Union Young America - Kill the Man in Everything 7"

This is an absolutely fantastic 7" from mid-90's Ontario hardcore band Union Young America. Originally made in 1995, this three song EP is the group's only known release to date, and it features a sound similar to Admiral, or Three Penny Opera, or maybe a gruffer Native Nod. Complex, powerful jams that mix beautiful instrumental sparsity with an ear for melody and a predisposition for intense, excitable crescendos. The guitars in "Dem's Be Fighting Words" make this worth a listen on their own, but each song has at least one part that makes you think "wow", including the gentle, sinewy breaks during "Kevorkian" and the soaring choruses of "What You Know".

If the name alone doesn't intrigue you into giving this a listen, then I don't know what else I can say.

you bet i fucking tried

Admiral - Admiral 7"

Admiral was a short-lived emo/hardcore band from the early 90's, the members of which would on to play in Navio Forge and Hoover as the decade wore on.

The group maintains the atmosphere and wall-of-sound guitarwork that would be prevalent on Navio Forge, but here it is imbued with a sense of melody and songwriting mechanics that make the final product as catchy as it is moody. Sounding at times equal parts Naked Raygun and The Hated, the band merges post-punk despondence ("Brother Can You Spare a Dime") and D.C.-influenced hardcore nostalgia ("Horns Lay Silent") into a dynamic and interesting listen.

This is really great stuff for anyone who likes Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, or any of the aforementioned bands.

Admiral 7"

Rival Schools - United by Fate

There are at least two things I know about Walter Schreifels: 1) He’s the virtuoso guitarist and sometimes singer/songwriter/lyricist behind several of the biggest bands to come out of the New York hardcore scene in the past 20 years, including Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand, and, alongside former bandmate Sammy Siegler (drummed for Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits), the founder of Rival Schools and 2) He really likes using pedals.

I mean, if United by Fate is any indication. There are plenty of aspects of note that occur within this album: the supergroup-style collaboration of NYHC mainstays, the cultivation of a more varied and musically eclectic sound for long-time hardcore kids, as opposed to the raw, straight-forward outrage of the Youth Crew days, as well as just a general sense of established maturity that runs throughout United by Fate. But what always jumps out at me each and every time I listen is the guitars: the variety, the experimentation, the way they manage to emphasize both melody and heaviness in their own respective turns. Not only is the guitar work fantastic, but it sets the tone, taking an ambitious hardcore effort and turning it into a concoction that is as much owing to grunge and alternative as it is punk rock. Such a crossover could easily end up going sour in any number of ways, but surprisingly, it works.


Played differently, United by Fate could come off as just another melodic punk album, but then the very sense of maturity that sets it apart would be lost. The song writing would still allow it to stand out, but it wouldn’t sound as new, as fresh. Instead, the guitars are crushing when they have to be, and catchy, even elegant, when they don’t. Bits and pieces of Gorilla Biscuits come through in the underlying song structure, and one can sense a definite melodic hardcore influence on United by Fate, but it isn’t the prevailing influence. Rival Schools’ sound is more reminiscent of mid-90’s post-grunge, except instead of sounding watered down and depleted, like the pop radio hits of that era, they sound a novel combination, both vibrant and aggressive. A good comparison might be to the Matthew Good Band, circa Underdogs, another example of a band that manages to be listener-friendly without giving up its claws.

Guitar isn’t Schreifels’ only contribution to United by Fate though. As vocalist, he performs ably. Schreifels sings with a world-weary rasp, plodding through the slower sections with a sense of beaten down fatigue. This aspect perfectly serves to accentuate the urgency in his voice when the music picks up, as he powers through the heavier, more energetic sections with all the force he can muster. The result adds a human core to the otherwise interesting instrumental arrangements, one especially present on the excellent “Undercovers On”, a somewhat cryptic song about a meeting between two people whose relationship has lapsed. The song is driven by a slow-moving bass line and Schreifels voice matches with all the enthusiasm of grim death, but as the guitars pick up and the song crescendos, the simple tale of two people drifting apart becomes epic in scope, teeming with passion and relatable in sentiment.

Rival Schools’ debut album is a blistering tribute to what grunge should have begat: music which is heavy without being mindless and emotional without feeling feigned. If this is what happens when hardcore kids grow up, then sign me up.

United by Fate

Latterman - Turn Up the Punk, We'll Be Singing

“what we need round here is positive people”

Latterman is one of those bands that’s just a joy to listen to. The Long Island foursome play with an intense energy and passion for their music, their lyrics are unapologetically upbeat, and their music radiates with an undaunted positivity, as if to re-assure the listener that everything’s going to be alright. To use an analogy taken from Allmusic, Latterman “is like the musical equivalent of a friend patting you on the back and dragging you out for a cold beer after spending the day feeling a bit down”.

