag: punk rock

Anti-Nowhere League – The Cage

© 2016 Cleopatra Records
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

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the_cageFile 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

The Lumber Jerks – First Three E.P.

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© 2014
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

lumber_jerks_first_threeWhat’s up friends? Craving something new in your ear holes? Bam! Done. I’ve got a tasty little EP here from Joliet, IL (yeah, like as in the prison town, and Joliet Jake for you older kids) band The Lumber Jerks. I humbly present the “First Three E.P.”

As you might expect, there are three full tracks. All of which are fast paced punk rock. The songs are sweet and short and chock full of the fervor that is rarely found outside of youthful three piece combos. Not coincidentally, The Lumber Jerks are such a combo.

If I were to try to compare the sounds being kicked down by this EP, I’d mash it up somewhere around 7 Seconds, Newbomb Turks and The Humbers. It’s a great effect. You should check it out.

I guess the fellas recorded on full analog reel to reel. That’s pretty sweet. As much as I’m a proponent of the modern digital studio, there’s something just so straight up badass about rocking the analog. Of course, I’m listening to mp3s on half good PC speakers, so a lot of that is likely falling on deaf ears.

Anyways, here’s some brand new fresh faced punk rocks for you all to get your grubby little hands on.

http://www.thelumberjerks.com/
http://lumberjerks.bandcamp.com/

Cheers!
-Jerry Actually

Szewska Pasja – trzy, dwa…

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Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

© 2014

szewska_pasjaIt’s been a bit since I’ve done any reviews. I guess I kind of hit a wall with words. Occasionally, something shows up in the mail box that makes me remember why I keep doing this. A few weeks ago I received a CD from Poland. Here’s some more words about that experience:

Szewska Pasja is a four piece punk band from Łódź Poland. If you are from the USA, chances are you’re saying Where the hell is that? Well, I looked it up, ‘cause I didn’t know either. It looks to be about smack in the middle of country. Since we’re taking a bit of an instructional turn, Google Translate indicates that the band and album are: Shoemaker Passion – three, two … Take that with a grain of salt. I don’t speak Polish. Enough with the lesson though.

Szewska Pasja seems like a pretty rocking band with a mix of surf and street into their brand of punk rock. All the vocals are in Polish, which is pretty rad. It gives me a sense of how it feels to be a kid rocking out and singing along phonetically to some big pop hit from another country, well minus the pop part I guess.

Trzy, dwa provides 11 tracks of fun and often bouncy punk, heightened for me by virtue of understanding nothing but the language of the music. The musicianship is solid and the recording is quite acceptable for what, as far as I can tell, is a DIY effort from a seemingly young band.

I wish I had some mp3 links for you, but alas, all I have is this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/szewskapasja.12 Perhaps if you speak Polish you can find some on your own.

The takeaway: Sweet Punk Rock from the (former) Eastern Bloc!

–Jerry Actually

Blossom Hill – Sidetracks

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Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

There’s a common theme in music and especially punk music where band’s that have been around for awhile will have fans who will say “their music was better when…..” and they yearn for the “the good old days.”. Enter Blossom Hill, a pop punk band from Finland who released their debut LP, Sidetracks, in October.

On Sidetracks, the group seems to have (fairly successfully whether intentional or not) melded together what sounds like two different eras of Green Day inspired music. From the get go a listener can expect vocals that sound like they are inspired by 39/Smooth or Kerplunk eras and guitar riffs that sound derived right from the Insomniac/Nimrod timeline.

This is what I hear when I listen, and is what I am going to base my critique on. To me they sound like one my favorite Green Day eras (Insomniac/Nimrod) and my least favorite (39/Smooth). Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Sidetracks, but my feelings are very mixed. I hate to make direct comparisons to bands as they take time to create something their own but I can’t get over my first impressions of the album, and for a person who can still tell you what he was doing when he first heard Dookie in ’94, nothing will ever compare. At the same time, I can’t think of another band that has brought me back in time to a groups (so-called) glory days the way they have.

With that said, Sidetracks does not really have tracks that stand out in my mind either good or bad, and it had things I liked and things I didn’t. But if you are one of those nostalgic Green Day fans who thinks “they were better when….” check out Blossom Hill, maybe they can transport you back there.

T.J.

Dead End Story

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Rating: ★★★☆☆
© 2011 Dead End Story

I feel so privileged to get to listen to all the music (from all over the world) that I do. Right now I’m listening to a new single from Finland’s Dead End Story. They are a reasonably aggressive punk band with quite a bit of hardcore influence.

With this being a single, there are only two tracks, so I won’t draw this out so much, but what I’m hearing I mostly like. The guitar work is a little more melodic that I normally go for, but not so over the top that it detracts from the rest of the music. The tracks are still solid and I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to go see this band live.

It’s a more modern style of punk rock; It makes me think a bit of Rise Against.

Bottom line: new model punkcore from Finland.

–Jerry Actually

Scream – Complete Control Sessions

Washington DC’s punk rock is back!
By Stella Bruk

The boy’s grew up and went their separate ways, and now they return, and come back with surprises.

Since 1993’s Fumble album which was actually recorded in 1990, Pete, Franz, Skeeter and Kent haven’t met for a single project.

