Album Review: Maker - Self Titled EP

Album Rating: B-

When a band releases an EP following their debut full-length, it usually gives an indication as to what direction they're going in. Will they maintain the sound they've already established? Or will they try something a little different? In the case of Maker with their self-titled EP, they're definitely trying to incorporate some variation, but whether the change is positive or negative is very much up for debate.

Artist of the Day: The Sheds

The Sheds are a band based out of California, whose style of music can best be described as being ska-core. This isn't the most well known of genre combinations, but it's one that works shockingly well where The Sheds are concerned. They put out an EP entitled Self/Doubt earlier this year, and I have to say, it might be the most refreshing release I've ever come across. The punk hardcore aspect of The Sheds is of the same caliber as bands like Balance and Composure, with heavy-hitting chord progressions/breakdown and vocals alike. But it's with the healthy dose of ska influence that really makes them stand out because there just isn't anything else quite like it. Every song on Self/Doubt, from start to finish, is intense, catchy, and infinitely listenable, which should mean a lot coming from someone who's avoided anything ska-related like it's the plague. And better yet, the EP is still up for free download, courtesy of Alternative Press. So, if by some chance you're still looking for something new to listen to, in spite of the obscene amount of music being released lately, I couldn't recommend these guys more. They're both working hard and succeeding at creating passionate and original music, and should be at the top of the list of bands to keep your eyes on in the future.

Facebook/Bandcamp

Artist of the Day: Troubled Coast

In my humble opinion, any band that is capable of completely re-inventing themselves with each release is deserving of praise. Lately, it seems the bulk of these kinds of bands are receiving the recognition they deserve, such as Between the Buried and Me and Converge. Both reviewers and listeners seem to have acknowledged the progression they've gone through since the start of their careers. So why hasn't anyone done the same for Troubled Coast? Like BTBAM and Converge, they're a band that has consistently changed their sound, and their latest release, Awake and Empty, is simply a beast of an album.

Album Review: Luther - Let's Get You Somewhere Else

Album Rating: B+

The bulk of music being released the past few years can best be described as being emotionally heavy. Some call it depressing, which isn't inaccurate, but it's something that is never a bad thing and is often preferred. It's passion, above all else, that drives this style of music. But what's easy to forget when you primarily listen to emotional/hardcore music is that music is also about having fun. You can still have insightful and honest lyrics, it's just not absolutely necessary to have it coincide with equally emotionally heavy music. Luther's Let's Get You Somewhere Else is just that kind of album, delving into immensely relatable subjects with a punk rock mentality that is about having fun more than anything else.

Artist Spotlight: Placeholder

There are countless ways an album or EP can make an impact. Vocals, lyrics and musicianship all play a part in how you react the first time you hear something; it just all depends on the band as to which aspect has the biggest effect. Listening to Placeholder's new 7", Thought I Would Have Been Somebody By Now, I was struck by all of these traits, but it's the influences I hear in their music that really hit me. For the past few years, we've heard bands putting out material that draws inspiration from groups like The Impossibles, Saves the Day, Gatsby's American Dream, etc., but I can't think of anyone that seems to have molded their sound in the same vein as 90's grunge/rock band, Far. They're arguably one of the best groups from that era of music, which I'm sure anyone who is a fan would agree on. Now, Placeholder has captured the essence of what made their genre so great, and molded into a sound that is completely their own.

Album Review: I Am Carpenter - My God Clara

Album Rating: A

If this year has shown us anything, it's that music, in all of its different forms, just keeps getting better and better.  Everywhere you look, bands and labels alike keep putting out phenomenal albums, and thanks to the internet, the bulk of them are receiving a fair amount of recognition.  However, there's still a small amount of bands that come out of nowhere with an incredible album, and aren't being mentioned nearly enough.  Such is the case with I Am Carpenter's debut full length, My God Clara, a genre-bending album that somehow incorporates everything that's great in bands like Balance & Composure, O'Brother, and Manchester Orchestra, while still capturing a sound that is completely their own.

