J Mascis – Several Shades of Why 12″
J is my favorite guitarist. I’ve said it a million times on the FSS and I’ll keep sayin it. We went to see him at Mercury Lounge a couple weeks back and at one point P asked me if he was playing a 12 string guitar as J was sitting and P is short. When I told him it was only six he deduced J had extra fingers. Seriously, at one point he was simultaneously playing lead and rhythm on the same guitar. Was insane. So it’s no surprise I dig his new album. Let me for a minute tho say something about the vinyl. For one it’s clear purple with this colored haze and looks rad as fuk. But more importantly it sounds amazing. I spent the first week of owning this album listening to the mp3s on my phone. When I finally sat down with the wax it wasn’t even like I was listening to the same album. Vinyl doesn’t always sound better but when it does Christ it really does.

OFF! – Compared to What 7″
Another band I recently took in. This time at Santos Party House. OFF! Is the band you’ve been needing in your miserable life and just didn’t know it. Two more blasts about ruts and familial dischord in old school 1-2 fuk you fashion. This one is out now on Southern Lord in 2 versions. Retail and tour edition. I got the tour edition when I saw em. Keith even signed it for me at the merch table. Heavy gauge clear blue vinyl. Sounds like a bomb.

OFF! – Live at Generation Records 7″
I feel like I was just talkin bout these guys. Anyway, if you’re not from the NY/NJ area Generation is a killer record shop down by Washington Sq Park that the FSS has been going to for close to 20 years. This 7″ was OFFs entry into this years Record Store Day but they had em at their show too. Four tracks that while awesome don’t do justice to their live show. Ya had ta be there dude.

Fucked Up – The Other Shoe / A Little Death (digital singles)
I played The Other Shoe in my car for P a couple weeks ago and he said Fucked Up are what U2 would have sounded like if they came up in Hardcore and listening to Black Flag. And as much as I fucking despise Bono n crew, he had a point. This song and their recently released second single A Little Death are the densest hardcore I’ve heard maybe ever. There’s just so much going on in these tracks musically it’s hard to put it into words. Head to the matablog and download em for free to see what I mean. I defy you to not jump outta yer skin when Pink Eyes comes in with a “rat-tat-tat”. June can’t come any sooner.

Black Flag – Licorice Pizza 7″ (reissue)
I picked this up a couple weeks back. As the story goes, Henry joins the band and around this time as a gift to fans they put this 7″ out with the first two Henry sung tunes and give em away at a record shop called Licorice Pizza. The shop ends up throwing what they can’t give away in a dumpster and no one really knows how many made their way into captivity. Henry sounds great on Thirsty and Miserable and Life of Pain. Better than “Damaged” in it’s rawness plus they throw in Dez sung Spray Paint for good measure on the reissue. If you ever listened to or read “Get in the Van” you know how nuts it was for ol Hank to have left everything in DC to jump with Flag. You’ll also know just how poor and day to day these guys were living at the time. Just look at em on the cover of this one. So fucking intense. Yeah I dig this one.

Dinosaur Jr 2011 Bug Tour

Aight FSS’ers, if you didn’t know there was a minor theme running in my reviews this week it’s these shows that Dinosaur Jr are doing. When I first heard about this show I actually wondered if maybe it was my idea that someone stole from me in a dream in some sort of twisted sci-fi punk rawk alternate reality. Or maybe my music choices lately somehow bore influence on the cosmos. I dunno. But here we are kids. Dinosaur Jr playing with OFF! and Fucked Up with Henry Rollins doing some oddball band interview at each stop. I can’t not go. And you, yah you, reading this right now… You’re gonna go too and buy me beer and merch. I’m willing that too.

But anyway, because “The Fucking Man” is once again being a douche and downpressing us, I gave a moments thought to bike riding when I was supposed to be doing my job.

The thing of it is: You a grown-up now, cuz. Think for a minute, how much of your day is yours? I’m not talking about a Nescafe-horseshit-5-minute-stare-at-the-wall. I mean time that you can do what you want. Yer a grown up and time is precious now. It beez like that man, time to make the donuts ALL the time.

I ride a bike because I still can, still need to. I ride a bike ’cause I have no choice. I ride a bike ’cause flipping people off, up close and personal-like still makes me laugh. I ride a bike ’cause I’m so broke I rattle. I ride a bike with headphones on and no helmet on purpose ’cause I’m a jerk off. I ride a bike through stop signs, past red lights, against traffic in front of the police ’cause I’m still mentally 13 years old. I ride a bike ’cause about a half hour twice a day of Punk Rawk is all I can pencil in. I ride a bike ’cause I can’t be sure how much time I got left. And neither can you.

T’s Take: One of the best things about riding a bike is the flipping out. If you ride around the city you will flip on pedestrians, cabs, buses, cars with Pennslyvania plates, dogs, cops, pigeons, babies and the occasional recreational hovercraft. It’s your right. You’re on a bike dammit. Not a fucking Humvee. You’re single handedly saving the environment, putting an end to wars for oil, fighting obesity, and most importantly being rad. So flip ye bikers. Flip hard. Mount up and flip with the FSS now.

Spin recently did an article on “bike punk”. Maybe it was Rolling Stone… It dont matter though, I don’t believe such a genre exists. But I do believe bikes are punk. Don’t believe me? Ask Paint It Black or the Bouncing Souls. Riding a bike can be like navigating a pit. Kinda dangerous. Kinda stupid. Totally fun. And like going to shows the amount of time you have to be stupid and have fun gets shorter and shorter the older you get. So I repeat. I emplore. mount up FSSers. Take the streets back. 4 tha punx.

