1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Death to My Hometown (Wrecking Ball album)
2. NOFX – Ronnie & Mags (Self-Entitled album)
3. The Black Keys – Lonely Boy (El Camino album)
4. MGK (featuring Ester Dean) – Invincible (Theme for Wrestlemania XXVIII)
5. Propagandhi – Note to Self (Failed States album)
6. Classics of Love – Castle in the Sky (Classics of Love album)
7. The Gaslight Anthem – “45” (Handwritten album)
8. Roll The Tanks – No More Scoffing (Suffer City album)
9. Against Me! – Spanish Moss (White Crosses album)
10. Green Day – Stay The Night (Uno album)
11. Future of the Left – Sheena Is A T-Shirt Salesman (The Plot Against Common Sense album)
12. Foo Fighters – I Should Have Known
13. John K Samson – Grace General (Provincial album)
14. Langhorne Slim and the Law – Song for Sid (The Way We Move album)
15. Wild Flag – Glass Tambourine (Wild Flag album)
16. The Hives – Come On! (Lex Hives album)
17. Teenage Bottlerocket – Maverick (Freak Out! album)
18. Muse – Supremacy (The 2nd Law album)
19. Anti-Flag – The Ranks of the Masses Rising (The General Strike album)
20. The Damned – Love Song

Alexisonfire at Sound Academy Dec. 29, 2012 (their second-last show ever).

• Action Bronson
• Alexisonfire (twice)
• Arctic Monkeys
• AWOLNATION
• Bad Religion
• Ben Caplan
• Black Label Society
• Black Lips
• The Buzzcocks
• Cancer Bats (twice)
• Ceremony (twice)
• Dan Mangan
• Death Grips
• Deftones
• Descendents
• DIANA
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Explosions in the Sky
• The Flaming Lips
• Feist
• Florence + the Machine
• Fucked Up (thrice)
• Girl Talk
• Goatwhore
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• Gogol Bordello
• Greg Ginn and the Royal We
• GWAR
• The Hives
• Hollerado (twice)
• In Flames
• Jimmy Cliff & Tim Armstrong
• Justice
• Kids & Explosions
• Killer Mike (twice)
• Less Than Jake
• Lowlands
• Madness
• Marilyn Manson
• Mazzy Star
• MellowHype
• METZ
• Moneen
• Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
• NOFX
• OFF!
• Protest the Hero (twice)
• Pulp
• Radiohead
• Raekwon and Ghostface Killah
• Refused (twice)
• Rival Schools
• Slipknot
• Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre (feat. the Tupac hologram, Eminem, 50 Cent, Wiz Khalifa)
• Shotgun Jimmie
• Squeeze
• Suicidal Tendencies
• System of a Down
• Teenage Head
• Tool
• Trash Talk
• USS
• The Wooden Sky

NOFX – Self Entitled

Sept. 11th, Fat Wreck Chords

You know what to expect out of a NOFX record at this point. Self Entitled definitely has more good songs than bad/mediocre ones, even if it sounds pretty much just like their last few records. Fat Mike’s political awakening of the early 2000s (best exhibited on The Decline and The War on Errorism) seems to have ebbed, with fewer and fewer political songs on each record. Self Entitled has 2: Opener “72 Hookers” jokes that jihadists’ anger really comes from their sexually repressed society, and that the way to win the war on terror would be to ship 100,000 hookers and the Girls Gone Wild crew overseas (“Maybe if they could see a woman’s face / They might not get onto that plane with a bomb in their suitcase”). Other reviews I’ve read call the song juvenile and culturally insensitive, but I found it funny. Then there’s “Ronnie & Mags”, in which for some reason the band pretends it’s 1982 and attacks Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. That one just seems dumb.

