The Soviettes - "Roller Girls" 7"

The Soviettes – “Roller Girls” 7”

Fat Wreck Chords, 2005

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013

Price: $1

Fast and blasting ladypunk from my beloved Twin Cities! Featuring actual roller girls on backing vocals! That’s really all I got for this one. It's fun stuff that's no doubt much more compelling at a live show than it is on record.

Gut Feeling: Lagwagon - Hang

Lagwagon – Hang

Fat Wreck Chords, 2014

 

Pop-punk (especially the brand championed by Fat Wreck Chords) gets a bad reputation. It’s generally perceived as dumb, low class, and something for teenagers. OK, the teenagers thing is true. I spent my mid-teens fawning over NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, and became a disciple of Fat Wreck. Fat Wreck is where I cut my teeth as a music appreciator, and as a result I’m still very much in love with pop-punk and always on the lookout for new bands who put their own unique spin on this ever looked down upon genre. But I also get excited when my old favorites put out new records because somehow, dudes like Joey Cape and Fat Mike never really change. Sure they get older, and maybe they mature (Cape definitely has, Fat Mike is still making his living peddling dick jokes and that’s totally fine!), but ultimately this stuff sounds the same.

There is something very comforting about the way Hang sounds like it could have been made in 2001. The production is cleaner, but it pulls elements and energy from early Lagwagon records like Duh and Hoss. I’m a firm believer that Joey Cape’s more subdued side project Bad Astronaut made him a great songwriter. Lagwagon’s songs were always really good before Bad Astronaut, but afterward they had a newfound depth. Lagwagon’s most recent albums Blaze and Resolve were surprisingly deft affairs, and Cape has continued to hone his craft with solo albums and a pair of solo albums with Tony Sly, whose tragic death in 2012 haunts Hang.

Though Hang isn’t entirely about Sly’s death, the short, heartbreaking acoustic opener “Burden of Proof” makes it seem plain as day and the blistering follow-up “Reign” expounds on the grief. “While you’re leaving/ The rest of us will be here grieving,” Cape sings in his trademark timbre that hasn’t changed a lick in 25 years. It’s one of the most emotionally resonant gut-punches of 2014. Not all of Hang is this grim, however.  (In case I totally misread everything, at the very least the emotionally walloping "One More Song" is definitely a tribute to Cape's late friend).There’s a fair bit of heavy melodic hardcore peppered in that’s a bit of a drag (the track “Drag” is actually a perfect example), but tracks like “Burning Out in Style” serve up the levity of clear-eyed pop without giving up any of this album’s hard earned gravitas.

"Burden of Proof"/"Reign"

NOFX - "Pods and Gods" 7"

NOFX – “Pods and Gods” 7”

Fat Wreck Chords, 2000

Acquired: Fat Wreck Chords Mail Order, 2003

Price: $4

“Climb aboard the spaceship of nostalgia and explore the Cosmos of your 16-year old self.” I often think of my musical tastes in a Darwinian sense. When I was a little kid, I just listened to whatever my parents listened to but somewhere around 12 or so I got REALLY into oldies. It made me a primitive music lover and laid the groundwork for my affinity for hooks and catchy tunes. From there I retreated into the pond scum of nu metal only to emerge a couple years later in the blissful world of pop punk. I was pulled from the goo by Blink-182 and went from there. And then onto hardcore, and then onward and outward from there.

Pop Punk is routinely dismissed by many capital S Serious music aficionados but I never really stopped loving it. There’s something so delicious about that brattiness and the fun that is undeniably enjoyable. NOFX had a huge effect on me when I was 16. Their 18-minute long screed against modern America, The Decline, helped to shape my nascent political views in the brand new post-911 world. That coupled with a healthy dose of Jello Biafra spoken word caused the American Flag patch sewn to my hoodie to flip itself upside down. It’s all very dramatic, and kind of lame, but that’s how it really happened. It’s funny when people act like they’re born with good taste or sound political values, and it’s comforting to know that everyone was a dumb little asshole at some point.

ANYWAY, NOFX are old dudes now and they’re still acting like teenagers, which is wonderful. “Pods and Gods” is one of NOFX’s myriad excellent B-sides. It’s a solid, goofy jam that packs in a sneaky critique of religion that made my recovering Catholic teenage self do a little dance. “It’s not that I don’t believe in Jesus Christ/ It’s just I really don’t care,” Fat Mike sings. Totally. I ID. B-side “What’s the Matter With Parents Today” was one of my favorite tracks from Pump Up the Valuum. It chronicles the perils of a young person with frustratingly hip parents. “It’s absurd, you’re singing every word/ You’re not supposed to like my band/ Things I like you don’t understand!” It’s goofball rock, but the tune is catchy and well-written enough to avoid joke rock territory. Are NOFX joke rock? Who knows! And frankly, who cares if the group’s promotion of social justice and left wing politics converts some young idiots trapped in the pond scum.

