Anti-Flag

If you don't know who Anti-Flag are you probably haven't been paying attention to punk music for quite a while now. They're one of the more consistent political punk rock bands still active today. Very left wing, anti capitalist, probably anarchist (don't quote me on that though) politics grafted onto angry ass yet still melodic punk rock.

This album is an EP released this year with some original tunes and a couple of covers including I Fought the Law, Guns Of Brixton and Should I Stay Or Should I Go. Nothing revolutionary (other than lyrically) but this is still rock solid, pissed off punk music.

to quote the band "One two Fuck You!"

a pair of songs

So far during christmas break I've written a pair of songs and recorded them on my laptop

Liars Song (Remember You Wrong)
http://www.mediafire.com/?cxbz4gd9ihh7arh

Twisted And Rotten, Mostly Forgotten
http://www.mediafire.com/?ifa6931s5nxa196

I don't know if Twisted and Rotted should be longer or not, I could certainly write more verses but I don't know if it needs it or not.

let me know what you think!

Loud?

Loud? is an emo band out of Woodbridge, VA that plays music similar to Texas Is the Reason and The Promise Ring. They've put out one EP called Made You that is really great and a split with a band called Driveway that absolutely owns. They've finallly written a full length and it's just as sick as ever. Again, no reinventing the wheel going on here but who needs reinvention when you've got quality emo like this?

Koshka! - Ложное равнодушие

Koshka! are a screamo band from Khabarovsk, Russia. They have a thicker sound with dirty production that brings up the bottom end. This isn`t power violence so the singer mostly shouts and he`s great at it. Nothing groundbreaking but pretty good screamo

RIP Snowing

Accu§er - Dependent Domination

Accu§er are a thrash metal band from Kreuztal Germany. They formed in the early 80s and put out a bunch of records without any label support. The guitarists formed a new band called Scartribe but everyone wanted to hear the Accu§er songs again so they reformed the band. This year they released an ep called Dependent Domination. If you like thrash metal this will be right up your alley. The singer doesn't scream or growl just shouts his way through these excellent songs and the riffs are always razor sharp as they whip pats. If you like speed and thrash metal this will be right up your alley

Abriosis - Tattered & Bound

Abriosis is a band from Vancouver. They play technical, progressive death metal with a biting edge. There are riffs galore all across the album. The best song I think is Eye Of The Raven, Mind Of The Wolf, its an absolute beast. There are a couple of weak spots like the title track and the third track but  the rest of the punishing brutality more than makes up for it. A Strong contender for death metal album of the year

A new mix!

Here`s another mix covering what I listened to between November 23rd and December 1st 2011.

We start off with a great dubstep song by Microw Jupiter. The dj took a bunch of clips from arguably the worst movie ever and used to to construct a sweet dubstep song. I`m not much for dubstep but this is really great

Then we head to the east coast for some 90s emocore courtesy of Render Useless. One of the dudes was apparently in Benchwarmer whom I also lvoe

We stay in British Colombia and head up to Kamloops for some tracks by a band called After School Knife Fight. They put out one EP in 2001 called Jousting With The Intent of Hurting People and its quite good.

We head out to Ottawa for some screamo courtesy of Van Johnson. Reminds me of Todos Caeran and maybe a less heavy One Eyed God Prophecy.

Taking a break from the screamo up next is two tracks from the new Bjork album. They are experimental, almost ambient tracks from the reigning Icelandic queen of weirdness.

We return to the screamo with a band from Mississauga Ontario called No Alarms. They put out one EP called Zipper Effect before changing their name.

we head out out west for one track from an awesome active band called  Todos Caeran. Most of their records are still available and well worth it.

Delo Truda are the band that No Alarm turned into. The people didn`t change and the music didn`t change. They also put out a split with a band called Ramon Gris.

Ramon Gris are the final band on this mix. I managed to see them after they changed their name to The Year It Broke and they were quite good. Their recordings are good but a little sludgy in parts which don`t match what I remember of their live show.