In place of politics, Fat Mike is now singing about his BDSM lifestyle, something that was part of his private life for many years but has only recently come to define his public persona, since he got divorced in 2010 and started dating a professional dominatrix. “I Believe in Goddess” brings it up in reference to atheism (“I don’t believe in prayer, but believe in worship”) while “Secret Society” addresses it outright (“In our secret society / We find freedom through slavery / Absolute power and hierarchy”). Atheism is also the theme of “Xmas Has Been X’d”. “Cell Out” is one of the best numbers, led by great guitar and bass lines with lighthearted lyrics about the band’s long career (“She said she really liked my band in the early ’90s”). However, the most affecting number is definitely the plodding “I’ve Got One Jealous Again, Again”, a sequel to “We Got Two Jealous Agains” from The War on Errorism. The original song was about the joining of Mike and his then-wife Erin’s record collections; this one documents the splitting of that collection in their divorce (“I got the record player, but I didn’t get the house”). Like “My Orphan Year” on 2009′s Coaster, it stands out for its honesty and deeply personal storytelling. 3/5

Matt & Kim – Lightning

Oct. 2nd, Fader Label

I decided to check out Matt & Kim after seeing them open for My Chemical Romance and Blink-182 last year. Their drums-and-synth pop and permanent grins are charming, but don’t hold my attention past a few tracks. “Let’s Go” is a great number with plenty of hooks, while “Now” ups the bpm and relies on drop-beat repetition of the title that, while probably pogo-and-chant-inducing in a live setting, doesn’t really do it for me on record. “It’s Alright” is better, sparkly and glossy with a singalong chorus. Up to now, that’s all the tracks I’ve bothered to listen to. Giving it a fresh spin, there’s some worthy stuff in the second half like the danceable “Tonight” and the melancholy piano-balled duet “Ten Dollars I Found”. Overall, though, I find the hyperactive synthesizer throughout the album wears thin after a while, and the lack of any instrumentation other than synth and drums doesn’t do much to hold my interest. Sure, Matt & Kim are energetic and enjoyable, but it seems I enjoy them only in small doses. 3/5

Coheed and Cambria – The Afterman: Ascension

Oct. 9th, Everything Evil Records

Does anyone know where Coheed and Cambria are at with their Amory Wars sci-fi epic at this point? The two volumes of Good Apollo were supposedly the concluding chapters, then 2010′s Year of the Black Rainbow appeared as a prequel installment. Now we’re getting two volumes of The Afterman (Descension comes out in February) that focus on the saga’s titular character, Sirius Amory, who I guess discovered the Keywork, which the whole story is about. It’s sort of like getting the backstory on Middle Earth or something. Anyway, it’s a return in many ways to the vibe of Good Apollo Vol. 1, arguably their best album: They’re off a major label, original drummer Josh Eppard is back (he’d left after that record), and they’ve returned to producers Michael Birnbaum and Chris Bittner (the duo who produced their first 3 albums).

Setting aside the sci-fi concept, since I don’t understand any of it anyway, the album rocks. It’s full of solid riffs, catchy melodies, and accessible hooks. There are some concepts drawn from real life, too: the shimmering “The Afterman” was inspired by the death of Claudio Sanchez’s wife’s best friend, while “Holly Wood the Cracked” was inspired by a crazy woman posting YouTube rants accusing Sanchez and his wife of being racist communists. Lead single “Domino the Destitute” seems to address the lineup changes (in addition to Eppard’s return, they have a new bassist in Zach Cooper) with lines like “Turn about face, I implore you, brother / Don’t walk away, don’t walk away from me / Because this is our war”. And I can’t go without mentioning the raging “Vic the Butcher”, easily the heaviest track and my personal favorite. 4/5

Dethklok – Dethalbum III

Oct. 16th, Williams Street Records

Brendon Small’s third album drawn from his animated series Metalocalypse has the distinction of beating its predecessor for the title of highest-charting death metal album. However, it feels as though the joke has worn thin. While it’s obvious Small takes his songwriting seriously, and the melodic death metal remains well-played by him, drummer Gene Holigan, and bassist Bryan Beller, there’s very little of the humor that made the first Dethalbum so enjoyable. Songs like “Murmaider” and “Thunderhorse” were glorious piss-takes on the genre, whereas the only obvious levity on this installment is lead single “I Ejaculate Fire”, and even then it’s only really the title that’s funny. The rest sounds like “real” death metal, and I guess I just don’t see the point in that. As well-played and metal as tracks like “Impeach God” and “The Galaxy” are, my favorite Dethklok tracks are still “Murdertrain a Comin’” and the “Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle” that come pretty much straight from the show. 3/5

