AGAINST ME!- REINVENTING AXL ROSE [No Idea]

Here stands one of those bands that it's hard to find the words to describe. Against Me! have that 'spark' I spend my time reviewing looking for; that ingrained talent, sincerity and originality. They, like other bands in this category, seem some how unaware of it, to me this constitutes a great band. In this respect I would compare them to bands like Propagandhi, Radon, Jawbreaker etc. Musically they could be compared to fellow folk-punk luminaries The Dropkick Murphys or The Pogues in that they have an inherent energy that doesn't rely on the size of their amps. However the only band that sounds like Against Me! IS Against Me! and this is why I love 'em. The pounding of the snare throughout sounds like an American Civil War drum and is the perfect backdrop to their lyrical call-to-arms. Unlike some other bands attempting this, Against Me! avoid the jingoistic idiocy of their poorer contempories. They maintain the same level of integrity and heartfelt sincerity whether they're singing about the anarchist movement or drinking and hangovers. Bands like this breeding diversity and integrity in an increasingly stale and trivialised scene are what I love about punk. Being able to tell stories and put across views whilst making the whole album seem like a raucious sing-along in a brewery is a skill. Recognise it. Matt

ANONYMOUS TIP- GREETINGS FROM WASTELAND [10 Past 12]

OH. MY. GAAAWD. Saves The Day moved to London, formed a band with members of Snuff circa 1986 and added some screams for good measure. Or possibly Anonymous Tip have come to my attention via the suburban punk-rock grape-vine. Poor grammar, sentence structure and dodgy introductions aside, Anonymous Tip make competent pop-punk with that "harder edge" that bands seem to think gives them some kind of automatic credibility. All in all it's fairly underwhelming, they're good at what they do, they have the occasional touch of interest (the high little ska part in 'Big Brown Bear', for instance) but there's not much new being done here. They do however, score maximum kudos for their track titles, 'Lemon Juice On My Nipples' being a particular favourite of mine. If they put as much imagination into their songwriting as they do their song titles we'd have an awesome new prospect on our hands. (18/05/05)

BABAR LUCK- CARE IN THE COMMUNITY [Rebel Music]

I, along with most of those with any sense in the punk community, must admit to shedding a tear when the news of King Prawn’s split reached me. In short they were a fucking brilliant band. Babar Luck was a bassist meets poison dwarf and perfectly representative of the bands eclectic sound and style. His spirit, not to mention his awesome vocals, has been carried across to this very impressive solo release. There’s so many influences here it’s impossible to know where to start and perhaps album opener ‘1 Luv’ sums it up best. “Black culture taught me a lot and white culture taught me a lot and my own culture taught me a lot.” It’s an indie-ska-reggae mash up very reminiscent of the Prawn and worthy of their memory. It’s an album that twists and turns all over the place but some how sticks together. Lyrically ‘Care in the Community’ is fairly simplistic, each song having a message that’s usually repeated in order to drive the point home, “Money and guns are gonna take your soul”, on ‘Lions’ for instance. Every song has a reason for existence, a soul and a great melody to back it up. Babar Luck has succeeded in creating an indie dub soundtrack to the 21^st Century. The king is dead long live the king (…Prawn bassist)!!! (08/03/06)

BATTLESKA GALACTICA- SONGS FROM THE CRYPT [No Totem]

There's a bit somewhere in the punk rock bible about the fashionista shift over the years, it goes something like "In the early 90s there was nothing. The punk gods were bored and decided to create grunge. Grunge begot pop-punk, pop-punk begot ska-punk and all was laughy and happy. However the metal demons were not pleased and smote the land unleashing fashion-core emo in a wave of marker-penned-nails and mother's stolen eyeliner. The ska children were led into temptation by the promise of women liking 'deep' guys and the world was plunged into an age of darkness."