Who Programmed This?!? December 6th 2011

 Here is the mp3 to the latest episode of my radio show podcast. I played  The One Eyed God Prophecy, Render Useless, After school Knife Fight, Van Johnson, Wavelets & Algernon Cadwallader

http://www.mediafire.com/?15q69w9xe3i1i6m

Algernon Cadwallader - Parrot Flies

Algernon Cadwallader are a current active from Philadelphia but by sound you would think Chicago in the late 90s. They are very Kinsella esque. On this, their second lp they`ve really come into their own sound. They make quite the intricate amount of noise for a three piece. From what I understand they live in their jam space/recording studio/warehouse and do everything except print the records. If you can get your hands on some of this vinyl you are really lucky cause you probably caught them at a show. This is how emo should be done.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Make Joyful Noise

To get the holiday season started off here is a christmas album by the grindcore legends Agoraphobic Nosebleed.  12 songs in 4 and a half minutes. Here's a youtube video of the album. If you don't like your grindcore, well then your like me. Happy Holidays.

Who Programmed This?!? S01E11 November 29 11 20111

Check out the latest episode of my radio show Who Programmed This?!? I played one eyed god prophecy, render useless, i spoke, peace be still, oh, deer, violence for hurley, the kodan armada

Make Do And Mend

Make Do And Mend are a post-hardcore/the wave band. The music could easily be called melodic hardcore but they have been lumped in with the other Wave bands like Touché Amoré, with whom they did a split, La Dispute and Pianos Become The Teeth.


This ep is completely different though. 6 songs, all acoustic, reworking of songs from End Measured Mile, a couple of new ones, and most exciting for me, a Touché Amoré cover. For some reason Make Do And Mend never really clicked with me. I liked it and there`s nothing wrong with it but nothing before this ever really grabbed my attention. The Touché Amoré cover is really good and the songs actually grab me when they`re in a more stripped down, acoustic form.

The Whoopass Girls - Acoustic

The Whoopass Girls are/where a great pop punk fronted by Ethan. He of Screaming and Dreaming, The Loneliest Cowgirls, Henry Bemis is a Superhero and The Sky Looks Pissed. The songs are great and Ethan has a passion and a skill that is sadly lacking in the pop punk genre today. He is a songwriter through and through and regardless of the genre he chooses to play in his talent shines through. This is an all acoustic rerecording of the Whoopass Girl songs "in commemoration of reaching 297 fans (Forrests' rugby jersey number)". Excellent stuff. Goes even farther in proving that the songs of the Whoopass Girls where really really awesome

Wavets - Athaletics

Wavelets are a kinda twinkly emo band from Gainesville Florida. The focus is on a more punk pop version of midwest emo. Lots of guitar lines going everywhere and really sad but still powerful vocals. There are a couple of rerecorded songs from Friends Followed By Action and they benefit from a warmer sound. Quite good as always. Wavelets need to get more known!

Radio!

listen to Who Programmed This?!? live on the radio in 20 minutes! I will be playing Render Useless, I Spoke, Menaseh`s Diary, Van Johnson, After School Knife Fight and a whole lot of Nick Stutsman and Park Jefferson 

http://www.trentradio.ca/stream.htm

Acres - Silos

Acres are from New Jersey. I think. Anyway this ep is great. It's very midwest style screamo so if you don't like sloppy melodies and some noodling alongside your heartfelt screams and displays of emotion then this isn't for you. But if you want four songs that won't let up until you're riding the emotional roller coaster of song with them. Really really great ep.

black everest

Black Everest are a screamo band from Germany. Their demo has 5 songs in 12 minutes. Nothing groundbreaking, but good screamo doesn't need to break new ground, it just needs to thrash around and tear at its vocal chords.

This demo is too good to be this short. I need more songs but there aren't any yet. This band needs to be more well known.

They've pressed their demo on a 7". To order it email blackeverest(at)web.de . "Postage for all around the world is 3,50€ and for Germany 1,50€. The record itself is offered for 2€."

Touché Amoré - Home Away From Here

 Touché Amoré are one of my favourite bands out there right now. 

note the pg 99 shirt....

 They've moved into a more hardcore style, away from the screamo inflected hardcore that really hooked me but their new album was still really really good. I think the style change is a result of signing to Deathwish or it may just be artistic development.

