Iron Chic - Shitty Rambo EP

Iron Chic is another reshuffling of the Long Island punk rock deck, featuring ex-Latterman dude / engineer / cigarette aficionado Phil Douglas and Lubrano from Small Arms Dealer as well as three other whoa-ohing miscreants that like themselves some pop-punk mixed with Braid-y Midwestern 90s rock (who themselves were jocking Chapel Hill pretty hard).

The Iron Chic demo got a lot of love from JS-NYC to Bloomington. I could have sworn that Iron Chic went the way of the Potboiler and the Get Bent, but if they have songs this good I hope they stick around for a bit. All four songs are bangers, but Don't Tell Me Stupid, Don't Show Me Fuck You and Shit/Giggles occupy the number 1 & 2 slots for now, but I'm just into the double digits with playing Shitty Rambo so standings may very well change. My ranking aside, pick this EP up here immediately from Dead Broke Rekerds. Nerds may be excited to hear of limited vinyl options. Yippee.

xo

R

Rvivr - LIfe Moves EP

If you've been unlucky enough to talk about music with me in the last year or so, if we weren't talking about Austin Lucas, I was probably raving about Shorebirds. Man, am I a mark for It's Gonna Get Ugly. With all due respect to them, I never really fell for Latterman, but I'm damn well going to check out any band that's got anybody from Jawbreaker within a mile of their ranks. Shorebirds featured bass ridiculoso Chris Bauermeister, along with Matt Canino from the aforementioned Latterman and operated in the time-honored punk paradigm that is the power trio. When done right, there is nothing better. Believe me, Shorebirds handled themselves just fine, but as my god is a cruel god, the band broke up before they made it out East.

Bauermeister still plays with Canino in the new project called Mutoid Men, but they have yet to release anything. In the interim, there is Rvivr, which has Canino and his lady Erica, who is also his partner in Rumbletowne Records, in the fold. I'm not sure whether it's a trio, but it's pretty fucking good. I am pretty against the couples that push the 7Seconds credo too far and live and rock together (see: dreck like Mates Of State) but I'm waiving that for Life Moves. Four songs, all of which fucking rip, if I might get all William F. Buckley with my flowery prose. Think Bridge and Tunnel (who are great, too) times ten with a big Jawbreaker fixation. Erica's got a set of pipes on her, like Chris Wollard meets Tim Armstrong's ex and it suits Canino's rasp just fine. The opener Can't Stand It is probably my favorite of the four tracks on Life Moves, but it's one hell of a tight race, with Scrooged an almost imperceptible second. I can't recommend this enough. Pick it up immediately from Rumbletowne here.

R

Shorebirds - It's Gonna Get Ugly pt. II: the review

It's been deposed of late by The Hold Steady, but in past years the heights of my obsessions in the rock world have revolved around my dear departed Jawbreaker. I heard a lot of the first Jawbreaker record quasi-osmotically by living next door to (the only JS-NYC follower) David's then-girlfriend my freshman year of college and was re-introduced to Unfun (and the Whack and Blite EP) by whatever member of Stigmata sold the Shredder reissue to me by mistake instead of the first Jawbox record at Music Shack. How any ear-possessing humanoid could hear the opening Want and not fall in love with Jawbreaker or Chris Bauermeister's bass playing is beyond me.

My love for all the post-Jawbreaker projects has lead me down a lot of paths (Jets To Brazil, Horace Pinker, Whysall Lane) but the most satisfying of late has been Olympia, Washington's Shorebirds. They have split already, leaving a couple 7"s and this full-length It's Gonna Get Ugly. Christ, is this a good fucking record. This is Top 10 for 2008 for sure over at JS-NYC. The band featured Jawbreaker bassist Chris Bauermeister and was helmed by ex-Latterman guitarist Matt Canino, who also released it on his own Rumbletown label. He also appears to be a bike punk, which will never detract from a band in my eyes. I need to go back and check out the Latterman stuff, but between this record and the Iron Chic demo, I haven't had a chance to look back. If both Matt and Phil were bringing their A game like they seem to on these releases, I can see why kids were so bummed when Latterman split up.

