Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Heroes Die

Aubin: I've been listening to this odd little track and watching the corresponding odd little video for a few weeks now. It's not so much the music itself that I've been digging, but the amazing lyrics. Just watch it all the way through to get the full effect. The best way I can describe it is to imagine if Rob and Barry from High Fidelity wrote a song for LCD Soundsystem.

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip 'Thou Shalt Always Kill'. [YouTube video]

Chris: It seems that the dark emo/screamo cloud that lingered over Richmond has finally started to dissipate. This town has a fine tradition in hardcore, and a number of young bands are starting to crank out some great music. Heroes Die play an intense mixture of varying melodies and tempos, chock full of appropriate breakdowns and gang choruses. They've only played a handful of shows, but are starting to build momentum and expect to begin to touring soon. Check out the track "can't afford friends", which is streaming at their MySpace page.

Heroes Die "can't afford friends"

Everything Sucks

Brian: If you're expecting `80s pop-punk from Long Island's Everything Sucks you might be a bit disappointed. However, with rough and raw, heavily Revolution Summer-inspired hardcore in its place, complaints should be non-existent. Don't be fooled: The band's demo isn't secretly a 7" released by Dischord in 1985 -- it was recorded in October 2006. You can find the whole thing streaming at the following link.

Everything Sucks - So Much Sweat
Everything Sucks - Anything Can Happen
Everything Sucks - Get Awkward
Everything Sucks - Bastards and Lists Download Everything Sucks' demo

The Unlovables

Justin: The Unlovables offer crunchy female-fronted pop-punk that fits right in with their friends like the Steinways, Ergs, Teenage Bottlerocket and Lemuria. Their sound brings to mind groups like the Dance Hall Crashers and "Samantha" is a great sampling from their upcoming album Heartsickle. By far my favorite part of the song is the "doo dwee oo doo dee doo breakdown" in the middle of the song. Sugary sweet vocals and a catchy chorus is sometimes all I need, obviously. They're out on tour with the Steinways right now and Whoa Oh records is putting out Heartsickle in a week or so. There's just about no reason not to give them a spin.

Download The Unlovables' "Samantha" in 320kbps Mp3 or 160kbps Mp3

Captain Chaos / Ladyhawk

Justin: Chris Clavin has an alternative identity to his already alternative identity! For those "not in the know," Chris has been recording and playing shows as Captain Chaos for a couple of years when not crooning with Hannah in Ghost Mice. Fall of the West just posted a new mp3 from the last CC album, "A Bike For Two." Now, I know that this isn't the most groundbreaking song. One guy and a guitar with a fairly rudimentary set of chords and some mildly out of tune vocals. I just like songs about bikes, songs about people and songs that have a sense of melancholy running through them. There's just something incredibly sad about the idea of a broken tandem bike and how easy it is to compare to a relationship.

Stream "A Bike For Two" at FOTW's MySpace page Adam: Vancouver rockers Ladyhawk have been my graced this column once before, but I'll shamelessly double-dip for bands as good as this. The group recently announced an EP with a May release date on JagJaguwar titled Fight For Anarchy. Now hold your eye rolls, for despite a title typical of Exploited-clones this is anything but. Ladyhawk continue to roll out rootsy, chilled-out rock with great hooks. The track "War" is up for download now. You can of course catch the group this month on the western leg of the Constantines / Jon-Rae and the River tour.

Ladyhawk - "War"

Soophie Nun Squad / Mouthbreather / Reunion

Justin: Soophie Nun Squad runs the gamut from indie hip hop to raging punk rock and everything in between. They're one of those weird little bands that sit around your CD collection until all of a sudden you're like "DAMN this is good." Lately I've been having quite a few of those moments. "Juxtapose" is easily one of the tamer songs on their LP Passion Slays the Dragon but it's pretty easy to extrapolate from what we've got here. Fun, danceable punkrock-ish music with either completely non-sensical lyrics or pretty biting social commentary, depending on how the band was feeling. Enjoy.

Soophie Nun Squad - "Juxtapose" Chris: Seeing a great new band that you've never heard of is always a treat. Last week, I caught a performance from Mouthbreather, a local Richmond band boasting members from the Setup and Wow Owls!. They play a style of upbeat rock fused with hardcore influences, similar to bands like the Bronx. They recently released a 6-song demo, and have been playing various towns around the east coast. Head over to their MySpace page and check out the track "Best of Seven".

Mouthbreather MySpace page Brian: I promise you, Can't Slow Down is not being reissued. But Reunion's self-titled EP will be out later this season-ish. Got it? Good.

