Review: The Copyrights – Learn The Hard Way
The Copyrights are from Carbondale, Illinois (where my brother just happened to live for many years) and their pop-punk sounds just the way I remember it sounding during my formative years. Their fourth full-length album Learn The Hard Way packs fourteen songs of no-nonsense pop-punk into its 26 minutes leaving you (the listener) foaming at (Read more…)
Review: Le Switch – And Now… Le Switch
Le Switch has got a good thing going for sure. Falling somewhere between the dark Will Sheff stylized Americana of Okkervil River and the twang-pop sensibilites of Rhett Miller and his Old 97’s. There is a certain wavering edge that Le Swtich’s music so precariously walks on their debut album And Now… Le Switch. It (Read more…)
Review: Beat Radio – Sunday Matinee EP
Can anyone tell me why more people aren’t clamoring for Brian Sendrowitz and Beat Radio to tour and release more than just a handful of songs at a time? Like everything else this band has released, their new EP Sunday Matinee is totally amazing and evokes nostalgic feelings that are beyond words. Fuzzy like a (Read more…)
Review: Ninja Gun – Restless Rubes
Can someone explain to me exactly what a Ninja Gun is? I know ninjas can present problems, but is there a special sort of firearm that’s been developed specifically for poppin’ a cap in a ninja? I dunno, but what I do know is that the band Ninja Gun (from Valdosta, Georgia) are pretty good. (Read more…)
Review: Know Think – Clean Closet EP
I’ve said it before, but there has just been an explosion of what I would call “throwback” bands that call the emo sounds of the mid 90’s home. I’m not complaining so don’t even think I’m being critical, but you’ve got Algernon Cadwallader, Street Smart Cyclist, Bridge & Tunnel, Jacob & I, and (now) New (Read more…)
An incomplete history of Chicago punk rock (vol. 24)
Before he joined Allister, Scott Murphy played bass in a little-known and under-appreciated pop-punk band from Chicago’s Northwest suburbs called The Humdingers. The Humdingers consisted of Scottie, Keith, Kevin, and Freddie and broke up when Kevin joined the Air Force and Scott joined Allister in 1998. I think Johnny Swiss played guitar for a little (Read more…)
Review: Graham Lindsey – We Are All Alone In This Together / The Mine EP
Graham Lindsey (at least for now) lives in Montana with his wife and two dogs after having made stops in the driftless woods of Wisconsin, New York’s chrome canyons, a Nebraska farmhouse, and New Orleans along the way. Luckily this well-traveled troubadour has been bringing his guitar and banjo with him wherever he goes, and (Read more…)
Review: .357 String Band – Fire & Hail
My transition from being a kid who grew up listening to punk rock to a jaded old man who now also loves roots music and more traditional American folk music didn’t happen until I really heard that country-influenced music played with the same grit and intensity that I loved about punk. It just seems natural. (Read more…)
Happy Birthday Hailey
Yep. I don’t really know how it happened, but my daughter turns three years old today and all I can think about is how time flies by. I vividly remember the day she was born and when she came home from the NICU. I remember the sleepless nights and when she was really sick. I (Read more…)
