ULTIMATE

Ultimate - Ultimate Demo 2018 (2018)

Ultimate is a new DC drug free hardcore project from members of Rashomon, Never Relaxed, and Corrective Measure. Frontman Zechariah Ghostribe previously of Never Relaxed keeps the raw energy going while upping the ante on in-your-face aggression. Plus, the boxing gloves are no joke, this is Jiu Jitsu fueled, takedown and drag 'em out hardcore.

Not for posers. Not for punishers.


Similar sounds/acts - Never Relaxed, Rashomon, Kombat, Corrective Measure, Strung Along, Line of Sight.

Tapes

Soda Bomb - Wanna Jam?

Soda Bomb - Wanna Jam? (2015)

From signing a lease on a house to signing up for classes for my senior year of college, this week was a crazy venture in the art of growing up. Luckily, Soda Bomb's Wanna Jam? was also released this week and right when I needed a bit of a throwback. While I've only been listening to this young (but still probably older than me) four-piece from New York for a year or two, their sound is very much a sound I was looking for when I was still in high school. That's not a knock on them or anything... Wanna Jam? just really brings me back.

Soda Bomb's bumping angsty punk sound done right will definitely be on heavy rotation as I continue to grow the fuck up.



Similar acts/sounds: Mumblr, Chalk Talk, FIDLAR, Free Throw, By Surprise, Sirs, and Soda Bomb.

PS "Nobody Likes My Band" and "Damn, Dude" are less-fuzzy reworks from Soda Bomb's 2012 EP, Hooligan.

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Dying - Broken

Dying - Broken (2015)

Dying are an incredibly powerful metallic hardcore band from Philly. The four tracks here on this new release, Broken are heavily fueled by vegan/straight-edge/anti-lust views that make this already one-hundred-bricks-on-your-chest ripper even more chest-crushing. These views might not necessarily reflect my own, but when music is fueled with fire this strong, you know it's going to be intense. This is a must listen for fans of Converge, Cursed, Harm's Way, Full of Hell, etc.


Official site 
Hydrogen Man Records
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Mouth Washington - Don't Mean

Mouth Washington - Don't Mean (2015)

It's been some time since we last heard from the Hansen brothers and company, but Mouth Washington of Portland, Maine are not only still slamming on guitars and hacking on dusty drum kits, they are probably at their best right now with the release or their new album, Don't Mean.

Mouth Washington's blistering garage rock meets punk storytelling has matured since breaking out on the scene, but in no way has this maturing caused them to lose any of that baby-fat which made them who they are. Nope, Mouth Washington are still messy, still rough around the edges, and, most importantly, still shouting for your attention! So listen:



Damn, it seems just like yesterday I was seeing these guys play at the Apohadion Theater on my birthday in 2010.

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CUT THE SHIT VOL 3

Various Maine Artists - Cut the Shit Vol. 3(2014)

This is volume three of Mike Cunnane's super cool and completely DIY recordings of Maine bands. Some of these bands I got to see tear it up (musicly speaking, of course) at Portland music fests and special outings this summer i.e. Hopeless Losers, Babe, and TG9; some I have known for some time i.e. if and it, Mr. NEET, Great Western Plains, SS Cretins, and others i.e. Phallus Uber Alles, The English Muffins, and Fadeaway Jumpers are bands I'm listening to for the first time via this rad comp.

All the bands, as always, are completely different, so don't skip a beat if you wanna find something new to listen to. Bands like TG9 (members of Perfect Hair and An Anderson) and SS Cretins (psych throwbackers and good friends of mine) should especially be bands you'll be seeing/hearing again on this site so don't sleep on those folks.

Enough yapping from me... just check this out:


Be sure to check out the other volumes as well if you like what you hear ;)

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Bushido Dragons

Bushido Dragons - Bushido Dragons (1999)

Before Paul Baribeau was touring the underground punk rock scene with his simple yet additive acoustic music, the Grand Ledge, Michigan native played in a little band called Bushido Dragons. Bushido Dragons played a popular type of music for the locals at Grand Ledge High at the time... that type of music being surf rock.

The Bushido Dragons may have grown tired of playing surf rock, but the outcome of high schoolers recording their own DIY surf music turned into a super cool lo-fi sound that could have easily caught on today in this "everything is a throwback" society. Bushido Dragons' first self-titled record was by far the best example of this lo-fi surf rock style, while their follow-up release, Grand Haven, is much more of full-band version of Paul Baribeau's solo career. Grand Haven is no doubt a prequel to Baribeau's Grand Ledge released in '07. Hell, Grand Haven even includes the original version of "Blue Eyes" later on Baribeau's first self-titled release.

