Tag: review

  • The Drowns – Lunatics 12” EP

    The Drowns – Lunatics 12” EP

    The Drowns Lunatics EP (Pirates Press Records) It would be easy enough to curse The Drowns out for what the band has done with the Lunatics EP. Not unlike what innumerable other acts have done, over the years (Hot Water Music, NOFX and John Lennon all leap to mind), The Drowns have elected to take…

  • Charger – Warhorse LP

    Charger – Warhorse LP

    Charger Warhorse LP (Pirates Press Records) After releasing a couple of singles to introduce themselves last year, Charger (Rancid bassist Matt Freeman’s side project) has finally elected to give listeners a full-course meal of exactly everything they’re all about with the Warhorse LP. How, let’s be honest here – some side projects have all the…

  • 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…

  • Black Label Society – Doom Crew Inc. [2LP]

    Black Label Society – Doom Crew Inc. [2LP]

    Black Label Society Doom Crew Inc. (2LP) (eOne) Funny thing about the bands and/or projects launched by guitarists, they tend to focus heavily on guitar. It is not uncommon, for example, for songs on such albums to feature extended examinations of the guitar as the central thematic and sonic element of every composition; the instrument…

  • Long Range Hustle – I Am Alive But Only If You Say I Am LP

    Long Range Hustle – I Am Alive But Only If You Say I Am LP

    Long Range Hustle I’m Alive, But Only If You Say I Am LP (Sans Shoes/Anti-Fragile) While the nature of the album’s title seems inherently soft, on its face (most bands want to exclaim, “We are here,” but the title of Long Range Hustle’s sophomore full-length album seems to ask for the validation that most other…

  • The Slackers – “Windowland” / “I Almost Lost You” 12” digitally-printed single

    The Slackers – “Windowland” / “I Almost Lost You” 12” digitally-printed single

    The Slackers “Windowland” / “I Almost Lost You” (12” Digitally-Printed single) (Pirates Press Records) It can be fun to write a short review once in a while and, when one addresses The Slackers’ newest single, “Windowland,” it’s impossible to not be brief. Clocking in at less than ten minutes total, the two songs on the…

  • 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…

  • T. Hardy Morris – The Digital Age Of Rome LP

    T. Hardy Morris – The Digital Age Of Rome LP

    T. Hardy Morris The Digital Age of Rome LP (New West Records) It’s weird to think how tumultuous a year 2020 was, and how that tumult was reflected in the music which was released at the time. Even if a band didn’t actually have a political streak in their hair or bone in their body,…