March was another great month for music releases, and as much as I hate grouping recommendations into posts like this, other aspects of life are getting in the way of individual recommendations. These types of posts will have to serve as ‘better than nothing’ for the time being. Arliss Nancy – Simple Machines (Suburban...
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Lagwagon – Duh / Trashed/Hoss/Double Plaidinum (Reissues) (Fat Wreck Chords, 2011) Remasters, reissues, demos, outtakes, studio sessions — I usually don’t buy into these things. It’s just too overwhelming to try to keep up with new music AND try to immerse myself in every sound that came out of making an album I loved...
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For as long as I can remember, the name Golden Voice has been pretty synonymous with great punk and metal shows. I believe my first ever punk show (GBH/The Accused) was a Golden Voice sponsored tour, so when I showed up at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Sunday night I was proud to...
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Max and Igor Cavalera, the two famed metal brothers who formed the legendary Sepultura, have been playing together for the last few years as Cavalera Conspiracy, after not even talking to each other for over 10 years when Max left the band. For those unfamiliar with Cavalera Conspiracy, their sound falls somewhere between the...
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Fun Fun Fun managed the transition from Waterloo Park to the much larger Auditorium Shores without losing what made it special in the first place. While the short walk between stages (and scenes) became somewhat of a hike, this really gave more room for those spaces in between and removed the noise battle that...
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Not only did the city of Austin approve a 3rd day of Fun this year, but the people over at FFF6 tacked on an extra 30 or so Nite shows…for free. As if a couple days of ear, liver and brain abuse wasn’t enough, this year is going take a whole new level of...
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Post-hardcore was a short-lived passion of mine. Having discovered Minor Threat and Black Flag slightly too late to be a part of that movement, my generation could be found trying to recreate that scene with bands such as Good Riddance, Strung Out, Lagwagon, NOFX and others. When the old regime did come through town,...
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It took half an hour for Keith Morris and OFF! to blast through every song in their punk rock repertoire. 30 minutes provided the time needed for 17 songs, plenty of onstage banter and even a few breaks for the 56-year-old legend to catch his breath. The seasoned vets gave it their all, so...
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Trophy Scars – Never Born, Never Dead (Independent, 2011) Trophy Scars – Messengers To be honest, I had never heard of Trophy Scars before I came across Never Born, Never Dead. A Jersey band that started out as a post-hardcore live act, evidently transformed themselves in a blues experiment of sorts. The six songs...
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The Power of the Riff kicked off its second year in L.A. with a line-up that would make anyone on the East Coast blind with envy. As if that full day assault of brutal hardcore, metal and crust wasn’t enough, Southern Lord brought their genre and generation crossing festival up the coast with stops...
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Fucked Up – David Comes To Life (Matador, 2011) A hardcore concept album concerning a heartbroken factory worker? An 80 minute album of epic proportions from a band that was known for 7″‘s overflowing with screw-you-in-your-face political punk rock just a few short years ago? The end, right? They literally fucked up, right? What’s...
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