Community Records Block Party!!!@#!@$@#$!!!

I am chilling out at my grandparents house in Louisiana right now, and it is making me want to blog... and guess whats going down April 16 in New Orleans? You guessed correctly (probably not) it is the Community Records Block Party. It will have some of the best ska/punk/acoustic ska and punk and even some zydeco around, and the guys who set it up are super cool. Some videos of the people playing:





So just in general, the party will be a win, starts at 12 at the Big Top in Louisiana, and I can promise that all the cool kids will be there.

Schedule (and whether they will be playing in or outside):
12 noon - Doors
1:15 - Reagabomb - inside
1:45 – Killin Werewolves- outside
2:15 – The Rooks in/out
2:45 – T-Roy - spinning Reggae outside all day!
3:00 – After School Special - out
3:30 – Los Skarnales - in
4:00 – Fatter Than Albert - out
4:30 – Zydepunks - in
5:00 – Big, Fat, and Delicious - out
5:30 - Arm the poor - in
6:00 - A Billion Ernies - out
6:30 – Matt Wixson - in
7:00 – Maddie Ruthless - out
7:30 – Safety - in
8:00 – Stuck Lucky - out
8:30 - Dan Potthast - inside
9:00 – Dan Potthast
9:30 - Shoot The Daily Edit - out
10:00 - Angry Banana - in
10:30 - Stereohype - out

Just in case you wanted up to date thermals/a black flag video/anti-drug propaganda news go hither

I suppose thats it for the day, oh and Land of the Freak recording will Tuesday so check back for that.

Stuff 'n Junk

Alright, this is going to be a super short post, but here we go:

The Thermals have a new album out, and you can find a review on pitchfork soon or on Will's blog here

The Thermals might be one of my favorite bands at the moment so I highly suggest checking that out whenever you get a chance.



The Godfather 2: The Game is coming out in a couple of days, and my preorder of that is getting me pretty excited

But you dont come here for video games... but maybe I should start making posts about it...

I have been recently into Razorcake, the punk zine hailing from Los Angeles. It has some really great punk-ish music coverage going on, with some pretty awesome contributors. It's got podcasts, interviews with some pretty sick bands, and its completely D.I.Y., so to put it simply, its pretty much a win. I highly suggest subscribing, ordering a single issue, or at least checking some of the stuff they have going on over there out - Bimonthly.

Also apparently, there is such thing as record store day... who knew? April 18th, hit up your local record store, may that be Fantasyland Records, or CD Warehouse, wherever, do it kids.

Lastly, I dont think I have mentioned how Jerry Hsu may be the raddest person ever yet. Well he is, and you should go out and immediately buy his skateboard deck from enjoi... On a sidenote Girl Skateboards is sick as well and my friend Will has a video of theirs right here... you should check it out


Currently Listening (besides the usual): The Thermals, The Measures, The Methadones, United Skates (thanks Colin)

Stuff that has happened

Well, Kid Dactyl and I spent the last three or four weeks preparing for Big Day Off (Music/Movie/Whatever day at school)... and we ended up getting screwed over... but I'm not really that mad

Our set was supposed to be:






but because of other "Jam" bands playing too long, our set was shortened to a single song... but whatever... because of that failtastic situation we decided to just write some random stuff on the spot...

We came up with the following freestyled songs that you might want to listen to later:

The Crack Cocaine Song (we did a 25 minute rendition while waiting for shuttle)
Late For Shuttle (Because Kid Dactyl was late for shuttle)
Break-up Letter (Self - explanatory)

And if you go to our school, you can definitely look forward to us playing either this:

or this:

or maybe:

if you actually read this or care, let me know which one... it will be all acoustic, 'n stuff...

Thats pretty much what has been going on the last couple of weeks.
News: New Suburban Punx is coming out, Land of the Freak now online, Land of the Freak Vol.1 Sampler online, I'll look up more news for the next time I post...

Update!!

The last couple of days have been kind of boring... although Will and I talked about how we arrived at our current music outlook (I also commented on how sad it was that I didn't have any Jawbreaker albums... multiple times; contact me if you can help with this dire problem)

In case you were wondering, the abbreviated version is: Nas ->Lupe Fiasco -> Dad Saying I have to play trumpet -> Googling trumpet -> Wikipedia Link to Ska -> Reel Big Fish -> Streetlight Manifesto -> Link to Punk -> Joining the Hazards -> The world of punk/ska/hardcore punk opens -> Colin-> Folk Punk

On a side note to that: Marshall -> Nothing Nice To Say (best webcomic ever) -> Some really good bands

Also, I highly advise you to check out Shinobu, who recently released a record on Quote Unquote records. They are indie or whatever, but its good stuff.

Also Blake Schwarzenbach has a new band called Thorns of Life .

I also just got word that the 3rd Issue of Suburban Punx Zine is coming together... on those lines, Issue #2 of Land of the Freak is also coming together, but in a slightly different form. LOTF is going digital friends, and it is going to look pretty sweet. You can read it on your computer while you are there, and you can print it out for later... also we dont have to spend the money making copies! Its pretty much a win all around

Scrambles

In my second blog I promise to update a lot more frequently, or at least remember to update when I feel like writing this time... instead of playing team fortress

As you may have guessed, or not, the title of this blog was pretty much ripped straight off of Bomb The Music Industry!'s new album Scrambles. This may be my favorite album of the past 6 months, and it is not surprising that it holds this same place in the hearts of a lot of people.

This album is keeping the "full band" theme from Get Warmer, and it works great once again (Get Warmer being one of my favorite albums as well). Jeff tried to do things a little differently this time around, and there is substantially more piano and synth going on in all of the songs. It is much softer and less "punk" yet still retaining its punkness... weird, but you'll know what I mean when you listen to it. It is not a complete divergence from the ska/punk/electronic feel we have come to expect, but it is different enough that the whole album feels like something fresh and different. The first track is also distinctly lo-fi, which is pretty sweet if you like ska and punk and lo-fi all at the same time.

The theme of the album is also pretty cool. Jeff spends a lot of time talking about how things can go wrong, and how stuff sucks: losing your job, owing people money, etc., but its kind of inspiring at the same time. I dont know how they continue to do it, but BTMI! takes the best out of all the genres you might like and they combine them to form a great album full of awesomeness. Although

Rating: 9.1/10. The one song I didn't like was "Fresh Attitude, Young Body" simply because of how slow and long it was. It was still a good song, but after a while I was ready for something a little speedier and exciting.

Oh, and by the way, its free at Quote Unquote Records... pretty snazzy in my opinion. While you are there pick up the Arrogant Sons of Bitches album re-release, and all of the other sick albums they have over there. Also the CD version comes with a pretty awesome 32 paged zine, but I havent gotten mine yet... so dont order until I tell you, I hear they are limited...