Review: NOFX – Coaster

NOFX - Coaster

Winner for “Most Bad-Ass Movie About Salesmen” ever, Glengarry Glen Ross, contains several memorable quotes meant to be a verbal slap in the face to those who think, notdo. Besides the clip we hear that serves as the introduction to Coaster, there are several inspired moments NOFX could have chosen as a means to indirectly imply the subject matter of the opening track. Or perhaps they could have used it as a metaphorical design to slyly reference the music industry’s current lack of wit. Fat Mike, however, provides his own words to live by, and to borrow a quote spoken by Kevin Spacey’s character: “You’ve got a big mouth… now I’m gonna show you an even bigger one.”

Read More “NOFX – Coaster”

Review: Bon Iver – Blood Bank

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Bon Iver seem to be a bit confused. Stepping out of the wintry woods and into the hot spotlight can have that effect. 

Following what has become the most infamous period of isolation since Thoreau and his picturesque pond, neo-soul man Justin Vernon has seen his debut full-length, For Emma, Forever Ago, transition from word-of-mouth exchange in 2007 to official label release on Jagjaguwar Records in 2008. The album’s brilliantly simple honesty and chilling atmospheres have captured the hearts and ears of listeners across the country, both fans and critics alike. To call For Emma, Forever Ago a success would severely understate its impact. Bon Iver have been swept up in a maelstrom of radio interviews, in-studio recordings (including Daytrotter and Myspace Transmission sessions), and tour dates with Swedish acoustic artist The Tallest Man on Earth. If AP.net fervor is your measure of achievement, then it’s also important to note that Bon Iver’s gem finished at number seven on the staff’s compiled list of The Best of 2008 and featured prominently in many staff members’ and users’ lists as well. Suffice it to say, 2008 was a pretty bang-up year for Bon Iver.

Read More “Bon Iver – Blood Bank”

Review: Fall Out Boy – Folie à Deux

Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux

Hey, did you hear? Fall Out Boy released an album with a funky French album title. What’s up with that? Their third major label release, Folie à Deux, harnesses the band’s darker, more experimental side musically without sacrificing one shred of the sing-along choruses that shot them to stardom. As fans scramble to Google to figure out what the title means, here’s the short version. Did Pete Wentz, Pat Stump, and the gang spend too much time imitating hipsters and thumbing through French dictionaries at Starbucks? Nah. Simply put, folie à deux is a “madness shared by two,” when two people develop the same delusional disorder due to a close relationship with the other. The more you know…

Read More “Fall Out Boy – Folie à Deux”

Interview: Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy

Let’s start with the new record – what’s the vibe like in the Fall Out Boy camp based on the reactions to the new song, the buzz around the viral campaign and so forth? Does it feel as big as everyone’s hoping for?

I guess there’s a question these days of “Why put out records anymore?” you know, like, “Why even bother?” I wasn’t really interested–I don’t think any of us were really interested in getting rich and famous–and, by virtue of putting out a new record, we will probably get more rich and famous, you know? [laughs] Which is not something I want really. So like, why really [put out an album], right? It’s because you want to say something. You want to express yourself. You have art that you need to get out. So that was really my only purpose in making a record and I’m totally stoked on it the way it is now, for sure.

Read More “Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy”

Review: Hey Monday – Hold on Tight

Hey Monday - Hold on Tight

As far as “front females” go, I’d have to say that Hayley Williams of Paramore would be up there with my favorites. She has a great voice regardless of what people may think about her in general. What I don’t like about Williams however, is nothing that has to do with her personally, but the endless amount of comparisons to her whenever someone listens to a female fronted band. “OMG Paramore 2.0” and “Paramore rip-off1!!1” are amongst the comments I’ve witnessed regarding a pop band with a female vocalist. Part of me even thinks there could be a death metal band but as long as there was a girl singer, Paramore comparisons would be made.

Read More “Hey Monday – Hold on Tight”

Review: House of Heroes – The End is Not the End

House of Heroes - The End is Not the End

These are troubled times we face in the world today. The turbulent stage we as not only a nation, but a world are currently helplessly cascading through is not easy. Lies fill the airwaves, trust for your government cannot be formed, truth is slowly dwindling away. What can we do, as citizens, to diminish our fears? What can we do to press on and keep hope alive?

