Razorcake

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F:
Four from `84: 7”
The only thing I really remember of this band is their great track, “Attack,” from the first Flipside comp. I don’t recall what the You Are an E.P. 12” sounds like anymore. It’s been a couple of decades since I last heard it, and I think my brother has it. I think it was still basically hardcore. I’m guessing this recording session would fall right after those two releases. It sounds like the period when a lot of punk bands either went metal or rock. F went the rock route. This release has that early glam-meets-rock sound: a mixture of Iggy Pop meets Redd Kross, a loose expression of having fun, being obnoxious, and not caring if you like it or not. A band that didn’t float in my radar back then, but it is an interesting thing to be unearthed for people to hear. –Donofthedead (Burrito)

F-BOMB:
El Diablo Dinner Theatre: CD
A melding of college rock, punk and maybe a dash of emo, resulting in a CD that’s as boring as that description sounds. –Jimmy Alvarado (Groundswell)

F-HOLE:
Self-titled: 7" EP
I feel like a fuck hole for making it to the second song.
–Megan Pants (F-Hole)

F-MINUS:
Won't Bleed Me/Failed Society: CD
F-Minus has never been a band that I have ever said, "I love this shit!" I always felt they were just okay, but never have moved me to go out and buy their stuff. But hey, that's just me. I know they already have a fan base. So I guess that warrants a reissue of two 7"s with two additional covers on one CD. It's early '80s punk that I would have been more excited hearing in 1984 than 2005. I give them props on their Negative Approach and Agnostic Front covers. They are done really well and fits them nicely. –Donofthedead (Alternative Tentacles)

F-MINUS:
Wake Up Screaming: CD
F-Minus play fast, aggressive hardcore with just enough hooks to keep it from being a wall of noise. They alternate male and female vocals and it works especially well because neither of them can sing, but both of them sound really good. With Wake Up Screaming, they’ve lost their bass player/other female vocalist from earlier records, which is a shame. I like the way she sings. Still, this album rips through fifteen songs with enough power and pogo to keep me smiling. –Sean Carswell (Hellcat)

F-MINUS:
Suburban Blight: CD
Holy shit! Just the CD I have been waiting for. 20 fast, loud, angry, balls-out hardcore punk tracks in only 24 minutes. None of which surpass the two minute mark. F-Minus is the best thing to come in the mail in a while. The last CD that did this to me was Asshole Parade’s Student Ghetto Violence. Their sound kinda reminded me of them too with some female vocals thrown in. Two guys (drum and guitar) and two girls (bass and guitar) all share vocals from song to song. All four of them churn out great, pissed off, gut-wrenching vocals equally as well. No pussies in the bunch (no pun intended). These songs, are as the title implies, about suburbia and the disdain these great musicians, singers and songwriters feel about the living among these minions of sheep and their silly façade. All around a tight, fast-as-fuck fury. This is the best antidote for their glass house world, shattering it to bits. The CD has already racked up a shitload of frequent flyer miles on my CD player. It wakes me up in the morning as I get up to head outside the city for work to face these robots on a daily basis giving me relief that I am not alone in the anger I feel. Thanks to bands like this, I am not going postal. Instead, I am the maniac at 5:30am driving too fast down the highway, windows down, radio blasting, pounding the steering wheel and dashboard while shaking my head back and forth on my way to be the consummate professional that I am. (Hey, at least I’m not doing my make up, reading the paper, talking on a cell phone, drinking and eating or the many other things the others around me are all doing aside from actually paying attention to the road.) Do yourself a favor. Get this CD, put it in, roll the windows down, turn it up to 11 and drive real fast. Preferably in a cookie cutter subdivision full of soccer moms and kids playing in the streets. Faster, faster, faster! –Toby Tober (Hellcat)

F-MINUS/ CRACK ROCK STEADY SEVEN:
Baby Jesus, Sliced Up in the Manger: split CD
If you haven heard of F-Minus yet and like your punk hard and fucking fast, check them out. Crusty hardcore punk with gut-wrenching male and female vocals. They have five songs here lasting about five and a half minutes. Kind of a teaser, but well worth it. The Crack Rock Steady Seven sound is equally hard at times, but not as focused as F-Minus. The music is inconsistent, which can make it a hard listen. One minute it’s hard as fuck, the next it’s poppy ska. There are also too many samples of extraneous crap between their songs. It gives me the same feeling I remember when I heard Leftover Crack’s Mediocre Generation album. They’re a good band with some potential, but some tastes don’t taste great together. –Toby Tober (Hellbent)

F.L.A.K.:
Fearing Lost Apocalyptic Knowledge: LP
I was expecting epic power metal or Norwegian death metal from the cover of this LP. Ended up with fast, fairly standard thrash. The band is from Pittsburgh and play blown-out thrash for fans of Mob 47, Anti Cimex, and the like. Limited edition of 300 copies, so move fast if this is your style. –Mike Frame (Hashshashinrecords@gmail.com)

F.M. KNIVES:
Useless and Modern: CD
Holy crap, what rock did these guys crawl out from under? Everything I can find about these guys point to a little Northern California hellhole known as Sacramento as being their home, but, based solely on the sound of this, you’d swear they was a bunch of Limeys. Featuring former members of a group known as Los Huevos, F.M. Knives have recorded THE quintessential album of 1977 England, the greatest album the Buzzcocks never recorded, provided they had borrowed the Damned’s equipment and nicked the best riffs that the Undertones and the Boys could muster. Yet this doesn’t sound dated in the least. While obviously taking their cues from punk rock’s past, there seems to be an informed sensibility and energy at work here that keeps this from sounding rehashed and tired and instead as timeless, vigorous and crucial as the best of any of their apparent influences. Don’t believe me? I dare any doubters to compare classic ravers like the Undertones’ “Male Model,” the Boys’ “Sick On You” and the Buzzcocks’ “I Don’t Mind” to the tracks “DOA,” “Summer Holiday” and the title track and tell me that the latter don’t hold their own. Pick up twenty copies or so (to ensure you have a spare when you wear the previous one out) and tell ’em it came with the highest of recommendations. –Jimmy Alvarado (Moo-La-La)

F.P.O.:
You Don’t Know What Human Is: LP
It’s not every day a hardcore band from Macedonia pops up. These guys play some decent Y2K thrash. I think two or three song seven inches would be more effective. As an LP, everything here starts to sound the same, and there’s not a whole lot of “oomph” to keep you interested the whole way through. The vocals have zero character. Just shout, shout, shout, with no real sense of emotion. This record isn’t horrible. It’s just okay. –Matt Average (Third Party, www.thirdxparty.com)

F.U.Z.Z.:
Self-titled: CD
The debut full length from Indianapolis' triphop outfit - f.u.z.z. reminds me heavily of Tricky, actually. Okay stuff - sometimes a little overly dramatic/trying too hard. They, for sure, pull on the tricky-side of hip hop. female vocals, with the occasional male rap. Her vocals are schizophrenic - at times, delicate, Ella Fitzgerald wails, and then brutal spoken word. The beats are fairly tight, nice, and impressive. The first few tracks didn't do much for me - mediocre samples and not-so-interesting beats. "Swan Dive," the fourth track, is a good one - with intense, dramatic raps, about how rough life can be. Yowza. A little to long, but, the music adds to the enjoyment. The chorus is a tad sloppy, but it's an overall intense tune. But the rest of the record is much more interesting - despite the shakiness of the lyrics at times - they don't keep me, and sometimes seem a bit cheesy. F.u.z.z. does make me want to drive long distances at extremely fast speeds in small sports cars, or just smoke some pot and stare at the ceiling of my bedroom. Hmm. –Miss Sarah A. Stierc (Anechoic, 22-55 Crescent St. #00, Long Island City, NY 11105; http://www.anechoicrecordings.com )

FABIO VAN MESS:
It’s a VAN’s World: CD-R
In a perfect world, bands like U2 and Metallica would sell as many albums as Cleveland Bound Death Sentence and there would be fewer Jack Johnson rip-offs and more Fabio Van Messes. This is not the greatest music ever made, and probably not even the best thing I’ve heard today. It is what it is, which is bare-bones folk music, performed with an English accent (he’s Italian), and it is not bad at all. I’m sure the locals all love Fabio Van Mess, and I can guarantee you that’s more than enough for him. Music for enjoyment’s sake. –Will Kwiatkowski –Guest Contributor (No Flags, www.noflagsrecords.com)

FABULOUS DISASTER:
Put Out Or Get Out!: CD
Man! Retodd knows my preferences and what I might enjoy. After a long layoff on the review front, he picks a winner for the first thing he sends me. This is the pre-release for this band's release on the Fat Wreck subsidiary Pink and Black. This is the label's second signing, joining the Dance Hall Crashers on the roster. What a great choice! If you like or love DHC, you will love this band. This has been a regular play in my CD changer in the car now for weeks. I can't get over the great harmonies over great melodies. At the same time, the band packs a punch. I have no idea what the songs are titled or what the band members look like, all I know is that track five is my favorite. The intro reminded me of The Cure and bolts forward with a mid tempo punk riff and goes into an almost dream-like chorus of beautiful harmony. The moods on that song jerk back and forth from regret to pure anger. An absolute gem! I can't wait 'til the actual release comes out to see the lyric sheet and see if all my curiosities can be answered. It reminded me of the Teen Idols (not the DC band, Teen Idles) mixed with the great elements of all the female-led punk bands from the past. –Donofthedead (Pink & Black, PO Box 190516, SF, CA 94119)

FABULOUS DISASTER:
I'm a Mess: CDEP
When bands have line-up changes, they have a harder time proving their worth to longtime fans. Well, Fab-D lost singer Laura Litter and bassist Mr. Nancy. I’m not sure if the new bassist/lead vocalist Lynda Mess is in fact old guitarist Lynda Mandolyn. The only remaining member from the Fat Wreck/Pink & Black period is Sally Gess on drums who now goes by the title of Sally Disaster. Cinder Block from Tilt fame was supposed to be the new singer but they parted ways prior to this recording. So in this new incarnation, they seem, to me, to have taken a few steps back in their song writing. They play a more remedial punk styling than what was originally released on their last two full lengths. The song “Dead End” has parts that reminded me of Elastica. The cover of Joe Jackson’s “Got the Time” was pretty good but I still like Anthrax’s cover better. I think the band has a lot to recover from because they set the bar high when they wrote “Red Blister” off the Put Out or Get Out CD. That is still one of my all-time favorite songs. –Donofthedead (Rodent Popsicle)

FABULOUS DISASTER:
Panty Raid!: CD
Holy friggin’ cow! I've been waiting a long time for this. To show you how long, I have had a copy of their last CD in my changer in my car since I reviewed it for Issue 1. And I have to tell you, many a CD has gone through that changer in that time. I just can’t get myself to replace it with something else. The song "Red Blister" from that release is one of my all-time favorite songs, and I still haven’t grown tired of it. I saw them live once when they were touring with Propagandhi, Avail, and J Church. The place was empty when they had to open the show. For the few who were present at the time, we were rocked out of our shoes when they performed. I've been hooked since. To give you a little history of their discography, their first release was Pretty Killers, followed by Put Out or Get Out which is the release that won’t leave my car. Panty Raid! shows that they continue to progress as musicians and writers. The production on this one is more polished than their previous. The songs are tighter and faster. The vocals beautifully mesh together to create wonderful harmonies that make it appealing to people who like the music of groups like the Go Go’s or the Graces. The difference is that these Bay Area women rock harder and have the tough appearance to stand up to any attack. They should be on tour with the Briefs by the time you read this. You have to see them live to appreciate how good they are and what you are missing. Now let’s see how long this one stays in the car! –Donofthedead (Pink and Black)

FABULOUS DISASTER:
Put Out Or Get Out!: CDR
Man! Retodd knows my preferences and what I might enjoy. After a long layoff on the review front, he picks a winner for the first thing he sends me. This is the pre‑release for this band's release on the Fat Wreck subsidiary Pink and Black. This is the label's second signing, joining the Dance Hall Crashers on the roster. What a great choice! If you like or love DHC, you will love this band. This has been a regular play in my CD changer in the car now for weeks. I can't get over the great harmonies over great melodies. At the same time, the band packs a punch. I have no idea what the songs are titled or what the band members look like, all I know is that track five is my favorite. The intro reminded me of The Cure and bolts forward with a mid tempo punk riff and goes into an almost dream-like chorus of beautiful harmony. The moods on that song jerk back and forth from regret to pure anger. An absolute gem! I can't wait 'til the actual release comes out to see the lyric sheet and see if all my curiosities can be answered. It reminded me of the Teen Idols (not the DC band, Teen Idles) mixed with the great elements of all the female-led punk bands from the past. –Donofthedead (Pink & Black)

FAÇADE BURNED BLACK:
Ashen Remains of Midwestern Flames: LP
Intense hardcore that often veers on the edge of becoming total noise. Hey, do the guys in Corrosion of Conformity know you’ve co-opted their skull logo? –Jimmy Alvarado (Fascade Burned Black, PO Box 13087, Chesapeake, VA 23325)

FACE FIRST:
Ignorant Assholes: 7” EP
By-the-numbers, vaguely metallic hardcore with a pissed off singer who seems to have some issues with women. I find it interesting that they claim in one song to see right through “racist nazi pig[s],” and then parenthetically title a song “Whoriental” four songs later. I guess if it’s in her “nature to be such a whore,” a little hypocrisy never hurt, eh? Methinks the title they chose is a tad more fitting than they intended. –Jimmy Alvarado (Rat Town)

FACE VALUE:
Rode Hard, Put Away Wet: Clevo HC ‘89-’93: CD + DVD
This is definitely one of the best discography releases I’ve seen: a full CD of material, including the first demo, and a DVD of live footage, photos, flyers, etc. If you are at all into Face Value, then you should by all means pick this up. When most bands of the time Face Value existed in were mimicking other hardcore bands, Face Value looked to rock bands for musical inspiration, much like the first wave hardcore bands before them had done. Check the solo on “You Claim” or the song “Blind Men.” The music is definitely hardcore and is energetic as hell: fast without being a blur and the vocals are bellowed out with conviction. Their best material is The Price of Maturity LP, though I imagine most will like their Coming of Age EP, since it sticks to the late ‘80s hardcore sound the most. You would have never expected Erba to go on and form a band like Gordon Solie Motherfuckers a few years later, though they are similar in sound. I guess my point is, most people from the late ‘80s, early ‘90s hardcore scene faded away and this dude kept coming back, better and better. The DVD has video from various shows around the Midwest and the East Coast. Sound quality is decent and it’s an interesting document of the times. Seriously, if you like Face Value, or even Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, 9 Shocks Terror, etc, then get this. –Matt Average (Smog Veil, smogveil.com)

FACE, LE:
Isolation: CD
These malcontents fall squarely between the arty minimalism of the Urinals/100 Flowers and the full-bore psychosis of the Mentally Ill. What that means to the consuming public is you get thirteen tracks of obstreperous punk rock that is concerned about finding an appropriate pigeonhole to fit in as the bands that influenced them. If you like it unfriendly and unruly, this’ll do the trick, but if you’re looking for something that’d fit nicely on punk stations like Disney Radio, you’re pissing up the wrong rope, kid. –Jimmy Alvarado (Deadbeat)

FACELESS WEREWOLVES:
Medium Freaky: CD
I am madly in love with the first line of the first song on this album. The lead singer’s bratty girl voice full of unapologetic snark singing, “Well I met this girl/ You can’t wrap your brain around her…” over a sparse drum beat. So fucking good. If that song were a day long, that would be the best day ever. The rest of the album is good too. Decent, up tempo rock songs. But really the whole thing suffers from best-song-first disease. The kind of album you keep around just so you can put that first song on every mixed tape you ever make. –Jennifer Whiteford (Super Secret)

FACET, THE:
Adult Comedy: CD
Well, it’s loud. Aside from that, I couldn’t pay myself to be interested. –Jimmy Alvarado (Not Bad)

FACTORY INCIDENT, THE:
Redtape: CD
Second release from this post-punk quintet from DC. The Factory Incident rolls the dice and comes up snake eyes on this stellar six-song mini-album. Intricate arrangements, dueling guitars and thoughtful lyrics help this one stand out in a crowd. “Argument” features slippery bass lines reminiscent of PiL’s early output as the singer rails against the fray—“We have some conflict.” Superb. “In the Vile” is also a killer track with some wild drum fills that truly compliment the song’s flow. “4AM” offers up some cool guitar riffs that are sure to keep you up very late at night staring out at the stars. If you liked any aspects of The Sound, Echo & The Bunnymen, or Mission Of Burma, you will dig this band’s groove brought up to date for the masses. Mixed by J Robbins, so you know that you need this CD like you need to breathe. –Sean Koepenick (Post Fact)

FACTORY INCIDENT, THE:
Helmshore: CDEP
I’ve gotta be one of the only people on the planet that absolutely loathed Government Issue’s later recordings. I’d read all these glowing reviews of each record they put out after Joyride, praising the sheer genius of John Stabb and his merry pranksters, and secretly wonder what the hell was wrong with me ‘cause I thought it was crap. No matter how many times I listened to each album, how hard I tried to “get it,” the only thing I was ever able to glean from each musical experience was complete boredom. It wasn’t just GI in particular, either. Damn near all of what came outta DC from, say, 1985 on absolutely bored me to tears. All of those bands that formed the nucleus of the fledgling “emocore” thang, Beefeater, Rites of Spring, Egghunt, et al., collectively seemed like one big vacuum intent on sucking all the excitement from the only other scene outside of Los Angeles that I gave two shits about and putting in its stead the very same arty, self-centered pretentiousness that so many of us hated about bands like Yes and ELP. It’s not that I wanted all that was coming outta there to sound like Minor Threat or even United Mutations, but I did (and still) miss the intensity of emotion that seemed so integral to that early scene and, frankly, Jawbox just don’t do it for me. I’m able to experience more intense feelings these days trying to put together a futon. But I digress. This is an EP courtesy of Stabb (now apparently going by his given name of John Shroeder) and his latest band that, although not particularly energetic, is thankfully interesting enough to warrant more than a casual listen. The sound is not unlike very mellow, post-Sonic Youth pop with guitars eschewing the standard barre chord (the punker’s fave) for more complex fingerings, and John gently crooning along. It’s also loads better than what GI ended up being, which alone is a definite plus. As this played, I found myself thinking of a boat ride on a lake, which I guess means that there’s also a certain nonverbal picturesque quality to what they’re doing that is effective. This disc certainly ain’t exactly gonna win them any punker points, but at this point in time, I don’t think they care much about such things anymore. I woulda loved to hear them do “Sheer Terror” with this sound, though. Hee hee. –Jimmy Alvarado (Post/Fact)

FACTUMS:
Spells and Charms: CD
These guys really don’t put up any pretense of being a “rock” band and just go balls out into skronking it up. What makes ‘em special, though, is rather than just pummel you with eighty minutes of static patterns, they are very conscious of dynamics and use ‘em well to break up the onset of any monotony. Sometimes, this reminds me of stuff like the Swans’ Body to Body Job to Job record with its little bits of noisy loopy stuff followed by something that resembles, at least in structure, a song. Good stuff if yer feelin’ adventurous. –Jimmy Alvarado (Kill Shaman)

FAERIES, THE:
Riot in the Hive Mind: CD
Looks like a 7" — comes in a booklet that's collated wrong with a little rubber nub in the back to hold the CD. Not just collated wrong, but all scribbled and sketchy and hard to read and hard to understand, kind of like the music, which is a sort of experimental metal/punk that reminds me of Rudimentary Peni or Amebix without really sounding like them. It's got some nice guitar sounds, but overall it's too inorganic and bloodless and socio-political to shake any real meat at me. Funny song titles ("Rape Elvis' Skeleton," "Shank Race," "Federal Agents are Entering the Compound and the Faeries are Returning Fire"), though. –Cuss Baxter (no label)

FAERIES, THE:
Riot in the Hive Mind: CD
Looks like a 7”—comes in a booklet that’s collated wrong with a little rubber nub in the back to hold the CD. Not just collated wrong, but all scribbled and sketchy and hard to read and hard to understand, kind of like the music, which is a sort of experimental metal/punk that reminds me of Rudimentary Peni or Amebix without really sounding like them. It’s got some nice guitar sounds, but overall it’s too inorganic and bloodless and socio-political to shake any real meat at me. Funny song titles (“Rape Elvis’ Skeleton,” “Shank Race,” “Federal Agents are Entering the Compound and the Faeries are Returning Fire”), though. –Cuss Baxter (no label)

FAG ENABLERZ:
God Hates Fag Enablerz: Cassette
No doubt the name caught my attention. Plus it set my expectations pretty high. I figure if you’re going to have a name like that, you better have the music to back it up. Something tough, something offensive, something good. Instead, the music on here is run of the mill punk rock without much of an edge or bite. “The Watcher” is their best track. It’s a mid tempo crawler with darkness. The type of song you listen to while driving around L.A. at night. “I Love You” is the other song on here (there’s six total), which is a bit of a quick tempo song that has a bouncy rhythm. It bogs down at one point when they slow the tempo down and speak then yell the lyrics over a drum and bass break. If they shaved some time off this song and focused it, then it would have been a better tune. A lot of filler on this one. –Matt Average (heavychongo@gmail.com)

FAGGOT:
Self-titled: CD
This band has shock down to a science. Offensive band name? Yep. Album artwork covered with images of penises and anuses slathered in neon green? Absolutely. Video directed by Lloyd Kaufman of Troma films fame? It’s included on the CD. But that shit’s the easy part. It’s not worth anything if the music doesn’t rock. It has no value if you don’t listen to the album so many times that you find yourself at work in the office or grocery store or wherever with random lines from “The Cleaner” running through your head. Maybe they accidentally spill out of your lips and a work buddy catches you quietly singing “Pull your legs over your head.” As you’re dragging the line out, trying to make it sound as caustic as possible, your face turns red and you realize that you need to keep that shit in your head. Pervert. –MP Johnson (Profane Existence/Selfish Satan)

FAGHAGS, THE:
Self-titled: CDEP
I’m sure these fine So. Cal. folks were doing dog wheelies inside that big Mickey Mouse head-shaped flowerbed at Di$neyland before giving the finger to their Anaheim home and shoving off to Long Beach, God bless ‘em. Creepy, sleazy, stumbling rockin’ and rollin’ spinning ‘round on this EP, the same way that first Humpers LP, My Machine made you feel, but with more of a Darby Crash kick in the pants. From what I’m gathering, the Faghags seem to be a side-gig for members of Lisafer, Throttle, Whiskey Dick, and the Lipstick Pickups. That said, if you’re moving your ass to go see these bands, you need to get that ass moving some more and go buy the ‘Hags a round at their next show. Better yet, make it a double. –Designated Dale (Booking/Info: (714) 222-9240)

FAGS, THE:
Light ‘Em Up: CD
This Detroit three-piece sounds enough like Cheap Trick to warrant the vast effusion of Cheap Trick comparisons, i suppose (mainly the vocals, and that’s only at times, but when it does kick in, it’s pretty spot-on), but the untold story behind this statement is that it’s sort of a three-piece Cheap Trick that they sound like, and the three guys left standing in said version are Robin, Tom, and Bun E.–ergo, don’t expect much in the way of Rick-like genius at either the songwriting nor guitar solo ends of the spectrum. Ultimately, it kinda sounds like if Robin Zander worked out a lot, got some but not all of the Go to be his backing band, and played an entire album’s worth of Vandalias and Exploding Hearts covers, except all the songs involved drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, ‘cause that’s just how we roll. Occasionally sounds like .38 Special, but, then again, so did All. Fun until someone starts waving a lighter, one supposes. BEST SONG: “Tonite” BEST SONG TITLE: “Truly, Truly” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Production assistance by former Brownsville Station member Michael Lutz! W00t! –Rev. Norb (Idol)

FAGS, THE:
Light’ Em Up: CD
Tragic story of another band destroyed by major label bullshit. You can read about it on their myspace page. But in a nutshell, after trying to get this record out to a larger audience, they have decided to pack it in. Which is a shame, because this record rocks! I mean R-O-C-K. It’s like an unholy trinity of Cheap Trick, The Replacements, and Van Halen. Okay, the last band only on a couple guitar licks, but that got your attention, didn’t it? Great songwriting, sweet background vocal harmonies, and overall playing near perfection by this trio. “Here’s Looking at You” has the VH reference, but great vocals make this a killer tune. “Rockstar” is another great song that is catchy and full of swagger at the same time. I guess the point here is I can’t get enough of this record. Another fine addition to Detroit’s legacy of killer music. –Sean Koepenick (Idol)

FAILING MYSELF:
Every Day: Cassette
Solo acoustic stuff on an unmarked, one-sided tape. The recording quality was a little shoddy, but it was sparse and fairly haunting stuff, somewhat reminiscent, I guess, of that Liza Kate song off the Wayfarers All LP. I was digging it, until I came across the last song, “The Jailbait That Stole His Heart,” in which the dude waxes poetic in a first-person narrative about sawing a woman’s head off. Next. –Keith Rosson (Rally Point)

FAILSAFE FOR TOMORROW:
Give up the Ghost: CDEP
I went on tour back in 2005 as a roadie for a band and we toured with a band from Ontario called The Reason. This is pretty much the exact same sound as them except maybe a little less hardcore. It’s definitely punk-influenced, with a tinge of hardcore riffing and one clean-singing guy and one guy who screams. This is also known as the poor man’s screamo. You’ve (unfortunately) heard this before, I’m sure. I’d rather listen to Portraits Of Past. –Kurt Morris (Koi, koirecords.com)

FAILTHLESS SAINTS:
Sweet Sacrilege: CD
Sweet Crispy Christus, what kind of world do we live in where a kid can’t even gauge the potential quality of a goddamned disc by the upside-down cross on the back cover? First tune was ska punk, remainder firmly footed in pop punk. You can bet your boots I’m gonna write a strongly worded letter to the quality control folks over at the Satanic Musicians Union about this. –Jimmy Alvarado (http://www.myspace.com/faithlesssaints)

FAILURES UNION, THE:
You Know Who: CD

Let me be straight with all of you. When I saw a CD from a three-piece from Buffalo, I was praying to God there was no Supertramp cover on it. Luckily my prayers were answered. This trio’s debut was a wide smile surprise. Tight arrangements, nice harmonies and lyrics that may make you pause for a few moments of reflection. Remember when songs from Bob Mould, Evan Dando (at least before he started hittin’ the pipe), or even Buffalo Tom made you stop and think? This is what You Know Who brings to mind. “I Feel the Same Songs about Her” sings about those dark nights we’ve probably all had—“that’s all right/I can see your breath/’cuz we don’t spring for heat.” “You’re the Coyote” chugs along with a chorus of “persistence is futile/I’ve learned that from you/the sheep run for shelter when you make the room,” before kicking into a revved-up guitar solo. Out of nowhere, a stellar debut that doesn’t sound like Interpol. Hooray!

–Sean Koepenick (Art of the Underground)

FAILURES, THE:
Working Class Blues: CD
If you like the second two Rancid LPs, you’ll probably like this. Lots of choruses. Tons of choruses. A Billy Bragg cover. Lots of lyrics about unity, not backing down, and even the following, “As the sun goes down and the temperature drops/the streets come alive with the sounds of punk rock/’cause where we’re from the night belongs to the punks.” Where I’m from, when the temperature drops, punks stay inside and read books, leaving the night open to whoever wants to take it, but then again that’s Minnesota. If this were a cereal, it’d be Cheerios. You pretty much know what you’re getting here. –Maddy (Self-released?)

FAILURES’ UNION, THE:
Sinker: CD
The Failures’ Union is a three-piece from Buffalo, NY. Their music is a cross between the Lemonheads, Jawbreaker, and maybe some Buffalo Tom. The sixteen tracks run a broad range from country-fied to pop punk, with song lengths anywhere from under a minute to one tune that is over five minutes. There are some tracks on here that are really good, passionate, alternative rock songs with nice hooks and catchy choruses, but others that seem like they should have been tossed out due to not fitting in with that style which was predominant—more than anything else—on the album. A little more focus would’ve been great; still, it’s a helluva lot better than most of the things I get to review. Consider that a compliment, guys. –Kurt Morris (One Percent Press)

FAINT, THE:
Danse Macabre: CD
This is the latest release from The Faint, who are gaining quite a reputation. A killer live act, it is represented fine on their latest album. Evolving quite a bit from their previous release (Blank-Wave Arcade), they incorporate a stronger use of electronic instruments to their repertoire, as well as a local black-metal guitarist, Depose, who joined the band on their record and on the road. Whether it’s a great dance song or a dramatic minimalist electro track, The Faint deliver it all. Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and New Order always come to mind, for the more popular comparisons. A great album. Thank god for vocoders. -Sarah Stierch –Guest Contributor (Saddle Creek)

FAINTEST IDEA:
Ignorance Is This: CD
This is on the better end of bands that sound like Rancid. The vocalist is better than usual, which I am finding is pretty key when you are playing in this arena. I don’t have to tell you that there are ska songs. The weird thing about this band to me is that the horns are ongoing. I find the horns a little distracting when the band is not playing ska riffs, but I guess you can’t have those guys just standing around like the Saturday Night Live band during a monologue. These guys are good at what they do; I’m just not that into Rancid. –Billups Allen (TNS, tnsrecords.co.uk)

FAIRLANES, THE:
Welcome to Nowhere: CD
The first couple of times I listened to this, it sounded like pretty generic pop punk somewhere between Screeching Weasel and Lagwagon. I decided I’d give it one more listen, figuring, if I don’t hear something in it this time, I’m gonna send it to someone else who may like it. And, for some reason, it stuck. I heard something. A touch of the Thumbs rawness. A touch of D4 drum beats. I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something deeper going on in these songs. It’s growing on me. Then I read the liner notes. The bassist tells the story of how the Fairlanes graduated college and started moving away from the band and into the world of careers and other such nonsense, then realized that their hearts were really in this band and dedicated themselves to it full time. Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s that random sense of sincerity that makes this a good album. Maybe I’m starting to sound like a football announcer talking about Warrick Dunn’s “heart.” I’m gonna stop now. –Sean Carswell (Suburban Home)

FAITHEALERS:
Bound and Chained: LP
Don’t know what it is about this record. Faithealer are loud, heavy, and can kick up the speed when called upon. Yet there’s nothing memorable or interesting about their songs. –Matt Average (Inkblot, www.inkblotrecords.com)

FAKE BOYS, THE:
Pop Punk Is Dead: CD
I’ve listened to this three times now, and it just isn’t catching. I don’t think it sucks, but there’s something definitely off about the album. It might have to do with the production, which is overly produced. It just sounds so clean that all the edge is drained from the songs. The vocals also grow repetitive and overly affected in parts. Still, I do think that the album has its strengths—and some of the songs have a cool power pop quality to them—while others even come off like a much faster, less emotional Samiam. I’d love to hear them with some dirty, more grounded production. I’m also thinking that this works much better live. –Evan Katz –Guest Contributor (Cheapskate)

FAKE PROBLEMS:
Spurs & Spokes: 7” AND Spurs and Spokes/Bull>Matador: CDEP
It’s strange that I would get both of these in my in-box at HQ. It’s kind of basically the same thing but the CD has a few re-recorded songs from their debut release. First band I thought of when the music came pouring out of my speakers was Against Me!, but with more emphasis on a country sound mixed with a hint of The Strokes. Not my choice of beer if I was shopping at the market, but it might be someone else’s. –Donofthedead (Sabot)

FAKE PROBLEMS:
Spurs and Spokes/Bull>Matador: CD
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that this is four new songs, and four old rerecorded ones. I saw this band for the first time over the summer and bought a CD, but was a little bummed upon listening, because I really didn’t think it sounded like them live; this changes that. Fairly Against Me!ish alt-country, with some strong indie rock overtones to it too. It gets a bit arty at times, but all in all this band seems to be improving with every release. –Joe Evans III (Sabot)

FAKE PROBLEMS:
Spurs and Spokes: 7”EP
It’s a fact of musical life. There will be bands that redefine the musical landscape. They will leave their impression—thumbprints, riffs, beats—on hundreds of bands to follow, running the gamut from the direct, cheap lifting of musical notes like temporary tattoos, to the channeling of harder-to-place, intangible spirit of a band. Fake Problems straddles that saddle. At times, I believe they’ve got an original game plan: deft fusion of country and folk punk, all under the halo of DIY, and I like it. Other times, and you can almost picture them craning closer to the stereo’s speakers, cranking the volume, and, asking out loud, “How’d Against Me! do it?” Here’s to hoping Fake Problems aren’t content with choosing flash from wall, but continue ink and color their own originals. –Todd Taylor (Sabot)

FAKE PROBLEMS:
Where Our Bodies Go: CD
This is the first CD in a long time that I’ve gotten for a review and liked enough to keep. If it were up to me, I’d call this “garage folk,” with a crazy smorgasbord of influences (from Irish punk to ska to doo-wop to AC/DC) that really, really works. A little horn section here, a little fiddle there, and a lot of awesome all over. Folk-punk fans take note: Fake Problems could be your new favorite band if you let them. Sarah Shay –Guest Contributor (Sabot)

FAKE PROBLEMS:
How Far Our Bodies Go: CD
This is where keeping it real goes wrong. I got this for review over at MRR too, to which I immediately said “Oh Shit,: as I did just now when I opened the package from Razorcake and saw it again. I spent a long time while listening to this record trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to say “Idonlikeit” while trying to avoid the maximum level of shit I’ll get later. You see, a friend of mine put this out. Not only that, but three of these guys are total sweethearts and although the other one perturbs me, he isn’t a totally bad gent. I’m giving him a chance to grow on me as I’ve been promised he will, but from time to time it has been a challenge. Okay, so add those things together with the fact that I’ve seen this band live and heard their record and at this point don’t particularly care for any of it... and don’t forget to toss in my natural tendency to “keeps it real” and you can see my problem. But fuck me; this is not a review of my issues reviewing this record. The real issue here is that with this record and band all the elements are there, all the dominos are lined up, but it doesn’t click. You’ve got southern Plan-It-X/No Idea punk vibe in several of its many varieties well represented, but it all comes through a little hollow. I blame it on their youth and it seems like things are happening a little too fast for these guys, but if they slow it down a touch and enjoy the ride, something good could come of it. –Steveo (Sabot)

FAKE PROBLEMS / NINJA GUN:
Split: 7”
This clear vinyl split off Sabot offers up the country garage sound of Fake Problems with “The Manliest Man of All Men.” With a swaggering blues guitar riff not unlike the early Black Keys, the song is infectious and makes you wanna get off your duff and shake a leg. Ninja Gun shored up their half with “Time and a Half.” I wanted to enjoy this song, but didn’t. Perhaps it was the wonky guitar recording that made me double-check if I had my record player on the right speed. If you dig Fake Problems, this won’t disappoint. –Kristen K (Sabot Productions, sabotproductions.net)

FAKES, THE:
So Fashionable It Hurts: 7"
Orange County punk bands seem to re-congeal, re-form, and get sicker all of the time. It's the opposite of incest - these bands' blood seems to be getting thicker. The Fakes are no exception, having recruited Skibbs Barker (ex-Stitches drummer) and Steve Reynolds (ex-US Bombs bassist) into their fold. The sound? This oscillates between hard-nosed and snot-nosed with a slurring vocalist who phrases his words into short punches. The band follows suit. At best, there's a strong undercurrent of '90s power pop (a la The Gain), in the song "Sometimes," yet with the song "Grey Matter," they slip into late-US Bombs territory where the mid tempo plods a little too much and the repetition gets the better of the song. On the whole, it's definitely not bad and I'd keep an eye out for them, but they're no unexpected taser to the nuts, either. –Todd Taylor (Hostage, PO Box 7736, Huntington Beach, CA 92615)

FAKES, THE:
Everything: CDEP
What's ultimately creepy about The Fakes is how almost unmistakable G. Edward Stasi's voice sounds almost exactly like Duane Peters' – down to the drawl at the end of long vowels. They probably use the same mouthwash or something. This EP is almost like prime cuts of ultra-prime US Bombs or Duane Peters and the Hunns, down to the Kerry Martinez-like guitar work, the backup vocals, and the California bummer song topics. What's also funny is that I'm not complaining in the slightest. It's fucking enjoyable, if not a little creepy, but I already said that. –Todd Taylor (Hostage)

FAKES, THE:
So Fashionable It Hurts: 7"
Orange County punk bands seem to re‑congeal, re‑form, and get sicker all of the time. It's the opposite of incest ‑ these bands' blood seems to be getting thicker. The Fakes are no exception, having recruited Skibbs Barker (ex‑Stitches drummer) and Steve Reynolds (ex‑US Bombs bassist) into their fold. The sound? This oscillates between hard‑nosed and snot‑nosed with a slurring vocalist who phrases his words into short punches. The band follows suit. At best, there's a strong undercurrent of '90s power pop (a la The Gain), in the song "Sometimes," yet with the song "Grey Matter," they slip into late‑US Bombs territory where the mid tempo plods a little too much and the repetition gets the better of the song. On the whole, it's definitely not bad and I'd keep an eye out for them, but they're no unexpected taser to the nuts, either. –Todd Taylor (Hostage)