Artist of the Day: Brutal Youth

Brutal Youth seem to have a knack for implementing just the right amount of wackiness in their music without going overboard.  The punk four-piece from Ontario, Canada undoubtedly nod at catchy 90s hardcore acts like Kid Dynamite and emphasize brevity in their catchy, energetic tunes that shamelessly make use of sometimes juvenile, self-depreciative lyrics and “whoa-ohs.”  Their 2010 full length, Spill Your Guts, is an outrageous 15-minute ride in which vocalist Patty O’Latern spares no time in delivering his often hilarious messages over frantic drumming and a brazen, power chord-ridden approach.  Take “Artful,” for example, Patty’s 45-second declaration of love that takes a turn for the ridiculous when he reveals the song’s subject: his dog.  These moments of wit and satire are laced throughout Brutal Youth’s music and only add to the sheer enjoyment provided by the upbeat punk instrumentation, creating what one might expect to hear from a musically-inclined baby produced by The Ergs and Shook Ones. 

With that being said, Brutal Youth’s new split with their Canadian brethren in Tightrope features a much more serious lyrical approach that manages not to detract from the band’s “fun” factor whatsoever.  Few bands can come up with lines such as, “Righteous indignation amounts to thinly veiled contempt,” and even fewer can make it fit within the context of a one-minute punk song, but Brutal Youth accomplish both in a naturally catchy fashion on "Heart and Soul."  Fleshed out vocabulary and improved songwriting on the split make it clear that Brutal Youth have no intentions of slowing down, and with a recent post by the band revealing the completion of 16 new songs, one can only hope the progression will continue on this next release.  

Check out Brutal Youth's various Internet headquarters HERE

Listen to the Tightrope/Brutal Youth Split HERE

Artist of the Day: Titus Andronicus

At this point in modern punk rock's brief history, what's really left to be said about Patrick Stickles and his support from New Jersey's Titus Andronicus?  Surely, plenty of sharp-tongued critics have long since had their go at properly articulating just what makes the weathered Americana foursome so alarmingly appealing, but another nail in the coffin can truly do no harm.  What Titus Andronicus have unfailingly injected into each and every track of their two LP's to date is more than just bitter angst, uncouth musicianship and an aptness for significant literature of the past several centuries - it's the haunting relevance of coming up short, again and again and again, and fighting an interminable losing battle in the homeland of the not-so free; the turf of the questionably brave.  2008 offering The Airing of Grievances chugs onward and inward with battle hymns of an innocence lost, drowning beneath the sonic weight of John C. Everyman's insurmountable existential crisis.  2011-dominating The Monitor likewise plays itself headlong into the cracked dry earth, repeatedly ascending from its ashes only to gloriously burn up again, finally culminating in a 14-minute closer capable of shaking the earth between the mighty Bruce Springsteen's own feet.  Now, with plans for LP number three to be released later this year, Stickles and co. have carved out some mighty big footprints for themselves to fill.  Yet regardless of outcome or critical response, Titus Andronicus and their fans know that the fight is not up until the dog is in the dirt, a hopeful sign that the ardent song-crafting of these Jersey natives will live on until "us" and "them" become We.

Listen to Titus Andronicus, you teat-suckling pansy-ass.

Artist of the Day: Dads

John Bradley and Scotty Scharinger, collectively comprising New Jersey punk-something act Dads, create a rather impressive two-man ruckus.  Donning the unassuming looks of your neighborhood coffee shop denizens - stained teeth, patched flannel, and bristly beards included - one wouldn't expect either of the two youngsters to raise their voices past ordering another beer or emitting a hearty chuckle.  Yet, looks are deceptively disjointed from reality (a fact to which I might owe all the sex I've ever had), and it so happens that Mssrs. Bradley and Scharinger have, in fact, been raising quite a stink since the 2010 genesis of Dads.  Through online releases of intermittent singles and various EP's, the most recent being 2011's Brush Your Teeth, Again ;), Dads have found themselves a pretty comfortable niche amongst fellow basement nocturnalists.  Employing their fair share of East Coast emo twang with the off-kilter drums to back it, Dads prove that it only takes two to twinkle, favoring spastic vocals and chronic tinnitus to the sad loneliness of silence.  Don't just take my word for it - check out all the FREE Dads jams you could ever hope for on Bandcamp now, then go post on their Facebook wall so you can know that they now know you think they rule! Do it! Now!