Okay, so I might sound like a dick, but this song is honestly so good and addicting that I can push aside how blatantly similar they sound to a certain someone from a certain era and simply enjoy the shit out of the Portland, Maine act's energetic pop-punk. It's (P-)fresh in a certain sense.

Reunion - The Green Light

The Terrible Twos

Justin: If, like me, you though that the last New Amsterdams release contained a few too many instruments "plugged in" then I've got the cure for you. As musicians get older they tend to spawn, creating smaller, cuddlier versions of themselves. I've always assumed that most band members probably write a song or two at some point for their offspring but not much of ever sees the light of day. Matt Pryor (of Get Up Kids fame) has written and recorded a full album of these songs under the moniker of the Terrible Twos, many of them reminding me of the first couple New Amsterdams releases with their simplicity - often times sparse arrangements featuring Pryor and a guitar and possible one other backing instrument. "Grumpy Bug" is such a song, begging his daughter (the Bug in question) to sleep. It's as desperate as any of the tracks he's recorded throughout his long career yet still sounds so sweet and tender. I guess as musicians get older, they find new things to write about (thankfully) so we continue to get to hear new material that has the same passion as the songs written when they were 21 and in love for the first time.

Myspace Page

Bookburner, No Brass

Justin: Another band from Philadelphia that not only sounds a bit like Lifetime and Kid Dynamite mixed together in a blender and seasoned for a few years? And somehow the singer managed to be in a band with someone who would later be in a band with a member of the latter act? I love the incestuous-ness of the punk scene sometimes. Bookburner's "New Song" feels like a bit like an older, more matured version of all that spastic Philly-core, with Ben honing his voice and finding a more appropriate backdrop in it compared to his former band, the Curse. This song feels like a "slow burner," whatever that means to you. To me it says that the song's got a pretty deliberate flow to it, with upbeat choruses until the point of "I'll drop my dreams for everyone" feels like it needs to be shouted at the top of your lungs. And haven't we all felt like that at some point?

Stream or download "New Song" at Bookburner's MySpace page Chris: I discovered No Brass at a show in Virginia, Beach a few months ago. Though I was a little put off by the cover-heavy set they played, the young band (and I mean YOUNG, 17-19 in age) seemed to have something special. I recently got a hold of their demo, and was extremely impressed with the superb recording quality, mature vocals and fun song structures; and brimming with heavy influences from the likes of Dillinger Four, Leatherface, Jawbreaker and the Lawrence Arms. We've posted one of the better tracks from said demo here at the 'Org, but two more can be heard elsewhere.

No Brass Punknews profile page featuring "Sixers on the Beach"
No Brass MySpace page

Chinese Telephones / Dismemberment Plan

Justin: Chinese Telephones are a raw pop-punk band but without the need for obnoxious hooks and ridiculous vocals. Comparisons have been made to bands like Face to Face and midwestern poppy punk in general. I'll buy that for a dollar, since they seem to shed the pretension so ever-present in the last few years, deciding to play what sounds like some really honest music. "Back To You Again" is a rough mix from their upcoming full-length and is just complex enough to keep you from being bored while still giving you the chance to sing along. It's got a nice call and answer part half way through alongside some pretty fun wailing by the frontman. Add in a nice little chorus in the way of "I hope I find my way back to you again" that repeats for a bit and it's just a nice time. Nothing groundbreaking here but it's enjoyable which can never really be a bad thing, right? The track is available for download and there's a few more songs streaming at their MySpace page.

Chinese Telephones - "Back To You Again" Update: Added a higher quality download file.

Aubin: Reunions are all the rage these days -- pardon the pun -- we've got everyone from the Police to the Bad Brains coming back and despite the fact that some of these reunions may be calculated attempts to charge $250.00 to nostalgic fans, some bands are getting back together for all the right reasons. Take Washington D.C.'s Dismemberment Plan for example. What could be a more worthy reason to reunite than the health and welfare of a child? In honor of that reunion, here are three songs to clue you in on why so many people agree that the Dismemberment Plan is one of the best bands from Washington D.C. that isn't Fugazi.

Dismemberment Plan - "Superpowers" Dismemberment Plan - "Academy Award (remixed by Cex)"
Dismemberment Plan - "What Do You Want Me To Say?"

