Tag: punk

  • Sweat – Gotta Give It Up LP

    Sweat – Gotta Give It Up LP

    Sweat Gotta Give It Up LP (Pirates Press Records) On the surface, the cliche that, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” writes itself into any discussion about Gotta Give It Up. Yes – from the opening notes of “Hit & Run,” the opening cut on Gotta Give It Up, Sweat presents itself like…

  • Come Closer – Pretty Garbage LP

    Come Closer – Pretty Garbage LP

    Come Closer Pretty Garbage LP (Pirates Press Records) While it’s very easy for me to get excited about a new punk band that I’ve never heard before (I’ve been listening to a lot of punk, for a for a lot of years), running across something which makes me excited because I can’t immediately qualify it…

  • The Lorrainas – Party ‘Til It’s Dark [Reissue] LP

    The Lorrainas – Party ‘Til It’s Dark [Reissue] LP

    The Lorrainas Party ‘Til It’s Dark LP (Reissue) (Surfin’ Ki’ Records/Mom’s Basement Records) Sure, this vinyl reissue of Party ‘Til It’s Dark – The Lorrainas’ first and only full-length studio album – may seek to re-introduce material which is now seventeen years old, but anyone who hears it will excitedly admit that the music sounds…

  • The Vapids – Charm School Dropouts [Reissue] LP

    The Vapids – Charm School Dropouts [Reissue] LP

    The Vapids Charm School Dropouts LP (reissue) (Surfin’ Ki’ Records) For almost three decades now, The Vapids have been one of the hardest working bands in Canada. Since the day they started in 1993, The Vapids have never stopped working; the band has toured regularly as well as doing one-off shows from their home base…

  • The Monsters – You’re Class, I’m Trash LP

    The Monsters – You’re Class, I’m Trash LP

    The Monsters You’re Class, I’m Trash LP (Voodoo Rhythm Records) Arguably the greatest compliment one can pay to a punk record is not to call it “good” or “great” or anything like that (because such terms can be – and have been – dismissed as a matter of opinion or as a matter of perception),…

  • Booze & Glory – Vespa & Londonians 12” EP

    Booze & Glory – Vespa & Londonians 12” EP

    Booze & Glory Vespa & Londonians (12”EP) (Pirates Press Records) Remember back in the early aughts when Fearless Records compiled a series of albums which found some genuinely great punk bands covering a multitude of different artists and genres – recasting them all in a punk context? Some of those covers were actually really, really…

  • Grade 2 – Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions 12” EP

    Grade 2 – Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions 12” EP

    Grade 2 Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions 12” EP (Epitaph/Pirates Press Records) As someone wise once said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans,” and no punk band is making the best of a bad situation more than Grade 2 has, lately. The band had to put the promotional efforts behind their Epitaph debut…

  • Lars Frederiksen – To Victory 12” EP

    Lars Frederiksen – To Victory 12” EP

    Lars Frederiksen To Victory 12” EP (Pirates Press Records) After a career spent tirelessly writing, recording and performing music with a celebrated list of bands on an incredible number of releases (to date, that list includes no fewer than forty-five releases recorded with bands including Rancid, Stomper 98, Old Firm Casuals, The transplants, The Bastards…

  • Plizzken – …And Their Paradise Is Full Of Snakes LP

    Plizzken – …And Their Paradise Is Full Of Snakes LP

    Plizzken …And Their Paradise Is Full Of Snakes LP (Pirates Press Records) The fact of the matter is that, in punk circles, no one wants to be a “middle of the road” kind of band. Why? Well, as Dwight Eisenhower once said, “The middle of the road is all the usable surface. The extremes, right…

  • Neighborhood Brats – Confines Of Life LP

    Neighborhood Brats – Confines Of Life LP

    Neighborhood Brats Confines Of Life (LP) (Dirt Cult Records) I confess that I spent most of my first play through Confines Of Life, Neighborhood Brats’ third full-length album (and my first exposure to the band), just trying to figure out where to start with it. Somehow, it just wasn’t easy to effectively catch or contain…