I know I already posted this… but Blogger took it down because they got a DMCA take down notice… which makes no fucking sense since I did not post any songs off the album (I had a song off of an old Rise Against album on Fat Wreck)… which leads me to believe that it was taken down because it’s a less than favorable review. So Interscope Records: Fuck off, you have no jurisdiction.

Rise Against used to be one of the most prominent, promising melodic hardcore bands and one of my personal favorites… These days, Rise Against are one of the most prominent Nickleback / Thrice cover band around.

It’s a shame too, because I had such high hopes for “Appeal To Reason“. Sure, “Siren Songs of the Counter Culture” sucked, but the following “The Sufferer and the Witness” was a step in the right direction. Now with “Appeal to Reason“, the band ran straight to the jail of the mediocre without passing ‘Go’ or collecting $200 dollars.

Rise Against used their try and true tactic of opening the album with a strong track (rather similar to some slower “Revolutions Per Minute”, and then launches into 44 minutes of watered down, over produced, washed up music I’ve ever heard.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few songs on here that aren’t half bad (like “The Dirt Whispered”, it’s a very good Blink 182 song), but 90% of the album is boring, run of the mill filler. Even the songs that resemble older material seem to just lack the balls-off-the-wall bite that Rise Against used to have.

The biggest problem is that Rise Against just tries to be hard to be radio-friendly… and succeeds. Take “Kotov Syndrome” for example: a pretty solid Rise Against song that is instantly ruined by a teeny-bopper breakdown that will have every Hot Topic kid pogo-ing along to.

Mediocre, boring, and stripped of all energy, Appeal to Reason pretty much sums up the MTV friendly path that the band has taken*. And to the line take from the song “From Heads Unworthy” (“I’m not after fame and fortune/I’m after you”), I’m going to have to call bullshit.

Disclaimer: Since I’m sure I’ll otherwise get a bunch of comments telling me to stop caring about how big a band gets, let me just say: I don’t. It’s one thing to get big by making solid music (see: Protest the Hero, Bouncing Souls), and it’s completely another to just water yourself down to get on the #3 spot of the Billboards Top 200 albums.

Photo taken by Matt Simansky

Well, Philly is going completely bonkers after winning the world series last night, so I figure Philly is the perfect spot to kick off the newest series: Housewives World Tour!!!

In Housewives World Tour, I’ll be showcasing my favorite bands from select cities, states, countries, and tribes!

Besides the liberty bell and having sports teams that (usually) suck, Philly is probably best known for it’s quirky punk rock music (Dead Milkmen, Atom and his Package), and it’s copious amounts of melodic hardcore bands. Come visit me in my current town, and let’s rock out like it’s 1776!

MP3:
Atom and his Package – Philadelphia
Paint it Black – White Kids Dying of Hunger
Kid Dynamite – Pits & Poisoned Apples
None More Black – 10 Ton Jiggawatts
Low Budgets – Stupid Dead Kitty
Armalite – Dan’s Hands Melt
Mischief Brew – Gimme Coffee, or Death

Also check out:
Low Budgets – Leave Us Alone
Snowshoe BBQ!
Paint it Black Street Show!

Buy:
interpunk

I usually don’t put news items up, but this was rather exciting, as I’ve been listening to a lot of Grey Area lately…

Higher Giant finally posted some music (5 songs!) on their myspace page (I’ve been waiting forever). Go check it out if you like melodic punk rock.

Their Myspace:
Higher Giant

Also Read:
Higher Giant Live In Philly Review
Grey Area
Kid Dynamite

I’ll be quite frank with all of you: Bad Brain’s “Rock For Light” is one of the greatest hardcore albums EVER in the history of the world (although I’ve heard that the ancient Egyptians knew how to throwdown.)

Hailing from DC, many have made the argument that these Rastafarian punk rockers were the godfathers of hardcore music (of course this was back in the day when hardcore was taking a punk song and playing it even faster), and they’d be right. Vocalist HR is all over the dynamic range, hitting pitches that a crack fiend being attacked by pack of rabid flying squirrels would have trouble hitting.

Now there are a few quirks about this re-issue that fans should know about. First off, the original was only on vinyl, and when they transferred it to compact disc (haha rememeber when those were a novel invention?), the producers decided it would be a really good idea to speed up the songs by 5% and increase the pitch by a half-step (because apparently Bad Brains doesn’t play fast enough… right). This won’t matter to the average listener, but all you vinyl nerds (and I know you’re out there) may have some qualms with the album.

