Canadian skate thrash gods (eh?) Forming back in 1981, SNFU (which stands for Society’s No Fucking Use) has quite the catalog of albums under their belt (9 full studio albums to be exact). The One Voted Most Likely To Succeed was their 6th release, and it is more solid than your stool after eating green bananas.

TOVMLTS features SNFU’s perfect blend of straight up thrash and skate punk. The mix isn’t as hard hitting as “In The Meantime and Between Time”, but the songs are overall definitely heavier.

A classic SNFU album that needs to be checked out by any fan of skate punk.

MP3:
SNFU – Big Thumbs

The Articles Voted Most Likely To Be Read:
SNFU – In The Meantime And Between Time
NOFX – Coaster
Propagandhi Supporting Caste

Buy:
Epitaph

If it’s not fast and heavy, reggae, or Johann Sebastian Bach, I usually hate it. If the music sounds hipster-y (you know, that indie shuffle drum beat, vocals try to sound like Modest Mouse or Pavement), you can count on me double hating it.

So the fact that I’m liking Annabel’s “Each and Everyone” is a bit of a logical fallacy. The songs are slow, long, and uhhh…. really good actually. There’s a lot going on in these songs. Bells, keys, cymbal heavy, and intricate guitar work make these songs incredibly melodic and ambient. I’ll admit, the songs do have a tendency to run together, and I can’t listen to more than 4-5 in a row before I need to take a break and come back, but that probably has more to do with my A.D.D than anything else.

I’d swear that these dudes were from Brooklyn if I didn’t know that they were from Kent, Ohio. Oh, and I can’t be the only punk rock fan who is digging these guys, as they played last year’s Fest 7.

MP3:
Annabel – People And Places

Each And Every Article:
Kittens Ablaze (For fans of Ra Ra Riot, Arcade Fire, Defiance Ohio)
A Mix for the Bros Of The World (Who Will Probably Hate It)
Light Pollution
The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour

Buy:
Annabel Myspace

Hope you all had an awesome memorial day weekend (and to all our non-us readers, hope you had a good weekend?)

I just got back from the Boston trip and I didn’t get a 300 dollar speeding ticket this time: GREAT SUCCESS!

MP3:
Aus Rotten – …And Now Back To Our Programming

Nonstop Housewives Party:
Memorial Day Weekend Mix
I Went To Graduation And All I Got Was My Camera Stolen
Good God, I’m Going To Die
The Top 5 Punk Band Names
Scenester 101: 9 Easy Steps To Become a Skinhead
A Mix For Warm Weather And The Beach
A “Save The Planet” Mix

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

Hello trusty housewivers… I’m going to be gone up until Tuesday or so hanging out in Boston with some friends, so I probably won’t have a chance to update until then.

Hope all you have a kick ass memorial day, try not to kill uncle Ralph once he accidentally lights your house on fire when he’s barbecuing, and I’ll see you suckas next week.

MP3:
Big D and the Kid’s Table – I’m Yours Boston
Smoke or Fire – Goodbye to Boston
Street Dogs – Savin Hill
Give Up The Ghost – There’s A Black Hole in The Shadow of Pru
Paint It Black – Memorial Day

More Mixes To Memorial Day It Up To:
I Went To Graduation And All I Got Was My Camera Stolen
Good God, I’m Going To Die
The Top 5 Punk Band Names
Scenester 101: 9 Easy Steps To Become a Skinhead
A Mix For Warm Weather And The Beach
A “Save The Planet” Mix

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

I don’t know how it happened. Being a Jersey kid, there are two bands that I’m completely embarrassed that I’ve never seen live: Bigwig and Ensign. Hell, even my girlfriend who completely hates hardcore and shows has seen both of these bands live.

For those who don’t know, Ensign is an old school hardcore band that is pretty big in NJ’s hardcore scene. Playing good ole’ fashioned hardcore in the veins of Youth of Today, Ensign actually has a bit more punk elements than most old school hardcore bands.

Direction of Things to Come were their first full length album, released back in 1997. If you dig gang vocals, mic grabs, and stage dives… this is a pretty essential album.

