>>Nostalgia For Infinity

Whoops, apparently I have neglected to post these for the past few weeks. Sorry!

Del.icio.us links for May 9th through May 29th:

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Del.icio.us links for May 5th through May 6th:

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When Here We Are Tomorrow first came to me for review I had a strong sensation that I’d heard Annabel before. Although I think this wasn’t the case, and I was actually suffering from a bit of ‘music geek’s name confusion’ and thinking of Annalise, alongside recognising their name from their record labels websites, I think that deja vu-ish sensation is a fitting intro for this review.

What I mean by that is Annabel are a nostalgic pop-punk outfit, one of those bands I love to love and haters to hate. It’s right there in plain view on the EP’s cover: simple presentation, an old photo of kids playing in the sea. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim Annabel are saying how much better things were back then – a moment’s thought on anyone’s part is usually enough to dismiss that sort of bullshit – but you can still look back and remember all the little moments of joy and sadness that led you to where you are today.

Or possibly I’m projecting my own thoughts and opinions onto the band, in which case I’ll shut up and get on with talking about the music now.

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Cynics is Giles Bidder, a musician based in London, who plays “heartfelt acoustic punk”. You want reference points? I’ll give you reference points: Cynics are part of the current, wonderful wave of British punk rock that has also given us Apologies, I Have None, Serf Combat, Calvinball, Bangers and Bastard Rats among others.

Acoustic outfits live and die on the strength of their lyrics and I’m happy to say that this 7″ demonstrates that Cynics have the punk rock personal/universal juxtaposition down well: the songs are all about lived moments and shared experiences but presented in a way that will be familiar to many listeners.

Take ’14 Coleman Street’, a fun tune with plenty of sing-along moments. What’s it about? Riding the bus and buying beer from Easy Hours. (Man, those things are everywhere these days.) “I’ll stay awake forever,” Giles sings. We’ve all been there.

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Via the I live sweat… zine (ezine? tumblrzine? tumbline? Help me, my portmanteaus are terrible) is another great piece about the lived realities of sexism in the punk scene.

It’s the male band members who don’t take you seriously, and when you get upset with how you’re treated, ask you if you’re menstruating. It’s the promoters and planners who screw you, then call you a diva when you assert yourself.  It’s the kids who don’t talk to you after your set, but talk to your male bandmates because they assume you’re only there for show.  It’s the people who think you’re sleeping with the guitarist, the people who assume you’re queer,  or the journalists who mention your weight in reviews.  It’s every single time a producer has told me I can’t play guitar on my own record because “sweetie, you’re not a studio musician” or “sing it again, but naked.”

Most importantly, it’s the baggage I have to carry that my male bandmates don’t. I have to worry about walking to the car alone to grab my guitar; I have to worry about where we are staying and if the strangers who own the floor I’m sleeping on will assault me in the middle of the night, even though it’s unlikely. I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve clung to the side of my male bandmates when we’re sleeping, just to feel safe. I can’t drink too much or take a drink from a stranger at an after-party wherever we are staying, because I can’t be out of control.

I’m quoting this bit because it’s among the most immediate and powerful, but I should emphasise that a big part of this article is about not wanting to present oneself as, or be perceived as, a victim. Read the whole thing here. It’s written by Mariel Loveland, who sings and plays guitar in Candy Hearts (reviewed at the tail end of last year, here).

If you’re new to I live sweat… then you may also be interested in this piece by Lauren Denitzio, ex-The Measure [SA] (I think ex-that band, since I read that they were splitting up – which saddened me. They were one of the first bands I reviewed here, all the way back in March 2009). Here’s an excerpt:

I’ll start off by saying that I’m a white cis-female in her late 20’s who identifies as queer, feminist, radical and punk.  I’m speaking from my experiences being a part of a largely DIY poppunk scene for the majority of my life and in a touring band for over six years. A large part of the time, I feel welcomed, supported and accepted within the “punk” circles that I’m a part of.  However, nothing makes me more angry then hearing someone, men specifically, say that the scene isn’t sexist, “because we’re all punks and obviously that’s not cool.” I am far from the only woman-identified person in the room who would like to call bullshit on that statement.  While yes, most of my friends and the spaces I go to do not tolerate obviously sexist, homophobic, racist, able-ist, etc. speech, saying those concepts do not exist in our community is just flat out wrong.  What offends me is not always just the action itself, but the excuse that if you wear the “punk” label that you’re absolved of having done anything wrong because you “didn’t mean it that way.”  I can’t think of a rationale so unproductive.

