ALBUM REVIEW: The Offspring - "Days Go By"

I was never really the biggest Offspring fan, mainly because when I was in elementary school and first learning about Green Day and Blink 182, The Offspring was making an even worse mockery of "punk" with songs like "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" and shit like that. Even at the puerile age of 11 I could tell this was over-sweetened.
But I always kinda gave them the benefit of the doubt; I mean, after all, they had been a band in the early 80s under a different name and the first 2 or 3 albums are cool SoCal skate-punk. I grew up with some of that older stuff without even realizing it, and to this day "I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem."
However, since the abominations they were already releasing when I was a fucking kid, nothing has gotten better about this band. They're just too bright, too sing-songey, too fucking KROQ for me to ever take seriously. This newest album, "Days Go By" sees the band focusing more on their quasi-serious, "life can be hard" type subject matter, much in the fashion of their hit from like a decade ago "The Kids Aren't Alright." Unfortunately, subject matter is not the only way these tracks mimic that song; the first couple tracks might as well be using the exact same goddamn guitar progressions.
What's even sadder than their appropriation of their own past glory is the nearly-impossible-to-miss mimicry of a far more popular band that they no doubt influenced greatly: Rise Against. It's like Dexter Holland and Noodles listened to SoCal radio "punk" for an afternoon and realized they should just try as much as possible to sound like "The Sufferer and The Witness." As if Rise Against wasn't oversaturated enough, the last thing we need is an even more unfortunately-ubiquitous symbol of "punk"'s flaccidity blatantly ripping them off. Similarly, the track "Oc Guns" is a falsely-Latin-tinged whiteboy-reggae song that's vaguely about a glamorized criminal-lite lifestyle, much like the lame modern rock hit from a few years back, "Lay Me Down" by the Dirty Heads....A track that was really only big on KROQ. Do these guys listen to anything else? "I Wanna Secret Family (With You)" might as well just be a fucking cover version of "Stacy's Mom (Has Got It Going On)".
Beyond just sad is this:
There is a track midway through the album, which has had a music video made for it so apparently they are actively promoting this song, called "Cruisin California (Bumpin In My Trunk)". I feel like that name alone should be enough of a description for why this a bad thing, but just to break it down....it sounds like a half-rate Katy Perry song with really bad singing, or maybe a better relation is that it sounds ALOT like "Friday" by Rebecca Black. You heard me right. I don't know what they're game plan was on this track but my god, it's mind-blowingly bad.
If you used to like "Smash" in the mid-90s or if you remember this band from the empty-pool skate days of yore, DO NOT listen to this album. The only song that even throws a bone to older listeners is at the very end, a by-the-colors Bad Religion ripoff called "Divide By Zero". It's bleak and depressing, not because of the stark socioeconomic point I guess its trying to make (again with the Rise Against wannabe-isms) but because of how forced a simple punk beat seems to feel from this former beacon of the Southern California sound.

CASSETTE REVIEW: Glocca Morra - "Ghoul Intentions" EP

Glocca Morra is a band from Philadelphia that I played with at the Metaphor in Escondido last week and today I finally got around to listening to their tape from last year, “Ghoul Intentions.” This 6-song EP is a really good representation of their sound, which is more or less post-pop-punk. The band that I think is the easiest to compare them to would be Hot Water Music, although a bit more lighthearted than them. They also have a slightly garage-punk sound going on that reminded me of Scared Of Chaka, and the vocals oscillate between a strained HWM-style howl and a more chesty singing voice ala Braid or Bear Vs Shark. Musically, they switch between fast-tempo almost surf-punk smarmy parts to 90s-emo type mid-tempo parts. In this way they remind me a bit of mid-career At The Drive-In, especially considering their interesting but not overwhelming guitar parts. The guitars have an appropriate dissonance, the feedback parts don’t run annoyingly but are instead part of the song itself; this is most apparent in the angular mid-section to the song “Little Man.”