"Pods and Gods"

The Lawrence Arms - Fat Club 7"

The Lawrence Arms – Fat Club 7”

Fat Wreck Chords, 2001

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013

Price: $.50

“Porno and Snuff Films” was the lead single and lead off track from the Lawrence Arms third album, Apathy& Exhaustion. This was the first song of theirs I ever heard and it was the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship with one of Chicago’s best punk bands. This is the same as the Fat Club 7” listed on Discogs, but it is not pressed on transparent purple vinyl. Either way, it contains “Overheated,” one of my favorite Larry Arms b-sides. Only because it came on shuffle one day and I sat back, said “Oh shit” and thought about how the Larry Arms always have the best b-sides. It’s funny, because I started off as a total Brendan Kelly guy and evolved into a Chris McCaughan guy. I think it’s an id/superego thing. Brendan Kelly is all the raw, brutal, piss and shit elements where Chris McCaughan is the more sensitive, emotionally ravaged stuff. Together, their dynamic and the way their little venn diagrams overlap make the Lawrence Arms a band I consistently root for and patiently await each and every release. Good to know their new album, Metropole, is comin’ out on the ‘taph on January 28!

"Overheated" 

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lXmpQlgnBqc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Descendents - 'Merican EP

Descendents  - ‘Merican EP

Fat Wreck Chords, 2002

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013
Price: $.50

 

The Descendents are my favorite punk rock band. I don’t have to think about it, and I haven’t for ten years. Milo Goes to College is an unfuckwithable landmark in my musical history. Everything can be traced back to that album. It was poppy, it was clever, it had angst. The bass playing was technically proficient enough to seem crazy great but also fun enough that when I bought a bass guitar in high school I learned to play by printing out the tabs for all the songs on Milo Goes to College and jumping right in. I never really got the hang of the bass guitar, but I never stopped loving the Descendents. Their latest album—Cool to Be You, from which the first two songs on this EP are culled—came out the second semester of my senior year of high school just as I was branching out from punk after a deep incubation of a couple years. It was perfect timing because I revisited Milo Goes to College and all my favorite tracks from their discography. (Other than Milo Goes to College, I sort of played pick-and-choose from the rest of their albums and came up with about an albums worth of tiny masterpieces. “Get the Time,” “Silly Girl,” “Clean Sheets,” and “She Loves Me” pretty much cover the 35 years the band has been in off-and-on existence). Despite spreading six albums over 35 years the quality pretty much stays the same. There’s something ageless about these guys. Forever young, some shit like that. I also admired the fact that they were all just normal dudes and Milo really did go to college. The title track is probably the most political the Descendents ever got (the EP and album Cool to Be You dropped in early 2004, the year Bush was reelected) but it’s still good. Trademark style and all that. The first Descendents song I ever heard was “Wienerschnitzel,” which is about 16 seconds long and features the band placing an order at the titular restaurant at rapid-fire speed. These guys just sand about your usual shit and somehow managed to do it really well. They sang about fishing, biking, food, heartbreak, coffee, more heartbreak, and more coffee. They always sound like they really just don’t give a fuck but in that sweet way you want bands to not give a fuck. They’re not trying too hard because they don’t have to. And that’s what I always loved about them. And that’s why I love this EP. The other track on the A-Side—“Nothing With You”—is just a simple, totally fucking sweet love song (“I don’t wanna move/ I’ll just sit here in my living room/ See what’s on the tube/ While I’m hanging out with you”). “Here With Me” is more of a sad love song and “I Quit” is basically Milo’s reasons for quitting the band so frequently over the last three decades. The Descendents could put out an album next month and I feel like it would still be good, like all their albums. All and Enjoy are a little spotty, but All, Everything Sucks and Cool to Be You are solid and now that they’re reuniting again for festival shows, I’m holding out hope for another record because they very obviously know how to work their melodies and very obviously love playing together.

NOFX - The Decline

NOFX – The Decline
Fat Wreck Chords, 1999
Acquired: Fatwreck.com, New, 2003
Price: $8

If only NOFX knew they were being prescient. This was my soundtrack for the Bush Years. On top of that, it's the best thing NOFX has ever done. Yes, better than Punk in Drublic. It's the ultimate political punk song, if only for it's epic length and it's covering pretty much every issue you care about. Guns, religion, war, the prison system, drugs, television, greed, complacency, etc. It's summed up at the end by Fat Mike: “We know the truth but prefer lies.” And thus it's not the government but ourselves that are leading us into the Decline. Instead of revolt, we rely on the Soma-esque “pill” to kill the pain. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure this is the reason I am politically minded. Yes, I politically minded because of NOFX. No shame there, though, because this is an excellent piece of work. I got it when I was about 15. It was right after the towers fell and I was confused as hell. How was I to do anything BUT think America was great! We'd just been attacked! Then eventually I got really politically, slowly but surely over the next six months. This was at the center of it, along with a LOT of Jello Biafra and Henry Rollins spoken word and a LOT of Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and Anti-Flag. And not only is it lyrically spot on, but it's the best music NOFX have ever been responsible. Everyone seems to be on. The music tends to change from section to section and it keeps this whole song interesting for 18 minutes. El Hefe drops some trumpets in, the bass lines are “sick,” and the power chords are pretty damn powerful. And after all of this, you get the wonderful palate cleanser on the B-side, “Clams Have Feelings Too.” It's a really smart move, because it's NOFX telling you that they're still dumb-fucks, separating themselves from the Anti-Flag-esque political bands who always tended to take things too seriously.

This is kind of goofy, but I like that someone actually went to the effort to make this: