“We drink, we fight, we puke, we die…” In very few words, this is the essence of Celtic Punk. It might be funny once, it might be cool twice, but third time it’s boring and forth time irritating. “Revolution” talking about hot topics like loosing job, just like “Don’t Shut ‘Em Down”, it seems the global crises sneaked into the hearts of everybody, even into the life of the people from the ever-shining LA.
Formed in 1997 in Los Angeles, California, Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-American band merging Punk Rock with Celtic Punk. Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dublin-born Dave King was the vocalist for heavy metal band Fastway featuring guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke of Motörhead and bassist Pete Way of UFO in the early to mid ’80s. In the footsteps of The Dubliners and The Pogues, Flogging Molly fifth studio album keeps the tradition alive. Read more Flogging Molly – Speed of Darkness (2011)
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Lisabi – Au Diable Les Bananes (2011)
This year I had a few quite nice surprises from bands from Brazil. Most recently The Campbell Trio, in March I stumbled into MindFlow and The Tape Disaster, and there was a few others as well as I believe Sepultura once again delivered a consistent album again. So, Brazil rules, might be a dangerous place for strangers, but from the safe distance of my living room it’s something quite exciting about the world’s fifth largest country, about Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, the samba and the carnival, the girls and the music.
“Au Diable Les Bananes” migh be downloaded for free from HERE and Lisabi delivering a nice mixture of ska, jazz, punk and indie rock with exotic flavors and perfumes. Mateo Piracas on guitar and vocals, Sebastian Piraces on drums, Gabriel Slenes on trumpet and vocals, Andra Cardoso on bass and vocals, Matheus Fattori on guitars and vocals, and Anderson Kaltner on trombone and percussion delivered a vibrating, pulsing, colorful material. Read more Lisabi – Au Diable Les Bananes (2011)
Asian Dub Foundation – A History Of Now (2011)
I knew this will be one of my favorite albums of 2011 even before I’ve been listening into it. I saw them live back in 1999 and since I’m a follower. Playing an explosive mixture of rapcore, dub, dancehall and raggae, using rock instruments and including punk and hardcore influences, ADF are one of the killer acts of Great Britain beside The Prodigy and much recently Subsource. Intense and speeding serious social and political messages, live they will smash off any scene and move the audience, their studio albums maybe do not capture all that energy and explosion, but still they are much heavier than most of the other bands and even heavier than some of the so-called “modern”, alternative or post-metal bands. They unique style of blending hardcore energy, punk rawness, electronics and dub inspired many other artists, but not so many managed to get even closer, not to mention the issue of credibility. Read more Asian Dub Foundation – A History Of Now (2011)
Dwarves – The Dwarves Are Born Again (2011)
Dwarves were pretty famous for their simple, loud, yet nuanced punk repertoire, and controversial lyrics and also became notorious for self-mutilation, on-stage sex, and taking hard drugs, and their live shows would often only last around fifteen minutes, occasionally cut short due to injury caused by spectators. So, Bobby Faust – the midget – and some naked chicks are back again. 😀 Singer Blag Dahlia (aka Julius Seizure, born Paul Cafaro), and guitarist HeWhoCannotBeNamed (aka Pete Vietnamcheque) – the only two core members of the group – are backuped by “Fresh Prince of Darkness” on guitar and returning drummer Gregory Pecker (aka Gnarlie Watts) and this is another noisy, trashy, scandalous punk rock album, dirty and absolutely lovely. For those who somehow never stumbled into the Dwarves before, it sounds mainly like a sex-maniac Iggy Pop in the most incisive The Stooges era met The Ramones. So, we’re doomed. 😀 Read more Dwarves – The Dwarves Are Born Again (2011)
Enfermos Terminales – Enfermos Terminales (2011)
Except the name of Augusto Pinochet we really don’t know much about Chile, isn’t it? Shakira is Colombian and Hugo Chávez from Venezuela, dude! From Republic of Chile comes Enfermos Terminales. “Enfermos Terminales” meaning “hospice” and has been around the punk/hardcore scene since 1996. The band has released many EPs and splits and also has participated in countless compilations punk /HXC /DYS, etc. Over the years, Enfermos Terminales has shared the stage with bands like the raw, Fun People, Loquero, BBS Parade, Fiskales Ad Hok, among many others. It take a while the preparation of what seems to be their first album “official”, but we’ve got 15 intense track which covers the whole existence of the band. Founded in 1996 by Pablo Patán Cortés and Antonio Mery – both vocals – the band gain appreciation of the local and national scene. Read more Enfermos Terminales – Enfermos Terminales (2011)
