I just saw this post on punknews.org about a new compilation from Rhino called American Hardcore. I’m not sure if this is at all connected with the documentary of the same name, but I’ll be damned if this thing doesn’t look like one hell of a compilation. I mean, Rhino pretty much nailed it with No Thanks!, their 4-disc ’70s punk boxed set, but it’s almost astonishing how much they seem to be getting right with this. First of all, sticking to 1 CD rather than 2 or 4 is a wise move I think, and the band and song selection are excellent. Sure, some might quibble with putting Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown” on there instead of something off of Damaged (that song is way more punk than hardcore) or the Adolescents’ still-formative “I Hate Children” rather than one of the more raging songs off of the blue album or the inclusion of Flipper (even if this song is hardcore enough for Caustic Christ to cover). However, aside from those quibbles I’d say this thing is pure fucking gold. Can you imagine what it would be like to be 13 or 14 years old, have heard maybe the Misfits and the Dead Kennedys and then get exposed to “Pay to Cum,” “Red Tape,” “Who Are You,” “Brickwall,” “My Mind’s Diseased” and “Bad Attitude” all in one sitting?!?!? I got into hardcore when I was about 14 and it was a fucking decade before I found out about some of those bands. For the old-timers this thing may listen like a well-done mix tape, but this shit is going to blow some young kids’ minds, I assure you. I suppose there isn’t any point in buying this since I already own every song on this disc in one form or another, but when I get home from school today I may indulge myself but replicating this album’s track listing as an iTunes playlist.
Every month or two I usually take all of the new 7″s I’ve gotten, rip them to mp3 files and make a playlist out of them for easy listening on my iPod. Since I’ve been digesting the June playlist for more than two months now I figure it’s time to talk about it. Without a doubt this is the best EP-only playlist I’ve made in some time; every record deserves a mention.
Cloak/Dagger: Piñata EP
These guys recently signed to Jade Tree so you know that this is on the more palatable end of things for me, but I just can’t get over how fresh this band sounds. Sure, there are influences that you can pick out… the Black Flag element was very up front on their demo tracks, the Wipers/Hot Snakes thing is obvious and there seems to be more than a hint of the Regulations’ guitar sound, but nothing here feels like revivalism. In his review Al Quint mentioned that these guys sound like an indie rock band with a punk edge, and I think if there weren’t former members of Count Me Out and various other hardcore bands on the stage they could’ve come up through the Pitchfork scene just as easily as the hardcore scene. Regardless, this is a band that is breaking down barriers and I absolutely cannot stop listening to this EP.
Deep Sleep: You’re Screwed EP
I think I may have written something brief about this EP when I saw these guys a while back, but over the past few months this thing has gotten stuck in my head like you wouldn’t believe. I waver on how apt the Milo Goes to College comparison is, but these guys are certainly catchy as hell even if they don’t have a “Bikeage” or a “Hope” yet. Plus there is so much music crammed onto this EP that it listens like a full-length… it reminds me of the early Dischord singles in that way. A great debut for sure and I’m looking forward to more from these guys.
No Slogan: No Pasaran EP
I played this one for my friend Dennis and he wasn’t feeling it, which really surprised me. From the first time I dropped the needle on this 7″ I was hooked. I mean, what’s not to love? The beat moves along at a classic hardcore clip, the vocals are catchy as hell (lots of tasteful whoa-oh’s) and the guitar sound is like that of a mack truck bearing down on you. A lot of people seem to be sleeping on this one, but I think it’s one of the best 7″s of this year. Bonus points for stumping me as far as band comparisons go.
Rabies: Disease Core
Well, I just repressed this on my own label so you know that I think it’s awesome, but it’s on the playlist so fuck objectivity, I’m writing about it. From the first time I heard this band I was obsessed… they have the perfect mix of Germs-style punk rock and early West Coast hardcore and all of the members of the band are really young so there are no influences from bad 90s hardcore creeping in. Easily one of the best bands around right now… this EP is highly recommended and it just so happens I can help you secure a copy…
Tristess: Bara Rock ‘N’ Roll EP
I wasn’t too kind to these Swedes when I reviewed their earlier 12″ but fuck if this isn’t a turnaround. This is the perfect playlist-ender because I look forward to it the whole time I’m listening to the other tracks (even though I’m really enjoying them too). This record is just so catchy, aggressive and perfect… I love the vocalist’s trilled R’s and the songwriting and performance are absolutely perfect. Plus I’ve listened to a lot of Asta Kask in my day but before hearing this record I never realized what a perfect language for catchy, pissed off punk Swedish really is. As with all of the releases on Kick N Punch this one is a little hard to find (I had some in my distro but they’re long gone), but rest assured it’s well worth the effort it’ll take to track this one down.
