When it Begins & Ends at the Bottle

by Below Danjaxed Brunk

Drunk folk punk band out of The (San Fernando) Valley. Core of the band is a sister and brother, plus their friend on washboard. In addition they borrowed the fiddle player from my band for this and that came out awesome. The sound is more gypsy folk with a strong punk vibe. The 6 string banjo in this when strummed is very effective at leaving a gritted teeth punk feeling.

1. Would you Like Some Cheese With that Whine? 04:26

2. Folk My Life! 02:55

3. Nat's Song (From KA) 03:19

4. Where Nopales Grow 06:00

5. Keep Going Even If you Keep Fucking Up the Song 06:51

6. Down to the River (cover) 04:28

7. Gippy Hypsy 05:26

8. *Bonus track* Love Song to Nick 00:32

Track 1 has some good Greek chorus happening with statement and mass response; Nat singing. A story of drunken sexual misbehavior and regret. Track 2 has a lot of self loathing too, which I'm not into at all but is very popular these days, Ryan singing. (I got into punk when it was more about "fuck you!" than "I am fucked".) Track 3, uh the tune is 'borrowed', ha ha, I won't say from where, naughty, naughty! Kyle's sick, so harsh vocals here. Track 4 is back to Nat. This is nostalgia and yearning for Mexico, where Nat and Ryan have roots. Strong song. Nat is an excellent lyricist. The title of track 5 is good advice. Wow the lyrics are hair raising. Nat can flat out write. Track 6 says it's a cover and I am going nuts trying to figure out from where. It's perfect for the band, strong self loathing and redemption via a woman's love. Track 7 is more self confession and dissatisfaction with self, and is quite charming with its back and forth between siblings and its refrain of I'm full of shit. Track 8 is supershort, a ditty about a penis looking for a vag -- is that Kyle singing?

Available for $3 at:
https://belowdanjaxedbrunk.bandcamp.com/album/when-it-begins-ends-at-the-bottle

Good Times, Bad Words by Dump Walrus

My initial reaction to this as the first song began playing was "good voice, nice and clear too". Then my hair stood on end at the mandolin playing which is a bit off. Then the lyrics were charming too; good writing. This is one guy and his mando. Pardon me for being a bit critical, but . . . GET A BAND. And if you can't clean up your timing on the mando then put it down and only sing. The songs are really strong, excellent writing. They range from self deprecating to quirky to straight up funny. You have to hear Fuck Donald Trump. The vocals are great. I regard this as a demo. Who wants to join this guy and back him up while he sings? He needs musicians, badly, ha ha. :)


1. Seasons 03:15
2. I H8 Myself 02:26
3. Killing Time 01:39
4. I Never Needed You 01:07
5. Cope 03:38
6. Fuck Donald Trump 01:42
7. Nickelback Rocks D00D 03:29
8. If you wanted to die you could've just asked 01:52
9. Sad Songs 03:53
10. The Beatles Were Right 01:09

Name your price on this is proper, as his timing on the mando is awful. I totally get it because it can be hard for many people to sing and play at the same time. It takes a lot of practice. This has the potential to be a great band if he gets competent players. Hope he doesn't hate me for my honesty. :)

https://dumpwalrus.bandcamp.com/album/good-times-bad-words

Kaatskillachia by Matt Heckler

A four song EP from one of the shreddingest players in the northeast, Matt Heckler. I was introduced to him from two sources: Pat the Bunny uploaded to archive.org a recording of his old band Bayonet the Wounded; and a while back my friend Nat Thor Balboa posted a video to Facebook of his recent band Deep Chatham. A multi-instrumentalist, Matt plays guitar, fiddle and banjo. On this four song EP Matt is playing banjo.


1. Threadbare 03:01
2. Coo Coo 03:31
3. Katy Dear 04:09
4. Old Rub Alcohol Blues 04:12

Coo Coo and Old Rub Alcohol Blues are traditionals; Threadbare and Katy Dear are original songs by Matt.

Matt's banjo is accompanied by only a deep rumbling standup bass. There's also some harmonies in this. The style is roughly what most people think of as bluegrass, but more specifically mountain style music with a punk edge to it. No lazy-ass stoner-hippy stuff here, this is fierce and high energy, especially Old Rub Alcohol Blues, which just rips.

This EP is really excellent. I recommend you buy it. Five bucks at:
https://matthewheckler.bandcamp.com/album/kaatskillachia

New DISCHARGE shreds

There's a new album coming from DISCHARGE called End of Days. I guess this is a teaser released early to make us want more. It is successful.