Onkyo Equipment Is Good (or The FSS Save Japan)
When I was growing up in the 80′s I discussed stereo with my Dad and I learned from him a couple things:
1. Any good song sounds 10 times better after 5 beers.
2. Japanese stereo equipment sucks.
Yah, I’m sorry if that sounds bad, but there it is. So for Christmas one year I asked for a tape deck and I received a huge Onkyo TA-2000. “ What the fuck is this Jap nonsense?” I asked. Not out loud though, cuz I wasn’t stupid. But, as I hooked it up and popped in, I don’t remember, maybe whatever the current Ratt album was at the time, it quickly became obvious that Onkyo stuff most definitely did not suck, even in an era when the market was flooded with gaudy, amp overestimating, pieces of shit from both sides of the Pacific. Onkyo made good, affordable stereo then and they still do. Hit them up. Also, give money. Japans a fuckin’ mess. – P-

Thin Lizzy – Every Damn Thing They’ve Done
So last month Gary Moore went to his untimely and ugly, ugly grave. And it was just Saint Paddy’s. So here’s a word or two about Thin Lizzy. They were simply the very best of a very bad genre. They made Kiss look like a Black Metal Menudo. Which, now that I think about it, they might actually have been. They made dueling lead guitars almost okay. Almost. They wrote songs about drinking and fighting and being back in town and jail breakin’ and kickin’ dames. And I’m not a fan of misogyny. It just makes for good Rock and Roll. So hopefully you enjoyed the day and put some Thin Lizzy on the jukebox. Nobody saw that coming, you fucking obvious bastard. -P-

The Hookers – s/t EP
A little while back. I wrote about this band from Kentucky called Hookers. Just Hookers They were a retarded, retarded band. I liked them a lot. But I’m not talkin bout them right now. The Hookers , emphasis on the THE, were basically Murder City Devils minus a couple people. They put out one album a little back on Cold Crush Records. Sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. It rocks so bad it should be in detention. -P-

Lee Scratch Perry – Every Damn Crazy Thing He Done Did
Wanna hear a story? So Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, he invites Lee Perry over to his palatial Jamaican estate to talk about buying the rights to Scratch’s discography. So Blackwell leaves Scratch alone in the living room for a minute, comes back to see little smiling Lee Perry sitting on the leather couch and a steaming, smiling pile of Lee Perry shit in Blackwell’s cut-crystal bowl on the coffee table. Lee Perry once wrote a letter to the government to get Paul McCartney loose of a drug beef. Lee Perry shacked up with a Swedish royal for a period of time. Lee Perry invented Hip Hop in one afternoon on a Wednesday. Lee Perry is like 5 foot nothing, very trim and yet weighs 6,00 pounds. Lee Perry is not sure what year he was born in, but he was present at your conception. Lee Perry invited Andrew W.K. to co-produce his album. Lee Perry lives in Switzerland and freaks all the Swiss out. Lee Perry built a studio with his own hands. Then he burnt it the fuck down. Cuz Fuck You, that’s why. -P-

Yo La Tengo – Prisoners of Love
I went to a Mexican restaurant a few years back and they were playing Yo La Tengo on their PA. Either the name confused ‘em or Mexicans are big indie rock fans. If like me yer also a confused Mexican, Yo La Tengo are a 3 piece Jewish rock band from Hoboken NJ. Despite their eternal hipster cred they’re easily the best thing about Hoboken next to Maxwells and a certain Op Ivy song. If yer not sure, start with the 2 disc “Prisoners of Love” (some versions even come with a third disc called “A Smattering of Outtakes and Rareities”), but I garuntee you’ll end up buying ‘em all soon there after. -T-

X-ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents
I read recently that Poly Styrene has cancer. A bummer I know. I listened to this the other day in the car and it only made me bummed me out more. Everyone knows or should know punk staple Oh Bondage, Up Yours (shit the afore mentioned Yo La Tengo even covered it) but this album is chock full of hits from Identity to The Day The World Turned Day-Glo to I Live Off You. Get better soon Poly. -T-

Tomahawk – s/t
With members of Faith No More, Helmet and Jesus Lizard innit this can’t not be good. When you listen to as much music as I do it’s hard to say this person is my favorite guitarist (cough J Mascis) or that person is my favorite bassist (cough Mike Watt) or so forth but I can say with great certainty that Mike cough Patton is my favorite singer. Not all his side projects are winners but when they’re good they’re unbelievable. Check this one or the followup “Mit Gas”. You should probably avoid their American Indian inspired album “Anonymous” like a smallpox covered blanket tho. What? Too soon? -T-

Born Against – The Rebel Sound of Shit And Failure
I know P covered this one before but I had it on my phones the other day and felt compelled to echo the sentiment that this may be the best hardcore album ever made. Just brutal shit that will make you lose yours. Also one of the best album names of all time.  Also one of the best album intros of all time (Hello, shit? We’re Born Against so suck my fuckin lizard.”).This band got a bad rap for awhile cause they were funded by the buttload of money one of Sam McPheeters’ relatives left him after kicking off. I gotta say tho that there wouldn’t have been a more righteous way to blow the money. Few other bands charge me up like this one.  Few other bands hate as much shit as I do.  Face the flag son. -T-

Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
Since 1993 this has been and will always be my favorite album of all time. I’m still figuring out how to tattoo the lyrics of My Curse somewhere on my body. The fine folks at High Speed Soul just reissued it on 180 gram vinyl. A product of the 90s I like to think this one stands the test of time. If you disagree I don’t know that we can get down.  If you’re not sure buy the vinyl now and see what I’m talkin’ bout.  -T-

Inspector 7 – Live at Court Tavern, Hub City, 2/19/11
My lovely wife found out about this show the day of. We’re about 20 minutes from New Brunswick so it was an easy decision to go. Plus Inspector 7 only plays a show once every 5 years or so these days. There was a time tho when you could have seen them weekly round these here parts. They teased a new album in the works this last time. Kids are shaving their heads in anticipation already. -T-

D.I. – Richard Hung Himself (song)
I don’t own anything by this band but I always dug the song Richard Hung Himself and the bands performance of it in the movie “Suburbia”. My friend pointed out to me the other day that the singer was just arrested for doing drugs in front of his kid… cue the  I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU DAD!!!!!! psa. -T-

Punk Rock Item Of The Week That Isn’t Necessarily Punk Rock – Back To School
Yeah I know this movie has more to do with 80s New Wave than Punk… Yeah I know Oingo Boingo is not punk… yeah I know going to College or owning your own Tall and Fat Stores isn’t really punk either… but Rodney Dangerfield is a punk and I’ll go to the mat on that one. He dedicates buildings to himself, calls President Truman a pussy, makes really large meatball sammiches, and tells Kurt Vonnegut to fuck himself. I watch this one every time its on. -T-

Husked Du / Green Day – Record Store Day 2011 Split 7″ (FSS exclusive advance review)
Yeah I’m not fucking buying this. How’s that for your exclusive advance review? Fuck you Billie Joe. There’s a reason your initials are b.j., and I wont let you and your shitty band ruin Husker Du for me. Not now. Not ever. So let’s recap… fuck you again Green Day, enjoy your shitty Mellissa Etherage Broadway bullshit and Pepsi sponsored arena tours. I’ll be just fine sitting here now listening to “Candy Apple Grey” and “New Day Rising” back to back. -T-

Jawbreaker – Dear You
I just re-bought this on double 12″ vinyl. It’s really hard to say which Jawbreaker LP is my favorite. If you put a gun to my head though I might argue for this one. It’s a little more polished than the others, but lyrically there’s tracks on here that slay me. The 12″ reissue comes with a bunch of bonus tracks they did with J Robbins. A must own. Oh yeah did I mention Christopher Walken is on this one? He is so fuck you. -T-

Faith No More – The Real Thing
“Angel Dust” is their best album. It’s in my top ten at least. So why am I talkin bout this one instead? Cause I listened to it over the weekend and jammed the shit out to it. Billy Gould’s bass sounds so fucking killer on all these tracks. And if I didn’t already mention it (I did) Patton can sing like no other. Yeah Epic may have been an overplayed hit and yeah some of the other tracks surely sound like a product of the time but Surprise! You’re Dead makes me flip hard. Ah-hahahahahahaha IT NEVER ENDS!!!! -T-

The World Inferno Friendship Society – The Anarchy and The Ecstasy
I dig this one. The song Sick of People Being Sick of My Shit speaks to my soul. Look this one isn’t as dense as their last heavy concept work about Fritz Lang or whatever the fuck it was about but sometimes I don’t want to think too hard when listening to music I just wanna enjoy it. And I really enjoy this one. Catchy as fuck. Chunksaah mail-order wax is gorgeous and yes on the download code. -T-

Heidecker and Wood – Starting From Nowhere
If you read us often you know were big Tim and Eric fans here at FSS HQ. This album may be the oddest thing Tim Heidecker has ever done and that’s saying a lot. This is straight up crazy. Paired with Davin Wood (the dude responsible for Awesome Shows awesome music) the pair do kind of a Seals & Crofts / Hall & Oates type thing. Cept they go so hard and so straight faced if you didn’t know any better you’d think they were serious. They’re not. If you watch even 5 minutes of Tim and Eric you’ll know they’re obsessed with dads so it’s no surprise there’s a song about dads on here. There’s also songs about desert islands, weddings, and cross country skiing. And thankfully the bonus track Christmas Suite will round out uncle T’s 2011 Xmas mix nicely. -T-

Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Oh Mike Ness. Self professed ex-convict. Friend to tattoos. Phenomenal guitarist. Eye liner err…supporter. Antiquing enthusiast . When will you stop writing such dumb lyrics? The gospel singer backups only make this album worse. Mobsters? The dust bowl? The worst album cover art ever? Christ. Me and P’s brother E spent the greater part of a morning commute together LOLing hard at this one and trying to come up with other clichéd sayings and nursery rhymes to sing to the music. Seriously picture Ness earnestly singing “you step on a crack, you’ll break you’re mothers back” and try not to laugh (not an actual lyric but might as well have been). And yet still I plan on seeing Social Distortion the next time they come round. I’m such a sucker for nostalgia sometimes. -T-

Reagan Youth – Live and Rare
Reagan Youth are one of my favorite Hardcore bands of all time and also one of my favorite New York bands of all time. You can download this one on the innertubes gratis if you look hard enough (wink). The live version of New Aryans on it is fucking amazing. Versions of USA, Go Nowhere, Reagan Youth, and that song from Airheads are all also amazing… I watched a documentary about Ronnie Reagan on HBO recently that almost painted him in a good light. This band would probably disagree. -T-

E Frankenstein n me got there early enough that we were able to get a primo balcony spot. This almost never happens. We hit up the Half King bar first and saw Yo La Tengo getting dinner (I honestly think I willed it by writing about them so much this week). Back to the show tho…

Titus Andronicus opened and fucking slayed. They’re from NJ tho. That’s how we do. At one point singer Patrick Stickles talked about how every time he hears The Pogues play Thousands Are Sailing he can’t help but marvel at the guts it must’ve taken for our ancestors to come over here with nothing but hope. I thought about that too when they played the song later that night.

