Bracket is, how do you say...fucking amazing? This album is their first to really show that. I mean, yeah, they've always had some songs I adore ("Evil Bean," "Trailer Park," "Happy Song") but this album is fucking solid as...umm...a pigeon's dick.

this must be the first 50 min record i ever have bothered to listen to the whole thing. over and ooooover again! great album indeed

A simply excellent record, rock solid all the way through. Good review.

The problem with your "dutch boy" comment is that I'm not in any special circumstance to blow the whistle. All I know is what most Americans should know about the corrupt government. If they don't pay attention, fuck'em. I can't really waste my time trying to save people from their own stupidity. It gets to the point where you realize it's useless.

I'd say it's more like I'm in the town where the dam's about to break and nobody notices or is apathetic towards the hole. So I am packing up and leaving for a while.

None of us think any good can come out of it. But not voting would be like the little Dutch boy walking by, seeing the hole in the dam, and just shrugging and walking on. The issue is not how much good can come out of it, but how much bad. Not voting won't bring about a better system. It will mean the system will get worse.
And, I want to apologize if the age thing sounded like a low blow. I just brought it up to point out that it's easy to say you shouldn't vote when you don't yet have the responsibility of voting to worry about.
The biggest issue is not how different Kerry is as a person. The issue is that Kerry wouldn't have nominated justices to create a Supreme Court that will outlaw abortion, and the act of the American people voting out Bush would have greatly improved our diplomatic image in the global community. Sure, all politicians are pretty similar, but, this time, there was a difference.

Hahaha. You mean to think that I'm somehow popular or something in my community to the point where I think I'm a "big fish?"

And no, I don't believe in doing nothing. I volunteer at the local infoshop, have flyered for events, helped put on the local free market (which was basically giving clothes to local poor folks), and have done Food Not Bombs before. That sounds like some poor attempt to brag, but it's not. I'm merely clearing up that unlike so many other supposed anarchists, I'm not a totally self-involved asshole.

On the other hand, if you were criticsizing me for not participating in the American political process, I feel sorry for you, because it's been so corrupted that you'd have to be nuts to think that any good's ever going to come out of it. Back when I fooled myself into believing it could make a difference (strangely enough, before I could vote), everything was one big compromise. I had to swallow the fact that I was endorsing a monster who had a slightly more benign agenda. Democrats have a big recent history of being into censorship and waging useless "drug wars."

So Will's political philosophy is:
A. Do nothing
B. But be smug about it.

Dress that up in some overblown rhetoric and you have . . . nothing!

Enjoy college. I wish I could be there to see the look on your face when you realize you were never a big fish.

Wow, as if I didn't see the obligatory ageist comment coming from a mile away.

As if I'm not 18 and moving out in August for college (can't in July because I'm touring with a band). Seriously, if you want to attack my ideas, try a little harder. Not that I don't know a lot of kids who are 17 who are smarter than the jackass nerds who sit around on this messageboard pretending to know what they're talking about.

You just represent the total loss of most people. I'm not out in the street trying to cause a revolution (even if there was an armed revolution, I don't think anything good would come of it- just another bankrupt, totalitarian government). I don't think the moral development that true anarchism calls for can be implemented thru mass force working to "destroy the system," but thru individually dropping out of it and not participating. I don't dream of getting revenge. Vengeance against corporatization and patriarchy is no ideal, it's not even a true step towards real anarchy.

Democracy has no meaning in a country where the process can be bought and sold. You tell me I have to vote to make sure weak-kneed corporate socialism (ie: a fucking fraud) gets into "office" instead of "war mongers." Even participating in this process would be degrading myself. It is a form of repression and a sign that a country is completely fucked when most of its citizens when can only participate in politics to an extent of "compromise." Nobody dreams of "the better." They want the best, and the party line can't deliver it. I have more right to complain about Bush than any dumbass who thought Kerry would have made a difference.

This "Bush is singularly the worst ever" philosophy screams of the Goldenburg Principle- Let's pretend that some politicians are evil on a level where their deeds could NEVER happen again. It lowers standards all around and usually makes it easier for history to repeat itself. I'm not going to give King George special privliges. He is just another reflection of the American System's apathy, stupidity, and greed.

