StapH - Keys EP (2009)

Sometimes I think I wait too long to review something and it feels like the more I like something and the more I listen to every tiny detail the further away I get from saying something coherent. Its at times like these that I feel like I should be a writing a haiku for all the albums I love. Capturing their essence so to speak, as opposed to surgically opening them up and scrutinizing all their intricacies.

Music so pretty
Would not be named after
A bad infection.

I dunno. I think I might need to practice with my haikus for a bit before I send them out to the world. But regardless, my point being that I find it very hard to describe this record as I have grown quite fond of it. I can describe my co-worker sitting across from me, but if I had to describe my friend Fooch*, I would have a hard time. I would be like "uhhhh, Awesome? hows that?"

So yeah, flip Fooch out for Staph...

Q: Sooo, whats this Staph band like?
A: uhhhhh... Awesome?

I mean, it leaves something to be desired. Dont you think?

Well, lemme try another stab at this. Staph rules... better? Okay, theyre "really really good"... okay, now im just toyin' around. Staph is really good. They jam out 3 amazing tunes on this, their first EP and they are going to be a band to keep an eye on, because if I'm not crazy (which I probably am) everyone still loves a healthy serving of the slow burn in their 90's styled hardcore. And by 'slow burn' I mean post-rock tendencies, and by 'hardcore' I mean bands like Still Life, Portraits of Past and Moss Icon as opposed to Minor Threat, NYHC or Earth Crisis.

So its with that explanation that I feel I can comfortably move forward and say that this album is one of the best emo hardcore records to not be released in the 90's. 'Harvest' starts with an awesome bass and drum rumble with all members screaming in unison before deconstructing and coming back together with guitars and the whole bit. its a tight fucking song and has great drums fills and offers up some really pretty breaks that would make some midwest emo kids happy. You might even call it twinkly, except they are still screaming, and not like Scream either... theyre really screaming.. and probably not screaming for change either. In fact, I dont have any lyrics, so ahem (HIT ME UP WITH SOME LYRICS) I can only assume they are screaming for dear life.

The songs go well together with a good sample tying them all together. The latter two songs exhibit a more subdued intensity that reminds me of Moss Icon at times while the majority of the album is something that could easily have a nice home on Ebullition with their great roster of bands. Skirting a fine line of overblown cacophony and outright prettiness Staph is clearly on the leading edge of this style. In fact, there are plenty of moments on this record that remind me of the amazing post-hardcore band Julia. Which, when I come to think of it, reminds me of DC stuff... I guess what I'm getting at is that this short 3 song EP exhibits a lot of style and variety without sacrificing continuity and, overall, this band is hard to pin down. Something I always look for in my music.

Label/blog - http://kidsisterrecords.blogspot.com/
Staph on MySpace - http://myspace.com/staphcamp

Comadre / Trainwreck / Saddest Landscape / Black Kites - ABC No Rio - TOMORROW! 3PM...

Yet another show I will be attending... this is a matinee though it probably wont start on time. 4 bands, 4 doses of awesome. If you dont know these bands, I suggest you get jiggy with the google search and start finding out.

Black Kites 3 song sampler can be found somewhere in the archives here. It rules.

Again, if you see me, say hi. Much greater chance of me meeting people at this show than the previous show at Webster Hall...

And dont forget, the Van Pelt is playing shows again! Tomorrow (Saturday) they are playing somewhere, and if I dont go, someone is going to pay, in blood. (You'd think someone would say something like that about Agnostic Front or something, but no, I'm ready to get violent over some pre-emo twinkly indie band.)

Moving Mountains, Irepress, Junius - NYC - TONITE!

Im probably going to be going to this... There is another great show going on tomorrow.. and my friend just told me that The Van Pelt is playing tomorrow night... Agnostic Front and Antidote are playing tonite as well. and I have a friend from college coming to Brooklyn and I definitely want to hang with them. So basically, I need another me..