FALCON ARROW:
Demo: CD-R
Cheap CD-R filled with tediously boring drum and bass loops. No dancing, just snoozing. I don’t think it would be possible for this band to put in any less effort. –MP Johnson (Self-released)

FALCON CREST:
Taste the Thunder Raise the Flag: CD
It’s only with the knowledge that no one actually bothers reading my rantings that I feel safe in saying this: Minneapolis/St. Paul, my Siamese twin hometown, seems to be moldering in the dank armpit of Tom Hazelmeyer, even now that AmRep’s been effectively dead for years. Hazelmeyer, the man behind AmRep, already hates me for poking fun at the alt/punk bars he owns around town, so indirectly blaming him for the miasmic conditions of the local punk scene will only further foster his contempt for me. And this is a concern, as I sometimes stop into his alt-speakeasies for a draft beer or two. But, nevertheless, here’s the rub: I think Falcon Crest is a pretty cool band—but I’m too contaminated by all my years of listening to AmRep bands to not hear something here that sounds a lot like a typical ‘90s AmRep band. Don’t get me wrong, AmRep used to kick out some damn fine shit: the Cows, Hammerhead, Supernova, Helmet—even the Melvins and Nashville Pussy at one point—but much of what the label was cranking out was starting to sound the same to me. Studied punk. The stale odor of Art School and Liberal Arts College influences everywhere. What rawness was there in the music was hamstrung by an artistic self-consciousness. I think that what it comes down to, really, is that I probably shouldn’t be attempting to review this disc. My finely tuned critical equipment has been hacking up AmRep hairballs for years now and anything that even remotely reminds me of the Mog Stunt Team or Guzzard is going to set off all sorts of burglar alarms in my brain. And it’s my own fault. This all probably has more to do with the way I filter things and pigeonhole them in my head than it does with Hazelmeyer’s armpit of influence. Sorry Falcon Crest—and sorry to Tom and both his armpits. I feel like once again I’ve really let the hometown team down. –Aphid Peewit (Not Bad)

FALCON MOHAWK:
Self-titled: CDEP-R
Four songs of poppy country rock. The only thing to which I can compare this is a Blues Traveler tape I had when I was nine, or maybe a non-layered version of radio-friendly country. Gonna pass on this one. –Will Kwiatkowski –Guest Contributor (Self-released, www.myspace.com/falconmohawk)

FALCON, THE:
God Don: CDEP
I was actually about to buy this album when the fine folks at Razorcake sent it my way, and boy was I glad. This EP is pretty solid. Definitely for fans of Midwestern punk in the vein of Lawrence Arms (the singer of the Falcons is actually in the Lawrence Arms). This CD was a true DIY effort in that the five great-sounding songs were recorded for free in various living rooms, band practice spaces, and the infamous Atlas Studios where bands like Alkaline Trio, East Arcadia, and Lawrence Arms have recorded past albums. Red Scare has had only two releases since its recent inception and so far it's a damn good track record of pop-infused punk. I can't wait to see what's next. –Mr. Z (Red Scare)

FALL OF THE BASTARDS:
Dusk of an Ancient Age: CD
By-the-numbers black metal, interesting at best and not very innovative. The band members’ names, particularly drummer Rudimentary Eli, cracked me up, though. –Jimmy Alvarado (Intolerant Messiah)

FALL OUT:
Demo: CD
must.... reach.... out..... and........ turn........ stereo......... off..................................... wretched............. music.......... draining........ life.... energy................................................ –Jimmy Alvarado (www.falloutonline.com)

FALL RIVER:
Lights Out: CD
At times like this, I find it hard to decide which is worse, wimpy, simpy emo pap, or crappy, sappy metal "hardcore." After subjecting myself to twenty-six minutes of this, I'm leaning towards the latter-but ONLY because I have yet to inadvertently run into the requisite pack of love-starved backpack wearers this issue. –Jimmy Alvarado (Thorp)

FALL SILENT:
Drunken Violence: CD
I came about these guys by accident when I got a copy of their previous release, Six Years in the Desert. I was so blown away because I didn’t expect to be pummeled with a punch to my skull by the sheer speed and rage that was forced into my senses. Continuing on with their manic ways, a new episode is unleashed. Man, I love that traditional speed metal sound these guys present to me. My neck goes spastic and start to bang out of control when I hear the riffage. If you hate metal, go away. But you have to respect a band that puts their heart out front when they are playing Heart’s “Barracuda.” Playing it seriously and not for a joke. Like if Judas Priest was doing a cover of it. Bang your head. Metal health will drive you mad. Ha, ha, ha. –Donofthedead (Revelation)

FALL SILENT:
Six Years in the Desert: CD
A goofy picture of an abandoned "Little House on the Prairie" is on the cover. There's a picture of the band in cowboy hats in time period dress - the type that you see families having the picture taken at some mall attraction - on the back. What kind of kooks are these guys? I did not know what to expect. No indication of what was in store when looking at the packaging. I sprayed a sloppy shit all over the inside of my shorts when the first track came on. How embarrassing to have to hose off my shorts because the chunks were clinging to the inside. What came thrusting out was a tornado mix of precise speed metal mixed in with a chaos mix of anger. The singer reminded me of a mix of Springa from SSD and Spike from DRI. Hey, two Initial bands in one comment! These guys have their metal chops down, and not like all these neu-metal bands that I see on MTV-X. More traditional in the licks. They seem to want to be complicated and at the same time pull forth a rage that catches the attention of this listener. Their punk roots show in their covers of Black Flag and 7 Seconds. Their campiness shows in their cover of Pat Benatar and the theme song from Sesame Street. This was a treat - like having your first wet dream and realizing that you didn't pee in your sleep. –Donofthedead (Revelation)

FALL, THE:
Heads Will Roll: CD
Those who are under the impression that punkers mellow with age need to give this a listen. Mark E. Smith's long-running band offers up fourteen more tracks with the vitriol of a pack of angst-ridden tweenagers who just found out the legal drinking age had been raised to thirty-two. Art punk at its finest this is, even if the cover of "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" is unfortunate. –Jimmy Alvarado (Narnack)

FALL-OUTS, THE:
Summertime: CD
There’s no way this is the same Fall-Outs that I remember. Their old records, Here I Come and Sleep, were pretty good. Kinda garage, kinda pop, heavily ‘60s-influenced. Maybe they weren’t exactly a rock sensation sweeping the nation, but they definitely had their moments. If anything cool happened on this album, I slept right through it. Who thought it would be a good idea to be artsy, anyway? –Josh (Estrus)

FALL-OUTS, THE:
Summertime: CD
…while a zippy-but-uncute slammer like “All In My Mind” provides a swift and effective refresher course on why we all liked this band in the ‘90s, and “Shortcut” yields an at least marginally serviceable mutation of Donovan’s take on Al Kooper’s “Season of the Witch,” and the album’s entire peculiar Mod Meat Puppets vibe is, if nothing else, un-completely-played-out, i can’t help but live in mortal fear that some bastard rock critic somewhere is going to make the joke that this album really oughtta be called There We Go And Other Misses. Ooooooops. BEST SONG: “All In My Mind” BEST SONG TITLE: “One Thought Too Much” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: “Staring at the Sun” is not the Angry Samoans song (but i wouldn’t mind if it was). –Rev. Norb (Estrus)

FALLEN SLEEPLESS:
In Seething Dreams: CD
This is a dash of emo with just a hint of screamo. I tried to get into this but repeated listenings drove me into a brick wall. Somewhere someone is getting use out of this one other than a coffee table coaster. I already got coasters so this does me no good. –Sean Koepenick (Round 3)

FALLOPIAN:
Dammit, Eat Your Pudding!: CD
I normally love all-girl bands. But this one didn’t get me excited. Straight up garage punk with silly lyrics. Not breaking any new ground, but they seem to be having fun. –Donofthedead (Avebury)

FALLOUT PROJECT, THE:
Hopes and Ropes: CD
Popped it in the stereo and early Neurosis came to mind immediately. A record that’s replete with those crashing metal dirges that seem synonymous with that band, but these guys have updated the sound a bit with a touch of melody and the willingness to quiet down and give the music room to breathe. There’s only six songs, but (again similar to Neurosis or that first Tribes of Neurot LP) we’re talking epics here. As with the few other Dare to Care records I’ve seen, the packaging is gorgeous, but this time it’s also misleading: the snappy orange/ white/ black layout makes this thing look like some sparse and shallow emo-of-the-month record. But it’s not so, hoss, not so at all. Decent band for sure. –Keith Rosson (Dare to Care)

FALLOUT, THE:
What Is Past Is Prologue: CD
The thing about Canada is that there is so much space between cities. Any band will tell you that touring this country is a difficult endeavor. Just too much empty space to contend with. It’s also difficult to stay on top of what’s going on at the opposite side of the country. Sure, the internet helps, but I just feel that I should have already known about and loved The Fallout. It’s a simple formula, but I’m a sucker for it every time. Straight-up ‘77 style punk a la Stiff Little Fingers with catchy, politicized lyrics. The twist here is that it’s mixed with the sound of a late ‘90s Dr. Strange band (such as Whatever…). Throw in a touch of their friends, The Rebel Spell, and you’ve got yourself a winner. Now, they need to cross some empty space and play in the west. –Ty Stranglehold (Longshot)

FALLOUT, THE:
The Turning Point: CDEP
A band’s tribute to their scene and its long-gone musical heroes—some known, some obscure—features covers of tracks by The Young Lions, Nobody’s Heroes, UIC, The Viletones, Youth Youth Youth, The Allies, and The Red Squares. While the songs are strong in their own right, the covers are solid and should help to pique interest in Toronto’s past. –Jimmy Alvarado (Longshot)

FALLOUT, THE:
Dismantlement: CD
From the name, and the artwork used, I was totally expecting some kinda hardcore screamfest, but no, these guys defy convention by shying away from going balls-out manic and infusing more than a dollop of pop. Although they’re considerably looser and they didn’t really sound like them, the catchiness of the tunes and the political bent of their lyrics reminded me of Rebel Truth. Better than expected. –Jimmy Alvarado (Insurgence)

FALLOUT, THE:
Turning Revolution Into Money: CD
This band has the speed and energy of good ‘80s punk. They do have a hint of oi to them but I don’t think they can be classified as such. The oi shows up in just the right spots, keeping the energy going and making me want to jump around my apartment like the dork I am. Check ‘em out. Very cool. –Toby Tober (Longshot)

FALSDUCHESS OF SAIGON, THE:
Easter Queen: 7"

Record: Knock knock.

Me: Who's there?

Record: The White Stripes.

Me: Oh.

BEST SONG: "Lycra Lace" BEST SONG TITLE: "Holiday Rumble" FANTASTIC AMAZING

TRIVIA FACT: Mary and Richard play drums, guitar and vocals!

–Rev. Norb (SS)

FALSE ALARM:
Fuck ’Em All We’ve All Ready (Now) Won: CD
The bulk of this—not the old L.A. punk band but a super-group of sorts, featuring De De Troit (UXA), Cheetah Chrome (Rocket from the Tombs, Dead Boys), Rick Wilder (Mau-Maus), Paul “Ena” Kostabi (Youth Gone Mad) and couple others—falls squarely in the junkie-punk niche, with languid beats ’n’ tempos and a smattering of Thundersesque leads laid over the bare chords. Unlike so many other bands treading the same water, these guys are blessed with some decent tunes (and I imagine the fact that a good chunk of those present helped invent the fuckin’ genre doesn’t hurt), especially “Youth Gone Mad,” that rings with the same anthemic qualities of the collective back catalogues that made people like Cheetah household names. Could this have benefited from a little more zip in its step? Sure, but I’ve definitely heard much, much worse. –Jimmy Alvarado (False Alarm, no address)

FALSE ALARM / YOUTH GONE MAD:
Split: CD
This phenomenal twenty-seven song split CD includes a full length from each band, with each featuring celebrity cameos. The Youth Gone Mad album includes some guest vocals and instrumentals from Dee Dee Ramone and the False Alarm album includes Cheetah Chrome, Rick Wilder, and De De Troit. Tragically, the singer of False Alarm (like Dee Dee Ramone) died a drug-related death a few years back. It’s hard to dissociate these bands from drugs, with almost every track taking on an aura of heroin punk. The final track, “Dee Dee Deceased” by Youth Gone Mad, is an eerie tribute if ever there was one. In any event, this non-glamorous set of albums needs to be heard. –Art Ettinger (False Alarm, myspace.com/falsealarmrecords)

FALSE PROPHETS:
Blind Roaches and Fat Vultures: CD
Long has it been since I heard the name "False Prophets," and longer still has it been since I actually heard them. To be exact, the last time I heard anything by these guys was 1985, when I heard "Taxidermist" on one of Adam Bomb’s weekly installments of KXLU’s "The Final Countdown." What you get on this compilation, spanning the years 1980-85, is their 1984 album, a couple o’ singles, plus oodles of rare and unreleased stuff. If you’ve never heard these guys before, they play a beautifully eclectic blend of thrash (the 1982 definition of that term, not to be confused with speed-metal, which is apparently what it means today), mid-tempo hardcore, gloomy post-punk dirge rock, with the occasional nod to rap and Latin music. Those newer to this punk "thing" or those who might have missed False Prophets the first time around would do well to pick up a copy of this, ’cause they were one of those rare, original gems back when all of the bands were trying to sound like America’s Hardcore or the Adolescents instead of Pennywise or NOFX. –Jimmy Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles, PO Box 419092, San Francisco, CA 94141-9092)

FAMILY PET:
Ideas Are the Enemy: 7"
If you’re looking for music, you best look elsewhere. Side A has a bunch of non-descriptive noise. The B side, my favorite of the two, is blank. Wish I had five hundred bucks laying around just so I can waste it on a joke that’s not funny. –Dave Disorder (Foreign Frequency, No address)

FAMILY PET:
Self-titled: 7”
The first side of this record is about six or seven minutes of redundant noise made with percussion and keyboards. When I say redundant, I mean if you were to pick up the needle and move it anywhere on that track it would be doing the exact same thing. Side two is an actual track—as in it’s cut into the record—of complete silence. I liked the second side better. –Craven (Self-released)

FANG:
Live Cheap: CD
Although there is nothing in the packaging to verify it, what I am able to suss from listening to this is that you’ve got two or three live recordings here from this venerable Bay Area band, the first from one of their recent reunion shows and the others from back in the ‘80s. Great versions of classics like “The Money Will Roll Right In,” “Skinheads Smoke Dope,” “Landshark,” “They Sent Me to Hell COD,” and “Fun with Acid,” among others, can be found here, as well as some others I don’t recognize. Sound quality is pretty good throughout and the performances are pretty spirited, which is about the best one can expect from a live recording. All in all, a nice addition to your collection and guaranteed fun for the whole family. –Jimmy Alvarado (Malt Soda)

FANGS, THE:
Metal Garage: LP
When I first put this on, I thought that the title of this record was dead on. Indeed, for a few seconds, it sounded like an unholy alliance of Venom and the Gories. When the vocals kicked in, I realized that I was playing this on the wrong speed. Whoops. Replace Venom with Kiss and the Gories with the Mooney Suzuki and you get an idea of the not good time I had listening to this. –Not Josh –Guest Contributor (Bad Reputation)

FANTASY FOUR, THE:
Wig Wam Bam b/w Love Me Till the Sun Shines: 7"
It's got a girl singer who sings kind of flatly, then they take a really good Sweet song and just kind of push it around on a dusty floor. If you're gonna crap up a Sweet song, pick one that wasn't so good to begin with (ask Nørb which one, probably). B side is a Kinks song I don't know, so I can't tell how well they do it, but it sounds pretty good to me. –Cuss Baxter (The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars)

FANTASY FOUR, THE:
Wig Wam Bam b/w Love Me Till the Sun Shines: 7”
It’s got a girl singer who sings kind of flatly, then they take a really good Sweet song and just kind of push it around on a dusty floor. If you’re gonna crap up a Sweet song, pick one that wasn’t so good to begin with (ask Nørb which one, probably). B side is a Kinks song I don’t know, so I can’t tell how well they do it, but it sounds pretty good to me. –Cuss Baxter (The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars)

FANTASY FOUR, THE/JULIA SETS:
The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars Travelling Road Show: Split CDEP
Each band gets three tracks to show their stuff: Maplewood, Missouri’s Fantasy Four is a dual-female vocal tuneful indie-pop guitar band whose “Hometown Rockstar” is the clear standout of their three raw tracks. Not too far off from a nascent Chubbies, or maybe Scrawl twenty years ago. A good start. St. Louis band Julia Sets’ cuts are more polished, smoother and prettier despite having male vocals – a bit more “mature,” I suppose, but less attractive in their drama and measured choices than Fantasy Four, who sound freer and definitely less pretentious. Kind of along the lines of Pinetop Seven, and I definitely get the feeling someone in this band has math-rock discs in their collection. I think Julia Sets kind of misses the spirit of the split release by having one of their three tracks last for over nine minutes – nearly as long as the other five songs put together! Between the two bands, I have to say I’d much rather see Fantasy Four, but neither band has anything to be ashamed of here. –Aaron J. Poehler (The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars)

FANTOMAS MELVINS BIG BAND:
Millennium Monsterwork: CD
State-specific tuneage that is the musical equivalent of a non sequitur. I wouldn’t try listening to this without drugs. If you have neighbors who suspect you do dirty, nasty, dangerous things in your abode late at night, you might want to pass on this. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you want out of your of life and is slow on the uptake, put this in and select “repeat.” –Money (Ipecac)

FAR FROM FINISHED:
Living in the Fallout: CD
There is so much going on here it’s hard to comprehend the final product. So Mark Lind from The Ducky Boys and his own solo career is the bass player, they toured with The Dropkick Murphys amongst some other fairly decent names, and the ingredients are here for a decent Boston punk band. But it’s so fucking polished I can barely stand it. It almost sounds like Sugarcult moved to New England. There’s potential here but they sanded all the character off it in the studio. What’s really weird is they insist on being labeled “hardcore,” which absolutely nothing about this record is. –Steveo (Think Fast!, www.thinkfastrecords.com)

FAR-CUE:
Another Day at the Office: CD
Man, these guys can't tell if they want to be a run-of-the-mill oi band or a lackluster thrash band. You've got your standard street rock fare here making up the bulk of the record, coupled with the occasional speedier, harsher number. Either way, it's consistent in its dullness, but at least the accents are sincere. Pretty much yawnsville all around, sorry. –Guest Contributor (Step-1)

FARAQUET:
The View From This Tower: CD
Disjointed, taut, noisy pop with some serious jazz leanings. They were a little reminiscent of the Minutemen, albeit without the good sense to know when to end a song. –Jimmy Alvarado (Dischord, 3819 Beecher Street, NW Washington, DC 20007)

FARAQUET:
Anthology 1997-98: CD
The musician in me says, “Jeezly crow, these guys can play the fuck outta their instruments.” All sortsa noodling, time signature changes, dynamics and such are smooshed into every song. The punker in me says, “Jeezly crow, I wish there was some fuggin’ ‘edge’ to their delivery.” I kept expecting the songs to build and then kick into overdrive, but that sadly never happened. In the end, I felt pretty much the same way I do about most prog rock: impressive playin’, but the end result makes me drift off in contemplation of my shoes and their place in the universe. –Jimmy Alvarado (Dischord)

FARCES WANNA MO:
If Not Why Not?: CD
Serious nerd-out from 29 Palms, CA. First track: “Grammarchy,” a discourse on language to the tune of “Anarchy in the UK” (barely). Others include “Who’s Got Time to Build Infrastructure?”, “Here is a Cake,” “Bela Lugosi Loves Honky-Tonkin’” and “If the Egges Don’t Cooke.” It’s a huge mess of samples, talking, countless musical styles, and goofy nuttiness. Brings to mind the stuff on Eerie Materials, a label that put out scads of weird homemade weirdness (is it still around?), or maybe a Negativland-obsessed Sockeye. Must get pretty boring out there in the desert. (Incidentally, I saw another Farces Wanna Mo CD at the Children’s Hospital thrift store yesterday. I didn’t buy it.) –Cuss Baxter (My X-Lover)

FAREWELL:
: CD
Boring Epitaph punk! If this were a cereal, it’d be Lame-Ohs. The End! –Maddy (Epitaph)

FARMS IN TROUBLE:
The Gas Station Soundtrack: CD
Some serious Guided By Voices worship going on here. There are certainly worse bands to copy, but I wish this was GBV worship of the “we used a 4-track to record these great rock songs while we were drunk” variety and not the “this is such a copy that I had to check the liner notes to make sure Bob Pollard wasn’t involved in some way with this record” school. –Ryan Horky (Activities, Activitiesrecordings.com)

FARSE:
Boxing Clever: CD
Ska is what they are going to be labeled as, but this band is definitely presenting more to the listener. Ska, two-tone, punk, dub, metal, reggae, new wave and rock are all incorporated to keep the songs individual here. The finished product is an interesting melodic blend that keeps this listener intrigued. The vocalist is one strong tongue twister when he belts out his lyrics. The guitars are recorded superbly and can start off clean and turn at a moments notice into a fierce metal sound. I truly enjoyed this and hope others will too. –Donofthedead (Moon Ska Europe)

FARTZ, THE:
Self-titled: 7" EP
Four songs you can already get on their latest Alternative Tentacles CD. I don't get it. –Jimmy Alvarado (Transparent, 6759 Transparent Dr., Clarkston, MI 48346)

FARTZ, THE:
Injustice: CD
Ahh, that’s more like it. I thought that, after the waste of time that was their last album (why release your back catalog and then release new recordings of the same songs hot on its heels?), these guys were just gonna be content to sit back and rehash all their oldies like so many old bands that’ve reformed, but no, here’s some brand new stuff, back to form and sportin’ some kick-ass shit to boot. Although the reworking of “Buried Alive” was a mistake, the tracks here pretty much stand up to their “classic” work and blaze along quite nicely, thank you. You like your hardcore mean, nasty, and with some semblance of a point? Look no further than this. Recommended. –Jimmy Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles)

FARTZ, THE:
What: CD
I don't get it. They just released a discography no more than two years ago and it's still available. Now they release this, which consists of re-recorded 15 tracks, versions of all but two of them were on the other disc and one of those two is a Motorhead cover. They sound as swell as they ever did, but what's the point? They add nothing new to the songs. After the long silence at the end of the last track, we're treated to the whole thing all over again. Fuck, "Buried Alive" isn't even on this. –Jimmy Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles)

FARTZ, THE:
Self-titled: 7" EP
Four songs you can already get on their latest Alternative Tentacles CD. I don't get it. –Jimmy Alvarado (Transparent)

FASCIST FASCIST:
Self-titled: CD EP
Assembled as a supergroup of sorts, from bands I’ve never heard before. If it helps: The Homosexuals, Attica 9, Universal Order Of Armageddon, The Uniform, Double Dagger. All I can say is that this EP is great! Eight hardcore songs sending me back to when I first heard Dag Nasty and Born Against! The music is mostly straight forward hardcore with some cool break downs. The best part is the vocals. The only way to explain would be to have you picture (or hear) Dave Smalley as a girl, minus the melodies he sometimes busted into. It’s a refreshing change to the trend of girl singers in hardcore bands who need to scream and sound tough, or try and sound like Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile). There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but when every other band I hear tries to have a certain sound, it’s so great to hear something as cool as this. And the lyrics friggin’ rule! Songs about self hatred and hating parties. Not taking themselves too serious, preachy or pretentious, but through sarcasm and humor, throwing out their message. This is a great EP. –Guest Contributor (Reptilian)

FASCIST FASCIST:
Self-Titled: CDEP
Assembled as a supergroup of sorts, from bands I’ve never heard before. If it helps: The Homosexuals, Attica 9, Universal Order Of Armageddon, The Uniform, Double Dagger. All I can say is that this EP is great! Eight hardcore songs sending me back to when I first heard Dag Nasty and Born Against! The music is mostly straight forward hardcore with some cool break downs. The best part is the vocals. The only way to explain would be to have you picture (or hear) Dave Smalley as a girl, minus the melodies he sometimes busted into. It’s a refreshing change to the trend of girl singers in hardcore bands who need to scream and sound tough, or try and sound like Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile). There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but when every other band I hear tries to have a certain sound, it’s so great to hear something as cool as this. And the lyrics friggin’ rule! Songs about self hatred and hating parties. Not taking themselves too serious, preachy or pretentious, but through sarcasm and humor, throwing out their message. This is a great EP. –Guest Contributor (Reptilian)

FASHION! FASHION! AND THE IMAGE BOYS:
Over Before It Ever Began: 7” EP
Going off the cover (where everyone has typewriters for heads), the band name, the band photo (jackets, sunglasses, and buttons), and a theremin listed, I was thinking new wave. Nope. More in line with the Candy Snatchers than the Epoxies, it’s blades-out, beaten-by-clubs rock’n’roll fronted by a guy whose eyes I can easily imagine popping out of his skull from screaming so much all the time. The more I gave up on the new wave idea of the band, the more I liked ‘em on their own merits. –Todd Taylor (Floridas Dying)

FAST AND THE COOL, THE:
4-Track Demos: CD
This is new wavish super-distorto janglish stargazin' sonic splendor that's all-at-once trippy, poppy, funky, sludgy, and feel-good giddy. In an unusually odd display of audial diversity, the succulently sweet songs contained herein are a magical mishmash of infinitely mind-reeling instrumentation ala Cheap Trick, Badfinger, Stereolab, Smashing Pumpkins, Devo, Spacemen 3, and even a bit of "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles. I especially enjoyed the invigorating spontaneity of the spastic tribal drumming, the sporadic eruptions of a synthesizer's ebullient emotings, and the intermittent effervescence of fuzz effects. The whiney bratty schoolboy vocals are strainfully similar to The Judys, Violent Femmes, and Dead Milkmen (annoying at times, but certainly unique and vividly impressive). All in all, this delightful lil' disc possesses a euphoric childlike innocent quality to it that's both endearing and uniquely divine... –Guest Contributor (Geff Grimes, Crystal Clear Sound)

FAST BOYS:
Rock N Roll Trash: CD
This album has fourteen songs that clock in at less than thirty-two minutes. This reminds me a lot of The Stitches but with Guitar Hero-sounding solos. There’s a fun cover of The Damned’s “New Rose” on the CD. All the music is as straightforward as it gets. It’s just good, old-fashioned, assaulting punk rock here. –N.L. Dewart (Zodiac Killer)

FAST BOYS:
RockNRoll Trash: CD
…meaning no disrespect to anybody up or down the food chain, but i’m kinda viewing the whole Poison Arrows/Cute Lepers fatal OD thing as kind of the Altamont for this kind of music ((and when i say “this kind of music,” i apparently mean some kind of post-Exploding Hearts punk/glam/rock & roll dealie-do where everyone has tight pants, studded belts, chain wallets, and creepers. And really nice guitars. Oh, and hair brushes, too)). I mean, the Poison Arrows played in Green Bay about a week before that whole deal went down, and, even then, you could tell that people were just sort of…i dunno, for want of a better word, smirking at the whole Renaissance Faire aspect of the whole deal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an inherently bad look—hell, i freely admit that if i could honestly pull off the whole “looking like a Bay City Roller as drawn by John Holmstrom” look, i’d probably do it, too—it just doesn’t seem like this is the way productive, vital cogs in the rock’n’roll bioorganism look right now, it seems, at this second, that it’s more like people being tethered to/frozen into whatever aesthetic template they decided was Boss and Gear after they heard “Guitar Romantic” or something ((and if OD-gate is this music’s Altamont, i’m thinking the Exploding Hearts tragic van crash is more like Elvis going into the Army than it is Buddy Holly’s plane going down, but these analogies are beginning to verge into the realm of the pointlessly insensitive so fuck it)). Anyway, enough high level shit. I neither hate nor wish to hate this record, but, for the cry-yi, could you POSSIBLY have thought of a more generic band name? And could you POSSIBLY have come up with a more generic album title?? I mean, i’d be depressed if i found out that “Fast Boys” and “RockNRoll Trash” were anything other than the result of some software program designed to scientifically and mathematically calculate the most generic possible results to the queries of “CREATE BAND NAME” and “GENERATE ALBUM TITLE.” Still, this record isn’t bad—it’s rehashed, generic and overplayed, but it still isn’t bad—and in between the mewling about “rock ‘n’ roll trash” and—i dunno, was it “Main Street” or “The Boulevard” or am i just assuming there’s a song that mentions “Main Street” or “The Boulevard” because it would be some kinda violation otherwise?—there are a few sorta memorable tunes ((“Wanderer” appears to mention a jukebox, “Grown Up Blues” is kinda good, and “Won’t Let Me Kiss Her” would be really good except that it’s sorta wrecked by some, frankly, awful backup vocals)) and the album does seem to pick up steam as it shambles along…but that plug is swiftly pulled when the band opts to include, for whatever reason, a humdrum cover of “New Rose” towards the end of side two. DUDES, WHAT THE FUCK??? You don’t cover a fuckin’ completely ubiquitous punk classic on your album! Ya put something like that on the b-side of a three-song 45! What’s your big idea for the next record, start side one off with “Blitzkrieg Bop???” I mean, JESUS! Couldn’t you even hit us up with “So Messed Up” or something??? You gotta do the HIT??? What fuckin’ RockSchool did YOU fail outta??? Well anyway…yeah. Pretty Boy, Nasty, Cocoa, Fitz and Mikey, i salute you: “RockNRoll Trash” is officially the first record of this genre’s post-Altamont era. Good luck with that. BEST SONG: “Won’t Let Me Kiss Her” minus the bad backing vocals. DUMBEST SONG TITLES: “Fast Boys DTK” “Rock N’ Roll Trash” “Late Nights” “Gettin’ Off” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: “Recorded at Crystal Rain in South Carolina by a mullett (sic) -headed jackass” –Rev. Norb (Zodiac Killer)

FAST MATTRESS:
Self-Titled: CD
Oh man, you gotta hear this song “Daddy Has a Mullet!” It’s about this girl, right—and she’s, she’s embarrassed to be seen in public with her father, ‘cause he’s got a mullet! A mullet! A mullet is like a really uncool haircut—and her dad’s got one! Aw, man, you get it? You don’t get it? Crap. I didn’t tell it right. This one’s on me. Let me start over. This girl’s dad, right? He’s got a really lame haircut. A mullet! And she has to like, you know, go places with him, and be seen with him—with his mullet! So she’s embarrassed and she wants him to cut it off! Man, that’s great. Brings a tear to my eye. Really great stuff. Hey, where ya goin’? I didn’t even explain the song “He’s a Heterosexual” to ya yet!!! Oh well... if George Lucas ever decides to fuck up the Hell Comes to Your House compilation LP, i’d be cool with him sticking any two of these songs on the second side—however, i think Fast Mattress must only be a twin size, as three is pretty much a crowd here. BEST SONG: “Hot Boyfriend” BEST SONG TITLE: “Inappropriate Itch” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Scott thanks the city of Cleveland, Budweiser™ beer, and all those who serve it to him ice cold and promptly. –Rev. Norb (no label)

FAST PRODUCT:
Tall Coin: CD
Hit or miss pop with some interesting play between guitar and Farfisa and guitar, and some bouncy bashers, but also a couple bland duds and a mostly-bland lady voice singing to the duds and the bashers. –Dud Basher –Staff (Semiotic Idiot)

FASTIDIOS, LOS:
Guardo Avanti: CD
Well, hell’s bells, my ears have done melted and slid right down the sides of my face! Los Fastidios frenetically crank out a skull-hammering wallop of anti-fascist skinhead street punk that’s all-at-once confrontational, politically charged, and energetically raging. The vocals are gruffly spit forth in a slurred and emotional barrage of European dialect (Italian, I think… or maybe French. Damn, I dunno, I only speak Texan!). The brutal in-your-face instrumentation is roaring and wrathful, yet catchy and upbeat as all get-up. The lyrics (printed in three different languages) are a fervent, open call-to-arms for punk unity, spirited beer-fuelled good times with friends (hey, I can certainly relate to that!), animal liberation, and aggressively rousing revolt in the streets. There’s also a couple of robustly outspoken rants against half-wit racist knuckleheads, the US government’s greed-fed capitalistic policy, and the authoritarian abuse of power by corrupt cops everywhere. All in all, this is one heck of an oi-inspired punkrock release, and it should definitely be loudly blasted throughout the vast, cluttered expanses of America’s sprawling suburban wasteland. Fuck authority, hell yeh! –Roger Moser Jr. (KOB and Mad Butcher)

FASTIDIOS, LOS:
Rebels ’n’ Revels: CD
Italian street punk/ska stuff that is better than most, and I like the “radical” slant of the lyrics, but ultimately this really doesn’t do much for me. Funny, I seem to remember them being a wee bit more memorable. –Jimmy Alvarado (Mad Butcher)

FASTIDOS, LOS:
Ora Basta: CDEP
Italian street punk that was so nondescript that I couldn't muster the motivation to pop the disc outta the stereo and into the computer to marvel at the accompanying videos. –Jimmy Alvarado (KOB)

FASTIDOS, LOS:
Ora Basta: CDEP
The only thing that sets this apart from any other non-spectacular street punk band is that they're Italian. Not enough for me. –Megan Pants (Mad Butcher)

FASTIDOS, LOS:
Siempre Contra: CD
Italian skinheads playing punk with an occasional ska tune thrown in for good measure. Subjects addressed include resistance, revolution, animal rights, and such. While I can’t say this knocked my socks off, they were catchy enough and the songs weren’t about drinking and beating people up, and for that alone they get deserve nothing less than tons of respect. If it sounds like your bag, it’s recommended. –Jimmy Alvarado (KOB)

FASTIDOS, LOS:
Ora Basta: CDEP
Italian street punk that was so nondescript that I couldn’t muster the motivation to pop the disc outta the stereo and into the computer to marvel at the accompanying videos. –Jimmy Alvarado (KOB)

FASTIDOS, LOS:
Ten Years Tattooed on my Heart: CD
Italian skinhead music that is pretty good musically, but would someone please translate “Italians shouting ‘oi!’ sound just as stupid as Americans shouting ‘oi!’” for them? Thanks a heap. –Jimmy Alvarado (Mad Butcher)

FASTLANE:
New Start: CD
Another UK entry of melodicore for the Warped Tour set. If you put New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, or Simple Plan in your top-ten all-time list, this bubblegum will stick to the bottom of your shoe like no other. –Donofthedead (Sucka Punch)

FASTLANE:
Hold Your Breath: CD
Emo-saturated hardcore. I nearly made it trough the fourth song before the wretchedness of the music caused me to begin vomiting uncontrollably. –Jimmy Alvarado (Aggravated Music)

FAT ASS:
We Have Come For Your Mothers: CD
So I’m sitting here wading through some bottom-of-the-barrel reject discs I’ve been putting off reviewing for this issue and I come upon this buried in the crap I’ve scooped up. Depressed and more than a little punchy, thanks to the long line of affected college boys who have vented their politically correct rage into my ear over the course of the previous fifteen releases I’ve listened to today, I look at the cover, grunt, place the disc in the stereo and hit “play,” bracing myself for the pop punk onslaught that will no doubt come belching forth from my speakers. Much to my surprise, what came from said speakers if some prime-rate punk rock that sent my depression scampering for the hills. “Man, I needed this,” I say to myself as I crank it up to eleven. Fuck comparisons, this is just one of them discs that just rocks and nothing more need be said about it. A glance at the “thank you” notes on the inside reveals a Razorcake mention and I think how symbiotic that is – we Razorcakers only dig the finest in music and, in turn, are thanked by only the finest of bands. –Jimmy Alvarado (Diaphragm)

FAT ASS:
Another Great Day in Shithole: 7”
Hell fuckin’ yeh, this is blistering, balls-out rock’n’roll thunder at its trashiest and most wrathful! It cacophonously sounds like AC/DC, El Diablo, and the Supersuckers savagely runnin’ amok smack-dab into a furiously raging tornado, and then harnessing all of its catastrophic roaring energy and blasting it through a towering stack of Marshall amps. Unbelievably intense! –Guest Contributor (Diaphragm)

FATAL FLYIN:
Split: 7"EP
FFG: Trashy punk, but not in the '60s sense. It has a certain charm. Scared: Hyped up, lo‑fi punk with a smidgen of pop. –Jimmy Alvarado (Dirtnap)

FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS:
Get Knifed: CD
I’ve heard a lot of good things about these guys. They’re frenetic, loud, fast and really good. It took a little while for this to grow on me, but the more I listen, the more I like it. –Megan Pants (Estrus)

FATAL FLYING GUILLOTEENS/SCARED OF CHAKA:
Split 7": EP
FFG: Trashy punk, but not in the '60s sense. It has a certain charm. Scared: Hyped up, lo-fi punk with a smidgen of pop. –Jimmy Alvarado (Dirtnap, PO Box 21249, Seattle, WA 98111)

FATALITY:
Self-titled: 7”
Interesting release from this band from Nevada. At first, the guitar sound comes off a bit off kilter and twangy. But as time moves on, it actually benefits the sound of the music. It creates a foggy atmosphere. The band has a sound of old analog recording equipment and recorded live inside a garage. The songs swish along and then you are taken for a ride where they punch up the speed and thrash you along. Then they return to wash you over with a dissonant dirge of harsh drone while the singer/guitarist screams and yells with a pained delivery. As an introduction, I like what I hear. In a better studio setting with bigger production, this band should make a larger population take notice. –Donofthedead (Spacement)

FATALITY / THINK FAST:
Split: 7”
Two hardcore punk bands, neither of which is doing anything amazingly original. Think Fast kind of reminds of Minor Threat if an oi singer was trying to front it. I really want to like this because of the vinyl color (half black, half clear), but something doesn’t quite add up. This record doesn’t sound right at any speed. On 45, you get the chipmunk effect and on 33 1/3 the vocals just sounds too slow for bands named Fatality or Think Fast. I suppose the vocals aren’t what I should be thinking fast about, eh? Get it? Moving on, the songs did seem to go by fast enough that I only counted three per side, but the Think Fast side had five. Go figure. –Bryan Static (Spacement)

FATALS, THE:
Yeah Baby: 7”
Dunno what it is about this label, but everything I’ve ever heard has either been over the top, flat-out rockin’, or some combination thereof. Such is the case with these guys, who take the ‘60s trash thing, rip it to fucking shreds, and then piss all over the remains. If you’re into having your ears scrubbed with wire mesh while you rock out, this will more than do the trick. Good luck finding it, though, ’cause it’ll no doubt be long gone by the time you read this, but I highly recommend you put in some extra effort to seek it out. –Jimmy Alvarado (Zaxxon Virile Action)

FATE 2 HATE:
Iron Fist: CD
MTL HC? Is that Montreal? Stupid American, doesn't know his Canadian abbreviations. I do understand the abbreviation for HC. They follow the current formula so closely that if you told your friend that they were a different band from the genre, he would believe it. A mighty, mighty Sick of it All meets Slapshot meets Agnostic Front meets Strife worship. Within the formula, they do pull the shit off. The band name does come off a little white power to me. At least it comes off to me as a little thuggish and jock like. It must be those cold ass winters; it shrinks the dick. Am I wrong to assume? –Donofthedead (Insurgence)

FATE 2 HATE:
Iron Fist: CD
MTL HC? Is that Montreal? Stupid American, doesn’t know his Canadian abbreviations. I do understand the abbreviation for HC. They follow the current formula so closely that if you told your friend that they were a different band from the genre, he would believe it. A mighty, mighty Sick of it All meets Slapshot meets Agnostic Front meets Strife worship. Within the formula, they do pull the shit off. The band name does come off a little white power to me. At least it comes off to me as a little thuggish and jock like. It must be those cold ass winters; it shrinks the dick. Am I wrong to assume? –Donofthedead (Insurgence)

FATTER THAN ALBERT:
The Last Minute: CD
Ska punk. By the time they tried to push through a variant of “Armagideon Time” under the title of “Panda King,” including a thrash breakdown right in the middle, I was again cursing Operation Ivy for unleashing this scourge upon the world. –Jimmy Alvarado (http://www.communityrecords.com/)

FAULTY CHROMOSOME, A:
Craving to Be Coddled: CD
When I opened this CD, there was a small note attached to it. It read: “We are a band with no money. Promotion is quite expensive, so this CD was duplicated by a DIY punk kid who sadly did a lousy job. Please note that the transition between tracks one and two will be much smoother on the retail album than it appears on this particularly cruddy compact disk, okay? We are very sorry. Try not to dismiss us purely for this reason? We need your help by reviewing this album.” Dudes, the barely noticeable bad edit between the first and second tracks on this album is the least of your worries. This is self-indulgent, rambling indie rock garbage of the worst kind. They even have a comic book they expect you to read along with the album! (Not that that would always be a bad thing—Cannibal Corpse did it, too!) Somebody take away this guy’s journal and burn his keyboard, pronto! –Ryan Horky (Yelping Hill, yelpinghillrecords.com)

FAVORS, THE:
Self-titled: CDEP
These guys are smart. Too old for a boy band, what to do? Put out this EP. They’ll still get some tail from girls in the punk princess tank-tops, or the guys in the same get-up. Prettier than me on my best day. –Megan Pants (Break-Up!)

