it was just the drug for me

12.9.10

Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars

This was the first GBV record to be recorded in a professional studio. Huge and catchy rock numbers sit right next to tender ballads and it all flows perfectly. Robert Pollard is one of greatest songwriters that the 90's produced, especially when you take into consideration that he was over 30 at this point, and only doing this part-time (he was a school-teacher 9 months of the year). This album was produced in a couple studios with Kim Deal handling production duties on some tracks and Steve Albini the rest. This may not be their best album up to this point, but it sounds the best.

Wives - Erect The Youth Problen

Wives - Erect The Youth Problem

Before they formed No Age, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall were in a little hardcore band called Wives. This is their only full length release as the band was only able to keep it together for a couple years. Erect The Youth Problem was released on Sam James Velde's Cold Sweat Records in 2004 and it is a total blast of noisy and furious hardcore.

The Humpers - Plastique Valentine

Punk rock with a serious rock and roll jones. This came out in the mid 90's on Epitaph Records and it is an absolutely killer album. This contains the song "Mutate With Me" which was one of the stand out tracks on the Punk-O-Rama 2 compilation, and the reason that I picked this up. Lead singer Scott "Deluxe" Drake has the perfect rock and roll snarl, and guitarist Mark "Anarchy" Lee wails all over this thing. Garage punk at it's best.

Iron Chic - Not Like This

Of all the post-Latterman bands I think Iron Chic may be my favourite. Anthemic and fast punk rock with strained and gruff vocals ala Hot Water Music. Seriously catchy jams that any self-respecting punk rocker should be shouting along to while also pumping their fists more furiously than a New Jersey guido. Any fan of Latterman, D4 and HWM should be all over this.

Antidote - Thou Shall Not Kill

The classic NYHC EP fully remastered and re-released by Bridge Nine Records. Originally released in 1983 this EP is one of the best an purest examples of early hardcore music, eight songs in nine minutes and every single one of them rules. If you dig Murphy's Law and the Cro-Mags then you're gonna freak for Antidote.

5.9.10

Enemies - We've Been Talking

Enemies - We've Been Talking

I know I haven't been keeping up with the music game as I should be since moving all my stuff into a spot at Adam's place (Thanks Adam!) and going to live at my girlfriends place for the time being, but what a better time to play catch up than a cold long weekend. Enemies kinda reminds me of Battles with a touch of Maserati. Some serious rocking bass riffs in this and catchy guitar hooks. Most instrumental stuff can be pretty bland, but I cant only imagine ENEMIES being a really awesome live band.

Tweak Bird - S/T

If you liked the psychedelic stoner jams found on their debut Reservations, then expect more of the same here but with a few more twists. This thing is really catchy and poppy, almost as sugary as Torche and Floor, but not quite as doomy, if that makes any sense. Dale Crover (Melvins) and Toshi Kasai (Big Business) produced this and the drums and baritone guitar sound absolutely massive.

Howl - Full Of Hell

Great sludgy metal from this Providence Rhode Island four piece. Full Of Hell is a very impressive debut packed with some seriously pummeling jams. Slow, heavy, and corrosive riffs are all over this beast. If you dig High On Fire, Mastodon, and Kylesa then check out Howl.

Kvelertak - S/T

This album is a fucking rager. Kvelertak are a band out of Oslo who take elements of punk, rock, hardcore, and black metal and seamlessly blend them together. Unlike a lot of Scandinavian metal bands, Kvelertak's songs aren't sung in english, but in their native tongue. This was recorded by Kurt Ballou and like everything else he's done it sounds fucking incredible. Extra credit must be given to Kurt because Kvelertak has three guitarists and each one of their parts is distinguishable, which is no easy feat. I can't say enough good things about this album, it's one of the best I've heard all year.

4.9.10

Chromeo- Business Casual

Here yah go Tom

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).