Although the insert says this was released on Ranch Records this looks more like a pure DIY release, with hand-written lyrics on a hand-cut foldout insert and a hand-drawn cover of a mutilated zombie-like creature with a mouth in its chest and horned erection that seemingly has no connection whatsoever to the music within. I got a real good vibe listening to this album, so if you’re into any of the bands I listed above at all I’d say give Glocca Morra a chance; they were really nice guys when we were at the show too.

gloccamorralives@aol.com  tumblr.com/gloccamorra

Playlist for July 2012

These are all the albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in their entirety during the month of July 2012. Everything I listened to this month was released within the last 7 months, all 2012 releases.
At the end are my notes and a list of musical performances I saw this month.

7/2/12

Periphery – “II: This Time It’s Personal”
The Allah-Lah’s – “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” 7” single
Lucero – “Women and Work”

Twin Shadow – “Confess”

7/3/12

The Bouncing Souls – “Comet”

The Men – “Open Your Heart”

Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants – S/T

7/4/12

Nick Waterhouse – “Time’s All Gone”

The Gravitys – “Bring You Down” live abum

3 Inches Of Blood – “Long Live Heavy Metal”

7/6/12

Cursive – “I Am Gemini”

Teenage Sweater – “Coconut Water” single
Father John Misty – “Fear Fun”

7/14/12

Terra Firma – “TF” live EP
Shady Characters – “Sunny Days” EP
Liars – “WIXIW”

Daylight – “The Difference In Good And Bad Dreams”
Moonface – “With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery”

Sociopathetic – “Self Titled EP Of Death” EP

7/15/12

Tanlines – “Mixed Emotions”
Linkletter – “The Dave Sessions” live album
Ceremony –“Zoo”

Apathy – “Desolate Terra” EP

HEALTH – “Max Payne 3” OST

Dreaming Dead – “Midnightmares” EP
Hollow – “MMXII” demo

Cloud Nothings – “Attack on Memory”

Dead End Alaska/Dead End Sons – “Family & Friends” split EP
Chromatics – “Kill For Love”
KIDS – “Cloud Island” EP

Kone – “Legend Days” EP

Black Dice – “Mr. Impossible”

Treacherouskin – “Altar of the Beast”

Fucked Up – “Year of the Tiger”

Reproacher – tape MMXII
Chairlift – “Something”

Light Years – “Just Between Us” EP
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Acid Reflex” remix album

7/16/12

Citizen/Turnover – split 7”
Aesop Rock – “Skelethon”

Moon Shrines – “3 songs” demo

7/22/12

Purity Ring – “Shrines”

Apathean – “Aggregation” EP
Gold Panda – “Mountain”/”Financial District” 7”

Dead Weight – “Backstabber” demo

Baroness – “Yellow & Green” 2CD

7/27/12

From Hell – S/T EP

Bloom – “VI. V. II.” Tape

7/30/12

Wildlife – “Sleeping” EP
Helsott – “Folkvangr” EP

Alex Metric – “Ammunition” EP
Kill Devil Hill – S/T

Erol Alkan & Boys Noize – “Roland Rat”/”Brain Storm” single

Plagues/The Cold Front – split EP

Love American – “Disquiet”

Gesaffelstein – “Rise of Depravity” EP
Colombian Necktie/Seizures – split EP

7/31/12

John Talabot – “FACT mix 315”
Pollution People –“Future Trash” EP
Divider/Colony – split EP
Breakbot – “One Out Of Two (ft. Irfane)” single

Burn Your Life Down – “Don’t Try” EP
Jim-E Stack – “Come Between” EP
Aukerman – “It’s No Time Ta Talk About Girls” demo
A-Trak – “Ray Ban Vision (ft. CyHI da Prince)” single
Hostage Calm – S/T
Fang Island – “Major”
Squarepusher – “Ufabulum”
Midnight Parade – “Living Room” demo
French Exit/Signals Midwest – split EP
Skrillex & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley – “Make It Bun Dem” single
The Murderburgers – “How To Ruin Your Life”

NOTES:

-          This was the first month of 2012 where I didn’t listen to even ONE Cannibal Corpse album…for shame

-          This new Lucero album is my favorite one of theirs that I’ve heard

-          Twin Shadow is cool but he’s a bit overrated; sometimes his melodies sound like direct rip-offs from well-known 80s hits, it’s just a bit much

-          The new Bouncing Souls album is much better than the last 2 were.

