DOWNLOAD: Kut U Up - Make It Out Alive
Southern California rockers Kut U Up (best known for making a documentary about 2003’s "Pop Disaster" tour with Green Day, Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World) recently reunited. The group will release a new album in the fall, but fans can satiate themselves with this new track “Make It Out Alive.” The number is a raucous, clattering rock song that has all the elements of a live highlight.
PREMIERE: Street Eaters - Ashby and Shattuck
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Street Eaters is Megan March and John No -- East Bay musicians who finally put their own heads together after doing time in local bands. Taking clear influence from the '90s DIY and punk scenes, the duo retains that stripped-down mentality while capitalizing on its male/female design. Dual vocals are front-and-center, as in "Ashby and Shattuck," when the singing parallels the thumping call-and-response of the drum and bass. Grab debut LP Rusty Eyes & Hydrocarbons now on Bakery Outlet and Plan-It-X.
Street Eaters - Ashby and Shattuck
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PREMIERE: The Reveling - Chasing My Tail
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Dookie is a high bar to set for yourself, but Brooklyn foursome The Reveling are apt pupils. Taking from it the clear vocals and blue-collar lyrical content, chord for chord it is punk that is comfortable in its own skin. "Chasing My Tail" proves that universality does not mean sacrificing production (especially when Alex Newport of At The Drive-In, Rival Schools and Mars Volta fame records you), and while the bass, cymbals and chords make known their 90s roots, they also demonstrate The Reveling knows its way around the studio. Grab the group's debut LP, Tributaries, June 21 on Black Numbers.
The Reveling - Chasing My Tail
PREMIERE: Street Eaters - Nation Builder
Tell me why I thought of Sonic Youth when first hearing Street Eaters. They're a two piece, which is a testament to their musical ability, and much more straight forward punk than noise (they lack a guitar, after all), but there is something about the energy in this song. Drum-driven and out for a cause, “Nation Builder” contains definite traces of the Gilman-era pop punk on which the East Bay natives were raised. Duel vocals and spirited bass drive a track that never loses steam, a sort of Shellshag/Liars hybrid that pulls you in with ease. Sure to be a solid debut, grab LP Rusty Eyes & Hydrocarbons, out July 12 on Bakery Outlet and long-time favorite Plan-It-X.
Street Eaters - Nation Builder
DOWNLOAD: Grown Ups - Pears
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Topshelf is a little label from Boston with a big collection of superb releases. To celebrate its fifth anniversary, I'm going to be posting a track from their roster each day this week, and you can catch even more where that came from here. Kicking it off is Chicago's Grown Ups, a very solid live act and leaders of the movement to restore emo's good standing. "Pears" is a great example of the group's technical prowess and raw, pop punkish vocals, blending the best of two genres for a more high-quality take than your standard Cap'n Jazz throwback. The influences listed on the band's Myspace seem to sum it up best: Lifetime, The Beatles, weed, girls. And there you have it. You can find LP More Songs here.
DOWNLOAD: NIghtmares For A Week - Bear Mountain
I don't think it's any secret at this point that I have a strong affinity for the bands I liked in my younger days. When I first heard Nightmares For A Week, it struck a chord of the I just got my license and am pumping Tell All Your Friends variety (#teamjesse). To start, their name is lifted from a line in a Jawbreaker song, my end all be all love for Blake Schwarzenbach still very much intact. "Bear Mountain" is a fun jaunt down remember when you were still good lane, melding the guitar of early Against Me!, the sing song of the Lawrence Arms and the pop sensibilities of one Matt Skiba for a time-tested take on pop punk. Check out full length Don't Die on Academy Fight Song.
Nightmares For A Week - Bear Mountain
