Young Souls Break Moulds

PAGAN PUNX

2011-09-26T19:54:00.003+01:00

THIS BLOG IS DEAD! NEW, BETTER, EXCLUSIVE STUFF UP AT www.pagan-punx.blogspot.com

TWIN INFINITIES

2011-06-08T18:16:00.002+01:00

Hey, this is happening next month. Just try and absorb how talented that line up of artists is. Hard to comprehend right? One of the proudest moments of my life seeing myself there above Ross from Ceremony and alongside Lee from Trash Talk, my good friend Sam, Mike Sutfin formerly of Charles Bronson, Tim Kerr of Big Boys, Cali Dewitt who shot the cover for SQRM's Rodeo LP amongst other things, MARK FUCKING MCCOY. Pat Graham, Chrissy Piper. The list is too great to fully comprehend.

Pagan Punx

2011-05-24T13:46:00.003+01:00

A few weeks I started a project with Sam James Velde of LA's Night Horse / Bluebird / Cold Sweat Records. We wanted to start a project which would allow us to write predominantly about records, whilst also gifting us the platform to interview bands, post photos almost in a half-photoblog style, upload footage and generally create a cauldron for all our writing and enthusiasm to bubble away in.

So, we started pagan-punx.blogspot.com - already having spoken to Chris Eck of Shaved Women and IceAge. Sam is currently talking to Sam Bosson of Trash Talk, Scuba of Trap Them, Ryan from Coliseum, the guys from Deafheaven and plenty more with the intention of compiling a list of what everyone's favourite records are right now. Pretty excited myself to read that one. I had an interview yesterday with Pennsylvania Hardcore buzzmakers Slices, and that interview should be posted soon.

The purpose of this post is just to let my lovely fellowship of readers know that despite the posts on youngsouls being few and far between, there is a hive of activity going on over at Pagan Punx. Sam and I will be working frantically to expand this as much as we can, as it's already - in it's infancy - beginning to take the form of a webzine. It'd be great if you could check out whats going with my new venture, and perhaps drop us a comment or follow us. Thanks,

Josh

Cult of Youth - Cult of Youth

2011-05-07T17:01:00.003+01:00

I’ve been listening to the self titled record by a band called Cult of Youth for the past hour. I’m having such difficulty in pigeon-holing them. They come from New York City and play a palette of folk, post punk, dirge and pop. They sound like an angry Robert Smith playing funeral music, with a delicate spoonful of thoughtful, folk arrangement fed into the mix. I’m struggling here, perhaps Cult of Youth’s derangement is too potent for me to pick apart in just one paragraph.

Track three, 'Monsters' bolts out of the gate in rampant style, stitching together up-beat guitar twanging with uncompressed vocals that seem to reach eternally skywards. Perhaps only by my own ear, but, I can hear jabs of Irish influence, native folk beat, and european Pagan influence. The slow march of 'Casting Thorn's' mourning song props up the spine of this record with it's plaintive utterings of 'When mercys our passion, we fall to our knees,' delivering peak after peak of poignancy and unblemished emotion.

Listen to this record and fall unregrettably in love with noise all over again. Download it here

The Feelies - Crazy Rythms

2011-03-30T20:09:00.002+01:00

I’m listening to this album for the first time ever right now. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms. First port of call: I am a fucking idiot for not zeroing in on this band sooner. From my 2011 vantage I can hear pastels of The Velvet Underground, Wire-esque intonations, Gang of Four subtleties and REM pop splashes. Everything i’m hearing is relevant to the order in which I discovered those bands just mentioned - because The Feelies notably influenced REM & Gang of Four and not the other way round. The Feelies came first.

I don’t think it would be too far off the mark to say that they must have influenced Beat Happening and that whole K Records twee-pop-picnic-in-the-sunshine sound. Probably gave Death Cab For Cutie a push too, in a more indirect sense. To cut a boring story short, It’s eight o’clock where I am and quite frankly I can see myself not giving a fuck about listening to any other band for the next week. Anyone who has heard this / plans to hear this, let me know what you think because I am drifting off into a lull of love.

Laura Lynn Petrick

2011-03-23T19:57:00.004Z

Besides being a total babe Laura Lynn Petrick is also one of the most exciting young photographers I know of. Her work is consistently strong, edgy, emotive and striking. I hope this post boosts the amount of traffic to her blog, this girl deserves more attention. Check out her image diary:

www.lauralynnpetrick.blogspot.com

An interview with Chad Moore

2011-03-22T19:40:00.004Z

Let me start with a thunderous statement of bombast and surefooted-ness; Chad Moore is my out and out favourite young photographer. A week or two ago he kindly agreed to do an interview with me. Quite frankly I couldn't believe my luck. I've poured through his site, through each series of photos time after time. Looking, admiring, absorbing, worshipping, repeat. The following is a total transcript of our discussions, Chad was fantastic, he answered my questions in such exquisite detail. I hope you all enjoy this, and if you havn't already checked out Chad's work I implore you to do so.

Can you tell me much about how you initially got into photography; was your appreciation for art instilled within you from an early age?

My mom was never really a working "artist" or anything, but she was always such a creative person and a great painter. She never pushed art on me, but completely nurtured my interest in all creative things, and still supports it all to this day. Many parents would be super terrified about their kid wanting to live as a an artist, but she has so much faith in which is amazing. I think I really got into photographs through riding BMX though. I started riding BMX bikes When I was about 11 or 12 and I always just wanted to have someone take a picture of a truck I was trying to do or something, just so I could see what it looked like. Then a few of my good friends started seriously shooting BMX photographs and I was getting more into professional riding, but I still wanted to make photographs. I Just got to a point though where it was like, I don't like the idea of setting up all of these flashes and waiting to create a moment, I just wanted to capture a moment that was happening, and I suppose that's how my obsession with photographs began.

So many of your photos look like snapshots of a fleeting moment in time, do you rely on events happening around you or do you ever find yourself being inclined to set opportunities up?

This goes back to the end of the first question. A friend of mine owed me a $100 or something and in exchange gave me a super sharp point and shoot camera and that was probably like 2005, and I was never was without that camera again. I just took photographs of my friends and I loved it, because I knew everyone so well, that they never questioned why I was taking these photos. The most beautiful thing to me is uninhibited youth. I mean to a point, its almost documentary work….but I feel like that's a weird title to give it, just because so much documentary work is a photographer shooting photographs of something that he or she doesn't know or isn't closely involved with. I've known my the people in my photographs for years and im close with them, intimate with them, I'm doing the same things as them, I'm just making photographs at the same time. Here and there, as I've been getting more photo jobs, I have to think about ways to set things up or re-create certain situations, but at this point I really still enjoy those photographing reality, even though to many my reality is kind of a fantasy.

What has it been like working with the man Ryan McGinley? Has he influenced your aesthetic or nurtured your technical abilities?

Ryan is one of the dearest people in my life and I have learned so much from him and have so much love for him. I wouldn't say that Ryan influenced my aesthetic as much as he has just inspired me to do what I want…not really conform to anything. When Ryan does something, whether it be a show or a commercial job, he really cares about it, he really nurtures it, he really wants to make the best that it can, and I think everyone can appreciate that. It's hard for me to even talk about Ryan in words he means so much to me, his work and his love for people cannot be described in an email ya know?

Besides working with Ryan, which artists, either past or present would you enjoy working with?

Thats a tough one, so many people! My favorite thing ever is seeing other artist's processes and how they think and how they work. If there was one person I could have ever worked for or with though, it would have been Richard Avedon. Although his aesthetic hardly relates to mine, I love the emotion in his photographs, theres so much of you can read from a simple portrait of his against a white seamless. He was kind of insane about making photos and I feel like I'm starting to relate. If I don't take at least a few photos a day, I have so much anxiety it's crazy.

Do you have a favourite person to photograph, or a favourite camera to use?

I love photographing my friends really, I mean, for me at least, you can tell when someone is photographing someone that they have a real connection with. You can feel it in the image, there's a connection. As for one particular person, my friend Meghan Collison. I love her to death because she never stops me from taking her picture and she's just really gorgeous and unique from the inside out and he personality is super intriguing. It's so hard for me to take a photo of someone I don't truly care about. As for cameras, I don't really have a special camera set up, just a few point and shoots and a Leica SLR.

How would you describe your current collection of work to someone who has never witnessed it before? I guess what i'm trying to ask is, how would describe what you're trying to do with your photography in general?

I always find it tough to describe my work to someone that has never seen it, because all in all, it's so personal. It's my collection of memories. It's my documentation of fleeting youth I suppose. I think youth is so important, so delicate and that what I capture in my photographs.

And finally,
What would be typical day in NYC for you?

I usually wake up pretty early, like 9am or something close to that. Make some coffee or tea and check some emails and look around the internet for a bit and try to see what's up with my friends. Basically everyone I hang out with works crazy hours or parties super late so I'm usually on my own till around 4pm when my friends start waking up. I try to work on at least one project a day, lately it's been a new book. I might run some errands and then meet up and go out to eat with some my friends, after that, usually one of our friends is working at a bar where we can go and get some drinks for free and end up hanging out there for a few hours. Since it's been so cold in NYC, I always get stuck hanging out in a bar all night, but during summer we go out to a bar and then go on some serious adventures, whether it be a secret chinatown karaoke bar or a sketchy rooftop…a lot of nights we end up watching the sunrise on this billboard which is one my favorite places on earth, its so ironically romantic because it's this beautiful view of NYC but placed on a dirty roof in chinatown…I'm in love with it! After that everyone kinda disperses and heads home….always the saddest part of the day. Usually I'll get home with a few shot rolls of film in my pocket from the day and night!

Never Eat Your Greens

2011-02-27T17:15:00.004Z

Cool little 'oh's' floating safely
To the shore.
Timber and sawteeth lilting always
on the sound.
Batteries in the car burning quickly
Down to dull.
Rocks in the can find their way
Onto the roof.

Steak sauce and froth on their journey
To his mouth.
Spray paint and insults prop themselves
Upon the wall.
Cool little 'oh's' post him up
Under the bridge.
Viral strain of sweetness that
Sicks back up his milk.

String limbed men in a book
Of noodled thoughts.
Bathtub of creatures that lick
the leaking wounds.
Velour is the pillow in the
Backseat of the car.
Grease sheethed is the hair as
He's waiting to go home.

Soft is the cardboard, is the use
Of that old chair.
Let him call a friend while
He's waiting to go home.
Cool little 'oh's' follow sleds
Right off the hill.
Snow peppers blonde and white knuckles
Grip the ride.

Warm plastic meals tickle sharply
Down the throat.
Up above the shop bending copper
Nodding out.
Buying all the nothing fills the room with
Too much droll.
His beard smoothes over manhood
While his speak discovers thrill.

No cool little 'oh's' chiming fruitful
On the cross.
Papered bedroom walls peeling faces
From the glue.
No cool little 'oh's' for my favourite
One we lost
Just low drawn out growls from those
Who tore him up.

Video Blog: IceAge, Merchandise, Son Skull, Japanese Women

2011-02-07T14:40:00.001Z

The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules

2011-01-26T22:12:00.003Z

2011
Quality Hill Records

Pete Wentz once said that if it weren't for the band The Get Up Kids, then Fall Out Boy would never have even formed. Mark Hoppus went as far as to have Kansas City's finest popular punk export soundtrack the moment of his proposal to his wife. The slew of bands willing to continue this vein of Get Up Kids worship could pack out the fabled Outhouse in their native state three times over.

The Get Up Kids' break up in 2005 heralded a new age for 'emotive' punk-cum-indie rock. Their coveted throne came to be squabbled over by a commotion of young blooded bands; Chicago's Fall Out Boy, the Joshua Cain led Motion City Soundtrack and perhaps even the ever enduring Saves The Day - who have weathered an overabundance of lineup changes - remain close to the front of the pack. Their hiatus proved merely to be a four year stop gap, with the fully reunited 'Kids announcing batches of shows in 2008 and 2009. This year sees the release of 'There Are Rules' - their first studio album in almost seven years.

'There Are Rules' needed to sound like a surefooted boot-stamp crashing the band back down onto the map of rock and roll. It needed to expel all of the most resilient cobwebs and kick up a spray of spit & sawdust into the faces of the contemporaries that The Get Up Kids, however inadvertently, may have spawned themselves. Track one, 'Tithe' rings in with a ballast of distortion and a mutated sample which rather disbelievingly wouldn't sound out of place on a 625 Thrashcore release. Pseudo-powerviolence blip behind us, this opening track snaps into a life of frenetic drumming and colourful riffing. Matt Pryor treats us all to pinch after pinch of his rousing vocals, carouselling between temperate tones and the iconic, desperately strained textures that could be found on 1997's 'Four Minute Mile.'

James Dewess makes himself known on 'Shatter Your Lungs' - tapping down on those keys of sunshine to give this track a rather dated, dare I say it, 80's vibe? Injected with convulsive percussive jibes, the repetitive, annoyingly discotheque-esque palpitations fail to conjure up anything quite like the hooks of their past records. This entire release feels somewhat sparse, lacking the fibers of electric melody that all the Jimmy Eat World fans latched onto in the first place. It feels smoother, more compressed, and ultimately less like a whistle-stop jaunt through the mind of a post-adolescent awkward kid nextdoor. An angle the Get Up Kids have celebrated playing from ever since Jim Suptic learned how to string together a Descendents cover.

'Better Lie' amuses itself on a treadmill of throbbing synth, the enate problem with running on the spot like that is that you're bound to go nowhere. There are peaks to 'There Are Rules,' which prod tentatively at total fruition, yet while an out-stretched palm clambers for such a goal, a pair of dead weights drag behind, limited by repetition and under-impressive hooks. The shrouded vocals and the cross cutting guitar pepperings, once added to the bass-heavy gristle, make the next track 'Keith Case' something that Motion City Soundtrack will have wished they'd written. It would not be fair to say that this release fails to provide anything of substantial worth, however the nagging realisation in the back of many people's minds will be that the four year wasteland of Get Up Kids absenteeism was not really a wasteland at all. The emptiness was farmed and cultivated by an uprising of satellite bands such as the aforementioned Motion City Soundtrack; bands who have gone a long way to blur the line between The Get Up Kids and their chasers. A line which a decade ago was an unsurpassable chasm within the emo world.

The important question that needs to be addressed is whether or not The Get Up Kids made the right choice in altering their palette of indie rock licks and hot sap vocals, bypassing any and all cries of 'no progression' from scene bulbheads - or whether a riotous return to the soundscapes of 'Something To Write Home About' would have been more warmly received. 'There Are Rules' is more hum than rattle, more roll than shake, and unfortunately it may well lead this once championed band to rest on a shelf of nostalgia rather than elevating them to greater heights.

Sacer

2011-01-21T09:34:00.004Z

Dash Snow, was to me, an inspiration of true magnificence. For a great deal of time now I have waxed ecstatic over his life’s work, pouring through scanned Polaroid versions of his intriguing, often sardonic street photography. I am so genuinely immersed in the detailing of his brief yet incandescent life of trauma and visual expression that I intend on having his portrait adorned on my body for all time, paying homage to a memory which has taught me more about the way life can or cannot be lived than perhaps any other one source of artistic stimulus.

Born Dashiel A. Snow, to parents Taya Thurman and Christopher Snow, he lived a course upbringing of private education and boarding schools, a childhood of tacit obedience which afforded him little room to flex the artistic intensions that began to brim over his consciousness. He was, in effect, booted by his mother into an institution which has been described by some to be ‘a last-chance boarding academy that offers objectively defined teenagers an alternative to prison.’ The experience or rather series of experiences Dash encountered at Hidden Lake Academy in Georgia further embellished his dramatic personality and want, nay, longing to be out of the reach of his family’s unblemished pedigree of French aristocracy and clean cut living. He held the decision undertaken by his mother to attempt a reformation of his ways against her even until death. I suppose by default, Dash’s passing broke the chain of resentment, maybe finally he was able to give up that ghost.

He was a photographer, a graffiti artist, a father, a street urchin, a drug user, an installation artist, a muse, ‘Warhol's child’, but overall he was just a really fucked up kid running along train tracks with confusion for company, breaking through the night veils and holding the city rapt with a can of raspberry spray paint. The jump from yobbish graffiti writer to downtown Baudelaire art world obsession was a transition more stumbled upon by Snow, very little of it had to do with premeditation or a blood-thirst to satiate ambition. The thing about Snow’s artwork, the whole crux of this fantasy of hotel room hookers and Jack Daniels, is that the illusion is only an illusion if you see it that way, by that I mean the fantasy was forever a reality for the young blonde haired toxic artist. His Polaroids pressed upon everyone who saw them, a keenness to exact out of life the main entities of sheer illumination, sex, friendship, love, struggle and death characterised all of his forages into self expression and cultural reaction.

Snow was fortunate enough to have the support of Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen, burgeoning downtown artists in their own right – a pair almost equally enamoured by the laissez faire approach to ejaculating on the New York Post and calling it collage. Headline after headline concerning corrupt cops and Saddam Hussein would be awash with seed and glitter. Colen and McGinley confess to being driven by ambition, to having had to work their way out of their backgrounds by peddling the only thing either of them admits to being able to do well, creating art.

