Having never been around as an angry adolescent in punk’s nascent days, I’ve never really embraced the music’s early, heady music. While the early 80’s pop-punk and mid-hardcore groups (Descendents, Hüsker Dü, other SST groups) I’ve come to appreciate, the more abrasive trailblazers have always remained just outside of my grasp. Black Flag, Big Black, Minor Threat, Teen Idles, (early) Bad Brains, Circle Jerks…they just don’t have something I apparently need to gravitate towards the music.But for the first time in a long time, I find myself head-over-heels for bands with middling production, questionably abrasive vocals, (occasionally) unsophisticated arrangements, and plenty of awesome cursing. Coincidentally, it also reflects my passion for vinyl, as all of the releases I’ll reference here are out on wax.At the forefront are two of the most pleasurable releases of last year.
The fantastically-monikered Witches With Dicks’ one and only LP was listed as an “honourable mention” in my recent 2007 round-up, but as one generally does, I’m second-guessing that decision. Manual is a short, fun blast of rage and good humour — so much, in fact, that you could load it into a truck and get Steve Buscemi to drive it around the neighbourhood while he hits on 17 year-old girls. Yes, it’s angry; witness song titles like, “Die Painfully,” “Your Job Does Not Rock Balls,” “How To Cook 40 Humans,” “It’s Not Me, It’s You,” and “Fuck All Lindseys.” Kiss of Death Records has done a great job on the release as well, a nice package topped off with a 45 rpm 12″ slab of vinyl providing maximum sound quality. Abrasive as hell but smart, fast, and unexpectedly catchy.
The second front-runner is Toronto’s Fucked Up. I played the hell out of their first full-length, Hidden World, when it charted for my radio show. After releasing 30-50 7″ and 12″ singles, they put out a “debut” record filled with 5+ minute hardcore punk jams tweaked with piano, strings, organ, mandolin, and other ancillary instruments that don’t often crop up in punk rock. The Year of the Pig single was hands down the bravest and best song of 2007 in my opinion. For practical reasons (it’s 18 minutes long and would never fit on here, not to mention that I think everyone should buy it anyway) you won’t hear the song here, but instead I’m including a track from their latest release, “David Christmas.” They linked to it on their excellent blog, so I figure that’s okay. I encourage you all to buy whatever Fucked Up releases you can, as (to paraphrase Henry Rollins) this is a band riding a wave of sheer creativity and getting a tan.
New Bruises is one of those bands that I know literally nothing about, which is part of why I love them. I got their 7″ Goodbye, Middle Class from Vinyl Collective on a whim, as I try to support the dudes on the message board there that run small labels when I have a few extra bucks. Justin from Underground Communiqué loves the band, and this release is a great example of why everyone should. “Holding Pattern” is a great track, probably one of the finest of last year. Like Witches With Dicks, the band represents a sub-set of punk that bridges the (admittedly tiny) gaps between hardcore, punk, and pop-punk, reflecting what’s come to be known as the “org-core” sound most prominently played by Dillinger Four.
Two of the biggest bands in ”org-core” are O Pioneers!!! and Bomb The Music Industry! Besides their unforgivable abuse of punctuation, they are terribly interesting bands to listen to. BTMI! play a bizarre and sometimes head-spinning combination of ska and hardcore, often playing so fast they abandon human drummers altogether because they just aren’t quick enough. OP!!! began as something of a folk-punk band, but are now just a fierce two-piece with gnarly vocals and ceaseless passion. They two put out a FUCKING BRILLIANT split 10″ that would’ve made my previously-referenced Best of 2007 list if I’d received it before January 7th. BTMI!’s half is three of their most politically-charged songs to date (plus a Regina Spektor cover[?]), while OP!!!! provide their usual fiercely intense and passionate song stylings (along with typically ludicrous song titles like “You Know That Part In Superman III, Where He Is All Badass and Stuff? Yeah, I Bet That’s How You Feel Right Now”). Seriously, I can’t recommend this album enough. I would love it if you all went to Quote/Unquote Records’ website and download the whole thing for free. While you’re there, take note of the fact that it is the world’s first donation-based record label — and it’s been around for a year longer than In Rainbows. The vinyl release is being handled jointly by Asbestos Records and Team Science — both run by very nice and helpful gentlemen who are very nice and entertaining on internet message boards. Team Science has also been behind some exceedingly fantastic releases and is totally on a roll right now.So yeah, I know crusty punk rock isn’t necessarily for everyone, but I’m feeling it hard right now, so I thought I’d share.
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