This SHREDS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hatebomb by Discharge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_8qghAuQ4

The Ballad of Bob Sheeple by The Anti Sheeple Movement

T.A.S.M falls roughly within the folk-punk subgenre. But very roughly as there is little folk involved. This is all acoustic, nothing plugged in normally. What is here is punk, pop punk, ska, hip hop, hardcore and grind all mixed together. The lyrics are comic, mostly. Aw hell, you can see that much just from the song titles.


1. Kurt Cobain Called Shotgun 02:25
2. Bug Bites!!! 02:00
3. City of No Sleep & Dirty Sheep 04:35
4. Creepy Crazy Cutie 02:45
5. Kill All Hipsters 02:50
6. Burn 02:23
7. Blacker Than 02:26
8. Alcoholitics 03:46
9. The Ballad of Bob Sheeple 06:18

The first track is obnoxious, off kilter and goofy, slipping back and forth among styles, including punk, rap and ska and is that a horn? The second track is all over the place too, a weird mix of pop punk and ska with funny lyrics. Track 3 is hip hop rhymes with acoustic guitar as the dominant instrument with screamo refrains, what fun! Track 4 is rap with acoustic guitar, bass and fiddle. Track 5 is more of the same musically as track 4, having a little fun with the hipster movement, and sung screamo. Track 6, that horn is back. More screwiness. Track 7 introduces a banjo pounded on with a pick, counterpointed by a fiddle. This one doesn't seem to be comedy, sounds like they mean it. Track 8 introduces a bit of folk that mutates into acoustic punk as it speeds up. Sort of like pop punk played on the front porch. Track 9 finishes off the recording and finishes us off too. Very pretty little guitar intro that is followed by that horn. And so of course it's rap and raging punk vocals mixed together and ska guitar too. Wow an electric guitar lead all fuzzed out, then drums come in and we're listening to a plugged in punk band all of a sudden at the end. There's a hidden track that's totally out of control. Let track 9 continue playing.

Great stuff. Funny lyrics. Straight Outta Lost Angeles.

Get it here:
https://theantisheeplemovement.bandcamp.com/album/the-ballad-of-bob-sheeple

Spud Bugs EP by Spud Bugs

I am infamous locally for strong opinions expressed bluntly, even savagely. My local punk nickname is ShitEd, and I earned it. So when I heard the intro to track 2 with the guy counting off 1-2-3, 1-2-3 then I began counting. If that's 3 then the time signature is 3/8. 3/8???? Nah, it's 6/4. I have gotten into arguments with bandmates over this same thing. And when I demanded they count along I was refused. Tsk!

This is a folk-punk band out of Las Vegas, with someone I know in it. The banjo, and Karie's deep fiddle (a viola) on this both sound great. There's git, accordion and mando on here too. Think oldtimey gone edgy and often mildly ferocious.


1. Digging Holes 05:19
2. Haunted House 04:39
3. A Place We Could Call Home (Turncoat Collective) 06:07
4. All For Me Grog 04:17


Track 1 starts off slow with really pretty instrumental playing, then kicks in and rocks, great stuff.
Track 2 is a waltz that tells a story with a faint sadness to it, with the viola often moaning in sympathy.
Track 3 Is almost an anthem with group/gang vocals. A cover of a Turncoat Collective song. Great viola fiddlin'.
Track 4 they go pirate on us and cover a bawdy sea shanty that I like a lot.

Great little ep. Get it here: https://spudbugs.bandcamp.com/

Anarcho Annie​/​/​Everyday Tension Split

First let me be honest and say that I have always disliked split recordings, whether they are split LPs, split CDs, split digital like this, or split 7"s with one song from each of two bands. I find the lack of continuity annoying. On the other hand I don't mind comps with a dozen bands. Never mind my quirks, on to the recording itself.

1. Jailbird 03:32
2. I Won't Grow 01:41
3. Oh My God 01:56
4. Separation From Reality 01:45
5. Breaking Down Borders 01:03

6. A Song for Every Picked Lock 01:51
7. Pillow Talk 02:03
8. 517 02:29
9. Politics of Grace 02:19
10. Jules 02:28

Up first is Everyday Tension, a group from Kenosha, WI.  Guitar and banjo.
Jailbird starts out pretty, then morphs into gang vocals and fierce playing. Sounds like they've been listening to Days N Daze and that's a good thing. I Won't Grow is raw and wonderful. Did I also mention I disdain most overproduced crapola? Nothing like that here, thank Dog. :) Oh My God is okay, barely. Separation From Reality is fun folk-punk partially ska sort of and I like the quick vocals and the changes of tempo and rhythm. Breaking Down Borders seems to be the obligatory train song. Don't laugh my band has one too, ha ha -- it is our tradition so bugger off.