Snow put together a crew of graffiti writers, and pooled them all together under the name ‘Irak’ – to ‘rak’ is a term popular within graffiti circles meaning to steal, this seemed somewhat appropriate for an ungoverned clandestine bunch of wild children, accustomed to breaking the law 10, 20 times a day. It was nevertheless an artistic venture, although Dash himself may not have readily admitted that. Instead he saw himself notching up tags on building after building for the purpose of enrolling himself on the page of infamy. His weapon of choice was just a pressure controlled can of noxious fluid instead of a whole host of instruments of sculpture or an SLR camera packed with a roll of colour film – the medium of choice for best friends Colen and McGinley respectively.

Much of Dash’s work corresponds to this notion of ‘banality’ - of resisting emotion and for the larger part, originality. The aesthetic of banal photography relies heavily on irony, on a deep sense of perceptual boredom. Artists associate themselves with the ordinary and vernacular instead of the extraordinary and remarkable. Therein lies the strength of Snow’s snapshots and collage, to find such quality in something so un-stirring is to make it remarkable by very definition.

One of my favourite Snow photos is perhaps one of the most archetypal Dash Snow images in general. It portrays the fringes of society and documents the debauchery and filth of a New York City twilight, whilst a man readily projects his alcohol laced stomach contents across the Manhattan pavement a basketball jersey clad observer appears almost in awe of his mean feat. This is street photography at its most abrasive, pulling no punches in its quest to depict the reality that Snow saw from behind his camera. Whether it’s valued for artistic qualities or whether it’s just interesting as a visual history of Dash Snow’s wanderings, there is no denial that this image holds your attention and no doubt evokes a strong reaction.

Dash Snow, gone but certainly not forgotten. Kept alive by two packs of Marlboro Reds, four big bottles of water a day and music.

Merchandise - Strange Songs (In The Dark)

2011-01-20T16:55:00.002Z

Merchandise are perhaps my favourite band of the moment, I have thrown myself into their soup-mix of frothy driven rhythms and quite frankly I do not care whether I resurface or not. They hail from Florida and play a writhing pastiche of noisy, at times melody-centred, jangling post-punk. Each track from their 'Strange Songs (In The Dark) release manages to present itself as a completely individual string to Merchandise's bow.

They don’t overplay the Joy Division influence like many bands, they offer something fresh and exciting. 'I Locked The Door' salutes you with the dull and blunt sounds of a scuffle between guitar and percussion, leaving it up to the rather sweet vocals to shepherd the entire song into cohesive shape. The last track on Strange Songs (In The Dark, 'In The Dark' is astoundlingly good; equally predisposed with attaching weight to melody as it is with sounding quirky and experimental. In hindsight I should have included this band and this record in my favourite releases of the year post.

You can pick up Merchandise - Strange Songs (In The Dark) from Drugged Conscience. This band features ex-members of THE ALMIGHTY CULT RITUAL, Nazi Dust and even Divisions so if you’re interested to see what those dirty Punks are up to now then grasp hold of Merchandise and worship them for all the gratuitous post-punk-cum-indie-experimentalism they can offer you. Great band.

Records of the year 2010

2011-01-16T17:11:00.035Z

Two weeks into January, after collecting together the many post-it notes adorned with record titles that I have lying around, I have finally birthed a list of what I think were the best releases of last year. This list lends itself generously to Hardcore Punk but within the squall of Youth Attack! bands and Perennial Records representatives lies a pocket of more accessible bands. A lot of these records are full length albums, some are 7"s.

30. Fences - Fences

First full length outing from Chris Mansfield and company. A record preoccupied in a good way by the trials and tribulations of romance and heartquake. Enjoyable, weighted Dallas Green-esque popular folk musings that manage to 'bleed the emotions out one by one.'

29. Dangers - Messy, Isn't it?

This band have been having a lot of fun with genres of varying texture and tone. They have this poetic aura to them, in the same way that contemporary act Touché Amoré do. Dangers are the more chaotic of the two, hammering the odd thrash metal riff into place along side tracks like 'Goliath' which hit you so hard with their urgency that you're forced to sit up and appreciate their bravery to cross genres.

28. Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils

The collective of bands that have pushed the delicately fuzzed out lo-fi beach trend as of late have managed to remain both relatively original and rather unspoilt. Beach Fossils are one of my favourite exactors of this hazy, pop-beat wave of surf-garage-beach-whatever-you-want-to-call-it-rock.

27. No Talk - Leather Discipline

I heard No Talk's 'Invade Iran' release before I heard Leather Discipline and it most definitely whetted my appetite for their full length. They hail from Texas and play a viral strain of percussive heavy, grizzly Hardcore Punk Rock 'n Roll. Fans of Kansas City's No Class will like this band.

26. Vile Gash - Vile Gash

First of the Youth Attack! bands to make the list. Drenched in nihilism and 'devoid of thought' Vile Gash's self titled EP is just about as feral as Hardcore Punk got in 2010. They recorded ten tracks for this release, with each one being a somatic stab of unwashed punk. Only one track peaks above the one minute mark, an observation which is telling in itself, evidence of just how furious and indecent this record is. Vile Gash have a lot to say and are worthy of you as a listener.

25. Brandon Boyd - The Wild Trapeze

Brandon Boyd stands out like a So-Cal funk rock thumb when surrounded by choices such as Vile Gash and No Talk, however I've been listening to his Wild Trapeze record for months as a combatant against the English winter and it's wonderful ability to pollute your soul with dread. To encapsulate, this is a wonderful first solo outing, giving Brandon further credibility as a song writer.

24. Whirl - Distressor

Fans of My Bloody Valentine and drinking alone in the dark should sit up and take note of this band from Northern California. I thought their demo was fantastic, in fact I posted about it earlier on last year, but the Distressor record is twice as confident and ten times as compelling. Their sound is indubitably double edged as empyreal tracks such as 'Sandy' fly in the face of the thundering opening to 'Leave' and the vastness of 'Blue''s middle section. Much more than just worthy of being pigeon-holed as a great contemporary Shoegaze band, they need to be celebrated by more than just the Slowdive kids.

23. Throats - Throats

I'm not going to let the recent break up of Britain's most exciting new band detract anything from the ongoing fanfare surrounding this record. Opening with 'Wake' - one minute and sixteen seconds of unornamented Hardcore and finishing with 'Oaken/Wait' - Throats' self titled record wouldn't halt at any point inbetween for even Jacob Bannon himself. Their last ever show has been announced and believe me, Alex Wealands death rattle will be unmatched, leaving London reeling. The best of Britain.

22. SQRM - Rodeo

'Fuck To Survive' let everybody know what it meant to worship Siege in 2010, but the recently released 'Rodeo' pissed on the church of Drop Dead and sang from it's altar. SQRM are perhaps the most exciting band playing out of Massachusetts right now. The title track audibly thumps it's way along with lead singer Tony delivering a sermon of blatant hatred. SQRM cut everyone else down to size.

21. Raw Nerve - Raw Nerve.

Raw Nerve are one of the hardest working, most sonically strenuous bands out there. Their recently released self titled record on Youth Attack! confirms their coronation as the distorted kings of the scene. This release will flog you with dissonance for even daring to listen to it.

20. Sexdrome - Grown Younger

This band from Denmark impress with a spine of atmospheric Black Metal fattened with brass-tack Punk underpinning. Grown Younger scuffs Hardcore up against Norway's greatest cultural export and delivers something within sight of originality. If Bone Awl are the cause of Black Metal now being Punk popular then look to Sexdrome as the latest incarnation of that same template. Fantastic record.

19. Crazy Spirit - Crazy Spirit

This band take the familiar NYC Ramones blueprint and run it through a threshing machine. The discarded components are left for dead and the bare bones structure is then plied with hallucinogens and clothed in leather. The sound we're left with is a bilious concoction to say the least. Less of this rhetoric, this band are absurd, precisely the reason why I enjoy them. The self titled release is more than worthy of the adoration it has received.

18. White Guilt - White Guilt

The demos were like a virus which spread through my group of friends leaving the same universal combination of fear and praise behind. The debut self titled record brings to mind the idea of Greg Sage ingesting a cornucopia of opiates and then somehow managing to find the physical fortitude to record a punishing Hardcore record. Laughable, I admit, but a confirmation of how good this band are. Another string to New York's bow.

17. Twin Stumps - Seedbed

I wrote about this bands self titled record just before this post and many of those comments can be applied to 'Seedbed.' For a start, this release delivers itself as yet another 'bouquet of barbed wire to the ears' but goes further in general to embellish the presence of Twin Stumps as one of the most unruly mobs playing Punk music out there today. Listen and crumble.

16. Nomos - Notes From The Acheron

'Notes From The Acheron' kicks off with a bellyache of a riff, flailing itself forehead first into a disgusting chain of frenetic Punk gyrations. The drums are beaten to within an inch of puncturing, fretboards are abused to the point of strings snapping and the microphone they used to record this release must now lie dead on the floor, more concave than convex in shape. This full length is an empowering example of Hardcore Punk at it's best. New York City.

15. Bad Banana - Crushfield

Two endearing young women playing delicious lo-fi garage rock. Prettier in form than much of Kimya Dawson's collective works, but not wholly dissimilar. I see Bad Banana and Best Coast as the two most impressive paradigms of the presently celebrated lo-fi beach-beauty pop, and for that they deserve an avalanche of new listeners.

14. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts

A decisive cut of partially refined, almost 'noisy' rock and roll. Track one - 'Year's Not Long' - sent the heads of anyone with special scene Eminence turning so fast in Male Bonding's direction that their Morrissey quiffs lost all structure and their denim shirts popped open yet another button down. This band are worthy of the adulation, Nothing Hurts is a confident record, imbued with casual pluck and resilience. 'Franklin' opens with a rolling guitar chop so exquisite that LA's Local Natives will be infernally jealous that they didn't write it.

13. Mauser - The Summer Tour Tape

I initially picked this up and put it down rather too quickly. After further noisy, raw, scorching reflection I came to terms with my own idiocy. This EP is so unapologetic and harbours conviction alone that could sell narcotics to a nun. It clocks in at just under fifteen minutes, substantial for a ludicrously quick, rough and ready Hardcore Punk band. These guys are a bunch of filthy libertines playing to piss you off.

12. Men's Interest - More War

The lead singer for Boston's Men's Interest sounds like a lucid reincarnation of Negative FX's Jack Kelly. His vocal style strangles each one of the seven tracks from More War as if the percussion and guitar noise are obstacles in his path to reach you. In terms of scope, this record is well-nigh on unimprovable - which isn't even a legitimate word, but 'perfect' does not have the same concrete weight to it. I am willing to forget the rules of proper lexis for this band.

11. The Rival Mob - Hardcore For Hardcore

Styled by many blogs and scene agents as the 'tightest band in Boston right now' - and if that lofty exultation does nothing to excite you then go back to your Backtrack record. 'Hardcore For Hardcore' picks up where Raw Life left off. Nothing has been subtracted from the explicit formula of weight, intensity and power, instead they've doubled the effort and penned six bricks of the heftiest Hardcore this side of Age Of Quarrell.

10. DRY-ROT - Philistine

This LP is a certified breeze block of preposterousness. DRY-ROT sound like a mentally inept Pissed Jeans playing through a damp wall, but this tumult of insanity has managed to congeal together rather organically into one of last year's finest records. Tracks such as 'Maul Test' showcase a forceful ability to write great Punk songs, whereas other efforts like 'Can A Game Kill Time' leave you feeling disturbed as a Neil Young type melody is butchered to within an inch of it's riff by the most inexplicable vocals you'll have heard from last year.

9. Homostupids - Night Deacon

Without doubt my favourite EP of 2010. I adore the way this band ignores almost all conventions to play a caterwaul of addictive, no frills Hardcore. Night Deacon owes as much of it's sound to the first wave of Hardcore bands as it does to the noisier, more inverted bands of the last couple of decades. In essence they sound like they’re having fun with Punk Rock and just generally flinging semen / other viscous bodily fluids at each other. Their sound is a confusing dish-cloth of all of yesterday’s stains folded into the mildew of today’s Punk bacteria. Despite the high risk of infection you don’t want to miss out on this band.

8. The Men - Immaculada

A band of noise merchants that have already received high acclaim for their previous 12" 'We Are The Men' only to widen the groove of appreciation with this latest effort 'Immaculada.' As a record you couldn't realistically call it anything less than impressive. The huge peaks of noise plough headlong into a series of bloody Hardcore fissures, rolling through the seconds with flat-out surefooted Punk. See track two 'Problems/Burning Up' as a blooming example of such Noise Punk / Hardcore kinship.

7. Wavves - King of The Beach

Hated by Psychedelic Horseshit and others, loved by many. This latest record from Nathan Williams has gone a long way to bridge the gap between accessibility and counter culture credibility. 'Post Acid' and 'Super Soaker' are sugary highlights from a record which is blatantly just as concerned with stressing melody as it is with stamping a footprint of plausibility just outside the camp of today's glittery MTV 'stars.' I think this could be one of the most important records of last year. It bent the rules to make itself what it is and it alienated a portion of Wavves' fan base to a large extent. To bring together many conflicting ideas I want to say how much I adore this record. Guilty pleasure it may be, it would be one of the first records I would recommend to someone if they asked me to name some of the most polarizing or enjoyable records from 2010.

6. Slices - Cruising.

Slices are rampant in their progress towards the throne of all kingdoms Hardcore. I believe them to be one of the freshest, most exciting bands to have made a name for themselves over the past few years. Cruising is an obelisk of disobedience, with sheaths of sharp riffing cutting through an overlay of animalistic vocals. Vocals which sound, to understate it, exponentially antagonistic whenever they get the chance to pierce through Slices' mesh of drone and sawdust.

5. No Class - Keine Klasse

I thought it would be impudent of me to rank the No Class demo within this list rather than Keine Klasse, however listening to the demo and then listening to Keine Klasse has it's advantages as the demo offers up a slightly varied flavour than the full length. Less production value politics, more celebration of this record. Without doubt one of the finest releases from last year, Kansas City has produced a band of uncompromising worth and unbridled Hardcore Punk swagger. Vocalist Neil injects an atmosphere of sense amongst senselessness, overlapping the maelstrom of rhythmic Punk with dry-cured, smoked out vocal stylings. Unquestionably brilliant band who deserve every emphatic fan they can churn up.

4. White Boss - White Boss

North of California, sheltered by the Rocky mountains and left to stew in Hardcore's almost forgotten territories lay White Boss, a band which released one of the most refreshing and compelling records of last year. This album challenges many of Hardcore's preconceptions, force feeding the listener vast expanses of instrumental daliance, only to wildly inflame into a torrent of rolling Hardcore Punk. I see White Boss as one of the most forward thinking bands to have made themselves prominent in 2010.

3. Best Coast - Crazy For You

I fantasise about Bethany Cosentino writing songs about me, and I see a faint likeness between her song writing and the late great Kurt Cobain's, especially on tracks such as 'Bratty B' and 'Honey' which could sound like any number of Kurt's slower, more pensive tracks with minimal tweaking. Comparisons aside, I absolutely adore this record. I loved the Art Fag 7" but 'Crazy For You' takes those early diagrams of hairline lo-fi pop and nourishes them into fully fledged servings of beach pop / garage rock at it's present day best. I think Beth has so much potential to break into other realms of musical success, and perhaps to rearrange the priorities of mainstream music appreciation.

2. Total Abuse - Mutt

I wouldn't have been able to cope after the death of Cult Ritual if it wasn't for this band. Mutt is without argument one of the records of the year, it’s so painfully obvious that this album is deserved of a place within the distinguished top 10. It sounds like Cult Ritual in some respects - if Cult Ritual had smoked one too many snowcaps and then laced their mind with a vicious line of powder to bring them back into a realm of frenzied Hardcore - in other ways it sounds like a version of Drunkdriver less lost in parallel dimensions of obscure Noise Punk. This is sheer sonic repulsion at it’s best. I fear for the mental health of each band member. In my opinion, one of the greatest bands in Hardcore.

1. Ceremony - Rohnert Park

To try and concisely categorise this record and to try in earnest to explain it's genius in words would be folly. It would trivialise what I think is one of the most important Punk records of the last 10 years to spend paragraphs detailing the strengths of Rohnert Park. Nevertheless, something has to be written.

Rohnert Park envelopes almost all the facets of Punk which I adore. It has weight of meaning, it performs a set of songs that avoid neat classification whilst spewing forth effusions of unabashed anger and yet it adheres in many ways to those channels of song writing already firmly stamped into existence by the extinct champions of Punk Rock. I will still be listening to this record in 10 years time and I think that is perhaps the greatest compliment I could pay this release.

Honourable mentions:
Merchandise - Strange Songs (In The Dark), Trash Talk - Eyes & Nines, Gun Outfit - Possession Sound, Broken Water - Whet, Son Skull - Birth Scene / Rewind, Arts - Vault of Heaven, Walls - Staring At The Walls, Merchandise - Strange Songs In The Dark, Diet Cokeheads - Nasal.