FAX ARCANA/THE DISEASE:
Split: CD
Fax Arcana: Twangy guitars over a post punk, gothic dirge. The Disease: Reminded me of Fugazi and screamo. Not the choice of beer I would drink if I were buying a pint. –Donofthedead (Alone)

FCAB:
Orange: CD-R
Grunge. –Craven (Self-released, myspace.com/fcab)

FEAR:
American Beer: CD
Well, it’s Fear all right. At least a couple of the songs are nearly 20 years old, those being a cover of "Hoochie Coochie Man," (originally featured in the movie "Get Crazy," in which Lee had a major part) and "Surgery," which is the song they used to do about Josef Mengele, albeit with some shoddily reworked lyrics. There’s also a few others I could swear I heard at least 15 years ago, like "Beerheads" and "Bud Club," and the song "Hard ‘Cotto’ Salami" is basically a retooling of "Beef Baloney." The good news is that this disc, although not as incendiary as much of their earlier work, is up in the top three of all their releases. The songs are catchy, (which was always the case with Fear at their best) the band is tight and Lee’s voice is still one of the best of any musical genre. The sarcasm is kept way in the back and there is a sense of introspection to some of the lyrics, but when you think they’re getting a little soft, along comes yet another song about beer. I really expected this to blow really hard, so I’m a little surprised that it doesn’t, and I’m thankful that Lee has avoided making a total mockery of one of my favorite bands of all time. –Jimmy Alvarado (Hall of Records, PO Box 69281, West Hollywood, CA 90069)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Indie Band: 7” EP
There is an axiom in rock’n’roll that says you can’t really go too wrong buying a record with a black cover and pink lettering ((and i should know, because i just now made it up)), and, in a general sense, that’s true here; however, what i really can’t get my brain around is how a band that writes such laughably shit-tacular lyrics like “your college boy brand of rock is doing mighty well for you and that’s just fine / you’re packing your shows, making more than a dime” could actually have the balls to include this line in their press writeup: “Pop punks ((sic)) songs absolutely need to have the hooks, but without quality lyrics and solid song structure they’re just fodder for the bargain bins of tomorrow.” I’m reading that, i’m like “Fuck YOU, ya little douches! Your lyrics are so bad i spent ten minutes trying to figure out if you were native English speakers, or from fuckin’ Lithuania or some god damn thing! Who the hell are YOU to go off on ‘quality song lyrics’ this, and ‘solid song structure’ that?! YOU FUCKIN’ DORKS WRITE SONGS WITH TITLES LIKE ‘CHERRY BOMB!!!’ HAVEN’T WE HAD A PERFECTLY GOOD SONG WITH THAT TITLE FOR LIKE OVER THIRTY YEARS NOW??? I HOPE JOAN JETT KICKS YOUR ASS WHILE LITA FORD EATS TIM HORTON’S STREUSEL CAKES OFF YOUR MOTHER’S BEST CHINA!!! AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!” Not a terribly bad record, really, but... i mean... holy crap, mon, get it together. BEST SONG: “What You Do” BEST SONG TITLE: “Cherry Bomb”...if you’re the FUCKING RUNAWAYS!!! FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I wrote the song “Motherfucker Are You Ready To Rock?” in the front row of a Joan Jett concert. –Rev. Norb (It’s Alive)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Indie Band: 7” EP
Punky, ramped-up pop from a buncha guys who apparently prefer “independent” rather than “indie” when it comes to describing them, and I can totally empathize. The songs are catchy, opinionated and strong overall, which means you could do much worse than picking this up. –Jimmy Alvarado (It’s Alive)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Indie Band: CDEP
About two minutes into “Bad Motel,” as the song is going from the second chorus into the solo, there’s a bit of guitar noodling that tugs the track in a different direction. It’s not dissonant or off key (it reminds me of the Soft Boys, actually). It’s unexpected and hard to categorize and I wish Indie Band had more moments like it. The rest of the disc, a decent blend of Green Day and the Clash (Billy Joe Strummer?), too goes where I expected it to. –Mike Faloon (It’s Alive)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Indie Band: 7”
See Rev. Nørb’s review in the previous issue for the best review possible of this band. For those of you without that ready reference, this is your standard punk rock with a picture of pink lipstick on the cover. I can’t help but reference the same bad lyrics Nørb did, “Your college boy brand of rock is doing mighty well for you and that’s just fine/You’re packing your shows, making more than a dime.” Yikes. One of the songs sorta (?) sounds like one of the lesser late-period Green Day songs, oddly enough. One of the members is wearing a Teenage Bottlerocket shirt in the insert, which is interesting and all, but this is mediocre stuff. If this were a cereal, it’d be Cheerios. Standard stuff. –Maddy (It’s Alive)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Indie Band: CD-R EP
Never had heard of this band, but when they played the first night of Insubordination Fest 2008, I was convinced. Four tunes, all clever, all rocking. I bet these guys drink Molson Golden. An honest brew makes its own friends, and an honest band like Fear Of Lipstick does not disappoint. Looking to hear more from these guys soon. –Sean Koepenick (It’s Alive)

FEAR OF LIPSTICK:
Self-titled: 7”
Pretty much equal parts ‘90s Lookout and, well, Ramones, Fear of Lipstick’s follow-up to their first 7” on It’s Alive is a slightly different affair in that it forgoes the by-the-numbers pop punk of their debut by incorporating a “darker” feel reminiscent of Disconnected or Last Race-era Stiv Bators. Hardly a mindblow, but a nice progression nonetheless –Dave Williams (Fucking Scam, no address)

FEATHERLY DECADENCE:
pre'ego: CD
This CD is so weird. Is it synth? Is it rock? Is it spoken word? Whatever it is, it's a small square of art. It's curious and intriguing. It's one of those CDs where none of the tracks have breaks between them, so they all kind of just string along, each one adding something to the next. If you read the back cover, it sounds like a small story, when in fact it is the song titles. The music itself (stories), vibrations, whatever, is a journey through an obviously complex imagination, supplied by Christopher Deckard (I think. Everything about this little package keeps me guessing). It is a definite experience, but in reference to what, I am unable to define as of now. –Harmonee (Muzak, 3000 Lemp Ave., St. Louis, MO 63118)

FEATHERLY DECADENCE :
pre: CD
This CD is so weird. Is it synth? Is it rock? Is it spoken word? Whatever it is, it's a small square of art. It's curious and intriguing. It's one of those CDs where none of the tracks have breaks between them, so they all kind of just string along, each one adding something to the next. If you read the back cover, it sounds like a small story, when in fact it is the song titles. The music itself (stories), vibrations, whatever, is a journey through an obviously complex imagination, supplied by Christopher Deckard (I think. Everything about this little package keeps me guessing). It is a definite experience, but in reference to what, I am unable to define as of now. –Guest Contributor (Muzak)

FECES FOR WARPAINT:
You Can’t Polish a Turd: Demo: CD
These eight songs were recorded on a four track. That’s just fine, ‘cause this is a demo. The songs are between hardcore and crust. Full on fast and ragging. No pretty melodies here. Reminds me of something from the early to mid ‘90s. Boy, these guys are pissed, too! Their lyrics are very hateful of the rich and what they do to the rest of society – not just to the people, but to the environment as well. I definitely liked this demo. Not only for the music but also for the lyrics. So just email these guys and I’m sure for a few $ you could get this fine demo CD. A definite winner in my book. –Mike Beer –Guest Contributor (FFWP)

FED UP:
Read Between the Lines: 7” EP
This is at least the third band I’ve heard going by this name, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when one takes into consideration that they lay down some serious hardcore here—flailing drumsticks, buzzsaw guitars, and a singer with an apparent fascination with stabbing those who piss him off. It’ll be interesting to see how the other Fed Ups of the world (if they still exist) manage to up the ante, ‘cause these kids have set the bar pretty high here. –Jimmy Alvarado (World Won’t Listen)

FED UP:
Discography 2004–2009: Cassette
The lyric-less insert that accompanies this cassette claims that this is “tooth chippin’ fastcore.” I’d be hard up to find a good argument against this being fastcore; however, I walked away from this tape with all teeth intact—well, no different than when I pressed play. The guitarist knows a few chords. The drummer knows one beat: the fast one. The bassist probably stares at his or her bass. And the vocalist screeches out the lyrics like he is being poked with a stick. Add that up to get an all right-sounding band…kind of. The first side is made up of two demos, a live set, and two comp tracks; it is pretty unlistenable due to poor quality recording. The back side is a bit better with only three demo tracks, the quality of which I can’t totally recall. This side also has two EPs and a split, which constitute the best material on the cassette. The sequence is chronological, and the band seems to have gotten better as time passed. If you are the type that likes to have all recordings by a band that did some pretty okay stuff and you missed out on the earlier releases, then I recommend the tape; otherwise, I would try to seek out their 7” with the Altered States rip off cover. –Vincent Battilana (Intellect, intcollective.com)

FED UPS, THE:
Such is Life: CD
Decent enough punk here that kinda reminds me of some of the early L.A./O.C. punk stuff. Although the vocals—a little too monotone and lacking oomph—and the recording quality—ditto—don’t really do it for me, the songs themselves, especially “Angry Fuck,” were strong enough to get me to listen to this more than once, and they get stronger as the CD progresses. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.thefed-ups.com)

FEDERATION X:
Rally Day: CD
Gritty rock with enough Sabbath-inspired sludginess smooshed in to give it a stoner sheen. Not bad. –Jimmy Alvarado (Estrus)

FEDERATION X:
X Patriot: CD
Bradley Williams sings the praises of Fed-X, so I checked them out. They’re a three-piece from Washington, but that’s where it starts getting weird. The three pieces are drums and two guitars, both with four strings and played through bass amps. The result? A dirty sound that hooked me. It has a southern feel, even though they’re about as far from the south as you can get in the States. I missed them their last time through LA. I won’t make that mistake again. Oh yeah, Steve Albini recorded the album for those of you who care. –Megan Pants (Estrus)

FEDERATION X:
American Folk Horror: CD
If you go with the abbreviated title of their name it becomes Fed X, which brings to mind FedEx (Federal Express) the Memphis-based global delivery service whose plane caused Tom Hanks to be stranded on an island. That movie was perfect for the fans of Survivor. Came out just at the right time. A sort-of supplemental point of reference for the identification of crap TV. Tom Hanks is no Tenacious D. And Tenacious D is nothing like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Speaking of which whatever happened to Conan? This is an important issue that should be reviewed in length at a later time. Back to the matter at hand—the new Fed X CD. This one is for the Graveyard Soup lover in us all. –Brad Beshaw (Estrus)

FEEDERZ, THE:
Ever Feel Like Killing Your Boss: CD
Anger can be an amazing source for inspiration. This is classic, long hard-to-find, caustic, dark shit that would do you well to pick up. Spearheaded by the acid-spitting Frank Discussion, The Feederz never took any sides – left or right, right or wrong – except their own. Yet they were super-intelligent and graphically smart about pulling off this musical coup. You’d think that something so nihilistic would immediately implode on itself. Luckily, they recorded a couple albums before that happened (although they’re playing out again). The songs themselves are fantastic and it’s almost impossible to trace how many bands have shamelessly borrowed from The Feederz without giving credit where credit’s due – from the outright intelligent antagonism (rarely duplicated), the guitar strangulation, the absolutely amazing drumming that sets a definite mood and pace, the ability to play a slower song that’s completely frenetic and dizzy, how to make truly moving protest-against-everything music, and the flow of the entire album itself. The Feederz were many things, but they had several recurring themes: anti-capitalism, anti-advertising, anti-submission, and anti-religion. Indispensable jewels are songs like “1984,” which rails against working so someone else can make a buck off of you. (“You go to school for twelve years where you learn just one thing/ How not to mind being bossed.”) In every fold of the CD jacket, Frank suggests you steal this album, to use their artwork, to tape the songs at home. Juxtaposing the CD cover subvertisement of an attractive, busty bandita is the talk bubble, “Vandalism, beautiful as a rock in a cop’s face.” Leaving no big stone unturned and walking away from no fights, they go right for the robe. In “Jesus,” re-named from the original LP’s “Entering from the Rear” – leaves little room for interpretation. (“Jesus entering from the rear/ Fucking you in the ass/ Just another faggot/ In just another mass.”) I’ve always found it more than a little weird that The Feederz didn’t get as popular as, say, Dead Kennedys. Perhaps it’s because they fought with their gloves off and they constantly attacked for exposed, hypocritical throats. Perhaps it was because this album was fucking tough to find for years. The original LP version of Ever Feel… (“Pay no more than $0.00 for this record”) had sandpaper on both sides of the jacket, designed to scuff the records next to it, as a fuck you to record collectors (which backfired, because it’s worth a lot of dough.) All said and done, this is an extremely welcome re-issue that I’ll be playing incessantly. The irony that this is quite possibly more timely than when it was first released doesn’t escape me either. –Todd Taylor (Broken)

FEEDERZ, THE:
Teachers in Space: CD
With a picture of the space shuttle Challenger blowing up, the title doesn’t sound as nicey nice. While not as tickling my punk fancy as their first record, there are more harmonies, less thud, and opens with a Crass-y spoken word over tortured instruments song that isn’t as essential. In other words, a bit more arty, but upon repeated listens, it’s growing on me. It makes me realize how truly funny, diverse, and inventive The Feederz could be away from hardcore. The song titled “Intermission (Time for a Snack)” is just that. Mellow vibes and a ticking clock for a minute and five seconds. Half of “Taking the Night” sounds like a musical. A really good musical that I’d like. About rioting. So, if you see both this and Ever Feel…, get the other, but if you have a choice between this and, say, an emo record, this’ll do your head good. As an added bonus, this also has a long live show video on it (which can’t be played on record players). –Todd Taylor (Broken)

FEEDERZ: Vandalism:
Beautiful as a Rock in a Cop’s Face: CD
The Feederz were a legendary eighties hardcore band. Lead singer Frank Discussion reformed this incarnation of the band, and we’re all better for it. They have a very confrontational approach to punk rock (as you can see in the interview with them, conveniently placed within the pages of this issue of Razorcake), and it’s easy to simply be offended by them. The trick is to go beyond that, to confront the issues that their lyrics force you to confront. This whole approach is what gives the Feederz their edge. But it would be a shame to discount them as just a message put to music. The music itself is solid. It’s hard for me to avoid comparing them to the Dead Kennedys, and not just because Frank Discussion ran off with Jello Biafra’s wife. Because Discussion also ran off with a handful of EastBay Ray-style riffs while he was at it. Apparently, he pocketed some DH Peligro drum sections, too, and put those beats on loan to Feederz’s drummer, Ben Wah. And, from there, they built their own disjointed sound that simultaneously irritates you and makes you enjoy the irritation. If you’ve never heard the Feederz, I recommend starting with Ever Feel Like Killing Your Boss. After that, you’ll just follow the natural progression to pick up this album. If you’re thinking, c’mon, there’s no way the Feederz could be as edgy and relevant as they once were, pick up this album and prove yourself wrong. –Sean Carswell (Broken Rekids)

FEELERS, THE:
Learn to Hate the Feelers: CD
Well, I can’t say that I hate them, but I was definitely disappointed with this full-length. The split with the Blank Its was fantastic and I was really stoked to get this, but I have a feeling that there was a lot of weed involved in the writing process. The two songs on the seven-inch were driving, fast punk rock songs, and the songs on here are more like Devo. I like Devo, but I was expecting something on the level of the Baseball Furies or Sweet JAP, so it kind of threw me for a loop. The reverb on the vocals was pretty annoying, too. Why do bands keep doing that? For the most part, the guy sings kind of like Jay Reatard, with the occasional moment where it sounded like David Yow of The Jesus Lizard. It’s growing on me but not at all what I expected. –Josh (Dead Beat)

FEELERS, THE:
Self-titled: 7”
The Feelers answer the question of, “What happens when a garage punk band is shredded against Negative Approach’s cheese grater, but the Oblivians’ desperate, rickety shack is still jumping in the background?” It’s a broken arm that you can snap your fingers along to. It’s like a chainsaw with a blade that’s teethed with sweet, sweet gumdrops or jackhammers lubricated, not with oil, but maple syrup. The result it fully interlocking parts between two things that aren’t necessarily supposed to go together, and that makes it all the more memorable. Improves on repeated listens, and is much better than the Willy Wonka-ness of the comparisons in this review. Great, fun punk rock. Remember that? Recorded by Alicja Trout (issue #29’s cover lady), and she captures them in full stride, fully fanged, broadly smiling. Excellent. –Todd Taylor (Contaminated)

FEELERS, THE:
Children Are Kids Too: 7"
After the “Nothing Always” 45 this is the fifth single from The Feelers by my count, not including the split with the Blank Its and the single on the Killed By Trash comp. They may be reaching the Tyrades territory, a killer collection of 45s and only one full-length. Nothing wrong with that, upping the fetish scale a la The Rip-Offs. This one is for the “2007 European Tour” and continues their KBD sound, but they are as consistently good and fresh as anyone else you wanna name today. Some of their best stuff here. Not to mention, P. Trash is on a roll lately with some sparkling 45s. –Speedway Randy (P. Trash)

FEELERS, THE:
Nothing Always: 7"

The Feelers are like going to a really good show, a strong bill. The first bands are pretty darn good. Good enough to sway along to, not mock, and it’s a pleasant, if not mind-blowing, evening. The bands are as good, or better, than the drinks you’re drinking. Then The Feelers come on, and it’s like someone tripped a booby trap. The chaos is precise, it’s directed right at the audience—all from above, out of nowhere, in an ambush—and all the songs are filled with lethal intent, delivered with certainty of muscle. Even if this 7”s is less vicious than the previous one on Contaminated, holy hell, if it’s not as great and still going directly for all the softest parts of the listeners’ bodies. I’m pleased as punch to find strains of hardcore and non-fancy garage snaking around the same stick again, biting from both sides. Supercharger and The Fix fans, hold hands against the enemy of complacency!

–Todd Taylor (Bachelor)

FEELERS, THE:
Nothing Always: 7"
This band continues to deliver: KBD, tight guitars, strained singing to the point of inventing new melodies, immediate fun. Easily one of the more exciting bands today, as they are just fun, but have a feeling of danger in their sound. Will make girls jump up and down and guys break windows. Anyone out there making a running zombies movie? The Feelers are your soundtrack. –Speedway Randy (Bachelor)

FEELERS, THE:
Fuhrer’s New Miniskirt b/w Special/Next Boy: 7”
Great, raw 1980-style lo-fi punk that makes me think of the Zero Boys, but that’s probably because the Feelers are from Ohio, and I haven’t heard the Zero Boys in a really long time. –Cuss Baxter (Death by Noise)

FEELERS, THE/BLANK ITS:
Split: 7”
Rad split featuring two bands that have generated quite a bit of a buzz in a very short amount of time. The Feelers have me kicking myself for not picking up their earlier 7”. Fast, hard-hitting, guitar-driven punk that sounds like a lost early-‘80s Midwest hardcore band. More evidence that Ohio is an often-overlooked hotbed of rock and roll. Folks who dig the first Baseball Furies album will find much to like here. Vocally, the Blank Its remind me of the guy from Servotron singing underwater. Musically, they play really twisted lo-fi stuff that’s not exactly easy to categorize but would fit in between your A Frames and Spits records. Addictive hooks, too. Pick up a copy quick because these might not be around too long. –Josh (Contaminated)

FELLOW PROJECT:
Where’s the Wire: 10"
Folk punk with a political bent. Fans of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb and the Plan-It-X crowd will wanna be all over this. Earnest lyrics, solid playing, and heartfelt spirit here, but the tunes don’t really grab me. All you bike punks are gonna love it though. –Mike Frame (Make Or Break)

FELLOW PROJECT:
Where’s the Wire: 10”
Folk punk with a political bent. Fans of This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb and the Plan-It-X crowd will wanna be all over this. Earnest lyrics, solid playing, and heartfelt spirit here, but the tunes don’t really grab me. All you bike punks are gonna love it though. –Mike Frame (Make Or Break)

FELLOW PROJECT / JONESIN:
Split: 7”
It’s kinda funny: I’ve had releases by both of these bands for a long time, but never really listened to either of them. A while back, there was a mishap with an order I did with Dead Broke. When I received my actual order, I got a free Fellow Project CD for the trouble. I never listened to it, thinking that it was something that they just had lying around (I guess that’s just how my mind works). Jonesin did a split with Shang-A-Lang. I listened to the Jonesin side when I got it, noting that it was ex-Down In The Dumps. I recall thinking that it was okay, but much preferring the SAL side—no offense, but they do an awesome fucking Lou Reed song on their side. So this is kind of the first time that I’ve really listened to either band. Fellow Project offer up some poppy, punky post hardcore. Jonesin lay down two tunes in the Tiltwheel via Crimpshrine vein of gruff-voiced dude punk. –Vincent Battilana (Kiss Of Death)

FEMURS, LOS:
Modern Mexico: CD
Before you roll your eyes when I tell you this is a two-man band, lemme just point out that they veer less towards White Stripes-land and more toward the semi-acoustic skiffle-punk of bands like Brent’s TV. The songs are strong and hooky, well executed, and a fun listen, which I’ll admit was a bit of a surprise for me, too. –Jimmy Alvarado (thefemurs@hotmail.com)

FENWICK:
Totally OK: CD
Hailing from the hometown of Jack Kerouac, Fenwick are a three-piece punk rock band. They don’t do anything fancy, preferring to keep it simple and straight forward. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that, largely because of the singer’s lack of range, every song tends to sound exactly the same. If it was a single, I’d probably say it’s a pretty good, Muffs-style, aggressive melodic punk. As an eleven song full-length, it’s repetitive and boring. –Brian Mosher (My Little Rock Star, www.mylittlerockstar.com)

FERTIL MISERIA:
Desplazados: CD
This band, which I believe is from Colombia, exhibits more of an ‘82 sound in punk. They play a very garagey, raw punk sound with elements of speed in the music. The female led vocals are raunchy with a throat-screeching delivery. The production is thin, probably due to economics, but does not downplay the total package. They play tight and seem to be using all their might to make this a good recording. The band reminds me of early Colera meets Ratos de Parao from Brazil. You can feel the angry energy and conviction in the songs that they play. –Donofthedead (Fertil Miseria)

FEU DE JOIE:
Protostar: CD
I can’t start this review without mentioning the amazing packaging that accompanied this CD. I’m not even going to describe it all but let’s just say it involved a handwritten note on tissue paper addressed directly to Razorcake and put in an envelope that I could have mistaken for coming from the 1700s. That’s not to mention that great black, cardboard case with a monogram of the band name on it and the booklet with a series of drawing of each of the planets in the solar system on tissue paper. It’s all really amazing and makes for a good impression. Unfortunately, that impression disappears as soon as the CD starts to play. The music is average emo-indie rock fare with vocals (a bit too high pitched perhaps?) that don’t seem to fit in with the music. It’s nothing that I haven’t heard a million times before. It sucks because the packaging was really amazing. Well, as the late Kurt Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.” –Kurt Morris (feudejoie.notrock.com)

FEUDS, THE:
Square Go?: CD-R
The Feuds are a Scottish punk/rock band a la The Black Keys or the Ramones. Each member even takes the last name Feud. And, like the Ramones, it’s catchy and a pleasant enough listen, but, unlike the Ramones, it didn’t cause me to want to sing any of their songs at karaoke. (I always dedicate “The KKK Took My Baby Away” to Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey.) –Kurt Morris (myspace.com/thefeudsvstheworld)

FEVER B:
The Lonely Sailor Sessions: 12” EP
I don’t know if formats get any better than this: 12” that plays at 45 RPM with the same program on both sides. I also don’t know if I’ve heard anything this good recently. Imagine The Nerves coming out fifteen years later and recording in a bedroom after having listened to Teenage Fanclub and early Ramones. Supplement that with a soft-voiced rocker who exudes a striking amount of self confidence in his concerned-yet-suave delivery. Note the subtle hint of Big Star. Now be amazed by the results: fuzzed-out power pop run through an indie rock filter that has an appreciation for punk. (From what I found on the internet, this is one of the guys from The Fevers, whom I checked out after hearing this; they are good but not nearly as good as this. I do believe that I also read that Fever B actually recorded this a while back.) This one is limited to 500 (at least numbered out of 500) and comes in a screen-printed jacket with hand-stamped labels. Don’t wait. I really don’t know how this got outta HQ and into my hands. I can’t recommend this enough. –Vincent Battilana (Burger)

FEVERS, THE:
Gaan Daar Waar de Meisjes Zijn: LP
The Fevers take titan missile-sized cues from The Heartbreakers. But it’s mid-paced, clean, clever, with poking hints of snarl instead of stabbing away at darkness full force. It’s all well and fine, but this is just one of those records that makes me reach for the original wellspring – vinyl crackles, ring wear on the cover art and all – instead of this scrubbed-behind-the ears, smiling update. Although I wish them no harm and don’t think they suck, I just wish this was faster and dirtier and more their own gig. Danger’s traded in for driver’s side air bags, it seems. On the plus side, it’s on royally thick vinyl. –Todd Taylor (Alien Snatch)

FEVERS, THE:
“Don’t Tell Me it’s Wrong” b/w “He’s in Town”: 7"
Rockin’ poppy rock/punk fusion. Side A rocks the way a Phil Spector song might, and side B is a slower song of the same. The cool little insert is a sheet of perforated labels made especially for juke box selection menus. Gotta admit... even though I don’t own a juke box, that’s a pretty clever and unique insert all the same! –Amy Adoyzie (Get Hip)

FEVERS, THE:
Love Always Wins: CD
Signs that this record is not entirely On Its Shit are apparent from the get-go: Side One, Track One ("Dance") is a song about slow dancing, but it is not a number that can be slow danced to—which places it, of necessity, into the role of a sound-the-call-and-rally-the-troops-it's-dancin'-time type album kicker-offer, which is foolish, because a song about wanting to slow dance implies that the main character, who represents both the singer and the listener, wishes to stop fast dancing at his earliest convenience, so he can slow dance: As a fast dance number with a built-in deathwish, the song essentially neutralizes itself, and makes as little sense as starting L.A.M.F. off with “Going Steady” would have. The second song would have been an okay second song if the first song was really great, but, as the first song was not really great, as first songs should be, the second song is forced into a role of delayed de facto first song, which it does not succeed at. The third song, "Don't Tell Me It's Wrong," is a great third song, but third songs on albums like these are always a twinge more downbeat and wistful than the two which precede it, so now we've got an album that, for all practical purposes, skips the first two songs and comes in on the slightly more melancholy third song. Okay, fine. Song four, "Bound to Cry," is an excellent fourth song; an uptempo potboiler if you will, but it is followed by the 6/8-time ballad "Lonesome Tears," which, at Side One, Track Five, is in the exact right spot for a 6/8-time ballad (if you believe in that sort of thing), yet it also unfortunately kills the late-developing momentum developed by the third and fourth songs. Side One ends with a cover of the Flamin' Groovies' "Let Me Rock" with new lyrics added by Fever B on accounta the original ones are unanimously unintelligible. I am neutral on this song because no one yells "oh, skooby-doo-oo!" at the end. The historically important Side Two, Track One spot (important because the first songs on each side of a vinyl record are the two most likely to be played by beleaguered DJs since they require much less time to cue up than other tracks) goes to the title track. I am kinda unimpressed with it. It sounds like one o' those songs where the inconvenience of it being not-so-hot of a song blinds people to the fact that, it is, in fact, not-so-hot of a song. The record's fate is sealed: This is... But the Little Girls Understand to their first album's Get the Knack. Sandwiched between an okay Side Two, Track Two and a completely blah Side Two, Track Six, however, is the album's secret fizzy center: Three tracks of perfect bubblegum—a cover of the 1910 Fruitgum Company's "Get Your Luvin," the "are-you-sure-Lancelot-Link-and-the-Evolution-Revolution-never-did-this" bittersweet kindergarten genius of "Photobooth," and "My Iy Iy," a song of such amazing gummi-perfection that i swore it was on some Buddah Records thing that i couldn't find until i contacted the band and found out that they wrote it in like 1997 or something (he calls her at one; she’s out having fun. He calls her at eight; she’s out on a date. How the guy managed to make it through the entire song without saying I call you at six, you’re out sucking dicks is beyond me). By my count, the band goes about 5 or 6 for 12 here—disappointing but not devastatingly so. Dammit, entropy is what always actually wins. Ask around. BEST SONG: "My Iy Iy" BEST SONG TITLE: "My Iy Iy" FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: The "WHAT? WHALE" pseudo-record-label-insignia on the cover is a parody of White Whale Records, best known for being the Turtles’ label. –Rev. Norb (Screaming Apple)

FEVERS, THE:
Don’t Tell Me it’s Wrong b/w He’s in Town: 7"
Rockin’ poppy rock/punk fusion. Side A rocks the way a Phil Spector song might, and side B is a slower song of the same. The cool little insert is a sheet of perforated labels made especially for juke box selection menus. Gotta admit... even though I don’t own a juke box, that’s a pretty clever and unique insert all the same! –Mr. Z (Get Hip)

FEVERS, THE:
Get on Again: 7”
Modern stab at power pop, which rapidly seems to be well on the way to becoming the new emo. Lucky for them, and me, their tunes ain’t too bad, especially the flip, which sees ‘em ditchin’ the electric for an acoustic and not sounding like shit. On purty bubblegum pink vinyl, too. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.plasticidoldrecords.com)

FEW AND THE PROUD:
Stampede: LP
The preachy, self-righteous, downright serious tone of the message the Few And The Proud are delivering turned me off of this release immediately. Straight edge is fine as a lifestyle choice, but the narcissistic attitude that oozes through the lyrics of this album is a drag, and, frankly, nobody gives a shit what any of these guys do or do not put in their bodies. The generic hardcore music didn’t help much, either. –Josh Benke (Underground Communiqué)

FICTION REFORM:
Revelation in the Palms of the Weak: CD
This starts off sounding like a mix of Pennywise and Distillers. The songs are certainly adequate in that vein, but never quite take off. One problem for me is that the vocals don’t quite gel on some of the songs. The singer, Brenna, seems to have her voice pushed unnaturally far up in the mix on some of the songs, like in the lead track, “Whites in Their Eyes.” The parts where this stands out to me are the later tracks where the band slows down, like “Come Back Home,” which is a ballad that’s mostly multi-tracked vocals and an acoustic guitar, and the dirgey “180 Avant Garde.” These more low key songs are really good in the way that some of the moodier later day Distiller’s stuff was, or maybe a less rockabilly Miss Derringer. I would definitely check out more stuff of theirs that followed that route. –Adrian (Basement)

FICTION, THE/BIRTHDAY BOYS:
Split: 7”
The Fiction: This is emotional hardcore without emotion. Oh wait, is screaming an emotion? Birthday Boys: It’s a song about Michael Jordan. C’mon now, what year is this? You know what is a good basketball song? That Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song off of Uplift Mofo Party Plan. And no, I’m not kidding. You know the one. “LA Lakers/fast break makers/kings on the court/shake’n’bake all takers.” –Megan Pants (McCarthyism)

FIELD DAY:
Christian Television: 7”
Take a dash of the late-’90s jangle of Sacramento’s Sunney Sindicut Records roster (Pivot, Popesmashers, etc.) and pour it in a tumbler full of the huge shoegaze/indie scene from a few years later. Throw in some packaging that’s more Mr. Pibb than Dr. Pepper (the cover’s a tad forgettable, sorry) and you’ve got your Field Day. All three songs are instrumental with the first two being quick, mostly pretty, bursts of sound. But on the flip, the song “Barbie with Gun” really forces you outside the box a bit. Weird, weird time signatures, complex notes that leap into crazy spasms of distortion and then back into the light-hearted, “fun with teddy bears” romp. I personally didn’t care for their stuff, but I gotta give ‘em points for testing the sturdiness of expectations and still sounding like a cohesive unit. –Keith Rosson (Rorschach)

FIELDS OF FIRE:
Demo: CD
Fast, spazzy, and satisfying punk rock in the vein of The Zero Boys (whom they cover), Black Flag, and JFA with flourishes of newer incarnations like the Thumbs and Dick Army (not the violin LA one, the good one in NYC). It's full of melody without being outright poppy. It's fast, but every note's still being hit (so rule out powerviolence), and it's hard to type when I listen to it because my fist always wants to raise up and pump along. The cool thing about Fields of Fire is that although they remind me of past great bands from the early '80s, I don't get all misty with nostalgia, but get the sense of a band looking ahead while using some of the tools of the past, and sharpening them for the songs ahead. Looking forward to the progression. This ain't bad at all. –Todd Taylor (Fields of Fire)

FIELDS OF FIRE:
Kill the Flock: CD

Some pretty strong stuff here, reminiscent of early to mid-L.A. hardcore. Lyrics aren’t too painful and there’s enough conviction in their delivery as to make it believable. Impressive. If they manage to stay on course, they may become a personal fave.

