Let's hear it for four-month hiatus-in'. Um, I’ll be better?
This gem comes to us via 1999, and I'm wondering if Dan possibly made this for me as a graduation present (as he and my family came to Tallahassee to see me walk) or if he made this after he'd started school in Champaign. Hm.
Anyway, this one's definitely more my jam that the last tape I reviewed, primarily because the fake ska is kept to a minimum, the pop-punk features high in the mix, and again, we're looking at some serious hits. The cover art's pretty minimal in comparison, and I'm not sure if "I Pirate" (vs. "A Pirate") is a typo.
Seriously, though, this might be the Golden Tape of Dan's because before this there was a lot of skapunk bullshit and once Dan got to college, he grew into more hardcore and metal - which means that he went from liking a lot of people playing their instruments well, to worthwhile music, to more guys playing their instruments really well. Anyway, this tape has a lot of songs I wouldn't have heard from any of my other sources, is catchy as hell, and I get the sense that Dan kind of knew what I wanted at this point. Cheap heat!
Dan loooovvveessss the Vindictives and the Nobodys and I've come around (a little, anyway) but at the time, I just couldn't stomach them - didn't see what made them decent, but that distaste might be an aftereffect of the balls-shriveling nightmare voices of JJ Nobody & Joey Vindictive.
On that note, I was in a circle pit at a Tullycraft show a few months back (um, really!) and based on how fast and fun Tully's songs are (though I've never been a HUGE fan of theirs), I'm often curious how some bands/songs get to be "pop-punk" and some don't seemingly only because of the singer's voice: note that the bassline of the Swingin' Utters "Next in Line" (a sorta gritty sad song from this tape) seems really close to "Josie" by Tullycraft but because Sean Tully sings in a funny cute nasally voice and pop-punk voices are supposed to be a) loud b) gritty c) British d) annoying e) unintelligible or hell, I dunno, Tully’s for wimps. What the hell. Conversely, I bet most tweepop kids probably own at least one MTX single but nobody calls those twee-pop kids "jocks".
Anyway. . .
The good:
- So many good pop punk songs. A song about Zero Bars (which was, for a time, my fave candy bar). (Now my favorite candy bar is cheese corn. Fuck candy bars.) Teen Idols! Pretty much all good reasons to stay in yr car two
- Two incredible Lillingtons songs! Easily my favorite pop-punk band of the 90's-00's, and of all the bands Dan scooped me on, they're the best. I know it's formula and I think most of my friends might not understand what makes them better than other soundalike bands, but their early stuff has this real heart to it, this simple, wide-eyed wistfulness that permeates even through the silly/stupid lyrics. While 1999's "Death by Television" is pretty much considered a punk-pop classic, and I love it beyond death, ultimately songs about UFO's and monsters and Rambo are always going to be trumped by songs about being in love with a girl at your high school. (Which is why Teenage Bottlerocket's records are better than the last two Lillingtons records.) http://www.teenagebottlerocket.com (Thanks to this post, I now know what I’m doing next Thursday…)
- LTJ are apparently still around. Really. What the fuck do those guys look like now?
- Discount - This song rules (and I believe I gave this CD to Dan for a birthday present) and reminded me of something that angered me not long ago: I read an interview with Alison Discount (now "VV" of The Kills) and now she says she's from London, probably because she's embarrased to be from Florida. Which is bullshit - Florida is 100% the punkest state in the Union.
- You know, I'm glad the Clash tried to be a dubby reggae band, but boy, did they suck at it. "Crooked Beat" is just such a bad idea - soulless and sort of lazy. It's not that I claim to be an expert on reggae or dub (or really anything else) and I know the Clash were hardcore fans of the stuff and really helped if find an audience, but why did they do this? Ugh. Recently saw a documentary about Lee "Scratch" Perry - there's a funny scene where he claims that he "fixed" the Clash. There’s also a pretty funny scene where you can’t tell what in Jah’s holy name he’s talking about. . . turns out that’s pretty much the whole movie. Anyway, pretty amazing doc.
All said and done, some quality mixin’ from a quality guy, who just got lazers shot right through his eye. (Yarrr.)
- The Vindictives - In Pursuit
- Common Rider - Classics of Love
- The Orphans - The Government Stole my Germs CD
- The Lillingtons - For the Fun of It
- Bouncing Souls - Undeniable
- Teen Idols - 20 Below
- The Clash - Crooked Beat
- Swingin' Utters - Net in Line
- The Pietasters - Yesterday's Over
- The Parasites - Fool for You
- Jud Jud - Bass at the Beginning Song
- Screeching Weasel - High Ambitions
- Moral Crux - Breakdown
- The Business - Get Out of My House
- The Groovie Ghoulies - I Don't Like Mondays
- Rocket from the Crypt - French Guy
- Beatnik Termites - Undesirable
- The Descendents - Pervert
Side B
- Less Than Jake - Anchor
- Discount - Lights Out
- The Bruisers - These Two Boots of Mine
- The Go-Go's - Tonite
- Swingin' Utters - London Drunk
- The Stubborn All-Stars - Lose this Skin
- Anal Cunt - Your Kid is Deformed
- Rancid - Idle Hands
- Screeching Weasel - You'll Be in My Dreams
- The Belmont Playboys - Hang All Over You (live)
- The Bouncing Souls - Argyle (live)
- Weezer - Velouria
- The Vindictives - I'm Sick
- The UK Subs - NRA Jingle
- The Lillingtons - Homecoming Queen
- The Clash - Julie's in the Drug Squad
- Sloppy Seconds - Gimme That Zero Bar
- Rancid - Blacklisted
- Nobodys - Joe's Sister
- Mr. T Experience - Semi-OK
- 21. The Vindictives - First One on the Block
- 22. The Groovie Ghoulies - Doin' Fine
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