As with most things, it seems this never reached Folkestone, therefore enabling bands like Battleska to storm their local area. On the other hand, it could also be due to their knack for penning a catchy tune. One or the other... who's to say huh? These songs strengths (I'm guessing) must lie in their live performance as they have me bobbing up and down in my chair, something I like to call the 'lazy skank'. They are supremely danceable and just good fun to listen to- a combination of Lightyear and The Splitters with something of their own thrown in. However, there's room for improvement. I feel more attention should have been paid to the lyrics as, essentially, these are songs about nothing. Music, punk in particular, is all about getting your feelings across to the listener and you're wasting a huge oportunity to do this if you skimp on your lyrics- it's the tunes that first grab your attention, but the lyrics that make you a fan. A much smaller quibble is the slightly weak sounding brass. Whenever it's a solo brass instrument the power behind it goes out the window and it sounds kind of flaccid. Whether this is the instruments, the playing or the production I don't know, I suspect production, but it definately steals some of the punch. This is a real shame as everything else is in place for the germination of a great band with a great collection of songs. Overall the production job is good though, the band sound splendid and retain their good character and I even enjoyed the dodgy Monty Python French knight skit at the end, something I usually only find funny when I'm doing it. I'm looking forward to watching this band develop because I think they could still easily become something even more exciting, there's just a few creases to iron out first. (08/06/05)

BILLY NO MATES- WE ARE LEGION CD [10 Past 12]

As far as I'm concerned Duncan Redmonds, the man who played in Snuff and Guns 'N' Wankers and wrote 'Skin Deep', can pretty much have my babies. Add to this the fact that Billy No Mates is his solo moniker, in which he plays every instrument, sings every word and that this album is really, really good and he has first dibs on any grandchildren in the offing as well.

I was expecting good things from this record, but I wasn't expecting it to sound this... fresh. It's good to see that he hasn't decided to rest on his impressive laurels and things are being pushed forward. It would have been easy to put out a record of average poppy ska, put two thumbs up, smile and say 'Hey I'm the guy from Snuff' and people would buy it. Instead we get a record that spins off in several different directions yet, like a musical boomerang (Cheeselisted), comes back to form something entirely cohesive. We get thrash-punker 'What's Wrong With That', the metallically brilliant 'Memories Come, Memories Go', bouncy popster 'Look At You' and everything in between. Brilliant songs, DIY attitude, on his own label- this is an album that represents everything right with the punk scene. I almost cried it's so good.

Matt 'gushing' Blacklisted (18/03/05)

BRIAN SETZER- ROCKABILLY RIOT VOL. 1: A TRIBUTE TO SUN RECORDS [Surfdog]

Brian Setzer of the legendary Stray Cats needs no introduction, neither do Sun Records- the label responsible for Elvis, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison so it seems only a matter of time before these two were likely to collide. Brian Setzer is the quiffed up maintainer of all things rockabilly and it seems he's decided to acknowledge his roots in this collection of Sun Records covers. This is something he does very well, even using original analogue recording and effects techniques, so well in fact, that they sound very similar to the originals. I've no problem with covers, but they should, if nothing else, add something new to the song, a part of the artist's own creativity- otherwise you might as well stick with the original. I think the problem here is that Setzer's own creativity comes from his roots in rockabilly and rock'n'roll and so they completely meld with the songs leaving very little new standing out.  Nevertheless it's still a fine collection of songs from the Sun archives and for any fans of 50's music a bit of a gem, with tracks like Cash's 'Get Rhythm' and Billy Lee Riley's 'Red Hot' sitting alongside 'Blue Suede Shoes' and Gene Simmons' unreleased 'Peroxide Blonde'. For everyone else it's worth a listen, but not a buy. (27/06/05)

DIALOG CET- KONSUMER ERA CD [Carcrash Records]

Well in the time it has taken us to not put an issue out these guys have recorded and released a new album- shit, bollocks, bugger. Right, on with the review. According to the press sheet they play weird rock/labyrinth punk thats the best description I think I've heard of this style so I'm sticking with it. They've lost a member since their last album and so have elected to use 'additional musicians' which means they are now a 2 piece with 3 'additional' drummers, one guitar/synth/Hammond player, vocalist and one spare bassist. I have to say that theyve improved on the last album in that this one is about 20 minutes shorter and that they have some occasional vocals. Without this the last album was hard to sit through for the entire 60 mins. Those really were my only criticisms last time round and they have remedied these. The tracing paper sleeve is really neat as is the statement on the inside:

"Theres a lot of empty shells around today. At first sight they look like human beings, but go a bit closer and youll see that theyre not people but empty shells, with all the goodness inside eaten away."

