Ceremony - Zoo

Ah, Ceremony. Always liked the gents, and sure have seen a lot of them recently. Much like their new label mates Fucked Up, it continues to be a little weird to see them on Matador. I've always admired the Gotham toreadors thinking outside the box (i.e. signing Large Professor), harder for me is wrapping my head around their aesthetic post-Superchunk. The move has certainly precipitated a less hardcore Ceremony record than we had encountered previously on their Bridge 9 tenure. Not shocking, as Ceremony are definitely a weird bunch of dudes (meant in the best possible way). It's not every band that has a jailbird and a make-up artist in the same band, but Rohnert Park's finest are not your average bunch of crucial dudes.

Zoo definitely reps the West Coast, sporting some serious Rollins/Morris vocal action, backed with an interesting Agent Orange meets garage rock vibe. Production is a little spartan and reserved, but the Zoo tracks get a lot more teeth to them live. I get the impression the hardcore kids have their boxer briefs in a bit of a bunch over the direction of this record, but it definitely stands to garner them two fans for every one they have lost. Perhaps not the best first record to get into Ceremony with, but definitely one of the best this year.

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Ceremony - 6 Cover Songs EP

Ok: Ceremony covers EP. Makes sense, right? Bands do them all the time and they are almost always well-received, at least from the average choir that is being preached to. Ceremony has choirs all around the world, owning to their relentless tour schedule and flood of releases. They could thank Bridge Nine for that before, but now in investigating this, it appears that the next next Ceremony record will be on Matador?

Seems odd to me, too, but Matador seem to have done well with Fucked Up recently, better than they did with Large Professor certainly, so maybe the gents are getting a better sense of how to expand the Matador focus while still having the engine to market them properly. Here's hoping, as this cover EP with Pixies and Wire tracks Ceremon-ized is pretty aces, if maybe a wee bit unrepresentative of the band's recorded output. Get 6 Cover Songs here from Bridge Nine and keep track of Ceremony here.

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Cheap Girls/Lemuria split 7"

In the midst of a bleak late winter in Gotham City, it was a pleasure to get a fat mailer of the punk rock from the good folk of Southern Living. While this wasn't inside, in popping over to the No Idea web presence, the pot was sweetened considerably by news of this little bit of vinyl delight.

Now Lemuria I like generally, but Cheap Girls I like a whole big bunch. As my god is a cruel god, there is but one Cheap Girls track here, paired with two new tracks from Lemuria. The CG track is the great mix of Lemonheads and Gin Blossoms you've come to expect from the Lansing threesome. Called Pure Hate, it might be accused of being a wee bit long, but its still pretty damn good. The Lemuria tracks are sparkly little gems, especially Lemons. The other track is a little saccharine and deals with falling in love with a single mother. I'm not going to play it every day, but it's a fair shake better than a lot of stuff, even if there appears to be xylophone on the track. Check out their new full-length Pebble.

I'd like to see some dates with Lemuria and Cheap Girls behind this little slab of delight. With Cheap Girls out with the nightmare that is Against Me!, I'm not sure when this might could happen, but keep tabs at No Idea HQ here and grab a copy of this split while you're there. The Lemuria web-presence is here. Cheap Girls is here. Enjoy!

R

Lemuria - Pebble

Personally, it's pretty staggering to me that it was five years ago now that I got the split with Kind Of Like Spitting and got bitten by the Lemuria bug. The Buffalo unit has switched bass players in recent history and made the curious move of signing with new school hardcore enclave Bridge Nine, but little has changed in the Lemuria formula. It's still a post-Velocity Girl meets Breeders vibe, in the time-honored power trio format with mostly female vocals, although the drummer sings a fair bit.

Pebble is only their second formal full-length, but there has been a raft of EP and single releases in the three years since their Asian Man debut. Pebble was produced by the estimable J. Robbins at his Magpie Cage Studios in charming Baltimore, lending just the right amount of spit and polish (as well as some auto-tune, methinks) to the proceedings to make one hell of a record. Lemuria should be well proud of themselves. I'd put Pebble up there with P.S. Eliot and my beloved Little Lungs. You should put it in your earhole(s). Here's a link to facilitate.

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Live: Ceremony with Rogue State @ ABCnoRIO 8.7.10

It's been a stressful couple weeks with some medical issues and I had been more than a bit antsy. The weather had been so sweltering that it was hard to get out on the bike for any distance with getting heat stroke, so a hardcore show three blocks from the JS-NYC corporate offices seemed more than adequate of an eventuality to both distract me and blow off a little steam.

