Dirt Royal - Lose Our Way

Brighton trio Dirt Royal play an infectiously melodic mix of punk and mod which combines social commentary with a dash of satire. They released their debut album, This Is Now, back in 2014 and their new album Great Expectations was released last week. It's described as being "Instantly catchy and addictive buzzsaw UK three-chord-punky PowerPop on exactly 12 cuts. The two vocalists sing with equal measures of punk snottiness and sugary sweetness, including their unique call and response which makes the album to a true gem. But it evokes also the sound and spirit of early The Buzzcocks, The Clash and the Kinks." and you can order it here.

They've just released a video for Lose Our Way and it is a great intro to the band and album.

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Sister Disaster - Fools

Sister Disaster are a Finnish band from Jyväskylä and line up with Hanna (bass), Sanna (guitar), Kaa (vocals/guitar) and Riikka (drums). In 2018 they released an album titled Away which you can download "name your price" on Bandcamp.

The track I am sharing today features on the Girlz Disorder comp which features all female bands from all over the world, all proper punk. The comp boasts "24 100% female punk / hardcore bands from 15 countries" and includes songs from places like Brazil, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Lithuania, Indonesia, Singapore, Mexico etc... The standard is high throughout and you're guaranteed to discover something new that you like. It's available via French label Mass Prod and you can find it below

This song is called Fools...

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Lay It On The Line - Nil Desperandum

Lay It On The Line are a melodic hardcore punk band from South London who were formed in 2012 by Phinius Gage bassist/vocalist Mike Scott along with his brother Matt and Not Katies guitarist Dave Smith. They've undergone numerous line up changes since but are currently settled as a 5 piece. They've recently released a 2nd album titled A Candle In Hell and you can snap it up as a name your price download from Bandcamp.

A type of punk that I sometimes strugle with, this toes the line very well and is everything you want from a punk album, energy, aggression, well written lyrics and a band that definitely know how to play their instruments.
 
I am going with Nil Desperandum... 

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Off With Their Heads - Be Good

Second appearance from Off With Their Heads and the title track from their latest Epitaph full band release. I absolutely love this song. The build up, the energy, the lyrics, the scream. It is everything I love about punk rock.

Be Good. Be Loud. Hand up to the sky and shout..... At the top of your lungs 'til the floor falls out.

Michael Kiwanuka - Piano Joint

I usually couldn’t care about who wins the Mercury music prize but I was genuinely pleased Michael Kiwanuka won it this year. He is a British singer-songwriter and record producer who is signed with Polydor Records. His 2012 debut album, Home Again, went gold in the United Kingdom and his second album, Love & Hate, debuted in 2016 at number one.He has been nominated for numerous honours, including the Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, and BBC Music Awards.

Today I am sharing Piano Joint from his latest album Kiwanuka. A sublime talent with shades of Bill Wither & Mayfield. What a voice and an album worth your time.

Harold Budd – Campanile

Harold Budd is an American avant-garde composer and poet. He was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert. He has developed a style of playing piano he terms "soft pedal". He became a respected composer in the minimalist and avant-garde scene of Southern California in the late 1960s, and later became better known for his work with figures such as Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie.

I’m a big fan of ambient piano-driven music. Usually when I'm at home, whether I’m needing to concentrate, reading, cleaning or doing things around the house, I love to listen to that sort of music. The chord progressions that are in this particular song is something I've always been drawn to. He’s a great artist and this is the kind of track I would try and play along to on the piano, which I always found as an easier way to learn than taking lessons or following tutorials. It's tracks like this that make me regret selling my keyboard, but then I remember how little I got round to playing it. Anyway, great track and a genre that I will always come back to and has a place.

 

Scotty - Draw Your Breaks

Scotty (born, David Scott; 1951, in Westmoreland, Jamaica – 27 February 2003, in Kingston, Jamaica) performed as a reggae vocalist and deejay.