This is the first video from it and I think the first music video they've made. It's called Home Away From Here and really illustrates what Jeremy Boln has been talking and writing about, how they're pretty much always on tour. Yet they rarely come to Canada...

live on the radio!

listen to me live on trent radio in a half hour. I’ll be playing One Eyed God Prophecy, Karenza, Render Useless, I Spoke, Nai Harvest, Old Gray & Loma Prieta.

Listen here http://www.trentradio.ca/stream.htm

Karenza

Karenza was a 90's screamo band from Etibocoke Ontario Canada. Their sound is really raw and aggressive, almost black metal in the lo fi, dirty production. If One Eyed God Prophecy played black metal screamo  instead of sludgy metal screamo. The songs are clearly written as a emocore punk songs, the tones of the guitar and the production fuze everything into a overwhelming noisy mass. Very very good. Much thanks to this blog for all his work

Who Programmed This?!? Week 8

The latest episode of my podcast Who Programmed This?!? featuring brand new music from Sirs, Park Jefferson, Lizards Have Personalities & Run, Walk! as well as Canadian bands American Geography, Animal Faces and One Eyed God Prophecy

Thoughts Paint the sky - Goldener schnitt

Thoughts Paint The Sky have a new album coming out the 25th called Nicht Mal Mehr Wir Selbst. This is the latest track they’ve released and it’s pretty great

http://soundcloud.com/tpts/goldener-schnitt

Ukrainian, Russian & French Screamo, lofi Emocore & more

The latest mix of what I've been listening. this covers November 2nd to 5th. It starts off pretty screamo heavy and then goes in an odd direction right at the end. 


Things start with a band called Oh, You Skeleton!  Their last fm page says they are from Germany but there's an argument about where they're actually from. There's not a lot of info aside from the fact at least one member posted on cross your heart with a knife back in the day. Just a little lo fi but they're still quite good.

Things get way less chaotic and of a much higher fidelity with Oh, Deer!  They are a Ukrainian band from Zhytomyr. They play a classic form of screamo, going from thin angry guitar lines to crushing heaviness on a dime. The dude sounds like his voice is destroying itself in the process of escaping with his words.

 Violence For Hurley are next up and they are lower fi and way more violent. They are from Murmansk russia and their  brand of screamo is much more chaotic and explsoive, the rage is less controlled. Unfortunately  they broke up last summer.

We stay in the  screamo vein but get much more sophisticated with Mihai Edrisch. These songs from their two LP's L'Un Sans L'autre & Un Jour Sans Lendemain. I like the  second LP better, I find the first a bit abrasive. The songs that work on the first disc really work because there's a very real sense of dissonance. But when that doesn't work, and it doesn't always, it just drives me away.

All these songs are quite good. They manage to make intricate, distinct guitar lines harness the chaotic energy and smash you over the head with it. Also, the drummer was in Daitro till they decided to break up.

 Things stay emotional but get way more punk with a lo fi emocore punk band called The Whoopass Girls. The main songwriter/shouter is the same dude that's done henry bemis is a superhero, the loneliest cowgirls, screaming & dreaming and the sky looks pissed.

This is most punk band to date. I love every single thing about this band. Very skateable but still screaming your guts out. There are tracks here from all 3 EP's he put out under this name and they're all awesome. Get ready to destroy what's around you

We lose the emo completely but get incredibly catchy with Ancestors, from Toronto. These songs are short, to the point and each make a unique musical statement. I can't deal with how catchy these songs are in combination with how punked up they are. If this doesn't make you jump around the room you must be dead.

We head out to Vancouver for some slow burning math rock from American Geography. I'll be playing them on my radio show this Tuesday. A lot of their stuff is stoo slow and mathy with too much post rock in it but these songs kick some serious but. The math heads should like this  and they need to be better known.

Things finish off today with a single track from the gangsta rap supergroup Tha Dogg Pound. If you don't like gangsta rap you won't like this. Too bad for you.

American Geography

 I found this on gonna get sued which is a very awesome blog run by the one of the dudes from Book Of Caverns. They are a rather obscure mathy, post rocky screamo band from Vancouver. They have one of the members of Wrought: Ironsmile who played a lo fi emocore. 