Popped in early at ABC to get my hand stamped and found that Punch had dropped off the show (and eventually cancelled a bunch of dates) after the singer broke her ankle. When I did cross threshold to get my rock on, Rogue State were tearing thing up. Like Ceremony, Rogue State are from California and make the hardcore. The are a four-piece, although I could have sworn only three guys played, but hey it was crowded. Vocals were kinda non-existent as well, but the band was well-received. If you were there, or the prospect excites you, know that Rogue State have a new record out on Be Happy called emis vs etic that you can get here. You're welcome.

A between set med break had me a little light-headed by the time I made it back to ABC, but the crowd proved frisky enough to keep my senses sharp. The kids were circle-pitting up a storm and the ladies were mixing it up on the floor a fair bit as well. Ceremony kept the pedal to the floor for the duration. Ross was all over the place from the first note: on the floor, in the crowd, on the crowd, sometimes sporting his hoodie pulled over his head. What end said sartorial leaning accomplished, I know not, but it made for a fun Saturday afternoon.

I like the Ceremony records ok recorded, but they are a lot more fun live. The band is a nutty mix of hair farmer with Nikki Sixx model Explorer (set phasers to awesome) and shirtless guy in lace arm garters. I couldn't see the drummer, but I'm sure he was equally bizarre. It's an odd mix, but not an unpleasant one. Ceremony have gotten very much in touch with their inner Black Flag over the last couple years. Ross especially has gotten a lot more Keith Morris, and all of these factors make for a hell of a fun show. Hardcore fans and lovers of rambunctious matinee shows in general would do well to take in a Ceremony show with the quickness before they head overseas for a while. Explore the possibilities here.

R

Strike Anywhere - Iron Front

Finally, we get the full-length version of Iron Front. The EP of the same name showed potential, but as a fleshed out record, Iron Front is pretty badass. There is still a large amount of Dag Nastification going on with the proceedings, but it appears to be coming from the right place, and you really can't front on the DN, can you? I would like to think not.

Tracks like South Central Beach Party and I'm Your Opposite Number are as a good as the best Strike Anywhere material. SA may be guilty of writing the same song more than once, but at the end of the day, it's a good song, so if you like Strike Anywhere Iron Cross will have you posi-d up like nobody's business. Bridge Nine must be stoked as hell to have this record. Strike Anywhere should, too. They have hooks for days here, and while I think the production is a little much, nothing can disguise the sheer finger-pointability of most if not all of the songs on Iron Front. Buy it from the Vagrant of Hardcore here starting tomorrow. There's a pre-order thing I think you can still get in on, too. Strike Anywhere are in the Northeast, so you'd do well to check them out. Keep track of these subversives here.

R

Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg

Upstate NY has kept it real on the DIY end of things in recent years. If you're not a prima donna with a huge guarantee you can play a seemingly endless circuit of houses and DIY venues from New Paltz to the Canadian Border. Polar Bear Club rep for the Syracuse and Rochester end of things. Kids seem to be going apeshit for them of late, so it seemed prudent to snag a copy of the record and see how disappointed I'd end up. I'm pleased to say that they don't make me want to shoot myself nearly as much as most of the Warped/AP bands that I've encountered of late. Perhaps it's the refreshing lack of stupid fucking haircuts, but I think that PBC kind of bring it. The touchstones are mid 90s Midwestern bands like The Get Up Kids, Casket Lottery and Small Brown Bike, a trio that you'd be hard pressed to get me to speak ill of (ok, the last couple GUK records blew. Hard, but you know what I'm saying). Oddly enough (for me at least) Chasing Hamburg is on Bridge 9, a band that is rapidly becoming the Vagrant of the Ought Era. They've got a lot of bands that sound exactly the same, but have diversified a bit in recent years. They release a ton of product, but I don't hear too many bad things about them neglecting their artists or letting stuff fall out of print, so good for both parties. Chasing Hamburg has eleven decent songs, all produced fairly unobtrusively by Matt Bayles. He's pretty hands off, but the fairy dust he sprinkles on tracks like Take Me To The Town make this a record that marks a big step forward. Drifting Thing is a track that seems tailor-made for crossover success, catchy enough that I definitely smell some Against Me!/Asslight Anthem type major label courting imminently in their future. In the interim, Polar Bear Club are out on the Bridge Nine Tour, check out the dates here. You can pick up Chasing Hamburg from them on tour or via this handy link.