While studying at Kingston Technical High School, Scotty and fellow students Valman Smykle and A. J. Franklin (born Franklin Spence) formed a reggae trio called The Federals. They began performing paid concerts in 1967, and shortly thereafter they attracted the attention of reggae producer and music promoter Derrick Harriott while performing at a Kingston venue called the Sombrero Club. Harriott added them to a tour of reggae artists, Derrick Harriott's Musical Chariot, and helped them record a series of singles. Their first single, "Penny For Your Song", was a local hit, but subsequent singles failed to chart, and in 1969 Smykle quit the group and moved to New York City. After the break-up of The Federals, Scotty and Franklin re-formed their group by adding two new members, Noel "Bunny" Brown and Richard MacDonald. They adopted the name The Chosen Few, and resumed work under Harriott. Their popularity increased in 1970 after they provided back-up vocals for Hopeton Lewis's single "Boom Shacka Lacka", and later that year they scored a Jamaican No. 1 hit of their own with "Psychedelic Train".

Shortly after this success, Harriott removed Scotty from The Chosen Few, replacing him with Busty Brown, the former singer for The Messengers. Instead, Scotty provided DJ work for various groups under Harriott's auspices, such as The Crystallites, his first DJ outing being "Musical Chariot". He appeared on numerous charting hits during this period, such as "Sesame Street" (1970, reaching No. 3 in Jamaica), "Riddle I This" (1970, #1) and "Jam Rock Style" (1971). His song "Draw Your Brakes", a deejay version of Keith & Tex's hit "Stop That Train", was in the soundtrack to the film, The Harder They Come.

Scotty's style prefigured the 'singjay' style of the late 1970s. He continued working with Harriott until 1972, after which he spent a couple of years working with other producers such as Harry J, Lloyd Charmers, and Sonia Pottinger. Scotty moved to the United States in 1974, settling in Florida. He established a recording studio and a record label, but these both failed, and he returned to Jamaica. He resumed recording, now in a ragga style, and was working on a new album when he died of prostate cancer in 2003.

I first heard the track I am sharing on the excellent The Harder They Come soundtrack starring the wonderful Jimmy Cliff. That rattle on the track is insane. What a great track with a brilliant Jamaican vibe. Stoooooop that train.

 

Death Cab for Cutie - You Are A Tourist

Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band is composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Zac Rae (keyboards, guitar), and Jason McGerr (drums).

The band was originally a solo project by Gibbard, who expanded the project into a complete group upon getting a record deal.

Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. It is noted for its unconventional instrumentation and for Gibbard's distinctive voice and lyrical style. Alongside their full-length studio albums, the band has released four EPs, two live EPs, one live album, and one demo album.

The group's name comes from the song "Death Cab for Cutie," written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It originally featured on the British television show Do Not Adjust Your Set (series 1 episode 7), as well as in The Beatles' movie Magical Mystery Tour.

I was a massive Death Cab fan in the early - mid 00's but have found them more miss than hit since then. You Are A Tourist is on their 2011 album "Codes and Keys" and it is a great track. I sometimes think Death Cab are better when they keep it simple and this might be an example of this. The drums are great and the guitar really carries this track for me. Some pretty cool lyrics about how people sometimes feel about their home town as well.

The Jam - The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)

The Jam were an English mod revival/punk rock band during the 1970s and early 1980s, which formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, in the county of Surrey. The band released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1982, including four number one hits. As of 2007, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero?" remained the best-selling import singles of all time in the UK. They released one live album and six studio albums, the last of which, The Gift, hit number one on the UK Albums Chart. When the group disbanded in 1982, their first 15 singles were re-released and all placed within the top 100.

While the Jam shared the "angry young man" outlook and fast tempo of the mid-1970s British punk rock movement, in contrast with it the band wore smartly tailored suits reminiscent of English pop-bands in the early 1960s and incorporated mainstream 1960s rock and R&B influences into its sound, particularly from the Who's work of that period and also drew influence from the work of the Kinks and the music of American Motown. This placed the act at the forefront of the 1970s–1980s nascent Mod Revival movement. With many of the band's lyrics about working class life, Jam biographer Sean Egan commented that they "took social protest and cultural authenticity to the top of the charts."

The band drew upon a variety of stylistic influences over the course of their career, including 1960s beat music, soul, rhythm and blues and psychedelic rock, as well as 1970s punk and new wave. The trio were known for their melodic pop songs, their distinctly English flavour and their mod image. The band launched the career of Paul Weller, who went on to form the Style Council and later had a solo career. Weller wrote and sang most of the Jam's original compositions and played lead guitar, using a Rickenbacker 330. Bruce Foxton provided backing vocals and prominent basslines, which were the foundation of many of the band's songs, including the hits "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", "The Eton Rifles", "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice" mainly using a Rickenbacker 4001 or a Fender Precision Bass, as well as, on rare occasions, an Epiphone Rivoli.