A must in every punk fan’s collection.

More Articles To Bleed To:

Minor Threat

Christ On Parade (80s punk rock for fans of MDC)

The Adolescents

The Circle Jerks

Buy:
Interpunk

So I just got back from my homecoming at my college (where the housewives began), down in good ole Fredericksburg VA, and it was completely siiiick. Went to two shows down there (Flobots and Fburg locals The Trasmitters), and both were pretty damn good. I was able to avoid all the college sport games (not so hard to do when your school doesn’t have a football team), and So this one goes out to all my bros and sistas…. yo.

MP3:
Static Radio NJ – Won’t Sleep
Groovie Ghoulies – Til Death Do Us Party
Atom and His Package – Before My Friends Do
Municipal Waste – The Art Of Partying
Bigwig – Friends
Bouncing Souls – Manthem
Lagwagon – To All My Friends

Also Check Out:
A House Full of Friends Compilation
Four Square, Speeding Tickets, and West Virginia‘
Homecoming 07

Buy:
Static Radio NJ
Bigwig
Bouncing Souls
Atom
Lagwagon

Finally, some post hardcore that you can listen to without having to completely raid your little sister’s closet looking for her jeans to wear!

La Dispute isn’t your typical screamo band (I wouldn’t be posting this if they were… god I hate that genre*): first off, vocalist Jordan delivers his stream of consciousness lyrics in an almost hip hop/slam poetry fashion (well, assuming they yell a lot) without sounding (overly) whiney.

Musically, the band is able to avoid most cliches of post hardcore by keeping the screaming influences to a minimum. Sure those oh so emotional arpeggios are there, but so is the occassional thrash/jazz fusion breakdown.

Obviously, if you’re into this genre, you’ll eat it up, but even if you’re a bitter punk fan like myself, you may be pleasantly surprised… I know that La Dispute has been a constant in my rotation.

*Note: Some would say that I seem overly negative about screamo, and they’d be absolutely correct. Let me just say: try growing up in New Jersey as a bored teenager about 6 years ago, seeing all your favorite bands shows cancelled (I’ll post on this story soon, it’s pretty ridiculious) to make room for such groundbreaking bands like “Taking Back Sunday”. Let’s just say, I’d pick up a calculator in math class, and written on the screen would be some “From Autumn to Ashes” lyrics…
MP3:
La Dispute – Such Small Hands
La Dispute – The Castle Builders

Also Check Out These Hot Housewive Articles:
Braindead (Heavy as shit hardcore)
Embrace (Something about some dude from Fugazi and Minor Threat)
Fugazi vs Atom and His Package (moronic ramblings x3)

Pre-Order on No Sleep Records:
Pre-Order

Seeing Teenage Bottlerocket in a small (non-alcoholic) bar on a chilly Tuesday night? That means there won’t be a lot of people… that means fuck yes.

Let’s get the one negative thing about the show out of the way right now: it was too loud. I don’t mean it in an old person way, I mean people were covering their ears, asking the sound guy to lower it, stuffing paper towels in their ears… The venue was really narrow and the sound guy was all the way in the back (he did a really good job with keeping the instruments leveled though).

What Happened?
I got to the relatively empty JC Dobbs right as locals What Happened? were finishing up their last few songs. Unfortunately, I didn’t see enough to give a detailed review, but they seemed pretty solid, and appeared to be having a blast on stage.

The Mad Splatter
Besides having a kickass band name, The Mad Splatter also completely ripped it live. Another Philly local, The Mad Splatters played pop punk in the veins of… well… Teenage Bottlerocket and The Ramones. There is surprisingly a lot you can do with those 3 chords.

Bednarik
Bednarik was up next, and it was obvious that the crowd was ready to see some Bottlerocket action. Bednarik perservered though with their tight playing and hilarious topics (ex: “This song is about how you don’t pick up many girls when you look like a fat Jesus like I do”). They kept poking fun at themselves (“Every other band here is sooo much better than us… We have nothing to bring to the table…we’re like the jiz moppers at a porno shoot.”) But regardless, they played a solid set.