Twin Stumps

2011-01-03T00:38:00.001Z

This record is a body of bitterness. It juxtaposes your notions of beauty and familiar punk aesthetic with ugliness, demanding you shut the fuck up and take it like the wirey, sinewy human you are. There are no vapid glitter gimmicks to this release, just ‘Grotesque, misanthropic extremism that draws you into its myopic void by force and drags you further and further down.’ It sounds like a bouquet of barbed wire to the ears. Twin Stumps, self titled record.

Records Of The Year - Video Blog

2010-12-17T14:24:00.002Z

Recorded a quick video last night to run through some of my favourite records of the year. I only manage to mention 5 or 6, and this is by no means a definitive list, nevertheless I hope you enjoy it. Might have to crank the volume up significantly!

Interview with No Class

2010-12-15T14:19:00.004Z

This was done through email about a month ago, since then the new record has been released, so excuse a couple of the questions for sounding dated. This band seem to be doing everything right at the minute, and they're certainly one of my highlights of 2010. Thanks go out to Neal and the guys. Enjoy.

Firstly, you mentioned that your first 12" will be coming out on Deranged Records, you guys must be pysched for that to happen, what can you tell us about the recording process and working with Deranged?

When we put the tape out, Deranged got a hold of us and wanted to release the tape as a 7’’. We kinda wanted the tape to be it’s own singular entity, and would rather go forward with new songs/releases. We had a dialogue going and he was very interested in doing some vinyl with us. So Jesse and I threw up a hail mary with bringing a short LP to the table. The tape was done straight up in one day, the LP took actually a lot longer. We recorded all the material we had to date, and then went through and lined up the best fitting and tightest songs which has become the LP. We used a wide range of equipment to record from vintage amps and pedals to newer items. It wasn’t recorded in Pro-tools but Qbase I believe. Much appreciation to Mike/Mark for putting up with our bullshit and our tedious requests.

Secondly, what can you tell us about the new record, can we expect more of the same gut punching hardcore?

Wear band-aids on your nipples to cut down on chafing. It's more raw sounding than the tape.......its louder and more manic at times.

I wanted to ask what your opinion is on modern hardcore? Do you see it as a diluted lesser to it's 70's & 80's ancestors, or do you see strength in the new bands and flagbearers of today?

Sometimes hardcore today is just too hetero for its own good…..scenes /sounds change. But I still think it holds true that for every 10-20 horrid hardcore bands out now, there has to be at least 1 band that does it right. Also, I truly feel mesa boogies & triple rectifier type amps has ruined hardcore guitar.....but that guitar sound is so popular now in modern/popular hardcore, because it's 'heavy'. Fuck.

Can you elaborate on any of the themes and lyrical content behind your 'tape' release?

Wrap a year and a half ( and still counting ) of being on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the simmering hate for a single person ( B-side of tape for those lucky enough to have one), and sprinkle a little annoyance with the seriousness that the world conveys……..throw it in a pot, you got yourself a lyrical stew.

The tape itself sounds like a powderkeg of hardcore swagger, who would you say influenced your sound?

Words like swagger, that’s what. Hahaha. I think if you take Jesse’s love of breaking things, my spazzy anxiety, dillon’s retarded-ness, and Dustin’s disapproval with all most everything….you get a pretty good idea of what influences us.

I'm interested to know what you guys listen to personally, are you all fervent hardcore fans through and through? Could you name us some of your favourite bands, past and present?

This question makes me anxious. Haha. So much to choose from…..I have sat on this question for like 2 days….and every time I try to answer it I get all nervous. No idea why. I love hardcore. And I love a whole lotta other stuff too. I love music.

Finally, are there any plans for after the record release, anything set in stone regarding tours, both on American soil or perhaps overseas?

We totally want to at least do a 5-10 day tour….talking with buddies Cardiac Arrest from STL about possibly doing it together. But I don’t think the universe will be able to contain that much hardcore, goofiness, and strip clubs…..the universe may just implode on the sheer amount of idiocy and meat consumption.

New record out now, available from a few places - try Sorry State Records

Clockcleaner

2010-11-30T15:22:00.002Z

Clockcleaner steep themselves in controversy. They dine with it. They throw their arms around it as if greeting an old friend. Nirvana were apparently 'dogshit' according to lead singer John Sharkey, so they recorded an album whilst Sharkey was suffering from 'bi-lateral amnesia' and named it Nevermind.

Having this pious, Kurt Cobain is holier than thou devotion to Nirvana should, I thought, cause me to react in a spray of venom towards this bullshit merchantry. However, my inner critical opinion has tranquilised any and all war mongering - for Clockcleaner are ridiculously impressive. Listen to their 2007 full length 'Babylon Rules' and let the dark swagger of the opening track 'New In Town' web you in it's physically repulsive sonic air. I don't think I've ever heard a track #1 quite so fucking animalistic. It sounds like a 7 minute stalk through a trip you'd experience after smoking one of Buzz Osbourne's greying ringlets.

The rest of this record sounds like it could have come about after the splicing of a thousand or more influences went terribly wrong, but what I feel this soup-pot of noise rock boils down to is an intense love for Melvins interbreeding with a sexual preoccupation towards Pixies, all further hybridized until each member believes he or she is a functioning member of The Jesus Lizard.

I see contemporaries in Pissed Jeans, another viscerally bent out of shape punk troupe that has left the rule book at the front door to parade nakedly at the party. Of the records I've heard up to now; 'The Hassler', 'Nevermind' and 'Babylon Rules', I'd have to push 'Babylon Rules' as my opus of choice. It is unrelenting, cocky as all hell and quite frankly nauseating to the point where you need to listen to some Minutemen just to calm yourself down.

I thoroughly recommend this band. They've got just about enough old school in them for the 'punker than thee' council to perhaps enjoy them, and the right measure of 21st century clamour to be topical.

Babylon Rules (mediafire)
Nevermind (mediafire)

The World According To VICE

2010-11-28T16:43:00.003Z

Allow your eyes to trace their way through any one copy of Vice magazine. Half of your brain will start to cloud over as articles concerning counter culture lifestyles and drug trafficking pockmark your psyche, leaving you a demoralised wreck, murmuring "is this really how things are?" whilst drooling an unnoticed goo onto your fervently tapping foot. Meanwhile, the other half of your mind tank has exploded into a vibrant nebula of sexual enlightenment and spiritual meaning. Think Alexander Shulgin on dropping his first tab of acid.

Since it's inception way back in 1994, Vice has steered itself through a sea of 90's silt in buoyant fashion. The first ten years of the new millennium has seen them propping up independent art and general cultural deviancy with the same unwavering happy-go-fuck-yourself resolution that made their publication great in the first place. This latest book, 'The World According To Vice' is in essence, a pastiche of celebrated British incongruity from the years gone by. If Vice set out each month with a strict mission objective, they would not be the tower of senseless sensibility that they are now. This book's exquisiteness owes everything to the way that indulgent irony and cultural pervasiveness have been allowed to partner each other organically - delivering more than enough socio-political weight to perhaps beckon a great awakening in the minds of all you finger paintin', tory - votin' nerf herders out there. All the while each delicately written article or chiseled into place, ham fisted front line report serves up enough satire and visual humour to laugh that beer gut into an eight-pack.

'The World According To Vice' is a whole notch of fun. Learning about a football hooligan from Southampton having an eye knocked out by one good crack to the skull and finally finding clarity over which sex deals the greatest blowjob are interesting enough, but this book noodles away at your inner apathy in ways you can't imagine. Pretty soon after reading you'll be protesting over tuition fees, smoking 'snowcaps' and wearing a Das Oath shirt. That might however, be a little hasty, at the very least you'll sympathise with the dirty student oiks, come to realise that drugs 'aren't all that bad' and perhaps flirt with the idea of listening to Negative Approach.

Another great value I see in this book, is the way in which it never fails to remind me just how close we all are to reverting back to flinging our own shit at each other and scrapping on the floor for berries and nuts. Sure, we've not really come that far along anyway, instead of heaving excrement at each other, we glass each other to within an inch of looking like Jared Leto's character from Fight Club. And instead of warring for morsels of sustenance like rabid mongrels still reeling from the evolutionary hangover of once being amphibian, we fight, as Vice puts it, 'to claim the rights to finger the slapper around the back of the butchers.' An apt description of bleeding Britain, awash in a sea of our own bodily fluids and nervous dispositions.

If you'd allow me to be pensive for a moment, I'm keen to impress on you just how magnificent a document this book is. In a world of all things instantaneous; easy drugs, dirty urban luminescence and cheapened fame - Vice are here to tuck your shirt into your trousers, do up your collar button and kick you out the door. You'll have to wipe the snot from your own nose and make up your own mind on a few things, but at least you'll be halfway to forming your own understanding. The care and pride that has gone into creating this book is awe inspiring. Thousands of man hours, artistic illustration, enthused reporting and all sorts of literary & photographic sleight of hand have congealed together to produce this tablet, this bedrock of thinking. History is written by those who were there, and this release announces that Vice are very much here in 2010.

You can purchase a copy from the UK Vice Store

Poems for my Father

2010-11-27T00:55:00.008Z

Forty Years

When you freeze over,
You will be pristine
and glacial.
A slope of marble purity.
A cake of white frost.

You will be chops
and slivers,
Of winsome snow floes.
The collective applauding
Your regal death throes.

Saltless from the tap
And safe by the broil.
Waxing ecstatic
At the thought of
No colour.

Crisper than iced rose-skin,
But fractured the same.
Oil for bile and no
Blood in your veins.

When that solid state
Becomes my own form
And nature,
I'll taste like miasma,
Like effluviant splatter.

I quake at the thought
Of a future sap-self.
I will be pockets
In a soup pot
Of melting ill health.

Stretched like Vitruvius
'Cross a pan of dense humming,
Mouth wide open
At the thought of more colour.

Rest your silky head
On silk, down and grey hue,
And watch me cross the river
On this tough wooden sinew

Covered in pits
And pocks on my face
(All easily attained)
I'll eat whole the bud
Of the life I have gained.

Dash Snow Complex

I am a spew of muddied water,
Luke-warm from your mouth.
Like vicious smokey inhalate,
Nipping at your health.

I enjoy the slobbery,
Of picking up each leg.
I slept a sleep in,
Hollow logs,
As mould bejewelled my head.

Thoughts as foul as cooking gas,
As bleach, as lice, as me,
Ravish my brain and,
Stew me up.
So swallow me in greed.

One day i’ll plant my foot to earth,
And let safety vine my toes,
‘Til then I am the toxic son of,
Mind, of body,
And soul.

Clipped. Or Love's Ruminating Eye

She loves it in the summer time,
When the smoke would last forever.

Those times when the dull and jaded eyes,
Of a normal man’s intent,
Would usurp to form her focal point,
And minus me from them.

She choked upon her princess rule,
We blamed my own collapse.

She shared a kiss with Artisans,
And flew with luminescence,
Then bit my hands to bring about,
My bloodless,
Loveless,
Present.

My Swan Neck.

My swan neck arcs for the other one,
Hunkered down with beaten brow,
As a tumult of grey tasting clouds,
Shower down,
The vibrating matter,
Which I can’t evade.
And an end of filth reign,
Blunts precipitate.

So there stands I,
Washed through with decay,
A little bitch whelp,
With no limbs left to stave.

Lilted crooked organs,
Condensed with me on my cross,
My manhood placated,
And stripped of all cloth.

My swan neck bends towards the other one,
Unstitching seams, mourning dreams,
A triplicated wealth of means,
Follows me.

So here Lies I,
Cradled by the news,
That the best way out,
Was only ever through

Night Growth

I try to break each day,
Against my back,
As a latch snaps shut,
On my mindful tact.

Each morning is romance,
And long thought out pleas,
Each dusk is like daybreak,
Enveloping me.

My words are a drool,
Of self indulged nothing,
They fall under a canopy,
Of my own weightless truth.

I feel quite as free,
As doves tied to Earth,
So I’m sewing my eyes shut,
For our collective rebirth

'Yo Born Against, you better be extremely fucking cautious about who you talk shit about'

2010-11-03T17:42:00.003Z

'Yo Born Against, you better be extremely fucking cautious about who you talk shit about' - voicemail excert from the track 'Born Against Are Fucking Dead'

Sam McPheeters once of 'punk' band Born Against, has done just about as much for Hardcore as Richard Dawkins has done for the confused, hopefully agnostic non believers of the world. Except Sam's forceful imprint on punk culture birthed a following who's pregnant minds of violence waxed ecstatic over Born Against's confrontational, take no prisoners, cut all ties approach to carving a path through the scene.

My favourite Born Against record is probably 'Battle Hymns of The Race War' - despite it's older brother 'Nine Patriotic Hymns For Children' being the standard against which many future Hardcore records have been measured. Each track is a railroad to concussion, as unabashed leftist pursuits manage to deliver themselves both brutally and thoughtfully at the same time. Oxymoronic no?

Perhaps Born Against's greatest gift to the world was the confidence to collide unapologetic idealism with dynamic, ahead of it's time hardcore - without over simplifying age old philosophies for the masses to swallow like snack-sized kid's treats. When you listen to Born Against, you're listening to a band that could quite easily be misconstrued as a group of guys who simply do not give a shit, yet nothing could be further from the truth. They poked fun and aggravated a whole host of bands and scene luminaries, however behind the shroud of impish humour, an intelligent hub of ideology wrote songs in a fervour.

Download Battle Hymns of The Race War

An interview with Ross Farrar of Ceremony

2010-10-18T20:16:00.003+01:00

Last Thursday I had the privilege of sitting down with Ross Farrar, a photographer, writer and poet perhaps best known to most as the frontman for North Californian Punk band Ceremony. A group who in my opinion are the absolute leading light in Hardcore today.

We spoke predominantly about Ross' photography. Being an amateur myself I was eager to know the ins and outs of his approach to taking photos as well as to learn about what drives him to express himself through such a wide range of mediums. I loved every second of it, Ross is a great guy. Needless to say Ceremony had played a blinding set before we sat down. It was great to finally hear tracks from Rohnert Park after months of pissing off just about everyone around me by playing it constantly at a less than friendly volume.

Anyway, we shot this interview on video camera, which I'll try to upload soon. The following is a complete transcription of the interview. Enjoy.

The first question I wanted to ask,
Was Photography instilled in your mind from an early age?

Yeah, my dad kind of got me into it, he was going to The Brookes in Santa Barbara, It's like a commercial Photography school now, it used to be different, it was I guess involved with the arts at first and he went there in the early 70's and was really into photography. He is still kind of involved with it a little bit but not as much, and then when I got into high school I was taking a photography program so he gave me all his equipment. He gave me his 35 millimetres, he gave me a 4 x 5 camera, a rolleiflex - 125mm rolleiflex. He kinda taught me what to do, I was like 'OK, I kinda like it', I was getting into it and then I left it for a long time, maybe three years and then I started taking a class in a junior College and I was like, ' Well, I actually really like this.' My whole life i've kind of fell into stuff that my dad was into, It was kind of weird, I guess you can say it was instilled in me somehow. Everything that my dad was doing, I kind of fell into at the time - right around the same time he got into Photography when he was a kid, I started getting into it.

The same age he did, the same age you did?

Yeah, the same age, and, I don't know.. I've just been doing it ever since, because I'm always on tour, always on the road and there's always interesting things to take pictures of, we're involved with all these great countries, cities, people and everything so there's always a very wide variety of subject material that you can take pictures of. So I've kind of been doing that, I don't take it as seriously as I used to. I went to school because I wanted to take pictures for a living, but then I realised, well, I don't know if I want to make this my living, I don't know if I want to make this as a job, I'd rather maybe keep it as a hobby.

You shot the Trash Talk - 'Eyes & Nines' back cover, how was that?

Yeah, they asked me to take their picture, because I'm really good friends with those guys, they live close to me. We're always hanging out and shit so they were like 'Yeah we're gonna be in the city so can you take the picture for the back cover?' I was like, yeah, sure. I did that, and a few other random things, there's a couple of other people who have asked me to do things for publications. It's pretty cool, I've been lucky thus far with that.

Did you follow these opportunities through with various publications?

It's cool, I mean I lived in San Francisco for a long time and there's a pretty big photography scene there, and there's the culture, the arts. Of course San Francisco is very involved with all sorts of stuff. When I moved there I met a bunch of people and I was lucky to meet certain people. I knew a guy and he published a bunch of stuff for Upper Playground. Stuff like the International Toy Camera thing, I was taking pictures with Holga just randomly and I knew the lady and she was like 'Oh give me some pictures, we can publish some stuff.' It's been pretty cool, thus far.

When you go out to shoot, and you're motivated to shoot, is it an artistic motivation or is it a motivation to document friends, family, environment? Is it art or is it documentation, where do you see the line?

