So, longtime readers will remember when this lovely ole blog first started, there were 3 writers… and no direction at all. We didn’t really know where we wanted to take the blog, and it was just more of a fun hobby for us. AquarianBeauty, although she doesn’t write on here anymore, used to be our expert in pointing out interesting websites, stories you may have missed and comics deep within the bowels of the Internet.

Well today is her birthday, and although she doesn’t even really like punk music all that much… I don’t see why we can’t use it as an excuse to hear some of the best birthday songs in punk rock today. Sooo… Happy Birthday!

MP3:

Groovie Ghoulies – Happy Birthday

The Vandals – Happy Birthday To Me

The Vandals – Bad Birthday Bash

Atom and His Package – Happy Birthday General

Big D And The Kids Table – Running Young

7 Seconds – Young ‘Til I Die

Big D And The Kids Table – Good Luck

Bouncing Souls – Born Free

Low Budgets – Born Before The Internet

Kid Dynamite – Birthday

NOFX – New Happy Birthday Song

Some Old School Aquarian Beauty Posts:
Olde English
Wii Invades Retirement Homes
Barats and Beretas

Buy:
Interpunk

On Saturday night, I headed down to Bordentown, NJ’s Record Collector in order to see an in-store performance by home state ska heroes Hub City Stompers. The vibe was a strange one: there was a hotdog and popcorn vendor, seats for people to sit down, and two sections (an upper, where the band and a few dedicated fans were, and the main, where the majority of the crowd stayed and calmly watched). I was bummed at first, because I thought there wasn’t going to be any dancing (barely any room), but once the band started, myself and a few others were up front and moving.

Hub City Stompers would also play two sets, with a short break in the middle (little odd, but more songs = no complaints here!). The band was as tight as ever, and played songs spanning across all of their releases. Whoever constructed the setlist did a solid job as well; I’d imagine that two sets would be difficult to put together (don’t want to use all your energetic songs in the beginning but you don’t want to bore the crowd as well).

They played some newer material (well, new for Hub City Stompers, which translates in been-playing-these-songs-for-a-while-now-but-it’s-not-recorded-and-will-take-us-392-years-to-record) including Shallowed Be (a shot at organized religion) and one of my favorites, Pants Music (a shot at the emo scene, with the oh so heart touching chorus of “Your music sucks”).

A solid set(s):

Set 1:
Hub City Stomp
Bumbl-B
Little Julie Swastiska
Johnny Date Rape
Clutch Tango
Mass Appeal
Shinhead Boi
Bridge Over Troubled Squatter
Pants Music
Weeks Worth Of Wednesdays
Ghosts (The Jam Cover)

Set 2:
WTFIU?
Trojan Night
Chatterbox
Where’s My Hooligans?
Skins Don’t Cry
Shallowed Be
Ska Train To Dorkville
Fuck You, You’re Irish
Phantom
I’ve Got a Boot
Ska Ska Black Sheep

MP3:
Hub City Stompers – Clutch Tango

This Goes Out To My Jersey Crew:
Hub City Stompers – Ska Ska Black Sheep
Ruder Than You – Big Step
The Slackers – Self Medication

Buy:
Hub City Stompers

On Friday night (yeah yeah I know it’s been a few days, I’ve been sick aiiight?) I headed out to my favorite Philadelphia house venue The Terrordome to catch Brooklyn skate drunks Cerebral Ballzy.

Tet Offensive:
I headed in really early to catch some of my friends who live at the place, and after talking for a bit, Philly’s Tet Offensive set up and played one brutal set. Unfortunately, the band no longer had a bassist, and while it did detract from the sound a bit, the Tet Offensive still put on a quick, spastic hardcore show.

Cobra Lung:

Up next were Philly’s/NJ tongue-in-cheek straight edge band, Cobra Lung. Shocked I’ve never seen these dudes before hand, Cobra Lung played quick as hell hardcore, and had one of the best crowd reactions of the night. If they come around you’re area, definitely check them out.