The post rock on this album is mixed with some math rock so I can actually get through the songs. A lot of them are slow burning and never necessarily boil over but they still manage to kick ass.

Also very unknown, more people need to know this. More for the math people than screamo people probably

Merchant Ships & Family

here is another mix of what I've been listening to, this time from october 24 to november 2nd. It's all Merchant Ships and people connected to the band. Slurred Terms might be a strech for inclusion here but the dude was in William Bonney which had dudes from merchant ships in. Things start off very screamy and get much much emoier by the time we're through.

We get things started with a pair of tracks by Merchant Ships, one an untitled demo from an untitled album and one from an ep called I Want To Forget Everything Bad That Ever Happened Ever

 Then things get a lot calmer for a moment with  Midwest Pen Pals with tracks from their only ep Inside jokes. I think this was a transition band between Merchant Ships and Park Jefferson

My Head In Clouds play a rather standard, emotional hardcore based screamo on their Demo! I'm not sure if there were people from Merchant Ships on this, but people in this band are now in Park Jefferson.

We get back to the originals in this mix, Merchant Ships for a bunch of songs from  Bummer Times Demo, Extra Songs, For Cameron & Shipsography.tr

Things get much more emo and occasionally acoustic with Park Jefferson which is where Nick Stutsman is currently writing songs. He's one of my favourite five new lyricists right now. There are tracks from their Acoustic EP, Childhood, Demo, Better Boy.

Things get louder again with  a great screamo band who may or may not be dead, William Bonney. These tracks are from their Fall Demo. More from then later.

Things get really emo and almost completely acoustic with a bunch of songs from Nick Stutsman. Dude is really prolific and has done splits with some really cool people. These are songs from a split with Slurred Terms, more of them in just a bit, a split with Cameron Boucher, singer of Old Gray who are awesome, from an split with Scott Switzer called Whatever, Forever.

We return to Park Jefferson for some emo with some solid bands behind them. Some tracks from their split with Bicycle Sunday and a track from their new album Weekdays.

Things get acoustic with a one man acoustic project called Slurred Terms. Dude was/is in William Bonney depending if they broke up or on hiatus. These are songs from EP's called Home Is Home & Total Strangers

 We end things on a wild and screamy not with the latest from one of my modern favourite bands (maybe RIP) William Bonney. They just keep getting better, these songs are the best they've done but they did lost a littel bit of their personalities. These tracks are from a split with Droughts

Garage Punk, Screamo and Thrash Metal

Here's another mix I made of the music I've been listening to lately.

Things start off nicely with some garage punk wrapped up in a ball of fuzz with Flashlights from Brevard Florida. They are a scrappy punk band that plays their amps at 11 and sound like they never venture out of their garage.

We get underground and skramzy with a band called Sailboats. They only released two songs before breaking up though there is always talk that they recorded an LP that will eventually be put out by Discos Huelgas. Half of this band became Loma Prieta.

Speaking of Loma Prieta, they're the next artist on this split. This is a whole bunch of their music, tracks from 2006's Our LP Is Your EP, 2008's Last city, 2009's split with L'Antietam and 2009's Dark Mountain. I think Lom are awesome but they are an acquired taste. The vocals are always ear shattering high pitch screams and the guitars are usually raging pissed off punk style. Great stuff you like abrasive screamo.

We end things out with some tracks from the latest lp from Megadeth. Megadeth isn't my favourite thrash band but these songs are pretty good. TH1RT3EN isn't groundbreaking nor does it show any artistic development at all but these songs are good, solid thrash metal. I do wish Mustaine would keep his politics to himself though, metal is apolitical at best and left wing at most.

Random Mix time!

Time for another mix. This one has some stuff that I listened to awhile ago and some stuff I just listened to today.

We start with Tera Melos, an experimental post hardcore math rock band from Sacramento. They mash up a whole bunch of genres and rarely have conventional song structures. The Skin Surf is insidiously catchy.
We move to a much more obscure band that plays much weirder music, called Altered States. I’m not really sure how to describe the music other than experimental post rock. Except it’s not really using the rock and roll language, almost more like experimental ambient with more foreground elements than usual. Strange but I like it.