We can press play.

That’s right – we can find a proper soundtrack that fits into our woeful and dire needs of something strong, something fearless, something honest … and House of Heroes just might be that answer we all need. The basic pop-music structure/formula is fading faster than the Yankees’ payroll – and giving off about the same results: expecting something big, yet getting nothing in return. House of Heroes aims to change this notion with their (technically) fourth proper full-length release, The End is Not the End. Heck, it’s right there in the album title: the end is not the end. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it? The resurrection of one’s true and eternal belief in all that is, will be and ever was … in popular music. And life in general too, I guess.

Read More “House of Heroes – The End is Not the End”

Review: Plain White T’s – Big Bad World

Plain White T's - Big Bad World

Big Bad BandBig Bad AlbumGreek: The Soundtrack. There are numerous names we could all choose to plaster on Plain White T’s fourth full-length release, Big Bad World — however, the most apparent one would be “awful”. In the seemingly endless ocean of pop bands looking for high water, this Chicago quintet desperately wants to be the next Fall Out Boy (just ask clothing outlet Aeropostale), yet they come across as the group of wannabe kids who chase the bus long after it’s taken off down the road.

Praying they can bank off last year’s chart-topping success of “Hey There Delilah,” the band continues their steep decline by writing some of the cheesiest, most gimmicky songs even Kidz Bop wouldn’t consider covering — it’s simply not worth paying for the publishing rights. Is the band aware of their awkward transition from average – but tolerable – pop-rock to bubblegum pop? One can’t be too sure, but with song titles like “Natural Disaster” (an awkward song about a groupie) and “Serious Mistake,” it seems like the joke is on the listener … right?

Read More “Plain White T’s – Big Bad World”

Review: Bayside – Shudder

Bayside - Shudder

The fine balance between utter disdain and hopelessness with relentless apathy is essentially what makes Long Island’s Bayside such an unclassifiable rock band. Their combination of depressing emo-centric lyricism and moody exteriors have made them one of the most easy-to-relate-to bands on the Victory roster (after all, how many of us can truly relate to the “bludgeoning” riffs and double-bass drum kicks of metalcore’s elite, hmm?). Take the dark melodic contours of Alkaline Trio, throw in the hazy optimism of Smoking Popes and add a dash of sincere melancholy (with some wicked wit for good measure), and you’ve got your basic Bayside sound.

Read More “Bayside – Shudder”

Review: The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound

Gaslight Anthem - 59 Sound

For years, we Fallon’s have had to deal with the only famous carrier of our surname being an unfunny, untalented hack who laughs at his own jokes and headlines bad movies with Queen Latifah. It hasn’t been easy as everyone believes we are linked by name association; it’s an ugly life that has resulted in many courtroom visits for potential name changes (suggestion: Max Power) and long nights of agonizing emotional breakdowns.

Thank our lucky stars New Brunswick, New Jersey produced The Gaslight Anthem – and subsequently, another Fallon to the mix. This time, our leather-clad, rough-patched vocalist proudly totes the Fallon name (no relation) and is the punk rock equivalent of New Jersey’s other Golden God, Bruce Springsteen. In fact, Brian Fallon matches the Boss so much, he could be unofficially deemed Lil’ Boss – okay, well that name needs some work, but just work with me here.

Read More “The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound”

The Absolute 100 (2008)

AbsolutePunk.net Heart

News posts and song streams. RSS feeds and webisodes. We swim in a digital ocean of recommendations – the music and us. Here at AbsolutePunk.net, we like to start the waves and then float in them. This is why we are back with our second installment of The Absolute 100, an annual collection of our favorite lesser known bands. Below you will find a centennial of really great acts. Some of them may be fresh to the ears, and some of them may be old news to your keen web browsing. Either way, we hope that from all the bands that clutter these interwebbed harbors, you’ll find a precious handful from these Absolute 100. – Julia Conny

Read More “The Absolute 100 (2008)”

Review: Person L – Initial

Person L - Initial

So what can you expect from someone who’s mastered the craft? Surely more mastering of the craft, or a stamp of approval and a toss into the history books. Like Kenny Vasoli, the singer behind the start-up pop-punk wonder boys, The Starting Line. At this point in his career, it’s not that he has done it all, it’s just that, when it comes to pop-punk, there isn’t much more he has to learn.