Both pieces should be read by every punk, whether you’re an arsehole or an ally. There’s always more to learn, more you can do, to make punk rock better for everyone. You dig?

Del.icio.us links for March 27th through April 3rd:

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Kalamazoo. What a place to live that must be. The name just rolls off the tongue: Kalamazoo. According to Wikipedia the name is derived from an old Potawatomi word; a Native American tribe from the area around Lake Michigan. Kalamazoo. The closest I can get to that is the crappy kazoo I bought to irritate the rest of my band. It didn’t work; the whole thing was funny for about two minutes and most of that was me not knowing how to use it.

The Reptilian, then, hail from one of my favourite-named places. As best I can figure out they’ve been going since about 2007 (I base this on the age of their MySpace page ‘cuz they don’t really have a bio) and since then have released a few records, including a few splits. Sometime last year their bassist left and, in time-honoured “the band dynamic is the people” tradition, the others decided that getting someone else in just wouldn’t work and instead dropped second guitar in order to cover four-string duties. On the basis of Full Health I would honestly not have guessed that these songs were written by/for a four-piece outfit (or, at least, are the first songs from a 3-piece that was until recently a 4-piece). They’re impressively accomplished pieces of rock music that draw from a variety of genres; you’ve got your noodling clean emo sound, your occasional jazz-influenced drumbeats, your occasional math-rock rhythms, and of course the inherently diverse rulebooks of indie and punk.

The opening track, ‘Pretty Big Doses’, introduces you pretty promptly to a core juxtaposition of the band’s sound. That is Jon Sacha’s piss & vinegar vocals alongside the modern “twinkly shit” sound ala. CSTVT, Grown Ups, and many of the Reptilian’s own labelmates such as Football, Etc. There is definitely something in that Midwest water, and it began in the 1990s. Anyway, the Reptilian aren’t the first to attempt this juxtaposed style but they certainly pull it off well, with Sacha’s snarled, spat and gruffly sung vocals improbably meshing with the warm power chords and occasional slower noodling of the guitar and bass.

There’s also a sense of humour to the band, a good-natured acknowledgement of nerd culture. Second track ‘Dungeons & Drag Queens’ (which has a particularly fun and speedy intro from drummer Riehl) is one such example, and another is ‘Bulls on Potron’ – which I’m guessing is a reference to Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Bulls on Parade’ but I don’t get “Potron”. Not that it matters; song titles are often in-jokes of some kind anyway. ‘Roman Sideburns’, anyone? ’200% Sweater’? Actually, the latter is one of my favourite tunes present, seeming just a shade more energetic and passionate than its fellows, full of stop-start moments of intricate picks and slamming drums then hanging chords and lush fills.

The seven tracks present are over in 17 minutes, so blink and you’ll miss what I suppose I should technically call a mini-album. I also recommend this record and band as one to watch, as I suspect that the Reptilian will become a name more widely known outside their Midwest stomping grounds over the coming year – at least among those in the know. You know?

Bandcamp | MySpace | Blogspot | Last.fm | Count Your Lucky Stars records

Long-term fans of British DIY hardcore may remember Margate’s Babies Three, who were about between ’99 and ’04 and released a handful of records before briefly changing their name and splitting up. I never got to see them but they toured Europe with Yaphet Kotto and Song of Zarathustra, which is pretty fucking badass.

So, this record – TB3LP to give it its official name – is a collection of the band’s early EPs, 7″s and the like that preceded their breakup. I don’t have any of these original releases so I’m not sure which records are collected here and when the various tracks were recorded, so suffice to say that you have 12 tracks which are variably good and average.

Take for example first track ‘Guilt Free Youth’, with a powerful edge of desperation to its sound, a rapid pace and a plaintive screamo-esque edge to the vocals, or ‘Wimpfest’, with its bruising hardcore punk riffs, full-steam-ahead drumming and throaty roars – these remind me of the old ebullition acts I used to love like Bread & Circuits and Torches to Rome. These tunes have a lot of energy to them and stand up well today even given their age. » Read the rest of this entry «