Municipal Waste: fucking shit up since 2001. Most of you are familiar with their party thrash studio albums (Art Of Partying, Waste Em All, etc) as they are fucking classic, but you may have skipped over a really early Self Titled EP Municipal Waste released waaay back in 2001.

The debut EP totally slays and will probably somehow get you impregnated as well (even if you’re a man). 6 songs long, the music on here is before they really developed their trademark sound, and is much more similar to many songs on Waste Em All.

The production isn’t the greatest, so at times it sounds a bit muffled, but the energy is raw, and crossover thrash at it’s finest.

MP3:
Municipal Waste – Ratbite

Born To Party:
Municipal Waste – Waste Em All
Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive
Municipal Waste – Tango And Thrash EP (Tribute to Kurt Russell)
Municipal Waste – Hazardous Mutations

Buy:
Municipal Waste

You know what really sucks? When a band that you like a lot but never got to see live breaks up. (10 points to you if your answer was “your mom”). However, it does completely rule when said band decides to do something totally awesome like release every rarity and unreleased song, and it’s a million fucking times even more sweet when they do it for free.

As I’m sure you gathered by now (unless you’re incredibly fucking dense), The Soviettes have done just that with their 18 song release “Rarities”. Rarities contains material spanning over the life of the band, and would be a great introduction to anyone just getting into the pop punk, female fronted Minnesota band.

The songs are much more raw than most of their other material, but it works for these songs. Fans looking for the melodies and harmonies of LP III won’t find too much of that on here though. Songs like Sandbox let us hear a more “rough around the edges” Soviettes, which is definitely cool to hear.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about the album, but I really enjoy “Rarities” and with the price tag (free), you can’t really go wrong. Now if only they did a re-union tour.

MP3:
Soviettes – Matt’s Song (Split Version)

More:
The Soviettes – LP I
Teenage Bottlerocket/Broadway Calls Split

Buy:
Soviettes

This past weekend, I headed out to an undisclosed location somewhere in the city of brotherly love to celebrate the coming of spring, and what better way of doing so than doing it with a secret hardcore punk show with Paint it Black.

I let my friend borrow my car, so I was reliant on public transportation to make the show, and so I wound up only catching the very last song by locals Cobra Lung (although knowing them, it was probably 1/5th of their set.) but I did make it in time for Lighten Up.

The place was fucking packed, and at some points, I definitely felt sick from how hot it was in there. I tried to take it (slightly) easy since I wasn’t really supposed to be doing much and been in physical therapy all morning before hand, but I lost my shit the second I got there.

Lighten Up:

Readers, you know the deal by now: Lighten Up is one of my favorite bands around (even made my top 10 of 2009 homie). When I saw them a week before at The Fire, they put on a damn good show, but the crowd wasn’t digging it at all. The house was much more their territory. They ripped through their 12 minute, Kid Dynamite/PIB influenced set with the crowd constantly moving, even through some of their new songs (which sound sick by the way).

Setlist:
Dolphins Are Sharks With Good Publicists
Born To Perspire
New Song
Invisible Checks
Reality World
Bet
Boyz II Wolves
Another New Song
Absolutely Not

Algernon Cadwallader:

Next up were Philly’s Algernon Cadwallader. Playing melodic slightly emo sounding music, I’m not the biggest fan of their tunes. They have a huge following though, and the crowd seemed to dig them though. Gave me a chance to head in the back and recover from Lighten Up’s set.

The Loved Ones:

Somehow, I managed to never check this band out. Nothing personal, I just never had the chance (or I’m a fucking slacker). Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by the energy of their set and the music. People were diving off of the staircase, pits broke out the entire time, and it was an all around rowdy set. I can’t really say what songs they played since I’m not too familiar with them (note: this will change soon), but fans of The Bouncing Souls and Smoke Or Fire would dig this.

Paint it Black:

Paint it Black, it’s been way too long since you’ve played a Philly show. Nearly 6 months since their last show in Killadelphia, Paint it Black played one hell of a house show that night. The crowd went complete apeshit, with constant dives, mic grabs, etc that the house was in poor condition once everything was over.

After Andy gave a small speech, they urged us “don’t be careful”, broke into “So Much For Honor Among Thieves” and continued the frenzy for a good 36 minutes. I had to stop myself from stage diving on more than a few occasions (remember, trying to be smart) but I figured the pit was OK since technically, leaning on people is like using a crutch (right).