Artist of the Day: Brightside

Through the many highly anticipated but otherwise disappointing releases of the past few years, I'm always reminded of the importance of supporting a local scene.  A decent local scene, if nothing else, restores the faith in music that a handful of recent albums has challenged.  Enter a band like Brightside.  Comprised of four impassioned Pittsburgh kids, Brightside is exactly the sort of band that makes a local show a magical place to be.  With two releases under their belt so far, full-length Good Enough and more recent EP Can I Pet Your Dog? Cause I'm Gonna, Brightside conjoin the accessibility of pop-punk and the heartthrob of 90's emo to create a truly memorable sound.  Basically, you're a damn fool if you aren't yelling along to 'Coffee and Pie, oh my!' by the second listen.  Check out Brightside, grab some deucers, text your pals, and head on down to wherever the live music is playing - if your ears aren't still ringing in the morning, you need to consider living more loudly. 

Stream all of Brightside's jams over on their Bandcamp, and toss 'em a like on Facebook.

Album Review: Joyce Manor - Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired

Album Rating: B-

Joyce Manor really found themselves a sound with Constant Headache and their 2011 self-titled.  Both records bled with the raw embitterment of their local Southern California punk scene yet somehow grasped onto an impossible level of catchiness, affording them multiple U.S. tours and leaving a slew of hoarse-throated basement punks in their wake.  Frontman Barry Johnson summed it up pretty effectively when questioned about his tendency for sub-two minute power-tracks in an interview: "You're taking the time to listen to my band … so I'm not going to have the audacity to bore the shit out of you."  It was exactly on this compendiousness that a band like Joyce Manor is founded, this same urgency and succinct song structure being the crux of a record like Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired.  All of this said, 2012 Joyce Manor is a band coasting not only on brevity, but also on tradeoffs.

Album Review: Anti-Flag - The General Strike

Album Rating: C

 What I failed to learn from Anti-Flag:


Anti-Flag's biggest problem as a band today might just be fans like me.  Back in the day, being a fourteen year old white kid with good grades from a decent neighborhood that still felt a little out of place in high school meant the need for an outlet to the confusion and frustration.  Punk rock, or maybe "punk rock," happened to be that vent.  I can remember going to Anti-Flag shows with my friends Dave and Spaz and loving every second of dancing around to 'Spaz's House Destruction Party' and 'Davey Destroyed the Punk Scene' (it's true) and feeling like I really belonged to something.  I can recall looking around the pit of sweaty, vest-clad punks and picking out the ones without green mohawks that looked to be a lot like me - that is, relatively normal, happy kids with typical high school angst and a need for that same outlet.  Even if the shows were just a means to feeling better about typical freshman-year grievances and the government wasn't personally dicking us over, it felt pretty real as we shouted "Fuck the flag and, FUCK YOU!" together at the tops of our lungs.  Most of all, I remember wondering what it all meant, what it would all become, and when I would finally tell my well-meaning father to piss off. 

Artist Spotlight: Rambos

If there's one thing worth appreciating about a band like Rambos, it's their refusal to take themselves as a band - or anything at all - too seriously.  Considering the fact that the group's Facebook page "likes" include everything from Tom Waits and Stiff Little Fingers to The Daily Show and pseudo-news network The Onion, it becomes readily apparent that the Chicago-based quintet have their heads caught somewhere between bourbon-soaked ballads, classic punk jams, and the comical, self-absorbed tendencies of the human race.  Rock and Roll Monsters is a testament to all three of these things - tracks like 'Hiawatha' and 'Chuck Taylors' are as quick to critique humanity as they are to laugh at it, doing so with the airy and youthful disposition of a group of kids that are, if nothing else, enjoying the hell out of their time here.  Each song reverberates with the openness of an old abandoned foyer, lending an abundantly retro feel to the record, almost as if it was intentionally recorded a generation too late.  For Rambos, the time to shout it out loud is right now; Rock and Roll Monsters embodies this explosive attitude and delivers the funk-tinged, punk-fueled tracks to back it.

Hear tracks from Rock and Roll Monsters on Rambos' Facebook, or head over to their official website for more about the band and their new album.