Obviously this type of music wont appeal to all ears but its not meant to- what it is meant to do is confuse you and push your tastes. With this in mind it achieves its goals. Matt

DISORDER OF DEADEIGHT- THE PSYCHEDELLIC GODLY LOVE OF DISORDER OF DEADEIGHT [Vaticanian Roadkill- 0.75a@mail.com]

At first listen I found this to be an extremely experimental release and listened to both sides twice with great interest. It wasn't, however, until the next evening that I returned to it and found out I'd been playing the whole thing at the wrong speed. Seriously, WHO PUTS OUT A 45 THAT PLAYS AT 33 RPM!!!

On this second listen I found a band that sounds more like Brian Eno marrying Death From Above 1979 in a cavernous church. Perhaps that's a bad description, but Disorder Of Deadeight will not fit in the pigeon-house let alone a pigeon-hole and to label them 'avant-garde' would just be lazy.

I like bands like this as they keep things interesting. A typical press-sheet would normally read something like "...are a hot new band who have already taken their locale by storm and are ready to conquer the rest of the world with their internet-only two track demo". A select quote from these guys though... "A claustrophobic space rock journey through moods of cosmic scale alienation and psychedellic apathy."

A-side 'Crippled Limbo' sounds like it should be soundtracking '2001: A Space Odyssey', all slowed-down vocals and echoes before it kicks off into a thrashy stoner-rock apocalypse. Flip-side 'The Beat Below' is a more accessible, dare I say, even danceable number with a slight funky feel.

I actually really enjoyed listening to this and found the energy somehow contained in it to be really infectious. I'll certainly be putting this on every time I can be arsed to dig out my record player.

Disorder Of Deadeight are also about as D.I.Y. as you can get. The two of them played all the instruments, recorded it themselves, drew their own artwork and put it out on their own label... on vinyl! Avant-good. (05/09/05)

DONOTS, THE- POCKET ROCK CD [Burning Heart]

FURILLO- BREAK THE GAME CD [Wolverine Records]
This is cool, opening with an old woman demanding that he stops pursuing his dream, and to quit playing. But I think the rest of the album gives us a clear picture that they should never ever stop. They really have something more to them. Maybe its just because its more ska and less punk than I'm used to but it sounds really good. They have a cover of Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce, I have the advantage of hearing the original but even if you haven't its a great tune. The jazz and swing undertones run strongly throughout and the attitude that comes with. Some of the songs are pretty long, the last being 9mins! But if you like it you wont notice. Jamie

GAY FOR JOHNNY DEPP- BLOOD THE NATURAL LUBRICANT [Captains Of Industry]

Well first off congratulations are due, this is by far the most disturbing release reviewed on this entire site. Maybe I’m just not comfortable as a heterosexual male listening to such a violent and predatory homosexual album, or maybe I missed I just missed the joke, but if taken seriously this is scary stuff.

So basically in Gay For Johnny Depp we have a hardcore punk band devoted to Johnny Depp and the idea of sleeping with him (although I don’t think ‘‘sleeping’’ is really the right word here). In fact, for once I’m inclined to agree with a press sheet’s statement. “Clearly this is hardcore- in the original sense.”

It’s all pretty good music wise, the lyrics leave a little to be desired, but I can get into the pulsating rhythms and the end-of-the-world guitars. I also think that kazoos are a tragically under-utilized instrument in all forms of music, but especially in the world of hardcore punk. If you like your music like you like your men, i.e. hard and gay, then this could be the band for you. For everyone else it’s enough to put you off sex for life. (20/09/05)