Turn Up the Punk, We’ll Be Singing is Latterman’s first full-length album. Originally released on Traffic Violation Records in 2002, it got a re-release on Deep Elm in 2005 thanks to the greater popularity that came with the release of their second album, No Matter Where We Go…! The album is rawer than much of what would come after it, yet still imbued with much better production values than anything the band had released previously. Turn Up the Punk is then something of a middle ground in the evolution of Latterman’s sound, caught between the rougher, basement band punk of their demo and early seven inches, and the cleaner, more varied and melodic band they would grow into on subsequent full-lengths. And yet, it is undeniably memorable because of those clashing directions.

Musically, the group creates what sounds like a combination of pop-punk and post-hardcore, mixing the airy, upbeat tones of the former with the heaviness and instrumental complexity of the latter. Whether strummed or picked, the guitars emit a melodic and joyous pitch that wonderfully emphasizes the optimism and positivity that reigns throughout not just Turn Up the Punk, but Latterman’s entire discography. The music crackles with a youthful vigour, one that signifies the passion of the people playing it.


And while there isn’t too much variety to speak of, the songs never sound recycled from one another, with distinctions coming both in the form of well-placed hooks and well-defined lyrical subject matter. The typical punk subjects of mid-20 something apathy are touched on (“My Dreams About Not Sleeping Until 3 p.m.”, “Too Many Emo Days”), but always in the sense of “Well, what can we do about this?” Latterman doesn’t just examine the problems surrounding their lives, but actively (and optimistically) looks at what they, and you, as individuals can do about it. Rather than wallow in self-pity, each song is its own anthem of empowerment, garnished with equally anthemic chants and rallying cries.

If you let your heart tell you who you need to be
You'll find a beautiful person in the mirror everyday

Even when Latterman engages in social criticism (“The Biggest Sausage Party Ever”), they still address it from a perspective of what can be done about it, as opposed to one of abject despondence. Consumer culture and gender inequalities are chief topics of criticism, with awareness, honesty and DIY being promoted as ways of combating these social ills from the standpoint of the individual.

On Turn Up the Punk, We’ll Be Singing, Latterman conceive their inimitable and passionate brand of punk rock with a bang, creating a style just as individual as the message they preach. This is not just energetic and anthemic pop-punk, delivered with an upbeat attitude and a strong sense of social morality, but a shining example of the level of originality still achievable in punk. Pick yourself up a cold beer and give it a listen.

remind ourselves ten years from now
just what we need

The Best Albums of 2008: From #30 to #21 (and then eventually to #1)

Now that Christmas is over, and now that no one still cares, I figured it was as good a time as any to post my obligatory Best Albums of 2008 list. Over the next few days/weeks/however long I choose to draw this out for, I'll be counting down the 20 best albums released in the past year with an individual post containing a mini-review pertaining to each. But first, and in the interest of covering as much ground as possible, I'll first count down the top ten albums that didn't make the cut, as well as the most disappointing albums of the year and the best non-full length releases.

Note: Due to the density of albums here, I won't be posting links with them. If you want a link for any of the albums seen here, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Biggest Disappointments:

It's worth noting that I don't consider any of the following albums bad, merely disappointing for one reason or another, be it due to hype or my own personal expectations.


Cynic - Traced in Air

I'm probably alone in this one, but I don't really care. After the paradigm-shifting record that was Focus, this just feels empty by comparison.


Foxy Shazam - Introducing...

After the madcap zaniness of The Flamingo Trigger, it was disappointing to see the Cincinnati natives move away from their earlier hardcore-leaning sounds to more keyboard-focused music. And yet, on songs like "Ghost Animals" and "Introducing Foxy", the focus works incredibly well, coming off like piano rock on acid. So what's the problem? While half of this album sounds like the ravings of a demented Billy Joel (I mean this as a compliment), the other half falters, coming off as anywhere from contrived to just plain irritating.


Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

There was a lot of good hardcore music released this year. This wasn't even in my top ten.


Murder By Death - Red of Tooth and Claw

With their fourth album, Murder By Death stick with the Old West stylings and story-telling motifs that have made past releases so strong, but forget to include enough musical variety to keep it interesting. The album peaks after the first song ("Coming Home"), and the song quality, not to mention the quality of singer Adam Turla's incessant Johnny Cash impersonation/homage, goes downhill from there.