I think the thing you're all forgetting is the context in which Rock Against Bush happened. It doesn't mean Fat Mike is all pro-Democrat, though he might be. It was just, in the 2004 election, Kerry was the only real hope we had of getting rid of Bush. Despite the supposed truthfulness of the "Repbulicans and Democrats are the same!" (and that's not true. Talk to any real democrat and then talk to my parents, and there's a HUGE difference), the 2004 election was about preventing Bush, Cheney and Rove from controlling the executive branch for another four years. It was about improving our global image. It was about putting someone in who, despite their other beliefs, would work to actually pull us out of the Middle East at the earliest viable moment. Any other election, I would agree with the "Screw the two party system" bit at least a little. But by saying it doesn't matter either way in '04, and not voting, or voting for some pie-in-the-sky-chance-of-winning third party candidate, you effectively lose any ability you have to complain about Bush, as you're basically saying he's no worse than Clinton or anyone before him. You can complain about the current political state, and politicians in general, but by not voting, you're, in effect, saying that BUsh is just another politician, and ignoring the fact that getting the democracy-subverting, megalomaniacal, rights-destroying, regime-building Bush presidency out of the way is far more important than making a statement with your vote or lack thereof. When gay marriages are unconstitutional and abortion is only attainable in 10 states, I hope all of you people that didn't vote or voted for a third party will be proud of the "stand" you took.

And, Will, you may have read more books on anarchy than I have, but you're still 17. I'm sorry. I was 17 once. 17 year olds, save for maybe 10 across the whole country, know jack about politics and the way things really work in the real world. It's nice to be able to say the things you're saying when the responisibility of casting a vote was not hanging over your head.

Hey, stop arguing over who's better, Bush or Kerry. Both want to ban gay marriages. Can you ask for anything more?

Yeah! Rock the Vote! Reinforce your views of Bush while pretending that Kerry would be any better at all! REVOLUTION!

oh btw love equals death rules as well.. both bands are great

Uh... Wow, nice try, but once again you're proving that you've never even read about anarchy or what it means. It's about a whole lot more than fucking dumpster diving.

Not to mention, Kerry was in cahoots with all of those medical companies and would fucked over as many Americans as Bush. But yeah. RoCk TeH vOtE 4or KeRrY cuz Fat Mike is the punx!

you can't dumpster dive medical insurance.

wyzo

Uh... Anarchy is a much more logical/optimistic philosophy than supporting the supposed "lesser of two evils." Working through the system, I believe can be done, but what Fat Mike was doing screamed of compromise. John Kerry and the demoncrats are just as fucking evil as the scumbags running the country, just with less frightening agendas. That's not incredibly hopeful. Telling countless mallpunk kids to "rock the vote" instead of helping them form actual alternative ideas was disgusting.

Wait, that's right, you've never read any literature or anything and assume that "anarchy" means chaos.

-William Marinovic

Mike still supports change through government, instead of smashing the whole damn system

Hahahaha. Seriously. Anarchy d00d.

Fat Mike hosted the Rock Against Bush Tour... which was basically a discrete way of asking people to vote for John Kerry, I admire Fat Mike's action on that front, but like propagandhi says Mike still supports change through government, instead of smashing the whole damn system. Which in the end is a complacent point of view to believe that the democractic party would actually do something positive. They do terrible things, just like the republicans, but they're smarter and better at covering these things up under the guise of something positive. That is my spin on the whole situation. Spin your own if you think i'm wrong.

Sick cover art Bracket! I had never looked to closely.

And any lable that contributes to the fucking John Kerry campaign is lame as hell.

I don't believe they ever contributed to Kerry's campaign. Source?

And Will, you need to start a blog. Hell, start a zine.

Speaking of Fat sucking, I've heard that "[Fat Mike] is an idiot, one of the most money-hungry people I've ever met." See, Mike, that's what happens when you piss off people at PE. And believe me, PE knows how to get the truth out: fold-out posters of black and white collage art, depicting Fat Mike standing on a mound of skulls.

"Fat is a business first, and putting out a record from a band who doesn't tour is pointless."

yeah, like screeching weasel. Maybe Ben fibbed to fat mike and got those two records released, then decided to never fully tour again.

Touring's for sucks. Label's make plenty of money, fat mike is doing fine, he's been on a permanent vacation for the last 2 decades, let me find some tears for him somewhere in my laser excised tear ducts.

However, i'm sure half the bands fat has put out have been financial douchebags with ridiculous riders and per diems. Being in bands is like a preisthood.

wyzo

Bracket is a great pop band. Its hard to beat their harmonies. I thought their Caroline releases were much better than anything on Fat. And they played their hearts out when I saw them open for SNFU.