Nitro – We Are Nitro (2011)
Alexander Hacke (from Einstürzende Neubauten) teamed up with director, writer, producer and actor Fatih Akın in 2005 and made an exciting journey through Istanbul and its music scene. That’s how I discovered Istanbul and bands like Duman, Baba Zula, Orient Expressions, Replikas and few others. That was “Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul.” Later I saw the city with my own eyes and listen to bands suck as maNga. So, that from Turkey comes interesting bands it’s not a surprise for me anymore. Nitro delivering hardcore punk in the vein of The Exploited, the early sound of Suicidal Tendencies. “We are Nitro” consist in 14 pumping tracks and it’s an excellent debut album of this four piece band: Erdem Çapar – Vocal, Emre Manav – Guitar, Burak Özgüney – Bass and Alican ErbaÅŸ – Drums. Read more Nitro – We Are Nitro (2011)
ODC – One Dead City (2011)
Poland have a solid tradition of revolt and resistance and its include a tradition of underground and Punk movement as well. ODC from Szczecin, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland, continuing this tradition, Gruby – vocals, Beben – drums, Zaraz – bass, Waldek and Greg – guitars, after the debut EP from January (free download from Bandcamp!) , now in March released their debut album consist of 14 short, incisive Punk Rock songs with some nice acoustic breaks and ingenious dynamic shifts. This is not brain surgery, this is Punk Rock, but One Dead City managed to write a couple of great songs, they have good riffs, pumping bass and “jump around” rhythms, and the acoustic moments giving them an original taste. If you dig a little bit on their MySpace page you will find links to Mediafire.com to download their full album as well, so it may be a good opportunity to listen and get know them. Read more ODC – One Dead City (2011)
Mindless Self Indulgence – Tighter (2011)
This band from NY it’s around since 1997 and “Tighter” actually it’s the re-issued version of their debut and out of print album “Tight” released 12 years ago. It’s a crazy shit, but well, my kind of shit. Love at first listening. Because till this morning I never heard of them. MSI gave us a noisy mixture of Punk and Electronic music, whatever Electronic music may means from Synth Pop to Industrial, in and out and from Marilyn Manson to Jaguar Love. The 26 tracks of “Tighter” it’s kind of trip to Hell and back – all fucking inclusive. A good one. And funny one. To Hell or wherever else you want or imagine to go. It may be a sunny island, a cellar, the (pink) side of the Moon or… a bordello in Amsterdam. Read more Mindless Self Indulgence – Tighter (2011)
The King Blues – Punk and Poetry (2011)
Or dub and hardcore. Whatever. But it’s “nice”, even if the world it’s not quite appropriate. Raggae, punk, dub, rock and hardcore are melting into one and The King Blues delivering another album with good pulse and groove, pumping rhythms, punk flashbacks and ska/dub mixture with hardcore attitude.
The King Blues started off in 2004, in London as a two man ska outfit, consisting of Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox playing ukulele and vocals and Jamie Jazz playing acoustic guitar and contributing vocals, fusing ska and folk together with influences from punk rock and hardcore punk. Influences include Public Enemy, The Clash, The Specials, Black Flag and Minor Threat. Full of energy, but not aggressive, more fun and refreshing. Read more The King Blues – Punk and Poetry (2011)
Sum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder (2011)
With their debut effort “All Killer No Filler” released back in 2001 certified platinum in Canada, the United States and in the UK and the following three releases certified platinum in Canada, Sum 41 definitively it’s what we call a mainstream rock/punk band. Still, these Canadian guys rocks harder then 99.9% of the so-called rock and punk bands the record companies and the media trying to sell us as “real stuffs”. They blending intelligently rock, punk and hardcore elements and they have a good taste to write real songs. “Screaming Bloody Murder” is not only in its title a killer piece of work, it’s really an intense material far from the usual “bubble gum” and “soap box” pseudo-punk stuffs we get used with lately.
Deryck “Bizzy D” Whibley – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard, Jason “Cone” McCaslin – bass guitar, backing vocals, Steve “Stevo” Jocz – drums, percussion, and Tom “Brown Tom” Thacker – lead guitar, backing vocals managed to write and put together a quality material, 14 (plus 2 bonus) tracks without any senseless filling. Read more Sum 41 – Screaming Bloody Murder (2011)