Subtle - ExitingARM

Pitchfork called this "Subtle's pop album", and as far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty accurate descriptor. Unlike Pitchfork however, I'm not sure I can consider this a positive development. ExitingARM sees Subtle move away from the already estranged hip-hop they originated with, further showcasing the side of the group that likes swirling melodies and electronic sounds. The idea is sound, considering this was never a group to confine themselves within conventions anyway, but there are a few problems in the execution. For one, there is an unnecessary level of polish on display in places, occasionally obscuring the voice of its most distinctive vocalist, Dose One (it almost feels like he's on auto-tune). Subtle still manages to pull off a strong pop song on occasion, but they do so with a lower rate of success than before, making long-time fans more likely to just listen to A New White for their fix.

Best Extended Plays (EP's, Splits, etc.)


65daysofstatic - The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties

65daysofstatic are post-rock band from the United Kingdom, known primarily for their blending of electronic influences with guitar-heavy build-ups and crescendos. But on The Distant and Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties, the group shows off their electronica influences, creating a collection of songs that sounds like a house mix at a high-scale rave. The result is a swirling, infectious concoction that stands up to, and possibly surpasses anything else 65daysofstatic has done. Here's hoping that the dance influences remain apparent on their next release.


Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me

This will get its own post soon. These guys were one of my favourite discoveries from this year.


BATS - Cruel Sea Scientist

See Here.


Envy/Jesu Split

This is actually more than long enough to qualify as a full-length, but I'm putting it here so that I can give it its proper due. With Envy, by now you know what you're getting, so you either like it or don't, but Jesu's side features some of Justin Broadrick's best work this side of Godflesh. Broadrick's dense, lengthy, metal-tinged shoegaze is at its strongest here, making this the best of Envy's many EP releases from the past year.


Fire Team Charlie - ...And Everything Will Be Undone 10"

Solid band reminiscent of Daniel Striped Tiger makes intricate and noisy emotive post-hardcore.


The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and the Queen

In the aftermath of The '59 Sound, I had almost forgot about this. These four songs, totaling just over eleven minutes in all, act as the stopgap between the band's first and second albums, with songs like "Say I Won't (Recognize)" showing where they've been and "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" signifying where they were going.


The Mountain Goats - Satanic Messiah

Fantastic free release courtesy of John Darnielle. More on him later.


Red Sparowes - Aphorisms

On this EP, the Red Sparowes create guitar-driven post-rock that burn with intensity. The climaxes are booming, the build-ups are superb, and the song titles are never longer than twelve words, all of which suggests that the band is headed in the right direction. Here's hoping that their next album is the one to finally capture this group's massive potential.


Wingnut Dishwashers Union/James K. Polk and the Family of Friends Split 7"

James K. Polk’s side is delicate folk music which ends up marred by lyrics that make the Andrew Jackson Jihad look like Paul Baribeau, a juxtaposition which makes their two songs very hard to get into. But they're ultimately irrelevant to my enjoyment of this split, because the other side of the split features some of Pat the Bunny’s best work yet. “Free and Alone” is a song about the loneliness and weariness that results from the singer’s state of constant travel, and “Fuck Shit Up (Wha-Na-Na)” is a song that almost manages to be beautiful in spite of its self, showcasing the introspective punk ethos that Wingnut Dishwashers Union exemplifies so perfectly.

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And now, the best albums of the year, starting with #30.


30. United Nations - United Nations

I am not a fan of Glassjaw or Converge. Glassjaw either bores me or does nothing for me and Converge is just too much for me. As for Thursday... well, that's better left unsaid. Suffice then to say that I was not one of the many fanboys heavily anticipating the so-called grindcore/power-violence (really, that's exaggerating it) release from this super-group, featuring Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw, Geoff Rickley of Thursday, and Ben Koller of Converge. But I ended up checking it out regardless, and I'm glad that I did, because once you get past the deliberate attempt at inaccessibility made by the band, you find an uproarious hardcore release that's far more progressive than it lets on. Is it worth the hype, well, no, not entirely, but it's still a strong album with some vicious commentary that more than matches the belligerent tone of the music. "Say Goodbye to the General Figment of the USS Imagination" deserves special mention for its fantastic use of a saxophone solo drenched in feedback and distortion, the ultimate fall-out after such a relentless onslaught.


29. Black Ships - Omens

Have you ever wondered what sludge metal would sound like if it was sped up to 80 mph? Wonder no more. Straight out of Montreal comes some of the dirtiest hardcore you will ever hear, featuring densely layered guitars tuned all the way down and an angry, throaty roar that perfectly matches the din of noise surrounding it. Or, to put it in layman's terms: This. Fucking. Rips.