-          The Men “Open Your Heart” very well be my favorite album of the year. Those guys are just on POINT.

-          Nick Waterhouse sounds like he is FROM the 50s, not imitating the 50s, FROM the 50s

-          “Long Live Heavy Metal”…really? That’s way too cheesy, even for 3 Inches Of Blood

-          “I Am Gemini” is up there in terms of best albums of the year as well, and really maybe even my favorite Cursive album…the theme really works throughout the album I didn’t think they’d be able to pull off a concept album of this sort but they did

-          That Sociopathetic EP was one of the worst things I’ve listened to all year. Just terrible.

-          What’s up with Ceremony? They suck now!

-          No, the Apathy on this list is not the well-known underground rapper. It’s some hardcore band that just doesn’t give a fuck.

-          HEALTH did the music for the video game “Max Payne 3” and that’s ostensibly their new album…weird

-          New Cloud Nothings album, also very good. In the top 20 of the year so far I’d say

-          Kone is a badass DJ who came down to Temecula and played some crazy electronic instrument I’d never seen, and then when I went to try to trade one of my tapes for one of his releases, somehow he already had my tape…BUT he still gave me his stuff! And its dooope!

-          Treacherouskin is heavy as FUCK

-          Fucked Up can call “Year Of The Tiger” a single all they want, at 36 goddamn minutes I’m gonna go ahead and call it an album

-          Dead Weight’s demo is one of those noisy powerviolence/core releases that you cannot tell what song is what and then its over in less than 10 minutes… all of Side B was blank. Make your own judgements.

-          It sounds like Baroness really wanted to one-up Mastodon’s “Crack The Skye” but it’s not nearly as memorable and some of the songs legitimately sound like they could be Nickelback songs...That’s not to say this isn’t a cool album, this is still Baroness after all, but don’t come into it expecting the same heaviness whatsoever…Disc 2 is better than Disc 1.

-          For being a “supergroup” of aging second-tier hard-rockers far past their glory days, Kill Devil Hill’s album is actually pretty good for what they’re doing. I’ve heard a lot worse Alice In Chains/Soundgarden throwbacks in recent years. This is an alright listen.

-          I listened to a lot of splits this month

-          John Talabot’s mix for this month’s FACT magazine is an hourlong-plus track of dance mixes…and its good.

-          The spoken words on the Burn Your Life Down EP make it so much more menacing

-          The new Fang Island album, also on the best-of list for the year. So catchy

I also saw Midnight Parade, Honest Abe, A Search For Clarity (twice), Depakote, Jose Alegria, Co.Fee, Falcons, Kone, 1984, Nick Wuebben (twice), Crisis Arm (once acoustic and twice regular), Hello Penelope (twice), Game. Blouses, Beanvian Stalks Guava, Linkletter, KIDS, Mouthful Of Snow, Apathean, Reproacher, Bloom, Moon Shrines, Sailors Of Neptune, Glocca Morra, Vice, Ages, Dead Weight, The Coltranes, From Hell, Wildlife, Dead Words, Charlie, Pollution People, What Hands Are For, and North Americans perform live this month. 

The Gravitys also played 3 times and I played as end of the summer for the first time in awhile.

Playlist for June 2012

These are all the albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in the month of June 2012. Afterwards are my notes and a list of the live performances I saw this month.

6/1/12

Cannibal Corpse – “Worm Infested” EP

The Gravitys – “Bring You Down”

6/2/12

U2 – “Achtung Baby”

Ronald Jenkees – “Disorganized Fun”

6/3/12

His Hero Is Gone – “Dead Of Night In 8 Movements” EP

V/A – “NOW! That’s What I Call Classic Rock Hits!”

Boots Randolph – “Yakety Sax!”

