Category: Reviews

A Columbus Feeling
(Boss Tuneage)
myspace.com/spermbirds

Kaiserslautern’s Spermbirds were one of the leading lights of the mid-Eighties Euro-Hardcore explosion, and their debut album ‘Something To Prove‘ (from ’86) is hands down one of THE definitive records of the era. Picking up on the North American Punk sounds that had started to drift across The Atlantic these German dudes nailed short and snappy melodic songs influenced in part by the likes of Agent Orange and the Angry Samoans. But giving them a real killer edge was having a gen-u-ine American singer – hot dang! Indeed, Lee Hollis (a former GI) proved to have the most sneering fuck-you voice this side of Checkpoint Charlie. The reputation was set.

There’s been plenty of blood, sweat and beers under the bridge in the past 25 years for The Spermbirds, but the great news is that they are still with us. ‘A Columbus Feeling‘ is their first album since 2004’s ‘Set An Example‘, and as soon as the thumping opener ‘Matter of Fact’ comes blasting out of the speakers… big riffage, pounding drums and Lee’s snottier-than-thou vocals… I’m in familiar territory, been digging these guys for 23 years… and am instantly digging this brand new collection of songs, ear candy for the OG’s, hah!

The Spermbirds were always about sharp and catchy songs (‘She’s Got V.D‘ anybody?!) and the 13 tracks on ‘A Columbus Feeling‘ carries that tradition ahead in spades… cracking melodic Punk anthems, loaded with plenty of bite and vehemence, and with an average song time of about 3 minutes… no fucking around… right down to closer ‘Honestly’ that has a funky kinda Big Boys feel to it.

There’s talk of some UK dates later this year. I’m already there!

Pete Craven

The album is due out on September 3rd but you can stream some tracks from the band’s myspace and learn more about the album below…

Fake Meets Failure
Taken By Surprise/Deranged Records
www.reddons.com

Portland’s Red Dons are back with another prime slab of punk rock following up their unbelievable debut ‘Death To Idealism‘ that was released back in 2007 to rapturous applause in the underground scene and on this very website. Most second albums go through the mill somewhat but with the band’s history including members forming The Observers, Clorox Girls and more this was always going to be a release to wait for and the result is nothing other than pure brilliance.

From the off, Fake Meets Failure revs up its engines and delivers riffs to die for and sheer punk rock excellence. Land of Reason chugs straight into where Death To Idealism left us with blood and dirt, exploding bombs and very much in the hands of killers as vocalist Douglas Burns slams his political stances across his songs. The beauty of his offerings are not only edgy but melodic too as each song of the ten on offer here just cut into your ears and make you want to grab the lyric sheet just like your favourite punk and h/c records of old. 3rd track ‘Pariah‘ must have done the same thing for them as the band get mighty close to borrowing a few screaming riff solos from the likes of The Adolescents but knowing that this bands roots come from this world and they have taken it to a new level I guess they are allowed to fully get away with it. This only adds to the wonderful nostalgia of this record, it’s not often that bands in the naughties can replicate the quality songwriting of our leading punk rock predecessors but when it comes with bands such as Regulations and Career Suicide as another 2 examples of bands who touch that nerve it’s absolutely brilliant and people need to know they still exist.

One of the main stand outs on this record for me is ‘Pieces’. 5 tracks into the album and the hail of ‘Armageddon!’ starts one of the best punk rock songs ever written covering rejection, dejection, brutal truth and oppression all summed up in 3 minutes and 6 seconds. Another track on repeat in my car from this album is ‘Enemy Ears’ that kind of takes the very best of The Briefs and mashes it up with the force of Dead Kennedys for flavour but obviously written in Red Dons’ uniquely melodic and chuggy way.

Overall if you love hardcore and punk from the good old days, read Flipside and Maximum Rock and Roll for years and have been to see every touring band like us you are going to be stoked when you realise that those incredible records are still being made to this day. Make sure you don’t download it for free off some shit blog on the internet, go and support this band and buy a CD or a slab of their amazing vinyl that someone has made for you right now, you will not be disappointed.

Zac

Watch Red Dons play ‘Pariah’ live here:

Of Gold
Friction Records
myspace.com/barsofgold

From the ashes of underground music heroes Bear Vs Shark rises another musical force to be reckoned with in the form of Bars of Gold. Many a fan of superior rock music shed a tear when Bear Vs Shark announced they were disbanding several years back but now former members Marc Paffi and Brandon Moss have created Bars of Gold and their debut release should certainly go some way to appeasing those who were heartbroken. Paffi’s hearty yelp is unmistakable and whilst ‘Of Gold’ ventures further into indie-rock territory, with nods at the likes of Modest Mouse, this band is definitely a natural progression from BvS.

Now, before I become one of those detestable people who bangs on about previous incarnations of a band in a review of their present musical outfit, I’ll move on to the matter in hand. The stand-out track on this record is ‘Heaven Has A Heater’ which features Paffi’s vocals at their heart-wrenching best. Melodic yet powerful and repeatedly veering towards breaking point, the resulting sound is exhilarating, especially when propelled by carefully balanced instrumentals that build perfectly between the track’s most heady climactic points. Although this is probably the best track on the album, the others are pretty much equally as exciting. What makes Bars of Gold special is their ability to really explore dynamics where other rock bands would just play LOUD. It makes the fuller, louder parts feel so much weightier when preceded by an almost-whispered piece, backed by a gently pulsating drumbeat. But other bands take note – it’s not just loud and quiet that exist in the realm of dynamics. There is a veritable rainbow of sounds that are possible and Bars of Gold really tap into this through their use of layering instruments and vocals in different permutations. Another aspect of the band’s brilliance comes in their constant experimentation with tempo and rhythm. I’d be willing to bet that a click-track was not their favourite tool in the studio. This makes the music flow but with an ever-present rippling undercurrent of unpredictable excitement.