28. The Riot Before - Fists Buried in Pockets

Folk-punk generally takes one of two directions (an over-simplification, but bear with me): there is the more folk-sounding, but punk-inspired bands that you'll see on the Plan-It-X roster, and then there's the more true-to-the-name amalgamation of punk and folk, which generally utilizes both acoustic and electric guitars in their application of punk. This is of the latter. On their debut album, Fists Buried in Pockets, The Riot Before create an angry, literate punk album for every Orgcore kid looking for something new. "5 to 9" is a highlight here, telling the tale of a Mexican man who crosses the borders looking for work to support his family. The message isn't subtle in the least, but the song kicks too much ass to fault it for its overtness. The Riot Before balance these political songs with more introspective turns, such as "Words Written Over Coffee" wherein the singer presents an analysis of himself and his choices in life, eventually concluding that the path he has embarked on was the necessary one. Recommended for anyone who liked The Falcon or Chuck Ragan's solo turn.


27. pg.lost - It's Not Me, It's You

2008 was a very strong year for post-rock, and few albums were better than pg.lost's debut album, It's Not Me, It's You. Featuring soaring peaks and searing crescendos, this is the kind of aggressive, treble-heavy post-rock not seen since How Lonely Sits the City!, albeit not quite up to the level of that album. When the band climaxes, the results are often spectacular; the rest of the time, however, their music often reaches a lull, unsure of what to do when not building to a finish. Regardless, pg.lost are better more often than not, and the impression they leave is one of a delicate balance between intensity and nothingness, a prime example of crescendo-core done right (ew, now I feel all dirty).


26. Mesa Verde - The Old Road

What is most impressive about Mesa Verde is their ability utilize a number of techniques of band's that came before them and apply those influences into their music while still sounding like a breath of fresh air in an over-exposed genre. Mesa Verde manages to encompass both extremes of what you would expect from European screamo at the same time, switching back and forth between glistening post-rock build-ups (“A Deep Sleep Without Dreams”), and unkempt bursts of raw energy (“Return to Victories”), never content to rely solely on one or the other. At their most progressive, they sound like an even more post-rock leaning version of Sed Non Satiata, and at their most violent, they border on a more abrasive La Quiete.


25. Killing the Dream - Fractures

Killing the Dream are a hardcore band from Sacramento that utilizes the heaviness of metal with the musical harmonies of melodic hardcore. Fractures is the band's third full-length album, taking the formula from their past outings and refining it through the course of twelve superb bursts of forceful, energetic hardcore. The result is one of the year's best hardcore releases, one that manages to be both progressive in focus and aggressive in practice (Fucked Up, take notes).


24. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling

Mogwai, though long considered a benchmark for post-rock, have never been a band that has thrilled me. Their so-called opus, Young Team, feels terribly overrated to me, albeit definitely different when presented with the stereotypical example of post-rock, and my other experiences with the band have left me even more apathetic. But The Hawk is Howling changed that for me. While it was met with lukewarm hype by most, to me it showcases a band that never tries to do too much, and as a result never manages to completely blow the listener away, but instead focuses on churning out interesting melodies and captivating riffs. Unlike on Young Team, where Mogwai's emphasis is on volume, The Hawk is Howling shows a lot more variety to the band; the trippy synesthesia of "The Sun Smells Too Loud", the haunting piano of "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead", the gentle yet ominous progression of "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School"... all great songs, all of which show different musical emphases by the band. The Hawk is Howling may not have much in peaks, but it more than makes up for that in its absorbing and refreshing manners of progression.


23. ...Who Calls So Loud - ...Who Calls So Loud

Taking their name from Dickens and their pedigree from Funeral Diner, ...Who Calls So Loud have created some of the best and most varied emotive hardcore of 2008 with their self-titled debut. Through the course of this album, the California four-piece works its way through some of the most intensely passionate epics since, well... Funeral Diner.

Hey, did I say they were ex-Funeral Diner? I did? Alright, just making sure. I wouldn't want to violate a statute of limitations or anything.

However, while the comparisons to their former group are inevitable, it's not like ...Who Calls So Loud don't deviate from their parent group, as the band makes a point of showing more variety to their assault than Funeral Diner ever did. For example, "Assume the Power Focus" begins with a delicate country lick that comes off as beautifully emotional without a word being uttered, a far cry from the dark, dense, and viciously aggressive approach of The Underdark. The result of this more varied approach is that ...Who Calls So Loud ends up feeling more refreshing than redone, making it one of the year's strongest releases.


22. Baader Brains - The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers

Mike Kirsch is back, and with yet another band. The former member of Please Inform the Captain... and Bread and Circuits has returned with The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers, the first full-length album by Baader Brains. Baader Brains was formed back in 2005 by Kirsch and former Swing Kids/Bread and Circuits member Jose Palafox, with their name acting both as a play on Bad Brains, as well as a tribute to the Red Army Faction and the Baader-Meinhof group. They play a relentless, heavy and revolutionary brand of hardcore that could be very aptly compared to the members' former band, Bread and Circuits. Like in previous Kirsch bands, sampling is used prominently, breaking up the fiercely defiant anthems with sarcastic educational film clips and the like. Angry, pointed, and resistant to the end, The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers is another chapter in the life of a musical revolutionary.


21. Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner

Noisy, tumultuous, and occasionally terrifying, The Ruiner is the third album of New York noise metal band, Made Out of Babies. Featuring members of Red Sparowes and Battle of Mice, Made Out of Babies take the deafening guitars of the former and the ominous post-metal temperament of the latter, combine them, and then add a lot of noise for good measure. Where it works is in the incredible atmosphere created, much in part due to the vocals of singer Julie Christmas, who may or may not be a banshee (I haven't confirmed it). Christmas sings much like the secretly evil child in a horror movie talks - you know, the one who insists upon saying everything in a really unsettling voice as the music around him suddenly builds to an operatic tension, just so you know that he's fucking evil. When surrounded with the kind of unholy racket the rest of the band puts up here - as emphasized by some stellar guitar work courtesy of Brendan Tobin and Eric Cooper - Christmas sounds like she might just be the anti-christ.


Additional entries will be posted in the days to come.

In Circles - Demo (2008); Plus Contempt! Derision! Scorn!

As the year comes to a close, tradition has it that you will find egregious list after list ranking the best albums of the past year, churned out in a fashion befitting the craftsmanship of an assembly line, by blogs and magazines everywhere; all of them joyfully eager to get their opinions out before people stop caring about where exactly each individual journalist gave placement to one 'Lil Wayne' and move on to more interesting list-related activities, like People's upcoming countdown of the "10 Funniest Drug-Related Addictions Celebrities Faced This Year". And so too, as tradition has mandated it, will I indulge in an eventual year-end list, regardless of whether or not I (unlike the magazines I have so callously derided) have an audience that readily gives a fuck.

But I will not do that yet. (Why?) BECAUSE THERE'S STILL ALMOST A MONTH TO GO. GAWD. WHAT ABOUT THE ARTISTS RELEASING THEIR ALBUMS LATE IN THE YEAR WITH THE SPECIFIC INTENTION OF MAKING BIG MONEY ON CHRISTMAS SALES? DO NOT THEY DESERVE CRITICAL ACCLAIM AS WELL? CAPITAL LETTERS

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Anyhoo, I figured in keeping up with the theme of 2008, I have decided to share with you one of my favourite finds from the past year, a 4-song demo released this year by In Circles. I couldn't tell you anything about them, or even where I found this (I forgot). Checking out their Lastfm page reveals nothing about the band, except that they have a grand total of 27 listeners (and a healthy portion of free downloads that don't appear on this demo). So in lieu of any real background information, I will just assume that they took their name from the Sunny Day Real Estate song of the same name. There. I said it on the internet, so now it's true.


In Circles play a jumpy kind of post-hardcore, merging the raw explosiveness of hardcore with a gentler, SDRE-tinged sense of melody. On this demo, they focus mainly on the former, to surprisingly stellar results. Opener "Echo" begins with a furious energy reminiscent of a less progressive City of Caterpillar, as the singer screams out-of-breathedly how he was "gasping for air" over the frenzied burst of the guitars. It is this continued energy, shown both in the voiced frustrations of the vocals as well as the constantly changing and progressing guitar lines, that makes this demo exceptional. The band has all the rawness and enthusiasm of a garage band, with an instrumental prowess and sense for composition far beyond what would be expected of them. What you have on this demo is just over 10 minutes of dynamic and intense post-hardcore that takes an established structure and plays the hell out of it.

Here's hoping that now, with my substantial endorsement, we can get that total up to 30 listeners.

In Circles - Demo

Decahedron - Disconnection Imminent

Decahedron - Disconnection Imminent


In the aftermath of Frodus, its members went on to a number of other projects. Nathan Burke, Frodus’ latest in a long line of bassists, went on to form The Out Circuit, where he still resides today. Shelby Cinca formed steampunk band The Cassettes, moving in a number of more experimental directions past even what was hinted with And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea, as well as playing briefly in the band Mancake, alongside Frodus drummer Jason Hamacher. But eventually, Cinca went back to his post-hardcore roots, again enlisting Hamacher on drums as well as former Fugazi bassist Joe Lally, and together they created Decahedron, a socially conscious outfit that lived by the mantra of “Delete False Culture”. Decahedron only released one album, Disconnection Imminent, but it signalled a spiritual return to the protest-punk of Frodus, as well as a musical progression that combined the angry, dissonant hardcore they were known for, with Cinca’s growing experimentation with ambience and electronics (a couple years afterward, Cinca would put out a solo album based entirely around this concept). The result was an original and unsettling album, which contrasted sci-fi bleakness with a very real and disconcerting look at modern society.


