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Record Reviews1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 | 0-9| A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M | | N| O| P| Q| R| S| T| U| V| W| X| Y| Z| < Prev Section | Next Section >  RSS Feed
P.J. BONNEMAN:
Jeg Kendte Dem Ikke: 7” EP
Armed with the switchblade knife he holds on the record sleeve, and, I’m assuming, an enormous bottle of Gammel Dansk, P.J. Bonneman slashes through three great-sounding home recordings on this debut, solo, 33 rpm 7” EP. “Fri Kaerlighed” is a lively piece of aggressive, lo-fi, Rezillos power pop sung in Danglish. I’m not exactly sure what the song is about—I don’t understand Danish and there’s not a whole lot of English to be heard—but I definitely hear a “fuckin’ hippy” in there towards the end of the song and that’s a sentiment that everyone should be able to get behind. “Hey Ronni” is the musical equivalent of taking a stroll through the countryside with your sweetheart on a Sunday afternoon. Clad in a leather jacket and shod with black Chuck Taylors, of course. The melody could have easily been written by King Louie for the Exploding Hearts and the lazy guitar riff will linger in your head long after the song is over. This tune could brighten the day of even the most stoic, hard-assed Scandinavian. While the A-side will appeal to popsters, the flip side is ass-kickingly TOUGH!”Jeg Kendte Dem Ikke” has an unrelenting beat and lyrics that are snarled more than sung. Bonneman has a real knack for writing a tune and moves between genres effortlessly.
–Josh Benke (Spild Af Vinyl, www.spildafvinyl.dk)
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P.K. 14, THE:
City Weather Sailing: CD
The P.K.14 is a very progressive-sounding band from China that sings exclusively in Chinese. (So I have no idea what any of these songs are about. Not that that really matters to me.) The press release says they sound Like Television or the Talking Heads, but I don’t hear it. (It reminds me of Radiohead, but maybe that’s the only boring, slow, “progressive” band I know of. Don’t take my word for it.) Just seems like a bunch of boring Chinese guys who are creative and can play their instruments very well. This does not, however, make them an interesting band. It might be an effective insomnia cure, though.
–Ryan Horky (Tenzenmen, tenzenmen.com)
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P.O.S.:
Never Better: CD
I have always had a soft spot for the Twin Cities music scene. To me, one of the most endearing defining features of the last decade of Minnesota’s DIY music community is the unprecedented synergy between the punk rock and hip hop musicians and fans in that metro area. Unlike many other cities, no one bats an eye when Dillinger Four and Atmosphere play shows together. No single figure in the Twin Cites scene is a finer bridge between the two musical subcultures than P.O.S. Never Better is P.O.S.’s third album and it is a strong, if fairly similar, follow-up to 2006’s Audition album, which raised his musical profile and introduced P.O.S. to multitudes of new fans. There are a couple radio-friendly, head-bobbing funk tracks like “Low Light Low Life” and “Goodbye” that are quite successful. However, the majority of the album is more challenging and discordant, borrowing an air of tension clearly influenced by hardcore punk and an experimental edge typical of the envelope-pushing hip hop artists on Anticon Records. For the most part it works quite well, although some editing or refinement could have been applied to the last one third of the fifteen-song release, as it begins to sag towards the end. Overall, though, it’s a very exciting release by a young and upcoming musical artist doing the Midwest proud. –Jake Shut
–Guest Contributor (Rhymesayers)
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P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.:
Gotta Get away from You: 7”
The A-side is a nice bit of driving punk/hardcore, not too fast or slow with a nice riff. B-side’s faster and not quite as interesting.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Tombstone)
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P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.:
Make It Through the Night: CD
I remember hearing a seven-inch by these cats a while back and kind of being on the fence about ‘em, but this is one heavy duty release here. Things rarely go past mid-tempo, but the delivery is so ratcheted up that even solidly punk covers, like the Cortina’s “Fascist Dictator,” are hurled with such a roar that it sounds more like a hardcore ditty than an aping of the original. Not big on muffled chords, dynamics, or subtlety, this lot, and that’s just fine ‘cause the conviction that comes across makes the hearing damage worth the trouble. And then they finish up with a (mostly) faithful cover of Crow’s (by way of Black Sabbath) “Evil Woman.” Great stuff.
–Jimmy Alvarado (P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.)
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P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. / MODERN PETS:
: Split: 7”
Modern Pets have a couple records out and are quite good at the beach punk/Hostage Records kind of thing. Think Stitches running headlong into the Briefs or many of the releases on the Modern Action label. P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. are a Portland band, featuring Kelly from Pierced Arrows/Resist on bass and Bradley from the Weaklings on vocals. Good, solid punk rock and a solid version of “Remedy” by Rose Tattoo.
