Austin based Inverse Records is releasing their first release - of which I had news - and it is a great compilation of 22 tracks from 22 of the newest and best bands around today; call these bands post-hardcore, emo or just rock, but such names as Ultimate Fakebook, Schatzi, River City High, Recover, Audiocrush and Red Animal War are not so easy to see in one only compilation, which features also some less known bands, and I have to thanks the dudes at Inverse for giving me knowledge on some new acts that are really good.

The compilation is opened by Ultimate Fakebook and their “When I’m With You I’m Ok”, and even tough I knew this band, I never heard this song, which is very good, just like the following one, performed by Subset, a band that I honestly did not know but I will go looking for their records. Other great things come from the already famous Schatzi, with their “Bionic Waves”, and I give you the advice to go pick their latest album “50 Reasons To Explode”: this band is great and unique! I could say the same thing of Pop Unknown, here present with “B-Sides”, off their new record “The August Division” on Sessions: great melodies and indie emo sound. Now, I could go on listening all the bands, but I’d just mention Cruiserweight, River City High, Jump Rope Girls, Sunfactor, Time Spent Driving, We Talked About Murder, Valve and The Tie that Binds: from these bands come the best tracks, but I’d say that if you like a kind of attitude and sound, the new indie rock sound that is coming out to mainstream attention these days, I’d give you the advice to pick up this compilation, as it features 22 of the best bands that sound this music.

One positive note comes not only from the great numbers of bands, but also because every band is present with a song taken from the latest albums of each groups, so, it’s a bit like having a general idea of what the record of each band sounds like, or simply to know some of the best and most under-rated indie bands round today. A MustBuy for all the fans of indie-emo-rock music!|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

I never heard of The Catheters before this album called “Static Delusions And Stone-Still Days” and I really don’t know what this band is doing on Sub Pop, or what Sub Pop is trying to do releasing this band, maybe trying to sell as much as The Hives did. The Catheters sound like a mix of rock’n'roll and old style punk rock, even tough there is a good amount of easy listening melodies and catchy choruses; just because the punk rock is named “old” this does not mean it’s no good.

The record is made of 13 songs and is more than half an hour long, and these four dudes play their music quite loud, from the beginning “Been There Before” till the last “What Have They Done To You?”, even if there are some slow moments as in “Bleary Haze” and “Clock on the Wall”, which is 5 minutes long. Anyway the majority of the songs are fast and packed, in pure rock’n'roll style, as “3000 Ways” and “Nothing”: a mix of The Hives and The Hellacopters, even if, as I said before , there are also some pop influences that anyway I think they could not make this band easily available to the masses; I mean, it’s not just noise what you hear on these tunes. The attitude of this band is quite explicit tough: “f–k you we do what we wanna do”-music straight in your face!

In the end, I do not feel to suggest this album to anyone who is into Blink182 and Sum41 too much, but if you are open minded, like fast rock’n'roll influenced punk rock filled with some noises, then, The Catheters have good chances to become your next favourite bands. |carlo@staff.truepunk.com

I got into this album and Lyndsay Diaries quite much lately, as I really think that this guy is going to take the place of Chris Carabba in the next years to come. Well, no, I am not sure, but Scott Windsor, the guy that hides behind the name of Lyndsay Diaries , has got a lot of changes to be considered as emo as Carabba’s Dashborad Confessional. On the the eleven tracks of “Remember the Memories”, Scott does pretty much everything: sings, play guitars ( this is an all acoustic album), with the help of some other dudes playing piano, hammond and strings.

The record features some great ballads, and they all deal with love, and I think that the only words that descibe this record is emo, there is no excuse. Now, tell me if there is something as emo as the song “The Magic in the Number Nineteen”, which ends with such verses as “These are the sings of time/ I know you would give everything if you could/ But it is just not enough to be told the words “everything will be ok”/ Can I just break down and fall into your arms?”. No, I don’t think. Also other songs as “Fading the Kisses”, “Dear Lyndsay, No Regrets” and “Josephine” make this album a real pearl of true emotional feelings in a sea of self-proclaimed “emo heroes”, with their choruses, soft and deep vocals and also some really introspective lyrics.