Forgetters – Forgetters

Nov. 13th, Too Small to Fail Records

I’m a big Jawbreaker fan, yet for some reason I didn’t pay much attention to Blake Schwarzenbach’s new project, Forgetters, until several weeks after this album came out. The former Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil frontman has teamed up with original Against Me! drummer Kevin Mahon (producer J. Robbins played bass) for an album that’s a lot like its cover art: murky, often complex, and seemingly disparate, but coherent when viewed as a whole. Their debut EP 2 years ago was very Jawbreaker-esque, whereas the album is more indie rock with punk leanings.

Opener “Strike” starts as a simple number before breaking down into sludgy, psychedelic stew that carries into “Lie Artist”. “I’m Not Immune” starts edging the record more in a catchy direction, with some great Blake lyrics (“We love and hate the same five things / Is this the basis for a lasting friendship? / I think not”). In a perfect world, the lovely “Turn Away” and “Hoop and Swan” would be instant alt-rock hits, the latter sounding like a blending of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy-era Jawbreaker and Perfecting Loneliness-era Jets to Brazil. The most JTB-ish tracks are the piano-driven ones: “Die by Your Own Hand”, closer “Ribbonhead”, and “In America”, in which Blake reflects on what it means to be American in 2012 (“We’ve grown more boring than we were before these towers and wars”). ”O Deadly Death” is another standout, a punky number with positively goth-sounding keyboards and lyrics. “Les Arrivistes” reminds me very much of…something, I just can’t put my finger on it. Perhaps The Cure’s “Lullabye”. The penultimate track is a catchy cover of The Human League’s “Seconds”.

Stylistically, Forgetters is something of a grab bag. That it manages to be so diverse while still maintaining an overall sense of identity is pretty remarkable. I’ve found myself, almost unintentionally, listening to it over and over, whether by leaving it in my car CD player for days on end or falling asleep to it coming through my computer speakers. That I’ve listened to it almost nonstop for several weeks, even as I’ve been reviewing 50 other albums, speaks volumes about its ability to take hold and take the listener along for a complex and satisfying ride. By that quality alone it ranks among my favorite albums of the year. 5/5

Angels & Airwaves – Stomping the Phantom Brake Pedal

Dec. 18th, To the Stars Records

I’m not really sure why this exists, or why I downloaded it. I’ve cared for Angels & Airwaves’ albums less and less with each successive one, and this double EP only digs the hole deeper. The first disc is three tracks of what sounds like a film score (underscored by each track being named like a film reel), and comes off sounding like unfinished ideas from last year’s Love: Part Two needlessly stretched out to full-length. The nearly-8-minute “Reel 1 (Diary)” takes 3½  minutes to build up to something resembling rock and is the only track with lyrics, though they’re buried so low in the mix they might as well not be there. The EKG-like synth sound that persists throughout “Reel 5 (New Blood)” is annoying after 10 seconds, much less nearly 5 minutes. “Reel 6″ is more of a techno-rock dance track that just sounds weird and totally out of place. The entire second disc is electronic-heavy remixes of tracks from the two Love albums, which is just as pointless as that sounds. I doubt even AVA superfans will want to listen to this stuff more than once, if that. Stick to the Blink-182 stuff, Tom; it’s going much better. 1/5

Blink-182 – Dogs Eating Dogs

Dec. 18th

As enjoyable as last year’s Blink-182 reunion album Neighborhoods was, it suffered from a lack of unity: The members recorded it by emailing tracks back and forth between separate cities and studios and took over a year to complete it, giving it a stale and disjointed feel. By contrast, the Dogs Eating Dogs EP was recorded within a month by all 3 members in the room together. It’s also their first release without a label, having split from Interscope/DGC in October. The more traditional recording method and creative freedom results in a fresher, more energized set of songs.