The Failures' Union

Justin: Telling me I'm not a connoisseur of mid-90's indie rock is kind of like telling a cat they can't play the piano. Attempts may be made but in the end it's all just whiskers and frustration. Okay, that was a terrible simile. The point is that I really like the Failures' Union. The band cites acts like the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and early REM as influences and basically what you end up with is that really pleasing, smooth sound that most people around the age of 25 grew up listening to. The track "Friends In Jail" has been my wake up song all week and features a really relaxed swagger in the rhythm section and some gorgeous crooning on the part of the vocalist. The band's currently writing a new album, hopefully to be seen sometime this summer.

Stream Download "Friends in Jail" at their MySpace page

The Ponys / inblackandwhite

Adam: It's been such a treat to watch the Ponys grow, as each album has taken the band's sound tastefully evolved it. The band's still deeply indebted to bands like Television, Richard Hell, the Velvet Underground and the Cure, not to mention a dash of shoegaze, but they've come into their own so organically. The band's made the jump from brilliant garage punk label In The Red to the big indies with Matador, and look set to release Turn The Lights Out on March 20th.

The Ponys - Double Vision Justin: I reviewed their new EP this week and really feel the need to drive home the point even more. Go listen to inblackandwhite. While not entirely groundbreaking, this Boston-based band is one of the more interested post-hardcore bands to surface of late. As much about relaxed droning grooves as they are about "angular" (does anyone else hate that term?) guitar playing, the band wears their influences on their sleeves, never letting us forget those mid-era Fugazi and Frodus records, as well as the more driving rhythms of Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike. The band was gracious enough to let us host the fourth track from Say We Are Not Brothers for download today:

inblackandwhite - "The Tundra Calls Us Home"

The Varsity Weirdos / Lily Allen

Adam: I was at a charity bowling tournament last night raising money for the local Big Brothers Big Sisters. Since so many good friends of the site generously contributed to my fundraising effort I made a point of sporting the good ol' Punknews bowling shirt. Now this lead to a few interesting conversations, namely one with a kindly middle aged gentleman who plainly asked me "do people still play punk rock?" After pondering for a second on the type of asinine response I'd get from our comment sections, I brought out my usual explanation: To me, punk is a lot like traditional blues in that no matter how far we get from the initial era there are going to be people so in love with the style that they keep it going regardless of whether the general public is paying attention. A band that embodies that for me is the Varsity Weirdos. Hailing from the Maritime city of Moncton, New Brunswick, the band plays classic pop-punk in the tradition of the Ramones, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, Teenage Bottlerocket and countless others. Yet despite the fact that it's been done a million times before, it still sounds fucking great.

"Codependency" and "Fly Me Up To The Moon" Brian: "This is in no way punk-related." "You are ruining the credibility of the site." "You hipster douche bag." I know from a certain selection in Anchors' 'best of 2006' list that pop stars will immediately set you guys off -- probably for good reason, but I digress. Lily Allen is already a huge star in her native UK, and she's already well on her way here. Fuse a heavily Specials-influenced backdrop with bitter-as-tonic-water lyrics as sung by the sultry Allen and you have a surpisingly enjoyable major label pop debut. Sure, Alright, Still contains a few overly cheesy choruses and is an absolute indie cred-approved smash with the hipster crowd all the same, but I'm as close to hipster status as your local Dungeons and Dragons master and I love this shit.

Lily Allen - 4 cuts from Alright, Still

The Time Flys / Ghost of Lester Bangs

Adam: Here's another find I attribute to the brilliant webzine Victim Of Time. The Time Flys is an Oakland punk band, featuring Sir Eric "The Masher" Von Ravenson, Andy Freeze, Erin Error and Peter P. Juvenile. Freeze goes by the name of Andy Jordan when playing with 70s garage revivalists the Cuts, although that band's lush arrangements are a complete 180 turn from the primal rock of the Time Flys. The band released Rebels Of Babylon recently via Birdman.

The Time Flys - Zodiac Killer's Son Chris: Long Island's Ghost of Lester Bangs have a lot more going for them than just a cool band name. A general description of their sometimes gruff folk-punk/sometimes keyboard driven sound would lead one to think they are just another band with an identity crisis looking to jump the proverbial shark. Think again. The overwhelming honesty in the music outshines any other detraction, and though these guys might still be a little rough around the edges, it's obvious to tell with further direction and motivation, we could be seeing a lot more of them in the future. Below I've posted a link to download the track "Ceiling Tile Man", from their 118 Miles EP. The group is currently hard at work on their debut LP, which they hope to release early this year. You can also stream the song, and a few others at the Ghost of Lester Bangs MySpace page.

Ghost of Lester Bangs - Ceiling Tile Man