But for those interested, All bands tread the line between post-rock and something harder. How hard is up for each band to prove. I can say this much, Irepress gets pretty freaking heavy. Moving Mountains spends more time on the post-rock side and well, I cant lie, Junius is easily the best band playing tonite, and easily worth going to this show just to see them (though Im pretty pumped on Irepress myself)

So, if youre there, and Im there, we probably wont run into each other, but if we did, it would be pretty cool.

Update: Sex-Vid, Mind Eraser, Iron Age, Failures show for June 6th

Two Great Things

Hey yooo!!! Been busy again. Lots of news and lots of changes in my world. Not all interesting for you though. But these two things should interest you...

Two new hardcore punk bands featuring members of Failures. Two awesome demo tapes for you to download and enjoy. Go see these bands when they come through. Failures is playing this weekend in Brooklyn for anyone in the area.

Get these from their pages.



short fast edgeviolence from western massachusetts

joe shumsky - drums (think i care/glue)
matt swift - guitar (relics)
matt mckeown - vocals (red room records)
will killingsworth- bass (ampere/failures/clean plate records)

demo tape limited to 100
$5ppd
you can download it for free and/or purchase it from their blog page.




Five tracks of noisy, angry music by:

Ryan Abbott (Blank Stare, Social Circkle)
Andrew Jackmauh (Failures, Cut The Shit)
PJ Miles (Brain Killer, Male Nurses)
Jamie Jones (Like Rats)

One hundred cassettes, with full color inlays inserted by hand (not pro-printed), glued pocket sleeves, double-sided inserts on linen paper, hand numbered, sealed shut and bound for authenticity.

purchase from http://confines.tumblr.com/

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I have a few things Ive been wanting to get up, so lets see how well that works out..

Calvary - Outnumbered Is Outflanked (2003)

This record is so amazing. I urge you all to drop what your doing and start listening to this right now. Similar to the Bullets*In post, I dont know of anyone who doesnt think this record rocks.

In fact, its so awesome that I dont even really know what to say about it other than that. Its not like some new kind of awesome punk. Its not breaking any boundaries. On first listen I didnt think to myself, "Holy Jesus Lord, this is the holy grail of punk rock!" Nope. Not even on the second. But I liked it.

Actually, Sweetbabyjaysus told me I would like it. So yeah, I liked it. I listened to it a few times, and one day it clicked. The record has yet to leave my iPod since then. It gets weekly listens and I find it near impossible to only listen to one song. Its one of those albums I throw on, whatever the mood and find that I have to listen to the whole thing.

When I shared it with someone recently they asked who was singing and when it was from because at times it really sounds like Rites of Spring and the singer sounds just like Guy. But nope. Not that. Instead its Matt Weeks from Current who is well known for sounding like Guy. Now, Current is easily one o my favorite bands from the 90's. Coliseum is a great album and their 7"s and split stuff are so great. They have held up well over the years, but dare I say that Calvary is better? I think it needs to be said.

Calvary is actually better than Current.

Im sure that has a lot to do with the musicians being better and more focused, but it probably has a lot to do with me as a person. I have grown since those mid-90s days and Calvary speaks to me so much more at this point in my life.

And the Rites of Spring thing, dont let it throw you off. There are only touches of it besides Matts voice that sound like RoS. They evoke a number of even earlier bands like Wire and Mission of Burma. Tense and precise guitar playing with metronomic drumming, Matts emotive voice and a slew of amazing hooks are whats waiting to be found in this amazing album..

Check it out and let me know what you think. You can find the LP pretty cheaply, usually on blue marble vinyl and you may still be able to get the 7" direct from Matt Weeks (now defunct) Council Records.

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Anyone interested in picking up either the Calvary LP or 7" - can do so at Residue Records:

http://www.residue-records.com/

They have both (as well as some other Council stuff) for mailorder. (thanks matt)

Bullets*In - Conceive (2005)

Whoa! This is pretty crazy! Two posts in two days?!?

Okay, heres the deal: Yesterday sucked and today kind of rules. Not that I'm bi-polar or anything. You know, sometimes a day just sucks and you really need to just start over again. The weather helped today. Backlash also helped. A steady diet of Backlash mixed with some brooding and I was all good! See, Hardcore can save lives.. or at least moods... and if moods can ruin lives well... if A is to B as B is to C, than A = C.. or something marginally awesome like that, right? So it goes that music, namely hardcore in this case, can save lives.

