some of the posts on here that bother me the most are the ones where someone singles out a particular song as being one of the really good ones, because i honestly really like just about every song on these two cds. i sincerely think op:cc are one of the best pop punk bands ever.
as far as how pure-hearted or involved the plan-it-x crowd are, i know this much: there's certainly nothing bad to be said about them.

why bad mouth someone you don't know, online, just because you think their style, or maybe their fans, are dumb? plan-it-x does alot of good. negative attitudes, on the other hand, do not.

Meh. This bands alright, but nothing special. Just because they are all DIY and shit doesn't make the music any better.

...evildeadalive

saying Plan-It-X Records ever "blew up" or calling the kids who associate with it "hipsters" is seriously the funniest thing I ever read.

especially the "blew up" part. The PIX Corporate Office is thrilled.

but irony aside...dude. Plan-It-X Records is stacks of CDs with xeroxed artwork in plastic baggies, in a room in Chris's house. you're making it out into way more than it is. heh.

they're all good people.

Uh, can anyone say "has no defense for his/her own stupidity?"

-Will

Will, YOU'RE obviously all rhretoric and no action. How can you possibly reconcile the sound-bytes you're constantly spouting with your permanent place on your ass in front of your computer?

Ugh, sorry about the "double post." My dial up messes up the process, I think.

-Will

Benj,

I knew some of the “anarcho punks” from a bit before Plan it X “blew up” in 2004/2005. I haven’t been on the message board for a year or so, I just got the Weathermen chat in person.

Don’t talk about “security culture.” I’m sure a minute number of the kids actually do shit, but does the scene in general really promote that? It would be awesome if the same hipsters I saw talking rhetoric and theory and concerned with scene soap operas led double lives as revolutionaries, but that’s not realistic. Like your idea of their drug consumption. Yeah, some of the bands and fans don’t use, but the vast majority drink and smoke pot.

Maybe the urgency is that well-hidden, though. I know some cool people who like the bands, but they really aren’t part of that terrible scene.

-Will

Benj,

I knew some of the “anarcho punks” from a bit before Plan it X “blew up” in 2004/2005. I haven’t been on the message board for a year or so, I just got the Weathermen chat in person.

Don’t talk about “security culture.” I’m sure a minute number of the kids actually do shit, but does the scene in general really promote that? It would be awesome if the same hipsters I saw talking rhetoric and theory and concerned with scene soap operas led double lives as revolutionaries, but that’s not realistic. Like your idea of their drug consumption. Yeah, some of the bands and fans don’t use, but the vast majority drink and smoke pot.

Maybe the urgency is that well-hidden, though. I know some cool people who like the bands, but they really aren’t part of that terrible scene.

-Will

we all konw that real anarchy is posting on websites with banners all over them that advertise horrible bands on multi-national corporate record labels.

Operation: Cliff Clavin is no Operation Ivy.

For someone who hates P-I-X you certainly spend a lot of time on the forums (i.e. the Weathermen thread).

You are judging every P-I-X band and fan by the maybe 2 fans you know in real life and the 50 or so on the messageboard.

Go to www.plan-it-x.com and read the opening statement about all the causes they donate too. Then realize that most of the bands very regularly play benefit shows and the record label itself benefits the causes of people in prison for ALF and ELF actions. You wouldn't know if anyone was involved in any direct action (apparently the only real kind of activism) because you don't talk about that stuff openly. Duh.

A large number of P-I-X bands and fans are straight-edge or at least abstain from certain substances. A lot of them are really socially awkward. I don't really know where the "parties" charge comes from.

You don't really know what you're talking about.

And Fuzzy, good call on Dischord. I suppose there's also Subcity, but my point was that P-I-X does a lot.

before i saw the plan-it-x fest dvd, i thought Hippies had died off. but FUCK, they are back.... plan-it-x SUCKS shit, fuck hippies

My point wasn’t about indie labels. Indie labels are indie labels and the fucking music business isn’t even a fraction of the issues that actually threaten the world as a whole.

Tell me this, what do most “anarcho punks” do, as far as their beliefs go? Well, they talk about it. A lot. They love to talk shit up about the current trendy issue. They might drag themselves down to Food Not Bombs. Sometimes they tag circle A’s under a bridge.

That’s what I call “Plan it X anarchy.” It’s this collegiate-borne, party-down invention that hides under the guise of being some political fringe movement. They talk a lot about “class issues,” “race issues,” “human rights issues,” but I could swear that all I ever see them do is week-kneed high school activism that has 0 heart and goes absolutely nowhere.

Plan It X definitely encourages hedonism over activism. It’s a hipster movement, nothing political about it outside of the little anarcho reading and idle talk they love to indulge in. Theories this, theories that. Let’s see them liberate fur farm or an animal testing site. Something that could potentially have them looking at hard time behind bars. That is what real activism is about, anyway.

Oh, but no. They love to talk about the Weathermen, but if they got put in jail for exploding an oil rig, they wouldn’t be able to make it to the party next week. The shit they really care about.

Plan it X doesn’t give a shit about urgency or activism. Listen to the music. Go to the shows. It’s as dumb as the fucking rave scene. Replace those pill boxes with alcohol and small amounts of cocaine- there ya go!

