101 bands that don't suck

Hey. This is just to say that for an indefinite period of time, this site will not be updated. My passion lies elsewhere. Go there instead.

-Brian

I consider myself a fairly big Bad Religion fan, but I honestly don't know I should feel about their new song, Sinister Rouge. Much thanks to punknews.org for the link, but I'm not sure I like what I've heard. Double bass drumming. Ick.

Here with a slightly metallic edge, is the indie rock of Cursor, whatever that means. These guys will probably get the emo label-o-death attached to them, but I won't burden them with that stigma.

Speaking of Pedro The Lion, the man, Dave Bazan has a new album coming out in may, and here you can sample a track off it. I'm not sure quite what to think of it just yet...

Here's a word to the wise: If you want your band to be reviewed/promoted here, for the love of pineapple, and all that is holy, DO NOT LABEL YOURSELVES AS EMO!!!!1. I've heard so much "emo" recently that was either A. just average pop rock with extra whiney vocals, or B. bands trying to sound like taking back thursday, or whatever they're called. Just say no. If you're in the market for indie rock that is actually good, it's time you checked out long time veteran of the Seattle scene, Aaron Sprinkle. A side note, he produced the last Pedro The Lion full length too.

Today, the first day of spring, brings with it the promise of new life(or death if you're emo), and NoTrigger. Screaming political punk from Massachusetts, this will appeal to fans of Strike Anywhere, Rise Against, and Propagandhi.

Time to toot my own horn again, I've got two new songs from my solo project, Darkness Falls, available for download at purevolume.com These are the first two tracks on my new ep, "Frankie Goes to Dollywood." I hope you enjoy, or at least tolerate them.

As if life could not possibly get any better, my old friends Self-Induced have released a new self-titled EP, and here up for download is "We've Reached The End". With female vocals in the middle it has a bit of a "Struck a Nerve" thang going on.

PS.... they just might give you a copy in exchange for sexual favors at one of their many fine Seattle area shows.

Ok, so I kinda just let things rot here for a while, what with mp3.com going down and all... so if you want to get any of the mp3.com stuff off here, you're a day (or couple months) late and a dollar short. If you want something new that you can download, head on over here to sample the goodness that is Error's first release. Dark, gloomy, industrial, and the lyrical brainchild of Mr. Brett? Yes, and it gets better, as Error features the singer from Dillinger Escape Plan (DEP in da hizouse!) on vocals. I know all you punker than thou types are:

A: Too busy getting that mohawk you dyed red with your mom's money, to stand up like the Casualties' do, so you don't have time to read this anyway.
B: Thinking to yourself "ewww... Epitaph smellz."

Since there's nothing to be done for group A, I'll focus on group B. Just as a ration of government cheese can never make ammends for centuries of exploitation and opression, this song won't undo the damage done by post-Recipie for Hate Bad Religion, but it helps... and it makes a mean plate of nachos to boot.

This is for those of you that have been living under a rock: Head to the Epitaph web site and download Coma Girl, the latest, and last from Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros. All you Epitaph whores should already know this, but if you havn't heard the new record, this song is definetly worth checking out. It's got a bit of a country vibe to it, though that may sound like a bad thing, it's really not.

Today's BAND OF THE MILLENIUM is The Put-Downs. Ok, so maybe they're not the band of the millenium, but they're still better than your band. Unh! Yeah! Burn on U. They may be from Texas, but the comparison can be made to Screeching Weasel. But then again, I think every band sounds like SW, so umm... yeah.

Since it's been so long, and I don't have a hot date to get ready for, I'll give you another band. Seattle's The Greedie$ sound a lot like Less Than Jake, except without the horns. The singer dude (I can't be arsed to look up his name) sounds to me, like the dude from LTJ. "O-Man Draws A Blank"'s bass line has a Kerplunk! era Green Day thing going on, while the other songs are fast, and ummm... FASTER!!!

