!upstarter Punk Reviews

(c) 2008 Alex Gomez

Hank III combined with Jon Spencer, Maybe? Black Sabbath with a slide guitar, I don’t rightly know. Either way, I have this disc from Alex Gomez. It is chock full of some seriously raw electrified blues. It slides this way and the other. It shreds (speaker cones) a bit. It is raw. I’ll make you throat hoarse if you try to sing along. Honestly I’m not completely sure of what to make of it yet. I’ve had the CD in the car for a while and it seemed to work there when the Mexican radio wasn’t quite up to par. I’m listening to it right now after several blue ribbon awarded adult beverages and it keeps getting better. Let me tell you more though. There are 10 songs. They all sound a bit similar, but once you hook into the loose slide groove, they don’t degrade in quality for the duration. So I’m hangin’ on a sort of fence on this one. I can’t say I’m adding it to heavy rotation, but I’m not going to dismiss it either. You listen. You decide.

–Jerry Actually

(c)2009 ES Music
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For those of you unfamiliar with Echo Screen, They are, as far as I know, a poppy-rock quartet from straight outta Jersey. Goodbye Old Life may or may not be a departure from the bands previous two efforts, but then again it might. It is way in the pop vein, but in a weird good way. It is, oddly, like a mix between James Taylor, Neil Young and Ben Folds. Normally not my cup o’ tea, but I’m kind of in a groove with this five track EP. I say what the hell, Echo Screen is alright, even if they sound almost nice enough to be grandmother safe. The tracks tend to alternate between quick slow quick (to an extent, ’cause track five wrecks that scheme) They all have a flowing dreamy feel to them, but consequently I prefer tracks 1. “I Amsterdam” and 3. “When I Escape (L.A.)”, the later very obviously about Snake Plissken. Never the less, some not-so-bad stuff, from the East. Then again, what did I expect? New Jersey has all the best bands.

–Jerry Actually

(c)2008 Spillway Records

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The Dance Thunder EP is strange and good and cool…reminds me of weird early 90’s bootleg tapes that we’d listen to in the high school photo lab, or mid 90’s albums you’d hear wafting through dorm halls on move-in day.  It’s a bit Pixies, a tad Modest Mouse, a smidge mellow Sonic Youth.  The songs have that fun sound of indie tracks peppered into Chuck or this-season’s-Juno movies.

I adore what they say on their press sheet: “Joshua Lanes never proclaim to be creating music that has never been done before, like so many of the delusional bands today. All Joshua Lanes want is to play music that they enjoy rocking out to on a daily basis and play it for the world.”  Play on.

-HK-47

(c)2008 Animo Music

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I saw these guys at Warped Tour last year and thought they were a perfect fit.  They’ve got a high energy live act and were adored by the throngs of screaming girls in the audience. While giving Blood in the Water a first listen, I browsed other review sites to see what was being said…sigh.

I fully believe MC Lars when he tells us that “Hot Topic is not punk rock,” but there’s no need to slam the kids who like the music they promote, or the bands who capitalize on the sound.  Animo perfectly capture the summer fest’s style, and  Blood in the Water is a very decent, albeit short, album.  While I agree with the general web consensus that these guys don’t fit the classic definition of punk, they’re poster children for pop-punk. Their songs are amazingly catchy, their lyrics don’t drag into the total emo-therapy downturn that lesser Warped acts have.  They’ve got a brilliant drummer, great guitar hooks, slappy bass support, and amazing vocals.  Radio pop-punk isn’t disrespectful to the pioneers of the 70’s, it’s a natural progression supported by America’s youth who are bound to adore Animo.

-HK-47

(c)2007 I Scream Records

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Bosterdamian group Jaya the Cat deliver a unique fusion of punk, reggae, rock, and ska that took a few listens before it gelled into awesome.  More Late Night Transmissions With… bounces across the Atlantic like Cannabis Cup winning weed followed by a dram of 20 yr barrel aged Glensomething whiskey — oh-so-hazy and smoother than a mo’fo’.