–Mike Frame (Doomtown)
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P.S. ELIOT:
Living in Squalor: 7" EP
About four seconds into this record I got that rush of adrenaline that comes from hearing something that truly excites me. Upbeat, rocking music with scrappy female vocals. Yeah! And it just got better from there. These folks write songs like real pros, but resist the temptation to sand off the rough edges that make their whole sound passionate and engaging. This release proves this band is versatile without being uncentered. “Acid Flashbacks” starts off mellow and works itself into an amazing rage, whereas “Dark” starts off with high energy and sails along at a steady pace. I like all five songs on this EP and a full length can’t come quickly enough. Totally my kind of thing. Yours too.
–Jennifer Whiteford (Freedom School)
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P.S. ELIOT:
Living in Squalor: 7" EP
This is the first I heard from this band, but I see that they have a full-length on Salinas. The five tracks on here have me convinced that I need to pick that up sooner or later. Awesome female-fronted, mid-tempo indie rock that is like a way better Simpatico-era Velocity Girl. If this is the result of the band living in squalor, well, sorry to say that I think they shouldn’t look to migrate anytime soon. And, in case you were wondering (or simply waiting for a T.S. Eliot reference), the way this record ends is not in a whimper.
–Vincent Battilana (Freedom School)
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P.S. ELIOT:
Sadie: LP
I must say that I was stoked to see this in my box of review materials, as I found P.S. Eliot’s Living in Squalor 7” to be rather splendid. While Sadie is good, it is a departure from LiS. This LP is a good record, but I was looking forward to an LP’s worth of their angsty alternapunk that I heard on the Freedom School 7”. The LP’s tempo is comparatively slower. A few songs have power pop-sounding guitar slowed down to the pace of coffeehouse indie rock (I don’t mean that to be pejorative in this case). While nothing on here sounds like it is the victim of restraint, the overall feel of Sadie is subdued. This will be getting more spins on my turntable in the future, but not as much as the Squalor EP.
–Vincent Battilana (Salinas)
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PACER:
No. 1: 10"
Melodic hardcore anthems done tight ‘n’ punchy with lots of dynamic changes and group choruses, plus a little ’77 snot for flavor. There’s an air of nostalgia as they sing about friendships passed, but the music’s so energetic that you know more good times are ahead. Do you ever get mad at a record because you want to sing along but don’t know the words yet? I just did. From London. Seven songs. Awesome bass fills.
–CT Terry (Chunksaah, chunksaah.com)
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PACIFICS, THE:
Play Favourites: 7” EP
A self-described ((or, more correctly, liner-note-described)) “beat” group from Dublin’s fair city, one’d expect this bunch to sound more or less like a different flavor of the Kaisers, which, i suppose, they do—though the playing and the sonic frequencies and the repertoire and the what-not are more evocative of either a more-solid Statics or Thee Headcoats minus Billy Childish, for whatever that’s worth. I’m not against any of this, nor am I opposed to an EP consisting of entirely cover songs, but the songs they chose to record ((“You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” by Bo Diddley, “Lucille” by Little Richard, “Baby It’s You” by the Beatles and “I’m Talking about You” by Chuck Berry)) are just so common and basic that there isn’t a lot to whole-hog excite me here. It’s kinda like if someone released an EP of 70’s punk covers, and it wasn’t anything more imaginative than “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “God Save the Queen,” “New Rose” and “Teenage Kicks.” I’m gonna need to see what else these guys got under the hood before they challenge my Atlantics album to a battle of the bands. BEST SONG: They’re really all kinda ‘bout the same, but I’ve always liked “Baby It’s You” so I’m going to make that surely-unpopular choice. BEST SONG TITLE: “Lucille” because of all the L’s. FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Band misspells “its” as “it’s” in the title of “You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover,” but correctly spells “it’s” as “it’s” in “Baby It’s You.”