Next is Anarcho Annie, from here in Los Angeles. I know her, which is why I know about this to review it. Lyrics heavy, this one woman performer (I didn't write "band" because a band has to be more than one person) has excellent lyrics writing abilities so keep an eye (ear?) on this teenager because she has a hell of a lot of talent. A Song for Every Picked Lock, like most of her stuff, straight 60s folk (just her voice and guitar) but the subject matter is thoughtful, thought provoking and point making. Pillow Talk more of the same but with a wistful quality to its anarchic content. 517 is slower and both anti and personal. The lyrics in Politics of Grace are so damn good that I have a huge smile on my face. With the apparent retirement of Pat the Bunny, anyone who wants intelligent words and passionate anarchism should start following Anarcho Annie.

I do not understand about the last track Jules. I guess it's her but it's not recorded the same as the others, nor is it her usual long lyrics style. Nevertheless it's her and her thinking signature.

Overall this is really good stuff. Get it, separate it in two on your iPod or whatever and play them separately. Enjoy. Available here:

https://anarchoannie.bandcamp.com/album/anarcho-annie-everyday-tension-split

Blackstar by David Bowie

I woke up this morning to the news that David Bowie is dead. It had never occurred to me that he would mean enough to me that his death would come as a shock; but on reflection I can see that he was such a pervasive force in music that even an unreconstructed, unrepentant rock'n'roller such as myself was greatly influenced by him. So out of love and respect I gave his new, and last, album a listen.


1. "Blackstar"   9:57
2. "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"   4:52
3. "Lazarus"   6:22
4. "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"   4:40
5. "Girl Loves Me"   4:51
6. "Dollar Days"   4:44
7. "I Can't Give Everything Away"   5:47


It's full of his absolutely unique voice of course, sometimes pure, sometimes distorted electronically. Here are strange sonic landscapes recorded on alien worlds so distant from our solar system that life itself there would be unrecognizable as such, nor we to it. Very little of this could be described as "straight ahead"; in fact as far as rhythm and tempo goes this album is deliberate madness. It's experimental music in places where he begins a line of verse on 1 a couple times, then begins one on 4 just to fuck with your head. Often the time of the vocals and the time of the music have no relation to each other, disconnected except perhaps in key signature. The title track is the worst, and therefore the most disturbing.

The last song is haunting. Haunting, I tell you. It has to be deliberate. He must have know he was a dead man recording. So the last song on his last album was designed to haunt those who heard it. It is a ghost singing to us of regret. And he's right, he can't. But he did give us this. I guess it will have to do.

http://www.discogs.com/master/939598

When Things Get Ugly by The Gears

This is one of the bands from the early Los Angeles punk scene, the 70s. True to form this is mostly punk rock'n'roll. And true to form they all use aliases, punk nicknames. In the 70s if you were a punk in LA you could be physically assaulted by "hippies", or arrested by police just for the way you look, so a fake name was a good idea. Nowadays if your employer finds your name on a punk rock record that would be too cool. In the late 70s and early 80s that could get you fired on the spot. These guys were one of the bands who lead the way for the rest of you so show some respect for the two old farts in this band.


1. Down in the Basement 2:40
2. Uncle Lanny's Farm 2:54
3. Psychotic Sweetheart 2:33
4. Hang On 3:44
5. Ghost Flames 2:49
6. My Confession 2:43
7. When Punk Rock Rules the World 2:59
8. Fuf 2:45
9. The Master Plan 2:30
10. Another Problem (That Won't Go Away) 3:26
11. Everything's Alright 2:26
12. The Wizard of Blas 3:44

The first three tracks are hard rocking, yet catchy. Then track four takes a header off in the odd direction of a poppy anthem with with gang vocals in the refrain, about relationships. Then back to what I expect from these guys: hard, tough rock'n'roll, that has that 'edge' and excitement one expects from real punk. Track eight gives me chills. Fuf stands for Fucked Up Families, and no punches are pulled. And what the hell is that noise? Is that a goddamn saxophone? Fuck the rules I guess, ha ha! :)

I can't get over how catchy this record is despite the tough drumming and ripping guitar. Mike holds up is end on bass, and Axel's vocals are always excellent. I highly recommend. This is available many places, here's one of them:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thegears

Patterns Of The Modern Age EP by Caliban and the Witch

This falls under the general category of folk punk, though the subject matter is more doom/apocalypse, and the strong use of accordion and the more "gypsy" style music sets them apart. Good gang vocals, with accordion, banjo and a cello instead of a bass. This lineup no longer exists; last I heard the cellist was in NoCal somewhere. This is one of those bands that one wishes had stayed together and done more.


