Rock Star Journalist

Live on the BBC’s Later… With Jools Holland, this is a much better recording of the recently-reformed Specials than the bootleg tracks from their special guest appearance at Bestival last year. As you can tell, they sound much better with Terry Hall than the reunion shows they did in the ’90s with Roddy Radiation and Lynvall Golding doing all the vox. Still not quite the same as having Jerry Dammers in the band, too, but he’s kind of a stuck-up git and thus, it’s better than nothing.

the Specials - “A Message to You Rudy” (from The Specials)
the Specials - “Gangsters” (from The Specials)

Bomb the Music Industry! - “Scrambles”
(Quote Unquote Records)

As many times as I’ve written of Bomb the Music Industry! in the past, you’d think I’d've run out of things to say by this point. Nope! They just released their newest album, Scrambles, and it’s pretty goddamn great. It’s way more varied than their past few records, and those were pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.

Scrambles has a couple slower, acoustic numbers, which I certainly think will lend themselves pretty well to Mr. Rosenstock’s travels around the world with a guitar and iPod. The fast, crazy songs - of which there are the usual amount - are a little more focused, and have less dramatic tonal shifts than, say, To Leave Or Die On Long Island. The lyricism is less general, and more incitefully focused on topics like scene elitism (by both bands and fans) in songs like “Gang of Four Meets the Stooges (but Boring)” and “(Shut) Up The Punx!!!”

Even songs like “Can I Pay My Rent in Fun?” and “Saddr Weirdr” put forth the notion that music, while liberating, can be absolutely stifling to one’s life in general. The idea of spending your life seeing the country and playing music sounds like it’d be the greatest adventure ever, until you think about it and realise that you’re seeing the country through the windows of a van and a haze of cigarette smoke from onstage.

“Fresh Attitude, Young Body” and “25!” turn all of Scrambles into a sort of meditation as to what it’s like to get older, play music, and be poor. “Cold Chillin’ Cold Chillin’” and “Sort of Like Being Pumped” provide the bookends to the album, that along with the aforementioned songs about aging, give the album a certain sense of hope, that there are “messages that say that life’s better than this.”

The story of the whole recording story over at the discography page is amazing, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the copy from Asian Man that is, in Mike Park’s words, “an insane visual project as the CD, and comes with a 32 page zine with random brilliance and other ramblings from Jeff and friends, a sticker decoder for the cover, digipak and yup… to date, the most expensive CD we’ve put out.” Wow. In the meantime, download it for free (or a donation of your choice) below.

Download Scrambles here or, if you just want a taste, “Gang of Four Meets the Stooges (but Boring).”

The new Stand Out Riot album, Carnival Militia, showed up in the mail yesterday and is one of the best ska-punk CDs I’ve ever heard. It’s like the kids in the band went to their producer, played him “The Final Countdown” by Europe, and said “we want to sound that fucking big.” Seriously - epic. I’ve never heard a ska-punk album that had this much range. It’s an absolutely dynamic recording, as opposed to flattening everything to one level and sterilizing the sound.

This right here is a prime example of how you can use the studio to accomplish something amazing. I loved their last EP, Stand Out Riot Vs. the Oxbridge Mafia, and this is leaps and bounds beyond that. I was only able to make it through the first two songs before I went to class last night, but they sounded so great coming through my truck’s speakers, I felt the need to share it with everyone today. Shell out the cash to get it, deal with the insane shipping charges and conversion rates to get it from the UK, and you’ll appreciate it and can thank me later.

Compared to the disappointment that is the new Reel Big Fish album, I’m glad something good showed up in the mail yesterday. That RBF album, Fame, Fortune, and Fornication is a collection of covers, which would normally have me jumping for joy, especially since RBF’s done some great covers over the years (”Take On Me,” “Unity,” “Gigantic,” et al), but this just disappoints. They cover one of my most favorite ska songs ever, “Veronica Sawyer” by Edna’s Goldfish, and slow the tempo down just enough to suck all the energy out. The guitar isn’t nearly as rocking, and pretty much every song on the album ends up sounding exactly the fucking same. It’s fun and all, and the punked up version of “Authority Song” only strengthens my long-held opinion that a snotty punk band still needs to cover it properly, but for the most part, I’m really glad I didn’t have to pay for this.

Three fantastic record pre-orders are available at the moment. You’ve got the last release from the Ergs!, entitled That’s It…Bye on Don Giovanni. It’s a 12″ single featuring artwork from Mitch Clem. See below for how pretty it is:

Don Giovanni is also repressing the Ergs! Jersey’s Best Prancers. It’ll have a different color and labels from previous presses.

Speaking of represses… or, to be more accurate, a first pressing of an old record… um, waitaminnit. Let me clarify. The Suicide Machines never released any of their albums on vinyl (aside from the “Vans Song” 7″, but that’s a single, not an album). SideOne Dummy is putting out a double LP on red and blue vinyl featuring both A Match and Some Gasoline and War Profiteering is Killing Us All. It’s a steal at $17 plus shipping, and is available here for pre-order. They’re limited edition, which doesn’t seem to mean much, as all the other SideOne Dummy vinyl’s been the same way, and I still see their shit every time I go to a record store. Take note, though, as it won’t ship until December.

Somebody needs to give me $40 so I can buy all this shit. Or convince the labels to send them to me. Seriously - my journalistic ethics are pretty much nonexistent. I’ll sell myself out for limited edition records.

the Suicide Machines - “Burning In the Aftermath” (from A Match and Some Gasoline)
the Ergs! - “Kind of Like Smitten” (from Jersey’s Best Prancers)

Five Iron Frenzy, the Supertones, the Insyderz?

Eat your fucking hearts out.