–Rev. Norb (Bachelor)
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PACK A.D., THE:
Funeral Mixtape: CD
One of many things i will not miss when the 00’s wind to a close is the presumed extinction ((or, at bare minimum, long hibernation/remission)) of the once-in-vogue two-piece band—not because said units are not capable of producing decent music ((they are)), but simply because, as with pop punk bands in the 90’s, i am bound and convinced that there is absolutely NOTHING new that these bands can possibly do that will grab and hold my interest. That ship has sailed, and i don’t expect it back in the harbor ((“of ROCK!”)) for decades, if not centuries. I mean, the band is pretty decent—label-supplied comparisons of the vocalist to Janis Joplin are not egregiously far off the mark, and the guitars have a nice tone and a passable second White Stripes album kinda vibe ((i’ll stick my neck out here and claim that “De Stijl” was one of the better albums of the first half of this decade)), but i just can’t get into it. It’s sorta like once the elastic gets all stretched out on the waistband of your Fruit of the Loom® thermal longjohns, nothing you can do is gonna make that elastic all grippy and stretchy again, and the Pack A.D., through no real fault of their own, are that elastic waistband. This, of course, begs the question of whom my barndoor is; i’d like to imagine it’s Godhead Silo but that’s pure conjecture on my part. BEST SONG: “Blackout” BEST SONG TITLE: “Oh Be Joyful” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Almost listened to this in my car on the way to a funeral; feared karmic recompense; did not do so.
–Rev. Norb (Mint)
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PACK A.D., THE:
We Kill Computers: CD
Duo from Vancouver. White Stripes meets Portishead meets delta blues meets DIY trash rock? The blues/trash influence is front and center, but the record as a whole is fairly eclectic. One song is hauntingly beautiful and had me spellbound until I looked at the lyrics and realized that it was a lame bit about being understood by all animals. At that point I became scared that the hippy-gremlins would invade my stereo, but the rockin’ nature of the rest of the record kept those fuckers at bay. Good stuff.
–The Lord Kveldulfr (Mint)
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PACK/S.O.L.:
Split: LP
Pack: Screaming Euro hardcore from Switzerland, I believe, all rude and crusty and angry, as it should be. S.O.L.: More of the same, this time from a band who hails from Germany. On the whole, I gotta say, this was just the kinda noise necessary to break up the monotony.
–Jimmy Alvarado (rinderherz@gmx.net)
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PAGENINETYNINE:
Document#8: CD
This is some of the best hardcore I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s driven with such force, but it takes control of that drive, fully in charge the entire time. It feels natural to go into a breakdown after the balls-out rock that precedes it. And the breakdowns? Damn, they’re heavy. It’s recorded so that it comes together as a band, not individuals, not one overpowering another. It’s dense and filled with so much going on in every track. On my second listen I began wondering how many tracks they had to record to get that complexity. Then I looked at the liner notes. There are eight members. Eight! They have two vocalists, a drummer, two bass players and (count ‘em) THREE guitars! That helped explain things. The packaging is amazing as well: black gatefold with the graphics and text pressed into it. The booklet inside is glossy and filled with these great illustrations. They provide lyrics, thankfully. I’m not so great at deciphering them. They’re on a brief hiatus from shows now, just getting back from touring Europe, but I know I’ll be looking to see them the next time out.
–Megan Pants (Robotic Empire)
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PAGERIPPER:
The Shit Talker Demo: CD-R
What a bummer: a three song CD-R with only three tracks and a b/w photocopied cover, to boot! Fortunately for these guys though, these songs kind of rip. Their sound has that Midwest thing going on, slightly reminiscent of maybe Dillinger Four or the Lawrence Arms but not in a redundant way. I was stoked the band thought enough of their lyrics to include a lyric sheet, as they are surprisingly intelligent and well written. I would love to hear a full-length release from these chaps. Put them on your radar. You won’t be sorry!
–Garrett Barnwell (pageripper.bandcamp.com)
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PAGES, THE:
Creatures of the Earth: CD
This sounds like a less rockin’ They Might Be Giants, which seems rather fitting as these cats are also from NY. My daughter got jiggy with it during the car ride! That’s always a plus.
–MP Johnson (Unsound)
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PAIN OF SALVATION:
12:5: CD
I plopped this in and, I shit you not, suddenly there were elves and fairies dancing around my living room. I stopped the disc and they disappeared. Intrigued, I started it again and, lo and behold, there they were, prancing and singing and carryin’ on. Damndest thing. I pulled the nearest one aside and asked him, “Wherefore doth thou boogiest ‘round my living room, gentle dryad?” He cocked his funny little hat to the side and said, “‘Tis the hippie shit that spins in that machine anon.” So I took the cute little fella by the feet and bashed my stereo in with his head.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Inside Out)
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PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE:
Belong: LP
Easily one of my favorite bands of the last few years, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s self-titled debut LP has been one of my go-to records, regardless of company, since it was released, and I assure you that Belong will be no different. Where the debut was noteworthy in its fuzzed-out twee/dream-pop imitative accuracy, Belong takes a much slicker, more determined approach. Initially, I was slightly thrown by the very high production values (care of Flood—responsible for the somewhat formative sounds present on many of New Order, Nine Inch Nails, JAMC, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Erasure, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.’s hallmark records…), but it became apparent rather quickly that the sonic upgrade perfectly suited The Pains’ huge step forward in songwriting. Belong is a much grander work than the debut, without being overly ambitious by any means. The pop gems are still there, they’re just bigger, more refined, and better as a whole. Fucking awesome.