-Will

there was rad music that came out of revolution summer... I don't think any of those bands are any more accessible than what came before them.

gray matter, and rites of spring are two of my favourite bands though.. and I probably like embrace more than minor threat.. so there's bias.

Name any label that has practiced what they preach on any sort of level comparable to P-I-X.

Dischord. I like PIX, but seriously...

definitely not my favorite PIX band, nor even favorite Chris Clavin band (The Devil Is Electric holds that title), but this was a really awesome album.

and dude, for cheaper than any regular album in existence (besides PIX releases), you get 2 discs and a DVD. for real.

"Don't get me wrong, feel good bullshit pop is okay in small doses, but this hedonistic, self-righteous, all-rhetoric/no action form of Plan it X anarchy just strike me as incredibly stupid and a total step back from the activist underground of yesteryear."

Yes, P-I-X puts out indiepop records. They also donate a larger percentage of their tour and record proceeds to charity than any other label or group of bands that I can think of. "Hedonistic"? Do you even know what that means? What activist underground of yesteryear? Name any label that has practiced what they preach on any sort of level comparable to P-I-X.

is it just me, or is Will on a mission to hold the punknews record for the most dumbfuck comments? granted, he can be kind of clever sometimes, but usually he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.
"all-rhetoric/no action"
???
you obviously don't know shit about these people.

he reminds me of dillinger four's "fuck you, ms. rochele."

Well, then color me fucking dead. It's hipster shit my sister listens to.

Don't get me wrong, feel good bullshit pop is okay in small doses, but this hedonistic, self-righteous, all-rhetoric/no action form of Plan it X anarchy just strike me as incredibly stupid and a total step back from the activist underground of yesteryear.

-Will

1997 wandering through Portland with a friend, stumble into a basement party at a squat, must have been 50 kids packed in the basement to see these guys, one of the best shows I've ever been to...

"Matty Popchart is so terrible, though"

what have you heard? if you can listen to the "good ole water" album from beginning to end and not enjoy it in the slightest, you are dead to me.

Abe Froman are actually decent. I'm pretty sure the split CD with them and Soophie Nun Squad is on PiX. It's pretty cool.

Matty Popchart is so terrible, though.

Plan it X scene is like the Revolution Summer of crust punks... It's like they're just taking the crust scene and molding it into this mediocre college rock thing. Oh well.

-Will

OP:CC is a good band, although they lapse into mediocrity frequently. The Devil is Electric (the band that came afterwards with Hannah and Chris) is very similar, and TDIE's split with Disarm is better than anything OP:CC recorded. Ghost Mice are amazing and much easier to get into than either of these.... once again, Hannah and Chris together.

If you're just getting into P-I-X, there'es a lot of other stuff you should get first. Like Matty Pop Chart-Good Ole Water, Madeline- Kissing and Dancing, all of Ghost Mice's split cds, Paul Baribeau, Spoonboy's cd, anything by This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Abe Froman, Carrie Nations, and of course, Against Me!'s Crime EP, although that won't be in print much longer.

"i got repremanded at one of their shows for dancing too hard. i was wasted."

Sums up pretty much why a lot of people don't like Plan it X.

-Will

I'm always a bit skeptical about PIX stuff after reading all about them and all (yeah yeah, stupid but whatever), but the combination of you calling this pop punk along with the band's name means I'm checking this out. Cheers fucking rules.

PS - http://facebook.com/p.php?id=20009558&l=142addbca4

Your review sucks. You copied from the booklet. told us the songs are about stuff. It sounds like pop-punk. Way to give us a good idea what this is about.

i got repremanded at one of their shows for dancing too hard. i was wasted.

My favorite pop-punk band ever, and I'm not even a big pix dude. They were definitely the soundtrack to my senior year of high school.

Score is for the when everything's been said discography since I haven't got this yet. This would probably get a ten.

Speaking of ghost mice, Check out the split with the utterly amazing saw wheel. I haven't read up too much on him/them but I know he/they have a full length out now called "the last train" on hazzard/hillbilly stew.

---Trav.

No.

Too many bad songs mixed with the really good ones. Although i haven't watched the DVD yet.

Can anyone say Charles Bronson?

The stuff I've heard off of this is great, especially their Fifteen cover.

Op:CC was a really fun band.

I have the original discography, which was lacking (piss poor disco then...) the Last Words EP and the DVD.

Op:CC are an acquired taste, at best. They are fast, sloppy pop punk with juvenile, yet fun and insightful lyrics about everything from politics to a few about ladies to social situations. It's fast paced fun music that is hard to beat.

The highlights are definitely the now-included Last Words EP, especially "No We Don't Have a Girl Bass Player", a feminist statement about the latent sexism in the punk scene, and "Another Nothing", lamenting the disappearing greenspace in exchance for parking lots and malls.

The live tracks are high points as well. Overall, for the price, you'd have to be nuts not to buy this, at least to try it out. The packaging is homemade and a testament to their DIY spirit and it gives you that "real" feeling that is lacking in a lot of punk music today.

Fun stuff.

Hippy shit.

Wow. It seems nobody's commented.
Anyways just throwing this out there:
You can download a few of their songs on the plan-it-x site.
at least that's what I did.
Yeah.. um.. good review?