–Jimmy Alvarado (Bockhorn)

FIFTH HOUR HERO:
Not Revenge... Just a Vicious Crush: CD
Having listening to music for so long, I often play this game with myself. “What if Discount was a supergroup with No Division-era Hot Water Music and Alison didn’t sing quite as much?” “What if they let it all spool out, did duets, and let it get epic?” (And not “whoah, dude,” bong, big clouds, car chase epic, but high desert, full moon, clear head epic.) “What if Leatherface was French Canadian, and a bit more sweet? In what ways would the poutine offset the fish and chips?” Fifth Hour Hero answers all these questions: expansive, smart, and driving punk that’s as much giving honor to the past as to looking through the cracked windshield, excited and weary, on the long highway to the next gig. Their first record didn’t do much for me. This one’s doing plenty. As they said to the dude who lopped off Marie Antoinette’s head: well executed. –Todd Taylor (No Idea)

FIFTH HOUR HERO:
Scattered Sentences: LP
This is so damn good! French Canadians writing catchy, Discount-esque punk songs about the two great punk rock themes – love and politics! Je l’aime! I think I have finally found a record that can tear me away from my compulsive Onion Flavored Rings obsession! This is Cinnamon Toast Crunch – bouncy music you can rock out to while arguing about anarchism! –Maddy (No Idea)

FIFTH HOUR HERO:
You Have Hurt My Business and My Reputation Too: CD
I love this band! Quebeçois punk rock! Girl and boy vocals! (I wish we were at the point in punk rock where I didn’t have to point out when there are girl vocals, but, unfortunately, this is still mostly a boy band scene! Just look at the Backstreet Boys! NO girls at ALL!) Anyway, three songs of great melodic punk, plus one more folky number! Think Discount! If you haven’t already bought their LP, Scattered Sentences, what’s wrong with you? If this were a cereal, it’d be Marshmallow Alpha Bits! Could become Lucky Charms [my favorite!] quite soon! My only complaint? I’m assuming you speak French, so why no French songs? Je l’aimerais bien! –Maddy (No Idea)

FIFTH HOUR HERO / THE SAINTE CATHERINES:
Split: 7"
Fifth Hour Hero: I still can’t shake the Discount comparison. It’s especially evident on their second song, “A Map Within.” It’s strange, since Discount was from Florida and Fifth Hour Hero is Canadian; I thought accents would change the vocals up a bit more. That said, since Allison of Discount is now busy smoking cigarettes on stage in an effort to remain mysterious and changed her name to Building or Eraser or something (she’s in the Kills) and has slipped into designer jeans, Fifth Hour Hero is slowly getting more spins on my record player. Past loyalties die hard. I’m liking FHH more and more. The Sainte Catherines: take the first two Small Brown Bike albums, toss in Lemmy of Motorhead’s basic bass sensibilities, rough it up in a cement mixer for some extra dizziness, and there you have it. “The International Badminton Championship: La P’ Tite Grise Vs. Jef” is one of the best-executed songs about confused sexuality I’ve come across in a long time. Immaculate packaging, to boot. –Todd Taylor (1-2-3-4-Go!)

FIFTH HOUR TURN / GUNMOLL:
: Split CD

Both bands are so close. There are real crisp glimpses of originality and musicianship. Fifth Hour Turn, at their best, are reminiscent of the top of what Discount released. Swelling, sweltering guitars, crisp and interlocking bass and drums, and lady singer who can belt it like a lash and sounds like her heart's exploding. When the guy sings, it veers really close to Hot Water Music territory. It's a little more gruff and tumble, which isn't bad, per se, but I'd like an eking of a sound more distinctly their own. At worse, the songs get too repetitive. They rut in their hooks a little too long, the lyrics repeat a little too much, and I start looking in my collection for Half Fiction or Fuel for the Hate Game. Gunmoll's a strange bunch. Half of the songs on here are my favorite – bar none – by them. "Forget Me Not" plays along like a burlap noose that the lead singer's swinging from, while the guitars play, graze, and blaze. They play like the world's on fire around them. Yet, the other half, like "Point," are almost hard to get through, thinking that the Leatherface ballad xeroxing machine is set a little too closely to their coffee maker. Both bands are so close.

–Todd Taylor (No Idea)

FIFTY-TWO:
Lead or Follow: CD
Pretty straightforward hardcore (meaning no abundance of metal wanking) with a dash of country here and there. Not too bad, although the guitar player looks more like Yogi Fuentes than should be humanly possible. –Jimmy Alvarado (Aggravated Music)

FIGGS, THE:
Casino Hayes: 7”
The Midwest is lousy with longtime underrated or slow-to-be-appreciated bands. I’m not sure what the correlation between oceans and widespread popularity is, but Milwaukee’s Figgs have been playing straight-ahead, under-the-radar, thoughtful poppy rock’n’roll for years and years. They’re also a “fan of music” band, a “band’s band”—a band that’s happy to sit down and chat with you, see if you’re enjoying yourself, instead of lighting itself on fire, shoving themselves into a cannon, and ripping their clothes off so you take notice (only to be forgotten just as quickly). They toured with the Knack in the mid-’90s, should be on the same couch as Cheap Trick (or at least the same living room) in people’s minds, and have laid down two more rockin’, steady, mellower tracks here. –Todd Taylor (Peterwalkee, peterwalkee.com)

FIGGS, THE:
Casino Hayes: 7"
Mixed bag here. First side, “Casino Hayes,” reminds me of the sound of Dischord bands around 1989/1990. More on the rock side, but not quite mainstream: a little angsty in the vocals, but not yelling and threatening. Then I flip it over to “Another Point of View” and it then these guys sound like Tom Petty, or more in the realm of stuff like Sheryl Crow or Bonnie Raitt. Folky, poppy, and a little bit of rock. If you ever listened to KFOG in San Francisco, The Figgs would fit perfectly into that station’s format. –Matt Average (Peterwalkee, peterwalkeerecords.com)

FIGGS, THE:
Casino Hayes: 7"
Cover art is a bit Vegas kitsch a la Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, but the A-side, a tune called “Casino Hayes,” culled from an upcoming album called The Man Who Fights Himself, is a decent bit of straight-ahead rock with a bit of a power pop backfill. The flip, “Another Point of View,” is a much more laid back soundtrack for those late afternoons at the beach before you make love in your Chevy van, and that’s all right with me. My interest is definitely piqued. –Jimmy Alvarado (Peterwalkee)

FIGHT AMP:
Manners and Praise: CD
The first time I played this I kinda liked it. I didn’t expect anything from it (stupid name, does it every time) and was therefore pleasantly surprised when it was sort of okay. When I went back to jam it again, expecting to enjoy it, it fell flat. Such are the mysteries of record reviewing. There are worse bands, but, in the end, I didn’t find anything that memorable about Fight Amp. –Ryan Horky (Translation Loss, translationloss.com)

FIGHT LIKE HELL:
Rabid as Wolves: CD
Sinister, brooding, and intense. That’s just in the first five minutes of this release. Colorado four- piece evokes the spirit of Suicidal Tendencies (“How Will I Laugh” era) and 24-7 Spyz with the metal two prong cattle brand of Accept’s barnburners. “Walk Alone” and “Money Matters” are the stand-out tunes on this one. Ouch—I think I just got whiplash. Are there free Vicodin samples in the CD sleeve? Dammit! –Sean Koepenick (Spook City)

FIGHT, THE:
Home Is Where the Hate Is: CDEP
Youth is what keeps punk vibrant. This thought is showcased here with this band which has no one older than eighteen years old. You can feel the youthful energy and the exceptional knack for writing music. Female vocalist, K8, has a strong voice that is not too gruff but is melodic at the same time. Her male backed band play at a mid-tempo pace that falls in line with a melodicore sound mixed with their homebase UK environment. I would picture this band on the Crackle label instead of Fat. But they jumped the gun first and heard the potential to take a chance in an unknown band. A full length is supposed to be coming out. I can't wait to hear it and see how far they have progressed. Off the top of my head, the band sounds like a more melodic Lunachicks. Great debut! –Donofthedead (Fat)

FIGHT, THE:
Self-titled: CD
Sometimes when you review stuff you have to contrast how you much you like something with how good a job it does of what it tries to do. I don’t see myself that impressed with this CD in contrast with a lot of other music. However, I am sure that this band formed with the intention of impressing me. Even so, nobody I have played this for believes me when I show them the band photo – they look way too young to be making music as well as they are, and everyone is shocked the singer is female – she doesn’t sound like a boy so much as she has a really unique vocal style, especially to contrast her with most female vocalists. I bet these guys will be a real hit with the kids, and I just hope they stick it out for a while. A few years from now, and possibly with a better name, I can imagine being completely in awe here. I do worry. They walk a fine line away from being the next Blink 182 or whoever, but they are definitely on the right side of that line. –Rich Mackin (Fat)

FIGHT, THE:
Home Is Where the Hate Is: CDEP
Youth is what keeps punk vibrant. This thought is showcased here with this band which has no one older than eighteen years old. You can feel the youthful energy and the exceptional knack for writing music. Female vocalist, K8, has a strong voice that is not too gruff but is melodic at the same time. Her male backed band play at a mid-tempo pace that falls in line with a melodicore sound mixed with their homebase UK environment. I would picture this band on the Crackle label instead of Fat. But they jumped the gun first and heard the potential to take a chance in an unknown band. A full length is supposed to be coming out. I can’t wait to hear it and see how far they have progressed. Off the top of my head, the band sounds like a more melodic Lunachicks. Great debut! –Donofthedead (Fat)

FIGHTING CHANCE:
Sacrifice and Struggle: CD
Gallop rhythms, metallic hardcore guitars, gruff singer, "street punk" disposition, surprisingly well-written lyrics. Better than I expected, and I respect the obvious work they put into this, yet it still ain't no big whoop. –Jimmy Alvarado (Insurgence)

FIGHTING CHANCE:
Party Lies: 7"
I have been accused of being an asshole many of times through the years. I am human. Some people should never be behind a microphone. At least find a brand of music that fits your vocal style (if you have any). Also, there are so many effects, harmonizers and plug-ins that can enhance a voice. The singer is so monotone and dry, and it is barely in key. It sounds almost laughable. Reminds me of those terrible white power bands with the third grade lyrics and the remedial song structures. It just does not have any oomph! On a lot of this record, the drummer sounds like he goes off time. The guitar sounds like it’s being played out of a practice amp. The drums are also thin and the cymbals are the loudest sound in the mix. The bass is the only thing that sounds good. The only power I hear is the gravely delivery of the singer. Man, that was bad. At least they have a nice cover and were pressed on red colored vinyl. –Donofthedead (Insurgence)

FIGHTING CHANCE:
Sacrifice and Struggle: CD
A self-proclaimed “working class street rock’n’roll” band from Baltimore, Maryland, Fighting Chance tap into early NYHC (Agnostic Front, Warzone, Cro-Mags) mixing in a good dose of metal (thick chords, quick, slinky leads) into the tough guy hardcore formula. They stick with the basic m.o. of the genre—rallying against the man, never giving in, and uniting the punks and skins—and they do it well. Nothing to complain about here except maybe the shitty production values which rivals that of Underdog’s first LP or Youth of Today’s We’re Not in This Alone. Another complaint (albeit a very small one) was the fact that my attention wasn’t held for one complete listen. But that’s because Fighting Chance had me jonesing to hear S.O.A. and one can never pass up an opportunity like that, now can they? –Greg Barbara (Insurgence)

FIGHTING CHANCE:
Sacrifice and Struggle: CD
Gallop rhythms, metallic hardcore guitars, gruff singer, “street punk” disposition, surprisingly well-written lyrics. Better than I expected, and I respect the obvious work they put into this, yet it still ain’t no big whoop. –Jimmy Alvarado (Insurgence)

FIGHTING CHANCE:
Thus Hope Fades: CD
This month I got a lot of killer CDs to review. This one is no exception. Thirteen tracks of excellent street punk, hardcore, and even a reggae tune. It’s all done very well. Great vocals, great music, great lyrics = a great full length. These guys very strongly support the working class, which is evident in their lyrics. That’s good by me. So, yes, bust out your wallet and buy this CD. I highly recommend it. –Mike Beer –Guest Contributor (Insurgence)

FIGHTING THE VILLAIN:
First Impression: CDEP
My first impression? This is Paramore 2.0. Is that a good thing? Maybe for some people (people with swoopy bangs who are about to evolve from emo kids to hardcore kids, and eventually become hipsters once they’re legal drinking age), but not me. The good thing about this album is that I discovered the band the Downer Party on their label’s homepage when I was trying to find an address. –Adrian (Popsmear)

FILAMENTS, THE:
...What's Next: CD
I'm not generally a fan of much stuff coming across the pond, but these UK boys hold their own. British street punk/ska-core fronted by a couple horns that actually sound good for a change. Throw in a little oi undertone for good measure and what you get is a great new release by these hometown heroes. Strap on your "bouncing soles" - it's time to dance. –Guest Contributor (Household Name)

FILAMENTS, THE:
…What’s Next: CD
I’m not generally a fan of much stuff coming across the pond, but these UK boys hold their own.

British street

punk/ska-core fronted by a couple horns that actually sound good for a change. Throw in a little oi undertone for good measure and what you get is a great new release by these hometown heroes. Strap on your “bouncing soles”—it’s time to dance. –Jason K –Guest Contributor (Household Name)

FILAMENTS, THE:
…What’s Next: CD
I’m not generally a fan of much stuff coming across the pond, but these UK boys hold their own. punk/ska-core fronted by a couple horns that actually sound good for a change. Throw in a little oi undertone for good measure and what you get is a great new release by these hometown heroes. Strap on your “bouncing soles”—it’s time to dance. –Jason K –Guest Contributor (Household Name)

FILTER KINGS:
Finer Things: CD
Finally, Nebraska is growing more than corn! Roots rock and honky tonk from the plains with a full, rolling sound built of both electric and acoustic guitars and basses. Honest lyrics delivered via an irreverent hollerin’ layer with a singing pedal steel and a melancholy fiddle. Some nice male/female duets. Very solid effort, despite a little muddiness at times. –Jessica Thiringer (Speed! Nebraska)

FILTH:
Live the Chaos: 7” EP
Here’s the latest repressing of this sacrosanct 7”. This time, it is on Silver Sprocket (formerly? Springman), but the covers appear to be left over from Life Is Abuse (since the Life Is Abuse info lays where the Lookout! info once did). Though the covers might be old, the plates are new and the vinyl is transparent mucus green. I feel different about this than I when I first heard it. When I first heard this EP, I had the thought that the instrumentation was a bit slow for the vocal style. I have no idea why. Anyhow, I didn’t exactly get Filth the first time around. Cheaper Than the Beer (Blatz), on the other hand, I took to instantly. I picked up the majestic Shit Split on CD because of Blatz, but I fell in love with Filth. Whatever I thought was wrong with the four songs from this EP went out the window. In short, the songs rage. The songs are simple and repetitive in structure, the vocals are screeched; nothing too out of the ordinary. But when Filth does it, it works fucking perfectly. You get the Zen-ish “Today’s Lesson”; the stay-punk credo “Lust for Glory”; a story of young love and loss in “Hate”; and the anxiety-ridden wrath of making decisions about destruction from a post-apocalyptic mindset in “Freedom,” all on one hallowed piece of vinyl. Just go get this now! –Vincent Battilana (Silver Sprocket, silversprocket.net)

FILTHY 42’S, THE:
Positively South Jersey: CD
I notice I tend to get a lot of stuff from New Jersey lately, presumably because everyone assumes I already know about it. This pretty much comes across as just another band trying to hit it big. I mean, the tunes aren’t bad, but anything heartfelt here has been polished away. I mean, it came with a press sheet that included “target markets.” People aren’t assuming I’m into that kind of stuff, right? –Joe Evans III (Boot To Head)

FILTHY CHEATERS, THE:
Sizzle and Chunk: CD
Dirty southern punk rock. It sounds exactly how you think it does. It has all the riffs you think it does. The cover has something to do with motor vehicles and/or explosions just like you think it does (no confederate flags, though). Predictable. –Bryan Static (Self-released, myspace.com/thefilthycheaters)

FILTHY FEW:
Wealth & Hell-Being: CD
Man, I get all the ultra-PC stuff, don’t I? I kid, of course, as this thing is laden with paintings of strippers and potentially alienating lyrics. The music is loud and hard punk in a Candy Snatchers vein, with a slight sprinkle of rockabilly, and isn’t half bad. I wish I could recommend it, but the content is too annoying to get me stoked. When you’re naming your songs “Gonna Buy Me a Girl,” what do you expect a reviewer to say? –Will Kwiatkowski –Guest Contributor (Ass End)

FILTHY SKANKS, THE:
Bigger Than the Beatles: CD
Hot damn indeed, this is filthy, vile, obnoxious, and outrageously impure scum-rock perversity at its most brain-bashin' best (equal parts belligerent bone-fracturin' punk and mayhemic metal meatiness)! The blazin' firestorm of sick and twisted songs contained herein rowdily run rife with demon-possessed rabid-dog vocals, big, beefy guitar riffs that murderously grind into the gut like a fully revved rust-encrusted chainsaw, thundering torrents of earthquake-rumblin' bass ballsiness, and a spine-crackin' assault of dinosaur-stomp drum boomings. Yep, The Filthy Skanks raucously roar through a fast-as-fuck assortment of frenetic tit-twistin' tunes about wrestling, rock'n'roll, poontang, and the big bad devil himself... and they effortlessly flail through an oddball array of cacophonously crazed covers of The Misfits' "I Turned into a Martian," Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere" and "San Quentin," and the Ramones' "Havana Affair" and "Endless Vacation" (my all-time fave Ramones ditty, as a matter of factual insignificance!). Whooooodoggy, after a brew-drenched afternoon of endlessly replayin' this diabolically deranged disc, my ears are now a mangled mass of smoldering flesh! I've sold my soul to The Filthy Skanks, and I couldn't be happier! –Guest Contributor (The Filthy Skanks)

FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS:
Our Fathers Sent Us: CD
This is what I always wished the Pogues sounded like when I listened to their albums: songs born of Irish ballads that fill in the sound; songs that maintain the sense of self-loathing and downtroddenness, but add some chunks of Chuck Berry style rock'n'roll along with whiskey and gravel and hope from the hopeless. The Filthy Thieving Bastards are a side project for Johnny Bonnel and Darius Koski from the Swingin' Utters (along with various musicians filling in on drums, mandolin, banjo, bass, and percussion). Musically, it's a pretty big departure from the Swingin' Utters, but they retain the spot-on lyrics ("So deep in debt I just might get the bends"), the catchy melodies, and the general sense of "how do they make this sound so good?" And, on a personal note, I have to love an album with pictures of James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, and Charles Bukowski on the back cover. This is definitely one of the records we're all wrestling for here at Razorcake HQ. –Sean Carswell (TKO, 4104 24th St. #103, SF, CA 94114)

FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS:
A Melody of Retreads and Broken Quills: CD
Usually when people say the word “acoustic,” I stop listening. I generally don’t care about the context. I figure that there are only so many things that you can do with a guitar before you plug it in, and I’ve pretty much heard all of those things. Then, the Filthy Thieving Bastards (who, in case you don’t know it, are Johnny and Darius from the Swingin’ Utters, plus a bunch of musicians helping out) come along and prove me wrong. I’m trying to figure out why I like this album so much. I think it has less to do with the acoustic sound and more to do with how they filled in the song around the guitar. Unlike the first FTB EP, this album has drums on every song. A subtle difference, but it pushes the music beyond that acoustic realm. Then, of course, there’s the accordion, violin, piano, organ, mandolin, pedal steel, and upright bass that flow into some of the songs, each in a different way so that all the songs sound unique, even though the tempo doesn’t change much. A lot of what makes this album cool has to do with the influences, too. Sure, as with everything from Johnny and Darius, the Pogues are a strong background, as are Irish folk songs. Flickers of the Clash come through, too, but not as much as on a Swingin’ Utters album. Unlike the Swingin’ Utters, though, this album throws in flashes of Johnny Cash and even snatches of late eighties college rock (maybe this has something to do with Greg Lisher from Camper von Beethoven helping out on a few songs [rumor has it that Greg thought that Johnny and Darius were skinheads, so he kept trying to take them bowling. Take them bowling]). When you mesh all of these factors together, the songs become something that you’ve never heard before: fleshed out and mesmerizing acoustic songs. –Sean Carswell (BYO)

FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS:
My Pappy Was a Pistol: CD
Man, I hate using the word “sophisticated,” because it makes it sound like a band’s tying sweaters over their shoulders and getting memberships to country clubs. But, chances are, you can play the Filthy Thieving Bastards in “mixed company” (co-workers, awkward family reunions, that sort of thing) since the songs are pleasant and familiar sounding (assuming you’re familiar with early Who, languid and more swaying Pogues numbers, Kinks, and Donovan). But, with a little time with a social microscope, drinking, and reading along, the lyrics are the killing floor of this album. Three of four of these guys are in the Swingin’ Utters, which often relies on well-played slashing to get the point across. The Bastards deal more in songs that sound like butterflies flapping, but they’re singing about the murder of everyday existence. “The Back of His Hand” deals with spousal abuse, the “Drug Lords of the Avenues” revels in “new ways to mix anything with rum,” “Needs No Retrieve” discloses, “now if you walk through the door, and you see me on the floor, you are home.” Dark stuff that’s easy to sing along to and hard to forget. I’m beginning to believe the trio of Johnny, Darius, and Spike—all together—are current punk’s answer to Johnny Cash. Not a light claim. Let this sneak up on you like a sweet-smelling and treacherous mold. Just give it time to take hold. –Todd Taylor (BYO)

FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS:
…I’m a Son of a Gun: CD
Say what you will about Irish-flavored punk music (from can’t get enough of it to can’t stand it), a greater measure in music is honesty. I have no doubt in my mind that the Filthy Thieving Bastards believe in the songs they’re writing and in that, there’s a lot to chew on. If you can, erase the expectations of the Swingin’ Utters. Erase the expectation to be frozen in time like a caveman, only to be de-thawed to play anthems of yore. I’m a Son of a Gun follows the path of their previous outing: sitting instead of standing, weaving ‘60s pop and acoustic sensibilities in and out of hard knocks and alcohol-soaked triumphs and tragedies with a wry sense of humor. I never thought there’d be a musical parallel with The Utters in that Minor Threat to Fugazi way, but there is, and there you go. It takes some real grapes for these guys to follow their guts. –Todd Taylor (BYO)

FILTHY THIEVING BASTARDS:
Our Fathers Sent Us: CD
This is what I always wished the Pogues sounded like when I listened to their albums: songs born of Irish ballads that fill in the sound; songs that maintain the sense of self‑loathing and downtroddenness, but add some chunks of Chuck Berry style rock'n'roll along with whiskey and gravel and hope from the hopeless. The Filthy Thieving Bastards are a side project for Johnny Bonnel and Darius Koski from the Swingin' Utters (along with various musicians filling in on drums, mandolin, banjo, bass, and percussion). Musically, it's a pretty big departure from the Swingin' Utters, but they retain the spot‑on lyrics ("So deep in debt I just might get the bends"), the catchy melodies, and the general sense of "how do they make this sound so good?" And, on a personal note, I have to love an album with pictures of James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, and Charles Bukowski on the back cover. This is definitely one of the records we're all wrestling for here at Razorcake HQ. –Sean Carswell (TKO)

FILTHY VAGRANTS:
Watching Them Burn: CD
Barely competent Rancid punk. Nice pic of a guy giving the finger to the White House. Dude, punk rock. –Jimmy Alvarado (Ninety-Six)

FILTHY VAGRANTS:
Watching Them Burn: CD
First off, I think this might have been recorded and released a little prematurely. I can’t get over hearing the vocalist fall in and out of time, straining to squeeze in the lyrics. The vocal delivery is similar to Tim Armstrong of Rancid’s style. The music has sort of an early period Good Riddance sound. If the music was played tighter, the songs would come off stronger. I know metronomes suck, but I think it’s needed here. The intent is there but this release is hard for me to listen to. –Donofthedead (Ninety-Six)

FINAL CONFLICT:
Ashes to Ashes: CD
I remember the first time I saw these guys at Fenders way back when I was still sporting a silly haircut and before this, their first album, came out. I had previously dismissed ‘em as some lame peacenik Discharge rip-off, and so was completely baffled when Ron began verbally berating the audience from the get-go. BAM! Jimmy’s an instant fan. Lyrically and musically they were very much like contemporaries like Iconoclast and Body Count (no, not the Ice-T band, dweeb), with much emphasis on war, nuclear destruction, pigs, etc., but a more than passing metal influence in the guitar distanced them from the rest. Like a previous CD reissue, this includes tracks from a preceding demo, but this version also includes a couple of cover songs from an even earlier demo. The verdict remains the same; however, if you like yer hardcore fast, tight and political, you can’t go wrong with these guys. –Jimmy Alvarado (SOS)

FINAL CONFLICT:
No Peace on Earth, No Rest in Hell: CD
Even if the music is looser and not as manic as their ‘80s incarnation, and Ron’s vocals are missed, the latest effort from this venerable L.A. hardcore group is a strong one, with topical lyrics that aren’t afraid to direct its ire at specific people and subjects rather than deal in hollow generalities. Nice to hear the snippet of the Germs off “Rodney on the Roq,” that was tacked onto the end, too. –Jimmy Alvarado (SOS)

FINAL CONFLICT:
In the Family: EP
Not to be confused with the Final Conflict from Southern California. This Final Conflict was from Minneapolis, and around long before the better-known FC. Originally released on Reflex in 1983 and produced by Bob Mould. Yep, that Bob Mould. I first came across this record in the MRR collection years ago. Ever since, it’s been on my “really want” list. Even bid for it on eBay once a few years back. But it went out of my price range pretty quick. So, I’m pretty stoked that Havoc reissued this. These guys were fast hardcore similar to early Die Kreuzen. Something about the Midwestern hardcore bands of that time is that they had this undeniable raw power that the majority of bands on the coasts lacked. The songs are crushers with an abrasive edge and a vocalist who sounds like he’s on the verge of coming unglued. Four songs in all and it’s a great listen the whole way through. –Matt Average (Havoc, havocrex.com)

FINAL DRAFT:
310: EP
I remember when these guys first started playing out. They were a decent powerviolence band, but nothing really stood out. Fuggin’ hell, they have progressed by leaps and bounds! This stuff is truly pissed! Nine songs hammered out with pure hate. Nothing sounds serene or proper here. It’s all fucked up, twisted, and bleak. And it’s all great. Antisocial sounds for the antisocial. I don’t know man, but I can’t help but think Final Draft are thee West Coast powerviolence band. –Matt Average (To Live A Lie)

FINAL FIGHT:
Half Head, Full Shred: CD
“Full Shred” was the last thing I was thinking when the first song started. Melodic guitars not unlike Leatherface, while great sounding, didn’t bring to mind a hardcore onslaught. Ten seconds or so later, that all changed. Final Fight exploded into the shrapnel of some kind of hardcore pipe bomb. Heavy, fast and melodic, these guys brought to mind Goat Boy or I Spy (I know, I know always with the Canadian band references). I really got into this record for a few songs before the screamy vocals became too much for me. Great in small doses, though. –Ty Stranglehold (Gobias Industries)

FINAL FOUR:
Self-titled: CD
Fairly generic street punk, with pseudo-defiant lyrics, vocals heavy on Rancid-inspired rasp but short on conviction, and a requisite Cock Sparrer cover. –Jimmy Alvarado (Insurgence)

FINAL FOUR:
Self-Titled: CD
Fairly generic street punk, with pseudo-defiant lyrics, vocals heavy on Rancid-inspired rasp but short on conviction, and a requisite Cock Sparrer cover. –Jimmy Alvarado (Insurgence)

FINAL SOLUTION:
Warsaw Uprise: 7”
Musically, this ain’t too bad—up-tempo hardcore with loud guitars—but lyrically I’m a little puzzled. The title track appears to be an ode to America’s war for oil, but the lyrics are cryptic enough to kinda make a feller scratch his head in confusion. What, pray tell, does “Domination oil frustration” and “This nation locks me in” have to do with Warsaw uprising? The flip, “Whore,” is even more perplexing. Either there’s something being lost in the translation or I’m hellafied more obtuse than I’ve previously given myself credit for, which ain’t out of the realm of possibility. –Jimmy Alvarado (No Front Teeth)

FINAL SOLUTIONS:
Return to the Motherland: 7”EP
Ack ack ack ack! The Final Solutions sound like the Urinals having a slapping contest with “Touch Me, I’m Sick” Mudhoney. Shouty, recorded-through-the-floor dirge that’s somehow turned into chants, bubbling magma, greasy hair and torn-jean anthems with a Polish accent. If this slab of vinyl was a side of beef, it’d have “Killed By Death Approved” branded on the side. Features Jay Reatard on drums. A pitch-perfect, dragged-over-a-dirt-road listen. Good stuff. –Todd Taylor (Frick and Frack)

FINAL SOLUTIONS:
Self-titled: 7”
Call it caveman rock, where Oog get stick and bash, or call it Budget Rock, where it’s heart over fidelity. Either way, it’s so easy to like. Jay Reatard (Lost Sounds, Nervous Patterns, Destruction Unit, etc.) leads a first-rate charge in the spirit of the Urinals (think “Ack, Ack, Ack”). Tattered, catchy, and fun to flip over time and time again. Highly recommended. –Todd Taylor (Shit Sandwich)

FINAL SOLUTIONS:
My Love Is Disappointing: 7"
I ordered their full-length and haven’t heard it, so at the moment this 45 is the best one yet by the Memphis band that usually gets a KBD comparison (stamp of goodness for me). Three songs that all rock with an art punk Urinals style, which is actually hard to pull off the right way. “My Love Is Disappointing” is plucky and even minimally pop, and “I Am the Now” has a great downhill spiral sound I want to pump over loudspeakers on Hollywood Blvd. “Sex Head” is a cover of the Pooh Sticks song, also really good. –Speedway Randy (www.shatteredrecords.net)

FINAL SOLUTIONS, THE:
Songs by Solutions: CD
Whoo hoo, one of my favorite bands out of Memphis. Art punk minimalism, with a lot of fuzz pedal and snot, too. They get compared to the Urinals a lot (and cover them) but that’s just the base. They are fun and spastic against the simple bap-bap-bap, too, and never boring. Looking at them while you listen, you can see the missing link between Wire and Ted Nugent. All business in the front, all party in the back. –Speedway Randy (Goner)

FIND HIM AND KILL HIM:
Cut Them to Pieces: CD
You know those shows where a band unknown to you burst out with their first song and catch your attention? They then fuck it all up by going on some political rant, which explains their next song, but the rant is longer than the song itself. And this continues for every song. Usually young. Mostly hardcore. Rarely profound. Enter Find Him And Kill Him. They include the rants after each song’s lyrics in the liner notes. One includes the following gem, “Every couple of years, various sub-genres of punk achieve some modicum of mainstream success.” First of all, you can’t achieve “some modicum” (literally “some a little”) of success, you can achieve a modicum, but that’s another story. My point of contention is in that they believe their statement to be true. Other than pop-punk (one sub-genre, one extended time frame), what facets of punk have become successful to even a small degree within mainstream society? The majority of the album falls into the same pattern of presenting a pretty weak argument for whatever it is that they’re against in a particular song. As for the music: pretty generic hardcore. –Megan Pants (Happy Couples Never Last)

FIND THEM TO FIGHT THEM:
Self-titled: CD
I got a tip for you: if you don’t really have any songs, and you can’t really sing, just play really, really fast and try to sound like Cookie Monster. If you’re not sure what I mean, check out this CD. –Brian Mosher (Up Yours, Luv!!)

FINE LINES, THEE:
Set You Straight: CD
I would VOLUNTEER that Thee Fine Lines is the best band to come out of Missouri in the last ten years. (What’s that, you say? Tennessee is the VOLUNTEER state, not Mih-ZURR-uh!? Well, someone’s gonna have to SHOW ME proof! Aah-hahahahaha…ahem.) State slogan nonsense aside, my hypothesis from the first sentence remains. I’ve been meaning to check these guys out for a couple a years, but, lazy ass that I am, never got around to it. Their latest CD falls into my lap by the grace of Razorcake, and now I realize how much more fulfilling the last few years would’a been had I been officially hipped to Thee Fine Lines. Set You Straight is primitive in the same manner that the Jewws’ L’explosion du son de Maintenant! was—three band members, three instruments, one heart, one stripped-down now sound, baby! The moodier, atmospheric songs, “Midnight’s Fine” and “You’re So Fine,” would fit nicely on any of the Teenage Shutdown compilations, while the trashier, up tempo numbers sound like they could have come out of San Francisco’s garage rock heyday of the early- to mid-’90s. Just try to listen to Set You Straight and keep your legs from going into crazy, rock’n’roll induced spasms. –Josh Benke (Licorice Tree)

FINE LINES, THEE:
Looking Everywhere: 7"
Lo-fi ‘60s stuff, and they’re quite good at it. What they’re doing doesn’t feel dated and the “trash” is tempered with simple, yet strong songwriting. Good stuff. –Jimmy Alvarado (Licorice Tree)

FINFANGFOOM:
Monomyth: LP
I was all set to have a field day bagging on this CD because of the doofy band name and indie rock yuppie record label, but it’s pretty damn pleasant. The vocals are passionate and engaged without being overwrought and the echoing guitars are spacious and pretty. They include keys, vibes, and weird percussion in ways that vary the arrangements without making the new instruments sound tacked on. That said, there really isn’t a whole lot going on here. It brings me back to my early impressions of indie rock, as a skate rat in the first half of the ‘90s, when I would have said, “This sounds like boring college guys ripping off Sonic Youth.” That still holds. –CT Terry (Lovitt)

FINGERS CUT MEGAMACHINE:
Self-titled: CD
I’m confused. They say they don’t want to be grouped into the pseudo-folk revival, but are influenced by American folk from the ‘60s and the ‘70s. Wasn’t that the folk revival? It’s also described as punk. If anything it’s folk rock, but it’s mostly just pretty boring. Note: a purple-tinted picture of ducks on the cover is going to suck just as much as you would think it would. Surprise! –Megan Pants (Thick)

FIREBALL MINISTRY:
FMEP: CD
After listening to Fireball Ministry’s FMEP, what can one say other than, “Metal Lives!” Yeah, it may sound like something overheard at a Heavy Metal Parking Lot screening, but the words still ring true for a band like Fireball Ministry. Imagine grabbing four of the biggest stoners from your high school days and sticking them in the garage. Lock the door. Leave the stereo, a few instruments and every Ozzy-era Black Sabbath record. Come back six months later and listen to them play. Chances are, the results will sound like Fireball Ministry - slow, plodding beats that induce all sorts of head-bobbing, crusty hescher guitars and even the occasional metal castrato. This is the sort of album that will instigate air guitar battles and headbanging sessions that end in whiplash. Trust me, that’s not a bad thing. –Liz O. (Small Stone)

FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM:
Welcome to the Octagon: CD
Reminds me of early Mudhoney meeting early Flesh Eaters. Wild, loud and sounding like the band is barely in control, this will provide those suffering from various psychoses something to rock out to before the lithium kicks in. –Jimmy Alvarado (Estrus)

FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM:
Welcome to the Octagon: CD
Their last CD, Total Fuckn’ Blowout, was a damn-fine recording. I’ve only got to hear their first release The New Professionals a few times, but I’ve heard most the songs off it at one time or another. And now this thing called Welcome to the Octagon. Jesus Christ! Recorded in Texas at the Sweatshop right after Garage Shock and with a new bass player (Dr. Multilingual Love) this might be my favorite so far. With songs titled “Panties Off” and “Swamp Wolf,” in my humble opinion, you can not go wrong, my friends. But the thing that puzzled me—better yet intrigued me, is the title of the record itself. One word, especially…. Octagon. I see this and I think Octopussy (007). I think Dr. Octagynecologist. Stop signs. It brings up thoughts of eight-armed ju-ju spirits. This needs more research. Peoples of the sonic rumbles, listen at it! –Brian Mosher (Estrus)

FIREBIRD BAND, THE:
City at Night: CD
Funny—I remember this band more as an angular, post-punk trio playing edgy music than a duo playing glitchy songs for coked-out electro-clash hipster fuckheads wrapped in blue cellophane. Since I didn’t like Braid in the first motherfucking place, I will simply acknowledge that, while I appreciated The Firebird Band’s first record, this one does exactly fuck all for me. –Puckett (Bifocal Media)

FIRESTARTER:
Livin’ on the Heat: CD
Here’s the rumor and I think it’s true. When Japan’s Teengenerate, arguably one of the best garage, trash bands ever to grace our planet, finished Get Action! for Crypt in ‘94, it was too clean, too poppy. They were told to re-record it in its all lo-fi, scratchy sock, ripped jean, tight shirt deviant glory. Years passed. Members splintered off, then got back together. This time, they kept the initial recording direction. Melodies and harmonies reign supreme. Livin’ on the Heat is a genuinely stellar power pop album of the highest magnitude. This proves two things. These dudes are no one-trick ponies and they’re in it for the right reasons. Why start all over again with a new name when the fanbase is there? Because the music itself is important. Good is good, no matter what the style. Fifi, Fink, Sammy, and Jimbo’ve gotta protect the rock, you know what I mean? Don’t let the kindergarten hymn book-looking cover, the dubious name of the band, or the fifteen dollars you’ll have to spend since it’s currently only available on import sway you. Think of all the time it’s going to be spinning in your player. Brilliance for pennies on the dollar. Definitely in my top twenty for the year. It may even rise higher. It’s one of those albums that reveals itself slowly. –Todd Taylor (Mangrove, in the US, get it via Nice and Neat)

FIRST GRADE CRUSH:
Our Time Down Here: CD
The press release says they’ve been compared to D4 and RFTC. I plan to hunt down the people who said those things and hurt them. And not nice like last time, either. I will happily admit that this band is quite reminiscent of Fishbone, Less Than Jake and, in Dickie’s less gruff moments, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. From this, you should infer vaguely punk-like guitar-driven music, a horn section and a heavy ska influence. You can also infer anything else you like, because this record does fuck all for me.
–Puckett (Jump Up)

FIRST OFFENCE:
Stranded In The Combat Zone: 7”
These guys (and girl) really punk the oi in Ohio! Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. Seriously though, this sounds great. No new ground broken, but it doesn’t matter when it comes down to it. –Ty Stranglehold (Step Up!)