Which is why when word came out that Mr. Vasoli had a little ‘ol side project, it made sense. Here’s someone who’s been dribbling sweet hooks for the greater part of his young adult years, spinning, caressing and nourishing them like a pro. A more experimental and indie side project was inevitable. A boy’s gotta explore his boundaries, right? Vasoli grabbed some friends (Brian Medlin, Charles Schnieder, Nathaniel Vaeth, and Ryan Zimmaro, to be exact) and demos started to peek out of his Myspace page. People got pumped.

Read More “Person L – Initial”

Review: Anthony Green – Avalon

Anthony Green - Avalon

Being the pillar of an important rock band must be exhausting work – so much so that it renders the siren song of going soft downright deafening. Nick Torres and Tyler Odom went from Northstar to the alt-country of Cassino, Dustin Kensrue offered up his own solo slice of down-home Americana, Roddy Woomble veered off the Idlewild course to dabble in Scottish folk, and on and on. Maybe it is just the “in” thing to do – like how some actors will take up stints on Broadway to bolster their middling resumes, or maybe it is just the underlying need for variety after recording and touring on the same genre of music day after day. Regardless of what drives this magnetism, it has corralled yet another subscriber in Anthony Green, the scene’s favorite man of many hats. After having his hands in countless bands and records, Green has decided to finally to wander off on his own (sort of, at least – the guys in Good Old War are certainly a noteworthy backing band). With Avalon, Anthony pulls a near 180 to most work he has done in the past – so is it any good or should he be running back to his Circa brethren apologizing for ever straying?

Read More “Anthony Green – Avalon”

Review: Hit the Lights – Skip School, Start Fights

Hit The Lights - Skip School, Start Fights

Considering a majority of their fan base ranges in the age group of 14-18 years of age, Skip School, Start Fights might not be the wisest message to send to today’s ever-vulnerable youth, who have taken the bait from every young pop band with scenester haircuts. Yet for Ohio pop-punk quartet Hit The Lights, they appear to be a different breed of pop-punk – no synthesizers blazing the overproduced dance songs, no overdubbed auto-tuned vocals, and well … no scenester haircuts to be seen as far as I can tell. In fact, they might even do pop-punk better than just about anyone out there right now, not making any large creative strides, simply offering a slice of sprightly exhilaration.

How is all this possible, you might be asking? With dozens of pop bands to choose from, the music scene for today’s teenagers has become a major-label-funded ice cream truck of sorts. Most fans likely choose their ice cream by the way it looks and not by the way it tastes – after all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ice cream is so much yummier than banana fudge. Although, in the long run, the coolest (let’s use that term lightly) looking one is always the most difficult to eat and gives you the biggest stomachache.

Read More “Hit the Lights – Skip School, Start Fights”

Review: Relient K – The Bird and the Bee Sides

Relient K - The Bird and the Bee Sides

If there is one thing you can count on from Canton, Ohio’s Relient K, it’s consistency — and having the ability to back that consistency up with an uplifting bravado that comes off as generosity rather than ego. Last winter, they graciously provided their fans with a Christmas record to sit by their fires with; this summer, the band has put together a lengthy double-set of new and old tracks alike for the cleverly-titled The Bird and The Bee Sides. While you could claim it’s a double-album, really, the band recorded 13 new songs (entitled the Nashville Tennis EP) and remastered some old gems from their various singles and EPs (dubbed The Bird and The Bee Sides). The entire set is a 26-track jubilee and clocks in at just over an hour, never succeeding as a cohesive whole — but that really isn’t the album’s purpose.

Read More “Relient K – The Bird and the Bee Sides”