MP3:
Ensign – Page 32
Ensign – Tomorrow’s Shadow

Direction of Housewives To Come:
Scenester 101: How to Be Hardcore in 10 Easy Steps!
Gorilla Biscuits
Ten Yard Fight
The Circle Jerks
The Steal
Kids Like Us
Burden

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

Last night, I headed down to Philly’s beloved First Unitarian to catch my favorite nerd rapper mc chris. Last time I saw the master chief, I was pretty sure that the predator baby was going to come out of my stomach, thus due to extreme pains, it made the show a bit less than enjoyable (yay for being a vegatarian allergic to soy).

This time around I went soy free, and pain free… and ready to dance stand and listen to one nerdy rapper. Last time I was a bit shocked by the crowd, so this time I was prepared for the Chewbaca costumes, darth vadar face masks, and the all around lack of energy from the crowd.

Whole Wheat Bread:

I’ve seen Whole Wheat Bread more times than I can remember, and their shows are always hit or miss. They either completely kill it live, or completely suck. Unfortunately, last night these Jacksonville (wannabe) thug punk rockers turned up the suckage. Playing waaaay too many “dirty south ya’ll” raps, the few pop-punk songs they played completely seemed to lack any energy whatsoever.

The lack of energy didn’t stop a group of about 10 dedicated fans who started to pit (although I don’t even know if it could technically be considered a mosh pit…) in the middle of the nerd crowd, who were obviously EXTREMELY pissed off anybody was dancing. Regardless, I definitely wasn’t feeling the band last night.

mc chris:

mc chris surprised me with his setlist. Concentrating on mostly older songs (only a few newer ones were played at all), mc chris tore up the microphone with the opening of “Geek”. Busting straight into The Tussin afterwords, the only movement in the crowd came from 2 dudes who were dancing and bumping into people (and mc chris kicked them out for being “dicks”… sigh.)

He seemed in much better spirits than he did last time I saw him, and seemed to be enjoying himself on stage with his constant crowd control (whatever he said, people did).

The stage banter was hilarious (“that’s when I realized that twilight was racist: all american-indians are werewolves”), and he even stopped the show for a little bit for a quick Q & A session (which he said he wouldn’t take requests… so I guess no “Check The Ring, Yo” for silverunity). For the last song, mc chris came back on stage with Whole Wheat Bread to play “Fett’s Vette”, which made me firmly believe that mc chris should do a tour with a backing band, much more energy.

I’d definitely recommend going to see mc chris, but expect a crowd that makes indie shows seem lively.

Setlist (Not in order, but pretty complete)
-Geek
-The Tussin
-Fuckin Up My Christmas
-mc chriz Ownz
-Ten Year Old
-Evergreen
-Tractorbeam
-White Kids Love Hip Hop
-Robot Dog
-F.T.W
-Wiid
-Hijack
-Pizza Butt
-On*
-nrrrd grrrl
-006
-neville
-IG-88

Encore:
-mc chris is dead
-Fett’s Vette

MP3:
MC Chris – The Tussin

More mc:
mc chris covers Atom and His Package, Heads Explode
mc chris – Part Six Part One
mc chris is dead

Buy:
mc chris

Last night, although beyond exhaustion, I headed out to the tiny dive up in North Philly known as the Barbary in order to catch Higher Giant. I was running really late, but the show was running even later, so I made it in time for the openers.

Detournement:

Detournement is compromised of a pretty respectable lineup: members from Bigwig, Worthless United, Ensign, and a slew of other cream of the crop Jersey bands. Theoretically, they should completely rip it live with their experience. Their performance last night seemed slightly lackluster.

Granted the band completely skipped a sound check, and thus there were no vocals in the mix at all, so I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the shitty sound mix.

Higher Giant:

The reason I came to the show! I’ve seen Higher Giant twice before, and also consisting of a solid lineup (members from Grey Area, Kid Dynamite, The Arsons, etc), Higher Giant always kills it live. Although it seemed like no one except me knew who they were or any of the songs, last night wasn’t any exception.

Going through their entire catalog, they played everything off of “The First 5″, and introduced about 5 new songs that haven’t been released yet. The songs definitely were solid, and I’m definitely stoked to check out the new ones once they’re released.

If they come around your area, definitely hit them up, one of the most underrated punk bands around today.