I’ll probably be retiring this playlist to make way for a new one (that new Vicious 7″ is begging to be digitized), but damn if I haven’t enjoyed listening to this on constant rotation for the past few months.
I’m now home from Japan and China. Due to various miracles of modern technology I have now lived Thursday, August 17th twice. I woke up in Tokyo at 6AM with about half an hour of sleep, went through 3 hours of intense security at Narita airport, had a 14-hour flight from Tokyo to Washington, DC then drove five hours from DC back to Chapel Hill. I’ve been awake for 27 straight hours now and even though one of my favorite bands, the Ergs, are playing down the street at Chaz’s all I can do is hit the sack. In the next few days I plan on writing about the trip, including an extensive post on my Tokyo record shopping adventures. Until then, I’m going to be unconscious for the next 12 hours or so.
Since I am leaving for Japan soon I’ve been learning lots of useful bits of Japanese such as numbers, directions, how to order food and the kinds of pleasantries you exchange with strangers. However, this, apparently, is what the Japanese think they need to learn when they come to America:
I leave you with that. I’ll be back in about two weeks with lots of interesting stories I’m sure.
Damn, was last week an incredible one for shows in central NC… Marked Men / Pink Razors / Crossed Eyes on Wednesday and then Black SS / Our Times / Direct Control / Double Negative / Cross Laws on Friday. I don’t really have time to do in-depth write-ups of each show, but I have a lot of photos and videos so I thought I’d post those with short descriptions.
Crossed Eyes played first on Wednesday. This is the band that three of the Street Sharks started while the fourth one spent the summer in Texas. Crossed Eyes’ style is a little different than Street Sharks… they were marketed as more pop-punky, but personally I think they’ve turned the Circle Jerks influence way, way up for this project. They were face-meltingly tight and I can’t wait to see them again. Here’s a pic:
After Crossed Eyes, Richmond’s Pink Razors played a ripper of a set. Unfortunately I missed a good bit of it while trying to finish my glass of nasty sangria next door, but I did make it back in time to hear them do a cover of one of the incredible songs off of the Lemonheads’ first album (you know, from back when they were punk). Unfortunately, no photos as I was buried near the back of the room. Next up Texas’ Marked Men played an absolutely blistering set… it was uncomfortably hot at Chaz’s but they still belted out their lightning-speed power pop in a fashion that was nothing short of awesome. Here’s a video:
If you want to see some more photos from this show click here.
Then on Friday there was another big show at Chaz’s. My band, Cross Laws, opened the show and since I’m in the band I don’t really feel qualified to give an objective account. Actually, I wouldn’t be comfortable giving any kind of account at all because I was concentrating so hard on playing that I barely remember anything. It went well, though, and we got lots of compliments afterward. I can’t ask for anything more than that.
After us Double Negative played an absolutely blistering set. I hadn’t seen them in 2 or 3 months and I was seriously jonesing for them. They were amazing as always and despite the extreme heat (I’m sure it was 110 degrees or higher in the record store that evening) people went nuts and circle pitted like crazy.
Double Negative:
Next Direct Control played and once again confirmed why they are my favorite band on the planet. The set consisted mainly of new songs that will be appearing on their upcoming split LP with Strung Up and it was great hearing some of these songs live for the first time. Here’s one of the new ones; it’s called “Kill Me:”
And just because I wanted to film an old one too, here’s “Bucktown Hardcore” with Musty on vocals:
After Direct Control’s room-destroying set the two bands from New York played solid sets. Our Times had a heavy youth crew feel a la Judge’s first EP and closed with a ripping cover of Project X’s “Straight Edge Revenge:”
Black SS closed out the night with a powerful set of tough hardcore that was ever-so-slightly rocked out a la the Negative Approach LP. The singer also bashed his face in with his microphone which was pretty tough of him I guess:
All in all you couldn’t have asked for two better shows. It’s hard to believe that on September 11 I’ll get to see basically the same show as the Friday lineup but with Street Sharks and motherfucking STRUNG UP exchanged for the two touring bands.