Things get instrumental and kinda heavy with Talons. They play instrumental post rock that is more post metal than a lot of bands. Think Explosions In The Sky but heavier.

We get noisy with an Australian punk band called TV Colours. They play lo fi, abrasive, noisy punk rock with vocals that are just as distorted and angry.

We head over to Britain for some tasteful post rock with light electronic touches around the fringes courtesy of Gallops.

Back across the pond we get a a track from the solo project of the Bobby Darling, guitarist for Gatsbys American Dream, called Places and Numbers. It kinda sounds like a singer songwriter if instead of acoustics singer songwriters used synthesizers to wrap electronica around their songs.

We head down to Olympia Washington for a few tracks courtesy of Broken Water. They play a shoe gazey kind of punk with really catchy vocals and female singer. Kinda pop songs wrapped up in noise that doesn’t ever become too abrasive or overpowering.

We come up to Canada for some hardcore punk from Ancestors from Toronto. They end up somewhere in between skate punk and hardcore with some nice guitar based melodies.

We stay in Canada for one track from an Edmonton hardcore band called Cope. It’s a tad chaotic but I like it still.

We stay in Alberta but head up to Fort McMurray for some post hardcore courtesy of Desiderata. This is only the intro to their album but I think it’s quite good.

Still in Alberta next up is a band called Fuck Tower. They were a two piece post punk band from Calgary. They were together lest than a year and recorded a demo that was never released. I like this quite a bit and wish it wasn’t so lo-fi.

Now we head over to Austria for some crusty metal courtesy of BØREDØM. Their album is called World Bores To Death which I’m assuming is a shot at/reference to World Burns To Death whom they’re not dissimilar to. Good stuff, this is how I like my crusty metal.

We head back to the states for some tracks by an excellent screamo band called The Kodan Armada. Dude wrote a song about how his father raped his sister. Legit emo. Nuff said.

We head over the the UK for some brand new mathy, screamo influenced punk rock courtesy of Run, Walk! The next four songs are from their split with Sirs, a great American screamo band. It’s a dual project between Top Shelf Records in the states and Holy Roar from the UK. It’s a great record and you can pre order it here

Things end this time round with a couple of brand new tracks from my favourite new post hardcore band Cattle Drums. These are demo’s, from their up coming full length I think and beside from being slightly quiet they absolutely slay. Think a less pissed off At The Drive In with just as cryptic lyrics.

Enjoy!

Who Programmed This?!? for October 11th 2011

This is the podcast for my radio show Who Programmed This?!? as broadcast through Trent Radio between the hours of 10 and 11 am central tuesday the 11th of october.


I played Animal Faces, a slightly mathy screamo band from Toronto, Book Of Caverns, a screamo band from edmonton who are more epic than most, Gift Eaters, a defunct screamo band Edmonton, Shiner, a 90’s emocore band from British Colombia, Loud?, a new emo band from Woodbridge Virginia, Book Of Dead Names, a defunct (I think) screamo band associated with Song Of Zarathustra from Minneapolis Minnesota.

I also played some Alexander Korda, fuzzed out screamo edging towards emo violence from Arizona, Bev.Clone, from Grand Rapids Michigan who had the singer from Constatine Sankathi and finished with Agna Moraine’s Autobiography who had the guitarist and bassist from Bev.Clone and the singer from the aforementioned Constatine Sankathi.

As Saetia screamed, there is no happy here.

Who Programmed This?!? for October 4th 2011

 This is the podcast of my radio show called Who Programmed This?!? broadcast originally through trent radio between the hours of 10 and 11 on October 4th.

I played almost exclusively bands of a  great Canadian musician named Dave Wenger. I started with M Blanket, a punk pop emo band, proceeded to Ache Hour Credo who are much moodier with a thicker, more obviously emo sound and ended the Dave Wenger tribute with a little bit of Daddy’s Hands, a weirder indie rock band that was very influential in some circles.

I finish the show with a couple cuts from the latest Ampere album which is so awesome.


Enjoy!