Category: Punk
“Bringing to mind an amalgamation of bands like Lifetime, CIV, New Found Glory, the Movielife, and early Saves the Day, the Bay Area’s Set Your Goals straddle the line between pop-punk and hardcore. They burst onto the scene with a 2005 self-titled EP on Straight on Records. Comprised of vocalists Jordan Brown and Matt Wilson, guitarist Dave Yoha, bassist Joe Saucedo, and drummer Michael Ambrose, the guys later rechristened their eponymous EP Reset for an April 2006 reissue on Eulogy that included a bonus track and enhanced video footage. They followed up three months later with their infectious debut full-length, Mutiny!, which blended rousing melodic hardcore with insightful, positive lyrics and ample pirate references. Becoming an official six-piece with the addition of guitarist Audelio Flores, Jr., Set Your Goals hit the road in support, playing several dates with Gorilla Biscuits and Comeback Kid before spending fall alongside Less Than Jake, the Loved Ones, and Catch 22. In 2008, Set Your Goals left Eulogy, signing on with Epitaph the following year for the released of their second album, This Will Be the Death of Us. The band continued to tour, hitting the road with bands like Four Year Strong, The Swellers and You Me at Six before releasing their third album, Burning at Both Ends, in 2011. ~ Corey Apar, Rovi”
“For the purposes of mystique (and, one assumes, legal reasons due to the various participants owning recording contracts), the experimental noise rock collective the Sound of Animals Fighting appear in public only in cheap creepy cute children’s Halloween masks with cartoon animals on them. Furthermore, the members of the band — really more of an always shifting musical collective in the manner of Broken Social Scene — are referred to only as the animals their masks represent. Therefore, their debut album, The Tiger and the Duke, lists the Walrus, the Lynx, the Bear, the Nightingale, the Ferret, the Armadillo, the Hyena, the Octopus, the Skunk, the Llama, the Swan, the Dog, the Raven, the Tortoise, and the Tiger as participants. As gimmicks go, it’s a good one….” [more on Spotify]
One of the best emo pop punk albums I’ve ever heard. This gives me a whole new level of respect for MGK, who was always a talented hardcore emcee but never somebody I was particularly impressed with in terms of substance. This album is interesting because it’s like the emo meme was barrowed from punk into Hip-Hop, & then back to punk again. This a wonderful cathartic synthesis of both aesthetic sensibilities. Listen close! Great driving music, too. ♥Neonn
Perfect screams, profound raps, cathartic breakdowns, & glitchy turntablism all wrapped up in one masterpiece of an album. If you’re upset, I guarantee this album will make you feel better. ♥Neonn
“Swordplay: “Dear George, this is the first album I have made for you, written in your name. Initially, I planned to call it Mythology, after a comment Rick made just before your funeral. That is, these ceremonies we hold to celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost, they are the first opportunities we have at building the mythology of our loved ones. That idea resonated with me then, as it still does, because death is transformative in ways that are unknown and defy biographical story-telling. We know you will always be more than the awards on your resume, or a mere recitation of the facts. Perhaps you are the clouds passing over Moscow as France takes Croatia in the 2018 World Cup on the day you left us. Or maybe you are the entire sky now. Through music and prose, I believe, all is possible. Even resurrection.
2018 was a nasty year for many of us. When Ceschi asked me if I could do an album for Freecember, I thought of all the collective loss built up in our shared community, and how enmeshed we are in our grief. As I write this, with the end of the holiday season almost in sight, I imagine I am not alone in my loneliness. Although this is your album, I wanted to make it for all of us. All of us who, like Ram Dass said, are just walking each other home. I think you would want it that way.
For the King, the Wizard, and the G, George Griffin Ramsey, May 16, 1988 — July 15, 2018”
“Grace Petrie’s fourth studio album is a return to big-sound political rants with a folk-punk energy and a big heart. A collection of leftwing anthems to soundtrack the next five years’ struggle.”
“The songs on this album seem to circle around family and relationships in the modern, societal structures and how we, the inhabitants of these systems are affected by them. How the constant chase after validation, possessions and careers constantly diverge our attention from the people and moments that are the most important to us. And make us forget ourselves. So this album is dedicated to our kids, families and lovers! Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
“RAMSHACKLE GLORY is a retired anarchist punk band that was based out of Tucson, AZ. This is our last release. Our band lasted from 2010-2016. We put out three full length albums, one split album with the folk punk band Ghost Mice, and toured every year. We donated money to a large number of anarchist and radical political projects, and distributed a lot of free political literature on a variety of topics. We stood up for our values as much as we knew how to. I’m proud of everyone in our band for doing what we did together. This project was hard on all of us in different ways, but in the end we took care of each other as much as we know how to. That isn’t something to take for granted. I actually think it’s all we have. Thanks to everyone who helped us, tolerated our mistakes and our crankiness, and listened to our music. You have funny taste. So do I.
Love, Patrick Schneeweis (June 1, 2016)”
“THIS PROJECT was a significant part of my life these past 6 years and I’m thankful for it. At times it was an inspiring and affirming reprieve from normal life. Having the platform to attempt centering both anarchism and queerness in punk spaces meant a ton to me, personally. These weren’t clear objectives, we didn’t have those, but such attempts would manifest and at times it felt important and useful. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t, like most of the ludicrous things that anarchists do. Aside from the obvious thanks to my bandmates for being the brilliant collection of beautiful weirdos that they are, I want to thank all the rad folks who set up tables at our shows and all the kids who took that part of what we were doing seriously. Thanks to those who tried to practice some kinda consent on the dance floor. Thanks to all the hosts. (Sorry if you had to hear us yelling at each other about violence, insurrection, and techno-transhumanism or whatever at 3 in the morning on your porch.) Love your buds with all you got. Brush your teeth. Fuck authority.
For a world without borders, cops, or cages,
Luke (December 2, 2016)”
“This is a benefit for Pepe, the founder of the DIY Bandits who was sentenced to nearly 5 years in Federal Prison for marijuana conspiracy charges in 2019. Help him buy some peanut butter and vitamins while he’s serving time. Find more info about his situation at www.preparingforfreedom.org
Over 20 tracks from friends of the Bandits, some of which have never been released before or are kinda hard to find. If you wanna help Pepe buy some extra peanut butter and vitamins while in prison please give a few extra dollars if you can spare it.”
Pat the Bunny is my favorite singer-songwriter. This is a compilation of all the songs he recorded in the first iteration of his musical identity, when he was a teenage drifter anarchist addict singing under the name Johnny Hobo. These songs were all released as a series of demo EPs of super ghetto–but still so beautiful–recording quality, and this is an attempt to improve the quality of all those recordings made in squats and encampments across the country on his travels, to bring them all together in one magnificent album of semi-acoustic anarchist anthems. ♥ Neonn
“My predictions of what we would be allowed this time were all surpassed by the crowd around me, who were blessed with the inexperience necessary to push beyond the limits of what was possible. So-called “knowledge” becomes a liability when one context is mistaken for another. The same series of motions that wins someone a boxing match will lose them a knife fight.
I was mistaken that night. I thought we were on a different field playing a different game. The truth is I don’t know the world I act within well enough to justify a moment of certainty. Of course I deceive myself into many such moments, because the scale of chaos that swirls around me is beyond comprehension. But if you ask me the point of undertaking the small acts of resistance I find within my reach, I must admit: “Probably nothing, but possibly everything.”
And those are the best odds I can expect to play if I am in the
habit of believing in troubling things like freedom. I might never
know the results of what we do, but I have trouble thinking they
could be worse than if we had done nothing at all.”