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Aufheben”

6/9/12

Blur – “Parklife”
Carl Nielsen – “Alladin Suite”

6/12/12
The Smiths – “Best…”

6/13/12

Limerent Dance Machine – “Dream A Reason Why”

6/26/12

Xerxes – “Our Home is a Deathbed”

Refused – “The Shape Of Punk To Come”

6/27/12

Whitechapel – S/T
Kishi Bashi – “151a”

Upon A Burning Body – “Red. White. Green.”
White Arrows – “Get By” 7”

I, The Breather – “Truth and Purpose”

Daughn Gibson – “Lite Me Up” single

Anthrax – “Worship Music”

Fidlar – “No Waves/No Ass” 7”

Sleigh Bells – “Reign of Terror”

6/28/12

Goatwhore – “Blood For The Monster”
Nite Jewel – “One Second Of Love”

Job For A Cowboy – “Demonocracy”

6/29/12

Simian Mobile Disco – “Unpatterns”

NOTES:

-          I <3 Cannibal Corpse

-          My band The Gravitys recorded our album a few days before the month began so I listened to the rough copies of it A LOT all month. MUCH more than that listing on the first. Suffice to say I would probably have to put it on each day’s list so I’ll get let the June 1 listing take the heat.\

-          I had wanted “Disorganized Fun” for a long time after seeing Ronald Jenkees’ online videos. Then one day I was having breakfast in the living room and lo and behold its sitting there mashed between the coach cushions, completely wrapped. Who bought this? Where did it come from?

-          Limerent Dance Machine is dope

-          I guess it makes sense that Whitechapel’s self-titled album is their most generic yet

-          The new Anthrax is SO FUCKING DOPE

-          The new Goatwhore album is competing with the new COC album for “best metal album of 2012” in my mind

-          Job For A Cowboy, can I have word with you real quick? “Demonocracy”? Really? In the words of Wayne Campbell, “I know it’s a small part, but do we have to put up with this?”

I also saw The Tea Party Crashers and Archimedes, Watch Out! perform live. Another month of only one show? Something tells me I’m not keeping track of things.

Playlist for May 2012

These are all the albums, EPs, demos, soundtracks, compositions, compilations, etc that I listened to in the month of May 2012. I had a weird system of coming up with what I would listen to next so there is alot of stuff in there I had never been  exposed to before. Probably the most classical, opera, and classic country I've ever listened to in one month's time. And a K-Pop girl group.
At the end are my notes and a list of the live music performances I saw in May.

5/1/12
Otis Redding – “The Very Best Of”
Z – “Violence Action” EP
UFO – “Seven Deadly”
Cannibal Corpse – “Evisceration Plague”
Rogue Rats – “Ratatude”
Manna Dey – “Madhushala”
The Scofflaws – “Ska In Hi-Fi”
Little Walter – “Boss Blues Harmonica”
Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass – “Two Originals: Brass My Soul/Tribute”

5/2/12
Englebert Humperdinck – “Greatest Hits and More” Disc 1
The Pharcyde – “Cydeways: The Very Best Of”
Nana Kitade – “18-eighteen”
Ian Anderson – “Thick As A Brick 2”
The Maccabees – “Given to the Wind”
Michael Rabin – “Plays Bruch’s Violin Concerto & Virtuoso Pieces for Wind & Piano”
Crisis Arm – “Live At Alaythia Music” EP
Lily Allen – “It’s Not Me, It’s You”
V/A – Victory Records winter 2010 metal sampler CD
Steppenwolf – “The Second”

5/3/12

The Feelers –“Hope Nature Forgives”
James Brown – “Black Caesar” OST
Fear – “The Record”
REO Speedwagon – “Steel Box Collection: Greatest Hits”
Charles Lloyd & Billy Higgins – “Which Way Is East?” Disc 1
Make Me Famous – “It’s Now Or Never”

5/4/12

Maynard Ferguson – “Footpath Café”

Slow Children – “Mad About Town”

Media Blitz – “A Voice Of Our Own” EP

Beastie Boys – “Hello Nasty”

My Chemical Romance – “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge”

5/5/12

Johnnie Taylor – “Good Love”

In The Face Of War – “Live Forever Or Die Trying”
Patrick Gowers – “Sherlock Holmes” OST
Cracker – “Kerosene Hat”