Pretty sure the accordian player died that night.

Listen Shane looks like shit. Utter utter shit. But he still gets the job done even if he’s on autopilot. I will say this tho he seemed much more lucid than the time i saw him with his other band The Popes. The rest of The Pogues were on point as hell. I haven’t seen a group that tight since I last saw The Bad Seeds and that’s saying a lot.

So in summation, the next time you do something anything with your life or fail to do something think of your ancestors coming over on big scary boats with literally nothing but a want for their families to have a better life. Think of that and think of The Pogues doing Thousands Are Sailing and don’t half step. Irish or not were all immigrants on some level in America and we should try every day to make good on our great grandparents dreams. Remember this too when you hear about people fighting to close borders in this country. Happy St. Pats (albeit a lil late).

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes – Go Down Under 7″

How you do an EP of Australian bands and leave out Men at Work, AC/DC,  Midnight Oil, Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue is beyond me. But I still dig these tracks by INXS , Olivia Newton-John and Air Supply. The gatefold covered double 7″ completes the package. No download code tho? For shame Fat Mike. For shame.

Onion AV Club 2010 Undercover Series

This isn’t an album per se but you can find these tracks on the torrents or just watch the videos themselves at the Onion AV Club. I made a playlist with Ted Leo, Justin Townes Earl, Superchunk, Alkaline Trio, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Wedding Present, and Maritime. I listen to it all the time. Looking forward to the next round this summer.

Mike Watt – Ball Hog or Tugboat

You can stream his new album “Hyphenated Man” on Spinner for free now but goddamnit this is the one you must own. Negative points for Eddie Vedder’s appearance on it. Positive points for every other thing about it, like songs about keeping Watts dads tradition of pissing in bottles while driving ones car alive. Hey Mike my old man did that too!

Bouncing Souls / Hot Water Music-  Split 7″

Each one perfectly covers the others anthem. Wayfarer and True Believers respectfully. The foil embossed cover looks sweet as hell and they’re making D Frankenstein happy by re-releasing it shortly as a cassette. No download code with the vinyl but I ain’t mad at cha.  Cassettes are sold out but I think they repressed the wax recently.

The Dead Milkmen – every damn thing they ever did

I can’t stop listening to Philly’s best punk band over these last couple weeks. If all you know is Punk Rock Girl you’re missing out. Start with “Chaos Rules Live” or “Now We Are 20″ or “Death Rides a Pale Cow” for a smattering of their work,  or start fuckin anywhere really. These guys call out for the death of Jerry Lewis. This may be the most punk song I’ve ever heard.  That’s Punk Rock with a capital PR. And they just recorded a new album. Dean Clean, Jack Talcum, Rodney Anonymous and Dave Blood I love you.

Swingin’ Utters – Daytrotter Session

Do you like something for nothing? Well then head on over to daytrotter.com and download this session for funkin freez. Two new tracks that absolutely rip and two oldies about learning lessons and spitting in the wind. While you’re there Social Distortion and Screaming Females recently did sessions too. Yeah free stuff!

The White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights

I was home waiting for Comcast to come and fix my phone recently and I watched this documentary about The White Stipes touring odd out of the way sections of Canadia. I was never huge into this band but I was wrong I guess. Picked up the soundtrack on double 12″ last week. It’s ridiculous how amazing they sound live. Oh yah the cable guy told me he thinks Meg is hawt. He’s not wrong either.

Twilight Singers – Dynamite Steps

Dulli and Sub Pop: two great tastes that go great together. Double white 12″ with download code plus songs about gunshots, the devil, and womenz? Also great. And yes I realize two of those things are kinda the same.

Citizen Fish – Goods

The best and only anarcho-peace ska band of all time (I think). 12″ wax out on Alternative Tentacles now, and yes there’s a download code (on a really long thin strip of paper). I really dig this one. Probably my favorite since “Thirst”. On a related note Subhumans, MDC, and The Scandals in Asbury next month.

Rival Schools – Pedals

Stream it now on Spinner for free. Ignore my “Shot After Shot EP” review where I’m hesitant about this LP being good… I was dead wrong.  This album is fantastic. Listened to it at least 100x this week. Get the 180gram vinyl special edition from Photo Finish Records. It comes with a fuckin’ hooded sweat jacket.

Radiohead – The King of Limbs

I’m gonna go out on a limb here (ha see what I did?) and say that I’m heavy into this one. It’s a grower but when it clicks it clicks. If you’re looking for crazy Jonny Greenwood guitars you won’t find them here but it doesn’t matter. There’s something simple yet complicated, claustrophobic yet wide open about this one that blows my mind. Ummm don’t tell them I said this but download it on the interwebs on the hush hush for now. The vinyl doesn’t come out till the summer and paying for mp3z is the real crime.

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

I love PJ. My first real crush. She can do no wrong. Her new LP has songs of war, murder, and all things historically wrong with England. And yet there’s this undercurrent of loving your homeland despite all it’s imperfections. I get that. I get you too Polly. Call me.