As mentioned above, the music feels like a noticeable progression from And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea-era Frodus; by which I mean you can make comparisons between Decahedron and Frodus easily (and I have), as the underlying form seems obviously influenced by Cinca and Hamacher’s former project, but there is also a natural evolution on display here. As such, Decahedron feels like a spiritual successor to Frodus, and not just in the phylogeny of the band itself. The angular raspiness of the guitar is more than familiar to the listener, and the way in which the smoothness of the bass plays off the guitar in intertwining fashions is again exhibited, but the way electronics have been integrated keeps any sense of derivativeness at bay. Interludes such as “Dislocation” showcase the way in which the band manages to insert abject dissonance into their tracks, and while this may become grating within the parameters of an instrumental song, it works well in giving an even greater sense of desolation to calm, brooding epics like “Every City is a Prison”. Indeed, feedback is used constantly throughout this album, as the ominous cries of what sounds like industrial machinery audibly rusting on the spot are injected and pumped into the backgrounds for mood. This works to varying degrees in terms of listenability, but what can’t be denied is how it communicates the isolation of the music in a very direct way.


As far as the vocals go, Cinca remains more austere than usual here, generally finding himself content to passively croon along to the despondent flow of the music, but he still has his moments to shine. The chorus of “Burning Lights” is a definite highlight here; after a very menacing passage leads to quiet, Cinca’s obstructed screams of “Drowning into yourself/turning against your will to live” manage to come off as fierce as ever. “Lt. Col. Questions Himself” provides another prominent example of Cinca’s ragged intensity, shouting his lines just as loudly as the music can drown them out. The way Cinca screams so wholeheartedly and forcefully has always been a highlight of Frodus for me, as he always conveys an emotional passion and intensity that can rarely be matched, making it something of a shame that he doesn’t do it more often here. The result is an album that is less focused on anger (despite the virulence of the lyrics), and more focused on detachment. A great example of this is in “No Carrier”; when Cinca screams about disconnection during the chorus, the message is transmitted with all the accuracy of a drive-thru order, cutting out and obscuring the words from full recognition.

All in all, Disconnection Imminent is a strongly atmospheric post-hardcore album that, while not quite matching the greatness of Frodus’ work before it, manages to impress. Experimental without being impenetrable, smooth while still keeping an edge to it, Disconnection Imminent remains a gem in the catalogue of three men with much bigger claims to fame.

DELETE: False_Culture

Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea

Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea


Frodus was formed in 1993 and dissembled in 1999, issuing two full-length albums and a number of other releases while together and recording a third just before breaking up. Their exceptional blend of mathy, D.C.-style post-hardcore has earned them praise from, and given inspiration to countless followers. The band reached their pinnacle on what was regrettably their third and last album, the post-humous And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea, experimenting with a number of different esthetics to add to the noisy, jumpy punk (affectionately deemed “spazzcore”) they originated with.


Like nearly all D.C. post-hardcore bands that came about in the 90’s, Frodus takes a number of cues from the godfathers of post-hardcore themselves, Fugazi. Fugazi helped shape the landscape for post-hardcore with their aggressive, discordant sound, as well as their desire to experiment beyond the traditional means and limits set out for them, two things Frodus had going for them as well. An analogy between the two wouldn’t be hard to follow; both D.C. bands, both playing styles of angular, occasionally abrasive post-hardcore, and both considered to be among the best at what they do.


As the 90’s went on, Fugazi became more and more experimental, and while this lead to them gaining a reputation as some of the premier pioneers in underground music, it also involved them losing much of the aggressiveness that made them great in the first place. Whether or not this was positive is irrelevant; the point is this pattern of development was not theirs alone. Near the end of their days, Frodus was going down a similar path, wherein they wanted to experiment with the boundaries of their already developed sound. The result is less chaotic and far more polished than, say, F-Letter, and has a feeling of maturation when compared to their previous releases, not unlike comparing The Argument to 13 Songs.

And this is where the analogy ends. Because unlike Fugazi, Frodus do not seem even the slightest bit tamed on And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea, remaining just as angry and as vigilant against the mainstream culture that spawned them as ever. Sure, there’s the occasional ambient interlude, suggesting that the band just didn’t have anything left after writing this, but don’t let that fool you; cries like “Stupid human scum!” are only the most literal examples on an album full of cynicism and frustration. The aggression is most palpable on tracks like “The Awesome Machine” and “There Will Be No More Scum”, wherein the coarse power of the guitar and the screams of singer Shelby Cinca lend an incredible amount of intensity to the proceedings.