Off With Their Heads

These were the dudes that everyone (except myself) was there to see, and the crowd finally livened up once they took the stage. I’ve never actually heard them before, but they definitely reminded me of Dillinger Four/Screeching Weasel (which is always a good thing).

Stage banter was non-existent, and it was a non-stop onslaught of cheery, drinky punk songs. The show definitely made me want to pick up some stuff by these guys to check out, and it was a fun show, even though I didn’t know any of their songs.

MP3:
Higher Giant – Dangerous (Low Quality)

Higher Housewives:
Higher Giant – The First 5
Token Entry
Higher Giant w/Token Entry and Bouncing Souls
The Art of Moshing Everywhere With Kid Dynamite

Buy:
Higher Giant Myspace

So, this past weekend I headed out to bumble-fuck Pennsylvania to go to my brother’s college graduation. On the morning of said graduation, my camera either:

1. Fell out of my pocket
2. Was stolen by some sketchy, “I actually have a gold tooth and look like I’m a 40 year old greaser” dude who came up to me.

Since I pretty much searched that entire place multiple times looking for my camera, I’m gonna guess it was jacked… at a graduation. I hope I’m wrong, but either way, it’s a good excuse for a Monday Mix.

MP3:
The Steal – The Steal
Rise Against – Voices Off Camera
Common Rider – Thief In A Sleeping Town
World Inferno Friendship Society – Let’s Steal Everything

More Mixes To Jack Shit To:
Good God, I’m Going To Die
The Top 5 Punk Band Names
Scenester 101: 9 Easy Steps To Become a Skinhead
A Mix For Warm Weather And The Beach
A “Save The Planet” Mix

Buy:
Interpunk
Smartpunk

Wow, Rise Against still does have the ability to make blistering punk rock songs, as proven on their latest Self Titled 7 inch released on May 12th, 2009 on their old label Fat Wreck.

They don’t mention the new 7″ anywhere on their website, and I was reluctant to check it out after hearing that Nickelback wanna-be album known as “Appeal To Reason”. The 2 songs were actually recorded during the Appeal To Reason sessions, but since they’re heavier, they probably didn’t make the major label cut.

The songs themselves have a very “The Unraveling/RPM” feel to them (which is rather nostalgic, that’s when I started listening to the band), and definitely are the best songs they released in the past 5 years.

Mp3:
Rise Against – Grammatizator

More Rise Against:
Appeal To Reason Sucked
Rise Against – The Unraveling
Rise Against – Revolutions Per Minute

Buy:
Fat Wreck

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuMaI8kHkWM]

Yes… I know, it’s been a show blitz here at the housewives, but that’s how we role! Despite feeling like utter shit on Monday, I headed out to see my favorite Canadian prog-metal/thrashers Protest The Hero. When I got in, Protest The Hero’s merch guy started to talk to me about Propagandhi (I was wearing a Propagandhi shirt), and said although it doesn’t happen every show, they might play a cover. Awesome.

When I got in… Misery Signals was setting up. They were your standard metalcore/screamo band so I couldn’t really get into them, but they seemed cool (“if you like us tonight… go online, and download our album. We don’t care, pirate that shit!”)

Protest The Hero
First off, let me say that I was shocked by the lack of a solid pit for the band. Seriously, the pit often consisted of just me, and I was running a 101 fever that night, so I can only dance for so long. With that being said, Protest The Hero was tight as usual, although they only played two songs off of “Kezia”, with the rest coming off of “Fortress” (I love both albums, so it doesn’t matter to me).

They gave multiple shout outs to “the dude in the Propagandhi shirt”, and ripped into “Fuck The Border”, which sadly, 99% of the crowd didn’t know what it was. Needless to say, I was the only one in the pit, and once they finished, “That goes out to the only person in the crowd who knows it.” Dang-fangled kids these days and their lack of knowledge about the great Propagandhi…

Setlist:
Blood Meat
Wretch
Nautical
Dissentience
Goddess Bound
Goddess Gagged
No Stars Over Bethlahem
Spoils
Palms Read
Blind Folds Aside
Limb From Limb
Fuck The Border (Propagandhi Cover)
Seqouina Throne

MP3:
Protest The Hero – Spoils

Protest The Housewives:
Protest The Hero Show Review (October 2008)
Protest The Hero – Fortress
Propagandhi Interview

Buy:
Vagrant