Big D And The Kids Table – Fluent In Stroll

After their Side One Dummy debut “Strictly Rude”, Big D And The Kids Table is back with a brand new album. If you liked he previous effort by these guys, be sure to be completely blown away with this new release. The band’s sixth full-length record is a mix between a tons of various music genres: hopscotch, double dutch, soul, ska, reggae and punk rock, a little bit differently from the other albums, which were more focused on the ska-punk side.

“Fluent In Stroll” is a record on which every song sounds perfectly just like it is, and it makes you hear how every tune is a possible hit single. Such anthems as “Not Fucking Around”, “A Kiss A Week” and the opening track “Doped Up Dollies On A One Way Ticket To Blood” are pure blessings for music lovers: there is the catchy chorus, the melodic parts and the fucking punk rock. Of course, the new direction taken by Big D And The Kids Table might not be fully enjoyed by the old school fans, but this is quite cool as the band does not care about label and keeps on releasing what they like the most. On a side note, the production by Joe Gittleman (The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) and the mixing by Paul Q Kolderie (Radiohead, Dinosaur Jr., Uncle Tupelo) is a guarantee of a great work of art.

If you enjoy good music with no borders, no labels and no fucking arounds, “Fluent In Stroll” is what you need to hear this year.

Warp 11 – “I Don’t Want To Go To Heaven As Long They Have Vulcans In Hell”

Anyone who has looked around the Sacramento punk scene or been to a Star Trek convention in the area has heard of Warp 11. They’re the punk band that dresses in 1960s Starfleet uniforms and roared to the mainstream with their hit single “Everything I Do, I Do With William Shatner” which even saw play on Comedy Central’s Roast of William Shatner. Yeah. They’re awesome.

Now, almost a decade since they first started playing, Warp 11 has seen the departure of drummer and Chief Medical Officer Jeff Hewitt and the welcoming of “Number One” John Merlino to fill in the percussion section. Also, it appears Chief Science Officer Kiki Stockhammer has taken a greater role in the music creation process.

The result: the most mature punk record I’ve heard so far this year. Warp 11 has patched together punk into every other rock genre flawlessly, evoking simultaneously the Misfits and AC/DC in the very first song, “I Make It So”. Front man and bassist Captain Karl Miller can wail like an 80s glam rocker, or croon like Joey Ramone, and shows every angle throughout the album. After a soaring first track the album takes a left turn with the bratty and poppy titular track, which sounds like the musical lovechild of the Buzzcocks and the Briefs, but with a signature style that only Warp 11 could produce.

The lead single, “Sulu”, is a first-person love-fest from the eyes of everyone’s favorite Japanese-American of the 23rd Century. It’s also got more firepower than the Defiant (for non Trekkies: a lot). But the jaunty and carefree fun of “Sulu” is quickly put aside for the heart-racing and epic “They Put Creatures In Our Bodies”, where pounding drums and ape-like chanting will make you feel like you’re on the final frontier – of rock.

Perhaps the most interesting tracks to me were the ones where the band stepped back for a minute and sang songs about themselves. Kiki Stockhammer took lead vocals for the song “Beam Into Me”, a sexy first-person in which she cries out the trials of being a woman in a nerd punk band and the target of so much sexual attention. And the final track of the album, “Yet Another Song About Star Trek”, is sung by Miller, Stockhammer, and guitarist Chief Engineer Brian Moore in which they vocally question why they are in a Star Trek themed punk band anymore, and seem to come to the conclusion that they can do nothing else.

Luckily for them, none of us would want them to do anything else. This album is only knee-deep in these young musicians’ careers. Star Trek premiered nearly a half a century ago, seeing a critically and financially explosive success in JJ Abram’s revitalization of the franchise. Warp 11 appears to have the longevity of its cult origins. Though nerdy trendy bands have come and gone, the concentrated musicianship and energy of Warp 11 has guaranteed that you don’t even have to like Star Trek to think these guys will live long and prosper.

Scene of Action’s self-titled EP

“I’m not going to read their promotional stuff before I listen to the music,” I told my friends as I sat down to listen to Scene of Action’s self-titled EP, “I don’t want to be tainted.” It turned out to be a good call on my part, because the actual songs greatly overshadowed the band’s underwhelming credentials as Bay Area natives and recent college graduates. Their press material paints them as your average white upper-class California frat party rockers. This is not the case.