Album Review: Andrew Jackson Jihad - Knife Man

It would be pretty easy to just tell you to go get Knife Man right now. I mean, it would make my job so much simpler, because really it's simply essential 2011 listening. However, for those not easily convinced, I'll delve into why Andrew Jackson Jihad have crafted what is quite possibly their greatest achievement. Added to that, Knife Man is without a doubt one of the most exhilarating, enjoyable, and positively fascinating records this year.

Album Review: Hot Water Music - The Fire, The Steel, The Tread/Up To Nothing 7"

Despite being out of the game for quite a tat, fans have never really forgotten about Hot Water Music. Truly, the myriad of bands who cite them as an influence have not forgotten them either, as Hot Water Music have left a crater-like impression on the modern day punk scene.

HWM have been releasing music here and there since their last full-length album, The New What Next, but nothing in the form of a true follow up. The Fire, The Steel, The Tread/Up To Nothing 7" isn't simply a two song collection, but rather, the promise of what is to come, as the band are currently working on a new record. Still, not to be outdone by such momentous news, the 7" is a delight all by itself. Sure it's incredibly brief, but it's a wholly enjoyable, hard hitting work that more than lives up to the name of Hot Water Music.

Album Review: Polar Bear Club - Clash Battle Guilt Pride

Sometime last decade, Polar Bear Club became one of those bands that exploded onto the blog-centric, web-driven scene. With their debut EP, Summer of George, Polar Bear Club became a precious, secret find that oddly propelled them into becoming a rather well known group, that even today continues to grab new fans, and turn heads with each release. However, the punk/post-hardcore outfit hasn't quite moved past their punk infused melodic, yet sort of heavy sound that's defined their past few releases. And while their newest album, Clash Battle Guilt Pride doesn't exactly see the band expanding their sound too far, it's still an incredibly pleasing listen from start to finish.

Album Review: Cain Marko - At Sea EP

Cain Marko tell it exactly as it is. "The universe can go without another song about drinking!" rings out at the start of 'At Sea In St. Paul', track one from their self-released debut EP At Sea, and they're absolutely right about that. Bands have been singing ballads about drowning out sorrows in a bottle or partying with friends for about as long as they've been crooning about love and sex, and the members of Cain Marko immediately acknowledge their lack of originality in that regard. This forthcoming admittance of their shortcomings is comforting - for one, it grounds the band on a humble and relatable level and, in doing so, allows for an immediate rapport between them and their audience. More importantly, it puts that much more importance on ardent and honest songwriting and musicianship, an aspect of their music that these Michigan kids have most certainly followed through on.

Album Review: Iceage - New Brigade

It's become a fad in music nowadays that the ineffably bizarre and mindbogglingly unconventional is cause for not only praise, but for hyperbolic claim of artistic revolution. Rarely, however, do this outwardly strange albums ever amount to anything more than a flash in the pan, and that for every WU LYF, we receive ten forgettable works that amount to very little. However, Iceage's debut, New Brigade teeters on either side of both camps, creating an interesting, and wholly fun album, whilst not really achieving much else at all.

Album Review: Restorations

Diversity in genre is a fantastic thing when it comes to music. When it comes to Restorations, their influences come from, effectively, just about everything from hardcore to shoegaze, hitting stoner metal, roots rock, hardcore, post-punk, and everything therebetween. The Philadelphia outfit exemplifies how you can have such diversity in sound, and still create a fantastic record. After a hard-hitting release on their Strange Behavior EP, Restorations comes back around for even more on this self-titled full length, keeping true to their keeping true to their punk / post-rock / indie sound.

Album Review: Bomb the Music Industry! - Vacation

Is there any band out there quite like Bomb the Music Industry? For years the ska-punk collective, led by the ever eccentric Jeff Rosenstock has been tearing up conventions one messy, chaotic song at a time. The group has been so frenetic, so disorganized, that it’s quite shocking to think that they’re easily one of the most consistent acts in music today. From their debut, Album Minus Band in 2005, to last year’s two EP’s, Bomb the Music Industry has astounded with each and every release. Well music lovers, BTMI! have done it again, as Vacation is not only one of their strongest releases thus far, but one of 2011’s defining records.