Adam: Texas keeps churning out excellent punk bands, and Austin's the Bad Rackets are no exception. The members of the powerpop / punk act have played with a number of acts like GG Allin, Killed By Florida, the Convulsions, the Lusties, Daddy's Drunk, Suburban Terror Project and Gun Crazy. Austin's own Mortville Records just recently released the full length Full On Blown Apart. Behold the snotty glory of "Couple Million Miles." If you're not singing along by the end of this song you're dead inside. Dead like Justin.
Bad Rackets - Couple Million Miles Bad Rackets @ MySpace Aubin: Their name is a L.A. Confidential reference and they come from Chicago; not a bad place to start. Think highly structured, very rhythmic hardcore drawing back to Helmet's pre-major label days and the Jesus Lizard's more restrained moments. They will be releasing their full length debut, Work Slow Crush Foes on Tuesday and you definitely ought to check them out.
You can check out two songs from the album on their myspace page.
Justin: I had always had the whisper of Ignite in my ear from a few friends, but never quite checked them out. Their upcoming record landed in my mailbox and has totally blown me away. Zoli's voice is completely original and his own, while still sounding familiar enough not to be off-putting, sounding as much like Smash-era Dexter Holland as it resembles Maynard from Tool in his more constrained moments. Combined with speedy melodic hardcore that has ample dynamics and inventives and some of the more insightful, politically charged lyrics I've heard lately have made this album a non-stop listener. Even the cover of U2 has me finger pointing. Two of the best tracks from the album are up at the band's myspace if you haven't heard them yet.