5/6/12

Morbid Angel – “Altars of Madness”

Jimmie Dale Gilmore – “After Awhile”

Neon Indian – “Era Extrana”

The Go-Betweens – “Bright Yellow Bright Orange”

The Geto Boys – S/T

Graham Coxon – “A + E”
Fastball – “All the Pain Money Can Buy”
Cold Blooded – “No Peace Of Mind” EP
Barney Kessel –“Autumn Leaves”

5/7/12

V/A – “Worldeater Vs. Not Common” split label sampler CD

Berliner Philharmoniker with Wiener Singveirein, conducted by Herbert von Karajan – “Ein Deutsches Requiem, by Johnnes Brahms”
Theudho – “The Volsunga Saga”

5/8/12

Louis Moreau Gottschalk – “Grande Fantasia Triunfal a Hino Nacional Brasileiro”

Blonde Redhead – “Misery Is A Butterfly”
Eddy Arnold – “Cattle Call”
Killing Joke – “MMXII”

Robert Johnson – “King Of The Delta Blues”
My Iron Lung – “No Such Thing” EP

5/9/12

Lena Horne – “20 Of Her Best”
Battalion Of Saints AD – “Cuts…”
The Ventures – “Surfing”

5/10/12

Mad Society – S/T EP
Max Steiner – “Gone With The Wind” OST
Lostprophets – “Weapons”

Plume Latraverse – “En Noir Et Blane”

5/12/12

Farabee –“Love, War, and Everything In Between”

Antonia Vega – “El Sitio de mi Recreo”

The Freeze – “Freak Show”

Snapcase – “Progression Through Unlearning”

5/13/12

Fugazi – “Steady Diet Of Nothing”
Snapcase – “Designs For Automation”

5/14/12

Sidney Bechet – “Jazz Greats”
Dying Fetus – “Killing On Adrenaline”

5/15/12

Alexander Courage – “Star Trek” OST

Nicki Minaj – “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”

5/16/12

Liberace – “Start The Day With A Smile”

The Smiths – S/T

Dio – “Holy Diver”

5/17/12

Erik Satie – “3 Gymnopedies & Other Piano Works”

Peaking Lights – “Imaginary Falcons”

5/19/12

T.Rex – “The Very Best Of”
Nicholas Maw – “Life Studies”

The Sweet Nothings – “Broken Chords and Bleeding Hearts”

Grace Jones – “Island Life”

Joell Ortiz – “Free Agent”

ZZ Top – “Recycler”

The Commodores – “Anthology” Disc 1

The Ramones – “Animal Boy”

Charles Ives – “Symphony No. 3: Washington’s Birthday”

5/20/12

Great Lake Swimmers – “New Wild Everything”

Bob Florence Big Band – “Westlake”

Fed To The Wolves – 2011 tape
The Allman Brothers Band – “Legendary Hits”

Jean-Pierre Rampal – “Beethoven: Chamber Music For Flute”

5/21/12

Violent Control Unit (VCU) – 2003 3-song demo CD

All Is Fleeting – 7-song demo CD

John Coltrane – “Ken Burns’ Jazz Collection”

Terry Lightfoot – “Live In Leipzig”

Aeternus – “Beyond The Wandering”

The Spanish Bombs – 3-song demo

Lee “Shot” Williams – “Right On Time”

Endwell – “Homeland Insecurity”

V/A – “Virgin Recommends 6” promo CD

Billy Walker – “20 Greatest Hits”

Our Lady Peace – “Curve”

5/22/12

Elek Bacsik – “Guitar Conceptions”

45 Grave – “Autopsy”

V/A – “Jazz Meeting”

Elton John – “Classic”

The Years Gone By – “Forever Comes Too Soon”

Bill Whalen – “Riverdance”

5/23/12

From First To Last – “Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Body Count”

Scatman Crothers – “Oh Yeah!”
Utah Phillips – “We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years”
Affiliation Red – “Ideologies” EP

Artie Shaw – “25 Of His Best”

Destruction – “Eternal Devastation”

5/24/12

Wilco – “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”