Crazy and the Brains – Untitled EP

Our good friends Crazy and the Brains emailed us two demos from their upcoming EP. They just finished their first tour and added a bassist and drummer into the mix. But I digress. Do you like Lindsay Lohan? I  sure as shit do! The boys wrote a song about it. They also reworked their ode to chillin’ with Bill Murray on your birthday.  Keep your eye out for this one and more by liking them on facebook.

Negative Approach – s/t 7″

Jesus fucking Christ this is the 7″ to end all 7″s. Reissued on Touch and Go. Thanx Tesco! If you’re a punk and don’t own this you need to take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror. And If you come over Uncle T’s and get your grubby little finger prints on his copy he’ll death punch ya.

MDC – every damn thing they ever did

When you name your band “Millions of Dead Cops” you’re letting the world know you are not fucking around in the slightest. When you’re also fronted by a cross dressing homosexual, call John Wayne a nazi (years before PE mind you) AND you’re from Texas on top if it well you just won my heart. Go see these guys with Subhumans and our friends The Scandals at Asbury Lanes (I realize I already mentioned this but I’m hoping you’ll go and buy me and P beers. They got Dogfish 60 min at the lanes. Ya dig?).

Amateur Party – Truncheons In The Manor

Another Philly band I adore. Clear vinyl with download code emailed to you if you order direct from the label (they emailed me mine about two months before the record even came out… awesome). They also sent me a free 7″. Ha-Whut!?!Again awesome! Check this one out fo realz. The band added some female vox into the mix this time round and it suits their jangly power punk just fine.

Get Up Kids – There Are Rules

Yes their are rules.  And one of them should be that if you get your band back together you should put out some new material rather than cash in on the old hits.  And look, I’m not gonna front either. I dig the guk. This LP is good. Tho, a couple songs like Shatter Your Lungs suck so hard as to anger me. And the band photo shows they haven’t aged well. But. But. There are enough good things on this album to outweigh the bad. Check the 180gm vinyl witcha download code inside.

The Freeze – Token Bones (or anything by them really)

Pronounced Hahhd-core.  New England’s The Freeze are one of those old punk bands that everyone should know about but don’t. And that’s why I’m tellin’ y’all right now. They’re the East Coast’s answer to T.S.O.L. minus the corpse fucking. I picked up a nice reissue of “Rabid Reaction” last week on half red/green clear wax. Me n P love this band you should too.  Next time you hear “broken bones!” you won’t just think of Rancid.

Belle and Sebastian – Suicide Girls (Bonus Track to Write About Love)

I’m not buying the new LP as I’m not a huge fan, but I did download the bonus track about dating, and photographing suicide girls. Who would’ve thought this band would write a better ode to suicide girls than fucking Cocksparrer? Me. That’s who.

Promise Ring – Very Emergency

We had a couple warmish days on the East Coast this past week.  That’s like 40-50 degrees for you West Coast fuckers. The snow is all but melted and my bike and me went about 40 miles this week so far. That means it’s time to break out my favorite spring/summer album. I defy you to listen to this and not feel good about things.

Punk Rock Item of the Week (That Isn’t Necessarily Punk Rock):  Eagleheart on Adult Swim

Chris Elliot riding a jet pack dressed like Walker Texas Ranger going to fight crime in a blimp over the city is the most punk thing I witnessed all week.  Cabin boy grew up and is ready to kick the asses of creepy pervs and death punch old women.  Punk. Rock.  The end.

Buying a new turntable or a first turntable can be a daunting task.  You can literally run yourself ragged on the interwebs reading reviews and user comments.  You will read a bunch of pompous douches waxing philosophical about things like timber and distortion.  No matter what you choose to get there will be a bunch of snobby audiophiles out there saying it’s a piece of shit.  I’m serious.  Look up any piece of stereo equipment for as little as a couple hundred dollars through to equipment in the range of a few thousand and there will be boring dicks with large vernaculars telling you why they feel the sound is inferior to something else that another snob also incidentally finds inferior.  Rarely do these idiots agree.  What they agree on mostly though is that you need to spend large sums of money to get the sound you are looking for.  Really I’d love to find out what some of these people do for a living that they can afford all this equipment.  Part of the reason I am writing this right now is to combat these audiophiles, so the next time someone like myself looks up reviews on the Debut III they don’t have to wade through a ton of bullshit for a simple opinion.

The Pro Ject Debut III is by no means cheap. Yet Stereophile magazine considers it an entry level budget piece of equipment. Their words not mine. They suggest you get this record player if you are a young kid looking to get into stereo culture. Again their words. Really. I don’t agree with any of this nonsense. Almost 4 bills is not budget but it is money well spent, and compared to what’s out their it’s worth saving up for. When I was getting into stereos I had to get whatever old ass record players my family had lying around their basements for free. As soon as I got my first job the first thing I saved up for was an amp and turntable.  There’s something to be said about the value of earning something. Even at my age now I had a save a little to be able to buy this turntable.  But it was worth it, as I told Brother P last week it’s the single nicest thing I own right now. Maybe ever.

Looks aren’t everything, but for a moment let’s pretend they are. The Debut III is sexy. Damn damn sexy.  Simple. Elegant.  All you need.  It comes in a variety of colors to suit your style.  Apparently Untle T’s style is blue.  Setup was a breeze.  Half hour to an hour including un-boxing. Balancing the tonearm was the most tedious part.  Also the anti-skating weight was extremely delicate and I was a little worried I’d fat finger it and somehow mess up the fishing line it came attached to.  The care you have to take when setting this table up is a reminder of how intricate and amazing turntables are.

