Blog's not Dead!

Yeah, I haven't done shit with this blog in a while. Wish I could say that I have some grand scheme, but I don't. I'm just lazy. There's a few pieces being worked on right now: a Siltbreeze round-up (all 8 releases from this year), Ecstatic Peace blurb (3 reviews), reunion records (Dinosaur Jr/Buffalo Tom), shitty record run-down, and a review of the Slogun Shogun EP (since he is the only person that sent me material to review). Here's something to chew on until then, my top 5 full lengths of the year (Pending anything great coming out before the end of the year. TV Ghost 12"?):

1. Jesu - Conqueror (Hydrahead)
2. Pink Reason - Cleaning The Mirror (Siltbreeze)
3. Double Negative - The Wonderful and Frightening World Of... (No Way)
4. A Place To Bury Strangers - S/T (Killer Pimp)
5. Clockclean er - Babylon Rules (Load)


Maybe at some point I'll expand beyond 5. Or, maybe I'll grade the 7"s of the year. I'll have more of something soon.

Punk Planet reviews round 1 (PP79)

Another Breath-Mill City CD

This is a pretty good summary of what modern hardcore is. With that being said, they’re not bringing anything new to the table. It’s not bad by any means, it just isn’t anything that I’d flip out over. Maybe they should have titled the album Run of the Mill City. ((DA))

Rivalry Day of the Dead -A New Healing Process CD Mid-tempo epic hardcore with indecipherable vocals. They remind me of Orchid if you pared them down to just the straightforward riffs and expanded them into full songs. They’re from Portugal. How often do you hear that? I guess that’s the only significant thing about these guys. ((DA)) State Of Mind Recordings Everything Falls Apart -Escape 7" This is the debut rager by Buffalo, NY’s Everything Falls Apart. With the amount of generic hardcore that I get fed to review, it’s pretty easy to get cynical. Records like this one keep me from losing my mind. There’s nothing negative to say about it. Good layout and light blue opaque vinyl coupled with rock solid no frills hardcore. Phenomenal. ((DA)) Self-released Few and the Proud, the -Stampede CD The info sheet name checks Judge and Slapshot as influences and I can’t disagree with that. Stampede is the debut full length by Chicago straight edge purveyors the Few and the Proud. On first listen I thought the album was pretty bland, but it grew on me. Would I rather be listening to John Caution’s other band, Weekend Nachos? Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is 22 minutes of quality, modern hardcore. ((DA)) Organized Crime Hammer Bros. -The Vitality CD Check it out, another really boring metallic hardcore record! Maybe they’re really good live or something, because I can’t figure this one out. There’s a virtual sea of records like this right now. I’m bored. ((DA)) Crosscheck Know the Score -All Time Low CD The whole album reeks of trying too hard to say fuck you. Know the Score is pissed and they want to point the finger at the culprits. There’s so much of this stuff out there that I’m running out of things to say about it. Maybe I need to come up with a form review for bad metallic modern hardcore? ((DA)) Eulogy Life Crisis -Churchstate 7" Pretty straight up thrash blazing at you from this release. The early DRI and COC comparisons are pretty accurate. It’s on Deep Six, so you can trust that it’s going to be some quality hardcore. Nerd stat, it’s on grayish blue vinyl. ((DA)) Deep Six My Hero Died Today -From Our Cold Dead Hands CD Technical hardcore in the vein of Refused. The problem lies in the fact that Refused pulled off this sound and My Hero Died Today doesn’t. I’m stuck in the middle on this one, it’s decent but I don’t foresee myself throwing this CD on in the future. ((DA)) Dancing in the Dark I think I let a lot of these guys off easy, in the spirit of being objective. My reviews for Punk Planet always felt sort of neutered in the way that they're always trying to give an accurate perception of the music because someone out there will like it... Ugh. If it sucks, let me say that it's a pile of dog shit. Don't candy coat it.

From the ground up.

Well, here it is, another music blog. About a week ago I decided to start a music blog, separate from my personal whinings on my My Space blog. So I guess this is still personal whinings, but it'll be about music...instead of my stupid life.

Starting this blog didn't seem all that necessary for me, but I decided to do it nonetheless. Then, today I discovered that Punk Planet has stopped publication. With nowhere to spout off my indifference toward lots of shitty bands, this blog was immediately thrust into a role of necessity.

I'll add some reviews soon...hopefully. With no editors or deadlines breathing down my neck, the motivation might not always be there. My reviews will lean toward newer stuff, mainly releases from 2007. At times I may do write ups of overlooked favorites. Maybe I'll do some interviews? We'll see what happens.