Well, I guess there is a time and a place for everything, sometimes I go out on hunts where I try to find things that are pretty or captivating that I want to take pictures of and at other times I'll just be with my friends, you know, taking pictures of whatever we're doing. Ever since I started taking pictures I was told by my dad or the teacher, whoever, to take pictures of what you're doing at the time - take pictures of what you know. If you're skating, take pictures of that, if you're going to Hardcore shows take pictures of that, if you're smoking crack.. take pictures of that! Take pictures of whatever you're doing because there's going to be a niche somewhere, there's going to be some place where people are going to want to see that you know? There's going to be some kind of window somewhere, where people are going to be like 'Okay, thats interesting, I want to see that.' It doesn't really matter what it is, there's people who take pictures of rolls and cheese and food, because there is an interest in that. You could just be like 'Oh I'm going to take pictures of couches for a month' - and you could do a couch series or something, so there's all different kinds of shit you can do but I would say that the most important thing you can do is just take pictures of what you're doing at the time because you're going to get the most interesting pictures, because you're interested in that.

Do you see the work that you've done so far being intrinsic to your locality, as in Rohnert Park, North California? Or do you think your work would be just as strong somewhere else, say New York or wherever..?

I think it's probably more intrinsic to me, I grew up in Rohnert Park and I've taken pictures of all my friends and family and the culture, the scene. Whatever is happening around me, I've taken pictures of that. I think it's important to me, I mean now that I'm in Ceremony everything I do is more public and now that it is public it's going to somehow reach out to people in a certain way, people are going to get interested in it, like you, you got interested in the pictures that I've taken so i've been blessed that way. There's people randomly all over the world, I'll meet people in Japan who will be like 'Oh I like what you've done.' It's really because of Ceremony, it is because of who you know and what you're doing. It's hard to make a name for yourself unless you're involved with something certain and something concrete, like a band. It helps, lets just say that. It's really hard to be an art student, or a kid just trying to make it in the art scene. When I moved to San Francisco I was getting involved with Ceremony and I was like oh I'm going to be on tour all over the world, I've got to start taking pictures, thats what I like to do and it worked out, I was really blessed that way. I do feel like it's important to me, to take the pictures that I take, because I'm cataloging all the things that I've seen. I was in Milan, in Italy the other day and I was taking picures of Catholic Priests, walking out of the Chapel, I just happened to be there, but it's really hard to get pictures like that because they don't want you to take pictures of you, they hate it - the whole time he was like 'No, no, don't' as I tried to get a portrait. If you're able to travel and be in that position then you might as well take advantage of it.

I would like to do a huge, huge project on Rohnert Park, thats what I want to do because thats where I'm from and I know a lot of people, that would be cool.

Final question, I wanted to know, with your photography, your writing, poetry and short stories .. and then the band - do you see them all as standalone projects or is there a big interweave between the whole thing?

It's a little bit interweaved, but it's hard to balance everything at once. If I get involved with a photography project then I'll find I want to do that, but at the same time I'm trying to write all the time too, so it's really hard to find a balance between everything. I would say that the photography has been pushed aside more so lately because what I'm trying to do with my life in general is write. Thats what I want to do, I want to write things for people and I want people to be able to connect and feel things, I feel like it's a little harder with Photography. It's harder for me because I don't want to make it my full time job, I do it as a hobby, but writing, I do it everyday - I do it all the time, but writing poetry and then writing short stories and maybe something longer, if I'm involved with that at the time then thats what I want to do.

I'll wake up in the morning and some days I'll just be like 'Fuck?!' - I want to go outside and walk around, I want to go to San Francisco and take pictures or skate around and take pictures or whatever. Then there will be days where I just want to be in the house, you know? Not talk to anyone, just write stuff. I think it kind of depends on your emotional level at the time, because if you're out doing street Photography you're going to be out in the public, you're going to be interacting with people, it's a little more social, I mean, you can be voyeuristic about it obviously. Writing is a very very solitary thing. You can go and write around people but it's not going to be the same, you'll feel like you have to go alone somewhere and sit in your room or some other space where you can write. Theyare two very different things, Photography you're out in the world but when you're writing it's solitary art, whether you're in your house or whether you're in a cafe in the corner. Wherever you're writing you're going to need to be alone. Your girlfriend can't be like *raises voice* 'OH HOW WAS YOUR DAY?', when you're trying to write something. It's more of an introverted thing.

Thanks to Anthony of Slowmotion Promotions and my brother Lewis for helping out.

Alexis Gross - Drop Some Acid

2010-10-08T13:26:00.008+01:00

Alexis Gross confesses that she feels almost too old for her bones, as if by some cosmic imbalance she has somehow been born in the wrong era. Her life so far has been a chaotic disquietude of moments every right wing, flower sniffing, Tory voter would much rather expunge from their conscious drift altogether, let alone document it on colour film for the world to peek at through finger obscured eyesight.

She was born some 21 years ago, raised in Westhampton Beach, a speck of a village located in Suffolk County, New York. A village which had its agricultural consuetude levelled to make way for a rainbow of summer homes and the hotel industry. This dramatic shift in disposition could almost be seen as a tidemark of this town’s suicide, nevertheless Gross found herself growing up with two parents ‘still feeling the affects of an acid trip and a sister that really needed to drop some’ – a combination of what sounds like free spiritedness and brusque sorority.

After several years of regularly exposing her camera to her imbibed underworld of choice; made up of the resentfully beautiful yet fucked up types commonplace when it came to Dash Snow’s Polaroids or Ryan McGinley’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’ series, Alexis made the move to Toronto to further her work. She now resides in Brooklyn, a full two years on from her stint north of the border, where she continues to document the writhing scene of motorcycle oiks and innocuous long haired beer-swillers, as well as taking a closer look at skateboard culture and the associated party overload induced malaise.

Alexis grew up around skateboarders and subsequently her photos reflect a very real way of life - a way of life that she herself has lived by both behind the lens as well as dancing in front of it. Alexis Gross triggers a shockwave of fervour in her subjects, capturing the ardent passion to chase exhilaration that exudes so glaringly from the people around her. She takes photos of life’s ongoing party, documenting her local group of skateboarding friends, a scene almost closed off to any outsiders because of its tribal nature. The prints showcased on her website are tremendously gritty, they strike the senses with an assault of abrasion. A lot of them look as if they have been printed, carried around in a bag for a week, left on a coffee table to collect the stale air of blue smoke and dust for a further few days and then finally scanned in and posted to her site.

I look at Alexis’ work and see striking similarities between her, Laura Lynn Petrick, Nina Hartmann and Ross Farrar. Not only her physical preset to taking photos, and by that I mean shooting with low-grade film, but also kinship by way of the people she is so keen on documenting. Many, if not all of my photographers of choice have an eye for shooting their friends or the contemporaries around them. Quite often these friends are representations of a sub-culture, a counter scene to the capitalist money crunching economy mechanics, a tumult of people more concerned with art, socialising, representation, human nature and enjoyment than anything Ronald Reagan had to say.

There is a rather intriguing collection of photos on her website grouped together under the word ‘FUCKS’, which depicts a series of men and women in all manner of settings, from laying in bed semi nude to cracking open a bottle of beer, strumming on stage or inspecting a fresh bodily injury. The young Gross is as unapologetic as they come in terms of talking about her portfolio of work and in a recent interview with Foam Magazine she happily answered the interviewer’s inquiry about her collection of ‘FUCKS’, stating that ‘“The fuck section is about dudes I've f**ked, my friends who are f**king each other and dudes who are just f**ked!” Clearly Alexis’ intention of honesty knows no bounds, an observation that attracts me to her work in a very strong way.

Gross is progressing further and further along the line of photography infamy. Her fabled shots of situational occurrences have so far led her to a stream of job prospects. Only recently has she successfully completed a printed photozine of her photos, working with Dan Pelissier from Young Healers, further to that she has successfully shot an ad for Glamour Kills which went on to be featured in Nylon Magazine and perhaps most impressively she has taken on a position as contributing photographer for skate magazine Color.

Alexis Gross’ plethora of photographic documentation is more like a recounting of activities in photo form, as if Gross herself is the treasurer and we as viewers are lucky enough to be given a ‘through the keyhole’ glance at life on the other side. I’m sure the obsession with Gross will not taper off anytime soon.

Sump - Taken Dead

2010-10-04T21:03:00.002+01:00

This is currently pinning my bollocks to the floor and giving me a good lesson in how to create the most satisfactory Black Punk imaginable. These guys are from Leeds, I found them through my good friend Thom who is more than clued up on that entire scene. Don't think of this however as ill deserved bias towards fellow Yorkshiremen, Sump are well worth your time if you're willing to dip a toe into what sounds like a pool of noxious exhalations from once living matter. Their sound - specifically their guitar work - reminds me at times of Saccharine Trust, albeit if Saccharine Trust literally did not give a shit and had distorted themselves out of all known dimensions to a place where up became down and ugly became beautiful.

Head on over to The Funeral Stench to download this death rattle.

Brutality Will Prevail - Root of All Evil

2010-09-29T18:14:00.003+01:00

Release Date: October 4th
Purchase: Holy Roar Records

South Wales breeds hardcore. I no longer have to imagine the Welsh punk rock-rooted counter culture scene as a massive glittery concussion of post- hardcore contraventions such as The Blackout or Kids In Glass Houses. When I think of Cardiff City, I don’t think of the Bay or the Millennium Stadium, I think of Crossbreaker, I think of Ironclad. The combined efforts of fellow Welsh bruisers Harbour, Wiretap, and the newly formed Wardogs have incontestably expunged any passing notion of Cardiff being unable to hold it's own against the raging south of England or the coal fired brutishness of the North.

Brutality Will Prevail are known, to some, as the cohesive centre of rigidity within that scene. If not fully acknowledged as 'CCHC's' lynchpin of hardcore, then at least as a major supporting pillar - surely the endless touring, the unswayable live performances and steadfast conviction prime them as deserved candidates for such a title?

Their previous release 'Forgotten Soul' set the agenda as the group's beat down tendencies - apparent from earlier efforts - somewhat transmutated into an uglier, more carnal sound, with layers of Crowbar-esque density stitched into the fold alongside the band's explicit intention not to turn their backs on hardcore. Fast forward to 2010, fresh from signing to Holy Roar Records and after a recalibration of the line-up, Brutality Will Prevail entered the studio to record their first full length record 'Root of All Evil.' A few weeks ago they posted a two minute promo video on 'rootofallevil.co.uk' - a video that looked like a clandestine meeting of a Sunn O))) brotherhood, yet it bled with mystery and blackened ideas, further stoking widespread interest in Brutality Will Prevail's new seemingly occult direction.

The record first broaches the eardrums with 'Trapped Doors Moving Walls', a Machiavellian opener of sorts, carrying the flag into battle with a minutes worth of rolling guitar subtlety before a dramatic howl of 'Look into my eyes!' chain links with a down tuned bass, puncturing the seams of all that came before it. Second track, 'Illusions' is an impressive foray into the art of the instrumental. A plummeting drum rhythm drags with it the sound of a murmuring bass, until with time, two persistently flaring guitars cross streams - swan necking into a tower of groove and an echoed, harrowing din.

‘Root of All Evil’ anchors the band’s instruments to a cathartic sound of gravel-pit sludge, yet one of their virtues is how capable they are of retaining a hardcore punk edge. The bass is tuned six feet under, the drumming is consistent - either cripplingly intense or shadowed & well placed - and the guitars are there to embellish the aural anticipation instead of dazzling with all sorts of unnecessary fretboard histrionics. Tracks such as ‘Life’ and ‘Early Grave’ sound like flash floods of bad omens, spilling a gut of Noothgrush style riffing as vocalist Ajay reigns it all in with a noose of His Hero Is Gone style hardcore vocals.

Track seven ‘Rot Away’ pitches a curveball I don’t think anyone will have seen coming. Cloistered between ‘Reprisal’ and ‘Secrets of The Truth’, two tracks of chasmic depth that sound like Torche without the amphetamine spiral of flamboyancy and guitar stagecraft, ‘Rot Away’ ushers in an aura of delicacy in a way thats not to be found anywhere else on this record. Many will listen to it’s acoustic meandering and deem it an out of step attempt at meaningfulness, despite eventual subterranean rumblings fleshing out the soundscape around three quarters of the way through. This track will no doubt be a talking point, a grey area of sorts for a lot of listeners.

All angles taken into consideration, this is a ruggedly built record of sludgy hardcore hooks and lumbering crush, as swampy and viscous at times as it is egg shell thin at others. The hugely impressive sound of a less riff focused Kylesa – had they grown up worshipping Straight Ahead and not Melvins – is powerful enough in itself. I think the path is still there for Brutality Will Prevail to tread, with more to be experimented with and much more for us as listeners to expect. In short, CCHC has a lot to shout about this year.

Bastions - Island Living EP

2010-09-26T17:24:00.002+01:00

The Isle of Anglesey hides a dark secret in amongst it's torrent of natural history and arable lands. A dark, sonic secret that renders you incapable of doing anything other than beating your chest red as the fragility of everything around you suddenly becomes all the more noticeable. The sound that Bastions produce conjures up all sorts of well-oiled, cognitive, mechanical connotations - yet there is a distinctly unfettered fleshiness to everything they do. Almost as if some great bionic entity found it's passion for hardcore, and in particular Converge, then took it upon itself to write music intended to level mankind.

This latest opus 'Island Living' is the band's fourth installment of tectonic hardcore. It opens with the title track, an instantly rewarding mesh of acid and squall, as a shuddering force of bass, which I can only assume has been tuned down to the ground, constructs a framework for Jamie Burne's cauterizing vocals to attach to. Bastions' compound of hardcore liveliness and brazen metallic undertones kicks and screams with all the might you can possibly infer from such a description - meld together if you can, a bastardised portrait of Throats covering early American Nightmare, add a little gravel and you wont be far off the mark. Each track is well thought out, with keen eyes covering the areas that need the attention.

Second track 'Soar' staggers on relentless. It progresses with a partnership of consistently rapid drumming and a burning vocal tirade, a continued war of attrition that fells you as a listener, leaving you in submission at this audacious slab of metallic hardcore weightiness. You can hear stabs of Hope Conspiracy peppered throughout this release, the vocals in particular ring true to that comparison. The virulence of Island Living's closer, 'The Great Unwashed, is perhaps not as immediate as one might predict. It takes almost a minute for the slow burning drum whispers and guitar nuance to work themselves up into a fury, only to dip into a trough of distant vocals and timely, effective instrumental clatterings before lumbering eerily to a finale like a dead man searching for his grave.

Bastions work with vigour to achieve this sound, and I believe they'll continue to grow multi-dimensionally. Their inclusion of breakdowns could have backfired had they been slapdash attempts at merely bolstering their attack, yet the delivery is pin point, a fact which if anything, leans them more towards metal than hardcore, however enough abrasion and rough sided treatment plants them firmly within the same league as other contemporary British acts such as Throats or Brutality Will Prevail, lines of symmetry could even be drawn with Greece's Ruined Families. Needless to say this is a band doing great things, who deserve more attention.

Check out their Myspace or Last.fm

Shane

2010-09-16T17:30:00.000+01:00

Family album

2010-09-14T19:31:00.004+01:00

Dana Lauren Goldstein - While You Were Sleeping

2010-09-07T14:18:00.006+01:00

Dana Goldstein has been one of my favourite photographers for quite a while, at such a tender age she's already received a good deal of exposure not only through her own website and blog but through exhibitions most notably at the Pulse Art Fair by way of the Saatchi gallery. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky yet spent a large proportion of her youth travelling around and living in different areas. Dana currently lives in downtown Manhattan, after completing her BFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007. During the intermission between achieving her degree and the present date Dana has worked alongside fashion photographer Kenneth Cappello, assisting him for a year, learning all the while.

I feel like theres such a cool vibe buzzing around New York City at the moment, definitely in terms of photographic artistic output and I see Dana as being a mainstay within that buzz for years to come. Speaking louder than my words are the those of the magazines that Dana has had work published with. Dazed Digital have put out some of her work online, Dazed & Confused have printed her photos within recent years, she's had a great deal of interest and works published by Hamburger Eyes, QVest, Intersection, i-D magazine, even Vice have handed Dana double page spread after double page spread - her feature 'Jailbait-core' graced the pages of Vice's photo issue - an inclusion which initially stoked my interest in her. An interesting side note, it was only a few weeks ago that Nan Goldin was purported to have seen Goldstein's latest Vice cover shot, only to remark that the covers 'were getting better' - an overwhelmed Goldstein posted the conversation on her blog. This set me to thinking, to what degree is Dana Goldstein an extension of Nan Goldin for this decade's not so suited and booted, fun loving downtown Baudelaire's? I can't really come to a just conclusion without either over-vaulting Goldstein, who at such a young age would probably agree herself that she's not taken her best photos yet, to a height that she's not quite reached yet, or trivialising Goldin's staggering catalogue of work which continues to impress even today.

I think, perhaps, that intersections in their work are no doubt going to surface when fancy takes it, the smoke and mirrors of Goldin's anti-beauty photos have been impressed firmly into the static-electric thought process that sparks a great deal of Dana's work. I see nuances of Terry Richardson's encouragement sporadically appearing on every roll of film Dana shoots. Look over the 'commercial' work of Dana's and you'll see a fair few shots of subjects given the freedom to express themselves as blatantly as possible against a no mercy white backboard. Terry Richardson often opts for this candid approach to shooting commercial photos, a formula which he's done well by, it gives him an opportunity to present the subject in all manner of ways without any interference or misinterpretation.