The only minor gripe I have is the way you change speeds. You have to lift the platter up and off the base and gingerly move the belt from one groove to another. It’s not hard but if you will be listening to a smattering of 33 1/3s and 45s in a sitting it might get annoying to have to constantly do this. You can solve this problem as well as improving the overall speed stability by buying the Speedbox II (also made by Pro Ject). It’s a little box the plugs into the back of the player and switches the speed electronically with the push of a button. This will run you a little over a hundo alone ($159) though so you might just want to save it for a later upgrade.  You can also upgrade to get this thing to play at 78RPMs but I’m not gonna get into how to do that as i’m pretty sure it’s irrelevant to most of our readers.  It is to me anyway.

Another upgrade Pro Ject offers is an acrylic platter. Again this is over a hundred ($129) and not immediately necessary but something you might want to consider as a later upgrade to an already solid piece of equipment. I’ve read on a bunch of sites that the acrylic platter improves the sound noticeably and cuts down on static. I can not personally attest to this as I didn’t compare the two but for the cost it surely should anyway.

Will a more expensive record player sound better? Probably. Is this the best sounding record player I’ve ever owned? Definitely. Any better is overkill and you’d need to be a snob to notice anyway. The FSS are not snobs. Assholes maybe.

I’ve listened to a shitload of records on this thing over the past couple weeks. I am continuously blown away. Over the years I’ve ended up with a few records that skip on me so much so that I never play them. They’re not scratched either, so I don’t know what gives… like my copy of Bad Religion’s “Stranger Than Fiction”. For the sake of science I threw it on the Pro Ject the other day and not only did it not skip once it sounded fucking amazing. I must’ve listened to this album a thousand times over the years and this felt like I was listening to it for the first time. Also surprisingly my 2x LP copy of  The Descendents’ “Somery” sounded equally amazing. If I haven’t mentioned this before Bikeage may be my all time favorite punk song.  Top 3 at least.  No this will not make all your records sound great. Shitty recordings with poor production will still sound as shitty. I played a couple Murder City Devils 7″s where you could tell they were recorded on the cheap. Not complaining just trying to let you know that 400 bux won’t create quality production that didn’t already exist. Again though if you are a loyal FSSer and a loyal punk rawka this shouldn’t matter much or come as a surprise. Bands like The Mummies are supposed to sound like shit. It’s their charm. But take for example any of the 180gram stuff Sub Pop has reissued of late and throw that on and you’ll see that the ones that are built to last will really shine.

The Pro Ject is outfitted with an Ortofon om 5e cartridge. The fine folks at Needle Doctor told me it was a good cartridge and that there was no need to immediately upgrade. But again as with the Speed Box II and acrylic platter it’s nice to know you have the option of adding to your investment over the years without having to buy a whole new record player altogether.

Last night as I sat at home paying my utilities bills (I told you suckas we got bills) I threw in the 180gram  reissue of “We Have Come For Your Children” by The Dead Boys and Stiv sounded alive once more.

I should probably mention that I have this running through a Marantz PM5004 Integrated amp with a pair of Polk TSI500 speakers.  Both of which are also considered “budget” and “entry level”.

I cannot say enough good things about this player. Ignore the Stereophile nonsense about it being an entry level player. That’s consumerist propaganda made to trick people into thinking they need to spend more money on something better. Remember too that these Stereophile folks listen to pure garbage. Read any of their benchmark tests where they mention the music they utilize and you will be astounded that all that money is being put into horrible taste otherwise.  They’re more concerned with the quality of a recording than with whether or not they actually even like the music. The FSS is all about the music. We jam econo.

Lead singer/guitarist Marissa Paternoster is a revelation. A tiny tiny revelation. All that rock and roll crammed into such a small frame…unbelievable. Her opening riff on Boss is quickly becoming one of my favorite guitar parts of all time. Watch the video below to see what I mean. And that voice…that killer killer voice. And that’s not to diminish bassist Jarrett Dougherty and drummer King Mike’s role in this power trio either. Both these guys are ridiculously talented and filled with the rawk as well. Although I suspect maybe one of them is a post-op transsexual or the bands moniker makes no sense. Speaking of which there’s not much screaming on this album either. On some of their older stuff Marissa would break into a hardcore shriek from time to time. On “Castle Talk” not so much but it doesn’t matter. The rest of the music is forceful enough to make up for it.

Early in Hardcoredom bands avoided things like guitar solos like the plague.  Too showy.  Too arena-minded.  Too old gaurd.  Too your parents music.  Then as bands started to learn to play their instruments and a new crop of “post-hardcore” kids took the stage people started to lighten up a little.  These days music is much more open, especially in the punk scene.  Are there still snotty opinionated assholes espousing what you can and can’t do? Sure.  But fuck those guys.  If everyone thought like that bands like Screaming Females wouldn’t be around and I’d be out attacking transit system presidents.

I’m not exactly even sure how to describe this bands sound if you are unfamiliar with them. Punky indie rock… with alot of 90s vibes going on. Dinosaur jr. Pavement. Sleater Kinney. Sonic Youth (when they were young). But I don’t want to pigeon hole this band with “sounds like this or that”, Screaming Females easily stand on their own six feet as something wholly original. The vinyl sounds fantastic and comes with the ever crucial download code (mine didn’t work but a quick email to Don Giovanni Records and they immediately sorted me out and sent another that did).

