Hopefully you kids are a lot luckier than me and are off work and/or school and are celebrating President’s Day to the fullest.

Of course, since there isn’t really many President’s day parties going down, why don’t you party with the housewives as we crank out a president’s day mix, giving a (somewhat relevant) song to each president in the history of the United States of America. Oh, and of course, if you want a REAL history lesson, you ought to check out this book.

MP3:
George Washington: Fifth Hour Hero – How Much Is Revolution With Taxes?
John Adams: Bedouin Soundclash – National Water
Thomas Jefferson: Blacktop Recess – Independence Day
James Madison: 7 Seconds – What If There’s War In America?
James Monroe: Avail – Monroe Park
John Quincy Adams: Raised Fist – I’ve Tried
Andrew Jackson: Bones Brigade – Disgruntled Old Dick
Martin Van Buren: Defiance – Concealed Genocide
William Henry Harrison: Fizzy Bangers – Short Attention Span
John Tyler: Good Riddance – Texas

You seriously need more mixes?
Darwin 200th Birthday Mix
Dumbass Yuppies Thinking I’m Trying To Break Into Their Car (A Mix)
Songs To Piss Off The Personal Trainer Below Me Mix
Fuck The Flu Mix
Intermission (A Short Mix)

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk
Amazon

Nobody plays 3 chord punk rock like Teenage Bottlerocket… NOBODY! While these Wyoming punk rockers exploded in the punk community with their manna-esque “Total”, they actually have a full length before “Total” that is damn solid.

“Another Way” features the pop-punk sound we’ve come to love from Teenage Bottlerocket, but is much more raw in it’s delivery. Songs such as “Be Stag” and “Patrick” are top notch Teenage Bottlerocket, but I don’t find most of the songs as memorable as anything on “Total” or even “Warning Device” (probably because their latter two were masterpieces, it’s tough to compare with them). Nonetheless, “Another Way” is must-have Teenage Bottlerocket, and I recommend anyone who loves energetic punk rock to give this a listen.

Oh, in other news, anyone else hear about how Teenage Bottlerocket just signed to Fat Wreck? Didn’t see that one coming (seriously).

MP3:
Teenage Bottlerocket – Be Stag
Teenage Bottlerocket – Another Way

Another Article:
SNFU (Legendary Skate Punk From Canada)
Best Albums of 08 (Teenage Bottlerocket is on this)
The Copyrights
The High School Dropouts
The Vapids – Most Underrated Ramones-Esque Band Around

Buy:
Official Website

Today is Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, and I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge nerd when it comes to evolutionary biology (seriously). It’s amazing how one man completely changed the way the world thinks in terms of science and our origins, and how some people still refuse to believe evolution happened.

A few months ago, the Church of England apologize to Charles Darwin (126 years after the fact) for calling him a heretic and denying evolution. Hey it’s a start, maybe in the year 2126, the church will apologize for hating on gay people too!

Either way, I came up with a list of books that I think are awesome in terms of evolutionary theory goes in case anyone is interested in reading them… oh, and of course, an mp3 mix (you’d be surprised how little punk songs are written about natural and sexual selection… I wonder why?)

MP3:
Protest the Hero – Palms Read
NOFX – Dinosaurs will Die
Dillinger Four – Our Science Is Tight (Live)
Groovie Ghoulies – Happy Birthday Song

Book To Educate Yourself (For Beginners)
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution Of Human Nature
The Selfish Gene (Currently Reading This)
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped The Evolution of Human Nature
Evolution For Everyone

More Mixes:
Dumbass Yuppies Thinking I’m Trying To Break Into Their Car (A Mix)
Songs To Piss Off The Personal Trainer Below Me Mix
Fuck The Flu Mix
Intermission (A Short Mix)

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

Propagandhi released the following statement:

“OK wieners, we’ve decided to try something different this time around. Before some dumb-ass dickweed leaks our new album all over the ‘net at some obscenely-low bitrate with the song titles mixed up and our band name spelled wrong, we’re gonna throw you a sweet, sweet (human) bone in the form of two wicked new songs (Supporting Caste and Human(e) Meat) from our rad new record while simultaneously trying to scrounge some spare change for a handful of organizations whose efforts in some way reflect our values. Don’t be a fuckin’ cheapskate either, you skinflint-tight-wad-Scrooge-McDuck motherfucker.

Just kidding. You’re not a duck!”

You can make a donation here.

In a sea filled with half assed love songs and crappy indie remixes, what the hell is a pirate brotha supposed to do these days? Let Alestorm guide you and your crew through these treacherous musical waters…

Ok, all terrible metaphors aside, Alestorm is a self proclaimed pirate metal band hailing from Scotland. Mixing the synth breakdowns of power metal, the sing-alongs of folk, and the speed of thrash, these Scots sort of sounds like a mix between Dragon Force, Flogging Molly, and Horse the Band.

While the music is really solid, listeners need a sense of humor when it comes to the lyrics. They tackle pirate-y topics, and they often (ok, always) come off as really corny. The opening track for example: “We met an old man with a hook for a hand/He showed us a map that led to treasures untold/He said I’ll give ye the map, if ye give me some gold“. However, even with all the corniness, I have to admit that I felt the 5 year old in me get excited as they told their stories of epic adventures.

Definitely worth taking a listen if you’re looking for something a bit different than usual, and in all honesty, if they came around Philly, I’d go see them. They seem like a band that would be awesome live.