Nearly all of Golstein's work interests me, in particular I want to select a series of photos she took documenting the Punk kids around her. Some are her friends, some are transient teenagers making their way through town, staying, leaving, causing trouble and pissing off the cops. The Jailbait-Core pictures she took for Vice magazine instilled a great deal of excitement in me, I had never seen such a successful combination of punks flying their colours in front of the camera whilst communicating a blend of amiability and close partnership with the photographer. Nick Knight's Skins series took a very observational, third hand look at the Punk pathos and as renowned as that series is, I can't help but yearn for a closer, inner-bubble perspective when flicking through those shots. Goldstein came from within the family when taking these photos, giving her an almost warranted viewpoint from inside the chaos whereas other photographers have merely caught flashes of leather and glimpses of stud through the keyhole.

One such picture, of a sleeveless shirted punk kid of the day, grabbed me outright. I love the sheer laid back nature to this image, I love how seemingly at ease the subject is - smoking his cigarette as a Suicidal Tendencies cap reaches for attention from somewhere above two searching bright eyes. For me, I see this and think how cool that kid must have felt having his photo taken as if he had fronted The Germs or something, I'm almost fully sure 'Man is the Bastard' was pumping through his neurons as Dana snapped away at him. There must be a relationship here, however spoken or unspoken, between the photographer and the subject, this kid is so relaxed in front of the lens as if this was taken midway through a casual meet-up in the park between friends. Looking at the rest of that series it's apparent that a lot of the shots were taken inside, within familiar surroundings. I guess that's an intrinsic factor in achieving the state of comfortability that Dana searches for. The documentary aesthetic to many of her shots almost rely on a known environment of familiarity, Dana draws out whatever she wants from the scene shes taking pictures in, It takes a confident and capable photographer to find the tipping point between overly worked portrait photography and lazy, often discredited snapshot photography.

I want to look at more of Goldstein's portraiture, this is the work which appeals to me most. The photos she takes often steer clear of any theatrics, instead Dana is more comfortable capturing the faces of those around her as they sleep, smoke, daydream, or simply gaze down the lens of the camera. Each photo is like a snapshot release of affection towards whoever she is shooting. Nothing is to detract from the visage of those she wants to capture on film, at the end of the day you're left with an unbridled impression of who these people are without any defilement or poisoning of the well. I'm a huge fan of the Pumpkin Head series she did, whereby she and her friends created a succession of oversized pumpkin heads from Papier-mâché and went to shoot in a graveyard. The results were fantastic, such strength was to be found in pinning this amalgamation of searing orange pumpkin heads and flame against a pitch black backdrop of nothing. I guess another idea she took into consideration was the fact that the pumpkin heads serve to promote the nudity as unidentifiable, however that clearly went out the window when all of her subjects started to take their masks off while Dana continued shooting.

I'm really excited to see what Dana Lauren Goldstein is going to do next, photographers of the same ilk don't quite hold the torch as high as Dana does, at least for me - with exceptions being made for Nina Hartmann, Jimmy Limit, Nicole Lesser, Laura-Lynn Petrick and a few others. I also see a relative kinship between some of the photos Goldstein takes and the ones Hartmann takes, each women takes a sensitive, unique look at her friends and loved ones in ways that other photographers would be unable to do so given the situations. Many of the photographers I'm looking at are still learning themselves I'm sure they'll admit, which is precisely what attracts me to their work. There is a lot of appreciation to be found in trial and error, there's always beauty in the mistake or the error.

Nina Hartmann - Damned For All Time

2010-09-06T22:33:00.009+01:00

Nina Hartmann is a talented young photographer from Chicago, Illinois, irrepressibly taking photos of the seething punk underground she calls her home. She is still a student, working hard towards her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Nina's persona is as much shrouded in a thick layer of the underground as many of the hardcore bands she associates with and photographs. To me her work takes shape as half a projection of her own inner workings and cognitive thought process and half a reaction to her cultural surroundings. Those surroundings offer Nina a staggering ammount of opportunities, she often photographs her friends and loved ones in usually unremarkable situations - exacting a love for banal photography and a keen eye for the vernacular. Nina's music taste is more often than not fiercely reflected in her images, at her core she is a self confessed punk rocker. She's also a big fan of shoegaze, in particular British dream pop band 'Slowdive' - all I've been listening to for the past few days is their 'Souvlaki' record, released in 1993. Pick that up if and when you can.

Hartmann is part of 'Young Healers', a publishing venture very much about displaying young photographer's work through printed zines, they have been know to publish monthly in accordance with gallery launches for each corresponding issue. Daniel Pellisier, founder of Young Healers impressed the idea that DIY aesthetics and printed zines are an important artistic medium, which should serve to provide support for young artists and their respective 'themes and ideals'. Learn more about Young Healers here.

Nina has shot photos that have gone on to grace the covers of various record sleeves, including Divorce Money's 7". She lays claim to what she can only describe as an 'undying restlessness' which prompts her to travel around, taking photographs and meeting a whole catalogue of weird and wonderful people. She sees documentation as the main emphasis of her photography, stating that she is unable to see herself as taking photos in any other capacity, which in effect is one of the main considerations as to why I value her work so much. The crux of her work for me at least, is about appreciating her life through her lens, and not in any other way. I'd love to be at the shows she's taken pictures of, to see Sex Vid commanding a sea of unruly punk rockers, I'd love to be kicking back with her and her circle of friends as everyone parades round in their Saccharine Trust denim jackets and Cult Ritual shirts, leaving Hartmann to document the lazy encounters, not producing them or creating them, but recording them in the capacity in which they undulate.

A lot of her works are a showcase of a jaded perspective, In many photos I can almost feel a pulse of apathy in the faces of her subjects, yet others brandish vivacity through doses of colour and common relationship. Nina explains that even the photos she's gone to lengths to set up appeal to her primarily as documentary photography, she believes that these photos come from real ideas, almost a 'materialisation of feelings.' Hartmann is quick off the mark to recognise the key role her friends have in her photography, as a lot of them, she says, are themselves working on artistic endeavours of some kind and as a result are keen to help out whenever the opportunity arises.

Her work often reminds me of Ryan McGinley's earlier series', with many of Hartmann's photos operating by a 'simplicity means everything' template, a great deal of her photos depict lone figures, enveloped in smooth or unnoticeable backgrounds. Such shots expose the subject in a powerful way, no escape, no hiding, just candid reflections of facial features and bone structure. Other works suggest a total flipping of the coin in terms of composition, she has taken a vast number of pictures which convey the frantic hub-bub of clustered people, shuffling and speaking as they ingratiate with each other - almost as if the intrigued eye of Hartmann behind her lens is a mere speckle in the sun.

Nina's work continues to impress me, there is a certain shot of hers showing a male companion dressed all in white, white shoes, white jeans, white minor threat top, spread out across a patch of grass, stroking an equally shocking white cat. The sheer eye catching capability of this image is partly what makes it so great. There is almost no escaping the dramatic distinction between brilliant white and luscious green. I see purity in this photo, coming from both the plain clad subject - with white being a symbol of candidacy and openness, served up on a stark platter of surrounding grass, by the presidency of nature and it's wholesome qualities. I've got to give a mention to the Minor Threat shirt worn by the subject, I can't avoid it really, that would be sacrilege or something, needless to say it gave me a little kick. I'm always keen to include parts of my own personality and taste within my photography, a trait Nina herself could attest to.

One of my most treasured shots of Nina's concerns her sitting besides a steel container, against a backdrop of foliage and open countryside. On first instance it was the soft beauty which ate up all of my attention. Glaringly good looking, 'bonny' facial features and naturally wavy hair, yet her dress sense and pose seperate her from that stillwater air of conformity. Sat with one leg bent across a steel grid; she shows the camera the least ammount of attention. This photo sends me into something of a whirlpool of general unaimed angst, angst probably at myself for not knowing this girl, I'd love to talk to her just to find out what her favourite Void release is .. does she prefer Condensed Flesh or Potion For Bad Dreams? That's the selling point for me, personally, the fact that I can be lured into this. This picture is sold to me under the pretence that I can appreciate not only the traditional good looks on offer, but the subtle references to a counter culture cherished by a select few - precisely the reason I find myself head over heels in awe of this women, this is not a photo that was taken for everyone, it's for those who can take one hundred percent of whats on offer away with them. Hardcore for Hardcore, what the fuck else?

I find myself looking at Nina Hartmann's work almost every day, I wind up coming back to it time and time again, I end up rolling back to it after searching for someone equally as raw, equally keen on taking photos of lo-fi black metal playing Indie Kids - but let me tell you, there simply isn't anyone out there quite as good as of this minute. Please let me know if you find that person. I just can't shake the feeling that some of these photos are what Ryan McGinley might have taken had he been heavily into hardcore punk and listened to My Bloody Valentine on the odd occasion.

Check out Nina's blog at ninahartmann.blogspot.com

Ross Farrar - This Life Is Spent Standing Close To The Edge.

2010-09-06T16:05:00.006+01:00

In-between issuing forced lines of unimaginable angst and relaying a stream of poetic social consciousness, Ross Farrar of Ceremony takes some unreal photos, photos that are almost magnetic to the eye. I bought a printed collection of his black and white photos last October, needless to say he has some skill with a camera, a skill which supersedes ordinary lens pointing, allowing him to showcase his keen eye for interesting, vernacular photography.

I am in no doubt that Ross Farrar is one of the main inspirations in my creative development aswell as my fully scoped outlook on living. His band Ceremony are one of my favourite, if not outright most cherished band of at least the last ten years, if not all modern time. Seeing them play live was a millstone for me, the fast paced bludgeoning of the hardcore melee thrashing about behind him coupled with his subversive, eye opening lyrics practically raised me off the ground in euphoria. As a frontman for a hardcore punk band hes gifted the opportunity to impress his lyrics upon crowds night after night, crowds willing and able to soak every syllable up like a rough sponge with a black flag patch pinned to one side. Ross sees himself as a creative writer just as much as he see's himself as a poet, and is currently reading a creative writing course at Santa Rosa Junior College.

I've sat night after blinding night, listening and reading into everything this man has to offer lyrically, banging my head against the wall to 'Ruined', 'Violence Violence', 'Scared People', 'He-God Has Favoured Our Undertakings', 'Still Nothing Moves You', 'The Sick Ep', 'Rohnert Park' and the 2004 Demo, nodding along, eyes closed.

'Pack your fists full of hate

take a swing at the world
these kids stick to themselves
carry angst in their words.

Where we'll never be apart
of this cursed fucking town,

where we stand amongst ourselves
watch it burn to the
ground'

- Ceremony - Kersed

Many of Ceremony's releases have had Ross' photography adorning the covers, in fact fellow Californian Hardcore Punk act Trash Talk have had Ross shoot the back cover for their latest release 'Eyes & Nines.' Ross' work reminds me in parts of the late Dash Snow's work, specifically the portraiture which on occassion seems to me to be merely a Californian take on Snow or McGinley's intrusive look at living life in New York City. Farrar shoots exclusively on film, and has been quoted to say that if and when film becomes extinct he will merely cease to shoot anymore. His interest in photography sparked at a young age, as his father gave him his first camera - a Nikon F1 sometime during early teenagehood. Farrar had a show this February in the Gallery Obscura on the Ocean Campus, called “Portraits from the North Bay.” This collection of photos documents the subculture lifestyle he finds himself swallowed up by, drawing a lineage with one of Farrar's earliest inspirations - Larry Clarke.

His book 'Society Verse' is a pastiche of not so forgotten memories, of reinventing long felt heart ache with smatterings of rhythm and intelligent photos. Tales of the band's inception and quips regarding all sorts of violent or non violent encounters litter the 128 pages of lyrics and heart string poetry. The reverse cover depicts a skateboarder holding up a deck as to masquerade his identity. The skateboard reads 'Bridge Nine' - Ceremony's current record label, and above the font is an image of the Washington DC Senators Office being struck by a bolt of lightning, for anyone even remotely interested in hardcore punk, this is a homage to the Bad Brains cover of the same image, know throughout the hardcore world almost as the flag we carry into battle.

Ross shoots in black & white as well as colour, often his photos will include but one subject or focal point allowing him to pin point where he wants your attention to rest. It's through simplsitic ideologies such as these that Ross' photography speaks out to me, he jettisons any notions of histrionics, trusting himself only to honest photography.

I've spoken to Ross on one occassion, it was October 18th 2009, in Leeds, at a small venue called The Well. He was walking past in shorts and a plain shirt - flagrantly disregarding the late autumn chill outside, I collared him and introduced myself, unloaded a quick line of my love for the band onto him and begged him to play Dead Moon California later that night. They opened with it and I lost my mind somewhere withn that four minutes and four seconds, never to be found again.

'Back in 84'
I nearly choked on the U-cord
until my dad came and cut me loose
he said, 'the pain you felt today, it will never go away'
and 'the best way out is always through.'

He said,
watch out for the world trying to shape you
living here
you got to know the truth'
twenty five years later
everything is the same,
a civilization gone deaf-mute.

- Ceremony - Back in '84

Of 'Back in '84' Ross writes this in Society Verse, 'When I was born my umbilical cord was wrapped around my throat and I almost suffocated to death. Luckily, my father stepped in and cut the rope, giving me my first breath of air. The line, 'The best way out is always through' is a Robert Frost quote, which I forgot to reference in the insert. This is one of my favourite quotes of all time, and thank you to Sarah Bingham for introducing it to me.'

One of my favourite Ross Farrar photos is a colour image, concerning a man bearing his two palms to the camera (See previous post). In his left hand is a vividly coloured red leaf and in his right a small fish which may or may not be alive. I am powerless to describe this photo as nothing other than magnetic, there is something oddly stirring about the intensity of the leaf, hapless in one hand. Perhaps a comparison or contrast is pleading to be made between the fish and it's leaf counterpart - that they are or were both living things? That they now hold an importance somewhere between minute and insignificant? Or maybe it's just a foray into what can be dredged up from local streams, beautiful or not, ugly or realistic. The contrast between the shockingly bright upturned palms and the out of focus water of the background gives this image a sharpness or austerity which marrys so keenly with the off kiltered symmetry between limbs. This picture fascinates me in unidentifiable ways, I wish I had taken it, I could intrude upon it for hours, no detail avoiding me.

Another colour image favourite from Ross Farrar's collection is the shot he took of a cinema advertising board raised high upon a roof. The focus, candidly, is the text upon the board which in no way is escapable as it reads 'Macho Men 3, Super Fag, My Pee Pee Balls' down the left column and 'Aunt Lily Eats Cunt, God Over Vagina, Little Man Big Penis' along the right. Typically vernacular photography from Ross, noticing the interesting, the obtuse, the wayward and the wrong within the society he finds himself in.

In actuality, I could not be more at ease trying to nail down what it is about Ross' artistic expression which I take most inspiration from, It's more a careful balance between his poetry and love for the written word, his part in making Ceremony the force that they are and his own highly personal photography. All together, like one creative brain-stew. I look at his work with eager eyes.

Local Natives

2010-09-01T14:00:00.003+01:00

'Local Natives', a quintet from Los Angeles whose rousing pastiche of rustic vocals and enchanting harmonies warmed the crowds assembled inside the NME tent at this years Leeds & Reading festivals - taking no prisoners as they fueled the festival vibe, inside a tent packed quite generously, with their own O...range County brand of almost Grizzly Bear-esque composition and compatibility.

Local Natives are a burgeoning rock and roll group at heart, yet their lofty tri-way crooning, the keen penchant for melody and perhaps most notably the open armed accessibility of their debut record 'Gorilla Manor' has vaulted them into the same ranks as Seattle's favourite baroque-pop folk botherers Fleet Foxes, and, rather irrepressibly, the same comparisons are being made with festival headliners Arcade Fire. A personal favourite from a weekend saturated with great new music and old favourites alike.

Check out their single 'Sun Hands' live on KEXP, ultimately beautiful.

Yesterday Pt 2

2010-08-22T01:22:00.001+01:00

Yesterday

2010-08-21T13:44:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was fun, this is Matt wearing my No Class cap and a 'thirst aid' hat he found lying around. I do not know where this boy ended up.

Wavves - Post Acid

2010-08-12T12:47:00.004+01:00

Beach punk surfer trash. Nathan Williams holds claim to a snot nosed Descendants-esque voice and it wouldn't be far off the mark to compare it to an early 90's Billy Joe Armstrong intonation. Fantastic pop sensibilities lay under this cradle of whirring noise, so don't listen to any of the hate that Psychedelic Horseshit are spitting Wavves' way - despite how good Psychedelic Horseshit admittedly are. This video refreshed me from the very first time I watched it.

FILTH, FUCKED UP & MATTED BODY HAIR - Photos from the weekend at Hevy Fest, more to come.