Death By Stereo – “Into The Valley of Death”

Bob Dylan – “Blonde On Blonde”

5/25/12

Blind Willie Johnson – “The Spiritual Blues”

Hollow – “MMXII” demo

Family – “Music In A Doll’s House”

5/26/12

End of the summer – demo 07

5/27/12

Strung Out – “Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues”

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen – “This Is All I Ask”

Gil Scott-Heron – “I’m New Here”

5/28/12

Marilyn Manson – “Born Villain”

T-Bone Walker – “Inventor of the Electric Guitar”

Griever – “Inferior” EP

Morning Musume – “10 My Me”

Helmet – “Monochrome”

5/29/12

Karl Munchinger – “Bach Weinacht’s Christmas Oratorium”

5/30/12

Doc Watson – “Memories”

Hollow Earth – “We Are Not Humanity” EP

Flex – 2012 EP
Stopping Power – “Kill Your Friends” EP

Desperate Living – demo 2012

Motherboy – “I’m Not Even Happy” EP

5/31/12

Halcyon – “Jerusalem” EP

Marin Marais – “Tous les Matas de Monde”

NOTES:

-          UFO’s new album is entirely unnecessary…the new Killing Joke is almost there

-          Englebert Humperdinck and then The Pharcyde? Genius.

-          Ian Anderson’s new album sounds like it could be Jethro Tull in 1974. Awesome.

-          I expected The Feelers to be cool because of their name but no, they suck.

-          I like “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge” A LOT more now than I did when I thought I hated it in high school

-          Straight up, I listened to the soundtracks to the 60’s TV versions of “Sherlock Holmes” AND “Star Trek”and the soundtrack to “Gone With The Wind”; what’s worse is that I can’t say it was time wasted

-          The soundtrack to “Riverdance” was a bit of time wasted.

-          Goddamn The Geto Boys are so dope

-          I <3 Snapcase

-          Nicki Minaj’s album isn’t nearly as bad as I expected it was going to be.

-          How people back in the day didn’t realize that Liberace was gay is beyond me

-          Listening to Joell Ortiz’s album confirms for me that I just don’t really like The Diplomats/Dipset or any of their individual output. I mean as far as I’ve heard its just not my jive.

-          “Age Of Worry” by Billy Walker is my favorite song from this playlist

-          Affiliation Red’s EP “Ideologies” is the worst thing I have heard from 2012 and I doubt anything else will be released this year that will be worse. Just absolutely terrible.

-          Everybody check out HOLLOW, the homie TJ Edge’s new band. They’re dope. http://hollowmmxii.bandcamp.com/album/mmxii

-          That Karl Munchinger Christmas opera was soooo long and tedious, WHY did I put myself through that?

-          R.I.P. Doc Watson

I also saw Desperate Living, Stopping Power, Flex, and The Coltranes perform live. One show all month. That’s ridiculous.

Playlist for April 2012

These are all the full-length albums, EPs, demos, etc that I listened to in the month of April 2012. At the end are my notes and a list of the live performances I saw as well.

4/1/12

Trek Life – “Wouldn’t Change Nothing”

Cannibal Corpse – “Eaten Back To Life”

The Maccabees – “Given To The Wild”

Mac Lethal – “11:11”

Faith No More – “Angel Dust”

Minutemen – “Double Nickels on the Dime”

4/2/12

Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” 2CD

LA Symphony – “Unleashed” mixtape

Crooked I – “Block Obama II” EP

Waco Fuck – 10-song demo CD

Wu Tang Clan – “Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers”

Dying Fetus – “Purification Through  Violence

Rage Against The Machine – “Evil Empire”

4/3/12

Doomtree – “FH:XV” EP

From First To Last – “Aesthetic” EP
RA The Rugged Man – “American Low Life”

Deicide – “Once Upon The Cross”

V/A – “Mello Music Group presents Self Sacrifice”

Adolescents – “Welcome to Reality” EP

4/4/12

Self Scientific – “Trials of the Blackhearted”

Bayside – “Sirens and Condolences”

Los Rakas – “P.B.T. 2: La Tanda Del Bus”

