Vacation is over, time to wake up the neighborhoods. After a four-year hiatus this is their first album of new material in eight year. Two tragedies regarding the band – the death of the band’s frequent producer Jerry Finn by a cerebral hemorrhage on August 21, 2008 and a plane crash survived only by drummer Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM – bring the band members together and they managed to work out their issues and reunite in 2008. “Neighborhoods” is the first Blink-182 album produced by the band members without the help of an outside record producer. And Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker did a great job.
Released on September 27, 2011 through DGC Records and Interscope Records, the sixth studio album by Blink-182 is another great collection of pop punk anthems. Maybe some of their new songs have a darker vibe, but still, this is so 101% Californian punk. Read more Blink-182 – Neighborhoods (2011)
punk rock
Wednesday 13 – Calling All Corpses (2011)
“I Wanna Be… Cremated”. Sounds familiar? Well, if you’re into punk rock and The Ramones means something for you, it should.
Joseph Poole, better known as Wednesday 13 and mainly famous for his role as the frontman of the Murderdolls, are delivering his new solo material and it sounds exactly as the perfect blending of The Ramones and Alice Cooper. Horror punk? Eventually a twist of Misfits is mandatory and always part of the formula, but don’t take those horror things too seriously, this is dirty, good-old rock and roll and even the fake blood was replaced with humor. Just like “sedated” with “cremated”. 😀 Anyway, at the end we all gonna die, don’t really matter if we were good little boys and girls and avoided downloading this or that, isn’t it? Don’t looking for trouble: mp3 to mp3 and dust to dust! 😆 Read more Wednesday 13 – Calling All Corpses (2011)
Infectious Grooves – Mas Borracho (2000)
This is a “not so old oldies”, released 11 years ago on 29 August, 2000, it’s the fourth – and up to date last – album released by the maniacs of Infectious Grooves. Maybe this is not same “classy” as the more notorious “Sarsippius’ Ark”, but as any Mike Muir project and product, it still kicking ass. Not to mention, we’ve got on the bass guitar the murderous Robert Trujillo (ex-Suicidal Tendencies, now Metallica), guitarists Dean Pleasants (also played with Ugly Kid Joe, George Clinton, etc), and Adam Siegel (Excel, Suicidal Tendencies, The Blondes, Eels, etc), and drummer Brooks Wackerman (Vandals, current drummer of Bad Religion).
The title of the album, as written on the album, means “but drunk” in Spanish. However, it most likely is a misspell of “más borracho”, meaning “more drunk” or “drunker”. Be prepared to funk off your ass and punk it up! Read more Infectious Grooves – Mas Borracho (2000)
Total Chaos – Battered and Smashed (2011)
Absolutely classy, undiluted 80s punk rock. These guys from Los Angeles delivering music – unbelievable! – since 1989 – for more than two decades.
Rob Chaos -Vox, Shawn Smash -Guitar, – D Shocker and Miguel Conflict – Bass, and Danny ‘Boy” Virus and Gearbox – Drums, juggling between The Ramones and The Exploited, delivering the perfect blending of both approaches. The band was formed as a response to the rising, commercial, “new style” of punk widely promoted by media and record labels and it was not only music, but a forum to convey important political and social views.
Total Chaos along with many others started organizations such as – UVP (United Valley Punks) OCP (Orange County Peace Punks) and AGC (Alternative Gathering Collective ) holding social events like:Food Not Bombs, giving support to the Big Mountain Indian Reservation and helping to open the Los Angeles Anarchist Center. The idea of social responsibility was a significant thing from organizing peace punk picnics to protesting against the Gulf War, their music had meaning and stood for something.
Read more Total Chaos – Battered and Smashed (2011)
Snurfu – Bag of Bones – EP (2011)
There’s not too many things to say about a band formed only three years ago and delivering their first EP. Watching their video for “372nd Military Police” on YouTube I was thinking they are a punk band juggling between New Model Army and The Exploited, later listening their four songs from the EP I realized this is (only) Rock (And Roll), there’s something raw, garage and punk taste-like about it, but still, this is unpolished, good-old Rock and it feels alright.
The opening “Your Sister Too” have a kind of Velvet Revolver after-taste, it’s right in the middle between Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, between Rock and Post-Grunge. “My Empty Song” bring to the surface some Southern/Stoner roots and sounds, it’s quite classy and the guitar riff is actually pretty wicked. Read more Snurfu – Bag of Bones – EP (2011)
Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation (2011)
Bomb the Music Industry!’s sixth full-length sounds just like a fun summer album and I swear, I could kill for a vacation!
BTMI! probably have the most devoted fan base in the US. They do everything with enthusiasm and electrifying energy, while the “secret” of their success is the fun, intimate, and personal approach. From fun ska-punk to pop punk there’s maybe not a far way, BTMI! managed to stay between and delivered 13 new tracks of conscious feel good. And I’m envious for this while I’m admiring them for this. This is love/hate. Some people love them for their disregard for conventions, for their stupid lyrics, their shouted, silly gang vocals and sloppy riffs, others hate them for all of this. I’m caught between. Read more Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation (2011)
Against Me! – Black Crosses (2011)
Punk Rock anybody?
“Total Clarity” is a collection of demos and unreleased songs from the 2005’s “Searching for a Former Clarity” recording sessions, released through Fat Wreck Chords, label which also released “The Original Cowboy”, an album of demos from the band’s 2003 album “Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy”, in 2009.
Following the band’s decision to create their own record label, they decided to re-issue their fifth full-length album, “White Crosses”. The re-issue contains a second disc titled “Black Crosses”, a collection of demos from 2009 and acoustic sessions from 2010, serving as an inaugural release for their newly launched record label, Total Treble Music.
One one hand we’ve got a lot of releases and that’s nice, but it also smells like some record labels try to cash-in, don’t matter what. Zappa were joking about this – we’re only in it for the money – but too many jerks and dickheads are actually really don’t give a shit about music anymore…
On the other hand, I really enjoy listening demo collections, it shows sometimes a different face of the band, the sound mainly are not so polished, the edges are not rounded by (over) production and mainly on the demos we can actually hear what the band had in their mind and not what the record label, some producer and their manager expect from them. Read more Against Me! – Black Crosses (2011)
Basement – I Wish I Could Stay Here (2011)
Basement. Don’t matter what others may say, I really don’t give a shit about, believe me, I think it’s pretty dumb to name your band with a one – common – word. The world really gonna mad, every fucking single day independently or through one of the few trillion labels, a few trillion albums are released. I quite believe: everybody’s singing, nobody’s listening (and care). And very few are actually interested in buying something. So, if you name your band as probably at least a few others already did and some few will name their own a few minutes later, you’re just increasing your chances to stay unnoticed. Not to say that if somebody will try to “googling” you, there’s absolutely no way to find you. “Cloudy Basement”, “Burning Basement”, “Bass-ment”, fuck knows, but try to figure out something.
The very next issue is: “Basement? Oh, that guys sound just like Title Fight…” Read more Basement – I Wish I Could Stay Here (2011)
Pour Habit – Got Your Back (2011)
With their hybrid of technical punk and metal, Pour Habit are the right answer for those so-called new punk bands playing happy pop. Maybe heavy riffing won’t get you on the top of the Billboard but punk it’s not – and it shouldn’t be – about this.
Chuck Green – vocals, Eric Walsh – guitar/vocals, Matt Hawks – guitar, Steve Williams – bass/vocals and Colin Walsh – drums delivering fast, furious, but still melodic and catch punk rock with the heaviness and technicality of a speed metal band. Following and maintaining the tradition of Bad Brains and Suicidal Tendencies, Pour Habit are one of the most intense and explosive punk rock acts of the moment.
After self releasing their debut effort “Suiticide” in 2007, Fat Mike bring them in the court of Fat Wreck Chords and re-released the album in 2009. Read more Pour Habit – Got Your Back (2011)
Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
At the age of 52, Mr. Biafra is still fresh and biting while a bunch of kids calling them self “punks” still can’t have a hard-on.
In the twenty or so years since Dead Kennedys officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations, recording projects and touring with Melvins, No Means No, DOA, Mojo Nixon and Lard (with Ministry’s Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his “hardcore as political weapon” message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that had never seen the light of day. Inspired by Iggy Pop’s 60th birthday gig at the Warfield in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. Ten years before he had been attempting the same thing with the likes of guitarist Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms) and drummer Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey). They had also previously worked with bassist Billy Gould (Faith No More) who was tapped for the new group. After cramming rehearsal for a month the four piece band known as Jello Biafra and the Axis Of Merry Evildoers took the stage in a sold-out two night stand at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and subsequently spent the next 9 months in rehearsal for an album project. Before entering the studio guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle) was recruited. The quintet now known as Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine began recording tracks for the upcoming album “The Audacity Of Hype” slated for release in October 2009. Read more Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