Right out of the gate this album had my attention. The single “Daydream Stop Shock”, which has already seen air play in their native state, pounds out a heavy-handed marching beat while the guitars do their best to give the impression they’re stringed with barbed wire. The angular timbres, razor-like riffs, and rolling bass lines contribute to a sound that dances on your eardrums like a seven hundred pound dancing robot. With a flamethrower.

Towards the end of the album the band tends to stray from their strengths: punchy meters, punctuated guitar riffs, blaring vocals, and a busy bass. The last two tracks, “The Truth Is Out” and “Unbelievable”, display a desire to touch hearts with a soaring epic emotional sound. To be honest Scene of Action does not really deliver on the emotional content. But the album is smashing, roaring, and marching so much you don’t really have time to notice.

PopSmear records has been pushing this band hard for good reason. They have a potentially very wide audience as their music is aggressive enough to entertain punks and metalheads, while still being non-threatening enough to appeal to more traditional music listeners. Like the Strokes they marry traditional tunesmithing with syncopation and distortion in a way that makes them simultaneously ingenuous and accessible. Unlike the Strokes, Scene of Action doesn’t seem willing to water down or distill the ever-present rage in their music.

TRACKLIST

1. Daydream Stop Shock
2. Conscious Ache
3. Keeping Up
4. The Truth Is Out
5. Unbelievable

Deathcycle Self titled LP

The Debut release by Deathcycle includes 13 power hungry songs dealing with politics, presonal expierences and all the other social issues we are dealing with these days. Deathcycle have a raw and heavy hardcore sound with a mixture of D beat NYHC fighting Crusty punk rock.

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this album. The band is fast but you can still hear what they have to say (most of the time) with the quick bursts of chaotic nonsensical lyrics. The band has some brutal songs on this relase like “Punk is a Joke” and “Take back Your Life” with hard hitting lyrics and a great sound with just a bit of crust and snot added to get the point across.

I wasn’t planning on picking up this album but I was glad I did. I picked it up while in a Swedish grindcore/crust mood and was interested enough to slip this into the mix. I was impressed by this release (From 2006). If you want a fast and honest record that yells at you for doing nothing then grab this LP.

Track Listing
Side One
Suicide Seeds
Subber
Security/Slavery
God Grief
Punk is a Joke
“O, Say, Can You See?”

Side Two
No RNC in NYC
Take Your Life Back
Angry and Desperate?
Religion is Mind Control
Hypo-Christian
Deathcycle

Fed Up “Fuck Your Life”

Straight up New York Hardcore. “Fuck Your Life” is 25 minutes of traditional sounding hardcore. Non of this nu-metal crap that has been coming out in the last few years. These guys are a comforting listening; and by comforting I mean angry and fast abrasive hardcore.

“Fuck Your Life” is has 16 fast and quick songs and at 25 minutes thats less then 2 minutes a song. But these guys don’t waste their time getting their message across. These guys are quick and to the point! The CD (and I’m guessing LP too) has all the lyrics and photos from various shows.

Band members include DENNIS F.U. on lead vocals, Luis on bass guitar, Dave “Skin” on rhythm guitar, Dave M. on lead guitar, and Efren on drums.

For fans of Agnostic Front, Breakdown, Black Flag, Iron Cross, Minor Threat, Murphy’s Law, and bands in that vein.

Tracks Listing
1 Sick Fucks
2 O.S.P.
3 Steel Reserve
4 Hostile Attitude
5 Nowhere To Run
6 Gonna Get Yours
7 Butt-man
8 Last Straw
9 Return
10 Aimless Youth
11 Bacardi & Blunts
12 Back The Fuck Up
13 Chupa Chocha
14 Elimination
15 Tattoos
16 Fed Up!

Attack Ships On Fire “Punches are Free”

"There's no fee for the fist of fury!"

Attack Ships On Fire are a fast aggressive group with sarcastic, angry and damn funny songs. These guys don’t sing about politics (and if they did I didn’t notice!) but instead sing about Jerry Springer and the “punk rock fashion show” (Fashion show, track 12).

I really enjoyed this album though I’m sure the album dosen’t do these guys justice compared to their live shows. Studio music can just not capture the total chaos and energy a band like this carries with them when on stage in front of dozens of people to entertain. I guess that is what I really did enjoy most about “punches are free” is that it’s entertaining to listen using more humor then anything though the album.

Track Listing
1 Let Me Be
2 Punches Are Free
3 Indescribable
4 Double Down
5 Jerry Springer
6 My Bad
7 Slice Of Life
8 Back To You
9 Starting Over
10 Don’t Look Down
11 Runway Requiem
12 Fashion Show

Attack Ships on Fire on MySpace
Attack Ships on Fire official website