This record is not a joke, it is straight from the heart, with great harmonies and acoustic songs and I think that anyone that thinks what emo is, whould check this record out: you would be surprised of what Lyndsay Diaries can do. And then, a band that has such a name cannot not be emo. |carlo@staff.truepunk.com

Finch is with no doubt the best band to release a debut album ever. And Drive Thru Records is the best label to have found out about such an amazing band, which probably would have to stay unknown to the masses, it is wasn’t for this label. “What It Is To Burn” is - as I said - the debut full length album from these five californian guys, after a four track EP called “Falling Into Place” which introduced them to a lot of people. On that EP they sounded tight: great guitars, drums and voices, plus an excellent production and a handful mix of various influences, such as Jimmy Eat World, GlassJaw and Deftones, as the band wants to stress, but I guess no one would disagree if I say that Finch are bringing a new sound in the world, and quite soon we will refer to new bands saying “this band sounds like Finch”.

So, “What It Is To Burn” features thirteen tracks, two of which were already featured on the previous EP but were re-mixed and now they sound much better. Of course thanks to Mark Trombino, who produced the whole record. The songs on this album do not sound as an one way type: they are all different and all good, in all of their peculiar signs. From the first “New Beginnings” and “Letters To You” with some emo influences, to the amazing “Perfectio Through Silence”, which has the best bass lines mixed with drums you’ll get to hear; there is also some metal riffs and vocals, as on “Project Mayem”, which is a weird song: it starts with a fast screamed intro and then there are some electronic elements that take the place of the instruments, but then they disapper and the real instruments come back. On this track, as well as on “Grey Matter”, there is the guest vocals of Daryl Palumbo of GlassJaw, a band that seems to have influenced a lot Finch. Talking of other songs, I think that “Stay With Me” is the poppy sing a long tune, and I think that a video of this tune would fit perfectly on some Mtv programs; I mean, I’d like to see Finch instead of that crappy nu-metal stuff, wouldn’t you? Even “Three Simple Words” is quite melodic and this song brings in it also all the energy that this band can produce. The record ends up with “Ender”, a 12 minute song, and never in my life I enjoyed listening to such a long tune, and “What It Is To Burn”, which can sum up quite well all of Finch: powerful guitar riffs and vocals, some slow parts sometimes, and the two voices, one melodic and one angry, that make the whole record sound so good as a few out there today.

If you ignore the existence of Finch, you must go check them out, I am sure no one can be disappointed with these guys, they rock and deserve much much more attention from everyone, as I am sick of listening to people who do nothing and get famous and instead hard working band seems to be ignored. Check www.finchmusic.com, listen to their record on line and then support this band, they deserve it.|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

As myself being a great fan of covers and especially of Fearless Records, I cannot not say that this is definitely the compilation of the year. Or of the decade. And I am not kissing any ass, this is the pure truth, ask anyone. Fearless had this great idea of “Punk Goes Somewhere” compilation and after the wonderful “Punk Goes Metal” of a couple of years ago, I am lucky enough to be alive just to listen to the new one, “Punk Goes Pop”. And of course, if on the old comp some bands played metal covers, on this new one some other bands play pop covers, you know, the ones we are all ashamed to say we know, the ones we listen to MTV and sing when we are taking a shower, yes, those songs!!! And when I had the news of this comp, I was looking forward to hearing it.

And so here it goes, the album features 17 of the best bands around today playng pop covers: from the first Dynamite Boy playing “I Want It That Way” of Backstreet Boys, to Slick Shoes playing “Candy” or Mandy Moore and the amazing version of “Everywere” by Michelle Branch redone by Yellowcard. The record goes on with the hardcore version of “Get This Party Started” by Pink re-done by Stretch Arm Strong: great one. Other great tracks are the ones from Further Seems Forever playing “Bye Bye Bye” by NSync, The Starting Line playing “I’m Real” by that nice ass named J.Lo, Rufio re-playing “Like A Prayer” by Madonna and the Thrice version of “Send Me An Angel” by Real Life. Also Keepsake do an amazing work with “The Way You Love Me” by Faith Hill, probably the best of the album, not to mention some band like Knockout doing a cover of Destiny Child’s “Survivor” or Reach the Sky and Nicotine doing covers of Britney Spears.