“When I Was Young” takes time to build, then snaps into catchy double-time and a duet chorus from Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus. The Hoppus-sung title track is the most aggressive and sounds like he and Travis Barker’s post-Blink act +44, except for DeLonge providing the chorus, while “Disaster” has the vibe of DeLonge’s other act Angels & Airwaves, at least until Hoppus comes in around the one-minute mark and it becomes more of a Blink-182 song. “Boxing Day” is an acoustic ballad with Barker playing an electronic kit and Hoppus and DeLonge trading off between lovelorn verses and choruses. “Pretty Little Girl” features a guest rap by Yelawolf after the second chorus, an obvious Barker idea that the other members should have vetoed. It comes out of nowhere and doesn’t add anything to what’s otherwise a very good modern pop-punk song with new wave-y synths in the verses and DeLonge singing lyrics of love to his wife. Overall, Dogs Eating Dogs improves greatly on Neighborhoods simply by getting the band members all in the same room to work together. Hopefully it’s an indication of things to come on future albums. 4/5

The tail end of 2012 has seen a record which epitomises true and honest punk rock in sound and heart. What to Believe is a blistering release of ten classic punk riots from a band in Rogue Anthem which is a battle cry for the underdog. Formed by vocalist, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Myke Augustat, the US band through their passions and music is a powerful anthemic cry standing against all that is wrong with society and the world. It is raw and abrasive, a release which lights the touch paper to a fight for change and one thumping bruise of impressive punk rock.

A few months before its release Augustat sadly passed away leaving behind a wife and three children and one impressive band. What to Believe was released at a benefit show in November to honour the man with all proceeds from it and those generated by the album

Michael Augustat.

going to the family. The remaining members of the band, Neill B (lead guitar), Carter B (guitar), Tanner P (drums), Billy B (bassist now ‘proudly singing the Anthems’), and Vulcho (bass), came together with the punk rock community, friends, and family, to celebrate the life and music of Augustat with bands like JFA, Fiction Reform, El Nada, and Soto Street joining Rogue Anthem in playing the event. It was a fine send off for a man who had touched so many people and brought to reality one of the great arguably unsung underground punk bands.

Released through Thumper Punk Records, What to Believe enrols the passions and senses into a storm of attitude and incendiary sounds with an irresistible lure of grazing riffs, destructive rhythms, and in your face truth lyrically and musically. There is no room for niceties or refinements within the songs just pure honesty and unbridled energy.  The band was started by Augustat to carry a message to the forgotten and the underdog, the previously mentioned battle cry for all fighting against the system politically, socially, and personally, for those going up against the consuming traits of ‘materialism, false pride, greed, gluttony, apathy, selfishness, addiction, and vanity’.  Each track is an inciting bruising which fires up the imagination for not only the intent of the songs lyrically but just their individual storms of eager and contagious punk sounds. Musically the band is an antagonistic force bringing forth a compulsive blend of Rancid, NOFX, CIV, and Angelic Upstarts. It is uncomplicated, direct and aggressive, and quite delicious.

Starting with the infection brewing 1984, a song which has you joining in within seconds of its opening chorus entrance, the album just moves from one defiant party to another. With ear slapping rhythms, coarse vocals, and driving riffs, the track sets up the album perfectly and has the senses greedy for plenty more. Like the majority of the songs it plays like an old friend yet to be met, its sounds nothing openly new but making for only the richest invigorating company.

The great start is matched by the following God Save Me, the raw and unpolished production upon the release adding an extra layer of satisfying caustic breath to this song like all the others. From its furious presence the album barges through and lashes the ear with further fiery confrontations from the likes of One Voice, the stomping title track, and the excellent Needle Down, a song which brings in melodic flames of harmonica and flashes of keys and female vocals to bring a full and intriguing breath to its great punk n roll feast.