Yet there is a certain wistfulness to a lot of the songs as well; while the lyrics are as angry as ever, managing to be both veiled and direct in their vitriol, they also convey a very defeatist approach toward the topics taken on. For example, in “The Earth Isn’t Humming”, as the minimalism of the bass combines with Shelby’s resigned cries of “another one must fall down”, the listener is greeted with an overwhelming sense of despondence. This feeling of hopelessness engulfs much of the album, whether Frodus is working toward a frenzied, noisily cathartic climax, or constructing a slow, melodic instrumental piece. The contrast between the angrier and more aggressive songs, and that of the more despairing and gloomy songs do a great deal to suggest a level of exhaustion in the band, as if they just couldn’t keep up the same level of defiance anymore. This weariness also finds itself coming into play in the rest of their music too; the angular, mathiness of the band which could have previously been likened to a San Diego-style band like Drive Like Jehu, now sounds more relaxed, almost to the point of post-rock territory.

With their last album, Frodus created the monument for which, for better or for worse, they will be remembered for. And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea is a triumph of subversive, experimental music which manages to combine the sensibilities of math rock with the volatility of hardcore and come away a rousing success. Gloomy and ominous, it takes the bands’ pessimistic, wearied take on the modern world and translates it seamlessly into audio format. There may be more famous bands to come out of D.C. in the past 15 years, but there are few better.

Frodus Conglomerate Intl. thanks you for listening

We Can't Stop Here; This is BATS Country!

BATS - Cruel Sea Scientist


DANGER! DANGER! MANKIND!

Fuck you Kent
You’re fucking dangerous
And bats will destroy you
And bats will destroy you
AND BATS WILL DESTROY YOU

Hey, quick question. Does Kent Hovind think Bats are birds or mammals?

(/yes, that’s kind of relevant.)

To answer Question #1 on your mind: Bats are a heavily progressive five-piece post-hardcore group from Ireland that blends all kinds of influences into their approach, from post-punk to metal. Offbeat and somewhat insane, the end result is a catchy and anthemic collection of songs that are both crushingly heavy and highly accessible. In late 2007, and again in early 2008 through the Richter Collective, they released their debut EP Cruel Sea Scientist.

Creationist Fun Fact: Did you know that Kent Hovind is currently serving a ten year prison sentence for tax-related crimes? He wasn't just convicted of one offense, mind you - he was convicted of 58!


The EP begins with a bang; the chants and screams of "Death to Kent Hovind" provide the listener with an infectious kind of revulsion, and introduces the listener to a main theme of the album: that is, that the group is heavily interested in biology and as such, have developed a very noticeable anti-Creationist agenda. From their myspace:

Formed in the early part of the Pliocene age by complex molecules, BATS (featuring ex-members of Martha Washington) have spent millions of years developing their sound from a series of intermittent bleeps to the sexy sonic bullets they create today. 4 out of 5 BATS hail from Ireland's alpha-smoke- Dublin, while the other crawled his way on bloody knuckles out of the haunted town of Carbury, Kildare in the mid 1600's. In early 2007 BATS began peddling their love around the island and have since played support to such acts as Gang Gang Dance, Down I Go, Horse the Band, Sebadoh, The Locust and Liars. December 2007 sees the release on independent label Armed Ambitions of their debut EP entitled 'Cruel Sea Scientist' and the frightening of some smaller children. Strong supporters of the Earth to space elevator and strong opposers of the plan to strip-mine the moon for Helium 3, BATS strive to disperse their audio seed into the ears and minds of as many receptive humans as possible. They do so with valiant gusto and in the face of a limited gene pool. A product of Natural Selection, a constant source of erection. BATS.

So, um, yeah. They're kind of dorks. But that's not important. What's important is the skill and precision with which these guys play, as well as their talent for creating versatile and highly enjoyable hardcore songs. The guitar work is varied tremendously between creating intricately catchy, jazzy rhythms, as seen in the opening of "These Ones Lay Eggs", and dense, metal-influenced audio suffocation that combines the strength of all four guitars into one throttling package. Equally impressive is the way they change back and forth between the two extremes; the transitions are both seamless and numerous. Using the previous example from "These Ones Lay Eggs", the song shows the band adding new chords and guitars as its original catchy riff chugs along, only to swerve into heavier territory and back again as singer Rupert Morris sings along in a falsetto as a collective arpeggio swirls around him. The song structures the band employs are often just as complex, never resting on a simple display of verse-chorus-repeat. It's rare that this kind of imagination and desire to experiment beyond the traditional hardcore landscape can be used so thrillingly, and with so little caution thrown to the wind.

Creationist Fun Fact: Fossil evidence? Not as empirical as you think!