FIRST OFFENSE:
The Faith to Stand Your Ground: CD
Straightforward oi/street punk from Akron. Nothing flashy, nothing unexpected, and nothing that disappoints. At some points First Offense sound a bit formulaic with their give-’em-the-boot kind of tuneage, but they’ve got the formula down very well so that didn’t bother me in the least. This is a very solid record, not earth-shattering, but I’m glad to have heard it. –The Lord Kveldulfr (Step Up!, www.stepupoi.com)

FIRST OFFENSE:
The Faith to Stand Your Ground: CD
I remember liking a single by this band that I was given to review. Straight up oi stuff, with no frills or gimmicks. What you see is what you get. Same deal with this full length. Good tunes for the most part, although I’m getting pretty tired of the same old themes (“Fallen Soldiers,” “The Fight Must Go On,” and “Laced for Battle ’07,” for instance). It would be nice to change it up once and a while. –Ty Stranglehold (http://www.stepupoi.com/)

FIRST PUNIC WAR, THE:
Unicorn: 7”
One time I was at a party and some guy’s ex-girlfriend came up and grabbed him by the nuts real hard, screamed some shrilly incoherent nonsense before shoving him away and storming off. He sort of twitched against the wall on the floor in the fetal position, but he felt much better a few hours and beers later. First Punic War sort of makes me think of that. A pretty, naked unicorn girl on the front and the tiny white vinyl 7” that crams all this nightmare cycle of irate noises, often unrecognizable racket, in this strangled noise guitar…it catches you off guard and leaves you empathetically hurting, but it’s kind of entertaining too. –Guest Contributor (First Punic War)

FIRST PUNIC WAR, THE:
Candle: 7"
Seven songs on a 7”! All acoustic guitar makes it hard to stomach, though. This is a guy from Canada who lives in Des Moines, Iowa now. Iowa can bore you fast, so he made this record. He says his friends compare him to Neil Young and I can see some of the resemblance. Maybe a little Wayne from the Flaming Lips as well. But this doesn’t help the fact that he’s only playing acoustic. Get a band and it might fly. –Buttertooth (Carthage Vs Rome)

FIRST STEP, THE:
Open Hearts and Clear Minds: CD
Generally speaking, I hate mottoes. But the Discordians have a useful one: “Death to all fanatics.” I mention this here because I recently read an article in some mainstream, Big-Five media conglomerate ad-paper about militant edgies showing their intemperance by roughing up those who don’t share their taste for the temperance-heavy lifestyle. To those scared half-witted sheep I say: take your sex-starved pee hose and go fuck yerself. Now, it very well could be that the sXe gentlemen in The First Step are just as disapproving of the Neanderthal antics of those other edgies as I am; they may well be good eggs themselves. I have no way of knowing. Judging by the photos here, these guys wear the standard issue sXe outfit – complete with the nifty “X” wristwatches. They certainly sing about the same stuff as all the other straightedge bands. And like all real-life edgies, they possess that uncanny ability to defy the earth’s gravitational pull and float with their guitars just a few feet above the ground. Creepy. I wish I knew how to do that, but my body’s probably too weighted down with beer and sin and stuff. I'm not sure what to think. I like the music, but not the ideology. I think it was William James who once noted that religion is the “opiate of the masses” and I guess straightedge is too close to organized religion for me to feel comfortable about it. But I really do like the music. And, interestingly enough, I seem to like it the more beers I have. –Aphid Peewit (Live Wire)

FIRST TIME, THE:
You Can’t Hurt Me: 7” EP
NOTE: All my 7” reviews were done with the lights out this issue. WHAT I THOUGHT IN THE DARK: Song #1: I kinda like this, there’s a part that reminds me a little of some of the bridge in “Erotic Neurotic” by the Saints. Song #2: I kinda like this, it’s got a cool lead. Song #3: I kinda like this, probably because i liked the first two songs. Bonus Track: HEY! “THROW IT AWAY” by the GERMS!!! I LOVE this song! This record is cool! WHAT I THOUGHT WHEN THE LIGHTS CAME ON: That was about it, since the record didn’t come with a picture sleeve. BEST SONG: “Throw It Away” BEST SONG TITLE: “Throw It Away” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I like everything the Germs ever recorded in a studio, EXCEPT for the GI album, which is kinda weird, if you think about it. –Rev. Norb (Jonny Cat)

FIRST TO LEAVE:
Forging a Future: CD
San Fran outfit with distorted guitars, cool vocal melodies, and a whole lotta rock’n’roll pep. The second track is called “My Aim Is True,” but, amazingly enough, it is not an Elvis Costello cover. Spirited hi-jinks dudes! Produced by J. Robbins, he gives the record his patented “tools and chrome” finish to great effect. I like “Drag the Lake” and “You’re the Canyons” specifically. Expect great things from these rapscallions. –Sean Koepenick (Wednesday)

FISH KARMA:
The Theory of Intelligent Design: CD
Bob Dylan and Doc Dart from the Crucifucks have a bastard love child with a wicked sense of humor and a need to piss off god and the powers that be. Add a metal backing band and you’ve pretty much got this record. Seeing how incredibly obtuse they are, “Fifty Caliber Christ” is no doubt destined to become the national anthem for the religious right. –Jimmy Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles)

FISHBONE:
Still Stuck in Your Throat: CD
Reggae, ska, gospel rock with horns and some metal riffs, plus the Dickies and a good helping of Faith No More. This album’ll be a novelty for some, fresh new tunes for others. The best songs on the album have to be the jazzy/punky “Party with Saddam” and “Premadawnutt.” Oh, they also cover the song “Date Rape” by that one band from Long Beach. –Mr. Z (Sound In Color)

FIST A FERRET / SLAVES TO THE GRIND:
Split: 7” EP
Fist A Ferret: Snotty Austrian über-thrash and grind stuff with a screamer and a growler providing vocals. Slaves To The Grind: Swedish grindy thrash that wins this round hands down. –Jimmy Alvarado (Simmering Noise, no address)

FIST FULL OF KNUCKLES:
Live on Tom Paine’s Birthday: CD
I feel cheated out of the FFOK experience. I’m not a friend of theirs, so I don’t know a thing about Karl’s girlfriend Stacey or how she punched through John’s window. Nor do I know the magic of what must be their dozens of basement shows and impromptu party sets. That being said, I’ll say I can’t fully and fairly critique this fairly well recorded live folk punk record. I don’t know if that’s what they call themselves, but I think that’s the term most people would identify them with these days. Fist Full kids…I want you to put out a properly recorded record and tour out of North Dakota so I can fully appreciate the experience. And I’m sure it’s an experience. –Guest Contributor (This Could Work)

FIST OF THE NORTH STAR:
Here’s to an Early Grave: CD
Fast shout-along hardcore anthems with dynamic touches of rock’n’roll. Lyrics about boozin’, losin’, and not goin’ to church. And guitar solos. Lots of guitar solos. I’d love to be shitfaced in a bar one night and have these dirtbags hit the stage. They strike me as the type of dudes who take an airborne beer bottle as a compliment. –CT Terry (Stik Man, stikmanrecords.com)

FISTIFUKS:
In the Absence of the Sacred: CD-R
Kind of surprised that this is on a CD-R. It sounds like the band either spent some money on recording or they have a real good home recording system. But the drum sounds lead me to believe that they went into a real studio, so spending the grand to get five hundred CDs wouldn't be a stretch. It's average, mid-tempo punk rock with what sounds like average lyrics that most high school kids or new bands write about. Nothing too thought provoking. The recording and production values are what sets this apart. If this was a crappy four-track, I would have thrown this thing away in a heartbeat and saved the case. –Donofthedead (Fistifuks)

FISTIFUKS:
Self-titled: LP
Looked back in the archives and saw that I reviewed a CD-R from this band. Looks like I didn’t care for it. Hate to say it, but this didn’t move me either. Average, mid-tempo punk rock that has that mid-’80s Mystic Records feel going with angry lyrics. The recording and packaging are done well. Nice silk screened covers. Looks like it’s limited to 200 copies, since it’s hand numbered. I probably would enjoy it more in a live setting than hearing the recorded output. –Donofthedead (FYBS, fybsrecords.com)

FITT, THE:
Hawk Eyes: 7”
At first I was surprised by how metal and heavy The Fitt is for someone on Big Neck Recs., but, then again, the Neck always has some hard-hitting trash and this is like The Mistreators on a Sepultura kick, which is fun, dirty fuzz, and fast at times. A little too much “hey batter batter hey batter batter” pounding for my tastes, but a couple songs burn fast, and those are tasty. –Speedway Randy (Big Neck)

FITTS, THE:
II: 7"
Headed by Alicja of the Lost Sounds (who also runs the excellent Contaminated Records), this all-female trio plays what I suspect most all-lady bands want to when the world’s sucking something awful. The song titles say it all – there’s no love loss: “Contaminated (By Your D*!#@K)” and “Girls Like U (Deserve 2 Die).” But, shit if it ain’t catchy in a Pixies, early Breeders way where there’s creepy, almost intergalactic, fungus seeping in on the edges, recorded excellently where it’s all raw and chafed as an untreated infection, and none of it sounds like mud. As it should be. –Todd Taylor (Big Neck)

FIVE CENT DEPOSIT:
Focus on the Negative: CD

Argh. Standard whoa-whoa pop punk that seems specifically designed to get the less-than-hunky band members laid. This album consists of thirteen songs that can be aptly filed into three categories. Categories and song totals include:

1) A vague and undefined sort of spiritual malaise: 4.

2) Feeling alienated from one’s peers: 1.

3) Holding on to, lamenting the loss of, or acknowledging the fact that the singer fucked up the relationship with, a girl: 8.

The idea of “holding,” “taking,” or “keeping” some nameless person in the vocalist’s arms is a common theme spread throughout many of these songs and do not appear specific to a certain aforementioned category. You listen to enough stuff like this and the question eventually arises: who are these women that consistently wind up ruining all these poor pop punkers’ lives? And who are all these guys in nondescript bands that feel they have been so ruined? And why are they all in lame-ass pop punk bands? Why aren’t they spouting the same shit in, say, grindcore bands? And are these men destined to keep repeating the same mistakes with different women, if only so they’ll have some lyrics to paper over their lackluster Herman’s Hermits-like song structures? Or are all of the songs by all of these thousands of bands only about a group of, like, fifteen or twenty women? Like, is there a small posse of attractive, flirtatious punk women spread throughout the country who get together twice a year at conferences, where they network on various emotionally manipulative tactics bent on rending in two the hearts of bland songwriters who could only be called “punk rockers” if you were feeling bad for them? Somehow I doubt it, but someone really should do some sort of case study. End result is that you’ve heard one version or another of Focus on the Negative a hundred times before, and Weston did the whole “I’m a dork and I’m heartbroken” thing a lot better. They also broke up years and years ago. –Keith Rosson (Radical)

FIVE DAY MESSIAH:
New Rock Regime: CD
NOTICE TO BANDS THAT WANT TO BE REVIEWED: If you decide to make a stupid joke song that sounds nothing like the rest of your music, make it really short if possible, but if nothing else, do NOT put it first on your album. The first track was so lame and horrible that I almost took out the CD and threw it away, knowing it would have no resale value and that nobody I know would like it... but wait! The rest of the songs are... real! Reminds me of the art punk I see live in converted loft spaces with DIY shows with lots of metal influence. Screamy bike punk stuff! Wow! These guys would have made a really great CD if they didn't ruin it with that annoying first track that I would have to fast forward to listen to this album ever again. Imagine for your birthday, your friends baked you the best tasting cake ever, it just has dog doo for decoration. I would likely endorse these guys live, other releases by them, or a version of this album in reverse order.
–Rich Mackin (Not Bad)

FIVE FOOT NOTHING:
Pretty Nuclear: CD
You get me on a wrong day and you might expect the reaction that you read. What I hear is very poppy and almost emo sounding rock mixed with punk. I’m not in the mood to be charitable. I’m not going to continue to listen to this. It made me sour and I did not enjoy the experience, like my first prostate exam. –Donofthedead (Boss Tuneage)

FIVE HORSE JOHNSON:
The No. 6 Dance: CD
Mighty nice swamp boogie with a hint of southern scum rock. If Black Oak Arkansas had sounded this cool when I was a kid, my life mighta turned out a little different. –Jimmy Alvarado (Small Stone)

FIVE KNUCKLE:
Lost for Words, Far From Speechless: CD
I always used to ask myself, "Hey, what would happen if you mixed heavy metal jock rock with the worst vocals ever?" Well, now I know: You'd get this pile of crap! -Not Josh –Staff (Household Name)

FIVE KNUCKLE:
Balance: CD
Political hardcore from England. They scream about flags in anger. The lyrics aren’t bad but something about this band is annoying. The funky guitar riffs twang out right before the vocals come in every now and then. And the moaning singer reminds me of being constipated. I’m sure they try really hard. In fact, they probably try too hard and they should stop. Gabe Rock –Guest Contributor (Household Name)

FIVE KNUCKLE:
Lost for Words, Far From Speechless: CD

I always used to ask myself, “Hey, what would happen if you mixed heavy metal jock rock with the worst vocals ever?” Well, now I know: You’d get this pile of crap! –Not Josh

–Guest Contributor (Household Name)

FIVE OUTSIDERS, THE:
On the Run: CD
Soft and reverb-soaked cowpoke instrumental vistas as wide open as the high planes, drifting along like so many tumbleweeds. It’s kind of like having the Ventures play the theme songs from all your favorite spaghetti westerns while you sit in a warm bath tub, smoking a ratty cigar with your cowboy boots on. Surprisingly refreshing. I bet it would go good with a bottle of Mescal. –Aphid Peewit (Acme)

FIVE-O:
Get Down!: CD
Five-O really hate the police. I’d even wager that they hate the police even more than The Dicks and N.W.A. put together. Yep, they’re really passionate about their hatred for the police alright. The only problem is that you’d never guess from their sound. It definitely looks right. Lots of pictures of police brutality from over the decades, lots of angry lyrics and slogans plastered everywhere… One question though. Why is the singer so goddamn happy? Seriously, the guy sounds like he’s singing about taking is Grandma out for ice cream and a walk in the park, while the lyrics are spouting rhetoric about smashing the police state and our rights being removed. It just doesn’t synch up. On another note, the music is incredibly cheesy which doesn’t help to get the point across. I’ve got to say that I’ve never heard of annoying someone into seeing your point of view. –Ty Stranglehold (Citizen Target)

FIX MY HEAD:
Self-titled: Cassette
The dinosauric part of me that staunchly resists change wants to give these guys two points for doing their part to keep the cassette format alive. And a few more for kicking out some pretty blazing thrash stuff ala Reagan SS and/or Cut The Shit in such an expedient manner. It’s over before you know it. –Keith Rosson (Fix My Head)

FIX MY HEAD:
Self-titled: 7” EP
A nice bit of thrashin’ put down here by these Oakland natives. The A side opens up with two slower, heavy tempoed tunes and from there they let loose with the thrash; not as fast as some, but more than intense enough to make it worth your while. –Jimmy Alvarado (Vinyl Addict)

FIX MY HEAD / KNIFE IN THE LEG:
Split: LP
Decent split here. Fix My Head are blazing hardcore with a vocalist who has an awesome, bellowing voice. His voice hits like a ton of bricks, and I have to say, really gives the band’s sound a tough edge. The music is fast and abrasive, but there are some layers as well. “Wish” is my favorite on here. The guitar accentuates the twisted outlook presented in the lyrics. The only throwaway on here is “Mission: Hipster.” Hipsters have “plagued” that area for a long time, so why bother with writing a song about it? There are far more pressing issues in this world that need addressing. Knife In The Leg remind me of Sista Sekunden, with their tuneful hardcore and vocal delivery. “New City Looks” is a scorcher. Fast and relentless. While KITL are good, their lyrical matter tends to stick close to critiques of punk. I find that sort of stuff too easy. Where’s the real protest when all you can do is fight amongst yourselves? If you’re doing a record, you should make every inch of that vinyl count. It’s like if you have a patch of wet cement. Are you going to take that opportunity and write something like “Death to posers!” or something more relevant and universal like, “Ever feel like killing your boss?” Just to be clear, both bands on here are really good, and I hope to hear more music from them soon. –Matt Average (Inimical, inimical.com)

FIX, THE:
At the Speed of Twisted Thought: CD
Yep, you read that right, kids, we’re talking about thee Fix here, legendary, long-gone Michigan hardcore band whose 45s fetch a pretty penny from those who play fast ’n’ loose with their fundage. Collected here for those of us, not blessed with huge stashes of disposable income are the band’s two EPs, their track from the Process of Elimination comp, assorted outtakes and a live set from 1981 that sounds like it came straight off the board. Like the Big Boys releases T&G put out last decade, there is also much to read about the band, courtesy of Tesco Vee, Byron Coley, Tim Tinooka (I still have a couple of copies of Ripper fanzine kicking around here somewhere), Thurston Moore and others. For those not in the know, this is not complex, intricate-runs-through-scales-type hardcore made by kids who’ve spent way too much time honing their “craft.” We’re talking guttural, virtually tuneless, blunt force trauma thug-rock from a band that was playing hardcore before it had a name, and these tunes still deliver the goods. It amazes me that, some twenty years of development later, so much of what passes for hardcore anymore (and yes, I know there are exceptions, so don’t inundate me with lists of said exceptions) can’t hold a candle to bands like this. They needed no warp factor nine tempos, state-of-the-art production, or even good gear to beat you upside the head with a song. Gather ‘round and hold on tight as I set the stereo volume for “annihilate,” ’cause this is literally going to blow your fucking minds…. –Jimmy Alvarado (Touch & Go)

FIXED IDEA:
Chuco Life XXIV: CD
This has two strikes against it right from the get-go: 1) Ska tunes, 2) The “vato loco” vibe they’re trying to play up here. The whole mystique surrounding the Chicano gang subculture, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry, is nothing more than the Brown equivalent of the minstrel and the inherent “circus music” quality in ska is surprisingly appropriate here. Fuck, you could’ve spent all the time and effort you put into your songs educating those exposed to your music about the good things about the culture instead of reinforcing the stereotype that we are all ignorant criminals. Parade around like a bunch of payasos if you want, but this is one Chicano who won’t be smiling. –Jimmy Alvarado (no address)

FIXED IDEA:
Traditions of My Addictions: CD
Pretty much pure ska here. In other words, extremely lame. They could easily be the house band in any cheesy bar along the beach in Florida. I’m sure they are a hit with the geriatric scene. –Toby Tober (Broken Bonez)

FIXTURES, THE:
Forward: 12-song 10"
Kevin, the lead singer and drummer for The Fixtures, has been banging and making a racket in LA, for, fuck, going on fourteen years (Dangerous Music, their first album, was released in 1987). Fast enough for hardcore kids with assflaps to churn, they’re a lot more than just that. The uniqueness comes from Kevin. Two things. He’s the drummer and lead singer. The only other band I can think of with that set up is The Carpenters, and, thankfully, the similarities end there. I don’t think Kevin’s bulimic and The Fixtures have nothing to do with bubblegum pop. The other thing is that Kevin is punk rock’s answer to an operatic overlord. The closest comparison I can come up with is Jello Biafra; his voice can trill, sound gloomy doomy, and he sings all the way through (Kevin’s been at this way too long to be clumped to being a Dead Kennedys clone). It throws some people off on first listen, but believe me, it doesn’t take long and you won’t even notice it. The result: ultra-tight, satisfying, drum-driven, smart punk rock. Another strong outing. –Todd Taylor (The Fixtures, Gate to Hell)

FIYA:
Make Joy, Make Strength: CD
Intensely personal, emo-tinged hardcore with enough of a spiritual undercurrent to have me grabbing for the "thank you" list to see if the late JC was at the top of the list. Not that I've got anything against Jesus or anything, but unless the person singing has dreadlocks, is wearing a feathered headdress or is named Mahalia, spirituality in my tuneage makes my patented "dogma-meter" go haywire. A cursory run through reveals not even so much as a Jesus, Maria or Jose on the list, which means nothing, I know, but at least they ain't goin' the Stryper route or anything. "But are they any good?" you ask. Well, the fact that the dreaded word "emo" was invoked earlier in this very review should tell you that, Jesus or no Jesus, this has about as much chance of being played in this house again as a water buffalo has of crawling unscathed out of my large intestine. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.deadtankdistro.com)

FIYA:
Better Days: CD
I’m torn right down the middle with this album. Half the songs fit right in between the two bands on No Idea with the word “North” in their names. It sounds like they’ve been weaned on Rites of Spring, but it also sounds like they’re playing too fast. Instead of being exciting, the faster ones sort of blur together, and the result is something that I like and would enjoy in a live setting, but not something that I would throw on just for the hell of it. The other half of the songs, the more mid-tempo ones, musically remind me, astonishingly enough, of my two favorite Japanese bands at the moment, Baggage and Minority Blues Band, where it’s still chaotic, but instead of sounding blurry, the songs explode all over the place. Also, even though I’m 50/50 on the music, I’d like to point out that I am completely against them dedicating this album to little babies. –Josh (No Idea)

FIYA:
Make Joy, Make Strength: CD
Intensely personal, emo-tinged hardcore with enough of a spiritual undercurrent to have me grabbing for the “thank you” list to see if the late JC was at the top of the list. Not that I’ve got anything against Jesus or anything, but unless the person singing has dreadlocks, is wearing a feathered headdress or is named Mahalia, spirituality in my tuneage makes my patented “dogma-meter” go haywire. A cursory run through reveals not even so much as a Jesus, Maria or Jose on the list, which means nothing, I know, but at least they ain’t goin’ the Stryper route or anything. “But are they any good?” you ask. Well, the fact that the dreaded word “emo” was invoked earlier in this very review should tell you that, Jesus or no Jesus, this has about as much chance of being played in this house again as a water buffalo has of crawling unscathed out of my large intestine. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.deadtankdistro.com)

FIYA:
Self-titled: 7"
When the needle first drops on this slab of vinyl, it’s easy to think, Oh no! Emo. It’s arty. I won’t lie to you. But it’s interesting enough to hold my attention for twenty seconds or so, at which point the song blows up into exactly what I was hoping to hear: fucked up punk rock. But that doesn’t last long, either. It starts to drift into something more. It’s arty. I won’t lie to you. But in a good way. Fiya have a lot in common with their fellow Gainesvillains, True North. The songs borrow a lot from Fugazi and Rites of Spring, but at the same time, they don’t sound anything like all the crappy bands that have been inspired by Fugazi and Rites of Spring. And, not that you can discern a word from all the screaming, but if you read the lyrics, they’re very intelligently written. This record is a surprise all the way through, and a highly recommended surprise at that. –Sean Carswell (Obscurist Press)

FIYA:
Room for One More: 7"
What is in the Florida water? There are so many good bands coming out of there right now. Fiya is no exception. I don’t hear any unifying sound that would place them in with other Gainesville bands that I hold pretty highly, but they definitely hold their own. They play emotional hardcore that sounds like neither of those words had ever been tainted. –Megan Pants (Dead Tank)

FKENAL:
Self-titled: 12” single
These amazing San Diego instrumental soundscapers finally released a 12” single. It’s a single-sided with two songs at 45 rpm. This stuff is in a league all its own! Tempos change, drones turn to hyper active poundings that still remain reminiscent of jazz chord progressions. Samples and loops build in the background then, out of nowhere, there’s manic hardcore of the Discord variety. True purveyors of a wide variety of otherworldly rock. I think 31G should put this shit out! –Buttertooth (Self-released)

FKS/HE WHO CORRUPTS:
Split: 7"
A split 7” from a couple of Illinois grindcore/crust/noise/punk bands. Christ, I didn’t know bands like this even considered the 7” as a viable format. I got to say thank god they do ‘cuz this slab o’ wax hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks (back side of the head, never saw it coming) and twisted my zine reviewin’ realm all upside down and inside and out. I reckon these lads have some Arab on Radar records in the house and know what words like HydraHead and Relapse mean in the grand scope of mindfuck rock’n’roll. I’ve got to wipe that drool off my lip now as I ponder the age-old question: Should I have played that at 33 rpms or 45 rpms? Like a Butthole Surfers record, it worked both ways. –Greg Barbara (Take It Back)

FLACCID TRIP/WILLIAM E. WHITMORE:
Split: 7"
Flaccid Trip: Moody instrumental track. Very college radio. Whitmore: two guys and a guitar dish up a country tune that sounds like something straight offa Andy Griffith's front porch. –Jimmy Alvarado (Scenester Credentials)

FLACCID TRIP/WILLIAM E. WHITMORE:
Split: 7”
Flaccid Trip: Moody instrumental track. Very college radio. Whitmore: two guys and a guitar dish up a country tune that sounds like something straight offa Andy Griffith’s front porch. –Jimmy Alvarado (Scenester Credentials)

FLAGITIOUS IDIOSYNCRASY IN THE DILAPIDATION:
Self-titled: LP
I have absolutely no idea what Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation’s name means, and I’m too lazy to look for a dictionary. It looks like Carcass lyrics to me. The music, however, is undeniably brutal grindcore and even a dolt such as myself can understand that. Take the precision of Discordance Axis, throw in Drop Dead’s crustier leanings and wrap them in the modern grind styles of Hewhocorrupts. Now change all of those bands’ members into women. FID may very well be the world’s first and fastest all-female grindcore band. Japan has never been short of bands with strong female presence (Melt Banana, Romantic Gorilla), but FID is, thankfully, here to cover all the bases. Pummeling heaviness and whirlwind speed all brought to you courtesy of four cute women who look like they weigh less than their instruments. It’s always awesome to see the ladies kick down the door of a sausage fest of a genre then proceed to musically kick everyone in the balls. –Juan Espinosa (Six Weeks)

FLAGS OF CONVENIENCE:
Self-titled: CD
Yikes. Is this part of an official Razorcake campaign to send me total crap to drive me crazier than I already am?! Really, really bad political punk. Lyrics like: “Straight boys are taught to rape with their eyes.” I only hope that they’re all fourteen years old and will look back on this one day and get a good laugh. If this were a cereal, it’d be Cap’N Crunch (It hurts the roof of my mouth!). –Maddy (Sharpie Fumes)

FLAGS OF CONVENIENCE:
Self-titled: CD-R
Not to be confused with Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle’s other band, these guys play hardcore with no small amount of emo pretentiousness slathered all over it. –Jimmy Alvarado (flagsofconvenience@gmail.com)

FLAKES, THE:
Back to School: CD
The bossest hosses this side of the 1960s Northwest scene have released a full-length that blows away everything else released this year. Ass-shakin’ garage rock that dares you to remain still while everybody else fills the dance floor and steals your girlfriend the second you sit down to take a breather. Eight exquisitely chosen covers (Richard And The Young Lions’ “Open Up Your Door” and the “Shake/Hold On” medley by Shadows Of Knight/Sam And Dave are standouts) sit among six originals that stomp, twist, and wobble so hard you’ll be bleeding from the soles of your feet and the drums of your ears. Vocals sung with snotty exuberance, thumping, boom-boom drums and bass, and blister popping guitars make “That’s All,” “Talk About You,” and “Sadie Slye” some of the finest tunes of recent memory. Had Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The 13th Floor Elevators, Them, and The Real Kids jerked off into a Petri dish, I’m positive the resulting experimental growth would have ended up something very much like The Flakes. Surprise photos in the insert will not disappoint. If you don’t own this and aren’t already on your way to buy it, you’re an asshole. Highest possible recommendation. –Josh Benke (Dollar)

FLAKES, THE:
Straight Jacket: 7”
Out of Sweden, Cheap Trick in one hand, Elvis Costello in the other, The Flakes play guitar-driven power pop with an organ. It’s a no brainer to enjoy because it’s pulled off with natural finesse, warm ease, and true-aim hooks. To place them amongst their contemporaries, they also have a ton in common with another Swedish band, Psychotic Youth, where the melodies almost sound telepathic and bubble over with oodles of enthusiasm. It’s something I imagine Rodney Bingenheimer losing his shit over in the early ‘80s that would stand the test of time today. I’d place this right at peak top of this hard-to-conquer genre. –Todd Taylor (Evergreen Terrace)

FLAMETHROWER:
self-titled: CD
I was ready to hate this, but Flamethrower opens the record with a song about The Super Bee and have peaked my interest. It’s rock, no way around it, but the band seems like lean towards Motorhead in a way that I like and, at the same time, giving me a feeling that someone in this band listened to Agent Orange in high school. With that said, and it’s nit picky, the vocals lean a little away from Lemmy and towards Kurt Cobain. Fans of Zeke or Motorhead should seek this out. –Wanda Spragg –Guest Contributor (Dead Teenager)

FLAMIN:
Unreconstructed: Split CD
I think the first band was named after a medical condition you get after you eat Taco Bell with their packets of fire sauce (which, by the way, is well worth the pain). Flamin’ Anus sound an awful lot like old AFI. You know, the band that used to be a punk band till the lead singer had some identity crisis and did LSD while fucking a goth chick, or something like that. Well, this sounds like the good AFI from their first two albums with a touch more rock’n’roll to it. The singer, Charley Smith, sounds almost exactly like the confused Mr. Havok. Hell, they even have a song called “Identity Crisis.” My suggestion would be to have the singer from Anus and the musicians from AFI get together and pick up where Very Proud of Ya left off. Enough of that. The second band, Hybrid Mutants, are pretty different. They have a kinda southern rock’n’roll punk sound to them. Light on the southern but it’s there. Not a bad sound. Kinda like Nashville Pussy with a little Stool Sample mixed in. They are a little disappointing on their cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” You can actually understand every single word clearly. Whatkindacrap?! Anyway, the two bands offer a decent contrast to each others sound. You get 7 songs a piece. It’s worth checking out for the Flamin’Anus/AFI comparison. –Toby Tober (Transparent)

FLAMING SIDEBURNS:
Back To The Grave: CD
Some pretty cool rock from this Finnish band. Sometimes veers a little too far into “Scandaniavian Rawk” but the moodier songs like “Black Moon” are great. Reminds me of the New Christs and the Celibate Rifles in spots. Only real low point is the half-assed cover of “Funk #49”; they totally strip the guts out of one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. Bad boogie. Overall, a pretty solid disc for fans of Hives, Compulsive Gamblers, or The Maggots. –Mike Frame (Bad Afro)

FLAMING STARS:
Sunset & Void: CD
This has all the makings of an art-addled band that I would more-often-than-not stomp the precious stuffing out of gleefully. Just the fact that it is obviously a direct descendant of the mid-’70s New York proto-punk art bands (eg: Television, Patti Smith) is enough for me to feel no remorse in publicly demonstrating my utter and colorfully violent contempt for it and all the other extant progeny of that saggy, sorry cultural genre. This disc is oozing with overly relaxed, melancholic Leonard Cohenish new wave that features keyboards aplenty and a singer who kind of reminds me of Iggy Pop back when he did that love ballad with that gal from the B-52’s. It is quirky, haunted, smoky, with just the slightest hint of a pulse – and I actually kind of like parts of it. It’s lonely existentialist music similar to the band Low. If Karen Ann Quinlan is still hooked up to her machine out there somewhere, I think she’d think the Flaming Stars are dope. –Aphid Peewit (Alternative Tentacles)

FLAMING STARS:
Named and Shamed: CD
Up front and not previously aware of the band, it's Gallon Drunk, the Gun Club and Lou Reed. Heavy on the Lou. Throw in some Joy Division and Nick Cave. Occasionally interspersing the inherently washed-out and dressed-up standard British moodiness is a dimly sparkling piano-bar piano, which sashays to the front of a rumbling Ennio Morricone-style bass. Smoky vocals tango with a Flamenco guitar. A twanging six-string twitches hesitantly as if it were a private Dick tailing a suspect into a dead-end alley. While the album is not quite that suspenseful, what you're listening to is still theoretically very Warhol-ish and painfully nouveau (think Velvet Underground). The band's musical reference to Gallon Drunk is empirical (lead Max Decharne drummed for them), but what really strikes me, above all else, is that Decharne's strong fascination with and invocation of Lou Reed rivals, if not supercedes, Morrissey's idolism of James Dean. –Jessica Thiringer (Alternative Tentacles)

FLAMING STARS:
Sunset & Void: CD
This has all the makings of an art-addled band that I would more-often-than-not stomp the precious stuffing out of gleefully. Just the fact that it is obviously a direct descendant of the mid-'70s New York proto-punk art bands (eg: Television, Patti Smith) is enough for me to feel no remorse in publicly demonstrating my utter and colorfully violent contempt for it and all the other extant progeny of that saggy, sorry cultural genre. This disc is oozing with overly relaxed, melancholic Leonard Cohenish new wave that features keyboards aplenty and a singer who kind of reminds me of Iggy Pop back when he did that love ballad with that gal from the B-52's. It is quirky, haunted, smoky, with just the slightest hint of a pulse — and I actually kind of like parts of it. It’s lonely existentialist music similar to the band Low. If Karen Ann Quinlan is still hooked up to her machine out there somewhere, I think she’d think the Flaming Stars are dope. –Aphid Peewit (Alternative Tentacles)

FLAMING STARS:
Ginmill Perfume: CD
These guys swim in that gray pool somewhere between punk, ‘60s garage rock, the Modern Lovers, surf music and Leonard Cohen, if you can believe that. I know that doesn’t sound like a good thing to most, but this is actually one of the better CDs I’ve heard this year. I’ll be playing this puppy lots, boyo. –Jimmy Alvarado (Alternative Tentacles)

FLAMING TSUNAMIS, THE:
Fear Everything: CD
Having never ere been blessed by the discordant throes of the Flaming Tsunamis (I live alternately under a rock and in a cave), I was a bit put off the record’s opening by what seemed overt Napalm Death-esque stylings. That soon passed, however, since not only do I like Napalm Death-esque stuff if done well, but the horns that kicked in a few seconds later really took the edge off. It was like getting the crap knocked out of me by somebody who was making me laugh and dance while he kicked in my head—pleasure and pain, the beautiful and the repugnant all at once. I really like this record because there is a true edge of dark malevolence and grim revelry in twisted gore, but the Flaming Tsunamis don’t appear to take themselves completely seriously, whether it’s the injections of horns and/ or ska riffs into the metal at various points, or the sardonic, tongue-in-cheek humor that underwrites so much of the record. Good, good stuff. –The Lord Kveldulfr (Kill Normal)

FLAMINGO 50:
Tear It Up: CD
I’m just gonna come out and say it. Louise Hanman from Flamingo 50 is my favorite singer in the whole world. Her adolescent-boyish shout, and thick Liverpool accent spread smoothly over her band’s noisy-guitar, Superchunky power pop to make this perfect little nugget, like Oliver Twist just after he eats a paper cone of French fries with mayonnaise. Seriously though, this album is awesome. It’s a little more polished than their last full length; not sonically, but from a songwriting perspective. The record is awash in layered guitars, Beach Boys-inspired backing vocals, and an incredible warmth that only some magic mixing board wizard knows how to attain. This CD is in ultra-heavy rotation in my player. I sure hope they fucking tour the states. –Ben Snakepit (Spank, www.spankrecords.com)

