it was just the drug for me: 08.10

29.8.10

No Age - Everything In Between

New album from these dudes and their first with touring third member William Kai Strangeland Menchaca (samples/keys/effects). Right off the bat this is a bit slower than Nouns and Weirdo Rippers but the songs are so fucking incredible that it doesn't seem like a departure, just a very natural progression. Everything In Between is still a noisy punk record, but it is totally the most accessible thing No Age has done and the songs here are just so fucking catchy. This is one of the years best for sure.

28.8.10

NOFX - Punk In Drublic

After posting the Longest EP I really got to thinking about just how rad a lot of NOFX albums are. Punk In Drublic definitely ranks up there as one of my favourite 90's punk albums. This is where the band really hit their stride by perfectly mixing speed, aggression, humour and melody. Punk In Drublic has some of the bands best songs and featured their best production to date, thanks to Ryan Greene (who, after this album was released would record every great mid 90's punk album on both Fat and Epitaph). This is also the bands best selling album, going Gold without the help of MTV or radio, which was no small feat back then.

American Standard - Wonderland

American Standard were a NYC hardcore that didn't really play NYC style hardcore. Wonderland came out in 1988 and it sounds more akin to the stuff coming out on Dischord Records in the late 80's, like Embrace and Dag Nasty. Fast, tuneful and energetic punk rock with just the faintest hints of that famous New York aggression. This was reissued by Another Planet records in the mid 90's (along with classic albums by the Cro-Mags, Warzone, and Murphy's Law) but has since gone out of print. If you want to own this album in any form you better get ready to spend at least one hundy on it.

Danzig - Deth Red Sabaoth

A return to form of sorts for the "Evil Elvis". This is definitely the best Danzig album since IV, and the coolest thing old Glenn has been involved with since that tape of him getting knocked-the-fuck-out hit the interwebs. This thing is heavy, raw, bluesy and just straight-up fucking awesome. Prong's Tommy Victor handles the guitar duties here, and he fucking wails all over this thing.

25.8.10

Washed Out

High Times/Life of Leisure

I know my descriptions often don't relate to what the band sounds like in terms of sounding like other bands, but more so how I feel listening to a particular band. Washed out have seriously captured the feeling of Summer. Think of Phil Collins/Seals and Croft meats electro hip hop beats that are really on point. Life of Leisure has more of a New Order feel, but summer-y. I can't stress how much I think about Summer when I listen to this band.

24.8.10

The Other - S/T

The Other was formed in San Francisco in the mid/late 90's by two members of RKL, Chris Rest on guitar/vocals and Bomber Manzullo on vocals/bass and future Mad Caddies drummer Boz Rivera. They play fast and technical punk rock with great harmonies and totally rad guitar solos. This was released on the Fat Wreck Chords off-shoot Honest Don's. A good reference point for The Other's sound would be the RKL album Reactivate, on which Bomber was also the vocalist.

T.S.O.L. - Dance With Me

The debut album from the "West Coast Misfits". This is just an absolutely fucking classic record that anyone with even a passing interest in punk should already love. Gentleman Jack Grisham is not only one rad dude (for further proof watch his clips from the movie American Hardcore, and look here) he's also one of the best punk frontmen of all time. On top of that guitarist Ron Emery just blazes all over this thing. Sure they went full-on goth-rock after this, and then full-on hair-metal after that, but fuck that noise because this right here is the real deal.

22.8.10

The Sword - Warp Riders

This is a concept album about alien planets, space wars and other nerdy shit, but who gives a fuck, because the tunes on this album are totally fucking rad. This thing is one giant riff-machine. The guitars are in overdrive the whole fucking time boogie-wooging all over your face like a six-stringed bukakke film. Singer J.D. Cronise still sounds like a young Ozzy, but musically this is like Blue Öyster Cult, Kyuss, and Pepper Keenan fronted C.O.C. all mixed together. Above all else, the one thing that truly lets you know this album slays, is the fact that the artwork would look totally rad airbrushed on the side of your full-sized van.

Black Tusk - Taste The Sin

Punk influenced swamp metal from the next great Savannah, Georgia metal band. The sound that this three piece produces is an absolutely relentless wall of bludgeoning crust-metal. If you like Kylesa, Mastodon and Baroness then you'll have no problem bumming out your neighbors with these jams.

NOFX - The Longest EP

A thirty track compilation of various out-of-print singles and EP's from these guys. Love them or hate them you have to appreciated the fact that NOFX have been at this for almost thirty years now. At this point in their career, I think they have almost as many compilation/live releases as they do studio albums. This contains tracks from 1987 all the way up to 2009, many of which rank up there as essential NOFX (especially the Longest Line EP, which makes up the first five tracks here).

21.8.10

Beach Fossils - S/T

Brooklyn (by way of North Carolina) act Beach Fossils play shoegazey indie rock that any fan of Wild Nothing will surely dig (the two bands have toured together and are on the same label, Captured Tracks). And like Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils began as the work of one dude, Dustin Payseur, who played all of the instruments and wrote all but two tracks here. Pretty alright indie rock that any fan of Woods, Real Estate and Wild Nothing should dig.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

Long Island New York quartet who play jagged and ragged indie rock that sounds like Pavement, Built To Spill, Modest Mouse and Cap'n Jazz all mixed together. This is their debut album (released late last year), and as far debuts are concerned this one is pretty fucking good.