The band is called Sonseed, the song is called “Jesus Is A Friend of Mine.”

There’s an interview with Sal Polichetti of Sonseed that you should really read. Wow. And did you know that there’s a website called Ska For Christ?

the Supertones - “Like No One Else” (from Acquire The Fire: Live The Difference)

Despite the heat, my microcassette recorder not getting two interviews, and the International Superheroes of Hardcore LP I bought being warped (irony!), the Vans Warped Tour has actually brought me what I can pretty much state as the best show moment of my entire life:

The Aggrolites.
With Angelo Moore.
From Fishbone.
On the main stage at Sandstone.
Doing a medley of “Skinhead Moonstomp,” “Party At Ground Zero,” and “Monkey Man.”

And if that wasn’t enough… I watched it from the SIDE OF THE FUCKING STAGE. I was standing next to Aaron Barrett from Reel Big Fish and the drummer from the HorrorPops while the girls from Oreskaband danced on the other side of the stage.

I have pictures. Lots of them. They’ll be posted Friday. Lots of really good shots. I will never be in front of another barricade if I can possibly avoid it. It’s so nice to have room to shoot.

Fishbone - “Party At Ground Zero” (from Fishbone)
Toot and the Maytals - “Monkey Man” (single)

Mutant Pop Records totally deserves your money. A couple weeks ago, I sent $12 for three records. Idiot me filled out the order form, then let it sit for a week. I didn’t bother to double-check the website before sending in the form and my check. It’s old-school mail order - you print out a form, fill it out based on what he’s got listed for sale, and mail in form and money, hopefully marking some alternates.

Two records he didn’t have in stock (the Ergs!’s Books About Miles Davis and Slow Gherkin’s Death of A Salesman), so he sent me a credit slip for that amount. I was able to get Kosher’s Bored In America 7″, which he did have in stock (if you’re wanting some more Kosher, he has the Death to Drama CDEP as well).

In addition the amazingly hard to find 7″ and my credit slip, I got four bucks cash, basically making that Kosher record free.

Customer service, to be sure. Tim’s also remarkably communicative if you want to shoot him a message. Give him your money. Along with Mike Park at Asian Man and Virgil of Suburban Home / Vinyl Collective, he’s one of the people with whom I love having financial transactions.

the Ergs! - “Kind of Like Smitten” (from Jersey’s Best Prancers)
Slow Gherkin - “Trapped Like Rats In Meyers Flats” (from Shed Some Skin)

From the Asian Man Records newsletter:

Things continue to be busy as we launch into the re-presses of a lot of vinyl and the first breath of air for tons of releases that never got the vinyl treatment.

But yeah… It’s a lot of work, but we’re slowly getting to these records. And of course all the new releases will all be coming out on vinyl.

So, most of my extra money is pretty much gone. Seriously, the Big D is probably what I’m most looking forward to - well, it’s tied with Slapstick. Man, this “vinyl resurgence” thing is amazing, but expensive. Thank God Asian Man sells their vinyl for nine bucks.

Big D & the Kids Table - “Myself”
Big D & the Kids Table - “Fatman” (live)

Smash and Grab Records is offering a pre-sale for the 7″ version of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker.” The record is limited to a pressing of 500, with 250 on white, and 250 on blue. I ordered mine, and there were only 340 left, and the pre-sale started yesterday. They’re most likely going to be gone by the end of the weekend, and then where you be?

You can also snag a copy of the Explosion’s final release, as well - there’s only about 60 copies of the limited edition of 300 pink 7″s. Well, second-to-final release, being as how Paper and Plastick will be putting out Bury Me Standing (their heretofore unreleased final full-length) sometime soon. You can peep the cover art here.

Matador’s taking pre-orders for Jay Reatard’s first single, as well. “See Saw” b/w “Screaming Hand” is available here, but act fast! They’re only allowing one per customer, and there’s only 500. The next single will be more rare, and the next one more so than that, and so on throughout the series of six.

Jay Reatard - “Tony Little Home”
Jay Reatard - “Cookie“

Right now, I hate Less Than Jake. It’s a fairly simplistic reaction to what I consider a pretty annoying decision.

See, the band talked with CMJ and told them about their plans to start a new label, to be called Sleep It Off. The reason being, according to Vinnie, is that “sometimes you don’t fit in the modern music industry” as a pop-punk act. Reasonable enough, right?

Sure, since it means they get to release their next album themselves, thus not having to deal with label issues, being as how they’ve released full-lengths on seven labels (six, if you count Sire as a Warner subsidiary). Their debut, Pezcore has been released by Dill and Asian Man, with a 10th anniversary remaster on Fueled By Ramen. That’s three right there, before you even consider Losing Streak and Hello Rockview on Capitol, Borders and Boundaries on Fat Wreck, Anthem on Sire, and In With the Out Crowd on Warner Bros. There’s also miscellaneous singles of innumerable quantity, a “best-of” on Moon, and two b-sides collections.

I understand the band wants to make certain that their albums stay in print, and that makes total sense. The re-release of their b-side collections Goodbye, Blue and White and Losers, Kings, and Things We Don’t Understand, as well as Pezcore and the People’s History of Less Than Jake DVD on March 18 would make sense if those discs were out of print… but they’re not. All three records are readily available from their respective labels, as is the DVD. You can check out the FBR webstore and pick up all of the stuff being reissued, except Losers, Kings…, which you can get from No Idea for seven bucks.

I understand that Vinnie and crew are collector nerds. The discography page on the old LTJ site was a testament to the insane vinyl variations the band has put out over the years. Still, when you can easily get a copy of the third iteration of a record, is there really a need to issue a fourth? Really, this is just about as bad as the never-ending train of Elvis Costello reissues.

“Time And A Half”
“My Very Own Flag“