The biggest highlights come in the latter part of the album through the irrepressible tempest that is Life of Agony and the best song on the release, the rhythmic magnet Kick Down the Doors, and the closing Underdog Army, a track which sums it all up, band, sound, and heart of the whole thing. Each song on the album is simply an immense pleasure and What to Believe an album all punk fans should investigate. How Rogue Anthem will evolve without their founder time will tell but it is hard to imagine anything but further enjoyable and provocative ventures from the band.

https://www.facebook.com/RogueAnthem

http://thumperpunkrecords.storenvy.com/products/749893-rogue-anthem-what-to-believe

RingMaster 30/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

NOFX continue to blaze through their set and keep the crowd moving with “Murder The Government” and “It’s My Job To Keep Punk Rock Elite” at Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA on 12/10/12.

Favorite track: “I’ve Got One Jealous Again, Again”. A sequel to 2003′s “We Got Two Jealous Agains”, which was a song about marriage and merging record collections. Well this one’s about divorce, and splitting said record collection…

4. mc chris “Friends” – The last song on mc chris’ album “Race Wars” is called “part one”, and it’s a song about Batman. The songs on the “Friends” EP continue the name scheme with “part two” to “part five”, and are about Dick Grayson/Robin, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, and Alfred. Batman’s friends, get it? The songs average out to about 4 minutes each, because mc chris pretty much tells each character’s life story. As a huge Batman fan, it was impossible for me to dislike these songs.

Favorite track: “part four” (the Batgirl song)

3. The Bouncing Souls “Comet” – I love The Bouncing Souls, and this album is a fun listen from top to bottom! Though songs like “Baptized” and “Infidel” show how they are sticking to their punk roots, I feel their better songs are the slower and more heartfelt ones, like “Coin Toss Girl” and “Ship In A Bottle”. However this won’t slow down their live show one bit. Seeing them live is a riot, quite literally!

Favorite track: “Coin Toss Girl”. It kinda sounds like Springsteen. Now that’s “So Jersey”!

2. Math The Band “Get Real” – I never heard of “synth punk” until I saw Math The Band open for Andrew WK in April. When their full album finally came out in November, I didn’t think it could possibly match the intensity of seeing them live. But after listening to it… a lot, I’d say it comes pretty damn close! If anything, it makes me look forward to seeing them live again.

Favorite track: “I Hope You Die”

1. Operation Space Opera “Songs From The Black Hole” – This is easily the best Weezer tribute album I’ve ever heard. Before “Pinkerton”, Weezer’s second album was going to be a rock opera called “Songs From The Black Hole”. Through various demo releases, Weezer fans have been able to compile the album for themselves. But because they are demos, it doesn’t sound quite as polished as an actual Weezer record. Operation Space Opera recreated this album from scratch, and it sounds amazing! Unlike the Weezer demos, the songs with female vocals are actually sung by women. The sound quality is also consistent throughout. Hear it for yourself for free at http://operationspaceopera.bandcamp.com/.

Favorite track: “Come To My Pod”. It finally sounds like a duet, and not like a guy trying to seduce himself. Sorry Rivers.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The video predictably features a lot of Santa Claus costumes.

Enjoy,

Matt

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make an apocalypse playlist. I asked my friends to come up with suggestions, then put this together on Rdio. Sadly some of my friends’ awesome suggestions were not yet available on this platform, but hey. If you want to add to the playlist, either leave a comment or subscribe to it on Rdio. I’ve left it open for everyone to edit.

Sadly, I can’t embed the playlist, but click here or the image below to go to it.

There are punk bands and then there is NOFX. Fat Mike and his band of rocking revelers embody the true spirit of punk. They do what they want, they say what they want, when they want, where they want and to hell with anyone that says otherwise.

In NOFX’s latest video offering, the band hops aboard a party bus during the Bay Area’s Santa Con, grab some instruments and entertain the revelers with their song about the ridiculousness of Christmas.