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Strike Anywhere - Iron Front EP

It's been a bit since Strike Anywhere released a record. Frankly, it's been even longer since I gave a shit. I love a fingerpoint as much as the next asshole, but SA got more than a little formulaic over their last couple records. They seemed neck and neck with Anti-Flag for the knee-jerk politic championship, which I might have been able to deal with had the songs not gotten a wee bit boring. I'm not sure whether they are still signed to Fat Wreck, but Strike Anywhere are exactly the kind of band you would expect to be the political band on their roster. Pop on over to their wiki and check the picture of them playing the improbably named "with justice we can cure this nation" fest in Japan. Opening for Rise Against, no doubt.

For this four song digital EP, Strike Anywhere have hashed out some affiliation with Bridge Nine. It certainly isn't going to trump the new Paint It Black EPs on my personal listening schedule, but Iron Front is a lot better than I thought it would be. It sounds no different from any other Strike Anywhere (read: Can I Say era Dag Nasty) song, so if you've been a fan previously, you may very well be stoked that Iron Front is available for purchase here. Legions of middle-class white kids will no doubt throw off the fetters of their parental homes and shout along with tracks like orphan age and hand of glory at Houses Of Blues all across this great nation of ours. If this is your cup of free-trade tea, dash on over to Bridge Nine and pick up Iron Front.

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Paint It Black - Surrender EP

This the the second of the two EPs the band warned us would be coming out this Summer. The first, Amnesia, dropped about a month ago on Bridge Nine. This one is out today on Fat Wreck, but don't think PIB is jumping on the Lagwagon or anything. Surrender is pretty much a boot to the face for the average Fat Wreck /Warped Tour jocker. This is a fucking hardcore record. Listen to the bass on Worms are see if you aren't manifesting a circle pit in seconds. There are four songs in under seven minutes, each a short sharp shock that you would be a fool to dislike. Buy Surrender from the Fat Wreck kids here and then hustle over to Bridge Nine and grab Amnesia. They go together like straight-edge kids and self-righteousness.

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Paint It Black - Amnesia EP

Lots of bands talk about 'keeping it real' in the hardcore scene, but very few maintain that realness on the level of Philadelphia's Paint It Black. Fronted by Dan Yemin of Lifetime/Kid Dynamite fame, the Philly foursome are as issue driven as they are anti-barricade. Their live shows are never a bad time, and their records are always great, something very few hardcore bands can muster.

PIB announced last September that they would be abandoning the LP format and heretofore releasing purely 7" EPs. Why? Because it's quicker, and more importantly, hardcore. The first of the two is Amnesia, and coming out on the bastion of East Coast hardcore that is Bridge Nine. It should sell a ton. It's got all the barked vocals, topical content and pick slides that you have come to expect from the gents. Five songs are just over a minute, with the last tune Bliss taking a bit of a Jawbreaker turn and weighing in at a seemingly epic three and a half minutes. Pick up Amnesia here from Bridge Nine, but be sure to clear the furniture and make sure the insurance is paid up before you listen in the home, as shit may very well get broken.

R

Live: Propagandhi with Paint It Black @ Highline Ballroom 3.12.9

(photo at left stolen from D.P. Rubino)

I hadn't been all that impressed by Propagandhi previously, but Eric had always been a big fan and his taste is usually pretty golden, so when I heard the boys were coming through town with Paint It Black, I made a point of getting tickets. It ended up being kind of a hot ticket, and Highline was pretty packed by the time I made my fashionably late entrance.

I crossed threshold and pushed my way in to find Yemin stalking the stage and attending to a small but exuberant copse of finger-pointers. Eric had staked out some good real estate stage right and we got a good earful of the time-honored Paint It Black Philly hardcore, including a handful of new tunes that will be recorded with Kurt Ballou at the end of this tour for their Bridge Nine debut. Save for the inevitable Paint It Black/H20 tour, it seems like the new label will be a win-win for all parties involved.

Propagandi were up in short order afterward. They are Canadian, and beer drinkers and, no doubt owing to their Fat tenure, attract many a drunken jackass. Two or three of the most flagrant offenders were bounced before Propagandhi even took the stage, but there were some closet heroes that showed their true colors in short order. The first song prompted a disjointed flurry of flailing limbs and high blood alcohol levels that was maintained for the duration. Despite the drum kit being a million miles back and the new guitarist being Danny Spitz short, the Propagandhi boys sure did bring it; Chris Hannah brought the noise in admirable fashion, tearing off ripping leads with wild abandon when he wasn't baiting NY hockey fans and dropping revolutionary politics. They played an hour or so, had Yemin come out for Fuck The Border and even played an encore. It's a show you should really check out. Propagandhi don't tour all that often, so you'd do well to work whatever hipster magic you can to check out the show at Music Hall Of Williamsburg tonight before they head back North.