The Smiths – “The Queen Is Dead”

CunninLynguists – “Southernunderground”

Boot Camp Clik – “Basic Training: Greatest Hits”

4/5/12

Ras Kass – “Van Gogh”

4/6/12

Mac Miller – “K.I.D.S.” mixtape

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “The VS Redux”

The Diplomats – “Diplomatic Immunity” Disc 1

Lecrae – “Rehab”

4/7/12

Living Legends – “The Gathering” EP

Hieroglyphics – “Full Circle”

4/8/12

Phobia – “Return to Desolation” EP

Hordes – “Abarognosis” EP

Azma – 3-song demo CD

Alcest – “Les Voyages De L’Ame”

Jethro Tull – “Stormwatch”

Slayer – “Reign In Blood”

Mad Sin – “A Ticket To the Underworld”

Ruptures – “Deadbloom” EP

Faith No More – “We Care A Lot”

ACxDC – “Second Coming” EP

Faith No More – “Angel Dust”

4/9/12

Faith No More – “The Real Thing”

Unsane – “Total Destruction”

Cold War Kids – “Robbers and Cowards”

K’Naan – “More Beautiful Than Silence” EP

The Melvins – “Gluey Porch Treatments”

The Diplomats – “Diplomatic Immunity” Disc 2

The Makeout Boys – “Teenage Thrills”

Crippled Black Phoenix – “(Mankind) The Crafty Ape” Disc 1

The Melvins – “The Bulls & The Bees” EP

The Reverend Horton Heat – “Smoke’em If You Got’em”
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour – “Out Of Frequency”

Children Of Nova – “The Complexity Of Light” EP

Band Of Horses – “Everything All The Time”

Leonard Cohen – “Old Ideas”

4/10/12

Boats – “Inetrcontinental Champion”

Faith No More – “King For A Day…Fool For A Lifetime”

Trash Talk – 05 demo

Young Guns – “Bones”
Living With Lions – “Holy Shit!”
Honor Role – “It Bled Like A Stuck Pig” EP

Dirty Three – “Towards the Low Sun”

Such Gold – “Pedestals” EP

Overkill – “Fuck You!” EP

The Wooden Sky – “Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Son”

Close Your Eyes – “We Will Overcome”

Kaskade – “In The Moment”

Lewd Acts – “Black Eyed Blues”

4/11/12

Faith No More – “Angel Dust”

A Perfect Circle – “Mer De Noms”

Veil Of Maya – “Eclipse”

Fight Like Apes – “…And The  Mystery Of The Golden Medallion”

Comeback Kid – “Wake The Dead”

4/12/12

Fudd Rukus – “Tell Your Friends”

Faith No More – “Album Of The Year”

Plants And Animals – “The End Of That”

The End – “Elementary”

4/14/12

Memoryhouse – “The Slideshow Effect”

4/17/12

Autechre – “Incunabala”

Crippled Black Phoenix – “(Mankind) The Crafty Ape” Disc 2

Religious Girls – “Open Your Heart To Fantasy”

4/18/12

Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire – “The Swimming Hour”

Venom – “Black Metal”

Chiddy Bang – “Breakfast”

Arkona – “Goi, Rode, Goi!”

4/19/12

Edgar Allen Floe – “The Streetwise”

Sick Of It All – “Built To Last”

Corrosion Of Conformity – S/T

Ex Deo – “Romulus”

AFX – “Chosen Lands”

Parts And Labor – “Receivers”

4/20/12

Batfoot – “Brain Dead”

Kevin Greenspon – “Rose Window” EP

Helium – “The Dirt Of Luck”

Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Collection”

4/21/12

Wretched –“Son Of Perdition”

Katrina Stoneheart/Vehicle Blues – split cassette

Heltah Skeltah – “D.I.R.T.”

4/22/12

Butthole Surfers – “Locust Abortion Technician”

4/23/12

Justin Townes Earle – “Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now”

4/24/12

Trial – “Are These Our Lives?”

