Review: There's a good reason that the Viagra Boys' latest album is self-titled. Unlike their previous album, 2022's satirical, politically-charged Cave World, the Swedish post-punkers' latest set is lyrically far more introspective, with frontman Sebastian Murphy offering (in the band's own words), a "self-deprecating exploration of his own absurdity" (or, in the case of opener 'Made of Meat', "your mom's Only Fans"). Musically sitting between energetic, horn-heavy early 80s post-punk and grunge-fired US alt-rock - with occasional nods to more tropical and melody-driven flavours - the album is heaps of fun with strong songs aplenty, not least the jaunty 'Pyramid of Health', the low-slung, synth-sporting 'Waterboy' and the surprisingly pastoral 'River King'.
Review: Jazz and punk's best legacies fuse together with this latest collaborative release between The Messthetics and James Brandon. Brandon is a jazz saxophonist and contemporary virtuoso from New York; meanwhile, the Messthetics consist of former Fugazi members - bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty with guitarist Anthony Pirog. Continuing the latter's pegging as a 'jazz punk jam', the focus here is on Brandon's novel sax playing, lent to the Messthetics' cathartic, ultimate punk-riffing focus. All is instrumental, as signalled on the lead single 'Emergence', which finds pure enjoyment in variation around a singular four-by-four bass loop. In the saxophonist's own words: "The Messthetics are friends at this point and collaborating with them over the years has now brought us to another high point of musical bonding and purely unapologetic energy!"
Jesus Of Suburnia/City Of The Damned/I Don't Care/Dearly Beloved/Tales Of Another Broken Home
Holiday
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Are We The Waiting
St Jimmy
Give Me Novacaine
She's A Rebel
Extraordinary Girl
Letterbomb
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Homecoming: Death Of St Jimmy/East 12th St/Nobody Likes You/Rock & Roll Girlfriend/We're Coming Home Again
Whatsername
Review: A defining moment in latter day punk rock history originally released in 2004, capturing the disillusionment of a generation at the time, Green Day's American Idiot now gets a special 20th Anniversary edition. Hits like 'American Idiot' itself and 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' still resonate with audiences today though, and this anniversary edition enriches the original with unreleased demos, live tracks and alternate versions, offering a deeper glimpse into the album's creation. A must-have for longtime fans and new listeners alike.
Review: Daisy Chainsaw commanded a unique spell over the English punk and garage rock scenes of the early 90s. Never quite totally placeable, their earliest gigs involved frolicking around onstage in soiled gowns and strewing rag dolls and grapevines across stages. Forming part of their debut EP at the turn of the '90s, 'Love Your Money' became the bands breakout sensation hit, the song being a satirical rip-roarer of snarling punk and rockabilly, with a highly-strung backbeat and lyrics decrying the record industry's avaricious ways; PSA to artists, they just love your money, or the money they think they can make off you!
Review: Originally released in 2004 and celebrating its 20th anniversary, Where You Want To Be would serve as the sophomore full-length from Amityville, New York emo/pop-punk icons in the making Taking Back Sunday. Following the rapid success of their 2002 debut LP Tell All Your Friends, John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper would leave the group to form Straylight Run (though they would eventually return) and be replaced by Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano, respectively, with the pair utilising their jazz school background to help the band tighten up compositionally and attain their sought-after elevation. Working with former Husker Du soundman and producer Lou Giordano (The Goo Goo Dolls, Sunny Day Real Estate), pushed the members to embrace additional instrumentation, emblematic on the string-guided ballad 'New American Classic' while lead single 'A Decade Under The Influence' remains one of their signature cuts to this day. Retaining the gritty post-hardcore bite of their debut yet already discovering their burgeoning mainstream appeal which would take full flight on 2006's breakout album Louder Now, the legacy of the aptly titled Where You Want To Be is one of a poignant bridging point between two equally vital eras for the band.
