Best Of 2019
Albums /Cd’s /Ep’s (Part Two)
Stop Calling Me Frank “Spiders In My Beer And Other Songs”
I like punk. I like rock’n’roll. And it appears I like explanations, maybe too well.
Because they exemplify everything I like in life. Well, maybe not everything…there’s no sordid desires tucked in the grooves of their songs. But there sure is old R&B, old rock’n’roll and all that passion, fun and truth that is in the best of punk.
The Hangovers- “Pardon Our Appearance”
‘Cause The Hangovers are a country/thrash band much like the Johnny Cash Band had collaborated with Motorhead to make an album at some point. Or as The Hangovers themselves put it so succinctly- “Sounds like and The Reverend Horton Heat had a baby and raised him on the Ramones.”
Kermits Finger/More Beer Please split EP
Kermits Finger sounds like to me what hardcore sounded like before the hardcore of The Cro-Mags and others, took the style of hardcore into metal…So Kermits Finger is more aligned with the early hardcore- mixing garage and punk with the hardcore speed.
More Beer Please is influenced by more current hardcore and they have a bit more speed and some metal influence.
But together they’ve made an EP that sounds simply great.
Time Out Timmy- “Dominate”
I don’t think I’ve heard a band, since the demise of the Red Line Rebels, that fully encapsulates the feel, sound, humor and fun of skate punk, which this band totally embodies.
Time Out Timmy would be the band now most played on radio waves, if radio was still a thing, if people listening to real music was still a thing and if real music was a real thing in society now.
Which brings me back to why did God make Time Out Timmy? I’d ask him now but he’s down at the pool hall now, and gets obnoxious after he’s had a few drinks.
God’s plans for us all can be mysterious at times.
Nervous Eaters- “Record Ten”
I know I believe in punk but I know there’s something I believe in more. I guess it might be rock’n’roll, you know, the original fifties rock’n’roll and also, the forties and fifties R&B that led into that. But I also, believe in music that reflects guts and passion and realness and feeling. That grabs you by your heart and rips apart your soul. That expresses the frustration and sadness of your life as much as the ecstatic joy within it. And that joy might reside in just a small part of your life but the love and release you experience makes up for anything you have to endure to get to those few pure moments of pure pleasure. There are nice beats, great guitar licks and truthful words that create, ultimately, great songs that lead me to love this album.
I know I believe in punk. I know I believe in rock’n’roll. But I also believe, more so, in the emotions and thoughts expressed in this album, this music. And I don’t think I could give a better recommendation than that. As I really can’t think of anything better than that or this.
This is those few, pure moments.
The Ear Bleeds- “Public Nuisance Split”
The Ear Bleeds are a band that captures and represents nicely, well- maybe nicely is not the best adjective LOL. But they capture the sound of the early punk and spirit of ’77 that I was privileged to hear and see.
The Ear Bleeds are one of those few bands that sound like punk to me.
‘Cause when I get shivers up my spine, or feel the hairs on my arms start to stand up- then I know it’s for real, it’s what I want to hear, what I want to listen to and there’s nothing that could change that for me.
Prolapse- “Demo”
This is music like if you’re jumping on a trampoline with firecrackers attached to the side of your head. And you’re on a pogo stick at the same time. And the ends of the trampoline have caught on fire while someone else has also, built a moat on the outer edges filled with piranha.
So don’t listen to those music writers who go on and on about inflammable nose hairs, trampolines and scrotum eating piranhas.
But do listen to this new band, this new release of theirs-
It’s energy, in fueled wild fun (in the music) and socially conscious, intense lyrics (in the words).
Baabes- “Napalm Living” and “Ratchet Dance Party”
Baabes are a car crash waiting to happen, it’s irresponsible hands on the wheel. It’s a party when it gets out of control. Which could mean, police involvement or just a really, good fucking time.
You could call their sound garage/glam/punk and not be far off the mark. Or maybe you could call them just gritty, driving rock’n’roll and maybe then, you’d hit the bulls-eye. But their description of “sleazy garage punk rock’n’roll” is even more perfect.
Ditch Boys- “Seven Minutes With The Ditch Boys”
You could call their sound garage/glam/punk and not be far off the mark. Or maybe you could call them just gritty, driving rock’n’roll and maybe then, you’d hit the bulls-eye. But their description of “sleazy garage punk rock’n’roll” is even more perfect.
But I grew up in the seventies, Boston punk scene (and somehow, I never really grew up as I’m still, seemingly stuck in the same place I was forty years ago!) And I’m not complaining, offering any apologies or making any excuses for who I am.
‘Cause in my heart and ears and soul, I still love the early punk and proto-punk and everything about this band just seems to scream that out to me.
I bet you, if Johnny Thunders, Joey Ramone and Stiv Bators were sitting around a table right now, smoking cigarettes, drinking beers, hearing this band for the first time, that they would be digging these tunes. And for all I know, as who am I to say- that this isn’t happening right now?
Golf Weapons- “Manure For Your Garden”
I just think their music is really good.
I just think their music is raw and real and true and fits all my definitions of what punk music is.
But hearing music as good as what Golf Weapons produce, makes me want to live another day. And rejoice in the feeling their music gives to me. Running wildly through a meadow of flowers, leaping to and fro, bearing my naked man breasts for all the world to see.