FLAMIN’ ANUS/HYBRID MUTANTS:
Unreconstructed: Split CD
I think the first band was named after a medical condition you get after you eat Taco Bell with their packets of fire sauce (which, by the way, is well worth the pain). Flamin’ Anus sound an awful lot like old AFI. You know, the band that used to be a punk band till the lead singer had some identity crisis and did LSD while fucking a goth chick, or something like that. Well, this sounds like the good AFI from their first two albums with a touch more rock’n’roll to it. The singer ,Charley Smith, sounds almost exactly like the confused Mr. Havok. Hell, they even have a song called “Identity Crisis.” My suggestion would be to have the singer from Anus and the musicians from AFI get together and pick up where Very Proud of Ya left off. Enough of that. The second band, Hybrid Mutants, are pretty different. They have a kinda southern rock’n’roll punk sound to them. Light on the southern but it’s there. Not a bad sound. Kinda like Nashville Pussy with a little Stool Sample mixed in. They are a little disappointing on their cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” You can actually understand every single word clearly. Whatkindacrap?! Anyway, the two bands offer a decent contrast to each others sound. You get 7 songs a piece. It's worth checking out for the Flamin’Anus/AFI comparison. –Toby Tober (Transparent)

FLAMMING TSUNAMIS:
Zombies Vs. Robots: CD
This is essentially hardcore with horns and little bits of other styles thrown in to keep things interesting. Dunno, given the current “PC taken to reactionary extremes” state of much of the underground, how smart it is to lead off your CD with a tune called “Dead Girlfriends Can’t Break Up with You,” but I’ll give ’em chutzpah points for doing just that. –Jimmy Alvarado (Kill Normal)

FLANK, THE:
At Stake: CD
Seriously? I like to think that I’m fairly good at coming up with decent ways to describe shitty records, but I’m damn near at a loss here. Wanky, Beatles-esque piano pop douche fodder. Trippy-dippy vocals that whine to be heard on mainstream radio. The only hope for this would be if it was someone’s idea of a sick joke, in which case they still failed because they haven’t let anyone in on the gag. Speaking of gag, I’ve got to go. –Ty Stranglehold (Velvet Wrinkle)

FLAPJACKS:
Move to Mars: CD
Psychobilly a la the Rev, which means it ain't bad, but how many bands are left that haven't strip mined this style? –Jimmy Alvarado (Last Chance)

FLAPJACKS:
Move to Mars: CD
Psychobilly ala the Rev, which means it ain’t bad, but how many bands are left that haven’t strip mined this style? –Jimmy Alvarado (Last Chance)

FLAPJACKS, THE:
Move to Mars: CD
...i think i was pretty much at the forefront of the anti-rockabilly counter-movement around 1981/82, when rockabilly was briefly adapted as the “it” music du jour by a number of trend-surfing suburban American teens; further, the whole “Renaissance Faire” aspect of things (as Todd Kellner of Trick Knee records once astutely pointed out) makes rockabilly an understandably easy target for showers of disdain from people who believe themselves to be enmeshed in a more worthy musical movement. True dat, bro, but, when all is said and done, it must be admitted that, despite all the amputations, rockabilly is an inherently GOOD music. The beat, the rhythms, the syncopations, the basslines—this stuff is the birthright of all Americans; anything you, as an American, perceive amiss with Rockabilly In General can and should be considered the result of mere operator error. That said, i’d likely stick around sucking Schlitz™ ‘til closing time with the Flapjacks were they to play at one of my local watering holes, but, given a good half-century of other rockabilly recordings clamoring for consumer attention, i am not so sure this one cracks the Top 1000 (if the Move to Mars theme was, in fact, an attempt to finish up the Holy Trinity started by Rocket to Russia and Saucer to Saturn, i withdraw that last allegation entirely). BEST SONG: “I Ain’t the One”—“Deep Purple-a-billy” is really a term that should get more use. BEST SONG TITLE: “Move to Mars” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I used to think that Bender’s classic line in the second episode of Futurama™ was “I’m starting my own amusement park—with flapjacks! And hookers!”—not “with blackjack! And hookers!” Aw, forget the blackjack! –Rev. Norb (Last Chance)

FLASCHEN:
Treat Me Bad: 7” EP
Both tracks here remind me immediately of Sid Vicious doing “Roadrunner” mixed with a little Mummies and Supercharger. That sounds like something I’d instantly jump for, but here, I just don’t feel any energy. The recording is super fuzzy, so maybe it’s getting lost in there. I’ll bet that they’re pretty amazing live, but, as this came from the Netherlands, I don’t see a chance to experience that coming any time soon. Here’s to hoping. –Megan Pants (High School Refuse)

FLASH ATTACKS, THE:
Pray for Death: CD-R
You know the drill: the guitarist goes by the moniker Feces (you kiss your mother with that mouth, Feces? Gross!), song titles include “Worthless Wage Slave,” “Toxic Mind Pollution,” and “Terror TV,” the cover’s pixilated-as-hell, with the demo’s title spelled out in a bone font. What makes the Flash Attacks slightly above average is the fact that while the lyrics are still pretty simplistic, there are little lyrical jewels scattered throughout that says to me that with a bit more work, they could be busting out some really good, thought-provoking songs here pretty soon. Kind of reminds me how Forced March and/or Strung Up may have sounded when they first started out. Comes with a sweet patch. –Keith Rosson (Circle F)

FLASH BASTARD:
Bastard Radio: CD
Catchy, candy ass pretty boy party rock. It just so happens that catchy, candy ass pretty boy party rock rubs me in all the wrong ways. I'd bet the farm that these guys want to be the next Good Charlotte and that alone should convey to you the degree of suckage happening here.
–Aphid Peewit (Longshot Music)

FLASH BASTARD::
Bastard Radio: CD
Catchy, candy ass pretty boy party rock. It just so happens that catchy, candy ass pretty boy party rock rubs me in all the wrong ways. I’d bet the farm that these guys want to be the next Good Charlotte and that alone should convey to you the degree of suckage happening here. –Aphid Peewit (Longshot Music)

FLASH BOYS:
Self-titled: CD
Relatively low-fi garage punk from Austin. Pretty standard stuff in most ways. The first half of the record was kinda crappy because it seemed like the band was out of time with each other a lot. The second half of the record was a substantial improvement, though, and I liked that part a whole bunch. So, there’s a familiar and comforting sound to the band, but it’s not anything terribly mesmerizing, and the quality is a bit inconsistent. Not bad, not great. If I sound somewhat wishy-washy, so be it. –The Lord Kveldulfr (Glamour ‘n’ Gloom)

FLASH EXPRESS:
Introducing the Dynamite Sound of: CD
Soul-inflected trash punk that, on the whole, ain’t as good as some, but is far better than most. I’m willing to bet they rock the fuck out of a stage. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.hititnowrecords.com)

FLASH EXPRESS, THE:
Ride the Flash Express b/w Feel These Blues: 7”
Hmm. I’m not so big on the neo-funk urban faux-gospel explosion. I’d rather tap the headwaters of James Brown instead of the runoff tributaries. I remember not liking the Make Up for the same reason. The singer’s voice sounds like a poodle with its nuts getting flicked with a rubber band. I remember not liking the Mooney Suzuki, too. So much posturing and butt jutting and pouting for effect, it’s kinda like walking into a room of people you’re not sexually attracted to masturbating and they’re calling you out for not taking it in the eye or clapping at the end of it. Fill the experience in with a bunch of “Hey now!”s “Yeow!”s and “Feel it!”s as the guitars get wanky and get flaily. Sorry. Headline’s a great record store. You should go there when you’re in LA. –Todd Taylor (Headline)

FLASH EXPRESS, THE:
Ride the Flash Express b/w Feel These Blues: 7"
Hmm. I’m not so big on the neo-funk urban faux-gospel explosion. I’d rather tap the headwaters of James Brown instead of the runoff tributaries. I remember not liking the Make Up for the same reason. The singer’s voice sounds like a poodle with its nuts getting flicked with a rubber band. I remember not liking the Mooney Suzuki, too. So much posturing and butt jutting and pouting for effect, it’s kinda like walking into a room of people you’re not sexually attracted to masturbating and they’re calling you out for not taking it in the eye or clapping at the end of it. Fill the experience in with a bunch of “Hey now!”s “Yeow!”s and “Feel it!”s as the guitars get wanky and get flaily. Sorry. Headline’s a great record store. You should go there when you’re in LA. –Todd Taylor (Headline)

FLASH EXPRESS, THE:
Who Stole the Soul? : 7"
Hey, all right, launch a dart into my scrotum and tally a triple 20, this ain’t half bad. No pseudo-gospel “Put you hands together” jizz, either. It’s got the jobbly wobbly Jon Spencer feel (pre-Orange) that makes one think, “Hey maybe whitey can shake some serious fucking ass without becoming a parody or turning ‘soul’ into an art project.” Hollow-toned guitars, tambourine, burning ember drums, and a true blue roadhouse-about-to-riot feel goes all the way through the b-side, “Fire.” Excellent. Two winners. I’ll be spinning this tons. –Todd Taylor (Revenge)

FLASHLIGHT ARCADE:
The Art of Blacking Out: CD
Youthful, dynamic emo, not that far away from Samiam (with just a few dashes of Thursday and Saves the Day thrown in for good measure). While this is well-done (i.e. the breakdowns all fall at the right time, the band starts and stops at the moments which this style dictates and the singer has the proper sound of yearning in his voice), well-produced (i.e. in a studio, not on a cassette recorder in a garage) and sounds as though it might go over swimmingly on the Warped Tour, this just isn’t my thing. –Puckett (On The Rise)

FLAT STANLEY:
Analbum Cover: CD
This sounds like one o’ them bands from the mid-’80s that used to play hardcore and decided to experiment with their sound by introducing pop elements to the mix, like Marginal Man, After the Fact-era MIA, or TSOL right after Joe Wood joined the band. It ain’t bad, but this sounds a just wee bit dated. –Jimmy Alvarado (Amp)

FLAT TIRES:
Payin Dues…Again: CD
I am not sure if the Confederacy of Scum still exists, but the Flat Tires would sure be a strong addition. More of a rockin’ country punk sound along the lines of Hellstomper than the gruff punk of Antiseen, but they would fit right in there nonetheless. They even got Alan “The Goddamn” King from Hellstomper and Polecat Boogie Revival to record vocals for the second song, “PBR.” Eight songs of whiskey-fueled North Carolina punk country blues and if that’s your bag, you will want this. –Mike Frame (Zodiac Killer, zodiackillerrecords.com)

FLAT TIRES / ASOUND, THE:
Split: 7"
This is an excellent split of two non-traditional North Carolina punk bands. The Asound has a classic rock and psychedelic influence that might be a bit off-putting at first, but their side is undeniably driving. Even catchier is the Flat Tires side, which is a smoking hot mix of punk and country. Country has been mixed with punk with varying degrees of success over the years, but Flat Tires strike just the right balance of twang and hardcore. Each band delivers two solid tracks of Southern barbecue-able fun. This 7” comes housed in a beautiful sleeve illustrated by ANTiSEEN’s Jeff Clayton, perhaps the best-known NC punk icon. Needless to say, this record comes highly recommended. –Art Ettinger (Zodiac Killer, zodiackillerrecords.com)

FLATFOOT:
Wild Was Our Mercy: LP
Flatfoot play straight-up country music in that way that a lot of punks tend to do these days. You can just tell when someone has listened to an ungodly amount of Paul Westerberg, respecting the hell out of him and his song crafting abilities. Fans of Whiskey & Co. should definitely track this hand-screened, hand-numbered (out of 300) LP down. –Daryl Gussin (Los Diaper)

FLATLINERS:
Let It Go: 7”
Despite the rad Mike Bukowski cover, and for whatever inappropriate reason, I’d already written these guys off as some ham-handed hardcore straight edge act before I’d even heard them. They would, I imagined, simultaneously sing about unity and being stabbed in the back, double-crossed, etc. The usual straight edge fare, right? This is the obvious danger of presumption, because I was one ill-prepared mofo when I actually played this record and lightning started flying around the room. Thing is, I didn’t even care when the roof flew off, the cat went flying out the window and every piece of glass in the place shattered. What I mean is, this shit is so goddamn good it’s ridiculous, and within the first fifteen seconds of “See It Through,” my preconceived notions and every bone in my body had simultaneously evaporated. Musically, they’re taking the melodic-but-venomous approach that bands like Death Is Not Glamorous and Fingerprint have utilized so well, coupled that with stop-on-a-pinhead precision, anthemic vocals, furious and weaving guitar interplay, all of it. It’s just a mean production all around. These cats are just so spot-on, and there’s a relentless catchiness to the whole endeavor, my only complaints are that these are the band’s last recorded songs and that it was over way, way too quickly. This one’s a keeper. –Keith Rosson (Slab-O-Wax)

FLATLINERS, THE:
Destroy to Create: CD
Ska punk that sounds so dated to me. I would been all over this ten years ago. But as I have said before, I've had enough. Their saving grace is the song "Public Service Announcement." It's straight forward without the skanking guitars. –Donofthedead (Stomp)

FLATLINERS, THE:
The Great Awake: CD
Damn! I got relegated down to the generic paper sleeve with the record label logo and sticker indicating what release it is promo. This is a first from Fat to me. In the past, I would always get a retail-ready package. At least it’s not a CD-R like some labels have been sending lately. Oh, well. New signing on the label and the band’s sophomore release. Kind of reminds me of early Rise Against but this band also melds in elements of reggae and ska to their music. Very melodic and the music is well played. Should be well received by the fans of the label. As usual, a well-produced Fat release. –Donofthedead (Fat)

FLATLINERS, THE:
The Great Awake: CD
I think I was predisposed to hate this. I figured that it was going to be another lame, emo “disco punk” think that everyone seems to be putting out en masse. It’s true; I judged it by its simplistic black and orange cover with ghetto blasters and butterflies on it. It’s angular font… I guess I’m an asshole. Musically, it starts out with those soaring guitars and galloping drums that you would expect from a band on Fat. “Oh great, eMo-FX” I said to myself, but it didn’t turn out half bad. In the end I can say that The Flatliners take some elements from great bands like Riverboat Gamblers and Dillinger Four and blend it up with a little more screaming and metal tinges a la Death By Stereo. I’m really trying hard to stay away from the “blending bands” comparisons, but in this case, that’s what I hear. It got better with each listen, but just not up to the level of the aforementioned bands. –Ty Stranglehold (Fat)

FLATLINERS, THE:
Safe Side Suicide: CD
Hard call, this one is. While their lyrics aren’t exactly poetry, they name check in their thank you list some of the biggest hacks in modern punk, and it sounds like they tried very hard to mimic the production values of the first Minor Threat EP, I’ll be damned if I don’t keep coming back to this. Despite the aforementioned drawbacks (or, as I think back on the days of yore, maybe because of them), they’ve got that ‘80s hardcore sound down pat, and the fact that the tunes themselves are catchy don’t hurt matters much. Jeez, I feel like I just stepped out of a time machine or something. Thanks for helping me to feel sixteen and mad at the world again. –Jimmy Alvarado (Slab-O-Wax)

FLATTBUSH:
Smash the Octopus: CD
Some thoroughly razed music here, melding equal parts metal, hardcore and free jazz, and ending up with the Filipino/American equivalent of having Melt Banana whooped upside your head by your favorite grindcore band. While certainly spastic in every sense of the word, closer inspection reveals a level of precision and technical prowess that might be lost on the casual listener. Definitely not for those who are faint of heart, but a damn good listen if you’re feelin’ lucky, punk. –Jimmy Alvarado (Kool Arrow)

FLATUS:
Blindsided: CD
Can you say "Bad Religion clone sans the 75-cent prolixity?" I coulda swore there was a noise band a few years ago with the same name and a ton of releases. –Jimmy Alvarado (Black Pumpkin, PO Box 4377, River Edge, NJ 07661-4377)

FLATUS:
Crashing Down: CD
Maybe I’m just not getting it, but this sounds to me like over-produced melodic punk with lots of breakdowns and, unfortunately, vocals that could best be described as “operatic.” Not awful, but nothing new, either. If this were a cereal, it’d be Total. In a pinch, it’ll do, but if you’ve got even a box of Honey Nut Cheerios handy, well, it’s all over. –Maddy (Black Pumpkin)

FLEAS & LICE/RESTARTS:
Split: CD
Fleas: They take their musical and lyrical cues from bands like Broken Bones and Varukers, with loud, slightly metallic guitars and rants about the evils of the system. A nice addition to the spiky, dyed and dirty subgenre of bands. Restarts: More metal in sound, but they pretty much run along the same lines as Fleas and Lice. Lotsa perky, spiky hair in the poorly reproduced pics. Not bad. –Jimmy Alvarado (Rejected)

FLEAS & LICE/RESTARTS:
: Split CD
Fleas: They take their musical and lyrical cues from bands like Broken Bones and Varukers, with loud, slightly metallic guitars and rants about the evils of the system. A nice addition to the spiky, dyed and dirty subgenre of bands. Restarts: More metal in sound, but they pretty much run along the same lines as Fleas and Lice. Lotsa perky, spiky hair in the poorly reproduced pics. Not bad.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Rejected)

FLEAS AND LICE:
Prepare for Armageddon: CD
Solid UK '82-style crusty punk from this long running band. Eleven songs covering all the topics that their fanbase would want and expect. Not a style I care too much for but it seems like they haven't lost a step. If you are a fan, pick this up without worry. -Mike Frame –Guest Contributor (Rodent Popsicle)

FLEAS AND LICE:
Early Years: CD
Collects their output from the early to mid-‘90s: their first EP and 12", and splits with Assrash and Bleeding Rectum. Dual-vocal crust punk with cookie-cutter lyrics that tackle the requisite topics: war, unity, anarchy, hangovers. All of this stuff was released on Skuld Records and much of it's ten years old or more—I presume these records are out of print now. So it's a nice CD for completists, I guess. –Keith Rosson (Rodent Popsicle)

FLEAS AND LICE:
Early Years, Recipe for Catastrophe: CD
This is some pretty rote gutter punk fodder from Holland. Although they manage a mean racket, they ultimately ain’t anything to rave about, especially lyrically, and, as evidenced by the Early Years CD, a collection of tracks from old EPs and split releases, they never really were. –Jimmy Alvarado (Rodent Popsicle)

FLEAS AND LICE:
Recipes for Catastrophes: CD
It’s a repress of the LP that was originally released by Skuld in Germany in 2001 by a long-running band from Holland that started in 1993 who continues today flying the flag of crust punk and DIY. Male/female dual vocals are up front of the exchanging the message of what pisses them off. Musically, mid-tempo to fast Discharge meets Nausea punk rock that a lot of bands are playing today. Never really got around to buying their stuff, but it’s great to finally hear what they sound like after seeing so many of their patches on the kids these days. –Donofthedead (Rodent Popsicle)

FLESH*PACKS:
5¢ Mail-In Rebate: 7"
...it's hard to tell if that (or anything) is actually the real title of this record, but i thought it described the band's sound more appropriately than other phrases on the cover such as "Four Zippy Songs" and "Malicious Fast & Furious Bar Chords." Indeed, the band is nowhere near as overtly poppy-punky as one'd assume from the neo-Otter Pop™ packaging, sounding much more like those bands that turn up on the Teen Line compilations of late '70s/early '80s underground power pop bands – bands who existed in that brief window when (ah, the fools!) actually thought that "pop" could be "rock," on accounta no one told them otherwise yet (or they merely didn't listen) – than it does like something that would own a Queers t-shirt and black Chuck Taylors™. I can't say as this actually made me pick myself off the floor and dust myself off after initial contact, but i think it's fair to state that if i came home from Drivers Ed 20+ years ago and found this in the same package as i found the Boyfriends and Zeros 45s i mailordered from Bomp!™, i wouldn't question the wisdom of my purchase. BEST SONG: "Nothing to Live For" BEST SONG TITLE: "Trouble at the Y" FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Cover clearly states "5¢ MAIL-IN REBATE – see inside for details." No details are provided inside. –Rev. Norb (Short Hare)

FLESH, THE:
Sweet Defeat: CD
Faceless music reminiscent of any number of faceless, vaguely new wave bands from the '80s. –Jimmy Alvarado (Gern Blandsten)

FLESH, THE:
Fire Tower: CD
A nice potpourri of styles smooshed together here—a little gloomy pop, a little hip hop, a little fringy art punk—and some strong songwriting makes for a fairly unique, definitely engaging sound. The bulk of the songs here straddle a fine line between the musicians not being so busy pretentiously self-obsessed with their role as “artists” that the songs aren’t catchy and infusing the hooks with some serious edge. Ultimately, this is interesting in all the right ways. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.gernblandsten.com)

FLESH, THE:
Sweet Defeat: CD
Faceless music reminiscent of any number of faceless, vaguely new wave bands from the ‘80s. –Jimmy Alvarado (Gern Blandsten)

FLESHIES:
Scrape the Walls: CD
Fleshies have gotten into my “happy rock place.” After seeing them, their records sound better because I can project the songs into my mind and see them play. Their previous, The Sicilian, I didn’t give much salt to besides, “Yeah, it’s good,” a couple years back, but it never seemed to leave the truck. It’s not often that a weird band provides great real-life-soundtrack music and continues to get better with each listen. Scrape the Walls is great. It’s the Fleshies. They’re growing. AC/DC rides lightning bolts to the Cows and they make pop music that could be on a parallel universe’s Mork and Mindy. Even though I was given the CD, I happily bought the vinyl. That’s how much I believe in it. So, leave with this: great record. My gripe: I understand you own the label Jello, but another guest appearance? I’m no stoner, but if I was, I’d be annoyed at the helium frog taking vocal duties—not as an intro, not as an outro—but smack dab in the middle of the album for a full song. It’s jarring. And, as a rabid music collector as Jello is, he should know great albums are based on this: continuity. You’re groovin’. Your bong’s hot. You’re chillin’ to Johnny going ape shit then slithering into your sweater, then wham-o. The Sugar Smacks spokesfrog does a Sparks cover. Waaa? I have a feeling that many of the dudes involved with this record are smart, so I propose this retroactive solution: on LP, make it one of those hidden tracks where you have to lift the needle to get to it. That’s fun. You chose the annoyance. Or, for CD, find a way to have that track play every 66^th time it’s played. That’d absolutely creep people out and they’d have to wait 66 more times until it played again, long after they’ve tried—and failed—to convince their friends that it’s really on there. –Todd Taylor (Alternative Tentacles)

FLESHIES:
Gung Ho!: CD
Fleshies rule. Who else could seamlessly pull together the seemingly incongruous elements of arena-worthy hard rock, chin-scratching weirdness, and bum-in-the-alley punk rock like it’s the most natural thing in the world? Who else could take a possible musical trainwreck and plug it directly into the pleasure center of my brain? This is a collection of old singles and out of print stuff, and it really shows how they’ve grown as a band. The earliest stuff is more formative, like a noisier version of old Turbonegro stuff, with hints of what they would become but not fully warped yet. As the CD progresses, so does the band, and songs like “Gonna Have to Pass” and “My Buddy” just plain rip. All told, people like me who already converted to The Church of Fleshies will love this. If you’re unfamiliar with this punk rock wrecking ball and would like to hear the musical equivalent of a mutant donkey sticking its dick in your ear (but in a really good way, I promise) check out The Sicilian first. This also has the drunkest live song that I have ever heard. –Josh (Life Is Abuse)

FLESHIES:
Baby: LP
Fleshies’ 2000 self-released demo is now available on vinyl thanks to SF’s Thrillhouse Records. Fleshies are one of my favorite bands and this is just another reason why. The scattered and relentless barbed blob of noise that they tend to create is at an all-time high on these recordings. The masterpiece that was their 2006 release, Scrape the Walls, was an amazing display of innovative, unconventional punk with pure pop sensibility and flawless production. Baby is very much the opposite—still unconventional, yet pure East Bay-gritty-warehouse-show-malt-liquor-taco-truck-pissed-off-fuzzed-out-fury of rock. A couple of these songs went on to show up on later recordings. After all, it was a demo. –Daryl Gussin (Thrillhouse)

FLESHIES:
The Game of Futbol: CDEP
Like the Butthole Surfers in their prime, you want Fleshies to fuck with you. It’s fun to hear them molest your eardrums, and this EP kind of feels like kneeling down before a priest who kicks you square in the forehead with soccer cleats. Then you realize why he’s wearing those shoes. So he doesn’t trip in your blood while he dances around, making fun of you. This EP should come with the instructions: “Steal a can of Scotch Guard. Spray into plastic bag. Huff until the bag’s stuck around skull in tight seal. Shit yourself. Go blind.” My favorite songs are the first and third. “Fists of Mercy” and “The Tickler” show you that they’ve got the chops to write perfect punk songs. The other four scream that they don’t give a fuck about my or your expectations. These songs destroy in different ways, from the loungey, ether-happy, four-minute, twelve-second long title song to the “Sexiest Man Alive,” sung in a metal, nut-squishing falsetto that begins with bleating sheep. Gotta appreciate bands with gonads this big who’re crazy enough to pull it off like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Recommended, in tandem with their debut CD, Kill the Dreamer’s Dream. –Todd Taylor (Adeline)

FLESHIES:
The Sicilian: CD
Me gusta. About ten seconds after Johnny Polymoniker knocked my glasses clean off my face (but right into my hands, thanks) with his swinging microphone, Dan Monick said, “These guys are like the Cows and Iron Maiden.” Dan Monick takes a lot of pictures for this magazine. He’s insightful. I try to keep my glasses on my face. Then that got me to thinking. Perhaps, for future reviews of Fleshies, I could just mix a great AmRep’y noise band with a heavy metal band that had at least five good songs and that’d be the review. Slug and Judas Priest. Kinda works. Take weirdness, give it focus, heaviness, and catchiness. Mix in one or two no-interference, fuck-yeah punk gems (like “Rosa”). Kerplow! Fleshies! Only it’s better. What works so well in their favor is that their albums and EPs (get the futbol one) neither ever get too stupid-trippy nor wank-a-thonic. Although I do suggest this record, I do have complaints. Are the lyrics written on fuckin’ microfiche for the CD? C’mon, Alternative Tentacles, give ‘em a couple more pages so I don’t have to be reading, what, two point font. Secondly, whomever put the athletic sock over Johnny’s microphone for this recording should stop doing that in the future. He sounds muted. Complaints aside, as it stands, Fleshies are a delicious cross of Melt Banana and Motley Crue. See? It sorta works. Sorta. Go see ‘em live with glasses firmly strapped. –Todd Taylor (Alternative Tentacles)

FLESHIES:
Brown Flag: LP
Weirdo DIY punk and arena rock coming together like chocolate and peanut butter, Fleshies, are really one of the most interesting bands in a long time. It’s funny, because before Scrape the Walls was released, I was predicting it to be their most straight forward effort, and then turned out to be very, very wrong. But now that they’ve settled into their own personal studio, taking their sweet time to really polish this one (and bring on more subtle Guns’n’Roses/arena rock comparisons). It’s definitely their most straight forward, and is absolutely great, though it still leaves me a little conflicted, because that weirdness was the charm of their older records. Though after repeated listens, there’s still some weirdness, it’s just a little more buried/subconscious. Either way, Fleshies records are like apples and oranges—you can’t compare them on their own, but they’re all still excellent in their own way. And hopefully they’ll be back from this “hiatus” nonsense. –Joe Evans III (Recess)

FLESHIES:
Brown Flag: LP + CD
Pure speculation: John Geek, the singer for the Fleshies, has found an inner happiness and resolve. This is the most posi Fleshies record, by a landslide. Also, the pseudopodal separation of Triclops! from the “don’t call it a comeback, we’ve been here all along” Fleshies has completed. Triclops! (a band that features many of the same members of the Fleshies) takes care of all the huge and loud and longer tangents. Fleshies takes care of the smart whips of weird pop sensibilities. Explanation: Fleshies have been grooming an AC/DC meets direct-to-the-central-nervous-system form of DIY punk for years. This is their most singularly focused effort. I’m making another assumption that the cover of this album is a close-up of some mold or fungus or something. It sorta looks like asphalt on first glance. But when it’s all blown up, the little details that you’d most likely miss if you glance at the mold at arm’s length start revealing intricate details and patterns and neat stuff. And that’s what this record sounds like, in a purely Fleshies way. Definitely recommended. –Todd Taylor (Recess / Sugar Mountain)

FLESHIES / PCP ROADBLOCK / KOJAK / HORTUS:
: 4-way Split 7"

Fleshies: It sounds like they can pull polar opposites together and connect 'em with a little pocket of personal lightning. I may be the only one hearing this, but I hear the clang of both early Jam in the guitar and the exhilarating feeling of finding something really good in a dumpster. So incredibly catchy, like cooties or tetanus. PCP Roadblock: They sound just like their name, literally – like a crazy dude standing in your way in the middle of the road, babbling about how his socks are snakes. He won't get out of the way and all you want is a hot dog. Comes with intermittent screams. Kojak: I like. They're noisy and yelly and remind me of a more lysergic 400 Blows – under all that bluster and fuzz, you can hear some tricked up melodies. It looks like the drummer's got a microphone medical taped to his mouth so he can sing while pounding. Hortus: Throat goat, death metal vocals over a Joy Division-like synthesizer. Hmm. It's one of those things that sounds like it flies much better live, like the Imperial Butt Wizards. Bring on the roman candles and the teddy bear entrails.

–Todd Taylor (Wet Tail)

FLESHIES / PHANTOM LIMBS:
split: 7”
This is my first introduction to both of these bands and it is a pretty good one. Fleshies are weird. That’s a good thing. Phantom Limbs are weird. That’s a good thing. Fleshies kind of sound like if Bon Scott was the singer for some deranged Mudhoney tribute band, but not really. Phantom Limbs sound kind of like a really crude, really fucked up Lost Sounds without the hooks and with way shittier synths. If you play this record for people they will think you are weird. That’s a good thing. –Guest Contributor (S.P.A.M.)

FLESHIES / PHANTOM LIMBS:
Split: 7"
This is my first introduction to both of these bands and it is a pretty good one. Fleshies are weird. That's a good thing. Phantom Limbs are weird. That's a good thing. Fleshies kind of sound like if Bon Scott was the singer for some deranged Mudhoney tribute band, but not really. Phantom Limbs sound kind of like a really crude, really fucked up Lost Sounds without the hooks and with way shittier synths. If you play this record for people they will think you are weird. That's a good thing. –Josh (S.P.A.M.)

FLESHIES / VICTIMS FAMILY:
Split: 7"
Fleshies scare me. When they’re fast, they kick kindergartener ass and remind me of early, breakneck Mudhoney. “Gonna Have to Pass” could easily be placed next to “Touch Me, I’m Sick.” That, I like a lot. When they slow down, they remind me of Journey. As a matter of fact, if you squint and forego the fact that the lead singer is in his saggy, stained undies for most of the set, he looks like a young Steve Perry of the aforementioned soft rock band. Victims Family. They formed in 1984 and have been very weird ever since. Their contribution, “Calling Dr. Schlessinger,” is an anti-ode to the right wing talk show host. It intentionally drags then slips into noise snatches, chanting, rock dirge, and audio collages. If you’re a digger of Negativland or Lard, you’re prime. If you like songs with basic structure, you’re fucked. Proceed with that in mind. –Todd Taylor (Alternative Tentacles)

FLESHIES/ FEDERATION X:
: Split 7"

I think of some bands as portals. I loathe Led Zeppelin, but, you know what? If you took out the stratospheric chipmunk vocalist, forefronted the drums, axed the solos, and cranked up the dirty, there's something respectable in there. Portal? On their full length, Fleshies had a song called, "Led Fuckin' Zepplin, Man." I liked how Fleshies pulled it off. I recognized some of the riffs that Bonham and Co. put together. (I worked a job that played a "get the Led out" segment – an hour of it every fuckin' day.) And it just may be that Fleshies are cracking my ear up a bit because, although they operate from a wide base of operations, musically, from operatic falsettos to '70s arena rock, to some grade-A non-ass punk classics, I find myself buckling up for their ride and enjoying the aural scenery. This time out, they pen one of the best song titles I've heard this side of a D4 album, "I Just Took the Most Punk Rock Shit of My Life." I can't recommend Fleshies high enough. They're sneaky, like a bum who really knows how to box. Federation X: They live up to their cracking, electrified blues boogie on four-stringed guitars reputation. It's very jammy – like when Zen Guerilla spools out – but with a nice, serrated edge and I can't say that I'm complaining.

–Todd Taylor (Molasses Manifesto)

FLETCH CADILLAC / DESTRUCTORS 666:
Biberati Ut Gothi: Split CD
The front cover of this disc features three scummy dudes in leather jackets, capes, and sunglasses. Two of them have swords. One has a machine gun. They’re standing in the middle of a desert, where they’re under attack by some spider monster. The dorkiness is toxic. I expected the music to have an equal level of dorkiness. Instead, it’s frantic straight-ahead punk rock. It’s pogo-ready. Fletch Cadillac are my faves. They sound a little nuttier, like they may have been standing upside down and hurling snowballs at each other while recording. Destructors 666 are more of the fist-in-the-air, almost oi-ish stuff. Also rad. –MP Johnson (Rowdy Farrago)

FLEUR FATALE, LA:
Night Generation: CD
The second song sounds kinda like a more hypnotic Badfinger, and the fourth song sounds a little like something off the final Move album. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the first song sounds sorta like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but with sitars instead of Moogs, and the third song sounds like Yes or something, which is a big NO in my book. After that, the songs seem to alternate in a Good Psych ((i.e., the Cynics on lots of ecstasy)) / Bad Psych ((i.e. some echoey dude singing over a bunch of acoustic guitars)) format. Overall, if you’ve ever been stuck at somebody else’s house with fairly different musical tastes than yours and needed to make do with their record collection, and you just sorta played stuff without really being judgmental about it ((not due to any lack of inherent judgmentality on your part, but more due to the fact that you had already judged their record collection just by reading the names on the spines)) because, what the hell, they aren’t your records, you aren’t stuck with ‘em if they suck, so what the heck do you care, you just want to hear some music—THAT is the feeling this record instills in me: The colossal indifference of experiencing some non-kindred soul’s record collection. Party on. BEST SONG: “Night Generation” BEST SONG TITLE: “I Wanna Be Adored” FANASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: This CD package folds out into a big cross shape, with one of the four band member’s mug shots on each of the folded-out panels. And they be oggly. ALTERNATE FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: La Fleur Fatale is managed by Supercock Management. –Rev. Norb (Killer Cobra)

FLEXX BRONCO:
Volume 1: CDEP
Flat out roadhouse rock’n’roll abounds on this six-track, self-released CD. Very vaguely David Lee Roth’s Van Halen meets Tenderloin? There just might be something there. –Jessica Thiringer (self-released)

FLIGHT:
Flowers: 7”
“Flowers” has a big, black riff that immediately reminded me of the Grave Blankets’ HoZac release; both bass and guitar bearing down heavily on the listener like a dark cloud of evil. The verses are menacing, detailing a husband waking up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about dying. Dude is even more shaken up when there’s a knock on the door and death stands before him. The tension is released at the chorus; a beautiful, floating incantation of “Don’t you put no flowers on my grave.” The flip is a buzzing hive of summertime psychedelia. I don’t know what flavored Kool-Aid these Mississippi miscreants are drinking, but I’ll take a gallon of it. –Josh Benke (Sweet Rot)

FLINK:
Feel My Feeling: CD
No. I will not feel your feeling. I barely even want to review this CD—it’s that shitty. And not shitty as in poor production but shitty as in that this is a great example of that generic, jangly indie pop band you had to suffer through before you could hear your friend’s band play. Compound that with vocals that are often off-key (and not in an endearing fashion) and I’ve already started sharpening the chopsticks so that I can puncture my eardrums. –Kurt Morris (http://myspace.com/flinkband)

FLIP TOPS / YOKOHAMA HOOKS:
Split: 7"
Flip Tops: Ever been in a car that was once a prime hot rod, but when you’re in it, the brakes are shot, there are cigarette burns in the headliner, there’s a crack the length of the windshield, the tape deck only works when a matchbook is shoved on top of a tape, and its driver is almost always drunk and/or stoned? The Flip Tops remind me of that. If total care was taken, they could be owners of a cherry ride shown off during the weekend to impress fellow dentists and chrome enthusiasts. The Flip Tops hop the curb to 7-11, do donuts in neighbors’ lawns, and have everything held together with bailing wire and duct tape. ‘Tis, I believe, the way punk rock should be played. By miscreants barely holding their shit together, rumbling through a world of “misused” potential. Yokohama Hooks: I’ve, on occasion, wondered what Yoko Ono and Nico would sound like if they were, like, good. You know, like sorta arty, but rockin’, itchy and angular, but interesting for the ass and the mind and you didn’t need some sort of degree in asshole snob culture studies to “appreciate” it. Yokohama Hooks somewhat answer that to the tune of “for fans of the A-Frames and Operation S.” Women androids kill with high kicks, just like in Blade Runner. Me like. –Todd Taylor (Iron Goat)

FLIP TOPS, THE:
All Worked Up: CD
I haven’t stopped listening to this since it came in the mail. Everything about this album is spot-on. Todd says it sounds like a slower Candy Snatchers without operatic vocals. I hear Dead Boys in the guitar, but only on certain songs. Some of their lyrics are pretty dumb, though: “Makes me drink until I’m drunk and then I’m wasted… wasted.” Heavily rock’n'roll influenced. Helluva good record here.
–Megan Pants (Rip Off)

FLIP TOPS/ TRIGGERS:
split: 7”
Man, this is a good split. Flip Tops sound like Supercharger meets the Dwarves meets the Motards. Both tracks (and the two on their split with the Gloryholes) seem to show the Flip Tops maturing as a band from their full-length released late last year. Everything works so well now. The Triggers are so damn good. Female-fronted, no-nonsense punk’n’roll. –Megan Pants (Johnny Cat)

FLIPPER:
Generic; Gone Fishin; Sex Bomb Baby!; Public Flipper Limited: CD

This set reissues most of Flipper’s catalogue except for the live Blow’n Chunks album and the post-Will Shatter American Grafishy. This is a great thing in light of how everything but the subpar Blow’nChunks album has been massively out of print for years. Flipper are an acquired taste, but, at the same time, are completely essential, if that makes sense. Flipper has a remarkable ability to make songs that are anti-musical, yet catchy. Generic and Gone Fishin’ are Flipper’s first two studio full-lengths. They both showcase how Flipper are able to channel things like ugliness or depression and turn it into something that ultimately feels cathartic and renewing. The genius of Flipper lies partially in the accessibility of their inaccessible music. This isn’t the sound of a dude with overblown testosterone issues bellowing about pain, or of maddeningly pretentious-sounding indie dudes. Rather, vocalist/bassists Bruce Loose and Will Shatter sound like relatable, if perhaps off-kilter, people.