I don’t have an idea for a cohesive post right now, but I do have a lot of thoughts running through my head. Let’s list them.
· On Friday I am playing my first show ever with my band, Cross Laws (opening for Direct Control no less!), and then on Saturday I am leaving to spend five days each in Beijing and Tokyo. I am so freaking excited about these two events that I am nearly out of my mind. I’m not sleeping at night, I can’t concentrate on anything… I’m just a complete wreck. About the only things I’m good for are packing up orders, taping my friend Joel’s records (which, sadly, I have to give back on Friday) and playing the Cross Laws set over and over and over again on guitar.
· After finally getting a finished copy of the Government Warning CD that includes lyrics, I’m convinced that whatever Kenny is screaming and the words he chose to write for the lyric sheet have only the barest of connections. I listen to some of it and I hear eight syllables but there are only five on the sheet… I think Kenny is a rabid animal who cannot be constrained by the boundaries of mere language.
· Why do the worst zits always happen right on the edge of my ear canal? I have one right now that, despite popping in a torrent of pus and blood today, is still so large and painful that it actually hurts when I talk. That’s fucked, especially since I spend so much time in the shower washing my ears.
· The No Side / Out Cold split 7″ is one of the best things ever to happen to vinyl.
· Speaking of vinyl, yesterday afternoon I got in test pressings for the Rabies 7″. They sound great… not quite as loud as the first press but way warmer and more analog-y sounding. These should be ready to ship when I return from Asia in about 3 weeks. I called the pressing plant and unfortunately I won’t be getting test presses of the Koro 12″ before I leave due to a holdup with Aardvark mastering. That means the release date on that is probably going to be more like early September. Fuck, could anything with this record be more of a pain in the ass? I’m sure it’ll all be worth it in the end.
· I spent a large part of my day today figuring out how to print shipping labels and pay for postage using Paypal and the USPS web site. I’ve been spending up to an hour a day in the post office for the past few weeks and it’s getting old. After doing all of today’s packages that way I wonder why the fuck I was doing anything else! These methods are both so easy, particularly paypal; you just hit “print label” and it debits your paypal account for the exact postage amount and even prints the customs forms and everything for international packages. This just made my life so much happier.
· Right now I’m listening to the Cry of Soul compilation 7″ on Crow Records and it has a fucking awesome His Hero Is Gone song on it. I actually saw HHIG back when I was in high school, but I feel like I haven’t been able to take advantage of the cred that earns me because I never liked any of their records. Now I like one.
· It seems like the hip thing to do lately is to write angry tirades about how much MySpace sucks. Why does anyone give a shit about this? I’m no MySpace cheerleader, but is it really that big of a problem? Sure the pages all look the same, but aren’t most 7″s round and flat? For me the most annoying things about myspace are the advertisements (which are easily avoided with Firefox’s adblock extension) and the slowness of the site during peak times. On the positive side, I love the ability to listen to a few tracks from a band without having to download an mp3 to my hard drive; judging from some of the stats I’ve seen on bands’ pages it seems like a lot of people agree with me. I, for one, have a hard time believing that ANYONE would have downloaded mp3s of my band’s practice tapes with no vocals, but as of right now we’ve gotten almost 500 plays on Myspace. Instead of getting all bunched up about its corporate ownership and ubiquity in the punk scene, why not just take it for what it is: a free way to hear music and eavesdrop on your siblings.
Alright, Rockstar Supernova comes on in a few minutes so I’m out! If you’re in North Carolina and you don’t come see both the Marked Men / Pink Razors / Crossed Eyes show tomorrow and the Direct Control / Black SS / Our Times / Double Negative / Cross Laws show on Friday (both at Chaz’s Records in Durham) you are officially a doofus.
