Josh Berwanger is easily one of the most underappreciated artists in music today. His first band to really catch traction was The Anniversary, an amazing band that put out two brilliant albums that could not possibly have sounded any less like each other. Their first album, Designing a Nervous Breakdown, was a synthpop/emo album, while the follow up, Your Majesty, was more of a Beatles-esque affair. Unfortunately, there were lots of rumors of discord in the band, and their li

If you're an emo fan like I am, then Mineral putting out new music in 2019 is something you probably still can't wrap your mind around. In the annals of the genre, this '90s band is considered a forefather, and as we all know, a band that came and went too soon. But come One Day When We Are Young: Mineral at 25, it's more than just a couple of songs to walk us down memory lane. Don't get me wrong, it's nostalgic but the book that accompanies it (written by Mischa Pearlman) is something th

Having just crossed their sixth year, Suicide Bong Tapes have released a massive 30 tape box set encompassing the entirety of their output so far. The angle of the label is that they focus on Philly and make every tape limited to 100 copies only, excluding compilations. The cassette tape is often the disposable medium, trailing the now forgotten CD-R, and usually tapes are seen as “less sanctified than records.” For the past six years, Suicide Bong have countered that argument by making tapes th

Nine songs in nine and a half minutes and let me tell you, every second counts. The Lindas are a new band that includes members of California’s Le Shok, FM Bats and Grand Elegance, but none of that matters. What does matter is that this band has made a fairly dangerous sounding punk record.

On the lightning fast 8x9 (one suspects “Piano Concierto No 2” doesn’t count as a full song with its 27 second run time, hence the ”8”) the band embraces the fuzzy, grime of the Velv

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, punk and nerd culture were not very compatible. (With a couple of obvious exceptions, most notably Devo.) Somewhere along the way, the lines started to blur. And why not? Why shouldn’t marginalized subcultures join forces? The Functional Citizens effortly combine punk rock and nerdy stuff on their second full length, Game Night. I’ve been aware of the West Michigan band for a couple of years now, but this is the first time I’ve actually heard

This Norwegian trio makes one hell of a gut rumbling noise but manages to do so in a way which isn’t one dimensional and subsequently boring. This is a combination of crust, punk, hardcore and metal and all elements come to fore throughout the album, blended in a way which generally keeps me nodding my head at a steady pace from start to finish.

The opening track, “Sigh”, hits hard like a pneumatic drill and the guitar really grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me as it has a sound

I’m a huge fan of biographies of aging punk rockers. (You’ve got to know your roots, kids.) I’m also endlessly fascinated by the tumultuous history of Detroit and its wonderful music. Wayne Kramer’s autobiography, The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5 & My Life of Impossibilities, scratches both itches. (Some might remember that The Hard Stuff was also the name of Kramer’s 1994 debut solo album for Epitaph.) This book is refreshing for a couple of other reasons. First - he doesn’

One of the most interesting things about the Damned is that they’re never actually what people want them to be. When English punk first bloomed, the foundational groups adopted respective uniform looks- the Sex Pistols were anarchic mad men, the Clash street-wise idealist, the Buzzcocks were lovey dovey mods… and the Damned were one mega-Stooges fan, a Keith Moon style drummer, a goofball that loved Pink Floyd, and a vampire. Of course, the follow up to the band’s classic debut was more psychade

Pushin’ It 2 the Limit have matured… well, they haven’t, but they kind of have. That is, in their second album, the band still starts every song with a hilarious battle cry. My favorite: “Pushin’ It 2 the Limit Whispers Something eeeevill!” They still wear themed gear to the shows, be it wedding dresses, football jerseys, or Tutus. And most importantly, they still root their sound is bombastic pop-punk-thrash which, while at the outset might not seem that far left field, is actually a unique com