I cant say enough good things about this band or this record.  Maybe I’ll switch lines and head down to New Brunswick and thank them myself.

You’re the pollution.

We’re the solution.

P’s Take: I think it’s a tolerance thing. If you were born in the 40’s or before, you grew up terrified of this new death called nuclear destruction. You expected it and hid under desks. If you were born in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, you didn’t give a shit. I don’t know anybody in my generation that gave a flying fuck if the Russians let the missiles go; we all knew it was a possibility. I know quite a few people who hoped it would happen, wanted to watch as the mushroom cloud advanced on their hometown. I think we’re iller than our parents, way iller than our grandparents.

I think it’s also a quality thing. You know what book is read by a lot of assholes? “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. Yah. But the guy had a point. Some things are imbued with quality for reasons you can’t actually get at exactly. Some things are good, some things are just awesome. Just Cuz.

What am I getting at? I been listening the compilation of OFF!’s seven inches. It is insane. It is Black Flag-ish, let’s not fuck around. Even the name is kinda like Flag’s, isn’t OFF! another bug poison? I think it is. But it is so fucking on point. This is music for the assholes of our generation and the generation before. Songs about bad thoughts and panic attacks and mental illness and general malaise. Malaise. Tee hee. This noise is a symptom of the gulf that exists between our generation and the ones that came before. Probably the ones to come after too.

Raymond Pettibon did the cover art and insert. The band is made up of Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides) and Mario Rubalcaba (RFTC). Supergroup you could say, if you were an asshole. Really, it is fucking intense. Pick it up. Listen to the sounds of a generation, suckas.

T’s Take: Holy holy fuck. This one came under the wire at the end of 2010 and easily ended up being the best release of the year. I have no idea how old Keith Morris is at this point but fuck me he sounds exactly as good as he did on the Nervous Breakdown EP some 32 years ago. This is music to break things to. Walls. Glass. Bones. Etc.

And it’s the complete goddamn package too. Vice issued this on four 7″s in a sturdy ass cardboard case. Each single has its own piece of new Raymond Pettibon artwork. If yer not sure who he is look at almost any Black Flag cover, flyer, or shirt. And like Morris, Pettibon too is as relevant as ever. Vice also threw in the ever important download code. If vinyl isn’t your thing you can try getting one of the 400 cassettes Burger Records put out. Or just download it on the iTunes if yer fucking lame. Sorry fuckers no CDs.

I’m listening to off now as I take the train in to work. I seriously want to run around hockey punching strangers when I hit NY Penn station, that is if this train doesn’t derail on sheer power of my headphones before we reach our final stop. It’s the most visceral, in your face, dense 17 minutes of punk rock I’ve heard in a long long ass time. Have you ever had a panic attack? I have. They suck. OFF! has a song about it. Have you ever had Black Thoughts? Yah me too. Again there’s a song about that as well. Feel like you don’t belong? All day every day. And yes there’s a song about that too.  Ever just have the feeling where you’re all like “fuck people”. Again, do I have the song for you. You’d think this shit would be contrived by now but it’s not. I assure you.

I read Morris got the members of this band together after a failed attempt at a new Circle Jerks album. And for as much as I love the Jerks, this makes their last album sound like Justin Beiber.

Fucking fucking amazing. You have no excuse to not own this.

Coliseum (L to R) Carter Wilson, Ryan Patterson, Mike Pascal

Ryan Patterson: The “Skeleton Smile” video was entirely the creation of director / editor Damon Packard, a mad genius from Los Angeles. I am a big fan of his magnum opus Reflections Of Evil, one of the most brilliant and demented movies of the last decade, so I contacted him about making a video for us. What he came back with was a strange mixture of cats fighting, exploitation horror clips, and bits of his own films… A very strange mixture that was just crazy enough to work.

FSS:  How does something like the Goddamage Deluxe Edition LP come about. Is it something you guys wanted to do or an idea your label came up with?

RP: It was our idea initially but the Temporary Residence was very excited about the entire project. The Goddamage EP had gone out of print again after its limited double seven inch run from 2008, so we wanted to make it available permanently. Rather than putting it out once more with only the original eight songs, we decided to add the tracks from our split with Doomriders (which had also gone out of print) and include a live set from that era of the band. Along with a new mastering job and some great packaging, it made this an expanded and definitive version of the record available from what we imagine will be our permanent home at Temporary Residence.

FSS:  How do you feel about what seems like an endless repackaging of fairly recent albums? Don’t get me wrong I dig the hell outta the new Goddamage and am glad i bought it, but I’m just curious on how you feel about this somewhat new trend of re-releasing albums that aren’t more than 10 years old?

RP: I don’t have any problem with reissues of any records really… If someone wants it, they can get it. If not, they are free to pass on it. In the relatively small world of underground independent music, records go out of print then the band and label reissue them, often with bonus tracks and new artwork / packaging. I know what you mean though, I remember Matador doing a re-release of Cat Power’s The Greatest album less than a year after it was first released, it seemed strange but they were simply trying to reach new people that hadn’t bought the record yet. I see how a fan who collects everything a band releases could see these things as a cash grab, but ultimately it’s about making music available to anyone who wants it and having the record in print for the band to sell on tour.

FSS:  I’m assuming you have a love of vinyl based on some of the great releases of yours out on wax. What do you think it is about vinyl that it refuses to die? What are some of your favorite pieces of vinyl from your own collection?