So about It's Gonna Get Ugly. It's 12 songs in 27 minutes and all of it, if I may use technical jargon, fucking rips. Bauermeister is mixed way up front, barrelling through the tracks like a freight train. Canino's got a good Wollard meets Smalley voice that suits the gritty music nicely. Frankly, I found most of the Oly kids back in the day to be pretty fucking irritating, but if this is the kind of punk rock that's coming out of the deciduous rain forests these days, you can sign me up. I'd put them up there with Banner Pilot and the late Cardinal Sin.

From where I'm sitting, the best track (and, believe me, that is saying something) on It's Gonna Get Ugly is The Ballad of Marvin Heemeyer, a man who was probably on Andrew's radar from the get-go, but is new to me. Either way, props to the late Mr. Heemeyer and his family. That's a hell of a way to go out. It's a bummer that Heemeyer and Shorebirds are gone, both parties were formidable juggernauts. You can see footage of Heemeyer here. Check it out, then pick up the musical equivalent from the good folk of Rumbletowne here. Vinyl only, which is a silly is it is admirable. I can see going the Shellac route of releasing the vinyl before the cd, but this is a record that really needs to be heard, even if it is posthumously.

Canino has hit the ground running and already formed a new band called Reviver that I'm pretty eager to check out. Sadly, they appear to be so DIY as to not have a web presence, but if anyone tracks it down, dash off a missive, will ya?

R

If You Make It demos, part two: The Brass

The Brass are from Brooklyn. There's quite a little scene jumping off out there around between the various house and basement shows, Don Pedro's and the like. With the Astoria and Jersey pop-punk scenes imploding, it seems like a lot of bands are taking a different tact on the 90's Midwestern sound that's become so trendy as of late. While the pop-punkers opted for Screeching Weasel, bands like Meneguar, Get Bent and The Brass are taking more of a Boys Life or Braid tack. Works for me.

There are four songs in the demo, ranging from 'promising but falling a little bit short' to 'these guys could be a problem'. You can get the demo from the good folk of If You Make It here. Make a donation, cheap-ass. For the statisticians in our midst, you've got ex/current members of Latterman, Potboiler, On The Might Of Princes and Air Raid Barcelona in the band. The Brass are at Lost And Found in Brooklyn on 10/23 and seem well worth checking out. They also like taking shots at Rick Healey. Check out the web presence here.

Bridge And Tunnel - East/West

I love No Idea Records. They sign solid bands and seem to be straight up good people, plus The Fest is regularly becoming the Fall punk rock mixer for the in-crowd. I wish I was going this year. Speaking totally out of my ass, Bridge and Tunnel mark the first No Idea signing North of the Mason-Dixon line. They are from Long Island, co-ed, and feature an ex-Latterman dude, although it seems a pretty egaltarian franchise. Musically, there's a mid 90s Midwestern vibe, with clean guitars and slow builds to roaring crescendos. Think Crank-era Cursive (without the shouting), or maybe Vitreous Humor, with maybe some Braid for good measure. If you shy away from such things, be forewarned that there are some populist, or at least humanist, politics here. Whether it be the Fugazi meets The Alarm message of Wartime Souvenirs or the somewhat heavy-handed Down For My People Like Joe Carroll, Bridge And Tunnel seem to have their hearts and minds in the right place. Even if you eschew such overtly political fare, when Bridge And Tunnel get all off-time and do the dual vocal thing, you will throw all caution to the wind and be shouting along just like everyone else.

They also seem to have females (and perhaps males) in the band who are bike people. This makes it hard for a band not to be awesome, although I have seen it done. It would appear that Rachel is a wrench and Tia has her own messenger bag company called Vaya Bags. Check out the appropriate links for their side gigs and pick up a copy of East/West here. They are also on tour currently , so look out for them. They play a homecoming date November 8th at ABC. Go see them.