The classic songs to recommend are many: “Life,” “Ever,” “I (Saw You) Shine,” “First the Heart,” “Sacrifice.” All these songs feel like they pull you into dark areas with bleak lyrics, guitar that’s mostly ambient noise, and repetitive, muddy bass that often ends up being the lead instrument. The trick is that you come out the other side feeling better. Oddly enough, about the only song on the two albums I’m not completely crazy about is the semi-hit “Sex Bomb.” Public Flipper is a double live album that has recordings spanning five years. Most of these recording are actually as good as the studio versions, plus there are a few songs that aren’t on any studio albums. This is totally worth getting for the absolutely transcendent version of “Life” on disc two and the awesome Flipper board game that can be made out of the packaging. Sex Bomb Baby! is a rarities compilation. Some of the stuff is lackluster, like “Lowrider” and the really odd version of “Ever.” This is the least essential of the CDs—except that it has one of the most essential Flipper songs on it, “Ha Ha Ha”—so get this one too. To paraphrase Krist Novoselic in his liner notes for Generic, the first several times someone ever hears Flipper they might sound like just a raw, distorted, ugly wash, but then one day they may suddenly click and you realize that they may be one of the best bands in the world.

–Adrian (Water)

FLIPPER:
Blow: CD
Originally released on cassette only in 1984, this is a document of sorts of what a Flipper gig was like back before Will Shatter pulled a Sid Vicious/Darby Crash and died a very hippie death. 'Twas a pity to see Willie go, too, 'cause Flipper was one of punk rock's truly original outfits, intentionally placing themselves in stark contrast to whatever was popular in punk at the time. While the "hardcore" groups of the day played short, fast bursts while waxing poetic with the political rhetoric, Flipper's songs were simplistic, messy, drunken, dirge-like noise fests that went on and on and on and on and on and seemed like their only purpose was to annoy the hell out of almost anybody within hearing distance. Yet a method could be detected underneath the madness by anyone who happened to pay attention long enough. Their lyrics were often frighteningly well-written considering the characters responsible for them, and their live sets were funny as hell to watch, especially if you happened to take a friend who'd never heard them before. Much of the between song banter is sorely missing from this recording, as is their "hit" song "Sex Bomb," but the performance of the songs themselves is pretty good and the whole thing is about as entertaining as it was back when this originally came out. After a day filled with listening to a bunch of third-rate cookie-cutter hardcore/popcore/pick-your-core bands this afternoon, this was a very welcome change of pace, and it was nice to be reminded of how fun one of my favorite bands of all time were. –Jimmy Alvarado (ROIR)

FLIPPER:
Love: CD
Flipper has once again shaken off the dirt of death and risen up—this time with assistance from former Nirvana bass playing giant Krist Novoselic—to discomfort the world with more of their sonic elephantiasis. Ten new apoplectic, apocalyptic dirges pustulating with more ennui and existential ooze than all the fidgeting hamburger that was ever in John Paul Sartre’s head. These are the lullabies of an autopsy; an autopsy that’s somehow turned into a Hermann Nitsch performance, where the entrails are hung on the walls like garland and warm and rubbery vital organs become unspeakable sex toys. Back in the early ‘80s, Flipper was obviously a dissonant deconstruction of punk, but now it might be more accurate to say that they’re a dissonant deconstruction of post-punk. It’s dirty work, but somebody’s gotta do it. My only gripe with Love is that their dadaistic sense of humor, exemplified in classics like “Ha Ha Ha,” “Brainwash,” and “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” sadly seems to have been packed into the urn along with the remains of Will Shatter. And Flipper without their absurdist humor is like a thalidomide baby without a clown nose. Hopefully the twisted sense of humor will grow back like a happy little tumor in time for the next album. What’s important now is that Flipper is back and primed to jerk the chains of all sanctimonious punks everywhere. And I, for one, couldn’t be happier. –Aphid Peewit (MVD audio)

FLIPSIDES, THE:
Clever One: CD

I always anticipate a new Pink and Black release with the anxiousness of a hyperactive child.

They are very discretionary on what they will put out. Two of my favorite bands consist of two thirds of the roster. The Flipsides make up the last third. To put it out there so you can tell what this band sounds like, they're comparable to their label mates, Dancehall Crashers. The vocals are so similar, I would easily be confused. The music is similar in the poppy, rock vein. No ska though. There are also hints of some southern rock that I hear. Sounds like they share the same rehearsal space overall. From start to finish, this is a gem that is well past the rough. I would wet my panties after listening to this, if I wore panties. Maybe I will grab a pair from my wife. –Donofthedead (Pink and Black)

FLOBOTS:
Fight with Tools: CD
Flobots are one of those bands you really wanna get behind ’cause what they’re doin’ is a little off the beaten path, but you just can’t quite get yourself to commit to the decision. Their angle is to take two politically conscious rappers and pair them with a band heavy on the alt-rock vibe, yet stay clear of Rage Against the Machine-land. The results are mixed, mostly because while the rappers’ skills are fairly strong, they do occasionally come up with some quaint ideas, and their interaction with the band rarely gels enough that the whole thing sounds like a collaborative, cohesive thought. There’s definitely potential to be mined here, but thus far they’ve only managed to dust off the tops of the rocks. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.flobots.com)

FLOGGING MOLLY:
Within a Mile of Home: CD
I have to admit that my excitement for this band has lessened. I listen to this and it feels comfortable and sometimes predictable. But at the same time, I am not captivated. The CD plays without me wanting to repeat a track. It just plays in the background without evoking any emotion. –Donofthedead (Side One Dummy)

FLOGGING MOLLY:
Drunken Lullabies: CD
Think of being at the pub with a group of your closest friends sharing a good time of a few pints of Guinness, Harp or some black and tans. The atmosphere is set for just a boost. The perfect accompaniment to this grand time would be Flogging Molly. With their mix of the Pogues, traditional Irish folk and punk energy, you would have to be dead not wanting to jump and dance. What I am assuming is their second full length, is every bit as good as their previous release Swagger. It's a perfection of tracks that carefully takes you up and down and keeps you interested throughout the whole disc. Seeing them at their record release shows here in LA, I’m guessing that their infectious energy has caught on quite strong. I can’t wait 'till they record and release their cover of Tom Jones’ “Delilah.” –Donofthedead (Side One Dummy)

FLOOR:
Dove: CD
To see what sort of a nitwit (read: dimbulb) I am, see how I’ve seen the name Floor for years, but always lumped them in with bands like Spoon, Cake, Chair, Refrigerator, Tree, Ashtray, Pipe, Rake, and Frantic Freddie Flanagan & the Hotdog Watchers, only to, at this late date, find them to be on a level with bands like Kyuss, Sleep, and Boulder. And this “long-lost first album” from 1994 is a fitting soundtrack for self-punishment for such oversights, with its broke-string guitar and droning riffless poundalongs. –Cuss Baxter (No Idea)

FLOORIAN:
What the Buzzing: CD
It's a tedious session of hearing tests and musical bowls. I just can't do the spaced-out intergalactic ethereal reverb thing. I didn't even like this kind of music when I used to do hallucinogens. If you want a detailed and dead-on description, find Roger Moser Jr.'s review of this very same CD (try Bomp.com). It's a perfect description of this album that no one could have written better. Damnit, what is that buzzing (swat, swat)? –Staff (Bomp)

FLORENCE NIGHTENGALES, THE:
Self-Titled: 7"
There’s a lot of blood on the cover. I mean a lot. So I put this one on the turntable and was kind of expecting something with more guts. What I got was off-key female-fronted mid-tempo punk that was pretty repetitive, tinny, and not tough at all. If anyone knows the Voids, it sounded quite a bit like that band if they were on Quaaludes and their distortion pedals were set on two, rather than nine or ten. Nice marbled gray vinyl, four songs, virtually no contact information whatsoever. Like the Nightengales themselves, I just don’t have much else to say, I guess. –Keith Rosson (Arkam)

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALES:
Self-titled: 7” EP
It’s sort of strange that an all-girl, young band from Alabama reminds me of a death rock band from early ‘80s L.A., but they do. The Florence Nightingales owe quite a bit to 45 Grave, if they’re aware of it or not, from the haunted vocals, the strong singing, the spooky subject matter (sleeping in spider beds and a song about a banshee), the sparse, mid-tempo arrangements, and dark, straight-ahead, playing-in-a-sarcophagus recording. Enjoyable. –Todd Taylor (Arkam)

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALES, THE:
Self-Titled: 7"
Oh, hell yeah! The Florence Nightingales make me wish I were still booking shows. With vocals sneering, “We come out at night,” it’s easy to image this band, if you could find them (my Google search came up empty), playing a show with the Orphans, the Runaways, and the Avengers. Speaking of, the singer all but channels punk-era Penelope Houston. Four equally solid songs pressed on purple wax and wrapped in a great looking cardstock sleeve. The “F’s” in my 7” collection just got a whole lot better. Florence Nightingales, say hello to the Flash Express and Fuzzbox! You’re in the collection to stay. –Kat Jetson (Arkam)

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALES, THE:
Self-Titled: 7"
This band is going for a death rock sound but comes off as sounding like early Vice Squad to me. It works, but tends to be a little too garage and repetitious for my liking. The packaging is the best part with the silk-screened covers and the swirly purple vinyl pressing. –Donofthedead (Arkam, no address)

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC:
Self-titled: 12" EP
This started off so good, real chaotic screamy hardcore in the vein of Page 99 or Orchid. Their hearts were in the right place, and they got the right kinda artwork, layout, and format (12" 45rpm on white vinyl with no label art so you gotta read the matrix etching to figure it out). At first I though it was lame that they put out a one-sided record, but honestly, one side is really all they need. By the end of the record, I was tired of it and glad it was over. This isn't a terrible record, it just seems like nobody involved was trying very hard. –Ben Snakepit (McCarthyism.org)

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC:
Human: CDEP
Droning, non-melodic noise with a singer who couldn’t carry a tune if it was double strapped to his back with a Transformers backpack. This Baltimore band churns up five songs that really don’t do anything for me. “I Give In” and “I Give Up” are two of the more imaginative song titles on this release. “I Got Out” should be the next one since I had to get out of ear range. Ugh. –Sean Koepenick (Reptilian)

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC:
Self-titled: CD
The equivalent of unleashing a belt sander on your eardrum, only without all the resulting blood on your favorite shirt. While their brand of noisy hardcore ain’t my cup o’ poison, I can’t help but a respect a band that can raise such an unholy racket. –Jimmy Alvarado (Reptilian)

FLU:
Amalgamation: CD
The next big band to make it into the mainstream with their overproduced, yet thin, sounding recording of hardcore meets emo pop. Mommy, please tell me when the bad band goes away. –Donofthedead (Sling Slang)

FLUID OUNCES:
The Whole Shebang: CD
Here is a CD that I was ready to dismiss right off the bat since it was not punk. But it caught me by surprise because it touched my inner child. The music had that Queen meets Supertramp mixed with Electric Light Orchestra ‘70s vibe going for it. That takes me back to elementary school. That’s a scary place to go. Now, if I had to wear the clothes from that period, that would be even worse. –Donofthedead –Donofthedead (Vacant Cage)

FLUX:
Uncarved Block: CD
This is Flux of Pink Indians back in 1986 when they dropped their punk stylings and went more to a modern rock electronic sound and shortened their name. It's quite interesting in the same light as latter-period Chumbawumba or the Talking Heads. Male and female vocal interplay is always an interesting combination. The music feels more like jamming than actual mechanical songwriting. It is a mash of different elements - jazz, dub, and ambient. I totally ignored this when it first came out. To listen to this now, they were probably way ahead of their time and too late for the present. –Donofthedead (One Little Indian)

FLUX:
Uncarved Block: CD
This is Flux of Pink Indians back in 1986 when they dropped their punk stylings and went more to a modern rock electronic sound and shortened their name. It’s quite interesting in the same light as latter-period Chumbawumba or the Talking Heads. Male and female vocal interplay is always an interesting combination. The music feels more like jamming than actual mechanical songwriting. It is a mash of different elements—jazz, dub, and ambient. I totally ignored this when it first came out. To listen to this now, they were probably way ahead of their time and too late for the present. –Donofthedead (One Little Indian)

FLUX OF PINK INDIANS:
Strive to Survive/Neu Smell: CD
Strange what time can do to one’s listening tastes. Like Crass and most of the other English anarcho-punk bands of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s (except, I must point out, Rudimentary Peni, who maintain an almost religious respect from me to this day) I HATED this band with a passion. Their songs were the musical equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard or strangling a cat and resulted in many a fantasy of jamming ice picks into my ears. Some of the boys in the ‘hood swore by these guys, but I preferred bashing my head into a concrete wall to having to sit through their brand of noise. Twenty years on, however, I find a couple of Crass records in my collection and myself actually digging this reissue. Kinda unnerving. Next thing I know, I’m gonna find myself rocking out to Conflict or something. –Jimmy Alvarado (One Little Indian)

FLUX OF PINK INDIANS:
The Fucking Cunts Treat Us Like Pricks/ Taking a Liberty: CD
Eighteen tracks from this legendary Crass-affiliated band. The TFCTULP LP and the Taking Liberty 7” were originally released in 1983 and 1984 on Spiderleg Records. Here you get both without acquiring a scratched up original for an exorbitant price, but you might have already guessed that obvious fact from the title. I don’t know if this is a defect or it was intended, but all the songs are on one track. That sure takes away the convenience of it being on CD. It’s like having a cassette. You have to fast forward but you cannot skip tracks. At least with vinyl, you can manually lift the needle and move it past songs you don’t want to listen to. I can’t say I’m the most knowledgeable fan. I do have the Strive to Survive... LP. Wasn’t too into the whole Crass thing. Liked the ideology, but could pass on the music. I still find it hard to listen to after twenty years. If you got the patch on your clothing and never listened to the band before, go get this. Someone will eventually call you on it. –Donofthedead (One Little Indian)

FLYBOYS:
Crayon World” b/w “Square City: 7”
The Flyboys’ story is tragic, and this tragedy has, quite possibly, kept them mainly as a footnote in Southern California’s punk rock history. Right around when their self-titled, seven-song 12” EP was released on Frontier, the keyboardist/vocalist, David Wilson (noted on this record as David Way), was killed in an automobile accident. Another version of the band, called the Choir Invisible, would later resurface. The drummer, Dennis Walsh (punk name Dennis Rackett), would go on to join the long-running Huntington Beach stalwarts, The Crowd (Razorcake #2’s cover band). This is a re-issue of their first 1979 self-released 7” (Flyguy Records) and it has the feel of a band that was comfortable straddling between the not-yet-concrete-wall separation between new wave and punk. Within half a year of this 7” coming out, and the bands existing within thirty miles of one another, the Knack would score a worldwide hit with “My Sharona.” The Flyboys remain largely obscure. What I didn’t know is that The Flyboys were the first day-glo punks in California—often called “the male Go-Go’s”—encouraging their fans to have fun, instead of acting disinterested or spitting at them. Great stuff. Well worth bloodhounding down. –Todd Taylor (Frontier)

FLYING FATAL GUILLOTINES:
Get Knifed: CD
I’m a dork. I thought the first song sounded like Red Hot Chili Peppers. What am I smoking? Get this album and let me know if I’ve been falling on the floor too much while drunk and puking. I also heard these guys had broken up. No, they didn’t. They took some time off and made some lineup changes but they are back and ready to bully you into the Guillo-team (how cute.) I loved their first album but this one is really trying on the nerves. Maybe I’m just an old fart that can’t understand what the kids are doing these days – like I give a fuck. –Namella J. Kim (Estrus)

FLYING LUTTENBACHS, THE:
The Truth is a Fucking Lie: CD
Either this is some of the freest free-form jazz I have ever heard, or these guys are trying to emulate the sound of early industrial bands like Einstürzende Neubauten and Z’ev using instruments instead of sheet metal, giant springs and explosives. The songs are a little long, but they manage to get the job done. This gave me a headache, so it’s got to be good. –Jimmy Alvarado (Skin Graft, PO Box 257546, Chicago, IL 60625)

FLYING OVER:
Self-titled: 7”EP
Hey, I think I found the French equivalent to The Stitches. It’s well-played, basic punk rock with sinus-infection snottiness and one monitor borrowed directly from the Sex Pistols. Not as spitfire jagged as The No Talents, nor as bouncy-catchy as The Hatepinks, but competent. –Todd Taylor (Adrenalin Fix)

FLYSWATTERS, THE:
Brain Dead: CD
Primitive thud-punk with a U.K.-via-SoCal feel to it, situating itself somewhere between US Bombs and The Stitches. Simple, direct, and completely unapologetic about it. –Jimmy Alvarado (myspace.com/theflyswattersmusic)

FM BATS:
Everybody Out… Shark in the Water: CDEP
It’s short enough to listen to a little over six times in one hour, which I have just done, and still I can’t make up my mind about it. The music is really cool. Surf-ish guitar riffs over garage-ish drums. I say “ish” because it is not easy to pinpoint exactly what the style is. My only problem with it, and it is a fairly large one, is the vocals. The singer, who used to sing in Le Shok, uses this horrible voice effect so that when he sings, no matter what he is intending to vocally project, he comes across sounding whiny and monotone. This is the basic feel throughout the entire EP. It sort of reminds me of a little kid misbehaving in a grocery store next to his angry and short tempered dad. We’ve all seen and heard this before. The kid starts pissing his dad off, despite multiple warnings to “cut out” whatever he has been doing to cause the aggravation. The sound that the kid makes after the dad’s hand quickly connects with the kid’s backside a few times, making him cry for a minute or two, and the kid starts running out of breath from crying, and attempting to form words between sobs. The speech is sort of drawn out unnecessarily due to the crying fit, as well as a little hoarse for the same reason. That is exactly what I think of when I hear this guy sing. Only stretch that sort of off key mumble whining out over two-minute segments of cool music. I didn’t find this quite as impressive as everyone kept telling me it was. The music is great though. –Guest Contributor (Vinyl Dog/TKO)

FM KNIVES:
Useless and Modern: LP
This album isn't exactly new, but here's my two cents on it anyway: What Amdi Petersen's Arme is to hardcore punk, the FM Knives are to '77 punk. Unlike a band like the Briefs who sound like a modern update to that sound, this band sounds like one of the bands that pioneered that sound. And they're good. Real good. Also, on a purely historical note that will interest everyone, this album was recorded on my seventeenth birthday. –Josh (Broken Rekids)

FM KNIVES:
Keith Levine/Valentine: 7"
In the pages of this very magazine, the FM Knives claimed that they sound nothing like the Buzzcocks, but I’m here to tell you that they were lying. I’m gonna go so far as to say that they’re trying to sound like the Buzzcocks, because there’s no other way for them to pick up Pete Shelley’s British accent growing up in Sacramento. Still, that doesn’t stop the FM Knives from taking their influences and making something fresh and new. And, no matter how you look at it, the FM Knives are fucking awesome and this two-song forty-five is worth every last penny. –Sean Carswell (Dirtnap)

FOAMERS, THE:
Six Pints None the Wiser: CD
I can’t stand this kind of music. Totally tame pop punk so watered down you can play it around your parents. But they do put some substance in their lyrics, and that’s more than a good chunk of bands do anymore. But still... –Matt Average (Tent City)

FOAMERS, THE:
Self-titled: CD
An English punk band with a lot of the requisite flourishes and trappings one hears from many modern punk bands, but they somehow manage to make them seem less annoying. Even their forays into the otherwise taboo terrain of ska punk don’t seem to elicit the usual gag reflex that occurs. I’m impressed. Can’t believe this is coming out of my, err, fingers, but this is recommended. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pop off to take a shower now, ‘cause I’m feelin’ a wee bit dirty. –Jimmy Alvarado (Household Name)

FOLDED SHIRT:
Self-titled: EP
Tripped out and twisted up punk rock from another reality. Mix Mentally Ill with Chrome and early Sonic Youth and you’ll get Folded Shirt. Larry from the Darvocets fronts this group, so you know it’s not some typical garbage. Guitar strings are pulled in directions they were not meant to be, bass lines throb and pulse, and the drums sound a little hesitant, oddly enough. “Crazy Eyes” is the best track on here—with the backward running tracks—and the whole warped tone it gives, while “Go crazy eyes” is repeated over and over. When the acid turns bad and everyone else is having fun at your expense. Seems only Cleveland can produce bands as good as this. –Matt Average (Fashionable Idiots, tchardcorejouranl.com)

FOLSOM:
If You’re a Viper: CDEP
First thing as this blasts out of the speakers is the thought, “My dick is bigger than your dick!” The machismo is rampant on this one. Like a fight about to break out and the bravado is flying as two males take off their shirts ready for a full-on brawl. No lyric sheet shows that someone is not the most proud. On the bright side, the music is powerful. It delves into rap metal at times, but the metal/hardcore makes up for it. –Donofthedead (Spook City)

FOLSOM:
Self-titled: CD
This mixture of metal and hardcore is as serious as fuck. And that’s pretty fucking serious. Don’t joke about this shit. It’s well done and kicks all those emo CDs asses. Most of the songs are about being angry and hating people. How can you argue with that? It made me nod my head in a way that made me wish I had long hair to whip around. –Jason Donnerparty (Spook City)

FONTANA:
Self-titled: CD
Some bands sound like Black Flag, but Fontana picked the My War era to be inspired by. Hell yeah. Moody waves of dark, screechy guitar and strained vocals—speedy to slow—and then shove the song into reverse while going 100 mph. Real tight, real catchy, real damn good. I don’t mean a retread of the early ‘80s, dirt but a real exciting new band with that vibe and doesn’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Not to mention you can usually trust the taste of X! Records. The back has Pettibon-style drawings and tiny fucked up sentences. At first, I thought that was taking the Flag image too far. But then I realized it says, “You just see what you think, not what you see” over a drawing of a duck head. Hell yeah. –Speedway Randy (X!)

FOOD:
Self-titled: LP
Sludge. Stoner rock. Doom. Whatever it’s being called these days, it’s a tricky genre to pin down and appreciate for what it is. One thing you definitely need is patience. And you’re going to need to exercise patience to take in five songs in forty minutes. Some of the songs take an incredibly long time to take form and become interesting. I would hear parts that stuck to me but then would be let down with a build up that wouldn’t quite deliver. I did like the vocals, but there were times when I had to remind myself this wasn’t an instrumental album. I was hoping to be floored but I wasn’t. It’s too bad because the vinyl is super thick and the packaging is all made out of recycled materials. –Juan Espinosa (Molsook)

FOR DICK:
Epic Thunder Demo: CD-R
I don’t know if I’d be more stoked about this if I found out that there are four people in this band or only one. It’s sloppy, lazy, and bordering on noise—I’m almost sure that it’s intentionally such. Anyhow, there’re four songs. Two of ‘em are right under one minute; the others are about thirty seconds in duration. I’d let the band (or guy) have another three minutes of my life. –Vincent Battilana (Self-released, p.watt43@yahoo.com)

FOR FUCK SAKE:
Piss Drunk: CDEP
For Fuck Sake are crust punk superheroes. Tight (but not too tight) songs; big anthems dedicated to the failures of civilization and the glory of beer. I can get behind that. Their screaming female lead vocals, amazingly, work well (I say amazingly because I usually have a big problem with the screeching and screaming). When she sings, I can feel it in my own throat. I can’t imagine what she feels like at the end of a show. The combination of her lead vocals and the booming choruses works really well. Though I’ve never been a part of the spiked leather and bullet belt scene, I really got into this and would like to hear more. –Ty Stranglehold (myspace.com/forfucksakecrust )

FOR SCIENCE:
Revenge for Hire: CD
Perhaps The Ergs! have sprinkled the fine state of New Jersey with magical pop punk dust, covering the impressionable youth with a love of Screeching Weasel and 1980s melodic punk melodies. Could it be? It is! Yay! Yummy pop punk without sounding like The Queers Beat Off (the mistake of ninety-six percent of post-1998 pop punk bands, according to my statistics). Seventeen songs in twenty minutes and thirty-eight seconds! If this were a cereal, it’d be Frosted Cheerios, covered with the, um, sugar that is The Ergs! I can’t stop listening to this! –Maddy (Don Giovanni)

FOR SCIENCE:
Revenge for Hire: CD
I don’t know if it’s just because it’s summer, but I’ve been listening to a whole lot more pop punk lately, and For Science has been firmly cemented in my rotation. Nothing too heady, full of songs about girls, and totally gives me instant gratification of a personal dance party every time I press play. –Megan Pants (Don Giovanni)

FOR SCIENCE:
Way Out of Control: CD
Its Alive’s first CD release comes as a surprise because it isn’t your conventional pop punk fanfare. While poppy melodies and harmonies are commonplace, this band is hardly describable by that phrase: pop punk. Vocals are Bent Outta Shape-y and the music reminds me of the Zoinks. All the songs are catchy and delivered with a passion that is hardly matched by any other band these days. The only song that I could have done without is the slow, folksy “Just Pray.” No worries, though. That leaves seven other gems to keep me company. –Mr. Z (It’s Alive)

FOR SCIENCE:
Way Out of Control: CDEP
1) This is a serious contender for best EP of 2007. 2) Mikey Erg producing and on bass and Chris from Sinkhole on drums! 3) Has nothing to do with the last Clash album Cut the Crap, originally entitled Out of Control. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?! –Bryan Static (It’s Alive)

FOR SCIENCE:
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day: CD
I guess I’m just a fickle little lady. I know I liked their last album (Revenge for Hire), but I was in a happy, listening-to-pop-punk-all-the-time mood then. Lately, I just can’t handle all that much pop. This is a decent album, and it is a bit more aggressive than the earlier album, which I like. Maybe when summer comes around I’ll be eating these words, but I just can’t get into this right now. –Megan Pants (Insubordination)

FOR SCIENCE:
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day: CD
Rockin’ pop punk with slower, thoughtful moments. The vocals are what really sell me, though; they have an air of desperation mixed with tones of bitter humor. There are some really good two-part harmonies tossed in as well, and the vocal package works really well with the music. There is an overall air of melancholy to the record that provides a juicy bit of irony to the music, sort of like mixing blood and milk. This rocked me a whole lot more than I expected it would when I first put it on. –The Lord Kveldulfr (Insubordination)

FOR SCIENCE:
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day: LP
For Science conjures the same feeling as the first time I heard bands like Brown Lobster Tank or the Bollweevils or Sinkhole (or really any of the classic Dr. Strange or Mutant Pop records) after gorging myself on a steady diet of Lookout! releases—the realization that maybe pop punk isn’t just for young’uns and that it can be a vehicle for heartbreak and introspection as well as fun and silliness. I recognize that this notion is pretty commonplace now, but For Science hearkens an era when this sound was fresh and exciting and consequently find themselves atop a massive heap of incredibly creative new pop punk bands. Coming so quickly after their killer Way Out of Control EP, Tomorrow’s Just another Day is another giant leap forward for a band that just gets better and better. The absence of Mikey Erg and Chris Pierce (Sinkhole/Doc Hopper) seems to have brought this band even further into its own and has made for a painful-yet-hopeful, near-perfect record. Arguably my favorite release of 2007. –Dave Williams –Guest Contributor (Don Giovanni)

FOR THE WORSE:
Couldn’t Give Two Shits about the Kids: LP
Pretty brutal East coast hardcore fronted by Mr. Mike McCarthy (A Poor Excuse). Mike’s a bit of a legend in New England. There’s a picture of him on jumping off a balcony into a pit, he’s trained as a wrestler, and he tends to leave his shows bleeding. He’s one hell of a front man, so I was happy to see him doing something again. Some days, I really miss this kind of stuff—Fast, short, angry, and frenzied as all hell. And throwing a Symarip sample and a Bruisers cover on there never hurts either. –Megan Pants (Even Worse/ Kangaroo)

FOR THE WORSE:
Non Compos Mentis Vol. 1: 7”
Pissed off, fast ‘n tight hardcore culled from two radio sessions from 2004. Dunno much about these guys, but they make a nice racket. –Jimmy Alvarado (FNS)

FOR THE WORSE:
Blood, Guts, Going Nuts: CD
I guess it’s just a bad time for me ’n’ singers, ’cause I was totally into the thrashin’ these guys were putting down, but the minute the singer came on sounding as annoying as early Cro-Mags, I was off on another tangent and by the time track five came around, wherein said singer starts screaming about taking a shit, my attention was wholly focused on the contemplation of my shoelaces. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.bridge9.com)

FOR THE WORSE:
The Chaos Continues: 7"
I’d sort of pigeon holed old Bridge 9 as a different sort of label. A label that wouldn’t put out something this spastic. Eleven songs on one 7”. Fast, fucked up, with a touch of Negative Approach, and from the looks of the live photos I’ve seen of them, a singer who knows how to tear down a stage. Apparently he was in pro wrestling for awhile. I don’t really follow the “sport,” so I’m not too familiar. Not too shabby. –Steveo (Bridge 9)

FOR THE WORSE:
Blood, Guts, Going Nuts: CD
My buddy Mac posed for the cover of this disc, and it’s quite a sight. He’s a chainsaw-wielding skinhead with a cross scarred into his forehead. This particular picture has him covered with blood, which is really his look. He and I have spent many a night wandering by the waterfront looking for romantic couples to chase around and mutilate. Ahhh, the good times. This thrashy nonsense is a decent soundtrack for those sorts of nights, but the dudes lose about a million originality points for opening with that tired sound bite from Dracula: “Listen to them… Children of the night. What music they make.” Ha. You’re tellin’ me, buddy. – Tarantula Ted (translated by MP Johnson) –MP Johnson (Bridge 9)

FOR THE WORSE:
Couldn’t Give Two Shits About the Kids: CD
As I write this, the various Cthulhu-like arms of the Great American Media Conglomerate Monster are tripping over each other with the happy “news” that this day is the 40^thanniversary of a certain mop-topped British muzak quartet performing on the Ed Sullivan Show. Being the keen sensor that I am, I detect that this warmed-over bit of nostalgic flotsam is dressed up as “news” in the hopes that sheep people cradled in the arms of the Media Monster will feel compelled – by some dim, flickering pang of sentimentality and/or a need to keep-up-with-the-Jonestowners – to rush out to the nearest Superstore and max out their credit cards on the mind-numbing array of products carrying this particular band’s brand name. Just a guess. I, for one, am not all a-titter over this marketing ploy disguised as news. Through the years, the constant barrage of pro-mop-top muzak/propaganda has forced me to detest everything they’ve become and most of what they stood for and to become so callous that I have been known to take a malicious, if juvenile, delight in the Meatmen’s anti-mop-top song “One Down, Three to Go.” (By the way, has Tesco changed it to “Two Down...” now?) In fact, to celebrate my profound disinterest in this happy day and that painfully played-out band, I will shut off my TV and radio and will steer clear of any “news” papers and will, instead, put For the Worse into my CD player over and over again. I will wallow in the pig-licious vocals that are a cross between Blaine from the Accused and Sam Kinison. I will drink heartily of the bloody lowbrow pro-rassler lyrics and toothless hate spew. And I will happily let the meat-stomping street punk crunch of the music render any remaining mop-top vestiges in my brain into an easily-flushable intestinal soup like the one in the toilet bowl on the cover of this disc. –Aphid Peewit (Rodent Popsicle)

FOR THE WORSE:
Couldn’t Give Two Shits About the Kids: CD
Post-Negative Approach hardcore not unlike bands like Out Cold, although these guys seem more fixated on wrestling than the aforementioned band and are more reminiscent of a non-metal Crumbsuckers than Negative Approach. –Jimmy Alvarado (Rodent Popsicle)

FOR THE WORSE / THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT HEROES:
Split: 7” EP
Dunno if this is the same For The Worse I’ve reviewed prior, and for some reason I’m inclined to think it is, but if so, the original here sounds like they’ve been overdosing on early Cro-Mags, right down to the Harley on helium vocals. The Bruisers cover is the better of the two tracks here. Wednesday Night Heroes: Original tune is a decent enough bit of oi-inflected stuff. Their cover is one more in a million stabs at “Civilization’s Dying.” Considering how dated the references in said cover are now, I’m amazed that it remains the go-to tune to play from the Zero Boys, a band with no shortage of bona fide classics in their catalog. How’s about we retire this tune and pound something like “Drug Free Youth” or “Hightime” into the ground for a while? Just a suggestion. –Jimmy Alvarado (patacrecords.com)

FORBIDDEN DIMENSION:
A Cool Sound Outta Hell: LP
It’s been a long ten years since this band shambled into a studio to lay the evil down. I had pretty much given up all hope of seeing these old corpses reanimate for another go. I’m shocked, horrified, and can’t wipe the smile off of my face to save my life! In case there are a couple of you out there who aren’t aware of the mighty Forbidden Dimension, I’ll give you the briefest of summaries. They are the best horror rock band there is. PERIOD! So does this slab of blood red vinyl match up to the legendary output of yore? Does an angry mob chase monsters with torches? Of course it does! It has everything that is necessary for an FD record. Catchy riffs, primal beats, macabre lyrics, and creepy TOMB artwork. It’s all here kids, so hunt it down and slap it on for your next ritualistic blood orgy. –Ty Stranglehold (Saved By Vinyl, www.savedbyvinyl.com)

FORCA MACABRA:
Nos Tumulos Abertos: CD

Finnish thrash men pay homage to their love of Brazilian HC. The song writing style and lyrics in Brazilian Portuguese. That is a great accomplishment since the Finnish language and Portuguese are very different. I have a friend that I trade with in Finland. He is the one who sent this to me, and he informs me that bands from Brazil play Finland more than they play the US because of its popularity there. Amazing. By looking at the insert, this recording includes demos from 1991-1993 and tracks from a 12" put out in 1994. The music is controlled mayhem. The recordings are thin at points but do not take away from the power. It has that early to mid-'80s international sound. The vocals are screamed with urgency and the music washes about, following behind. This may not be the first release I would recommend to someone new to this band, but the others that I own are ass kickers to the tenth degree.