Mp3:
Alestorm – Terror On The High Seas
Alestorm – Of Treasure

Also Read:
Protest the Hero
Housewives Gone Metal

Buy:
Napalm Records

These are worth a dollar or two.

I swear, get a little alcohol in some clubbing “I seem to be experiencing a mid-life crisis” yuppie with some pre-mature male pattern baldness, and they think they run the whole god damn city.

The other night, I was out skating, when a car pulls up, and this drunk dude stumbles out towards me.

“YO!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”

“Skating… You got a problem?”

“… never mind.”

Ok, that should have been the end of it. Apparently however, our pre-mature male pattern baldness clubber friend also experiences Alzheimer”.

“Yo! What are you doing?!”

“Didn’t I already tell you?”

“Do you deal airbags?”

Now I’ve been asked if I deal drugs before by people looking to buy, which I find hilarious since personally I’m straight edge… but airbags? Must be code for some new drug… something so sinister, it cannot be called by it’s real name otherwise the devil snatches your soul…

“I don’t even know what the hell that is…”

“Because my car’s been broken into so many times, and if it gets broken into again, I’m going to fucking flip.”

Ahhh, he thinks I want to break into his car. For any drunk yuppies reading this: I’m no expert, but it’s generally considered bad strategy to bring attention to your car if you don’t want someone to break into it. Also, if you are talking to someone who you think is going to break into your car, its usally frowned upon to inform said suspect that there are valuables within.

“I understand people wanna do drugs and what not, but don’t fund them with my fucking airbags!”

“I don’t do drugs buddy.”

“Well I do!”

Well no kidding! I would have never guessed by your seeminglessly flawless logic, and your random outbursts to threaten someone skating at 1 am!

“And I swear to god, if it gets broken into again… I’m going to flip!!!”

Well, quite honestly, I didn’t even know that airbags were valuable, but now that he mentions it, I do have student loans to pay for… but I wouldn’t know how to get an airbag out anyway. I hope someone came along and busted into his car on principle. The yuppies in my hood aren’t too bright.

MP3:
Common Rider – Thief In A Sleeping Town
I Spy – Appliances and Cars
Pink Razors – Comfortably Dumb
Smoke or Fire – Cars
World Inferno Friendship Society – Charming Side of Drunk

More Mixes To Break Into People’s Cars With:
Drunken Yuppies Breaking Into My House Mix
Songs To Piss Off The Personal Trainer Below Me Mix
Fuck The Flu Mix
Intermission (A Short Mix)
Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

SNFU has been around forever, and probably before a majority of the readers of this blog (including myself). When it came time to roll around their 10th full length “In The Meantime and In Between Time” back in ’04, SNFU perfected that skate punk sound.

SNFU has made a name for themselves over the years, with Ken Chinn having an extremely distinct sing/talk vocal delivery, and complimenting guitar work that uses punk riffs, but often dips into metal and hard rock.

The album itself features some of SNFU’s finest work (Cockatoo Quill, If I Die Will You Die, etc), but some of the songs in the middle don’t really stand strong on their own, but work just fine when listening to the whole album.

A solid album that unfortunately, received very little fanfare and press when released, but should definitely be checked out if you’re a fan of skate punk.

MP3:
SNFU – Cockatoo Quill
SNFU – If I Die Will You Die?

More Articles to Check Out:
Propagandhi New Song!!! (You really don’t need a further explanation)
Bankrupt (Belgium punk rock)
Vandals
SNFU Haiku (Some punk rock poetry…)

Buy:
Rake Records Myspace

Lately, Municipal Waste has become one of my favorite bands. I simply cannot get enough of their high energy crossover-thrash-face-explosion-party-on-your-face music. I thought I had all of their material, but then I heard of the Tango and Thrash EP… which is a tribute to Kurt Russell.

….Hell Yes! Admittedly, I used to often get Russell Crowe and Kurt Russell mixed up, but this was before I saw “Escape From L.A” 2 weekends ago. (“Duuuude. You’ve seen Escape From L.A and never saw Escape From N.Y? Wow. Kill yourself”). I know, I just lost so many scene points.

MP3:
Municipal Waste – Escape From NY/Big Trouble In Little China
Municipal Waste – Tango and Thrash

Tango and… read?
Cut The Shit
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste Haiku

Buy:
Let me know if you find it.

The Have Nots are one of the best bands that you may have never heard of if you don’t live on the east coast… hopefully their newest independently released “Serf City USA” will change that.

Sounding something like the illegitimate bastard child of Operation Ivy and The God Awfuls, Boston’s Have Nots found the perfect blend of punk and ska riffs. Don’t let the ska influences fool you however… I highly doubt you’ll find a bunch of 12 year olds in pork pie hats and suspenders running in place at one of their shows. The Have Nots are no frills pure as fuck punk rock.

While it’s a bit early to be calling it, I get the feeling this will be on my top 10 of 2009, and if it somehow isn’t, then this will be one hell of a year for music.

MP3:
Have Nots – One In Four
Have Nots – Regression

Have You Not Read These Articles?
Taj Motel Trio (Fans of Big D)
Against All Authority (You should know em’)
New Propagandhi Song (Nothing to do with this article… but I’m effing stoked)

Buy:
Have Nots Myspace

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNwDmqoXrXw]

As most of you know, Propagandhi is coming out with a new album “Supporting Caste” in March, and finally, someone posted the first track to a homemade video on youtube.

All I have to say about the song is: holy shit.

(Oh and for those who are curious, the main picture is from a book called “Codex Seraphinianus“, which is pretty much an encyclopedia about an imaginary world.