Check out all of the music Bushido Dragons ever recorded including their surf opera self-title at CometKaze.com. If you are a Paul Baribeau fan or just wanna hear some rare lo-fi music, you can dig deeper down into the Baribeau rabbit-hole with his even earlier band, Birthday Cakes also available on the site. If that's too rough for you, the recordings I mean, maybe stick with the live recordings of Bushido Dragons which include very early versions of Paul Baribeau singing Bruce Springsteen tracks.

Paul Baribeau's tumblr
CometKaze.com
Last.fm

Toasted Plastic - TP/ST

Toasted Plastic - TP/ST (2014)

New Jersey math punkers, Toasted Plastic are back and have four new tracks for you to listen to. TP/ST is very much an extension of where 2013's June Highs left off, which I have no complaints about as June Highs was one of the coolest releases I heard last year. Don't take my hype-induced blabber for it though, listen to this yourself and see what you think. TP first-timer or not. Do it.


Toast your brain.

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Monday 103

Local edition!

Sweet Teeth - Demo (2014)

Sweet Teeth are a riot grrrrrrrrl punk rock outfit out of Portland, Maine. They recently played with my buds in the psychedelic throwback, S.S. Cretins at The Oak & The Axe in Biddeford as well as starting the night off right at the Ramshackle Glory show a few weeks back.



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Buddusky - Two of Something (2014)

Buddusky are from a part of Maine I don't hear much about. That part being Mexico, Maine. Still, Buddusky are making the once home of bingo caller/carnival barker, Ed McMahon very proud by providing simple yet cool guitar and drum music to the state.



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Holyfilth - Feast On Fire (2014)

Thrash.

Fucking Bangor(e), Maine thrash.


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Ted Nguyent - Don't Vote

Ted Nguyent - Don't Vote (2014)

Philly punks, Ted Nguyent got this whole punk rock thing figured out.

From their pizza-themed magnum opus, Pizza & Regret, Ted Nguyent have know moved on to much more thought-provoking themes such as biology, stalking, why Dave (Grohl?) killed Kurt Cobain, the Philadelphia Parking Authority, and, of course, the Temple of Doom and what it would feel like if it was their body.

Get With it.

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Never Relaxed

Never Relaxed - Demo (2014)

Never Relaxed are some Portland dudes playing music and getting mad about some stuff.

This is a demo I was really looking forward to listening to for some time now, and have been for the past few months. It's the debut for the four-man hardcore punk outfit out of Portland and it's certainly true to the growing hardcore scene in Maine.

The unique vocals of lead-yeller, Zech is fueled by new and old school hardcore acts from Bad Brains to Bane to Portland's Cruel Hand. Then there's the other guys who, in such a serious genre, are never taking themselves too seriously. Mix it all together and you have a very fresh hardcore band that fits not just in legion halls and VFW posts but also in punk houses and underground jam spots.

Check it out:



Recorded by Leveret's Jesse Gertz.

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Yautja - Songs of Descent

Yautja - Songs of Descent (2014)

From NFT's Song and Match of the Day:

Yautji are a mix of all sorts of pissed off sludgy hardcore and metal noise all tangled up in a big sharp clump and ready for you to step on it late at night as you quietly-as-possible walk to the bathroom. Your foot will bleed and you will be shouting, waking your girlfriend up and her drunk roommate. In this short yet excruciatingly painful moment you will confess your hatred for your shitty job and your mundane life. The next day you will buy a motorcycle and drive it far, far away. Eventually, you will ride it into the sun and mesh your skin and bones with the motorcycle's shiny metal and leather, becoming apart of it as much as it will be apart of you and you will ride the solar system from there on out as a mecha-humanoid motorcycle bounty hunter.

Never to return.

Highlights: "Denihilist", "Tar and Blindness", "Faith Resigned", "A Crawl", and "Of Decent".

Similar acts/sounds: Coliseum, Legion, Nameless Cults, Gnarwhal, Mutoid Man, Harm's Way, Mammoth Grinder, Nails, Black Breath, and eating dessert first... and last... and for all the other meals.

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FYLTD

FYLTD - FYLTD VOL. 1 (2014)

Here's some local goodies from the Bangor, Maine collective, FYLTD.

The collective features many familiar names of the electronic, DIY, instrumental hip-hop, and sample music scene here in Maine including AFRAID, Jared Fairfield, Altered Gee, and the post-something rocker's Captain Hollow. Other acts and musicians in FYLTD and on this compilation such as Swerly Bird (Lanny Winchester), Life Circle, and eebbtiddee are acts rooted in the electronic Bangor scene that are just waiting to be discovered. This is FYLTD's first compilation and is curated as a way for Bangor natives, former members of 1800s Sea Monster and their friends to share their art/music together.


If you would like to read more about what FYLTD is all about I suggestion checking out Culture Shock's write-up of the group and their first compilation over on the Bangor Daily News's blog site. If that's not good enough for you, you could go to the show that members of FYLTD are putting on next week to celebrate Vol. 1's release and get the scoop on FYLTD first hand. The show is at The Bangor Opera House starting at 7 probably (maybe) and everyone gets a physical copy of the compilation (maybe).