Anyone know what happened to the country-ish record they did that got rejected by Caroline or Fat (I can't remember exactly when it happened)?

Hey, Cool To Be You was a sweet record.

I loved 4-Wheel Vibe but found Forestville... a bit boring. What should I go for next?

Perhaps I need to listen to this album more, but it didnt get me hooked the 1st time through. Not that it was bad, but I need to give it a few more listens.

Its kind of surprising , the stuff that Fat has rejected. For example, Inspection 12's "Get Rad", in my opinion was amazing and Fat never put it out. Sure it was officially Honest Don's, but its all really the same isnt it? Funny how both Bracket and I12 put out their rejected albums on Takeover.

"You'll never even recoup recording costs."

recording was free. they made their own studio, dude.

Bracket's always made interesting music.

"Fat is a business first"

I can't wait for people on this site to dismiss me as "crusty" or whatever just because I think that a punk lable that releases records to make money rather than make music they personally like available is a horrible, horrible thing. Not that I know Fat really liked this, but let's face it- they had to like this better than fucking Love Equals Death. And any lable that contributes to the fucking John Kerry campaign is lame as hell.

"Fat released Cool to be You, and when was the last time the Descendents went on tour."

Touche. But I'm sure an exception was made because A)the band are virtually legends in the punk scene and have a built-in fanbase in the tens of thousands (presumably) that will buy their records no matter what and B)they're Fat Mike's favorite band.

-Scott

yeah, but the descendents are already a huge name and will sell big numbers no matter what, even if that album was a big dissapointment.

"Fat is a business first, and putting out a record from a band who doesn't tour is pointless. You'll never even recoup recording costs."

Fat released Cool to be You, and when was the last time the Descendents went on tour.

Fat is a business first, and putting out a record from a band who doesn't tour is pointless. You'll never even recoup recording costs.

Besides, this band's terrible.

Funny story: I got a copy of this in the mail months and months ago, and after letting it sit on my desk for a few days, I decided to suck it up and at least play it once to make sure I hated it. So I opened the case.

And found no CD inside.

Thank you, Takeover Records publicist, for somehow forgetting to include a CD inside the CD case! That was the best gift I ever could've asked for.

-Scott

while the numbers arent arbitrary, they are out of order on the disc. its parts 10 - 26, while 1 - 9 are throughout the previous albums. they named them as they wrote them and then, they did the sequencing, keeping the original titles

Maybe Bracket really wanted to make a number of their previous albums.

"yeah fat rejected it.. i dont know why its ALOT better than their last one (its all i know from them) and its one of the best cds of 06.. extremely underrated"

It must not have had the integrity or lasting quality of something like Love Equals Death.

"(every song is titled 'Warren’s Song Pt.' and then an arbitrary, out of order number)"

They go in order, and happen to up to that # by this album. Warren's songs are everywhere in old releases, its not arbitrary or out of order.

A little research, and cavemen wouldn't be insulted by car insurance companies.

wyzo

I was pretty bummed when I read in a Bracket interview that Fat rejected this album because I thought they were one of those labels that stuck by their bands.

still only heard about half of this, but what i've heard was different and cool

always liked the vocals

Where did you hear they were skeptical about Greatest Story?

I didn't know they "rejected" albums. I know they were skeptical when The Greatest Story Ever Told was sent to them, but I didn't know they'd actually reject an album.

yeah fat rejected it.. i dont know why its ALOT better than their last one (its all i know from them) and its one of the best cds of 06.. extremely underrated

Didn't Fat Wreck reject this album?

great review, glad to see bracket get some positive fare for once. definitely my favorite for the year

All that's missing is a positive album review of The Break.

Ramo

I haven't heard anything off of this album yet, but I've been meaning to pick it up. Bracket's old stuff was sweet.

It's pretty good. Nothing I've heard from them is as good as the song off Short Music or "Everyone Is Telling Me I'll Never Win, If I Fall In Love With A Girl From Marin". But I like this album. It's about time someone reviewed it, but I can see why it took so long. I didn't do it because I didn't think I could do the album justice. It's not quite my thing, but I can tell it's sweet. It deserved a review from someone who "got" it.
Oddly enough, it's the Beach Boys parts that are my favcorites, though.

I've heard nothing but good things about this album and I have still yet to purchase it.

I'm going to try and change that the next time I visit a record store.

Scott Heisel just had an aneurysm.