2010-08-11T14:32:00.003+01:00

fucked up, ben of dead swans fame, human pyramid, pissing & chilling

Pissing Through

2010-08-05T16:42:00.004+01:00

I know this guy, he sits in his room listening to Deep Jew and not eating meat, he is important because he grows his beard and spends time with me openly mocking Mark McCoy, even though we both owe the vast majority of our musical compatibility to records he has put out. He is the product of a relationship between Billy Cudrup and a hardcore punk Sam Dunn. He plays under the name Pissing Through

He grinds out sounds and chicken wires them together under a viral strain of 'harsh psychedelic violence.' You can almost hear the sound of pre-historic recording methods being exhumed from the grave, as Pissing Through takes a backhand to the clinical air of production value, opting for strength by way of raw, unbridled chaos rather than slick order.

If mysteriousness is an elected linchpin of today's Punk underground then Pissing Through takes it one further by hiding himself away in the unremarkable north of England. Left alone to brood he intends on recording more and more of this gutter trash, whilst working on releasing a split EP on Crimes Against Skin. Visit his blog - Looking Pissing Looking and download his 'not a demo' offering. Pissing through is a dirty talent more inclined to smother himself than smother the underground, give his power electronics the once over, but be warned, do not attempt to listen to this if you cry to Morrissey records or believe that Trapped Under Ice are the 'New' Madball.

Ross Farrar

2010-08-04T22:46:00.004+01:00

Romain Gavras

2010-08-04T16:35:00.001+01:00

Meet Romain Gavras, a burgeoning component of the French lo-fi film collective. Fast approaching the release date for his first feature film Notre Jour Viendra, Vice magazine sat down with Romain and proceeded to pick the young Frenchman's brain.

2010-08-03T01:05:00.001+01:00

I took a few shots of my brother today, more to come

2010-08-02T22:30:00.001+01:00

Rolling a liquorice cigarette

Keep on truckin'

2010-08-02T03:07:00.001+01:00

Chris Mansfield & Fences

2010-07-31T08:51:00.003+01:00

Presented as dull throbs of heartache and ruminations, Chris Mansfield's music, penned under the name 'Fences', is so very daintily poetic that it seems to bleed the emotions out one by one. He hails from Seattle, and counts Sara Quin as an avid fan. So much of a fan is Sara that not only does she appear on the track 'My Girl The Horse' currently streaming on his myspace, but she's gone all out and produced Fences' upcoming debut album set for release this September.

Much of Fences' style can aptly be described as pop, yet there is a tarnished almost strained harmony to his tracks, a real cathartic presence which deftly sweeps aside any encroaching notions of the all too familiar 'pop cheesy-ness.' Chris' songwriting prowess is powerfully refreshing, the first track streaming on his myspace, 'Boys Around Here' rolls around for three minutes in a playful bundle of comforting melody, partnered so soothingly by a voice almost as spider web thin as the late Elliott Smith's. Such a web does well to carry the weight of Mansfield's lyrics; all in all very touching, nothing less than poignant at best.Check this act out, your time and attention would be very worthwhile spent here.

Chris can be contacted at myspace.com/fencesvswolf or at sadcastle.blogspot.com

Hannah

2010-07-30T23:26:00.000+01:00

taken the weekend she came to stay

last weekend, kiss makeup and testicles

2010-07-30T13:56:00.001+01:00

The little boy's rule

2010-07-29T15:56:00.001+01:00

There is this moronic, yet highly amusing, prank going round at the minute. As soon as you notice someone going for a piss you can shout 'little boy's rule!' and by rights they have to drop their kecks and urinate freely with the coersion of a gentle breeze against their buttocks. Note: 'little boy's rule' cannot be claimed if the target is already in mid flow.

No Class - Tape

2010-07-29T15:54:00.002+01:00

Goodness gracious, Kansas City! Perhaps we all should have realised earlier that the American Midwest sticks out like a sore thumb as a prime candidate for number one breeding ground of turgid punk rock? Separated from the white water scenes of L.A, Boston, New York and Seattle, it's inhabitants seem to have congealed together a sound more 'paint thinner' than actual audio. Step forward No Class, peddling a furious adulteration of sure footed, aggravated, mid tempo hardcore. This cassette will pin your bollocks to the wall and slap you about with a nightstick of Negative FX swagger. Imagine a modern day Nig-Hiest without all the blowjob / ejaculate bravado, equipped with a lead vocalist who, for all intents and purposes, sounds like he's brought a throat of boiling nails to the fray.

'Tired. Bored. Angry. Violent' is a degenerative scum-mesh of every irk you've ever felt. 'Finest Hour' - a provocative ham fist of rebellion. No Class do a fantastic job of conveying just how little they sympathise with you, 'Your rules don't apply to me' and 'No, no the answers fucking no, it's no, again it's no!' being exquisite examples of the aforementioned lack of empathy. This act are a beartrap of a band, but unquestionably fun to listen to, this 'Tape' cassette is one of my favourite releases I've heard in a long time. Ravaging, unwavering resolution and spite sloshes around in a piss pot of realised angst, along with everything else that made Hardcore Punk great in the first place.

Contact the band at The Way You Treat Me for copies, I'm also sure that Negative Kevin has covered this release on his site Fashionable Activism

Throwing themselves around a basement in Chicago

Arrived at George's to find this,

2010-07-29T14:22:00.001+01:00

Adam

2010-07-29T10:17:00.001+01:00

the quality seems tarnished here, shot in my back garden, all natural

Snottin' out and Black Flag

2010-07-29T08:35:00.002+01:00

Black Flag

Lewis getting rid of what looks to be a pint of mucus

Suddenly everybody decided to shave their heads

2010-07-29T08:22:00.002+01:00

This is Gilbert, he had everything buzzed off, I caught a few 'work in progress' shots where he had only a long fringe left to compliment his new #4 all over.

Here it is.

My brother Lewis going for the Liam Cormier style half head shave, later on he plastered his new trim down and made it into a righteous devil lock, all misfits style.

Early July

2010-07-29T08:17:00.002+01:00

me and the lover

Burning Kitchen - Damned If You do... Damned If You Don't

2010-07-11T13:02:00.004+01:00

Why the fuck have I found myself listening to potent Riot Grrrl acts over the past week, and moreover absolutely loving it? This group, Burning Kitchen, hail from the icy climes of Scandinavia - Sweden to be precise. I get the feeling that this would have been a record that Kurt Cobain would have enjoyed. He really valued Punk Rock that managed to convey a pissed off attitude whilst propping that hatred up on a scaffold of simple pop structure and melody, much like Wipers who were coincidentally one of his favourite groups.

This record is beautiful in it's simplicity, blatantly Punk Rock, blatantly melodious, a combination which would fail a band with a more jellified backbone, yet Burning Kitchen run with the formula and churn through a gravel pit of 10 songs in 15 minutes. Pick this up and give it a try.

Whirl - Demo CS

2010-06-25T19:29:00.004+01:00

Dreamweaving, Shoegaze outfit from North Carolina. This two track demo is really quite sweet, both songs are rather dainty and ethereal, the first track 'Leave' lumbers along slow paced and slothlike with shades of synth and airy vocals scything through. 'Meaningless' showcases a much more distinctive string influence, quicker and bitey, despite such qualities you find yourself hovering somewhere between consciousness and spaced out upon repeated listen. Truly great, give this a spin

Confines

2010-06-24T20:43:00.002+01:00

Probably the best demo tape from say, the past 3-5 years, Ex Cut The Shit vocalist bands together with other bostonians of Failures and Social Circkle fame to exhume something just as satisfying as it is visceral.

Download (Mediafire)

This saturday

2010-06-02T21:04:00.001+01:00

Leeds

Wot Gorilla?

2010-05-26T23:22:00.003+01:00

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Imagine, if you will, a vast melting pot of influences, of vibrancy and deliberate musical sleight of hand, dashed together with the inventiveness of Cap 'n Jazz, the forthright post-hardcore edge of Kidcrash and the arithmetic adroitness of Seattle's Minus The Bear. Jellify this and set it to mould, the resulting sonic experience will sound rather close to Halifax's own Wot Gorilla? a band who, by their own description, sound like a 'schizophrenic patchwork not clever enough to be given the illustrious prog tag.'

Wot Gorilla? formed in late 2008, kicking out their first release - a self titled EP in the last few weeks. This record has scope and vision aplenty, sidewinding guitar tones that gradate seamlessly between the less astringent parts of an Algernon Cadwallader tune and the aforementioned Minus The Bear. Keyboardist, guitarist and lead singer Mat Haigh dispels lightly baked, harmonious vocals throughout - for me, conjuring at times an almost Head Automatica, Daryl Palumbo-esque croon, with less gravel, more tranquility.

The opening track 'We Go Way Back Like Spinal Cords And Car Seats' soars with melody from the offset, and no great effort is needed to keep the audience's attention as turn-on-a-dime drumbeats and fretboard intricacies relay more than enough flirting with the frayed edges of the American west indie-rock sound to keep my foot tapping. The four minute dreamflow of 'Qwerty' feels like a gentle caress for the most part, breaking into a partnership of diligent picking and lofty, snowfall vocals, eventually cantering to a finish.

Whether this is self indulgent music is irrelevant, the outpouring of technical proficiency does well to marry itself to the fabulous melody on offer throughout this record. The hot and sticky harmonies are by no means gimmicky, the wondrous segueing between themes steers clear of the 'verse chorus verse' pop punk snake pit, and the lyrics display a more than candid view of the world, picking up on the ever present Joy Division worship that populates much of the modern music landscape, and tailing off with poignant self reflection.

This record is self released, imbibed with enough confidence to stand tall without swallowing itself within the music. I highly recommend this, a great first outing from a group that I hope continues to impress me with their delicious brand of post hardcore-come-indie rock.

3 of the 5 tracks from the EP are currently streaming on their Myspace

Hevy Festival

2010-05-11T13:50:00.001+01:00

Year after year, the twin behemoths that are Reading & Leeds lurch onward and onward, carving up a spectacular finish to the years festival season, dwarfing any 'lesser' festivals as they cry for attention. Every now and then the order is bucked, particuarly when a smaller festival creates as big as a stir as Kent's 'Hevy Festival' has managed to in recent months.

Hevy Festival takes place at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park between the 6th - 8th of August and with a such a stellar line-up it screams to be considered as much more than a pre-amble to late August's Reading & Leeds weekend.

Taking to the four stages will be the legendary New York Post Hardcore kingpins Glassjaw, a certain headliner along with London's very own Punk supremos Gallows. The Rock Sound stage sees a cocophony of mutant sound as the headbanging influence of Napalm Death and Sepultura collides with the nimble pop sensibilities of Dananananaykroyd and the gymnastic awe of Pulled Apart By Horses.

Further line-up announcements have seen Canadians Fucked Up added to the bill, along with Comeback Kid, The Subways, The King Blues, Rolo Tomassi and Madina Lake. A thoroughly eclectic mix and match of Punk, Metal and Alternative Rock.

Tickets are priced at £69, see festival.hevy.co.uk for more details.

Rogue Wave

2010-05-11T13:42:00.004+01:00

Notable Indie Rock mainstays Rogue Wave released their fourth opus 'Permalight' not two months ago, to a rapture of heated praise. The group of five musicians from Oakland, CA, blend together a dreamy soundscape of mid tempo pops and crackles with the introspective lyrical heartbreak of lead vocalist Zack Rogue, in such a way that seperates them from other notable scene luminaries such as Fruit Bats, Nada Surf and The Shins.

Permalight sees a rejuvinated band format disinclined towards rehashing an already well explored sound, and as a record 'Permalight' pushes itself further from the acoustic veined rock-rooted harmonies of 05's 'Descended Like Vultures' and grasps hold of the electro-synth induced habit already so very championed by acts such as The Postal Service. Automated drum beats and pulsating keyboard twinges shoot this band with a heavy dose of twee pop and sunshine, sure to be a welcome inclusion in the eyes of the Owl City fanbase.

As a whole this record cannot be lambasted for it's electronic switcheroo, bands progress, bands experiment, and so the tapestry is woven. Chock full of good weather tunes, this record has a good chance of clinging on into the summer months where it could remain as a soundtrack to many people's festival season.

The Cancer Kids - The Possible Dream

2010-04-07T19:59:00.004+01:00

Hardcore played fast enough to peel the scalp clean off your headbanging skull, with conviction alone that could sell narcotics to a nun. Regrettably this band have since broken up, with various members going on to other bands, notably Failures. This record has all the stop and start dynamics of the finer Screamo outfits but sits stoically as an out and out thrash drunk hardcore rage.

Out of the various splits and EP's apparently in circulation I could only find this record, but my god it rips, for fans of everything good in the world.

Punch - Self Titled

2010-04-06T12:36:00.002+01:00

This will be a short but sweet post, not unlike Punch's self titled record. This release, following their championed 'Eyeless' EP, continues the spastic charge in complete fidelity to the thrashcore foundation already so erratically laid down by the female fronted San Franciscan troupe.

In effect all you need to know about this behemoth of incessant clatter is the following; 16 tracks, 20 minutes, fragmentary barbs of undigested hardcore - not unlike Failures or 'Lines In The Sand' Coke Bust. Sharp enough to carve out your jellified backbone.

Punch (Mediafire)

Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard

2010-04-05T11:14:00.004+01:00

Recorded in 2001 at Brian Harvey's Basement, Pig Destroyer's Prowler In The Yard holds it's form almost a decade on as one of America's all time great grind releases. It is nothing short of a brutalist slab of straight ahead Grindcore, a volcanic summary consisting of unrepentant axe slinging driving headfirst into the oncoming cacophony of battery acid vocals. Take a step back from the obligatory crush of this record, and the ties that bind each track together present themselves in the shape of a murderous storyline, laced with betrayal, pain and all ruling jealousy. The great records of our time have often lumbered onwards bearing the weight of the 'concept album' tag, with even more suffering under the cries of pretentiousness, only to remain lost as fragile relics; clawing at the husk of musical maturity. Pig Destroyer ignore the warning signs, choosing rather to plough every trick and wickedness into a mould for unabated metal meets punk destruction.

Vocalist J.R Hayes swerves away from the malaise of predictability in a genre where guttural vocals rule the domain. Instead he lays his lines down as downpour of shouts and screams, all of which sits on top of Scott Hull's beautifully intricate yet decisively weighty riffing. Interestingly, there is a crux of samples at the heart of this record which if anything lift the overall scope of Prowler In The Yard to heights pretty much unknown to the typical Grindcore outfit.

This is a massive recommendation, for Grindcore fans it should already be a staple listen, to fans of heavy music who haven't yet heard the gravitas of Pig Destroyer, play at high volume and hold onto your organs.

Prowler In The Yard (Mediafire)

Iggy Pop - Lust For Life

2010-03-30T18:46:00.003+01:00

Just a quick post, just to churn out another recommendation to whomsoever cares. Iggy Pop. Iggy Fucking Pop. I've been drinking from the proverbial fountain of Pop for a while but finally I've actually sat up and taken note of how prototypical, seminal and damn near close to perfection this album is. 'Lust For Life' is half the worlds favourite Iggy Pop record, but please, don't let that put you off on the basis of it getting in the way of your 'I would much rather listen to the obscurer records to protect my underground credentials' bullshit attitude. Pop wrote this album allegedly with some degree of help from David Bowie, well if that produces a swagger imbibed, soul drenching album such as this then I will not utter a single syllable of complaint.

Iggy Pop; 1947 - Forever

Lust For Life (Mediafire)

Here She Comes Now

2010-03-30T18:18:00.002+01:00

Firstly, play this video and let the spacial echo of Ben Gibbards wheelings and tinkerings exfoliate every pore on your body. Along with Steve Frisk this overture was composed specifically for the soundtrack to AJ Schnack and Michael Azzerad's 'About A Son' documentary, a sobering insight into the calamitous, cyclonic few years of Kurt Cobain's tenure as generation flagbearer.

Secondly, If, like me, each and every time you breathe an unavoidable Nirvana lyric pops out, or every time you go to speak you end up trailing into yet another tale of incredulity concerning Cobain & company, take a closer look at this post by Zamboni Soundtracks as there are some beautiful tracks to be unearthed.

Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising

2010-03-27T12:06:00.003Z

One of my favourite albums ever recorded. Bob Mould wrote some amazing tracks when he was playing with Dü. I always loved the way this band ingratiated themselves within the nascent Hardcore community yet saw fit to push every boundary right to it's upper limit. They never reached the 'glory' of astronomical album sales but their influence still reverberates at a quiet hum even today in and around the 21st Century's Post Hardcore rattle & pop. Tracks such as 59 Times The Pain, Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill and Terms Of Psychic Warfare still give me a kick.

New Day Rising (Mediafire)

Touché Amoré

2010-01-21T13:40:00.003Z

Pretty much the best new-fangled shiny attraction to emerge from the pit of the LA smog, a band who at the moment can do no wrong, resulting in every tom, dick and harry hardcore smothering them in a grip of screamo tinged hardcore punk bloodthirst. Seriously try your luck with the first demo and the hotly pressed LP '...To The Beat of A Dead Horse.' Guest vocals from Geoff Rickly from Thursday just about causes the latter to buckle under the sheer gravitas of it's own supremacy. Honest hardcore meets honest emotion - the resulting combustion will tear a trail across punk scenes worldwide.