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Friday Streamin'

Here's some stuff you should buy with the government's money... and by government money, I mean your money.

Solids - Blame Confusion (2014)

Solids from Montreal, Canada are just two dudes playing fuzzy music. It's a cross between emo fuzz and grungy garage rock fuzz. Like the kind of fuzz that you'd find being crafted in the basement at your local punk house. It's not too complicated to understand or get into either, it's just guitar and drums, a guy singing stuff you don't understand but you know it's in English, and it makes you wish you had a beer in your hand.


Poor-one-out-for-your-lost-homies rock.

Last.fm

Krill - Steve Hears Pile in Malden and Bursts into Tears (2014)

Krill is a band that actually did come to my local punk house. I didn't know it at the time, but once and a while these cool Boston bands I always rave about come up and play. Anyways though, if you like Modest Mouse, oddball vocals, or just some fun indie rock, Krill is a band you should check out.


The title to this EP, to the best of my knowledge, is a nod to another great Boston local band, Pile. Those guys also have a really cool 7incher you listen to on their Bandcamp.

Last.fm

Piglet - Early Songs (2013)

In  2005, a little band called Piglet released one of the greatest math rock gems of all-time, entitled, Lava Land. The album is a must-have if you are a fan of math rock with only gripe about it: we never got to hear more by them due to their break up. But here we are in 2014, where not only do we now have the live EP that has circled around the internet on Bandcamp, but we also have this little gem featuring 4 previously unreleased tracks.


With the likelihood of this band never getting back together, this is definitely the next best thing.

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Last.fm

NFT's Got You Cover? Hank Williams... The Old One!

Various Artists - Hank Williams Compilation (2013)

From the folks who brought us the Top 40 Compilation comes another look into reconstructing a persons work into simple acoustic lo-fi tracks. This is the Hank Williams Compilation, a collection of - yep, you guessed it - Hank Williams cover songs.

I recently wrote an essay about a certain cover album (which I will not name) that really got me looking at covers in the sense that what people do to a song will ultimately never be as authentic as the original and that the songs usually miss the point of what the original stands for all together. Granted some things should not be covered for the sake of art like church hymns or sea songs, I think taking someone's work like Hank Williams's and re-imagining it, added a little of yourself to it, and giving it away for free is not a bad thing at all. That is, unless you throw a bunch of club noises into it (I'm looking at you, Pill Friends).

Anyways, these covers are just for fun; that's really what covering music should be about anyway.

Artists/bands doing their best Hank Williams impressions (sorta) include: Pill Friends, Radiator Hospital, Free Cake For Every Creature, Teen Suicide, Told Slant, Florist, Lizard Kisses, Fog Lake, and Totally Ruined.


Birdtapes.com
Last.fm (Birdtapes)

Host - Death Will Claim These Tired Bones

Host - Death will claim these tired bones (2014)

Here's something pretty unexpected: It's the late New Hampshire hardcore band, Host's last album which almost never saw the light of day. Death will claim these tired bones was recorded just before the band announced they were ceased to exist. Thankfully, the album was not lost forever, and is out now on the internet for everyone to hear!

Normally I wouldn't bug anyone to buy music that I'm plugging, but I really ask that if you enjoy this kind of stuff to buy this album. Not only do they deserve it because they were a band in a hard working genre, but the money also goes to a cause that is close to them. All proceeds from this release go to the band's friend/the vocalist Matt's Fiance, Ana's medical costs of her pancreatic liver failure treatment.

I know I will be putting some money towards this album when I get my tax refund money soon. 

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Monday XCVII (NSFW)

To put some life back into this blog, I've decided to not only make this post this week, but one for every day this week. Godspeed.

Dungeon Kids - Jzanthypus and Friends (2014)

A little something-something from the indie pop dudes in the Baltimore area. This 3 song EP of sorts features two B-sides along with Dung Kid's single, "Grenville, Pt. 1" from their first release, Oh How it Hurts; a song that easily made my top 10 songs list last year.



Wet your whistle.

Last.fm

Big Ups - Wake Up (2011)

If you haven't already heard about these guys, you are hearing them right now. Literally, listen to these guys right now!

Big Ups from New York are blowing up with their new album, Eighteen Hours of Static and for good reason (listen). Before they were killing it with a Fugazi meets Melvins post punk sound, they were baby punk rockers in a big city. Some people might just wanna skip to their new stuff and call it good, but I like their old stuff, too. I don't know, maybe you'll like it as well.


SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

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Where's My Friends - Where's My Friends (2014)

Where's My Friends are a Portland, Maine brewed instrumental three piece featuring members of the late math rock band, The Waldos, and the always impressive, Butcher Boy. While Where's My Friends are not as heavy as The Waldos stuff (not that The Waldos were off the walls), it's still moving, a bit free flowing, but moving nevertheless.