15.8.10

Awkward Why - Six Bubbles

Front Cover

Insert w/ Track Listing

Awkward Why - Six Bubbles

Ok, so...Here is one of our very few Hip Hop posts. Awkward Why was a Toronto Hip Hop group in the mid to late 90's. This was recorded in someone's basement and I ripped it straight from the cassette tape. I managed to get rid of a lot of the tape hiss and re-mastered it because it was actually really quiet. This will be for fans of 90's east coast Hip Hop, think Group Home or A Tribe Called Quest, maybe even early Gangstarr. There's a lot of instrumental stuff and some weird sketches but I made those separates tracks in case you want to just delete them. I prefer Side ? over Side Why. Just sayin...

Barrier - What To Make Of A Diminished Thing

Barrier are four kids from Montreal who are one of many bands that are paying tribute to the likes of Hot Water Music and Leatherface. They are gruff and fast and their recorded music doesn't even compare to their live show. But that's too bad, cause they just broke up and you'll probably never get to see them play again. So listen to this EP a bunch cause it's pretty rad. xo.

Limblifter

Limblifter - Self Titled

After there was Age of Electric, there was Limblifter. Brothers Kurt and Ryan Dahle made up half of AOE and after they split, Ryan Dahle continued writing with his brother on drums (who can now be seen and heard playing with the New Pornographers). This record is catchy. Limblifter wrote some great hooks that refuse to leave your head. And again, this record sounds fantastic. Ryan Dahle really worked some great guitar tones and Kurt Dahle's drums sound so crisp and punchy that I really start to miss analog tape. I think this was mixed at the Warehouse in Vancouver and mastered by Bob Ludwig.

Marathon

Marathon - Self Titled

Before there was Polar Bear Club, there was Marathon. 2/5 of the current PBC line up were in Marathon and at times it shows. This record reminds me of early AFI, before all the make-up and such. You know, when they wore suits and didn't look like shit. Also, this record sounds fantastic. It was recorded and produced by John Naclero who helmed the first two PBC releases. The guitar tones are great, the vocals are nice and upfront but not overpowering, and the drums sound better than any PBC record (which is odd considering it's the same drummer and producer). Anyways, get into it.

12.8.10

Metz - Negative Space/Automat

Metz finally has a new 7' out. It was put up for free download on the We Are Busy Bodies website, you can check it out here for more info. As always, I've only ever used one word to describe this band: pummeling. Maybe "relentless" would work too? Whatever...Enjoy.

10.8.10

Mose Giganticus - Gift Horse

Mose Giganticus is mainly the work of one man, Matt Garfield, who provides vocals, synths, keyboards, programming and drumming. The project started as a synth-punk band, but with this new release on Relapse Records, Mose Giganticus sound like Baroness, Genghis Tron and 80's Rush mixed together. This album straight-up fucking slays, it is both incredibly heavy and epic (The theme of the album is Christian mythology, and is based around a conversation between Jehovah and Lucifer).

8.8.10

Kruger

Kruger - Built For Speed

Kruger - Cattle Truck

Kruger - Redemption Through Looseness

Kruger - For Death, Glory, And The End Of The World

Swiss metal band that is heavy as fuck. They take their influence from three main sources; technical hardcore, atmospheric metal, and noise rock. You can hear elements of Refused, Breach, Knut, Isis, Neurosis and even Helmet in their sound. As a band they are also huge fans of Old Man Gloom's album Christmas, which makes them pretty rad dudes in my book. Their new album, For Death, Glory, And The End Of The World, was mixed by Kurt Ballou and it is one of the best metal albums I've heard in a long time. I came late to the Kruger party and am only now realizing how gnarly they are. Grab this shit right now, it'll totally knock your dick in the dirt.

7.8.10

Paw - Dragline

In the wake of Nirvana's success, like so many other bands of the early 90's, Paw signed to a major label and were touted as the next big thing (I think Spin magazine ran a huge feature on the band before they even had a record out). Of course success alluded them, but Dragline remains a solid slab of beefy alt-rock that any fan of Seaweed, Sponge and Soundgarden should dig. The first single off this album, "Jessie", was about a dog; That may have hindered their chances at superstardom, we'll never know for sure. What we do know is that this album truly is a "lost classic" that deserves to be heard by a much larger audience.

4.8.10

Weed Diamond - Carry On + Sweater Kids

Carry On is the latest release from this Denver Colorado five piece, and it is the bands best stuff to date. The four tracks on Carry On are pure lo-fi/shoegaze pop-nuggets. Tacked on to the end of this release is the band's out-of-print-cassette-only album Sweater Kids. If you like the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Wild Nothing or Woods, then check these dudes out.

3.8.10

Garry Shandling

This man is fucking brilliant. This interview made me laugh very, very hard. Yes the interview is old, but who cares, its not like Garry Shandling is all over the place these days. That being said there is a great piece on him in the comedy issue of GQ that is currently on news stands right now so I suggest you pick it up.

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2.8.10

Grids - White Walls

Grids are a North Carolina three piece who play sludgy and noisy hardcore. To me they sound like the perfect middle ground between Young Widows and Pissed Jeans. White Walls is only their second release (not including their demo) and its six songs are totally fucking rad. Do yourself a favour and give these guys a spin.