I’d say this is the MUST BUT comp of the year, not just for the curiosity of listening some pop songs re-done by punk bands, but also because , as I said, the 17 bands here are some of the best around today. Hands down for Fearless!!!|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

You cannot even imagine how much I have been waiting for this new Strung Out album; my favourite metal-hardcore band is back and the five guys have no time to lose. In fact they bring out 13 of the best tracks this Simi Valley band ever wrote. “An American Paradox” has it all: intense and introspective lyrics, powerful guitar riss mixed with some metal guitar hooks, unique vocals and choruses and the ability of making you enjoy the rhythm of every beat. Not to mention, the cd comes out in a great package, with a booklet that is as big as a poster and with some awesome futuristic artwork.

The record starts with “Velvet Alley”, a song that values by itself the price of the record; strong rhythms, melodies and great speed, just like “Alien Amplifier”, which sums up quite well the attitude of Strung Out: guitar driven sound, metallic and infectious riffs and a lot of melody: not to mention, the perfection of everything, from the sound of the guitars to the drums ( and I wonder how Jordan can play so fast on some songs) to the use of three, as if two were not enough, guitars, one on the other and the third over everything. But if someone says that “Alien Amplifier” is the best song on the album, don’t trust them, just wait to listen to “Cult of the Subterranean”, “Satellite”, “Cementery” and “An American Paradox” itself: the ability of these five guys as musicians and songwriters is amazing: I think they are the most unique and best musicians around today,and not only in the hardcore punk scene, but all over the world, even better than all those metallic crappy bands that go to Ozzfest. Probably it is not easy to say which is the best tune of the whole record but “Dig”, already featured of the Fat Club 7inch, is very far to get on that place: a great intro, and some good invectious rhythms, but I guess everyone is gonna have its own favourite tune. In general the songs are not as metal as on the previous EP, but they are a way between the old “Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues” and “Twisted By Design”, with maybe some less metal music and roary voices, but with that kind of attitude anyway.

If you never got to listen to Strung Out, go get this now, and then you will possibly get all of their stuff, as the almighty “Twisted By Design”, which remeains the best album Fat Wreck ever released; in the meantine I enjoy myself listening to “An American Paradox”, which is the second best album Fat ever released, and I can only pity the fool who does not hear this. Also, I shall run to buy the limited edition with the previously unreleased song “Don’t Look Back”.|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

After living and releasing stuff with Jade Tree Records, The Promise Ring went departed ways from that label, choosing a new and unknown label, named Anti, which is not truly unknown, just a division of Epitaph Records, and now the four guys are releasing a new album named “Wood/Water”, which is , according to everyone and to the band itself, the best work from The Promise Ring, even tought it is very different from such albums as “Very Emergency” and “Nothing Feels Good” that gave the band some notoriety.

“Wood / Water” is an obscure and deep record, from the music to the lyrics; musically, it’s all done by slow and sometimes acoustic guitars and bass and a soft drums, and some songs like “Size Of Your Life” , “Stop Playing Guitar” and “Bread & Coffee” made me think of Travis and Coldplay styile of playing music: with a lot of different influences, but to bring out simple music, at least at the first listen. Lyrically, Davey vonBohlen, the singer, talks a lot about his bad expirience with a benign tumor, that was luckily cured with some operations, and sons like “Wake Up April” and “Stop Playing Guitars” deals with his personal life expiriences.

In general, I’d say the twelve songs on this record are the best example of music around today, influenced only by the will of The Promise Ring to play and express emotions, without caring of labels, selling records, industries and all that music business. If you have enough guts to open your mind, here it is the record you need.|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

I did not know what to expect from these five dudes from Sweden, as I have always been a fan of their band, even tough I think their lates stuff are quite boring. The new record sees Rodrigo on vocals only, as he quit playng drums and singing, and left the place to a new guy, Martin, who worked at Bad Taste. The new album in fact does not bring a lot of fancy or news to what the band did in the past. The same attitude for playing some quite good songs that I think I already heard on some of their previous records

“Unconsciously Confined” is made up of 13 songs, played in the vein of their previous “Fragmenst and Fractions”, but, luckily, recorded in a much better way; in fact it is easy to understand what the singer sings, what the guitar and bass players play and what the drums do. If the music is quite the same, but recorded in a better way, the lyrics instead are exactly the same: a lot of politics and some funny and less serious moments in “real life” problems, but in general the songs are about social contents, and I like this kind of stuff, but I please the band not to use so many phrases that we all have already heard somewhere else, maybe from I Spy, Propagandhi or Randy?