So now that we've got that squared away, lets move along to the next order of business. Which issss... Well, let me tell you first that I found a new place to live, and its pretty awesome and its huge and its fairly cheap (by NYC standards, which is still ridiculous compared to many other places). I am stoked beyond belief. Which leads me to my next order of business...

Bullets*In... I don't know about you, but when I'm in a good mood, I can go a million ways with what to listen to, but there's something about that Mike Kirsch sound that really adds to a good day. Is it the guitar melodies? or is it the lyrics? Well, shit, I can barely understand half the lyrics, so it must be the melodies.. But here's the catch, Bullets*In may be better than most of Mike Kirsches bands. (For info on Mike Kirsch, peruse my blog, google him, note the myriad amount of bands he has been in and the quality of each one) I'd like to draw you to one specific Kirsch band in particular, namely because my friend Damian told me this and it fits, irrevocably so. What he told me was that Bullets*In started as a band that wanted to sound like Torches to Rome.

Now, sacrilege or not, as much as I like Torches to Rome, I think Bullets*In would win in a one on one cage match. Not that they are any burlier or have more tattoos or anything, or even more members...but they got rifffffs... Mad riffs, son! They have ears for melody! Crazy ears of tuneful melody! Ya know, maybe because I'm lazy, but really because I am a geek for the source material for so much of this stuff, but there are times this really reminds me of Current or Calvary (who I am upping next, because that record is damn near flawless!). Either way, you get blazing fast melodic hardcore with so much passion and energy that its enough to make the sun burn brighter.

If you ever liked Current, Calvary, Torches to Rome, Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack, Bread and Circuits, The Shivering and even Baader Brains or Fuel than you will basically flip your wig for this album. Many people have said it was easily the best of that year and many say its still one of the best. I must agree and now its time for you to stop reading and start listening.

You can also find this record for fairly cheap, so if you are a vinyl collector, keep your eyes peeled. There is also a 7" which I would like if anyone has any leads.

Backlash - No Reason Why Not (1995)

Sooooooo... Today sucks...

I was posting this last night when I got distracted, but who knew today would call for such awesome heavy hitters as Self Assured and Why I'm Mad...

Yeah, without getting into what made my day suck, lets just say sometimes too many things happen at once, and youre left with, well.. nothing... but theres always hardcore.

Hardcore. My bastion in a crazy world... my island. My impenetrable fucking fortress of "who gives a fuck". Blast these tunes loudly and watch as you either A) boil your sadness and aggravation into a vapor, or B) melt away said negativities, throw your hat in the air, point your fucking finger and yell "GO!" and feel the tides change. Hardcore usually does the trick either way.

Sooo. Backlash n' shit... They were from durty jerz and well, for some reason I remember kids making fun of these guys, but either I'm the chump or they were just posin' hard, because regardless of what you think Backlash kicked my ass and many a time I could be found pumping this stuff out of my tinny Honda speakers, racing down whatever road, most likely shouting the lyrics and tossing finger points out the window like it was nobodies business.

Today I find myself at my desk, completely done with work today and feeling a number of stresses that have halted my forward motion for the day, so I toss this bad ass on, thinking I need to type some stuff up about it, and well, how am I doing so far? Kind of all over the place if you ask me. Come to think of it, this Backlash record is kind of all over the place. I mean that in a good way, because there is a common thread through all the songs, both in lyrics and in tunes. In fact, each song has a specific section with a specific groove that I feel was this bands trademark. Lots of fast parts leading up to awesome old school breakdowns ala Judge, Leeway, Gorilla Biscuits and the like. Backlash clearly werent re-inventing the wheel, but thats only because the wheel is damn good as it is. What I mean to say is, if youve got the chops, than keep writing old school hardcore, because there is something vital in it that no other music touches on.

"Mad is feeling that I get
Mad is a feeling I cant control yet
When I see these things that get on my nerves
Mad is a feeling that no one deserves"