RP: I have a love of vinyl, but I have never been much for the format wars… When I was a kid we bought music on whatever format was available to us at the moment, if the LP was there I bought that, if it was cassette I bought that. Once CDs came in to prominence I still bought both vinyl and CD, but for a few years I was definitely buying way more CDs than LPs. These days all of my CDs are in boxes in my attic, I still buy CDs occasionally but mainly purchase vinyl. I think that LPs sound incredible but ultimately it’s about the physical product, the ability to hold something substantial in your hand, have large format cover art, beautiful packaging. If LPs all came in plain white sleeves I don’t think there would be as much of a long standing interest in them, it would be nearly as faceless as an MP3, although it would obviously sound much better and richer. I really love records with intricate packaging, but honestly my favorite LPs are all the Dischord and DC records in my collection, amazing records with beautiful cover art – Ignition, Three, Soulside, Fugazi, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Rites Of Spring, Jawbox, Nation Of Ulysses, etc.

FSS:  Based on your bands Danzig/Misfits covers I’m guessing you guys are fans. What are your opinions of this photo ? And of his recent duet with Shakira ?

RP: I am a huge fan of Glenn Danzig’s music from the Misfits up to Lucifuge in 1990, the following two records are decent and after that they lost me entirely. I am not a fan of the man’s politics or attitude. That said, I hate to sound humorless, but I think the guy should be able to buy food and litter for his pets in peace. All the parody videos are amazing though, especially the shopping list. You should also check out “themotherchick” channel on YouTube for a real head-fuck. Of course Tom Neely’s Glenn & Henry comics are incredible as well.

FSS:  How was it working with J Robbins? How’d that come about?

RP: It’s always great working with J., his perspective and approach is incredible and I feel lucky to count him among my friends. We worked together in 2002 when he recorded another band of mine, Black Cross, and we have wanted to work together again since then. After he mixed House With A Curse, we recorded four songs with him producing/engineering at Inner Ear Studios in DC, it was a whirlwind but a great experience.

FSS:  The FSS are big fans of House With A Curse. It seems the band is moving from a hardcore to more of a post hardcore sound. Was that something you consciously set out to do or just a natural evolution of things?

RP: I find myself using this analogy often, but think about your haircut or the way you dress. It changes over the years, most people don’t dress exactly the same their entire lives or have the same hair cut year after year. It may change drastically, it may just change a bit… Was it intentional or did it just gradually change? Your hair grows, styles of clothes change. It’s the same with the music a band plays. With bands it can seem a bit more shocking since you gauge their changes by the records they put out every few years. You can file two records next to each other on your shelf and the space between may seem microscopic but in that space lies the time and lives of the people who created the music. All the changes in their lives and the world around them, all they’ve learned, all they’ve gone through to be inspired to write and create. Changes are conscious, but they are also natural and healthy. This is true in the music a band plays as much as is in a person’s life.

FSS:  Including yourself along with bands like Young Widows and Lords do you think there’s such a thing as the Louisville sound? And what is it about Louisville that it produces such brutal hardcore?

RP: There is no Louisville sound, but there are sounds that come from Louisville that are unique to this community. I think we’re lucky that way, but usually when someone is talking about a regional sound they’re focusing on one or two bands at a time. You could say the Louisville sound is Slint or Rodan, My Morning Jacket or Palace, Squirrel Bait or Endpoint… None of these bands sound the same but they all have a sound that could only have come from Louisville. As for brutal hardcore, I don’t think Louisville’s ever been particularly known for that, Breather Resist might be closest to anything musically “brutal” that gained recognition outside of town, but even that was much more cerebral than physical.

FSS:  A lot of what we deal with on this site has to do with vinyl and stereo culture. Care to tell us about your first stereo? Or current stereo equipment in your setup worth mentioning?

RP: The first stereo I had that I can remember was one of those one piece turntable / receiver / cassette deck things with detached speakers. A lightweight piece of crap to be sure, but I had it all through my middle school and high school years and it served me well. I dubbed a lot of my bands demos on that thing. These days I don’t have a particularly great set up, an old Onkyo receiver that’s great and a couple of Yamaha speakers that are like consumer versions of NS-10s that sound pretty great. Honestly I listen to most of my music in the car, on a shitty boombox at Shirt Killer, or on a pair desktop computer speakers. I’m of the mindset that it’s not the tools or the toys, it’s entirety about the songs and the sounds. I’m that way with film too… I don’t really care about the newest high def edition of a classic movie. The Third Man or The 400 Blows are great films that can’t get much better if I see them with a higher pixel count, you know? I feel the same way about the music I listen to and even the musical equipment bands use. There have been plenty of incredible songs written and played on crappy guitars and halfway broken drum kits and even more terrible songs written and recorded on incredibly nice state of the art gear.

FSS:  What’s next for Coliseum?

RP: We just completed our fourth European tour, our third time headlining over there, and we’re heading back in March to support Rise Against. We’ll probably start touring in North America again next summer. In terms of releases, we have four songs from a session with J. Robbins at Inner Ear that we recorded in July and a few outtakes from the House With A Curse sessions that we’re going to be releasing as an EP at some point in 2011 on Temporary Residence. There’s also a live Coliseum / Burning Love split album that’s coming along slowly but surely and will also be released next year. For us, the mission never really rests… We’re always working on the next songs or next tour and I think we’ll probably start writing for our next album sooner than later.

COLISEUM “Skeleton Smile” featuring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy from Coliseum on Vimeo.