Bars of Gold are good. Believe.

Winegums

Brake Lights
(Free Download)
myspace.com/thegame

In this day and age, mixtapes get dropped left, right and centre. Every day some rapper from the back-end of nowhere throws another diamond-encrusted photoshopped digital mixtape on the blogs trying to make a name for himself to follow in the footsteps of Fiddy. As a result, mixtapes have become fairly pointless for the most part, but when someone like The Game drops one, clearly it’s worth a listen. Brake Lights has been put out for free online to get the hype machine going for the release of the upcoming full-length The R.E.D. Album and if this is anything to go by, his fourth album is going to be huge.

The Game is a great rapper, but has often found himself come under criticism for changing his style up too often to fit the guest rapper and simply name-checking famous rappers every other line. This mixtape is sure to put an end to all that as Jayceon Taylor goes in hard from the very start, with the opening track bombing in following an intro from Busta and breezing into a track featuring Snoop on the guest spot on Trading Places. With Snoop going in with more pronounced energy than his typically laid-back style, it’s a mixtape that feels a lot more like an album proper, which says a lot about the quality on show.

Production from Cool & Dre is more or less always a gold star award and their heavy drums over suitably large vocal samples prove to be the perfect backdrop to the vocals. Cold Blood has Game rapping about the perils of being either a Crip or a Blood, Ecstacy shows their understated side and Street Riders, which features Nas and a somehow not-at-all-annoying sung chorus by Akon gives Game the chance to be the G that we all know he is, on a track that apparently was originally a diss against Pharrell and 50 Cent.

There are times when the production seems to be the total opposite of what Game would normally rap over, such as the folk-sampling You Are The Blood and the standout track on the album Hustlin’ [Champions’ Anthem] but that shows that he’s certainly matured and gained a versatility he hasn’t shown in his previous releases. In short, The Game has released a free mixtape that stands alongside his studio albums, if not edges past them – get involved in this by grabbing the mixtape from here.

Abjekt

You can stream or download Hustlin‘ below. Schweet.

The Game – Hustlin’ (Champions Anthem) by Crossfire Music

After All
People Like You Records
thepeacocks.ch

Swiss psychobilly merchants The Peacocks are a well-oiled rock n’ roll machine, not to mention hardened road dogs; yet the news that they recently celebrated their 20^th anniversary comes as something of a surprise. Hey, maybe playing psychobilly is the key to retaining your youthful good looks, as these guys seem to be aging well.

Not that it would particularly matter if they weren’t, though, because most of ‘After All’ hits the target in fine style. At fifteen tracks long, it would have been easy for the record to start to blur into one long mass of twanging double bass and scratchy guitar, but as the arresting country-influenced title track bursts forth from the speakers, it’s clear that the Peacocks haven’t lost their ear for a great melody. Those who would dismiss these guys for supposedly not being ‘pure’ psychobilly are missing out; variety is no bad thing, and there’s plenty of it on display here.

For the most part, the tunes clock in at less three minutes, and still manage to leave a decent impression. ‘Boring’ sees the band taking lyrical pot-shots at trend chasers over a simple yet insanely catchy riff; ‘Lean On Me’ creeps along with vocalist Hasu singing sleepily over a lone organ backing, before some rockin’ double bass action kicks in, and the relentless pace slows slightly for the mellow but anthemic ‘Better Times’.

‘After All’ isn’t quite perfect, but overall it’s as fine an example of modern psychobilly as you could hope for – and will hopefully increase the band’s small but loyal fanbase this side of the Channel (strange how psychobilly seems to be much more popular in mainland Europe). Watch out for a clutch of UK dates in November.

Alex Gosman

24H
W+K Tokyo Lab / EMI Music Japan
hifana.com/24h

Openly billed as a concept album, the latest release from the Japanese breakbeat duo Hifana may well be the first of its kind in the perpetually underground genre. After all, the world of turntablism rarely considers unifying themes in an LP to be anything more than superfluous, and it’s hardly frequent as it is to come across a breakbeat album by one artist that isn’t indistinguishable from a compilation CD.

In 24H, the duo that so fluidly blend the old and the new, take their bag of traditional Japanese instrumental samples and beat-up MPCs to the notion of everyday living in a fast-paced contemporary city. Hailing from Tokyo, their hometown seems a more than adequate locale.

It begins with two unhesitant and pounding tracks that grow rapidly from a stereotypical university student’s morning-themed soundscape to a groggy bass wobbler. The growling bassline of Robot Namesake is the closest rendition of the noise I make every morning upon waking I’ve heard yet. Chinza Dopeness furthers the haze, as he yawns his way through a sleepy rap while machines cook breakfast and alarms are left running behind more bass assaults in ‘Wake Up’. Then, we progress through to ‘Work It’ and ‘Damn It Ringtone’, both of which are coherently evocative of that daily struggle in an epic slave-song meets Jet Set Radio urban beatfest, but from that point onwards I’m a little lost.

I attribute this to my knowledge of the Japanese language being extensive enough to cover ‘ohayo gozaimasu’ (‘good morning’) and that’s about it. UFO and Touring Tour could well be littered with post-modern poetry about rush-hour or standing in line at a bank machine for all I know. Rest assured, though the message may not reach you, the sonic brew is consistently boiling over throughout their scholarly follow-up to 2007’s Connect. If Flying Lotus created a cosmic opera with the intricate Cosmogramma then Hifana have likewise penned an unfinished urban symphony that’s forever on repeat for the daily downtown vernacular.

Stanley