Another enjoyable part of the band is the way vocals are used. Morris' vocals in many ways reflect the duality of the music that surrounds him, going from an almost sarcastic speaking voice delivery to ear-deafening screams that conjure up a surprising amount of intensity given the playful nature of the band. With lyrics like "I USED MY LASER VISION; I USED MY MICROSCOPE" you wouldn't expect a very serious tone, but Morris carries himself in a way where he communicates the message while still retaining a sense of gravity, wry though it may be.

BTW, does Kent Hovind have laser vision? Advantage: BATS


Creationist Fun Fact: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are Satanists. No, really.

With their debut EP, BATS create a surprisingly original and gripping collection of songs. Taking influence from hardcore, post-punk and metal alike, and infusing them with a jazzy and spastic style of song-writing. The band never takes itself too seriously, without suggesting that we shouldn't either; indeed, it's hard not to be drawn in by this debut, with all the promise it suggests. The only disappointment is that at only 16 minutes long, it's bound to leave the listener hungry for more.

(thanks to Gabba at Hardcore for Nerds for originally linking me to this)

the facts will destroy you
and BATS will destroy you

The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island Burn

The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island Burn


Straight out of Seattle, creating some of the most viciously hyperactive music I have ever heard, come the Blood Brothers. A five-piece hardcore/post-hardcore outfit, the Blood Brothers lasted from 1997 to 2007, playing an experimental and incredibly frenetic form of punk full of anger and aplomb. On ...Burn, Piano Island Burn, the group employs a more varied offence than seen in previous releases, as each song seems to seamlessly switch back and forth between fierce, balls-out hardcore and slower, more rhythmically-coordinated pop music. Considered by many to be the Blood Brothers’ magnum opus, …Burn, Piano Island Burn is an album full of convulsive, frantic music, one that refuses to let up to the very end.


The vocals will be the most obviously apparent thing noticed by any first-time listener, and rightly so. The vocal duties of the band are traded back and forth between the low-key, ominous cries of Jordan Billie and the blood-curdling screams of Johnny Whitney, showcasing an interesting duality between the two that reflects the diversity of the music. Billie often takes center stage while the music is still building in intensity, whereas Whitney shines mainly during the chorus, as his shrieks blend seamlessly with the high-octave onslaught of the refrain. Lyrically, the band covers a number of subject matters bordering on the morose and the gruesome, often utilizing disturbing surrealist imagery and metaphors to transcend the situation (When Cecilia's throat slit like a second set of lips/she drooled braille bibles onto the brothel bed spread). To call it morbid would seem like a measure of stating the obvious, but thankfully, it doesn’t come off as simple shock value due to the removed and sullen manner in which these lines are delivered. Rather than revel in the violence which the band deals with, Billie’s vocals remain oddly detached most of the time, neither celebrating the brutality of characters such as “The Salesman, Denver Max”, nor condemning them. It seems more of an exploration of these people, and thereby an examination of the society that creates them, rather than just pure vicarious misogyny. Songs like “Ambulance Vs. Ambulance” support this claim by taking a critical look at the products of mainstream society in the first verse, and then providing a more specific examination of an everyman who cheated on his wife in the second (You'll never see your wife and children again/ so tell us what was going through your head/when you looked into their eyes and said "no thanks I'll take the hooker instead"), all of which is linked together through the colourful backdrop of a hospital ward. By combining their two-pronged attack with such imaginative and multifaceted themes, the Blood Brothers feature one of the most unique vocal and lyrical assaults in all of punk.


Of course, it is worth pointing out that …Burn, Piano Island Burn is not an easy listen, and could prove quite beyond the reach of many. Musical harmony is thrown to the background throughout most of the faster tracks on this album, with the band resorting to a voracious mixture of discordantly creative instrumentalism in its place. The guitar feels jagged and unrelenting, almost bloodthirsty in its ability to drive the songs forward, and the bass complements its squealing perfectly. To a first-time listener, it may seem like nothing more than noise, with no thought given to melody at all, but over time, patterns emerge which shows the band's distinct attention to detail in creating each song. The instruments act as a piece of the story being told, intermingled with and subject to the topic at hand, rather than being counted on solely to dictate the pace. The guitars slow and the bass becomes more noticeable to suggest an ominous passage in the song; the music picks up, coalescing into a cacophonous explosion to denote a feeling of dire importance into the song. Much like a surrealist painting, the sum of the seemingly disparate parts work together in creating the message of the whole.

With …Burn, Piano Island Burn, the Blood Brothers create their best work, combining the frenzied, no holds barred appeal of past efforts while acquiring a more listenable, pop-oriented styling that would eventually become front and center on Crimes. Bizarre, morbid, and utterly demented, this is one of the most unique punk albums of the decade, and also one of the best.

1-900 USA N-A-I-L-S OH BABY