The longer the wait for a highly anticipated album, the more the question “Will it be as good as we’ve hoped?” festers in the back of my mind. By its April 30th release, we’ll be near 6 years since the last original Streetlight Manifesto album, “Somewhere In The Between” (my review here). Those 6 years did yield […]
The longer the wait for a highly anticipated album, the more the question “Will it be as good as we’ve hoped?” festers in the back of my mind. By its April 30th release, we’ll be near 6 years since the last original Streetlight Manifesto album, “Somewhere In The Between” (my review here). Those 6 years did yield a cover album, “99 Songs Of Revolution Volume I,” which seemed to splinter some fans with its delays, false starts, premature release dates, etc (sound familiar?). Moreover, compared to 2 (let’s just say 3) fantastic original albums, a cover album seemed underwhelming. It seemed like Streetlight Manifesto may have peaked and were on their way down the decline.
Note: In light of recent conflicts between Streetlight and Victory Records, I recommend purchasing this album directly through the band here.
After cancelling a tour last October for personal reasons Against Me! returned to Australian shores with Epitaph heavyweights Off With Their Heads in tow. While Against Me! are no strangers to these shores, it was the first time Off With Their Heads had graced a stage in this country and it was a night few […]
After cancelling a tour last October for personal reasons Against Me! returned to Australian shores with Epitaph heavyweights Off With Their Heads in tow. While Against Me! are no strangers to these shores, it was the first time Off With Their Heads had graced a stage in this country and it was a night few will forget in a hurry. On the first show of the tour in Brisbane Against Me! put all the cynics in their place with an amazing show. We were there and you can read the full show review here.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Fogal, the vocalist / guitarist for Denver Pop-Punk mainstays The Gamits. The Gamits have been singing their hearts out for 17 years and in my opinion are the unsung heroes for the entire pop-punk genre. Everyone should give this band a chance. From 2005 to 2009 they went […]
I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Fogal, the vocalist / guitarist for Denver Pop-Punk mainstays The Gamits. The Gamits have been singing their hearts out for 17 years and in my opinion are the unsung heroes for the entire pop-punk genre. Everyone should give this band a chance. From 2005 to 2009 they went on break and then in 2010, returned re-energized with their new album “Parts.”
In the interview we discuss the album, song-writing, overcoming tough times, music trends, achieving your dreams, the future of the band and plenty more! Check out our interview about all-things Gamits here. You won’t be disappointed.
Orlando hardcore act 430 Steps are now streaming their new album “Heartless.” The album features the track “The White House is Just a Fucking House” which was streaming as a single earlier this month. “Heartless” serves as follow up to their last album “Faster and Louder” released in March 2017. Check out the new album […]
Orlando hardcore act 430 Steps are now streaming their new album “Heartless.” The album features the track “The White House is Just a Fucking House” which was streaming as a single earlier this month.
“Heartless” serves as follow up to their last album “Faster and Louder” released in March 2017.
On an absolutely perfect Sunday afternoon I was able to catch an old fashioned Sunday Matinee show at a cute little Mexican restaurant called Mole Mole in Poughkeepsie New York. Where not only was the weather perfect, the food exquisite , and the entertainment excellent, but the entire concept of a free afternoon show featuring […]
On an absolutely perfect Sunday afternoon I was able to catch an old fashioned Sunday Matinee show at a cute little Mexican restaurant called Mole Mole in Poughkeepsie New York. Where not only was the weather perfect, the food exquisite , and the entertainment excellent, but the entire concept of a free afternoon show featuring all of the above was, well, astonishing these days.
Orlando thrash/hardcore outfit 430 Steps are streaming their new single “The White House Is Just A Fucking House,” which comes from their upcoming EP, Heartless. You can give the single a listen below. 430 Steps released the album Faster & Louder in March of last year.
Orlando thrash/hardcore outfit430 Stepsare streaming their new single “The White House Is Just A Fucking House,” which comes from their upcoming EP, Heartless.