So where have I been for the last month? Not that anyone actually reads this anyway, but I've been... uhh... doing... something...very important, which uhmmm... yeah! I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. Scullsoup is the latest band of the moment, or whatever the kids are calling it these days. Most of the songs are straight up punk rock, and not the NFG kind either. Check out "Noise Pollution", and "oop eep opp orkk." How can a song with a title like that suck? It's simply not possible. "The Horn Song" contains of all things, horns! It has a Voodoo Glow Skulls feel to it, so those of you that like craptastic ska/punk should eat it up.

Has it really been two weeks? Several excellent artists have contacted me since the last update. The first is Amontillado, who will probably get labeled as emo, though I think a rough comparison could be made to Fugazi. So I don't really know what genre to put them in, but what the diddly, download it anyway. It's certainly a change from the pop fare of late. "Through Sound a Sense" is my pick out of the three.

A quick note for any hardcore bands reading this: Please send me your crap! While I love all the Ramonesish pop, a little variety would be nice. So, if you sound like Minor Threat, or the Circle Jerks, you know what to do. Korn cover bands need not apply.

More Seattle music for you! International Businessmen drop da bomb trax of pure flava! Or something like that. Anyway, pop-punk, with a couple ska-punk numbers thrown in. Oops, I just said the "s" word. -15 scene points for me :(

Ok, time to shamelessly pimp my music. I was bored one afternoon recently, so I recorded a number of tunes, which for one reason or another haven't become American Ripchord songs. These tracks were recorded on a hand-held tape recorder, with minimal editing. The demo cd has seven original songs, and two spoken word tracks. If you'd like a copy, email me, and I'll figure out something. Hope you enjoy it!

SPECIAL FEATURE RANT!!!1oen
I get the wierdest emails from indie bands and record labels. For instance: "B******** Records is proud to introduce THE H***, a Washington, DC trio recently donned "the modern-day Clash." We are very excited about this latest addition to our label." The band in question actually isn't half bad, but they sound NOTHING like the clash. Their sound is typical modern melodic rock, a la New Found Glory. There's about a million and a half bands that sound just like this today, but if you're going to subject yourself to this style, THE H*** isn't a bad choice. This one just puzzles me. If we were talking about Operation Ivy, or Rancid, you would be right in pointing out the influence of The Clash on their music. But don't pop "punk" bands usually suck up to the Ramones, or the Descendents? YOU ARE NOT THE CLASH!!! No free publicity for you.

More international rock! From Norway even! If you're a fan of Ramones/Screeching Weasel/Queers style pop punk, you'll dig Los Aarones "Fine in 89" is the highlight, while the theme of "Rocky Beach" seems to be cloned from several Ramones songs.

Who would have guessed that canadians know how to rock? Certainly not I, but I was proved wrong by the Evilboys. Mid-tempo is the name of the game, and it's done well by these hosers. See ya at the hockey game eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh?

Three bands in one day? Can you handle it? Can I handle it? Anyway, listen to The American Plague. The first track on their page reminds me of And Out Come the Wolves era Rancid. "Past the Machine" has more of a Social Distortion thing going on. Also of note, for an independent band, the production is top notch.

More content! The next band that doesn't suck, is seattle's own The Briefs. The Briefs play ultra-catchy punk rock, in the style of The Ramones, The Buzzcocks, and The Stooges. The song on their site is from their first album, "Hit After Hit", which you should own if you're even slightly a fan of '77 era punk rock. They also have a new record out called "Off the Charts", and it has some of their most fun songs yet!

For the very first 101 bands that don't suck, I've chosen an artist near and dear to my heart: Endangered-Feces. They're a New York punk band, most heavily influenced by Bad Religion, with a little Black Sabbath thrown in for good measure. "John Bobbit's Prayer" is definetly the stand-out track, with such witty lines as "now I lay me down to sleep/ I pray my penis I will keep" Good stuff. Check it out already.