Junior Reid – “One Blood”

Sublime – “Robbin’ the Hood”

The Mars Volta – “Noctourniquet”

All Teeth – “I Am Losing”

Autoclave – S/T

Emmure – “Goodbye To The Gallows”

Before Their Eyes – “Redemption”

Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School Of Medicine – “The Audacity of Hype”

4/25/12

Ani DiFranco – “Which Side Are You On?”

Zao – “Where Fire And Blood Bring Rest”

From Autumn To Ashes – “Too Bad You’re Beautiful”

The Used – “Vulnerable”

4/26/12

Prong – “Force Fed”

Oiltanker – “The Shadow of Greed” EP

Screeching Weasel – “How To Make Enemies And Irritate People”

Jay Brannan – “Rob Me Blind”

4/24/12

Witchburn – “This Is How We Slay Our Demons”

The Pursuit Of Happiness – “The Wonderful World Of…”

Velveteen – “Home Waters”

4/28/12

Panic! At The Disco – “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”

Shinedown – “Amaryllis”

Throw The Goat – “Demo Primero”

Blanks 77 – “Killer Blanks”

Death – “Human”

Joel Plaskett Emergency – “Scrappy Happiness”

Tragedy – “Vengeance”

Death Cab For Cutie – “Narrow Stairs”

4/29/12

Emalkay – “Eclipse”

OutKast – “ATLiens”

The Cure – “Seventeen Seconds”

Overkill – “The Electric Age”

Marcy Playground – S/T

Skin Like Iron/Nails – split EP

Million Dead – “Harmony No Harmony”

Waterdown – “Never Kill A Boy On The First Date”

Funeral For A Friend – “Casually Dressed and Deep In Conversation”

Mastodon/Feist – “Feistodon” split 7”

Judas Priest – “British Steel”

The All-American Rejects – “Kids in the Street”

Duke Ellington – “The Eternal Ellington”

4/30/12

Death Crisis –S/T 7”

Modern Jazz Quartet – “Pyramid”

Underdog – “Matchless” discography CD

Gregory Lemarchal – “Je Deviens Moi”

Thrice – “Vheissu”

Johnny Horton – “Mean Mean Son of A Gun”

Axel Rudi Pell – “Circle Of The Oath”

Nazareth – “The Very Best Of”

Otro/The Maurupials – split 7”

Willie Nelson – “Red Headed Stranger”

I Blame Coco – “The Constant”

Muddy Waters – “The Real Folk Blues”

NOTES

-         - This is the first month of the 2012 so far where a Cannibal Corpse album wasn’t the first album I listened to. This month it was the second album.

-          - My obsession with the “Angel Dust” album carried over into this month, and it led me to rediscover the rest of FNM’s catalog as well.

-       -    Hordes, Ruptures, ACxDC, Nails, Oiltanker…there are a lot of thrashy powerviolence-influenced hardcore bands out there right now

-        -  The new K’Naan and Shinedown albums are in competition with the new K.Flay and Lacuna Coil albums for the title of “Worst Album of 2012”…let’s see how much more bullshit I can put myself through before December ends

-         - In contrast, the new Mars Volta, Corrosion Of Conformity, and Alcest albums are my favorite releases of the year so far...great stuff from all three

-         - The Diplomats suck

-        -  2 Melvins albums in one day? Madness.

-         - Leonard Cohen’s new album is my first exposure to his work…I’m a noob

-         - Autoclave is like my new favorite band I can’t believe it took me this long to discover them

-        -  “the Audacity of Hype” sounds like the Dead Kennedys never broke up its amazing

-        -  “Where Fire And Blood Bring Rest” still heavy after all these years

-        -  I am among those who downloaded Velveteen songs when “Narrow Stairs” came out and was fooled for years into thinking they were Death Cab songs…literally just a few days ago I discovered the mix-up and finally listened to the real DCFC album…But Velveteen is dope!

I also saw Swimteam, LA Symphony, Wu-Tang Clan, RA The Rugged Man, CunninLynguists, People Under The Stairs, Hieroglyphics, Living Legends, Dilated Peoples, Brother Ali, The Coltranes, Green Screen Door, Merchandise, and NASA Space Universe perform live this month.