Look how clean all the American kids are, how ironically organised and tame the stage invasions seem to be, in a well lit room. The kid in the Smiths shirt seems to be having a great time. Over here that would have been played out in a sweatbox and lead singer Elliott or whatever his name is would have been clawed to the floor. The UK might be shit at everything but go fuck yourself we know our punk

Demo
...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse

10 minutes and two hernias later

2010-01-18T01:04:00.003Z

Chris Colohan well and truly has his fingers back in the figurative pies. Ex-Cursed gunslinger tries his hand at a more controlled take on Punk Rock whilst agreeing not to sacrifice any of the intensity of his old outfit. Download this demo and let the dry cured vocal stylings strip you like paint thinner. This could well turn out to be a band worthy of worship.

Burning Love demo (mediafire) - http://www.mediafire.com/?mnmgdmyqmln

Barred For Life

2009-12-14T21:47:00.002Z

A few weeks ago I went to Thou Art in Sheffield, where unbeknown to me my glorious girlfriend had booked me an appointment.

Wipers - Is This Real?

2009-12-13T14:02:00.004Z

Can't stop listening to this recently, I loathe myself for not discovering Greg Sage's punk genius until now. Brilliant songwriting on this album which influenced Kurt Cobain no end, so much in fact that he later covered D-7 & Return of The Rat with Nirvana. Worship this.

They were playing around with and cauterizing the foundations of what would later mutate into Grunge years before the Seattle sound gripped the international scene by the throat, but in the decades since they were at their best they've been skimmed over by the great rolling stone of general pop culture interest. Draw your comparisons with Husker Du and the other stalwarts of the 80's Indie scene, but appreciate them for what they are first and foremost

They asked me to take this link down, It is more than easy to find online however

No titles, All prospects

2009-12-06T23:11:00.004Z

"I'm the one that has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to."
— Jimi Hendrix

I repeat this back to my family nearly everyday of my life now, when they look at me walking out the door on my way to a show or when I come back to my cold bedroom with a tattoo dedicating myself to something I want to define my life by. I hate to say it but how can you say you know so much more than me if you havn't experienced things in life that I already have? Your straight-laced ways make no impression on me anymore.

Listen to this it will blow your fucking socks off.

Download (Mediafire)

Trash Talk. Tomorrow

2009-12-02T15:19:00.001Z

Let's rage.

Insted - What We Believe

2009-12-02T14:45:00.006Z

Download (Mediafire)
Formed in 1986 they were quite possibly birthed a little too late to have ever warmed themselves in the dirty limelight of America's independent Hardcore scene. The slow passage of time gifted the four sunblocked Californians enough wiggle room to feed the faster tempos of the mid 80's post East Coast explosion through a mesh of standard southern Californian Punk. Insted's concoction of straight ahead Hardcore is smattered with just enough snot to please any high schooler still blooming from the Descendants seed, and amps our far beyond the standard crunch you'd want from your hardcore - to set them apart from the bite of other scene mercenaries like 7Seconds & Uniform Choice.

British Punk this decade

2009-11-30T19:43:00.001Z

Verse Chorus Verse

2009-11-13T22:24:00.002Z

All over Pixies at the moment, smothering them like a cheap velour suit. This from Surfer Rosa is particuarly exquisite...
- More posts to come, I might put up a few shots I took from my photography project as most of them reference various Punk charlatans and scallywags in some way, shape or form, which you all might enjoy.

It rained dubstep inside my head today

2009-11-03T17:28:00.007Z

The other week I saw members of Pendulum perform a DJ set in a basement only hours previously inked up by 'Australian Low-Brow Art Dirtbag' Kid Zoom. First and foremost I was beyond lucky to even be there, props to my girlfriend for letting me cling onto her coat-tails for the night. Tonight We Fire & Adelaide played one of the off shoots to the main basement room as part of their '09 tour and I got lumbered with filming the maelstrom of bodies and guitar necks colliding. Shouts to Matt Smithson for the best of the night's banter and a good catch up.

In between observing recreational drug use and dancing as white as a white man can dance, I took as many shots as the battery on Hannah's camera would allow. If it weren't for this photo evidence I probably wouldn't even remember being there, a true testament to the powers of a free bar and one guy who was more than willing to pour everyone shots of tequila. Cannot really figure out what time in the AM we peeled away from the house itself, but trivial details aside it was an absolute head fuck of a night and I devoured every sight and sound that my mind could latch onto.
'A good mopping later, none will be the wiser'

Tomorrow

2009-10-17T18:32:00.001+01:00

Meet Me On The Equinox

2009-10-17T17:02:00.006+01:00

Jesus-fucking-piss-christ this song is good. As a rabid, new material hungry fan of everything Death Cab spawn I'm most probably biased towards liking this song. It's just a shame the primary audience for this three minutes of sensual movement in the dark will be the mewing, pre-pubescent, kiddy-crap bandwagoners. Ben Gibbard has if anything punched a hole through the overly literate 'kid next door' voice and demeanour that pop culture seems to have plastered over him. Instead he gushes sagely about the fragility of life and the importance of compromise. Heavy yet beautiful stuff.

Lepers to feed the Lepers

2009-10-15T18:33:00.003+01:00

I'd probably go as far to say that Trash Talk - Plagues is one of my favourite recordings of all time. You might think that's a bit transparent what with there being a good thirty years of punk backed up in the catalogues before the Sacramento outfit released that EP, but it is just so fucking unruly. Pieced together with so much hate and bile, it would out-evil the childsnatcher.

"For the path of the pale horse leads not astray. I wrote a song I hoped the world would hate as much as I hate myself today"

It is the resulting regurgitation of an absolute fucking recoil by four men and their mindsets fixed firmly against normal existence. I suspect most of you movers & shakers ingratiated within the international hardcore scene will know exactly what I'm talking about. For everyone else, spin Plagues to death like I have most nights for the past year, and knock your head against the wall. I really cannot say enough about this 5.2 minutes of sheer blood spilling, bone breaking, neck snapping hardcore.

A previous Trash Talk post can be found here.

Would this playlist woo a young lady?

2009-10-10T13:26:00.002+01:00

Or am I missing something?
Also expect a post on Kidcrash soon enough, as they are 100% spectacular and I am falling into an emocore sticky love with them.

Jail Bait Core by Dana Goldstein

2009-10-06T22:47:00.003+01:00

Check out the entire set here. Dana Goldstein is so fucking good, these inspire me no end. Can't remember where I saw these first but they came screaming back to me in a Vice magazine Hannah had.

The Receiving End Of Sirens

2009-10-04T18:44:00.006+01:00

The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi

Forget everything you know about the show pony jangling of today's preened teens of post hardcore, and start again with Boston's The Receiving End of Sirens. In 2005 they released Between The Heart And The Synapse and the resulting onset of bandwagon kids who had somewhat grown out of Jimmy Eat World rightly championed the band for their developed musical senses, at a time where a Blink 182-less Punk community was left licking it's wounds and awaiting the knock on the door from Fall Out Boy / My Chemical Romance.

Music has never been more of a commodity than it is now, some bands rush or are rushed by higher powers to machine build their albums and have them ready for distribution quicker than you can say 'major record label'. Dance Gavin Dance have put out three full lengths and an extended EP in just four years, I mean what on earth is that an attempt to do? Flood the market with their presence and just force a fan base into existence? Nevertheless I'd count myself a fan of their earlier work at least. But I digress...

The Receiving End Of Sirens released an album in 2007 through Triple Crown Records, under the title ' The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi'. Jam packed with so much tinkering and slight of hand you'd think Willy Wonka had a hand in it's production, it featured new vocalist Casey Crescenzo - a kid they picked up from California with a voice so lofty it could open the pearly gates themselves. The great umbrella of post hardcore is annoyingly fitting for 'Sirens style, as they fatten their spine of Heavy Rock with familiar Punk overtones and delicate pop sensibilities. They find enough room for bleeding veins of keyboard driven experimentations into their sound to boot.

I definitely recommend this album, even if it's just to dispel the haze of bands in 2009 that have tore chunks of sound out of 'Sirens still warm corpse.

Download Here

Some Girls

2009-10-02T22:25:00.002+01:00

I met a nice girl who listens to hardcore punk, proper hardcore punk and who has introduced me to so much already, I can't even begin to tell you. She reminds me of Zooey Deschanel in a big way, all I want to do is make art with her. When I'm not with her I want to be with her and I want everyone to know that I'm with her.

Oh My God - Wesley Eisold Career Reductive

2009-09-26T17:10:00.022+01:00

Some people are born, headfirst into a cradle and never really escape that blanket security. Grow, eat, job, no time for life? They will always keep their cards and their souls close to their chest. The best experiences come from offering it to someone else altogether. Wes Eisold probably clawed his way out of the womb for fear of wasting his allotted time. The man, the musician, the poet, is a distillation of pretty much everything the counter culture has to roll out. Pageboy haircut tops a mind tank-melting pot of hardcore primitives and poetically twisted affectation.

The rolling panzer of American Nightmare / Give Up The Ghost defined for many kids, their flourishing adolescent glut of angst. The second wavers still paraded the likes of Gorilla Biscuits and H2O on their big apple shoulders, dashing the hopes of all but the truest punks willing to hark back to the '88 revival sound. I've never understood why the crew cut youth of yesterday are so unwilling to open up and embrace whatever mutant sounds the apple mac generation are crafting - without dismissing it as spurious faux-punk on first glance.

Equal Vision put out the insanely heavy, insanely mosh inducing debut LP 'Background Music,' which, after the self titled EP & the 'Sun Isn't Getting Any Brighter' EP stirred the mortar that would go on to cement Give Up The Ghost's place in modern hardcore culture. I am in no doubt that when they whipped out the likes of Am/Pm in whatever back alley sweatbox they were playing in, bedlam would ensue.

We're Down Til' We're Underground' continued the lightning war, yet saw Eisold & co. feel their way through the mesh of hardcore limits as a more realised sound coalesced into being. This album is an outright fucking tirade, a professionally orchestrated outing with the grime, grit and self reflection that hardcore punk can frame so well.

The heartstrings that lashed such a volatile band together eventually gave way, with a fallout that was felt throughout the listening community. They were just so incredibly good, so strong but equally listenable - along with The Suicide File they had inflamed the north eastern scene and beat it's chest raw. A collective driftwood of available musicians flooded the talent radar and one by one they each found new projects by which to ply their trade. Tim Cossar now flies the flag for metallic hardcore heavysets The Hope Conspiracy, and Jarvis Holden united with post-hardcore king Daryl Palumbo to birth the power pop snaps & crackles of Head Automatica. Wes pretty much just wiped the snot from his nose and threw himself head first back into the swarming mass of young bloods thirsty for the next chapter.

Some Girls congealed together rather naturally, as Wes joined forces with Justin Pearson of The Locust (and a plethora of other bands), to thrash out a more rudimentary, light speed soundtrack of warped destruction. In late 2003 they kicked out an LP All My Friends Are Going Death on Deathwish, which has subsequently I hear been remastered, mixed and issued along with some sweet etching, all on limited edition colour vinyl. Some Girls' unbridled fuck-you-we're-gonna-play-our-way coupling of attitude and sound flipped the coin completely. The union of past Unbroken, Tristeza, Holy Molar and Give Up The Ghost members was a rabid formula.

The second full length dropped in 2006, this time Epitaph swooped to put it out. The writing for 'Heaven's Pregnant Teens' was a maturing process for Some Girls. They kept their animalistic message crystal clear, and left no stone unturned in their quest to reach the desired ear slaying caterwaul.

Some Girls died a death unfitting of a band made up of such live wires. The band was 'quietly put to rest' in October of 2007, freeing up Wes once more. The rolling stone that gathers no moss had hooked up with the incomparable Chauncey and others as a side project before the Some Girls split, the cacophony resulting from forcing hardcore punk into a kinship with danceable electronica beats rattled the cages of even the staunchest 'punk as fuck' kids. The preppy long island new wavers most probably had their J-Crew socks blown off by the likes of XO Skeletons

XO Skeletons went on to record 'Bored By Heaven' in a series of sessions, later releasing it free to download.

In post Obama victory America Wes has spread his runners further left field, founding and currently running Heartworm Press out of Philadelphia, PA. Heartworm is a collective escape for talented punks and other such scene luminaries who can write better than the average dirtbag and have more than half interesting stories to tell. Some of it, if not all of it is genuinely brilliant, well crafted drug enduced stumbles through the inner workings of a teenager's horomone bank.

Musically hes moved even further into the darker corners of the electronic world with Cold Cave, concocting devilishly sombre slices of experimental synth-noise / no wave / dark wave. Whichever tag of the week is going through the hip-kid processing machine applies here. I think tagging Cold Cave as 'Cold Wave' is one step beyond the borderline of ridiculousness. Nevertheless some of their bites make me think of what Faithless might have sounded like if they had an even bleaker outlook on life and wore trenchcoats indoors, or had played jaw crushing hardcore for ten years prior. So check out what some people called the 'catchiest twelve minutes of 2008', The Trees Grew Emotions And Died

For The People That Died

2009-09-24T20:51:00.012+01:00

Someone has introduced me to Heartworm Press, It is pretty fucking defining. For those who are blind to their prose genius - get involved at The Heartworm. Wes Eisold is a multi-trick pony, Even Fall Out Boy steal his eloquence. It's not just Wes, the contributions come from far and wide - and to me they spread the seed of the healing powers of Punk, along with the fucked up delights of America's scratch & sniff urban underbellies.

"From there I saw myself lying in bed with 'that girl' sharing and comparing all past crimes and misdemeanors to the sounds of crystal hearts colliding, and in that moment I saw colour for the first time. I lost my soul. To be honest, it was hers from the very start"

- Max G Morton, 'Indestructable Wolves of the Apocalypse Junkyard', Heartworm Press

Here's to not going down in history for standing still.

2009-09-24T19:59:00.006+01:00

Expect fleshed out blog posts a-plenty starting this weekend. Check out my friend Thom's blog (Skate For God), it's much better than mine as he doesn't expel paragraph after paragraph about the bands he features, unlike me. Also his knowledge is great, we spend the best parts of college planning our sonic extradition from our normal lives. We want to mash our umbrella of influences together and see what sound comes out.

This past week I have been listening to alot of the following: Killing The Dream, Graf Orlock, Hüsker Dü, Every Time I Die (that new record is amazing, no messing) & Crime In Stereo.

He-God Has Favoured My Undertakings

2009-09-18T23:59:00.005+01:00

Subsequently check out Hang The Bastard if you havn't already. They play a bilious torrent of sludgey tar colliding riff first with the primitives of hardcore punk - imbibed with as much death and goat worship as these filthy London folk can muster.
Hang The Bastard (Myspace)

Something A Bit Different

2009-09-16T18:43:00.006+01:00

Last night I went to see Bury Tomorrow and a host of support acts including the good lads of From A City In Ruins, who, dispell just about as much effort as can feasibly be possible. Lead singer Adam spends more time in the air or on the floor in with the patrons than he does rooted stage side. The band have recently changed musical tact, pooling influences as far flung and contrasting as Joy Division, Refused and At The Drive-In, melding it together with their previously hard grafted metalcore chops. So check them out they deserve more attention.

www.myspace.com/fromacityinruins

Graf Orlock

2009-09-12T17:46:00.006+01:00

There is a line out there, some say, which separates the sane and rational from the absolutely fucking absurd. Graf Orlock show up and do their best to smear that line beyond all recognition. By the time you reach the final track of any one of their releases you're likely to be headbanging to your own screams of 'Sarah Connor!'

They formed six years ago in Los Angeles as four kids united by their raging love for 80's & 90's cinematography (a detail you'll soon pick up on), and have been splicing audio snippets into their grind inflected hardcore ever since. Former vocalist Kalvin Kristoff was highly influential in Graf Orlock attaining their sound, with a scream so potent it could rattle glass to breaking point. Backed up by Jason Schmidt on guitar who's own voice resonates deep, almost Dave Verellen-esque growls, as if they were coming from Beelzebub's Abyss itself. Mainstays of the listening society have been quick to paste a 'cinema-grind' tag upon anything these Californian savages do - which I confess I'm not a fan of. I just think it trivialises the music, which could leave the band being just aswell known for their inclusion of script and quotes as for their sheer power to rage. I guess you guys will make your own minds up.

After a series of well received splits & EP's they embarked on a three-release trilogy based on a screenplay Jason and drummer 'Alan Hunter' had been fervently working on during their time at college. The 'Destination Time' trilogy is absolutely menacing, track after track of riff-spun fury bolstered extensively by their often ludicrous love of action film samples. Step forward into the melee as revved up Lemmy style bass parts crush insatiably into the churning guitar on tracks like 'A Shocking Interrogation' and 'Todd & Janelle' from the Destination Time: Tomorrow EP. The tempo changes snatch you by the collar and pull you into the tangled fray of Indiana Jones and Under Siege, pumping your senses with large doses of profanity and bloodlust.

While some people will pass off Graf Orlock as a gimmick band, others will jump on board as devout followers of the Predator meets Hardcore template. On a purely sonic level Graf have measurable talent for creating great chunks of hardcore, albeit few of those chunks see the other side of three minutes. I can imagine this band putting in an astonishing level of commitment and exercising their chops in intense hard to fault live shows, brimming with blastbeats and choice movie script dialogue. I just hope Graf Orlock's select list of cinema influences affords them enough room, to produce enough records, to satiate this writer's and the rest of the Graf Orholic's thirst for fresh takes on often stale sub-genres.

