!upstarter Punk Reviews

© 2010

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Fancy Blood is the new EP by Los Angeles band Scarlet Grey. I find the disc to be an overly produced, consumer driven, radio oriented product designed for heavily marketed to, radio baited consumer rats.

So you’re like, “ok then, what’s in it for me, the guy (or gal) you, in so many words, called a total knob douche?” To that I say, “It ain’t a total wash there buddy. I mean you can still buy some cool shit at Hot Topic, right? You just don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin your street cred.”

Ok, but really aside from my preferential jackassery, the songs are a bit on the catchy side and they’re well played and recorded if a bit over produced. I can see how people that like emo-esque non-threatening alterna-punk could very well like this sort of thing. The question is though, do you trade eternal fame for being tomorrow’s Alphaville?

Ok, enough of my bashing. Track five, Naomi is easily the winner on the EP. It has a rather retro 60’s synthpop sound and I actually kind of like it in spite of myself.

I’ll also waste precious little time telling you about the guest vox from none other than Davey Havoc. Yes, little baby Danzig lends a hand (or throat) to the fellas of Scarlet Grey. … Remember when AFI was punk?

The bottom line is this: If you are a radio friendly rocker, don’t listen to me. Go ahead and rock this for yourself, just don’t come crying to me when your mom won’t buy you tickets to the show.

-Jerry

(c) 2010 New York Taxi
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If New York Taxi goes on to be a hugely successful band, fans will probably look back at The Calm Before and say “Hey, their second album wasn’t bad. It’s kind of nice.” The punk/folk/acoustic duo isn’t there yet, but they’ve got a nice sound that suggests potential.

The Calm Before is only five tracks. The songwriting is solid, and the duo gets a lot of mileage out of only one guitar, two voices, and a little looping. There’s an occasional keyboard in there, too. The male-female alternating or layered vocals are nice, and there’s never an unpleasant measure. But there’s nothing memorable, nothing you have to play again, nothing that gets your heart beating.

It’s nice though. It’s a nice album.

Track 1, “And Now Our Feature Presentation” opens with a George W. Bush sound clip and rambles a bit before a not-very-insightful chorus of “We’ve been misled, we’ve been shut down… we’re going to stand up, we’re going to fight back…” Certainly not a unique or otherwise fresh perspective. Maybe that’s the problem with the album: a slight lack of maturity in the lyrics and overall sound.

(On a similar note, as a former US history teacher, I cringed when in Track 2 they referenced “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as being guaranteed in the Constitution – rather than the Declaration of Independence.)
Track 2, “Jennarita” opens nicely with a sharp guitar riff underneath a little piano ditty. Ryan’s raspy verse complements Shannon’s cute-punk-girl chorus well, and it’d be a much more memorable song if not for a weak, abortive attempt at a grand finale in the track’s closing seconds.

Track 3, “Apartment1111,” contains flashes of brilliance, especially in the chorus with Shannon joining Ryan in a soulful ode to their bankrupt state: “On my way back home…to California…screw California…”

The last two tracks are nice. Track 4, “Firefly” would be nice background music for the montage in a high school movie where the guy is alone at a bus stop and the girl is at a party, distracted and looking at the moon while she thinks about the guy at the bus stop. Then the guy doesn’t get on the bus, heads back to the party, and it starts to rain just as the girl comes running toward him on the street. Track 5, “Humble,” would start playing when they see each other. Then they start dancing in the rain and go back into the party hand in hand.

Which would be nice. It’s a nice album. And it’s short, which is nice. Three stars for being nice.

-Ozymandias

(c) 2010 Universal Republic
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Here’s something that I don’t review everyday, but I am intrigued by Flobots. I have to confess that I won’t be terribly adept at reviewing “Survival Story” as it is reasonably outside of my comfort zone. But hey, what’s music without a little challenge every now and again?

For those outside the know (at lot like myself) Flobots are a hip hop, rock hybird from Denver Colorado. (Like a whirlwind of Rage, 311 and Q-tip or something) While I can’t speak to the genre specifically, I feel the vibe. The music is tight yet fluid and not the standard fare of running lyrics over dropped beats and samples. I guess the crux of my enjoyment for this is real musicians.

People can say what they want about hip hop. Hate it. Love it. That is really not my concern. I do believe this though, if your making music, or planning on making music, use an instrument or two. Flobots doens’t dissapoint in that regard. Guitar, bass, drums, viola are all in full effect.

The 12 tracks on “Survival Story” do tend to run a bit long and their repetitve nature do fell draining after a while. Then again I’m the first to admit that I think a three minute track might as well be an epic ballad.

So we’ve got musicians playing musical instuments. There is a genuine “feel” to the tunes and a lot of punk rock ethos rolling. I say what’s not to like? (aside from the epic song lenth and repetition) buy hey, maybe live a little and and expand some horizons even if they aren’t your own.

-Jerry Actually

(c) 2010 Epitaph Records

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Adding slightly distorted power chords and brutish drumming isn’t enough to make emo any less bland.  “The Ghost of You and I” has a clever intro, but that’s about the only bright spot on this album.  Fans of emo: surely you can find something better than this.

-Ozymandias

(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.