Poland Street dreams.

Fackbook.com

Monday XCVI

Shonen Bat - No Competition (2013)

A 3-piece from Malaga, Spain playing laid-back emo a la Braid, Sunny Day Real Estate, On The Might of Princes, and other bands that miss the 90's.

Last.fm

Divers - EP (2013)

Malaysian post hardcore. 'Nough said, right?


That's some pretty cool artwork, too.

Last.fm

Heccra - Devil-Faces VCR Session (2014)

Some more stuff from the highly combustible, blow your speakers and eardrums out simultaneously, Heccra. From what I've gathered this is more of a rough draft to Heccra's full-length, entitled The Devil-Faces of My Old Friends, Beneath Me slated for release later this year. Until then though, here's some adulterated noise for your unpure soul.


Last.fm

Monday XCV

Learned how Roman Numerals work again. Personally, I prefer all the X's.

Delos / Yusuke - Split (2013)

This is a sweet screamo/hardcore/emo violence split I've been holding on to featuring Delos from Bremen, Germany and Yusuke from Illinois, Untied States. Very scream-y, very messy.

Yusuke's side:


Delos's side:

It appears that both bands are either really into Louise Cyphre (Yusuke) or used to be Louise Cyphre (Delos).

Last.fm (Yusuke)
Last.fm (Delos)

Princess Reason - Princess Reason (2013)

Princess Reason is a lo-fi indie pop group from Echo Park, California. They sound like stuff you should play on cassette while you are in your room alone and not acting tough listening to tough people music. It's a real treat really. Fans of Coma Cinema, Spook Houses, Julia Brown, Pill Friends, and quite lo-fi will definitely get a kick out of this stuff if they aren't already.


Last.fm

Soda Bomb - The Future is Gonna Suck (2013)

Before 2013 ended, all I knew about Soda Bomb was that they have a cover of the King of the Hill theme song. Now it's 2014 and I still don't know much about these guys other than I went the whole year without checking to see if they had released anything new.. and they did. Good thing Broken World Media let me know, seeing as they released these guys mid-2013 release, The Future is Gonna Suck last October.


Soda Bomb play fuzzy garage punk rock. Bring back the Attitude Era thumbs up if you agree.

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Monday LXXXXIII

Busted eardrums will thank you.

Special Explosion - Special Explosion (2013)

Special Explosion are the newest members of the Topshelf Records family. This release is a combination of  pretty much all the material that Special Explosion have released in the past all rolled up into one great little record debut of sorts.



Nice indie rock/pop punk.

Last.fm

Cara Neir - Portals to a Better, Dead World (2013)

Want to bring a little darkness to your holidays? How about some crusty two-piece blackened metal?

Cara Neir's got you covered.


I was pretty surprised to see these guys make Spin's 20 Best Metal Albums as well as Stereogum's however many albums they want to put below Sunbather metal list this year. Hell, Cara Neir even made it onto a College Humor list and labeled as "...great for everyone who would prefer to be dead". I would not go as far as to say that this album would make you want to off yourself, but Portals to a Better, Dead World would definitely make it into my favorite metal things list this year if I had one (even though I wouldn't consider them straight-up metal).

Last.fm

Captain Hollow - Mares Got Strangled (2013)

From what it seems, Mares Got Strangled might be Captain Hollow's "final transmission for a while". As someone who has been following this Bangor/Portland band for a bit now, I'm surprised they haven't broken up yet. Then again, I probably say that every time they return to make one last album.



Mares Got Strangled is without question Captain Hollow's most experimental release. If you get passed the fact that this album is not serious at all, you can really start to enjoy its all-over-the-place-ness.

I also really appreciate the Pooty Tang reference (track 5). The world needs more Pooty Tang references.

Last.fm

NFT's Got You Covered... In Pizza with Macaulay Culkin as The Velvet Underground of Pizza

The Pizza Underground - The Pizza Underground Demo (2013)

This particular demo has been getting a lot of attention online, and for good reason. This is the best news we've heard about Macaulay Culkin in ages and just as good news for pizza, though I feel pizza had a pretty good 2013 - I mean, not Yeezy good - but pretty fair. So, what is it? It's Macaulay Culkin and his band playing some Velvet Underground songs a la pizza... It's The Pizza Underground!

The demo consists of one song that is made up of a few Velvet Underground-turned-pizza tunes such as, "All the Pizza Parties" ("All Tomorrow's Parties"), "I'm Waiting for Delivery Man" ("I'm Waiting for My Man"), the late Lou Reed's "Take a Bite on the Wild Side" ("Take a Walk on the Wild Side), and my personal favorite, "Cheese Days" (Nico's "These Days").


So cheesy. So delicious. Grab it and go!

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