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(c)2007 The Psycho Nubs
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The Psycho Nubs are a great duo with an odd name.  This album is fun, energetic, creative and overall awesome.  Their style swings around from political-themed glam-tinged rock over to basement punk and around the corner to psychobilly.  Impressively, they show no hesitation and rock all 17 tracks with a pure, musical passion that’s often lost in mainstream bands.

At times reminiscent of 50’s do-wop ballads, the Psycho Nubs also channel the Descendants, the Groovie Ghoulies, and a touch of early Beastie Boys.  There are love songs to PBR, Mary Anne from Gilligan and Monica May, anti-establishment punk themes peppered with “woah-oh” choruses, and tales of alien invasion and the zombie apocolypse.  These guys are lyrically entertaining, musically talented, and right up my alley.

(c)2008 Honor Bright (now on Aux Records)
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Oooh! Shiny! Honor Bright is everything that I love in radio music today, with none of the crap. That r-word might be enough to deter many, but I’m a big fan of Warped Tour sounding artists, and these guys are some of the best.

Forearm tattoos, slightly-greasy protractor haircuts, and Goodwill shirts? Check!
Beautiful vocal harmonies, punchy high-hat heavy drums, chunky guitar parts? Check!
80’s pop-culture referencing song title with no relation to the lyrical content? Check!

The music is crisp and urging, the lyrics are emotive without being too emo. Sure, these guys sound like other radio artists, but if their live performances are half as good as this 6 track ep, they’ve already got one-up on most of them. This CD is brilliant and left me wanting more — I’ll be heading out to get their Aux Records re-released full-length to fill my fix.

-HK-47

(c)2008 DC Jam Records
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This is the kind of music that makes people want to punch babies.  I’ve never been a huge fan of babies (except for yours, of course), so it’s more telling to say that this cd made me want to kick puppies.  18 tracks of useless, casio-keyboard-fueled, Ernest Borgnine referencing lyrics — I was sobbing with relief when the cd was over.

Thinking it might be my bias against creepy esoteric jazz, I checked with my Mister (a Zappa and Mike Patton fan) — maybe I was missing something?  No, he assured me, this cd is not Zappa-esque, it’s not layered with subtle genius nor painstakingly composed. This is the sort of crap that Mr. Bungle’s under-the-stairs dwelling troglodyte brother would bang out if he got loose.  Sorry, but I found little redeeming social value in this. Skip this if you don’t want to stab your eyeballs out with dull forks, and please don’t give this to impressionable children.

-HK-47

(c)2008 Suburban Noize Records
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Sometimes you watch an action movie and you leave the theater feeling like a badass, humming the Mission Impossible theme, hoping your car’s transformed into a James-Bond-mobile. You know that feeling… I just had a Fast & Furious movie marathon, so it left me in one of those post-car-chase-movie moods. Had I been looking for a soundtrack to keep that “I’m a misunderstood rebel car guy from SoCal” feeling alive, I’d throw in the Kottonmouth Kings new disc, “The Green Album”.

I’m not a gangsta.  I’m not from SoCal. I’ve never listened to the Kottonmouth Kings before, so I can’t judge this album, their 10th full-length, in comparison to any previous works.  That said, “The Green Album” is a decent assortment of 20 tracks that start off like a road race street party but winds down to a backyard love fest.

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(c) 1999 Asianman Records
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Add two parts Go-Go’s one part teen angst, smack ‘em together and label ‘em Made In Japan and you’ve got the power girl punk from Japan’s latest export Softball. I don’t want to come across as sexist, but I generally don’t listen to a lot of “girl” music. But damnit I like Softball. They have spunk and energy and punky Clash like sensibility. throughout the entire CD I’m kept marvelously entertained. the tunes are very heavily accented so that I can’t make out a majority of the lyrics, yet I find myself wanting to sing along even if only phonetically. If you like your punk a little on the poppy side and you’ve ever found yourself singing along to the Go-Go’s, add a little international flavor to your life and listen to softball. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

–Jerry Actually