Stressed Out:

Next up were NJ, New Brunswick’s Stressed Out. Playing an intense set of crossover thrash in the veins of Municipal Waste, it seemed like the flipped hat thrash duders at the show were really getting into them. Definitely want to check out some of their recorded work.

Team Robespierre:

The majority of the crowd was there for these guys. The dance punk group had one hell of a pit to their Matt and Kim/Totally Michael style songs. I began by sitting on the side since I had a sprained knee, but after getting hit in the face with a bottle, I decided the safest place would probably be in the center of the spazztic dancing pit.

Cerebral Ballzy:

Finally, the reason i came out to the show to begin with. A large percentage of the crowd bounced after Team Robespierre, but a dedicated few stayed for the old school hardcore sounds of Cerebral Ballzy. Playing their style of drunk punk in the veins of Bad Brains and Black Flag, Cerebral Ballzy put on a hell of a show, and if they come around, go see them.

MP3:
Cerebral Ballzy – Insufficient Fare
Team Robespierre – Ha Ha Ha

More:
Cerebral Ballzy w/Totally Michael

Buy:
interpunk

I’ve been listening to mc chris’s “Eating’s Not Cheating” quite a bit as of late. The 3rd release from self proclaimed cartoon nerd rapper, it took me a while to get into this release as a whole (some singles on here are solid),but now it is one of my favorites by mc chris.

“Eating’s Not Cheating” has a lot of more straight up hip hop influenced songs such as Toothpick Spliffs, tractorbeam, and mynameis. With mc chris’s clever (and hilarious) rhymes rapped over lots of synths and catchy beats is the formula that makes this album flow. Songs like “mc chris ownz” show his non-traditional rap beats (not to mention lines like I spell word with a 3 / name’s mc / other rappers flow weak like window unit ACs).

mc chris is also quite the story teller, as heard on the juxaposited song Ratz, which tells the story of two highly mismatched roommates over one of the sickest beats I’ve ever heard in hip hop.

Highly recommended if you love hip hop that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

MP3:
mc chris – Ratz

I wanna go to an mc chris show:
mc chris – Part Six Part Three
mc chris – Part Six Part Two
mc chris – Part Six Part One
mc chris is dead

Buy:
mc chris

Everyone has that one friend who is a complete metal head. When my friend Evan and I first met, I was pretty damned opposed to metal. I know there are a lot of similarities to punk rock, but I just couldn’t get over all the ridiculiously stupid virgin sacrificing-esque lyrics and the vocals (which either simply had to be guttural cookie monster growls or prepubescent castrated boys… the power metal scene digs that one). Crossover thrash was too punk rock for him, and metalcore was too… actually metalcore just plain fucking sucks.

However, when my friend showed me thrash metal band Destruction’s “Antichrist”, I was instantly hooked. Take the speed of metal and thrash and mix it with the energy of punk rock, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a good time. Sure, some of the lyrics are stupid, but many are actually political, and the Antichrist is a complete shredfest. Highly recommend it if you like Municipal Waste or any thrash inspired band.

MP3:
Destruction – Thrash Til Death

More:
Swallowing Shit
Propagandhi – Supporting Caste
Massive Aggressive
Tango And Thrash EP (Tribute to Kurt Russell)
Hazardous Mutations

Buy:
Destruction

This past weekend I went to Long Island to visit some friends, and I was thinking about bands from there, and realized I never posted on one of my favorite albums by Long Islanders Bomb The Music Industry.

After The Arrogant Sons of Bitches broke up, I was kind of bummed out. I was a pretty big fan of the band, and saw them a handful of times. So when I heard that Jeff was starting his own side project named “Bomb the Music Industry”, I was pretty stoked to hear their debut “Album Minus Band”.

Album Minus Band had a more heavy feel to it with songs like “Blow Your Brains Out On Live TV” but still kept the ska beats going with songs such as “Does Your Face Hurt? No? Cause It’s Killing Me”. While Bomb the Music Industry’s music has evolved quite a bit through the years up to their latest (and ridiculously kick ass “Scrambles”), it’s good to hear the more raw rock of this bedroom recording.

