Welcome to the start up of my new DIY collective (angsty blog)! In an Orwellian time like this, it's hard to listen to most music without realizing that it just sounds awful. So I decided to spread the joy of my own music, and the disputably alive culture with it.
Noise Complaint - Parasite
This little ska-core band from Chino, California released its first EP in 2013, and released this full length album this year. Noise Complaint brings you a buzzing guitar, verses between regular hardcore vocals and screeching, and some of the sweetest bass lines you'll ever hear. Switches between the cutting guitars and rage-fueled vocals of "Narcissism" and the smooth ska rhythms of "Self Division". You'd be doing a dis-service to yourself if you didn't listen to this.
Check out the album, and the rest of NC's stuff on Bandcamp:
http://noise-complaint.bandcamp.com/
Agent Orange - Living In Darkness
Known as one of the first skate punk albums. Agent Orange's surf influence is obvious, with its covers of "Pipeline", and "Mr. Moto", but also provides some great punk rock songs, "Too Young To Die", "The Last Goodbye" and AG's most popular hit, "Bloodstains". Still a great listen today after about 30 years. You know what's funny? The song "Bored of You" is played on Grand Theft Auto 5. Kind of funny how things come back around.
Listen to the album here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isNJ_lRzav8
Black Flag - Damaged
What's that? Don't like ska or surf punk? Just like hardcore? Don't even know what hardcore even is? Here's an album for you. Black Flag's
Damaged was a controversial album in the early So-Cal scene at first, since if was the fourth time the band changed its singer within two years. This is the beginning of the story about a young man from Washington D.C. named Henry joins a band and sees the world for what it truly is.
Damaged is brutal, hard and fast, like a mugger's fist in a dark alley. (Fun fact: Black Flag's roadie at the time was named "Mugger") Features all your favorite songs from previous albums, like "Police Story" and "Depression", and some newer ones like "Rise Above" and "TV Party", which turned out to be equally important songs.
Watch an MTV music video on TV Party here, since I'm too lame to upload a full album this time. Don't worry, it's G-Rated mostly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6otjCKg594
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
This isn't even a punk album, but after listening to all those albums, your ears might start to bleed. In that case, rest your ears with the soothing sounds of Mac DeMarco, in his album Salad Days, featuring his gap-toothed mug right on the cover. Our Canadian five-paneled friend produces laid back indie rock known as "Jangle pop". What the heck is jangle pop exactly? Apparently it has to do with chiming guitars and 60's melodies. But who cares about that, just listen to the music! Mac brings us his classic style in "Salad Days" and "Blue Boy" but also incorporates some more 80's pop-ish sounding melody in "Brother". Nevertheless, another album worth looking at. Good for lazy days.
Listen to this album here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HQqXllXpfQ
Wastoids - Self Titled
Blasting out of Toronto, the Wastoids self-titled album from 2013 is like a burst of gunfire. This only has 5 songs but they go along way, from the building stomp of "Red Meat", the energetic Oi!-fueled attack of "My Toronto" and the slower-than-most-punk, but still attitude-filled "Brown Sugar, Brown Liquor". Like I said before, this album is short but still packs a punch, like a brick through a window. There's a lot of stereotyping about Canadians being passive people, but don't let that fool you. The Wastoids are pissed.
Wastoids in live concert here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlGNwhVD6zQ
Propagandhi - How To Clean Everything
Another Canadian punk hit, Propagandhi's
How To Clean Everything is exactly what its first song, "Anti Manifesto" (Which despite being a punk album, is a song about the bad aspects of punk itself) is, a backlash to all government systems, militancy and religion. Featuring melodic guitar riffs and smooth but still powerful vocals, Propagandhi sounds like a skate-punk album about anarchy. "Head? Chest? Or Foot?", a call to action against mass media, and even a backlash to the ska revival, "Ska Sucks". This album is an anti-manifesto indeed.
Listen to the album here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MEuY4ObLU