Orlando thrash/hardcore outfit 430 Steps are streaming their new single “Me Against the World”. If you’re a fan of metal infused punk these guys are pretty great. No word on whether this is a part of a bigger project. Check out the new single below. This is the first new music from 430 Steps since […]
Orlando thrash/hardcore outfit 430 Steps are streaming their new single “Me Against the World”. If you’re a fan of metal infused punk these guys are pretty great. No word on whether this is a part of a bigger project.
This is the first new music from 430 Steps since their stirring 2017 cover of “Ace of Spades”. They released the album Faster & Louder in March of last year. [Read more…]
Although they call New Haven, Connecticut their home, The Lost Riots bring back the sounds of old school NYC punk. They released their latest album The Stories Are True back on July 16th, and you can pick it up here (seriously, it’s a steal at $5). However, I’d recommend streaming it below, as you continue to read this review. I have […]
Although they call New Haven, Connecticut their home, The Lost Riots bring back the sounds of old school NYC punk. They released their latest album The Stories Are True back on July 16th, and you can pick it up here (seriously, it’s a steal at $5). However, I’d recommend streaming it below, as you continue to read this review.
I have the luxury of plugging in headphones and listening to music while I’m at the “day job,” and usually this doesn’t cause me any problems. Today, I looked up rather shamefacedly as I realized I was tapping my foot and nodding my head in time with the Lost Riots superbly old school punk album, The Stories are True. I may have even played air drums with pens at one point, but I’m not quite willing to admit that. Nevertheless, this album has the power to transport me from the Monday morning humdrum of cubicle-farm life, back to the dirty, noisy, sweaty basements and rock clubs where I’d much rather be spending my time.
The Lost Riots are 2-time recipients of the Best Punk award at the Connecticut Music Awards. In my experience, that’s usually the hallmark of mediocre bands that know how to market themselves to local music industry sycophants, but in this case, I think the title was deserved because this band will bring you back (in a good way) to the early days of punk rock with lots of no-bullshit speedy riffs and distortion. Think Bad Brains or Dead Boys, with a little grunge rock sensibility thrown in. The band manages to create a sense of rough-around-the-edges urgency in the songs, partly from recording them either live in the studio or with minimal takes.
The Stories are True has 12 tracks, 2 of which (“Astoria Blvd.” and a revamped acoustic version of “We’re Getting Old”) also appear on the band’s Shorter! Faster!! Louder!!! EP, which came out in 2015. The song “Astoria Blvd.” is one of my favorites, and recounts the story of the band’s misadventures getting lost in Brooklyn thanks to a rogue GPS. “Astoria” has a sound that reminds me of The Hives’ “Hate to Say I Told You So.” Both “The Stories Are True” and “NYC Nights” paint a good picture of frontman Jeff’s trips to NYC as a young punk. They even have a song about listening to the Dead Boys, which explains a lot about their sound.
All in all, you’ve got to check this album out if you miss the way punk used to be, or if you’re a younger punk and want to hear what punk should be. This album is both.
You can catch The Lost Riots performing pretty regularly around Connecticut, and they’ll also be playing some dates around the Northeast for 2016’s Upstart Fest. [Read more…]
Earlier this month, Orange Country punks Gasoline Kills posted updates on their upcoming untitled album, and alluded to a faster version of one of their songs, “Pictures”. The track was previously featured on a little four-track acoustic EP (which can be heard here), however a louder, sped-up version of the track has also been recorded […]
Earlier this month, Orange Country punks Gasoline Kills posted updates on their upcoming untitled album, and alluded to a faster version of one of their songs, “Pictures”.
The track was previously featured on a little four-track acoustic EP (which can be heard here), however a louder, sped-up version of the track has also been recorded and will appear on the untitled album, which has seen several songs released slowly over the previous weeks through GC Records.
You can listen to “Pictures” (along with the previously released songs from the untitled album) below.