It’s funny how some fables became historic
When the others clearly wrote them to be metaphoric
But people will believe anything that is written
Especially in stoner ancient scroll

NOFX attempts to unravel the Christmas tradition in a way only this punk band could, starting with calling out Jesus as being fake. They address every religion one by one. If you’re easily offended, watch it with the sound down.

“Enjoy Christmas, cause it’s your last.”

Find “Christmas Has Been X-ed” on Self Entitled, NOFX’s latest album available on FatWreck.com.

– Jay Tilles, CBS Local

There are punk bands and then there is NOFX. Fat Mike and his band of rocking revelers embody the true spirit of punk. They do what they want, they say what they want, when they want, where they want and to hell with anyone that says otherwise.

In NOFX’s latest video offering, the band hops aboard a party bus during the Bay Area’s Santa Con, grab some instruments and entertain the revelers with their song about the ridiculousness of Christmas.

It’s funny how some fables became historic
When the others clearly wrote them to be metaphoric
But people will believe anything that is written
Especially in stoner ancient scroll

NOFX attempts to unravel the Christmas tradition in a way only this punk band could, starting with calling out Jesus as being fake. They address every religion one by one. If you’re easily offended, watch it with the sound down.

“Enjoy Christmas, cause it’s your last.”

Find “Christmas Has Been X-ed” on Self Entitled, NOFX’s latest album available on FatWreck.com.

– Jay Tilles, CBS Local

There are punk bands and then there is NOFX. Fat Mike and his band of rocking revelers embody the true spirit of punk. They do what they want, they say what they want, when they want, where they want and to hell with anyone that says otherwise.

In NOFX’s latest video offering, the band hops aboard a party bus during the Bay Area’s Santa Con, grab some instruments and entertain the revelers with their song about the ridiculousness of Christmas.

It’s funny how some fables became historic
When the others clearly wrote them to be metaphoric
But people will believe anything that is written
Especially in stoner ancient scroll

NOFX attempts to unravel the Christmas tradition in a way only this punk band could, starting with calling out Jesus as being fake. They address every religion one by one. If you’re easily offended, watch it with the sound down.

“Enjoy Christmas, cause it’s your last.”

Find “Christmas Has Been X-ed” on Self Entitled, NOFX’s latest album available on FatWreck.com.

– Jay Tilles, CBS Local

There are punk bands and then there is NOFX. Fat Mike and his band of rocking revelers embody the true spirit of punk. They do what they want, they say what they want, when they want, where they want and to hell with anyone that says otherwise.

In NOFX’s latest video offering, the band hops aboard a party bus during the Bay Area’s Santa Con, grab some instruments and entertain the revelers with their song about the ridiculousness of Christmas.

It’s funny how some fables became historic
When the others clearly wrote them to be metaphoric
But people will believe anything that is written
Especially in stoner ancient scroll

NOFX attempts to unravel the Christmas tradition in a way only this punk band could, starting with calling out Jesus as being fake. They address every religion one by one. If you’re easily offended, watch it with the sound down.

“Enjoy Christmas, cause it’s your last.”

Find “Christmas Has Been X-ed” on Self Entitled, NOFX’s latest album available on FatWreck.com.

– Jay Tilles, CBS Local

Hace pocos días fue el concierto en beneficio de la familia de Tony Sly, en el cual estuvieron presentes Nofx, Teenage Bottlerocket, Elway y GFP.

De entonces ya se pueden ver varios videos en la red sobre el concierto, en este caso por acá se pueden ver los set de Nofx y también el de Teenage Bottlerocket

NOFX introduce themselves to the crowd at Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA on 12/10/12. Fat Mike comes out eating his pre-show avacado and introduces El Hefe explaining that he grew up in South Sacramento. Mike then goes on to say that “Sacramento” is his safe word. A precursor to a good night.

Teenage Bottlerocket play their short song, “Bottlerocket” at Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA on 12/10/12 while opening up for NOFX.