Destination Time: Yesterday
Destination Time: Tomorrow
Destination Time: Today

It's a cold world out there, sometimes I think i'm getting a little frosty myself.

2009-09-10T19:56:00.008+01:00

In 1986 seminal record producer Rick Rubin embarked on a project that revitilized a classic American rock group, and perhaps more poignantly birthed a hybrid musical subgenre, with the fusion of rap and rock. You've probably guessed it, it was infact Run DMC's cover of 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith. Released as a single from their album 'Raising Hell', 'Walk This Way' mushroomed into an International success by becoming the first rap single to break through into the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. It was something of an eye opener to the general listening public, grabbing modern assumptions by the scruff of the neck and heftily planting a bright white adidas trainer right where it hurts the most.

Flash forward to 2009 and the charts are still bothered by multi-platinum selling acts following a similiar template to the one Rubin crafted over 20 years ago, artists such as Linkin Park. Despite the breakthrough success, there lies a blistering underbelly where hip hop and rock can coalesce outside the charts, In a heavier, more satisfying allegiance. Enter Cold World who have been running with the torch for almost 5 years, albeit in a very black & white manner.

Cold World are bare as bones in their musical march, steamrolling interludes of hip-hop morsals onto a steadfast foundation of locomotive 90's hardcore. Adding a dash of hip-hop or rap influence for every stylistic value borrowed from Crown of Thornz or Life of Agony. Cold World play out of Pennsylvania, weilding a brand of hardcore not unlike the burgeoning east coast scene of almost two decades passed, very pissed-the-fuck-off but equally talented on instrumental terms which makes for interesting hardcore rather than the derivitive, mechanical concoctions many bands churn out in a feign attempt to replicate the Minor Threat or Sick Of It All glory days

There's very little out there strong enough to contend with what Cold World are doing right now and I recommend all their releases,

(Dedicated To Babies...)

(Ice Grillz)

Existing Underground

2009-09-06T13:57:00.003+01:00

Posts have, and will for the immediate future be few and far between due to logistical reasons. Broken down it means i'm never in the midst of a good internet connection, so all my blog ideas have been given the pen to paper treatment as of late. I'll have to wait a little bit longer before I can spew forth the many, many metaphors i've collected to describe Thom Yorke's voice & the beauty of Radiohead at Leeds Festival. Meanwhile I've been listening to alot of Poison The Well, predominantly that new behemoth 'The Tropic Rot' (Get it here) and Joy Division, don't say thats depressing though.

Meanwhile...

Mike Patton from Faith No More / Mr Bungle

Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco

I also think Tim Mcilrath from Rise Against looks like Thom Yorke.

The Troubled Youth of Suburban Life

2009-08-25T21:30:00.002+01:00

Thank God for Punk, I owe my way of thinking to it.

An evening in with Fall Out Boy

2009-08-24T15:38:00.004+01:00

There's no doubt about it, I used to dismiss this band. I never really let them register and even when I did it was a fleeting fancy for one or two of their big hits that more or less everyone could move to. I never thought of them as a band right at the forefront of making good music, they never were a totally amazing group of songwriters to me, Fall Out Boy didn't get the obsessive treatment I reserve for alot of the other big hitters I listen to. Nevertheless, as with anyone submerged in today's pop culture milieu they've always flirted with the boundaries of my listening radar.

For a group of guys who churn out solid hit after solid pop punk hit they possess somewhat double-edged sword charachteristics, take the very inception of Fall Out Boy; Joe Trohman overheard future lead singer Patrick Stump talking about Neurosis in a book store and went on to introduce himself. Not Bad Religion, not early Green Day but Neurosis! Pete Wentz, as preened and coiffed as you might like to think of him, played in a succession of hardcore punk and metalcore outfits, notably Arma Angelus (The Grave End of The Shovel), and Yellow Road Priest. Furthermore along with future drummer Andy Hurley, he played in the political straight edge act Racetraitor. It was only after the group discussed taking their musical aspirations in a direction that reflected their early pop punk listening habits (Descendants, The Get Up Kids), that Fall Out Boy came into being

I was really well and truly impressed with Folie á Deux, bringing it out roughly only a year after Infinity On High and still managing to pack in an abundance of delightfully well crafted songs aswell as furthering their musical maturity Is surely praise worthy in anyone's book. Bands don't do that nowadays, well not the gilded pop punk generation. They're so obsessed with the particulars of producing, mixing and mastering, to really put out what they want to put out. Pete Wentz, no longer the limelight thief with perfect teeth that i thought he was, is worthy of the recognition he gets. His lyrics are as satirical, layered, meaningful and seductively blazé. Metal has so many restrictions and boundaries that are watertight if you want to be deemed part of the fold, yet i have never seen a downside to 'wimpy' pop punk. It's just sailing in the sunshine, there's no downside to great hooks & great melody. Punk Rock is freedom, it is Art, someone great once said 'Art is expression, in expression you need 100% full freedom" .. and so i will advocate for Fall Out Boy.

So I've started my love affair, 5 years later than everyone else maybe, but hey, I'd like to think I listen to alot! The point of this blog? Probably to say that I was wrong to dismiss Fall Out Boy earlier on in their career, and also to say sorry to Pete Wentz - he's not the ego monster I labelled him as, he has quite a bit of wit about him, I love how he makes a complete mockery of young coked up Hollywood. Probably just a product of growing up listening to The Smiths.

For those who haven't heard Folie á Deux and feel like giving it a chance - Download

Wolf Whistle

2009-08-22T19:31:00.000+01:00

My friend Josh alerted me to a band called Wolf Whistle, who play a brand of fast hardcore straight out of New Bedford MA. Pretty good on their own merit but dig a little deeper and you'll learn they're fronted by Pat Flynn from Have Heart; which is pretty special in itself especially to think that this might well take up more of his time once the final Have Heart tour is through. They're completed by Trevor Vaughan of XFilesX, Derek DaSilva, and Evan Radigan of The Rival Mob (Get Rival Mob's 'Raw Life' record) and wrote a 10 song demo followed by another 4 song demo with ideas now to get back in the studio and record further tracks.

Fans of Have Heart will no doubt throw themselves onto this wholeheartedly but on a purely sonic level they don't draw that many parallels with the Boston flag boys. Think faster, more sporadic drumming and frenetic guitars with the track times more than halved. Just a grittier approach to hardcore in general and a backlash against the soaring chants and thumping hooks of Have Heart. Pat Flynn's vocal prescense remains untarnished, he's just as relentless as hes previously known to be, spitting his lines like a brown bear on steroids. Pat Flynn's good friendship with Lee from Trash Talk might have rubbed off a little on Wolf Whistles style, who are definitely more aligned to that pissed off Sacramento/San Fran sound than anything Boston is tending to at the moment. Great Stuff, get listening!

Wolf Whistle - Demo '07
Wolf Whistle - Winter Demo 09 + Live on WERS

My Summer Overture

2009-08-22T18:26:00.003+01:00

This is the last weekend before Leeds Fest 2009 lands and it's a definite case of 'the calm before the storm.' I feel the need to abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants in preparation for the four days of debauchery, kind of like the few days of fasting before the feast-banquet-marathon. Either way nothing but good times are in the pipeline. This is the finalised line-up, I could not be more stoked for Faith No More, after years and years of thinking i'd never get the chance to see them..

I Don't Care How Many Times You've Seen Fight Club, You Are Not Tyler Durden.

2009-08-05T09:45:00.001+01:00

I have little money to live but had enough to buy this.

No Jobs Here, Transients Turn Back

2009-08-05T07:32:00.012+01:00

An actual Ladder. I kid you not, after what initialised as a trivial argument with my Dad's wife, my father saw fit to heave a bulky step ladder in my direction - all the while huffing and panting like a threatened silver back. It wasn't pretty and to be honest none of you fucks needed to know anything about my family quarrels but every story has a beginning. Yes even 'The Neverending Story'

Post Paternal Meltdown left me stranded with nowhere to stay so I packed up the only things that mattered; Ipod, thrashed skinny black shorts & some fresh T's and took off to Peterborough to get away from everything. All I could listen to for the 4 hour journey was Saves The Day's 'Through Being Cool' - A band who I will staunchly defend against anyone. For those who are blinking blearily with no Saves The Day framework, think Sunny Day Real Estate glazing over heartbreak with sugary melody. For fans of The Movielife, The Get Up Kids etc. They're really not you're average 'Punky Pop Rock' band, 6 albums under their belt puts them high up on the mantle of genre heavyweights. Always a delight to listen to and Chris Conley's lyrics deal with so much of his own torment which flies directly in the face of whatever happy care-free pop punk you're listening to this week.

Link (Mediafire)
I spent the subsequent few days partying with everyone and going to the beach, Alas the number of attractive females falling into the 16-25 catergory was so low I was reduced to passing the time by playing beach cricket for hours on end and Gnarkill really fucking loud in the car. 'Mustard Man', 'Golden Egg', 'Skeletor vs Beastman' .. we nailed all the classics. On the Thursday I went to see This Is Colour in Peterborough with my brother Lewi, Shane & Andy - Alex was at the gig aswell. Small world, figures. I wore my Throats shirt.

So for the past week it's been hightimes all round, right now it's 8:35 am and i'm propped up on a caffeine scaffold trying not to succumb to the lulls of Incubus. Going to some wine bar tonight to have a root through whats left of the local indie scene, hopefully my next post will be a bit more cohesive.

The other night I wrote what I thought was a killer Cold World review, Sod's Law then prompted my laptop to overheat and shutdown instantly, obliterating my unsaved work. I scurried to a notepad and jotted down everything I could remember so once thats been pieced back together I'll post it for all you arm chair critics to scrutinise.

August will consist of finding somewhere stable to rest my head, paying my scandalous £90 college bus pass, unleashing everything at Trash Talk in Huddersfield and mastering the art of partying at Leeds Fest '09. Bring on Municipal Waste, Bring on Thursday, Bring on Deftones! One month of freedom left so lets fucking RAGE! 'til then this is what i've been listening to...

Trapped Under Ice - Secrets of The World
Hardcore out of Baltimore, drawing a few similarities with Bitter End and older stuff like Crown of Thornz. Big & brass good tyme Hardcore, very refreshing.

Link (Mediafire)

The Shins - Oh Inverted World
Musing Alt Rock, soft & comforting with melody & meaning to boot. For those who've also been sucked into the cult of Death Cab.

Link (Mediafire)

Kylesa - Static Tensions
Dark, brooding metal, Not far from the sound Mastodon aim for. Some would say 'Stoner Metal' but I really hate that term. I like this album so much I'll probably go into more detail in a later post!

Link (Mediafire)

Reign Supreme - Testing The Limits Of Infinite

2009-07-21T22:57:00.008+01:00

Genre: Hardcore / Metalcore
Release: July, 2009
Recorded & Produced by Will Putney at The Machine Shop
Deathwish Records
Download (mediafire)

Fists come flying courtesy of Philadelphia's own wall of sound Reign Supreme. Taking shape as an almighty slab of dense but evocative hardcore, that doesn't once try to masquerade it's metallic influences. 'Testing The Limits Of Infinite' well and truly brings the fight, but manages not to ignore the band's very own penchant for emotional presence.

Produced by Will Putney, who has worked under Machine with distinguished artists ranging from Lamb of God to Every Time I Die, at The Machine Shop in New York, ..'Testing The Limits' never set out to tear down musical boundaries. Instead the four-piece has poured their collective ideas into a vast mixing pot and solidified each common goal into something punishing, unforgiving, yet at times heightened by an innate passion - instilling a 'larger than life' atmosphere. That anthemic quality is something vocalist Jay Pepito is sincerely brazen in approach to. "I want them [the listener] to know that hardcore still makes me feel like every lyric is an anthem to my disillusioned youth." Jay stated he wanted to write a record not unlike Age Of Quarrel but for his generation, all the while drawing influence from Sepultura, Pantera and other 90's metal.

The Band, completed by guitarist Mike Doto, bassist Klint Kanopka and Joe Vergaraon on drums, have showcased a monumental 13 track outing, where each burst comes as a revitalizing wake up call to the joys of unrelenting metal inflections; skewered at the navel by shape and familiarity undeniably rooted in hardcore. Tracks such as the reworked 'Apostle' instantaneously bombast the senses with enough conviction to rattle your vital organs, sharply followed by the twin peaks of 'In Absentia' & 'Failure' which flare into thundering giants of metalcore, unyielding but far from predictable. The polarizing 'Waiting' meanders the path further, an instrumental niche in the bud of the record.

Studio tricks and engineering know-how have played their role in uprooting this record and subsequently this band from the platitude & pit-falls of a genre dangerously teetering on the edge of being stale, but in reality it's Reign Supreme's own notions of overcoming expectation that have really spurred them on to deliver a great metalcore record.

This is a band that can follow the same pattern that has been around since the 90's and take it up several notches without evolving it too far past the point of being accessible. A truly great record and already a watermark for future hardcore of '09.

Corporate Magazines Still Suck

2009-07-19T02:02:00.002+01:00

They printed my fucking letter! Not only did they print it, but they gave me letter of the month aswell. Rock Sound is unquestionably the best music publication in circulation, the no mans land between them and the how should I put it..'K' orientated weekly tissue paper pamphlet grows extensively from month to month. Thanks Rock Sound, for holding it down for the underground.

Page 6! Oh Sean Smith I hope you catch an eye full of this. If anyone is wondering what on Earth I'm harping on about like an incessant Macaw then see this previous blog post

The Gilded Few

2009-07-13T20:42:00.003+01:00

Nothing Gold can stay for long.
Fleeting strings of Love that bond,
Whisper winds to skies of rouge,
The lulling Moon to your sleepy blues.

Take your solace in the mirth that made him,
From Earthly endeavors the same we be lift.
Ever do we drift together,
Through reeds, over bows and the rifts.

Nothing Gold can stay for long.
Like seed sewn pastures one by one,
And beds of all that flush to bloom,
We hold our place in Nature's plume.

Ever do we band together,
My friend don't be weaned by fright.
Go gently in as softly goes,
A brace of birds so keen on flight.

From Mother's milk and arms to nest,
From Love that led you not astray,
Our hearts will bud and fade with ache.
Nothing Gold can stay.

Rest in peace Ryan,
I realise I borrowed a line from Robert Frost for you x

Throats

2009-07-04T21:19:00.009+01:00

Jess Morris (so I don't get sued)

'They're like Converge on acid' ..Thats what Frank Carter had to say about London based hardcore act Throats. Spend all of 15 minutes with their 2008 split with fellow British young bloods Maths and you'll realise how close to the mark that analogy is. Agonizing one minute, scalding the next.
As a group of individuals raised on pure angst and Cursed, the outpouring of hate and bile was always going to be something punishing.

Track one Black Thursday of 'Notes From The Turncoat Campaign', a split with American act The Network, is a savoured nugget of rambling riffing cloistered midway through by Alex Wealand's fucking caustic shrieks at either end. With such a serrated edge to his voice it's not hard to imagine him going toe to toe with Jacob Bannon & taking no lesser form than Lucifer on stage.

You would be hard pushed to find anything else akin to the Throats experience in Britain at the moment. In fact i'd go as far as to say it simply does not exist. The band rounded out by bassist Thom Sadler, drummer Chris Medgett and guitarists Bill Trevey & Mark Ringrose, are not concerned for one second with disposable hooks or throwaway melody. Their astringent brand of grind inflected hardcore renders alot of contemporary heavy acts tame.

Opening their side of the Maths split EP is Headclouds, an ominous three and a half minutes of brooding guitars and skull cracking stickwork which, eventually ignites an already doomy atmosphere with incendiary vocal barbs. Tumbling all limbs flailing into Locked Blue a short and sick hardcore melée which works itself into something of a groove by the end. The grind induced fever continues as Reign of Low and Comedown barage the senses in quick succession, only to then lure the listener into a gulf of suffocation.
Deathnaps steals the show, clocking in at six and a half minutes it is their Iliad, their Odyssey. A meandering barbarian of a song comprised of Throat's hardcore punk aggression aswell as their love for creating an atmosphere thick enough to choke on.

The most impressive track comes from the Turncoat split EP. Final track Hibernate staggers into an immediate vocal tirade, progressing into a gloomy trade off between distortion and blaring, 'I can't believe what this world has done to me' pierces the heavy veil of bass and guitar backdrop to leave a marked impression.

Throats are nowhere close to their high noon, they're still yet to record a full length but with a split being released in August with Sheffield's Rolo Tomassi no doubt they'll pick up more deserved attention. Give them a listen, they'll no doubt gut you bow to stern.

Check out their myspace

Purchase

Purchase

Boddah

2009-07-02T00:05:00.002+01:00

Infantile Lifeform Of a Voiceless Era, Angst Never Deputied.
Mother Is a Second's Solice.
Kissing Under the Rotting Trusses

Carry me On, Beyond Angels, Illuminating None
Marry a Yoko, Harbour Everything, Rule Over.