–Donofthedead (Angry)

FORCED FAILURE:
Self-titled: CD-R
When one thinks of Arcata (in Humboldt County), California, visions of hairy people, the pungent stench of patchouli, and blurry memories of quality buds come to mind, rather than punk rock. True, it was once home to Brew ‘n’ Beats, a fairly nice bar with a fairly eclectic booking policy, but the thought of a scene of thrash-happy kids taking root there was kinda remote, although apparently that was an incorrect assumption. To wit: this disc, a demo from a bonafide hardcore punk band from Arcata, was passed on to my courtesy of East L.A. punk legend Morgan Hunt, who while living down here in the early ‘80s, did time as a writer for Ink Disease as well as putting out his own zine, Multiplication of the Typical Joe, and as singer/guitarist for the sorely missed A.D. Do. He seems to have kept up with his old days as a rambunctious punker and has now added drums to his repertoire of instruments played. True to form, this is steeped in enough ‘80s influence to look (check the Agression-esque skull skater on the cover) and sound (is that some early Die Kreuzen quirkiness I hear in there?) familiar, but not so much that it sounds like some fawning rehash circle jerk. The beats are kept mostly at a driving pace and the band smashes along with enough conviction to keep things interesting. In all, it’s a fine debut and, hopefully, a good indicator of even finer things to come. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.myspace.com/forcedfailure)

FORCED MARCH:
Take Immediate Action: CD
So my buddy Jeff and I have had this running joke for years now. I was listening to some Bad Religion album or another and, you know, digging it, right? I’ll confess, sure. But Jeff hated ‘em, still does. His argument’s strictly remained the same over the years: “All their songs sound exactly the same.” And so has my response: “Yeah, but it’s a good song, dude.” That said, I’ve heard people refer to these guys as similar to Infest or bands of that ilk—and I guess I could go with that; there’s a decent amount of slow/fast thrash parts, and the guy bellows his way relentlessly through these thirteen songs. But as someone who admittedly digs Bad Religion much more than he’ll probably ever dig Infest, I’ll have to pull a Jeff on this one. It all just sounds the same to me. In one ear and out the other, you know? The fury’s there, all the checklisted topics are tackled, the solos are in the right place. But there’s the sinking feeling that I’ve heard it before and wasn’t that floored the first time around. So take it for what it is—if you’re looking for some dark, brooding hardcore with a minor dash of metallic noodling tossed in there, you’ll be loving this. I mean, I don’t want to bag on these guys too hard, it’s just that I’d rather pull out No Control or Suffer—that’s the kind of repetition that works for me –Keith Rosson (Forced March)

FORCED MARCH:
Wasted Existence: 7”
They seem to have changed gears just a bit since their full-length—as in, they’ve tempered that ceaseless go-straight-for-the-throat approach with some pretty rockin’, almost tuneful, moments here. The full-length eventually wore on me because of that relentlessness (it kind of felt like I was just hearing the same song over again), but these four songs have some mean breakdowns and, dare I say, catchy choruses, and I can actually tell the difference between songs. The vocals are still consistently gruff, but there are some nice backing vocals on the title track and, as a whole, they’ve remained tough as hell but are managing to find ways to expand on that oft-used Infest/hardcore template. Really nice work, guys: not a bad record at all. –Keith Rosson (Forced March)

FORCED REALITY:
Unreleased and Under the Boot: CD
Musically, they run along post-Skrewdriver skinhead lines, and while lyrically they don’t seem to share that band’s political views on racial harmony, what they do have to say ain’t exactly brimming with wit or originality, tending to run along the hackneyed lines of drinking, fighting and crime. –Jimmy Alvarado (Thorp)

FORECAST, THE:
Proof of Impact: CD
I'm probably just jaded, but this sounds too much like Piebald in both music and vocals. It's not that The Forecast's music is badly done or anything of the sort; I've just heard this particular style before and realized that this flavor of emo is something like mint chocolate chip ice cream - some people really love it, but my tastes run more to strawberry or white chocolate raspberry. –Puckett (Thinker Thought)

FORECAST, THE:
Proof of Impact: CD
I’m probably just jaded, but this sounds too much like Piebald in both music and vocals. It’s not that The Forecast’s music is badly done or anything of the sort; I’ve just heard this particular style before and realized that this flavor of emo is something like mint chocolate chip ice cream – some people really love it, but my tastes run more to strawberry or white chocolate raspberry. –Puckett (Thinker Thought)

FOREIGN CINEMA:
Non-Synchronous Sound: CDEP
This debut recording from a trio out of San Francisco reminds me of ambient dark wave off Projekt Records. The first and last tracks offer a chilled-out tempo, taking cues from Massive Attack and Brian Eno with dreamy guitar melodies. “At the Bottom of the Deep Blue Sea” and a Depeche Mode cover of “Ice Machine” sound more like early Slowdive with wintery, ethereal vocals and sparse guitars. Audibly, Foreign Cinema fell short of their goal with synchronous, moody melody. Choosing to go analog on their debut makes me think they have more up their collective sleeve. Let’s hope so. –Kristen K (Parallax Sounds, parallaxsounds.com)

FOREIGN LEGION:
Punk Rock Jukebox: 7" EP
"Where’s Johnny Gone" is kinda lackluster. There seems to be an attempt going on at a Cocksparrer/Undertones sound, but the song just ain’t as catchy as those bands worst work. The same pretty much goes for the rest of the tracks. No big whoop here. –Jimmy Alvarado (DSS, PO Box 739, 4021 Linz, Austria)

FOREIGN OBJECTS:
Self Titled: 7”
Well, this one’s a ferocious little buzzsaw, isn’t it? Cursing in an alley with the Tyrades, renting the shitty warehouse on one side and the Bayonettes’ fucked-up van broken down on the other, there’s Foreign Objects. They give us three nice snotrockets that land somewhere in that nefarious world that rests between garage and punk. Thankfully, with plenty of attitude to spare. Three songs in a smidge over five minutes, firecracker-smart lyrics, and a recording by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air. The only thing not to like is how quickly it’s over with. Nice attack for sure, and worth picking up. –Keith Rosson (Shock To The System)

FORENSICS:
Green Lions: 7”
Isn’t it against the rules to put an instrumental song on the A-side? My bet is it’s also not smart to have the B-side be so much better than the A-side. Not bad, maybe a little less organ and then you’ll be going somewhere—specifically somewhere that doesn’t have really lame organ lines. –Bryan Static (Timberline)

FOREVER:
Self-titled: CDEP
This is an alt-country EP. It starts out slow with the song “Oh Distant Heart,” but things speed up by the fourth and fifth tracks. “Who?s Haunting Me?” (note: the question marks are intentional) is my personal favorite song for its pounding drums and catchy chorus. If you’re into girl-fronted indie scenester music à la The Vivian Girls, then you’ll probably like this. –N.L. Dewart (HHBTM)

FOREVER NIGHT:
Playing Dead: CD-R
Don’t play dead. Just get it over with and die already. –Dave Disorder (Self-released, playingdead138netscape.net)

FORFEIT THE DAY: Demo: CD-R:
Demo: CD-R
Speed metal that’s comparable to, um, other speed metal bands, I guess. Not exactly what I would call my area of expertise. I’ve got nothing but sympathy for the singer, who sounds like he’s pretty constipated. I’ve been there, dude, I feel for you. –Not Josh –Guest Contributor (kosfsh@yahoo.com)

FORGE:
Bring on the Apocalypse: CD
Helmet meets Ignite. –Donofthedead (Static)

FORGOTTEN, THE:
Keep the Corpses Quiet: CD
Street punk/oi in sound, but the lyrics are considerably more substantive than what seems to be flying under that banner these days. The songs are swift, to the point, and catchy. Not bad at all. –Jimmy Alvarado (TKO, 4104 24th Street #103, San Francisco, CA 94114)

FORGOTTEN, THE:
Out of Print: CD
This is a handy compilation of (you guessed it) out-of-print songs by a band that sounds a lot like Rancid, probably tours with Rancid, and maybe even masturbates while thinking about how great Rancid is. If you need to own everything by every band that sounds like Rancid, this is right up your alley. -Not Josh –Staff (BYO)

FORGOTTEN, THE:
Self Titled: CD
Over the years, the only songs by The Forgotten that I’ve heard were ones on compilations. I always thought that they were pretty cool. Well, on my first foray into a full length record by them, this is the scenario that played out in my head: The Forgotten are in the studio laying down the tracks for this record. A call comes through and is patched through to the band. It is a lawyer representing Rancid, calling to let them know that they are treading on thin ice… Now, this is all fine and good, but then I started to read the liner notes. Wait a minute… THE CALL IS COMING FROM BEHIND THE MIXING BOARD!!!! GET OUT!!! GET OUT!!!! Yep, Lars Frederikson produced this baby and you can sure tell. This is the part where the review gets split. It’s a really, really good Rancid record. Better than said band has put out, well ever… The problem is that I don’t think it’s as good as The Forgotten are capable of, at least judging by the comp tracks I know them for. –Ty Stranglehold (TKO)

FORK KNIFE SPOON:
Black Stork Attack: 7"
The very best thing about this record is the title. Otherwise, there's four songs, mathy metal, lyric sheet with annotations pointing out the cliches, and a crappy metal logo. –Cuss Baxter (Born To Die)

FORK KNIFE SPOON:
Black Stork Attack: 7"
The very best thing about this record is the title. Otherwise, there’s four songs, mathy metal, lyric sheet with annotations pointing out the cliches, and a crappy metal logo. –Cuss Baxter (Born To Die)

FORMALDEHYDE JUNKIES:
Self-titled: tape
The return address on this envelope said, “Andy Peterson’s Arme.” Come on, that’s pretty fucking rad! As for the music, uh… I can’t really hear it. It sounds like it might be good, abrasive, skateable, early ‘80s hardcore if they record it better. I mean, I don’t usually bag on production values, but holy shit, the bass drum sounds like a pan of Jiffy Pop and it’s louder than all the other instruments combined. It sounds worse than the Mummies stuff where they just set down a tape recorder in the middle of their practice space. But in the picture, one of them is wearing a Jerry’s Kids shirt, so you’ve got to give them credit for that. –Josh (Formaldehyde Junkies)

FORMALDYHYDE JUNKIES:
Self-titled: 7”
These guys are probably sick of hearing ‘80s hardcore band comparisons (so I’ll spare naming names), but it’s definitely there. It’s mostly in the energy itself more than the sound. So damn energetic, so damn good. I was lucky enough (thanks to my friend Justin waking me up and driving for five hours) to see them play with the Fuck Yeahs in the basement of the Alamo House in Minneapolis over my spring break, and they were nothing shy of amazing. –Megan Pants (Fashionable Idiots)

FORMER CELL MATES:
Hustle: CD
Loud rock from England with strained vocals and a southern rock feel to it. That’s all. –Josh (Newest Industry)

FORNICATORS:
Brat and Punk Division: 7”
I guess when English isn’t your first language, you don’t quite realize what a silly name “Fornicators” is. I guess it also doesn’t matter, because these Swedish fuckers rock through three and a half cool street punk songs with attitude like the Stiff Little Fingers and tight melodies like Bombshell Rocks. They also have a half of a song that’s a ballad, but we’ll have to look beyond that. This is their first seven inch, and I have to think that they’ll learn to do better and turn into a pretty solid band. –Sean Carswell (Fornicators)

FORTY MARSHAS:
Self-titled: CD
Appears to be some big rock dude collaboration project, with a bunch of people (ranging from member of Death By Stereo to the Goo Goo Dolls), and a bunch of sounds (ranging from really long, drawn-out ambient noise, to metal). It’s not bad and has its moments, it’s just kinda weird for me to be able to sit down and enjoy it in one sitting. –Joe Evans III (Beatville)

FORWARD:
Just Go Forward to Death: CD
Japanese hardcore that stays in the mid-tempo range more often than not. For some strange reason, they remind me of Oi Polloi in sound. –Jimmy Alvarado (HG Fact, 401 Hongo-M, 2-36-2 Yayoi-Cho, Nakano-Ku, Tokyo 164-0013 Japan)

FORWARD:
We Need the Truth: CD EP
Punishing mid-tempo hardcore from this Japanese outfit. Kinda makes you wonder about the accuracy of their reputation for being a quiet and polite society, 'cause their punk bands never fail in delivering that solid kick to the head when you least expect it. In short, damn good noise here, kiddies. –Jimmy Alvarado (HG Fact, 105 Nakano Shinbashi-M, 2-7-15 Yayoi-Cho, Nakano, Tokyo, 164-0013, Japan )

FORWARD:
We Need the Truth: CDEP
Punishing mid-tempo hardcore from this Japanese outfit. Kinda makes you wonder about the accuracy of their reputation for being a quiet and polite society, 'cause their punk bands never fail in delivering that solid kick to the head when you least expect it. In short, damn good noise here, kiddies. –Jimmy Alvarado (HG Fact)

FORWARD:
We Need The Truth: CDEP
If you have followed my reviews through the time I have been with Flipside and now with Razorcake, I am very biased towards Japanese punk. I absolutely love it. I set it on a pedestal and worship it like it was the best shit I ever took. You know the type. The bowl filler that took the least amount of effort to expel. Not sloppy and takes the minimum amount of wiping to make yourself ready for the day. There I go again talking shit again. Here is a four song blast from the mighty Forward from Japan. They play a sort of sloppy old school style of punk that has no intentions of sounding professional. Fun is had by all by not being too serious but play to keep the energy alive. Some now may say that it sounds street punk while others would say old school. I would say the old school vein. One thing I need to do is learn more Japanese to be able to understand the songs. Japanese does not always translate well into English. –Donofthedead (HG Fact)

FOUND DEAD IN TRUNK:
Ugly Very Ugly: CD-R
This six-song demo is no frills, mid-tempo punk with a low budget recording. Slower, sloppier Circle Jerks or Strychnine sound. They do a cover of Black Flag’s “Wasted.” –Guest Contributor (Self-released)

FOUND DEAD IN TRUNK:
Kerosene Cocktail: CD-R
For some reason, Found Dead In Trunk’s name conjured for me thoughts of Deadguy and Buzzoven. I don’t know why and I know much better than to make such assumptions going into a record because I’m rarely right when I do. That said, Found Dead In Trunk are no-frills rock’n’roll, sometimes bordering on hardcore, with a slightly jangly garage sound and lack of production value running throughout. Sometimes when I listen to this record that’s a bit disconcerting, as if I really want F.D.I.T. to decide once and for all what sound they want to go with and get on with it. But since I screwed the pooch on the initial pre-aural assessment, I should know better than to put expectations such as that on this. In the end, this is low-fi and sloppy, which I like lots. I’d love to see these guys playing in a basement. –The Lord Kveldulfr (F.D.I.T.kgrave2000@hotmail.com)

FOUNDATION:
Self-titled: 7”
I’d never heard of Eightfold Path Records prior to hearing this record, but it seems to me that they’re picking up where Equal Vision left off in their early Shelter/108/Prema days, featuring plenty of thought-provoking hardcore bands with borderline “spiritual” undertones. Atlanta’s Foundation also picks up right where bands like Trial and Outspoken stopped, delivering that heavy-yet-emotional brand of hardcore that dominated the mid-to-late ‘90s. Fast, heavy and breakdown-laden yet without even a hint of brutish posturing with lots of those great talking-to-yelling vocal buildups that completely characterized the subgenre they so obviously worship. I thought I’d grown way past getting into new bands of this particular persuasion, but Foundation has officially proven me wrong. Straight edge hardcore, who knew? –Dave Williams –Guest Contributor (Eightfold Path, www.eightfoldpathrecords.com)

FOUNDATION:
Homecoming: 7"

I didn't know what, exactly, to think of when Rob of Ann Berretta wrote some acoustic, folky songs and had Alison Mosshart (formerly of Discount, now half of The Kills) sing on a track. I'll probably get my ass beat by my special lady friend, but I like it in a "I'll listen to it when I'm really sad and lonely" type of way. It's poignant and seems honest like a lot of modern porch punk – like Rumbleseat, pre-electric Against Me!, and the slower song section of This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb. Allison sure can sing. That said, I know it's supposed to be folky, but even by comparison, the Kingston Trio could be considered thrash next to this. It's almost too sleepy, too sedate. But it sure is pretty.

–Todd Taylor (1-2-3-4 Go!)

FOUNDATION:
Self-titled: CDR
Rare has been the occasion when a CD hits the bottom of a trashcan as fast as this one did. Neo-hippie shit with non-fuzzed guitars, a song named after a Cocteau Twins EP and a Tom Waits cover, dressed up in packaging that gives the impression that they’re either straight edge hardcore (which ain’t much better) or noise metal. –Jimmy Alvarado (Ann Beretta)

FOUR:
Discography: CD
Pop punk as it was done back in the day. Every song sounds like a cranked-up cover of a particularly snotty Grimple or Screeching Weasel song; as I listen to them, all I really hear is Ben Weasel screaming. This takes me back to the early 1990s, cops shutting down house parties, bar shows that only lasted until the bar owner started screaming at the band to get out… in 1991, this probably would have been on Allied and I would have been in love. As it is, it’s a nice reminder of cramming fifty people into a show space built for twenty and then fitting a band into the room to play fifteen songs in ten minutes. Sometimes, nostalgia ain’t so bad. –Puckett (Paco Garden)

FOUR DEADLY QUESTIONS:
Self-titled: 7”
I can’t say enough good things about Dick Army. Yeah, maybe they were just a cheap, goofy Black Flag knockoff, but damnit, they had that underdog charm and you’ve just gotta love that. Matt from Dick Army started this band, and to say that I was looking forward to it would be a huge understatement. It lived up to my expectations. Where Dick Army mostly played simple, sloppy three-chord punk, Four Deadly Questions sound a lot more original and hard-to-pin-down. It’s still fun and scrappy, to be sure, and it’s not like they turned into Hawkwind or anything, but the choppy rhythms and female backups make this stand out a whole lot. Me likey. –Josh (Geykido Comet)

FOUR DEADLY QUESTIONS/ANSWER LIES, THE:
Split: CD
Four Deadly Questions: already amongst the handful of my favorite New York City punk bands (well, I mean, there are a lot of punk bands there). I almost want to say they sound like if Toys That Kill were both angrier and weirder. The Answer Lies: I’d been meaning to check them out as it is, so I was happy when I realized they were the other half of this split. I was also happy to hear the thrashy, straight up punk rock that is their half. I pronounce this split a “W”, for winner. –Joe Evans III (GC)

FOUR DEADLY QUESTIONS/THE ANSWER LIES:
Split: CD
Four Deadly Questions: Trashy punk with lo-fi vocals that doesn’t cling to none of the now-annoying ‘60s clichés. It’s loud and raw in all the ways it should be. Felt kinda cool ‘cause I didn’t need any Feckweed to figure out where the title of the first song came from. The Answer Lies: Great hardcore that may not be as fast as some, but manages to sound just spastic enough to get the blood pumpin’. –Jimmy Alvarado (Geykido Comet)

FOUR EASY PIECES:
Birth of the Uncool: CD
Two things: 1) their press stuff says they are influenced by Johnny Thunders, The Kinks, and all the other usual suspects, but their output is more ass-kick than rehash; 2) I think the album title, while obviously a piss-take on Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, is a bit of a misnomer, as the shit their peddlin’ is plenty cool. High-octane punk rock that doesn’t sound like yet another Thunders tribute band is what you get here, and they can easily rock with the best of ‘em. –Jimmy Alvarado (Last Shot)

FOUR EYES, THE:
Sweet Sounds: CD
What a bunch of fucking nerds. No, really. Nerdpunk from Sacramento. It fits in pretty well next to all those other Sacramento bands that you’ve never heard of because they never leave Sacramento, like the Bananas and No Kill I. As a whole, Rock and Role Playing is a more solid album, but this one’s got a song about Robocop, which automatically makes it worth your time. Is it really so much to ask that they go on tour with Bloodhag? –Josh (Plan-It-X)

FOUR EYES, THE:
Five Songs (About Video Games and One about Something Else): CD
Video games, ugh. MMORPG’s, double ugh. And, while i recognize the Four Eyes as the American Institution that they are, Geek-Squad-ifying the Dead Milkmen and/or Kung Fu Monkeying Weezer is not the type of activity that spurs me to rip tunage to my Xbox 360 overmuch. Comes with an entire live album as a bonus track, which actually puts the value of MMORPG-based love songs in perspective when weighed against the slings and arrows of predictably ironic faux-arena rock. I continue to attempt to keep this record’s existence hidden from World of Warcraft players, simply to deny them pleasure. Schaudenfreude kicks ass! BEST SONG: “Group With You” BEST SONG TITLE: “Balrog Bop” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I have had the dubious pleasure of creating not one but two Neverwinter Nights ((see track 6)) mods in my life; one involved a city full of nothing but prostitutes and plague victims, the other was a loose interpretation of “West Side Story,” with orcs and mummies, but i put too many giant beetles in the level and i would always get killed before i could go talk to the orc girl and win her heart. –Rev. Norb (Thrillhouse)

FOUR EYES, THE:
Rock & Role Playing: CD
Super-nerd, super-pop from Sacramento’s The Four Eyes. Topics ranging from winning spelling bees and becoming king of the nerds to Deathrace 2000. It’s all in good fun, and pulled together really well – playing for eleven years will do that, I’ve heard. I’m getting the impression that they’re an acquired taste, but one I apparently have because I love it. –Megan Pants (Plastic Idol)

FOUR EYES, THE:
Secret Center Sessions Volume 3: 2x CDR
Here’s a reissued collection of various previous “SecretCenter” sessions, where this long-running Sacramento nerd-core band takes a break from writing songs about D&D and trying to woo Ms. Pac Man, and screws around with various covers. For the unfamiliar, they’re kind of like if the Bananas (especially since these are fairly lo-fi recordings, with a lot of biting trebly guitar sound that only helps it sound great) were a little more Chuck Berry style rock’n’roll, dare I say, even a little soulful at times (however, there’s a whole bunch of different songs in here, and they manage to pretty much tap in and nail it every time, even when they’re goofing on them—or are they?). I’ll say this much; I was in such a bad mood that I was literally punching the ground in frustration that my hand hurt, and then put this on, and started cracking up out of enjoyment, thinking “This rules.” Also, I feel compelled to point out that I’m pretty sure this was a thank you gift for explaining Pokémon to one of these guys via a message board. Who’s the nerd now? Oh, right… –Joe Evans III (Self-released)

FOUR HUNDRED, THE:
Self-titled: CD
This band broke up just after they got the CD to the manufacturer. Big whammy. Shit, this reminds me of something. Something dream-poppy, droney and it's driving me crazy that I cannot remember. The occasional My Bloody Valentine/Yo La Tengo influence seeps through. The vocals aren't all that swell. The keyboards are a tad overpowering compared to the rest of the instruments, and the recording is nice, yet a little overly echoey. The songs are way, way too long for what they are. And too many things are layered over one another - not making a pleasant noise, but a chaotic, sloppy one. Bah. –Miss Sarah A. Stierc (Anechoic, 22-55 Crescent St. #00, Long Island City, NY 11105; http://www.anechoicrecordings.com )

FOUR LETTER WORD:
Like Moths to a Flame: CD
There’s a Suburban Voice compilation that has something like thirty-one straight-ahead hardcore songs and one Four Letter Word song. It’s unmistakable when the Four Letter Word song comes on. You can understand every word Welly sings in the beginning. And, yeah, he sings, and pretty well, which I guess would be your first hint that we’re moving out of straight-ahead hardcore. So you’d think that Four Letter Word would stand out like shit in a punch bowl on that comp, but they don’t. There’s such a hardcore attitude to their songs that it transcends narrow genres. And that’s the best way to view Four Letter Word: a hardcore heart wrapped up in the skin of mid-tempo, melodic songs with strong vocals. Like Moths to a Flame is their latest offering. The lyrics are political, very left-leaning and a throwback to Not So Quiet on the Western Front-era punk. The songs make you want to sing along. For those of us who miss bands like Los Olvidados and The Effigies, we could do worse than this new Four Letter Word album. Frankie Stubbs recorded it, too, so you know it sounds good. –Sean Carswell (Newest Industry)

FOUR LETTER WORD:
Crimewave!: 7” EP
There are a lot of settings on Four Letter Word’s amps. The title track carries through with a spy surf guitar that could have been lifted from JFA or Hawaii Five-O. “Turning the Screw” – clean, jumpy, and snotty – is reminiscent of late ‘90s pop punk along the lines of NRA. “Friends in High Places” is a straight-ahead hardcore scorcher that bares its teeth and looks at the Effigies right in the eyes. “Johnny Foreigner” has more than a couple intersecting points to a mid-tempo Anti-Flag song. It’s all held together by explicit left-wing politics and the artwork nods to other inspirations, like the Posh Boy-inspired crest of the record label. It’s listenable, enjoyable, and well crafted. –Todd Taylor (Newest Industry, $7 ppd./world)

FOUR LETTER WORDS / PEELANDER:
Split: cherry-red vinyl 7"
Four Letter Words: snotty punkrock belligerence at its most devastating - an audial megaton explosion as fast, furious, and blistering as a million hydrogen bomb detonations! Peelander: sloppy, straight-forward, and mad as hell. Japan's aggravated answer to Fear, Flipper, and the Dicks! Yep, this ballsy 7-inch ear-scorcher had me repeatedly slammin' my head into the wall with gleeful maddog fervor. Damn, I'm dazed! –Roger Moser Jr. (Geykido Comet, PO Box 3743, Laguna Hills, CA 92654; www.gcrecords.com or Four Letter Words, PO Box 6224, Anaheim, CA 92816 or Peelander at http://www.peelander-z.com)

FOUR LETTER WORDS/ PEELANDER:
Split: 7"
FLW: Snotty pop punk that started off well enough, but got annoying quick. Peelander: They were better, but not by much. Both bands do get A's for good song titles. –Jimmy Alvarado (Geykido Comet, PO Box 3743, Laguna Hills, CA 92654)

FOUR LETTER WORDS/PEELANDER:
Split: 7"EP
FLW: Snotty pop punk that started off well enough, but got annoying quick. Peelander: They were better, but not by much. Both bands do get A's for good song titles. –Jimmy Alvarado (Geykido Comet)

FOUR SLICKS:
In Bonneville: LP
Jon Von from the Rip Offs and his French bandmates toss out a steady stream of beer cans of nitromethane-fueled gems out the window of their touring Ford Falcon wagon. Think the Rip Offs meet Grease in a back-alley knife fight. It’s right. –Jessica Thiringer (Slick)

FOUR SLICKS, THE:
’56 Jewel: 7” EP
Four amped-up ravers that rely heavily on the patented twelve-bar blues pattern. Luckily, they use it to good effect. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.rapidpulserecords.com)

FOUR SLICKS, THE:
Bye Bye Bye: 7"
I love Jon Von. Jon Von can do no wrong. However, he is kinda testing my patience with the front cover—it’s not so much the skull & Crescent™ wrench crossbones that looks kinda like tattoo parlor flash, but it’s the lettering of “THE FOUR SLICKS” and the song titles that’s gettin’ to me. I mean, Jon Von is the Supreme Font Dude (as evidence, i present the following anecdote: After the Rip Offs show in Green Bay, we were all standing around, and i noticed Jon looking at my E=mc2 tattoo. Without really thinking about it, i turned to him and said “forty point Megaron Bold Extended,” which is, in fact, the font and point size my tattoo is in. Without so much as a second’s pause, Jon goes “not the equals sign”—and he was correct: Before i got inked, i decided that the two bars of the equals sign were too far apart for my liking, so i manually moved them closer together before having them permanently inscribed on my shoulder. Jon Von noticed the alteration. Now THAT is a Supreme Font Dude!) Anyway, the lettering on this record is in what i call “Tattoo Regular”—a sort of embarrassingly pseudo-ornate hand-lettered font that basically one only sees things like “MOTHER” written in, and, i might add, pretty much my least favorite font (or, more correctly, “pseudo-font”) of all time (its only real competition being that which i call “Tattoo Inline Filled”—the same lettering, but they make the vertical parts of the letters wider so they can fill them in in red or some god damn thing). I mean, i can’t STAND looking at shit lettered like that. IF YOU’RE GONNA GET WORDS TATTOOED ON YOU, GET IT DONE IN A REAL FONT, GOD DAMMIT!!! However, i’ll let Jon’s band get away with this aesthetic horror just because i’m sure it’s all part of some post-adolescent font rebellion on his part, and, therefore, healthy. As to the music itself, i like that they’re playing everything at the fastest tempo they possibly can, i like how it feels all stiff and haranguing, i like how the songs seem to boil down to exercises in playing suspended chords as quickly as possible, and i like the fact that, although the Devil Dogs (or, for that matter, the Rip Offs) it ain’t, it actually is exactly good enough to be completely successful for what it is: Rippin’ fast party garage rock. Play it loud, but don’t ever let me get so drunk that i get any part of their iconography tattooed on my person. BEST SONG: “Bad Girl” BEST SONG TITLE: “Lulabelle” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: The Fantastic Amazing Trivia Fact was covered with the forty point Megaron Extra Bold Extended story. –Rev. Norb (Savage)

FOUR SQUARE:
Three Chords.. One Capo: CD
Yawn... Stretch... Rub my eyes... This R.E.M., indie band almost put me to sleep. –Donofthedead (Bad Taste)

FOUR STAR ALARM:
Tilted b/w Cities in Dust: 7”
I couldn’t figure out what was familiar about this at first. Was it Dag Nasty? Then after listening to it a bunch of times, I looked at the little info sheet, and realized the a-side was a Sugar cover (that song’s going on a Sugar tribute, the other’s just an extra b-side). So that’s what I decided; this band sounds like Sugar and Dag Nasty. With a slight indie rock side to them. Yes. –Joe Evans III (Underground Communiqué)

FOURTEEN OR FIGHT:
Self-titled: 7” EP
I like hardcore that’s clean, yet jagged, and startlingly bloody, like a fifteen-car pileup on the freeway, only on the stereo. And that’s exactly what Fourteen or Fight deliver. Smash’m, crash’m, “Thank you Minor Threat, we’ll take it from here” hardcore. If you’re looking behind the ears, lifting up the tail, and checking the teeth for pedigree, it contains ex-members of MK Ultra, Charles Bronson, and Ambition Mission. Sweet in a toothless smile and concussion sort of way. –Todd Taylor (Lengua Armada)

FOURTH ROTOR:
Plain: LP
I just don’t get it—when the hell did Matt Freeman start singing for a Steve Albini band? Seriously, this sounds eerily like Freeman fronting some bouncy, bass-throbbing Shellac cover band or something. Am I off on this one? Does anyone else hear this? The rhythm section really owns these songs, while the guitar mostly plays catch-up or offers little high-end alterations. It’s not as particularly heavy as Shellac, but that’s about the only band that comes to mind when I think of stuff like this. Needless to say, it pretty much went in one ear and out the other; the emphasis seems to be placed on discordance rather than catchiness, and unless you’re some kind of wunderkind virtuoso (i.e. really good at that shit), it’s a genre that rarely moves me. I’m all for toeing the line and trying to present something new, until a band reaches the point where each song just sounds like five or six different, totally random sections strung together. –Keith Rosson (Southkore)

FOURTH ROTOR:
Plain: 9-song CD
I, for one, am glad that the Minutemen aren’t being forgotten, and that their spirit is being reconstituted like far-scattered spores into the blood of new bands. Much like Giant Haystacks, The Forth Rotor aren’t as interesting in cloning Boon, Watt, and Hurley as they are a fresh ride in a mode of transportation that’s still has a lot of tread on the tire. Penetrating bass up front. Master swordsman guitar with no wasted movements. Blasting drums. Songs short and explosive. Voices barking. Words hurled like sharp and pointed rocks. Fill the tank, get in, pedal down, peel out. Nine songs, a little over fourteen minutes. No so much hardcore as lean, no-bullshit, econo focus. –Todd Taylor (Underground Communiqué)

FOX JAPAN:
Reenactment: CD
Quirky is probably an adjective that gets used to describe West Virginia’s Fox Japan, especially in regards to their lyrics. Many of the tracks delve into story-telling affairs (“Glen Beck” and “An Apocalypse” are especially humorous examples) but the music is unimpressive indie rock. It all seems pretty standard fare, including the occasionally awkwardly strained vocals. Besides the unusual lyrics, though, there’s not much here that really grabbed me and caused me to want to repeatedly listen to Reenactment. –Kurt Morris (foxjapan.net)

FOXX, THE:
Instrument b/w Come to Japan: 7"
America’s Only Glam Band™ (my claim—not theirs) deliver an A-side borrowing heavily from Mott the Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes” and/or T. Rex’s “Teen Riot Structure” descending chord progressions (and basically borrowing heavily from Dandy in the Underworld-era T. Rex in general) about some fab chick who lives above a grocery store in an apartment packed full o’ musical instruments, and a protagonist who wishes to be recast as one of said objects—result being a palatably cloying tune that’s cute in the same way that Smithereens song about the cigarette is cute. B-side trades more heavily on T. Rex of a more classic nature (i.e. Electric Warrior), thus is much more apt to resonate with those for whom “Instrument” falls short of the mark. Being sort of stuck in a state of perpetual ten-year-old-ism, i’d prefer to hear a more Chapman/Chinn-like a-side and maybe stick the syrupy crap about wanting to be a sitar on the b-side, but, on the other hand, anything i get from this band is sort of sweet relief from decades of hair metal being fobbed off as “glam” so who am i to be critical? BEST SONG: “Come to Japan” BEST SONG TITLE: “Come to Japan” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: The matrix number on this record appears to indicate that it is a “U-number” from United Record Pressing, yet if one is to hold the vinyl up to the light, it—shockingly—is NOT translucent brown. Whaddaya know about that?! –Rev. Norb (Vinyl Countdown)

FOXX, THE:
Self-titled: CD
Lame name and a worse logo (think small market AM radio station ca. 1981) cannot hide the fact that, unlike the last nameless cretins posing as “glam” that i had the distinct misfortune of reviewing, these cretins actually know who they should be ripping off (at least some of the time): Chapman/Chinn-era Sweet (a la “Blockbuster”), Chapman/Chinn-era Mud (a la “Dynamite”), and if Chapman/Chinn wrote any songs for any band after Mud but before Racey, that band too (although i am not so sure having a girl in the band to do the high, gay background vocals instead of having a guy who sings like a girl doing the high, gay background vocals is not cheating). “Landslide” is (among several allowable Glam Options) exactly the type of thing i look for in a so-called “glam” offering: Vaguely sleazy enough that i feel comfortable dressing up in silver lamé and platform shoes and haltingly dancing around my bedroom to it; Bubblegummy enough that i can also rollerskate to it with a Sno-Cone™ in one hand, should such a need arise (though not really developed or honed enough that i can dress up in silver lamé and platform shoes and rollerskate to it in my bedroom with two Sno-Cones™ in each hand, but i’m taking what i can get at this point). They rifle through the whole glitter-caked junk drawer of 1973 AM UK Glam-Pop clichés: Simple, steady beat (but tell your drummer his clumsy drum fills totally fuck up the song and he should stop doing them), two rhythm guitars bouncing off of each other, lyrics about a mysterious little number who “scratches like a tiger and stings like a bumbledy-bee,” and even the occasional hot milky spurt of ultra-falsetto – delicious! (or, at the very least, merely licious, but worthy in its execution’s sheer clonal excellence, except for the drums, which won’t make anybody forget Mick Tucker, or even the studio guy who played Mick Tucker’s parts on “Little Willy,” whom, now that i think about it, is totally forgotten, so what the fuck do i know?) “Ready To Go,” sounds like a passable low-budget version of one of Sweet’s less-incendiary self-penned B-sides and “Bands (Don’t Want Me To Dance)” includes kinda neat lines like “I wanna kiss you in a teenage heat/I want my heart left at the scene of the beat” and somehow manages to remind me of “Chatterbox” by the New York Dolls, “Kiss Me Deadly” by Lita Ford, the last song on one side of the first Boomtown Rats album, and the purple-haired version of the Zeroes, often at the same time. Everything that follows earns something between a shrug and a grimace (the grimacing occurring on a few truly pointless duds sung by their female member, who appears to be hell-bent on invoking the dread spectre of Tammy Wynette or some god damn thing. MA’AM, under NO circumstances should you be opening your big American Chick Mouth unless you are CERTAIN that you can pass for a skinny British boy passing for a little British girl! Get it right, or i’ll have your band trade you to Tsar for some guitar picks and an 8x10!); as a 7-song CD, this would make a better 2-song 45 – but pull a bunch more hits like “Landslide” out of whatever genderless orifice you pulled it outta and i’m Riding my White Swan down to the record store. On rollerskates! In a buffalo herd, even! BEST SONG: “Landslide” BEST SONG TITLE: “Bands (Don’t Want Me To Dance)” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I can say with some assurance this is the first time i’ve seen a band member’s photo taken in a library. –Rev. Norb (The Foxx)

FOXY AUTOPSY:
Biznatural: CD
A female rap duo who can bring da funk about as well as John Denver. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.foxyautopsy.com)

FPO:
(Title in Macedonian): 7” EP
Über-fast hardcore from a Macedonian band that, on occasion, sounds like very early SS Decontrol. Dunno if they sing in Macedonian—the lyric sheet ain’t—but they’re focused on smoking while pregnant, the high rate the Macedonian postal system charges, depression, female punk apathy in their scene, “Straight Is Great, Gay Is Okay,” and the fascist leanings of some straight edge adherents, which was interesting, considering they’re on what appears to be a straight edge label. –Jimmy Alvarado (Third Party)