The pure, orchestrated chaos that is the anarchistic gypsy punk outfit known as Gogol Bordello could be called many things, but boring isn’t one of them. Coming up on fifteen years of service, Gogol isn’t just one of the most unique bands in punk rock, but one of the most consistent. The touring almost never stops, […]
The pure, orchestrated chaos that is the anarchistic gypsy punk outfit known as Gogol Bordello could be called many things, but boring isn’t one of them. Coming up on fifteen years of service, Gogol isn’t just one of the most unique bands in punk rock, but one of the most consistent. The touring almost never stops, the records drop like clockwork roughly every two years and the live performances are and have always been, some of the most intense, theatrical, entertaining gong shows money can buy.
Their 2007 record ‘Super Taranta!’ introduced them to a wider audience on the back of widespread critical acclaim and huge record sales. And while ‘Taranta’ is still the band’s bar setting record, they haven’t released a bad album since their 1999 debut ‘Voi-La Intruder.’ In fact, ‘Taranta’s proper follow up, 2011’s ‘Trans-Continental Hustle’ sold even better than it did.
Now it’s 2013 and ‘Pura Vida Conspiracy,’ Gogol Bordello’s new studio album is unleashed unto the masses.
Catchy horns and otherworldly chants kick the record off in the right direction, with front man Eugene Hutz’s now familiar, heavily accented vocal work quickly joining the mix and declaring the band rising again in a swirling of gypsy dancehall swing.
A trio of mandolins that recall the Italian countryside press the gas on ‘Dig Deep Enough.’ A song which doesn’t stay subdued very long before a cinematic swelling of shout along choruses that evoke strength and longevity in music and lyrical content. It’s one of the best songs on the record and impossibly infectious, easily dancing between tempos and levels of aggression. It wouldn’t be overrated to call it a masterpiece.
‘Malandrino’ is another hyper reworking of some more traditional Italian music. Malandrino actually means rascal in Italian and Eugene assures us in the song that he was born one, came by it naturally and intends to remain as such indefinitely.
‘Lost Innocent World’ is an angry, adrenaline-spiking ditty that follows the same basic song structure this band has become known for (quiet, loud, louder, louder still, loudest).
And while you can find elements of every musical genre the world has ever known in the bars of a Bordello record, ‘Name Your Ship’ is probably as close to Celtic punk as you’ll ever hear this band getting.
‘Rainbow’ has that wide orchestral sweep that fills every spare inch of sound in the space it occupies and reminds you what a well considered and conceived wall of sound Gogol Bordello is beneath all the insanity.
I’ve always been partial to Gogol Bordello’s faster songs than their slower ones (which makes sense as I’ve always been partial to faster songs in general than slower ones). As such the quality of ‘Pura Vida’ wanes a bit for me in its second half (with the exception of the brilliant ‘Gypsy Auto Pilot’). This is where you’ll find much of the album’s more contemplative, ballad-y cuts. They’re not bad songs and if you’ve been jumping around your room playing guitar on a broom and yelling and yodeling at the top of your lungs for the first six songs, then a few of the last six will give you some much needed time to catch your breath.
It must be said that Gogol Bordello is softening with age. I’m sorry but that’s a fact. There is a restraint that creeps more and more into every subsequent record the band release, away from the more wild, hyperkinetic abandon exemplified in records like ‘Gypsy Punks’ and the aforementioned ‘Taranta!’
‘Pura Vida Conspiracy’ contains some of the bands most well written and exciting songs to date, but as a whole isn’t on the level as some of their earlier records. Which is in no way a non-recommendation. On the contrary, this record is a must have, or at the very least a must listen for fans of the band and fans of multi-instrumental, worldly sounding punk rock with deceptively deep lyrical content.
And, perhaps most importantly, this shit’s going to sound insane live.
The longer the wait for a highly anticipated album, the more the question “Will it be as good as we’ve hoped?” festers in the back of my mind. By its April 30th release, we’ll be near 6 years since the last original Streetlight Manifesto album, “Somewhere In The Between” (my review here). Those 6 years did yield a cover album, “99 Songs Of Revolution Volume I,” which seemed to splinter some fans with its delays, false starts, premature release dates, etc (sound familiar?). Moreover, compared to 2 (let’s just say 3) fantastic original albums, a cover album seemed underwhelming. It seemed like Streetlight Manifesto may have peaked and were on their way down the decline.