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"

Just a Lil' Somethin'

What is up people. Its been a bit of time since I have even looked at this page, and frankly I am dismayed at how negligent I have been. If this were my garden it would be over run with weeds. Not the good kind either. If this were an empty lot, it would have lots of broken glass in it.

Now its spring, time for some spring cleaning then!

I made this mix for my friend who wanted to hear more new punk. This was about two years ago when we both started our new jobs at the same place and, while I still stand by it today, I guess I cant lie... I would not only probably make it totally different now, but I would also feel the necessity to make a 3-mix set, or something similarly grandiose, to even touch upon the amount of punk music that has meant so much to me over the years.

Well, this is what I made then, and as I said I stand behind it. The main thrust of this mix was to give someone who may not know a lot about punk a good idea of where punk has been throughout the years and where its headed. I think in that capacity I did a decent job, even if I passed over specific classics in favor of something I was vibing off of then.

So, while many of you may be familiar with these bands my hope is turn at least each person to one new band and maybe make them re-evaluate the importance of a band they might have overlooked. Clearly this a flawed idea cuz most of you will tell me "OMG you forgot this song!!!" or "You put THAT Minor Threat song?!".. Haha. Yep. I sure did.

Heres the tracklist so you can decide for yourselves if you care to test it out. Please let me know what you think, even if you think adding the Pixies was the dumbest idea. Lets hear it!

1. We Train These Robots - Please Inform the Captain This Is a Hijack
2. Who Are You - Void
3. Born With a Beard - Brainworms
4. Pay to Cum - Bad Brains
5. I Like Your Mom - Bouncing Souls
6. Sidewalk - Avail
7. Again and Again - Reason to Believe
8. Why Do I Care - Faith
9. Angry Sleepers - PITCTIAH (again, but this is a real song)
10. Fingers.Voice.Heart.Shake - Suis La Lune
11. La Ultima Sigaretta - La Piovra
12. California Uber Alles - Dead Kennedys
13. Daneurysm - Lifetime
14. Solidarity - Scream
15. Trash Flavored Trash - Blood Brothers
16. Asesinos - Los Crudos
17. Bit Part In a Bad Movie - Ampere
18. Broken Face - The Pixies
19. Mr Suit - Wire
20. No Reason Why - Pennywise
21. Sleeping the Terror Code - Q and Not U
22. One Way Widow - Les Savy Fav
23. XOX - Hot Snakes
24. Spring - Rites of Spring
25. Your Cheated Heart - The Ergs!
26. New Wind - 7 Seconds
27. In Defense of Humans - Fugazi
28. My Life - Sick of it All
29. Six Bar Phrase Hey Hey - Bear vs Shark
30. No Reason - Minor Threat
31. Resurrection - Fury
32. Spectra Sonic Sound - Nation of Ulysses
33. Bob - NOFX
34. Marriage - Descendents
35. Guigno - La Quiete


and thats all. As I was typing that out I realized I really would have made this much different if I made it today, but you know...