Review: After recording sessions for their legendary fifth LP Combat Rock would come to a close at the end of 1981, punk heroes The Clash embarked on a six-week jaunt across Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand (where they shot the iconic cover for their forthcoming record) and Hong Kong. Hitting the city of Kowloon on 25th February only a few months out from record release, this was an era when Hong Kong was still a colony of the British Empire (the last existing dependency of any significance at this time) and enjoyed less government interference in personal freedom, yet there had never been an act as bold as The Clash over to visit. With a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with bangers galore from 'The Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law', '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' and 'Jimmy Jazz', with the band even treating the crowd to an early earful of Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' more than two months before official release (a time when no one had smart phones to film and throw up on YouTube or include on Setlist.fm as "New Song"), this performance and tour would also be one of the final to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be fired due to his heroin addiction just a few months down the line, marking the end of the original line-up.
Review: Primarily known for his sprawling LA-based psych/garage/punk/all of the above work as Osees aka Thee Oh Sees aka Oh Sees, John Dwyer links up with experienced percussionist Dave Barbarossa (Fine Young Cannibals, Adam & The Ants) for the retro bratty glam-punk experience of the year - Chime Oblivion. Their self-titled debut is packed full of squelchy synths, jagged minimalist guitar lines and high-pitched eccentric vocals, paying clear homage to classic acts such as The Slits and Bow Wow Wow. Chock full of bite-sized bangers including 'Neighbourhood Dog' and 'Kiss Her Or Be Her', both of which scoff at the notion of a three-minute track, this is retrofitted throwback dance-punk in the stylised era before it even had such a moniker.
Review: Following on from 2023's acclaimed debut full-length All Gas No Brakes, Bristolian noise-punks Heavy Lungs return with the definition of an antithetical sophomore LP with Caviar. Clocking in at under 30 minutes (significantly less than their initial outing) and recorded live in dingy church rehearsal spaces to capture the unhinged intensity of their live performances, this is the sound of a band vehemently disinterested with mainstream appeal, exposure or playing the game by any terms apart from their own. While vocalist Danny Nedelko would be the named subject of one of the biggest singles from fellow Bristol natives Idles' 2018 breakout second album Joy As An Act Of Resistance, where his peers have expanded their sound and embraced myriads of melody, Heavy Lungs are poignantly going the opposite route, full speed towards oblivion with only chaos and anarchy on their collective minds.
Review: The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band's Infants Under The Bulb album is an engaging journey through unbridled punk creativity and raw guitar energy. Released amidst their hometown's vibrant underground scene, the album defies categorisation in the way it blends elements of punk, post-punk and experimental rock. With relentless rhythms, angular guitar riffs and cryptic lyrics, each track unfolds in heavy and arresting fashion and the band's unconventional approach and uncompromising attitude challenge listeners to embrace the unconventional throughout this most visceral of albums.
Review: With their 2022 debut LP God's Country, the herald of the true face and voice for modern middle-American malaise came in the form of noise-rock/sludge metal purveyors Chat Pile. Broadcasting from their muted home of Oklahoma City, their deformed sonic mutations pulled equally from The Jesus Lizard, Acid Bath and Korn, while vocalist Raygun Busch (that is his credited moniker) appalled and harrowed with his spoken-word nightmare poetics touching on everything from homelessness and the opioid crisis, to real-life recounts of botched robberies and first-person narratives from horror film characters such as the mother of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. Expanding their scope both conceptually and compositionally, Cool World takes aim at the entire planet with classism, the horrors of war and genocide, the very real potential for abuse stemming from toxic masculinity, capitalist lies and the nihility of existence all as topics of discussion, while still making time for backwoods journeys into serial killer's isolated farm homes. Musically continuing to pummel with industrial abrasion and hypnotic groove, sonically the band have begun to embrace their sludge-core tendencies while channelling nuanced elements of alternative metal and goth rock, offering new painstaking modes of vulnerability to drive home their despair-laden character studies. Mark our words, there isn't one single other metal/punk/alternative album in 2024 that slaps this hard while instilling such a cold feeling of visceral dread and fear for our ever-despondent cool world.
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