We’re in the part of thew year where we get to overeating in the name of family, country and religion. We’re hard pressed to think of a better song for the occasion than “Lazy Boy” by the Love Hounds. Are we basing this around the line “Woke up with my Lazy Boy stuck in recline, it happens all the time?” Yes partially, and while we know within the context of the song it’s about being drunk and a mess let us not discredit the powerful food drunk of the season. Also the regular binge drunk that the holidays can bring out of us. But we’re mostly basing this pick on the fact that it’s a cow punk, garage rock barn burner. The type of thing your coolest of uncles or older cousins would turn you onto, perhaps while on a run to the liquor store that they let you tag along on. And as they turn it up and say “this is REAL music” you nod your head, because that is the truth.
Week Ender – Love Hounds
Friday 5×5
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
Need some tunes to keep you leveled out as you battle through the scrum that is Black Friday? We got you. Check out these songs so good they don’t need a bunch of hyping up for you to want to bring them home to the family. New tunes from Nick Noon, Miriam Clancy, picnic., Lazy Queen and Farewell Horizontal.
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Friday 5×5
Once again it’s time to microdose those reviews and let the music speak for itself. Five tracks so good we only need to drop five words to accentuate them. Check out the latest from vern matz, Markus Nikolaus, Sista Bossen, Brandon Isaac & Free Mind and fearofmakingout.
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Friday 5×5
Friday 5×5 is our segment where we give you five new tracks to check out and give ourselves the challenge of describing said tracks in only five words.
You know the deal. Five songs that are so damn good that they don’t need all of our blah blah blah getting in the way. Just five words to pique your interest and point the way to pure audio enjoyment. Check out the lates from Scars of Solitude, Person, Play Dead, Tiny Ghosts and Oh Bummer!
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Thursdays With J.R. – Waste Youth
Sometimes when you get high, you freak out. That’s our disclaimer this week for “BFF” by Waste Youth. We jump start with a lighter being lit in the 1-2 1-2-3-4 punk rock fashion. This “freak out” on steroids runs you down and flattens your core like an old rusty pickup truck you used to trash in high school. Probably a stick shift, so shift into the first verse for high RPMs on the vocals, guy is giving it his all. The music is somewhere between evil surf and punk rock. It’s reminiscent of some of the best bands from the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The bass is a beast on this track, its low and driving but on the edge of breaking up completely. The upbeat changes in between slow tom heavy and fast chaotic parts really separate the madness. Kudos to the drums for the thought-out drums parts. Vocals are clear even though climaxed into screams most of the time. He trails off leaving you wondering if the lines are questions or statements. The song ends with “oh my god, I feel fucking stoned”. Do you? If you want to take another hit, spin it again, it’s short and on second listen is even more satisfying as you are familiar with the changes making them fun to ride along with. Big fan of this group, check out their stuff.
The Midweekly – Upchuck
The Midweekly is our column from Mike Jeffers; lead singer of Chicago punk stalwarts SCRAM, music junkie and all around righteous dude.
The dank basement shows and cramped rock clubs have incubated and set loose yet another fantastic force of nature onto the punk scene. This time hailing from mosh pits of Atlanta. The disgustingly appropriate handle for this five piece is Upchuck, and they have just spewed forth Sense Yourself, their debut LP. It’s a good assumption this record is loaded with frenzied energy, but it also takes its time, gets sludgy even. And though lead singer KT hurls a great amount of shouting, she isn’t lacking in the catchiness department. Songs of discrimination and injustice, and the ways to fight back are as raw as you’d expect, and with most of the vox saturated with heavy echo, it gives them a style that fills every empty space. Upchuck have left their sweat and blood on the stained floors of those basement shows, and now they’re bringing those bodily fluids to all us soon.
Week Starter – Goalkeeper
Sometimes you just gotta take a break from the old music blog grind and give the ears a rest so you can once again appreciate the whole magic that is notes and chords and melodies and words and singing ya know? Well after just such a break we’re happy to be back, and thanks to Goalkeeper, back in style. “Car Wreck” is the very finest of catchy as hell, melodic punk (Pop Punk feels too one dimensional for how good this song is) that is built for driving too fast with the windows down or a sweaty sing along with friends in the front row at a show. It’s big energy, big hooks and feels like a big welcome back sign not only for us but to anyone who has been looking to feel 17 again.
Week Ender – Penny Rich
Live long enough and you get to see the good shit come back around again. After a long drought of Indie and Underground music that started off as ironic easy listening dreck before becoming full on in-it-to-white-wine-spritzer-win-it easy listening garbage it seems that the kids are ready to rock again. The UK’s Penny Rich bring such rock with “Stolen Goods,” a gloriously balls out, pedal to the metal jam that mixes punk, grunge and noise to create something that feels a bit like the younger brothers of IDLES on a few gallons of cold brew and attitude. There’s truth in the layers of distortion and we’re happy to hear it once more.
Friday 5×5
Kick off the last few weeks of summer with five new tracks that they don’t need all the blah blah blah from yours truly. Check out songs so good they speak for themselves by Spectral Planet, Luke De-Scisco, Tripper and the Wild Things, Ruth Lyon and Valère Géron after the jump.
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Week Starter – Strange Bouquets
Week Starter is our Monday column where we give you a new song to help you get on out of bed & help you power on through the working week.
“Mirrors” by Strange Bouquets comes on hot and heavy with drums and bass racing out of the gates before a vaguely middle-eastern sounding guitar lick leads us into the verses. As the first half of the song goes by the guitar morphs into a demented surf lick and it’s then you realize that the whole affair feels a bit like a modernized take on the classic Dead Kennedys sound. That is right up until the 2:40 mark when it drops into a Sabbath-esque doomy blues stomp that is as epic as it is unexpected. From the chugging coffee and rushing out the door madness of a Monday morning to the disassociated mid-afternoon feeling of yet another work week, this one has you covered.