The best Paint it Black show I’ve been to in a while, possibly ever. If you guys are reading this, thanks for playing a house show, and I hope we get to see more smaller scaled shows like this from you.

Setlist:
So Much For Honor Among Thieves
Pink Slip
The Ledge
Four Deadly Venoms
CVA
Past Tense Future Perfect
Exit Wounds
Goliath
Salem
Bliss
Cannibal
Sacred
Worms
Cipher
Gravity Wins
Womb Envy
Shell Game Redux
We Will Not
Atticus Finch
Memorial Day

MP3:
Lighten Up! – Invisible Checks
Paint It Black – Memorial Day

More:
Lighten Up – Absolutely Not
Paint It Black – Amnesia

Buy:
Interpunk

Ok, so I’ve been busy lately, but I have a few sweet posts coming. I did, however want to let everyone know that Jumpstart Records is giving away their entire discography for free. Bands like The Code, A Wilhelm Scream, and personal favorite: Lighten Up are all up to grab. So what the fuck are you waiting for?

Jumpstart

For some time now, Smoke Or Fire has been one of my favorite bands. But it hasn’t always been like that, as the majority of their material tend to be a grower for me. Take Above The City for example: I owned the album back when it came out in 2005, and while I listened to it relatively regularly, I didn’t really warm up to the album for a good year or two. Same story goes for This Sinking Ship.

So when I heard that Smoke Or Fire was releasing a 7-inch with two songs from their upcoming full length “Prehistoric Knife Fight”, I was cautiously stoked. After listening to the 7-inch a few times, I can still say I am cautiously stoked. I really like opening track “Speak Easy” which encompasses everything I love about Smoke or Fire: catchy riffs, rough around the edges vocals, and anthematic choruses.

The second track “Modesty” is definitely a grower on me. Originally I didn’t like it much, but after a few listens, I’m really starting to dig the song. I know that the full length will take some time for me to get used to, but this teaser 7-inch has me pretty stoked to see what Smoke Or Fire has up their sleeve.

The band put up a stream of one of the songs off the 7-inch, so definitely check it out below.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?g=wi&url=http%3A//soundcloud.com/altpress-1/smoke-or-fire-modesty&player_type=artwork

Prehistoric Housewives:
Smoke or Fire – Above The City
Smoke or Fire – This Sinking Ship
Static Radio NJ – An Evening of Bad Decisions

Buy:
Fat Wreck

Last evening, I headed out to Philly’s The Fire to catch one of my favorite hardcore bands around, Lighten Up. The show started a bit late (Was supposed to start at 6, started around 7:15) so I amused myself by walking around the neighborhood, talking to crazy drunk old dudes, and trying out some of the pizza joints. Finally, i heard some sound checking coming from within the bar, so I headed back in.

The Holy Mess:

The Holy Mess was up first, and jesus christ, did these guys loooove to hear themselves talk. They had about a 25 minute set or so, and only played a total of 5 songs. Luckily, those 5 songs were tight as hell, and reminded me a bit of Smoke Or Fire. The music was really solid, and they had a handful of people singing along.

Lighten Up:

The reason I came out to the show to begin with. Unfortunately, the majority of people never heard of them here (freaking hipsters), and so the show was the tamest Lighten Up show I’ve ever seen. Still, they played a kickass 12 minute set, and their new drummer rocked it as well. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more shows from these dudes.

Setlist:
Dolphins Are Sharks With Good Publicists
Born To Perspire
New Song
Invisible Checks
Reality World
Bet
Boyz II Wolves
Another New Song
Absolutely Not

I stuck around for a little longer to check out the Cheap Girls, but I wasn’t into them at all, and my patience was wearing thin since I’ve been at the venue for so long, so I left a few songs into the Cheap Girls.

MP3:
Lighten Up! – Invisible Checks

More:
Lighten Up – Absolutely Not
Paint It Black – Amnesia (New EP!)
The Steal – Bright Grey
The Steal – Self Titled

Buy:
Jump Start

Ahh yes, Saint Patrick’s Day. The day where everyone goes out, pretends they can jig, and gets ridiculiously wasted to celebrate the day this dude was stoned to death. I actually wound up going out, and the one good thing about St. Patrick’s Day is that bars actually play tolerable music for once in their miserable existence. There was a lot of Dropkick Murphys played yesterday, and it took me back.

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Boston’s favorite irish punk/oi band, so today, I figured I bust out an old favorite of mine, Dropkick Murphys “Do or Die”. I used to listen to “Do or Die” all the time back in the day, and it was the first full length from DKM, released back in 1998 (really? over 12 years old?)