The idea of getting together began to take shape in 2009 when Pete and Franz played together at Black Cat in Washington on December 2009 and again almost a year later in October 2010 at the Echo in LA. They all met at the Redwood last February to an insane audience, with the presence of former band member Dave Grohl, as the ordinary fan. When Dave joined Scream in 1987 he lied about his age claiming he was 20 when he was actually 17. On that night they played old songs “Still Screaming” and “This Side Up,” and new ones that included – “Stopwatch” and the one off “Jammin’ at Redwood” (originally titled Jammin’ at 606). The barrier separating the audience from the band no longer mattered because Pete Stahl and members of the audience were crowd surfing in true punk rock style.

In February2011, the four original band members Pete Stahl (vocals), Franz Stahl (guitar), Skeeter Thompson (bass) and Kent Stax (drums), went in the studio to record plus the new guitarist Clint Walsh and Dave Grohl, who ‘indirectly participated’, coz the new album was recorded entirely at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606. They met and practised what would be the second album of the project Complete Control Session. These series of studio recordings are on Side One of Dummy Records co-owners nationally syndicated all punk rock “Complete Control Radio” show. The music is released on 10” vinyl and via digital download on August 16th, 2011 via Side One Dummy Records. The first official release in the series was done by The Bouncing Souls in April 2011.

To complete this and give the album the Midas touch, John Lousteau was in charge of producing the seven-track EP Scream’s Complete Control Session which features the following tracks : Stopwatch, Get Free, Jamin at 606, Elevate, The Year Bald Head Singers Were In, Move All, Demolition Dancing.

With loads of post-hardcore riffs, power chords, multi-tracked duelling guitar tones and raw screams, the EP makes us push the furniture to the side of the room and mosh like we did years ago.

Listen the track “Stopwatch”, on their website http://www.screamdc.com/

Punk rock is not dead that’s for sure!

Hirnsäule – Salto

(c) 2010 Hirnsäule
Rating: ★★★½☆

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Ok, so here’s some weird cool stuff if you’re a punk rock fan that doesn’t speak German, but doesn’t mind or thinks it’s neat when others do. From the best I can tell, this release is called “Salto” from the German band, Hirnsäule. The band’s name appears to mean “brain pillar”, which I take to probably mean “spine” … I could be way the hell off. This “disc” was a digital download, so I don’t have any concrete publishing information, so I just attributed it to the band.

On to the music though. Salto contains 15 tracks of DK/Dickies-esque warbling vocal frenzied punk. Some of the tracks are in English, some in German. Honestly it isn’t the easiest to decipher which are which. This doesn’t detract in any way from the enjoyment. I’d venture to guess that the tracks with the English titles are the ones that are done in English. I’ll let you be the judge of that though. http://www.hirnsaeule.de

The similarity to Dead Kennedys is both apparent and apparently genuine. That aside, the music is quick paced and quirky. The overall feel is garagey with just enough polish to make you want a catch a live show to compare the difference.

This is good stuff and just goes to show that in the crazy digital age, music is more accessible than ever. Maybe that takes some of the eliteist fun out of it, but so what. It’s a big damn world get out there and explore it a bit, even it you never leave your house.

–Jerry Actually

Dead On A Friday – Hope It Was Worth It

(c) 2007 Stabsco Records
Rating: ★★★½☆

dead_on_a_friday I know that I’m pretty lax on getting reviews up promptly a lot of the time, but from the copyright date to my door took two years, so I guess I’m not so bad… but on to the review. Queens New York natives, Dead On A Friday certainly have tenacity. Founded in 2002 they went through three drummers, several hazardous apartments, a nervous breakdown and countless hours of therapy (according to their bio) Finally after five long years, the band finally put it to wax so to speak. Hope It Was Worth It is 13 tracks of melodic punk. They have a very Bad Religion feel to me, but with the kind of cold gray edge you’d expect from East Coast winters. The music is tight, good quick pace, no epic length (over 3 minute) BS tracks. For sake of brevity, go find these guys and like them. Like them as much as your little heart can muster. Hope It Was Worth It does in fact seem every bit worth it.

–Jerry Actually

Heads Held High – So Say We All

(c)2008 Heads Held High on Crossface Records

Rating: ★★★★½

hhh Hot damn, it’s good to listen to old-fashioned, ass-kicking hardcore punk!  I hope these guys have stock in bass drum heads and throat lozenges; I’m sure they go through a lot of them. 

So Say We All is an 11-track musical masterpiece. You get screamish vocals from a frontman who can also sing, classic punk guitar notched up with nu-metal riffs, staunch and strumbly bass support, and insanely exceptional drumming.  Clever nuggets of movie quotes pop up between songs with lyrics ranging from introspective, self-abasing, life-loving and regime challenging — brilliant.

Heads Held High deliver an album that makes you want to go out and drive fast, drink hard, and kiss beautiful strangers.  I can’t wait til they tour the West Coast — go get this CD, learn the lyrics so we can go sing along when they’re here.

-HK-47

Jaya the Cat – More Late Night Transmissions With…

(c)2007 I Scream Records

Rating: ★★★★☆

jayathecat-morelatenighttra Bosterdamian group Jaya the Cat deliver a unique fusion of punk, reggae, rock, and ska that took a few listens before it gelled into awesome.  More Late Night Transmissions With… bounces across the Atlantic like Cannabis Cup winning weed followed by a dram of 20 yr barrel aged Glensomething whiskey — oh-so-hazy and smoother than a mo’fo’.

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