–Dave Williams (Slumberland)
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PAINT FUMES:
Uck Life: CD
At their worst, these noise-mongers crank out some heavy duty garage trash ditties hell-bent on making yer tinnitus that much worse. At their best, like “Jim & Juan” f’rinstance, they evoke fleeting glimpses of the hypnotic, bluesy psych-voodoo of early Gun Club. No small fuggin’ feat, that.
–Jimmy Alvarado (Slovenly)
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PAINT IT BLACK:
Paradise: CD
I really hate getting review material that is only the CD. No lyrics to reference, no pictures to look at, just a disc with a track list on it. Don’t most of the labels know that we are record and music collecting geeks? The music better be good. Luckily for me, it is. One of the current hardcore bands of the moment that’s going for the championship belt. Paint It Black play fast, direct, and to the point music that catches you out of breath with its intensity. They sing songs about things I have no real clue of (since I don’t have the lyric sheet to reference), but I do know the title. But I really am a person who gets caught up with the music more than a person who analyzes lyrics. I have to feel the music before I can pay attention. Read many good things on the net about this release. So, with so many voices praising this release, it seems that I am on the right side of the fence on this one.
–Donofthedead (Jade Tree)
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PAINT IT BLACK:
New Lexicon: CD
For some reason, the cover of this record reminds me of a The Life And Times cover. But no way in hell is any of the music the same. Loud, abrasive, brutal music from this outfit. Favorite song titles include: “Missionary Position,” “White Kids Dying of Hunger,” and “Check Yr Math.” I’ll take a wild stab here and state for the record that if you liked Swiz, you may like this CD. Hey, they’re on the same label—weird!
–Sean Koepenick (Jade Tree)
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PAINT IT BLACK:
New Lexicon: CD
I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the first night of Paint It Black’s weekend-long record release festival just hours before it sold out. As I stepped into the crowded basement of Philadelphia’s FirstUnitarianChurch, I was given a free copy of the new record a month before its release date, as promised on the fliers. I had some time to kill before the first band of the night was ready to play, so I stepped out to my car to give it a quick listen. I got so sucked in that I missed the first half of the opener’s set (Amateur Hour, respectively). Philadelphia’s hardcore act Paint It Black has shown tons of progression between their debut CVA and their sophomore release Paradise, and New Lexicon is no different. I believe that “dark” is the only word I can use to describe this one. Dan Yemin’s (Lifetime, Kid Dynamite) lyrics are angrier than ever and the guitar parts tore me to pieces. There is plenty of credit due to the production as well. There are some parts in between most of the fifteen songs involving either drums or feedback that are noisy without being annoying, and create a strange vibe for the record. It’s only January, but I have no doubt in my mind that this will be one of my favorite hardcore records of 2008. –Dave Dillon
–Guest Contributor (Jade Tree)
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PAINT IT BLACK:
New Lexicon: CD
New Lexicon is Paint it Black’s third edition of the textbook on how to make modern hardcore punk. There are a few revisions made, and a few more twists added; such as some spacey effects and more attention to melody (most notably the last track with Jeff from Naked Raygun singing backups). For the most part though, you know what you’re getting with Paint It Black: fast songs, a distinct lack of “mosh parts,” and lyrics ranging proudly from the political to the socio-political. If you’re into that sort of stuff, you’ll probably enjoy what is easily their best record yet. –Nick Toerner
–Guest Contributor (Jade Tree)
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PAINT IT BLACK:
New Lexicon: CD
Paint It Black were one of my favorite bands in college (not that I stopped liking them, more of one of those “I’m in love with a different band/girl every week” kind of deals). I liked that the first record was essentially a “lets just do this” kind of a hardcore record. I liked that Paradise started to branch out into some more melodic territory. This one takes the best of both worlds (I started listening thinking “Man, this sounds way more brutal,” and then “No, this is way poppier”), but now there’s some interesting electronic/hip-hop/noise stuff going on as well (though to be honest, it’s mostly transitional between the songs). It’s “let’s see where we can take this” and not “let’s rehash the last record again.” I like it. Seriously though, get me one of those record release 7”s.
–Joe Evans III (Jade Tree)
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