1. Charmstone 02:35
2. The Fence 04:33
3. In Coalesce 02:43
4. Rituals 03:15

All of it is good, and In Coalesce is excellent. Rituals is quite dark and creepy. Give it a listen.

http://calibanandthewitch.bandcamp.com/

The Morning After by Chad Bandit

This is what I call soft rock and some might call pop punk, standard rock band of guitar, bass and drum kit. It has a lot of attitude and emotional intensity. It's actually pretty catchy. The hoarse vocals lend themselves pretty damn well to the material, which can harsh on things the songwriter doesn't like. I would prefer this to be a bit edgier but that's just me; I'm an old punk and prefer more energy in the drumming. A good overall catchy, even anthemish release.


1. Morning After 02:43
2. Summer Anthem 02:37
3. Monster 02:27
4. Rusted Gold 03:25
5. Silver Sex 02:06
6. Bury Me 02:32
7. Roadtrip Remedy 02:43
8. High Noon 03:08
9. Killing Spree 03:04
10. Home Wrecker 02:27

Morning After is more than what you think it is, post date regrets and criticism. Rusted Gold is damn pretty. Monster is self criticism that doesn't come across clearly enough. Silver Sex is a full on anthem, and comes across as much more sincere than Monster. Bury me is another catchy anthem. Roadtrip Remedy is yet another anthem style song. High Noon I wanted the drummer to double up on it, heh heh. The album continues like this all the way: pop rock with an edge.

Songs about drinking and women, what can I say? Give it a listen and see if you want to buy it.

http://chadbandit.bandcamp.com/

Brake by Leaking Pigs

Weird, atmospheric and occasionally droning, this psych release by some LA teenagers is actually fun. The lyrics show humor and sophistication; the music is fairly primitive, which I like. The use of what sounds like an old farfisa organ in the first track took me into the wayback machine. I am totally tripping on the lyrics: simple teenage issues mixed with an undercurrent of far more intelligence than first glance. The singer and guitarist of this band is Wolf Woodcock, Lightning Bill Woodcock's son. Your kid did good here, Bill.

1. Frank 02:52
2. Love Drunk 02:40
3. Dracula 03:57
4. Angel of Death 04:14
5. Kicker 03:11
6. Alone 03:37
7. Brake 06:53
8. ADHD 02:49
9. The Lung 04:17

http://leakingpigs.bandcamp.com/album/brake

Probably Nothing, Possibly Everything by Pat the Bunny

Pat the Bunny, performance name of Pat Schneeweis, released this full length in 2014 I think, but now that I am doing record reviews again, I will review the hell out of it. Pat is in my opinion one of the top two songwriters in the folk-punk subgenre; I consider Jesse of Days N Daze his only real equal. Pat is that good. And his singing is astonishing in power. I sometimes call him the Hank Williams of folk-punk; he has that same heartfelt delivery, wedded to a brutal honesty about himself that is almost shocking.

Pat has in the past struggled with addiction. Sometimes drugs or alcohol kills creativity, sometimes they fuel it. With Pat it doesn't seem to make a difference. This album by a sober Pat is just as powerful as the earlier material. The lyrics here remind me of Tony Adolescent in his Abandoned period.


1. I'm going home 02:28
2. The hand you reach out is empty, as mine is 02:34
3. I'm not a good person 02:54
4. We were young once 02:13
5. Run from what's comfortable 02:57
6. Take me by the hand and lead me through this disaster 01:55
7. Make total destroy 02:50
8. We don't get tired, we get even 03:17
9. The club hits of today will be the show tunes of tomorrow (cover) 01:11
10. A glorious shipwreck 03:59

Track one is amusing because it contradicts the song about never coming home again that he released with his old band Ramshackle Glory -- yet it expresses the same discomfort with people and a desire to get the hell away from them! The sad, hopeless nihilism in track two leaves me almost speechless (almost). In track three he eviscerates himself publicly as not the sort of person you should associate with. Pat is an anarchist, and this album is full of smashed windows, hated prisons, and yearning for something better, see track eight for his feelings about society.

Track 10 is an anarchistic monster, full of teeth and unsuccessfully held in fury. It is the most powerful song on the album. It is breathtaking.


http://patthebunny.bandcamp.com/album/probably-nothing-possibly-everything