Talking of the songs, I’d say that “4a.m.” , “PC=Potential Criminal” and “The Sing Along Summer Song” are the best examples of Satanic Surfers capacity in playing skate hardcore and I wonder why they want to put an end to this label they gained. It’s not so bad.

If you liked their previous album on Bad Taste I am sure you will enjoy this much more, but if you ( like me ) are still waiting for something like “Hero Of Our Time” or “Going Nowhere Fast”, I bet you will have to pass this one. And then, I miss Rodrigo on drums, he was much much much better.|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

The Rocking Horse Winner is a band that comes from Florida and on April 30 they will release their Equal Vision debut album named “Horizon”; behind this weird and long name there is no one but a woman called Jolie Lindholm, who is quite fmous for having sung on the Dashboard Confessional full length albums. And also her band ( made of her and three other guys) plays that kind of indie music, but of course with a female vocals, and I must say that I like it much more than Dashboard, ’cause the voice of this girl is amazing .

“Horizon” is an indie rock album that features only ten songs, but they are all good, no exception: pop bands like The Sundays and Bettue Serveert comes to mind, but as I said the same Dashboard are a quite good comparison to describe what The Rocking Horse Winner play. And I guess that the production of James Paul Wisner, who already worked with As Friends Rust, Further Seems Forver and Chris Carabba’s Confessional, I guess he helped putting out this kind of sunny and positive pop rock sound, a mix of so-called emo and pop, with the use of a lot of instumets as piano, bells, vibes, percussions and of course hand claps. The best songs are for sure “Orange Blossom”, “Miss You”, “Horizon”, “Tomorrow” and “Playing With Lights”, with some lyrics that are all about love, friendship, and youth issues. And I like it.

I think that this band is destined for success and I would not wonder to listen one of their songs on some MTV shows or as soundtrack to some movies, the band fits in perfectly to gain the hearts of a lot of people and music lovers. Of course this might not be as hard as some other Equal Vision bands, but I suggest to check The Rocking Horse Winner out.|carlo@staff.truepunk.com

Behind the name of Avoid One Thing there is a guy that is quite famous, Joe Glitterman from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who are also on Side One Dummy,and he plays with some other famous people like Paul Delano from Darkbuster and Mung, Amy Griffin from RagingTeens and Dave Karcich from The Pilfers. Avoid One Thing sound a bit different from the Bosstones, tough; these three guys and a lady play a mix of pop punk and emo all mixed together, with a vocals that sometimes reminds of Dicky Barret’s one, but in general it is more in the vein of Jawbreaker. And it is not a case that the music of this four friends is described as a mix of Jawbreaker, The Pixies, Sugar and The Replacements, that kind of punk done by a lot of melodies and also some more rockin tunes.

The self titled album has eleven songs and if on the first listen you might think this is something you already heard, like happened to me, if you lend your ear to it with more attention you will probably realize that Avoid One Thing has that something of unique, I don’t know how to describe it well, but the music, the lyrics and the attitude of this band brings out some really good and not easy to label songs. Just listening to “Yakisoba”, “Lean On Sheena” ( which sounds like a Bosstones tune) , “Every Second Of Every Day” and “Rip It Up It’s Here” it is quite clear that the band has a good number of influences: melodic songs alternate to more angry tunes, at least in the vocals of Glitterman.

I am quite sure these people are not in it for the money, and this makes the record more enjoyable still, as it is nice to hear some music that comes from the heart; and it is for this reasong that I give you the adive to give a listen to this band, which did an album that I consider the best that Side One Dummy ever put out. Good job!|carlo@staff.truepunk.com