With it’s catchy choruses, drunken oi chants, and mid-tempo anthems, “Do or Die” is a punk rock classic. Songs like “Barroom Hero” and “Boys On The Dock” show the gritty punk rock influences, while “Finnegan’s Wake” and “Cadence To Arms” will get all the faux Michael Flatleys out and dancing.

Working class, heritage acknowledging music, Dropkick Murhpy’s “Do or Die” is punk rock from the heart.

MP3:
Dropkick Murphys – Finnegan’s Wake

Read or Die:
St Patty’s Throwdown (A Mix)
Black 47

Buy:
Hell Cat

I saw them live, and they were this blurry in real life too.

One visit to Richmond/Washington DC’s Cloak/Dagger myspace page, and I realized that they probably should have been called “We really, really, really like backslashes” (or is that a forward slash? I can never tell the fucking difference.)

Regardless of their love for the slash, Cloak/Dagger’s 2007 “We Are” is a complete no frills, no bullshit hardcore album. Fist raising, garage influenced punk rock, “We Are” opens with the charging “Bended Knee” and doesn’t let up for the rest of the album until the final song “Outro”.

Seriously. They love the slash.

In between the opener and closer is a wild fucking ride. Hard hitting songs like “Sunburnt Mess” and “Runaways” is reminiscent of old hardcore legends such as Black Flag and The Circle Jerks. Anthematic “Walk The Block” is the catchiest track on the entire album, a “going nowhere fast but still getting older” call to arms with one of the catchiest choruses I’ve heard in a while.

Cloak/Dagger find the perfect blend of melody on “We Are”, without sacrificing any of the hardcore bite. Definitely check out their modern take on old 80s hardcore, because it’s damn good.

MP3:
Cloak/Dagger – Walk The Block
Cloak/Dagger – Sunburnt Mess

Housewives/Articles:
Western Addiction
Rise Against’s Brand Spankin’ New 7″
Ten Yard Fight

Buy:
Jade Tree

I’ll admit it, I got into Municipal Waste later in the game, only really starting to listen to them in the past 4 years. In that time however, the Waste became one of my favorite bands, both on stage and recorded work.

With 16 songs in around 17 minutes, Municipal Waste’s first studio album “Waste em’ All” is ball upper cutting, eye gouging, wholesome family goodness. For those unfamiliar with Richmond crossover thrashaholics Municipal Waste, “Waste em’ All” is a damn good album to start out with. Playing music in the spirit of crossover pioneers DRI, songs such as “Mutants of War” and “Drunk As Shit” show what this band is all about: partying and destroying everything in the process.

MP3:
Municipal Waste – Drunk As Shit
Municipal Waste – The Mountain Wizard

Thrash? Don’t Mind If I Do:
Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive
Municipal Waste – Tango And Thrash EP (Tribute to Kurt Russell)
Municipal Waste – Hazardous Mutations
Bones Brigade – Endless Bummer
LxExAxRxNx – Till Death
Crucial Unit – These Colors Get The Runs

Buy:
Official Site

Sometimes it really surprises me what I post on and don’t. I swear, I think that I post on an album, then I look through some older posts, and I completely skip some albums that I listen to all the damn time. Bomb The Music Industry’s “Get Warmer” is one of these albums, and with the weather finally getting nicer, why the hell not right?

BTMI is one of the hardest working blah blah blah you should know their DIY ethics by now. But I will tell you this: Get Warmer was definitely a turning point album for the band as earlier releases usually just featured Jeff. But on Get Warmer, Jeff recruited a bunch of people to record, giving the album a much more real band feel to it. Get Warmer also leans much more in the ska direction than any other album released by BTMI.

I’ll admit, while I’ve always liked Get Warmer, the awesomeness of it didn’t really hit me until a few months back. Songs like “Pizza Claus Is Coming to Town” and “493 Ruth” remind why I love BTMI so much. I can really relate to most of the songs on here as well: anthems about adulthood. A solid album, check it out if you’ve never heard it before, and if you have, maybe it’s time to pop it back in your stereo.

MP3:
Bomb The Music Industry – 493 Ruth

Housewives Are Coming To Town:
Bomb The Music Industry – Adults, Smart, Shithammered, and Excited By Nothing
Bomb the Music Industry – Scrambles
Arrogant Sons Of Bitches – Discography

Buy:
Quote Unquote