Teenage Bottlerocket
Finally, Teenage Bottlerocket took the stage and played their hearts out to about 30 people. Wasting no time whatsoever, the band blasted into “Bottlerocket”, “In The Basement”, “Stupid Games” and a few more before taking their first short break. This Ramones-esque pattern continued for the rest of their set, ripping through 5-6 songs before taking a breather. Teenage Bottlerocket also treated us with a new song that hasn’t been released yet (although it is recorded according to them), and let me say… it sounds SOLID.

A tight show all around, and it’s always a pleasure to see Teenage Bottlerocket, but to see them in such a tiny atmosphere is just freakin awesome.

Setlist from what I can rememeber (not in order, although pretty complete)

-Bottlerocket
-In The Basement
-Stupid Games
-Crashing
-Lost In Space
-Go Away
-She’s Not The One
-Totally Stupid
-Social Life
-Radio
-New Song
-Blood Bath at Burger King
-Be Stag
-Repeat Offender
-Pacemaker
-On My Own
-Gave You My Heart
-Fall For Me

MP3:
Teenage Bottlerocket – Fall For Me
Teenage Bottlerocket – Be Stag

Be Cool! Also Read:
Teenage Bottlerocket/Broadway Calls Split
The Soviettes LP I
The Copyrights
Teenage Bottlerocket w/The Copyrights show review
Teenage Bottlerocket – Warning Device

Buy:
Teenage Bottlerocket

Skate punk is a pretty limited genre. All too often, bands will completely emulate their contemporaries as opposed to pulling some influences, which when listening to, leads me to say things like “Gee, I should really shut this off and just listen to some Deviates”.

Hungary’s Bankrupt is able to avoid this problem by pulling in influences from a variety of bands. Sure, the melodic 90s skate punk you’d find in a So-Cal band is there, but then all of a sudden you’re hit with a pyschobilly guitar riff.

While relatively unknown here in the States, these Budapest punk rockers aren’t newbies. Playing for nearly 12 years together and touring all over the world, Bankrupt has developed into their own sound, successfully blending all of their influences and delivering an onslaught of catchy punk rock.

MP3:
Bankrupt – Baby’s Got The Bird Flu
Bankrupt – Straight Outta Graceland

A (housewive) article a day keeps crappy pop away:
The Vandals
NOFX
SNFU
Greedy Guts

Buy:
Bankrupt Myspace

Last night I was pretty damn bored, and actually watched the baseball game (really rare for me to do…like once every few years). Aaaaand… why not have some songs about my rare experience to kick off Monday morning?

MP3:
Smoke or Fire – Goodbye to Boston
Mustard Plug – Ballpark Skank

Buy:
Smoke or Fire
Mustard Plug

Six Years… Six long, Siberian winter years! Think back to where you were six years ago and all that has happened in the time (Kerry was up for election, Michael Jackson is arrested AGAIN, ska gets huge again… or not), and then realize that it was then that Dillinger Four released their last album. I’m a huge D4 fan, and the past few years have been pretty rough.

So is C I V I L W A R the treasure created by 6 long years of pure genius and non-stop toil? The answer to that is not only no, but a huge no fucking way. D4 admitted that all the songs were written within the past years, and knowing D4, some were probably cranked out a week before recording. Obviously they have not read “7 Effective Habits of Highly Motivated People” in all fairness, neither have I, and I pray you haven’t either).

What about C I V I L W A R itself? Well, it’s a grower. It took me at least seven spins before I warmed up to the album. The songs are noticeably poppier, and Paddy barely sings at all on this record. The sound is more polished, which took me a while to get used to.

Unless you’re driven by pure hype like those kids at punknews.org, it’s probably going to take a while for you to be sold on the new D4. I’ll break down my experience:

1st spin: What the fuck?! D4! What have you done? Get this poppy shit off!
2nd spin: Wow, this lacks the energy of their previous releases.
3rd spin: I could fall asleep to this album.
4th spin: Eh… It’s like an average cupcake, not the greatest you’ve ever eaten, but hey… it’s a
cupcake.
5th spin: Still not top notch D4… but still better than most crap that’s out there.
6th spin: Just as good as any D4 album (ok. it’s no “Versus God”)
7th spin: Ok, I’m sold.

So… yeah, if you’re not sold on the first spin, give it a chance… haters.

MP3:
Dillinger Four – Like Eye Contact In An Elevator
Dillinger Four – Minimum Wage is a Gateway Drug

If You Want To Live… Read:
The Vandals – Live Fast Diarrhea
Against Against
NOFX – War On Errorism
The Soviettes

Buy:
Fat Wreck