MP3:
Bomb The Music Industry- I’m a Panic Bomb, Baby!

Bomb the Housewives:
Bomb the Music Industry – Scrambles
Mustard Plug – In Black and White
Hub City Stompers – Ska Ska Black Sheep

Buy:
Quote Unquote

I remember when I first discovered Toxic Narcotic. I was radio DJing with my friend up at our college radio show (which had a total of 3 listeners on a good night… seriously) when we were trying to discover some new punk bands. My friend pulled out Toxic Narcotic’s “We’re All Doomed” and suggested we try it out. From the look of the cover, I was expecting some Voodoo Glow Skulls type ska, although the little sticker contained two sentences describing the music as heavy.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience: the most heavy, cynical pissed off punk rock my little freshman ears have ever heard. Seriously, where have you been in my high school days, Mr. T. Narcotic?

With lyrics such as “5 billion people must die/that’s the only way to save the wildlife” and “everyone has problems its never gonna stop/here’s a good solution – shut the fuck up“, Toxic Narcotic’s “We’re All Doomed” became my blast beat filled, nihilistic, no ambition go-to album that day… and you know what? 7 Years later, it still is.

MP3:
Toxic Narcotic – 5 Billion People Must Die
Toxic Narcotic – Shut the Fuck Up

More:
Phobia – Means of Existence
Swallowing Shit

Buy
Rodent Popsicle

Passing in his sleep 2 nights ago at the young age of 29, Jay Reatard, we hardly knew ye. While sometimes controversial (punching people in the back of the head, pissing on fans) Jay had a following that spanned across genres. The indie kids dug him since his music was relatively non-threatening and had enough pop sensibilities, while punk fans could get into his garage punk approach and simple power chord progressions.

“Watch Me Fall” is a formidable follow up to the “Singles Collection”, the album that made me become a fan of Jay Reatard. Jay stuck to his poppy garage punk formula on standout tracks such as “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” and “Can’t Do It Anymore” while he experiments a bit with slower tempos on songs like “Nothing Now”.

“Watch Me Fall” is a good place to start if you’ve never heard Jay Reatard before, and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re a fan of some catchy rock.

MP3:
Jay Reatard – Ain’t Gonna Save Me

More:
Jay Reatard – Matador Singles 08

Buy:
Matador Records

I know you guys come here daily for punk rock, ska, and hardcore tunes, but hear me out for a second.

For those who don’t know, yesterday, a natural disaster hit Haiti in the form of a deadly 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living below the poverty line, and is already plagued with a bunch of problems. The death toll from this earthquake is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands. Much of the infrastructure has completely collapsed. Most hospitals are not functioning due to damage from the quake.

The Red Cross estimates that 3 million survivors need emergency aid: medicines, bandages, first aid, and field surgery supplies are needed immediately, as well as emergency food, shelter, and clean water.

It’s time for us punk rockers to practice what we preach, and actually help out those in dire need. If you can help out, think about donating what you could to one of these emergency organizations to provide emergency relief for these people.

Mercy Corp
Yele-Wyclef Jean’s Organization

You can find a huge list of places to donate here.

Brash, irreverent, and gritty as all hell, Friends of Friends play melodic hardcore the way it was supposed to be played. These Tallahassee punks are giving away their “Deep Search” album for free on the web, and it is definitely worth your time to check it out.

“Deep Search” contains 10 songs in 32 minutes of energetic sing along anthems that fans of Hot Water Music and Avail will be certain to eat up (and it’s fucking delicious). I could go on and on about Friends of Friends, but their album is up free for christ-sakes, and you should probably just go download it and listen the hell out of it.

MP3:
Friends of Friends – Stillness Illness

Housewives of Housewives:
Over Stars and Gutters
Smoke or Fire – This Sinking Ship
Fifth Hour Hero

Buy:
Friends of Friends