My favourite track by them is probably The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow), so that is what I am sharing today.

Johnny Nash - Guava Jelly

Another loss earlier this month, John Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940 – October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.

Whilst "I Can See Clearly Now" was his most popular song Guava Jelly is probably my favourite by him. Possibly the most romantic reggae song ever it really showcases what a talent he was and such a great voice. Another artist that will be very much missed but has left a lasting mark on the world he has left behind.

The Devil Makes Three - Old Number 7

The Devil Makes Three is an Americana band from Santa Cruz, California, United States. The group blends bluegrass, old time, country, folk, blues, jazz, and ragtime music. The group's members are guitarist Pete Bernhard, upright bassist Lucia Turino, and guitarist and tenor banjo player Cooper McBean.

This is a track about dying in Whiksey. Isn't it weird how a song about Whiskey ruining your life really makes you want a Whiskey?

Reel Big Fish - Beer

Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band lost mainstream recognition but gained an underground cult following. As of 2006, the band was no longer signed to a major record label and has since been independent. After many line-up changes throughout the years, front man Aaron Barrett is the only remaining founding member in the band.

It is a track from Turn the Radio Off that I am sharing today. Beer is a great ska punk track and you may recognise it from Baseketball. It is one of those tracks that is great live and always gets the crowd going and singing along. Possibly a great song to kick you out of the downer after the break up of a relationship of some sort.

This is Beer

Kerosene Kream - Muzzle Me

Kerosene Kream are a 5 piece Swedish band from Stockholm featuring members of Polyester, Caligulas Mamma and Sticky Baby : Edvin (vocals/guitar), Hilda (vocals), Adam (drums), Fredrik (bass) and Theo (synth). They released a split album last year with Caligulas Mamma.

Earlier this month they resurfaced with a new ep titled Look Mum which features 4 tracks, one of them a recorded version of a track from the split (Where Is My Dog) plus 3 new ones. It's quirky synth infused fun and you can get it on vinyl from Push My Buttons or as a digital download here

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Sincere Engineer - Trust Me

Chicago punks Sincere Engineer have signed to Hopeless Records and to celebrate the occasion, they shared new single and music video for “Trust Me” - a guttural anthem about self-sabotage.

"We are absolutely thrilled to join the Hopeless Records family” says the band: “And we’re so excited to share our new song called 'Trust Me' with everyone! To accompany it, we made a shit DIY music video that probably has our new family thinking 'oh no, what have we done?'".

Previously signed to Red Scare, their debut album "Rhombithian" was lauded by places like Noisey and cemented their place as one of punk's most ambitious and honest bands. It also caught the attention of The Lawrence Arms who brought the band on tour. A track has also been shared on here previously.

This is a great track and leaves you eagerly waiting for more.

Alien Nosejob - Sound Of Sirens

Alien Nosejob are from Clunes, Australia and have already released an album earlier this year titled Suddenly Everything Is Twice As Loud and this has been followed up with Once Again The Present Becomes The Past. Originally planned as a concept record about Australia’s first and largest air raid, the 1942 Bombing Of Darwin, it's gradually morphed into a body of work that suggests how "history is forever repeating itself. It continues to happen. It will happen again."

Aside from a few quiet moments (a couple of brief piano pieces and the haunting synth tracks The Day After and Dead Pelican), we're treated to some pretty pacey garage punk.

This is a great taster of what to expect from the album on a whole and this is Sound Of Sirens.

The Humdrum Express - Denim in the Dugout

Football managers wearing jeans is a trend that singer/songwriter Ian Passey has noticed sneaking into the beautiful game. Better known as his alter ego, The Humdrum Express, he's known for his offbeat observationalism (songs about leopard print onesies and James Bond lookalikes) but during 2020 the Corvid pandemic and ensuing live venue lockdown has seen him struggling to whip up the enthusiasm for writing. This changed on the last day of the 2019-20 Championship season when he bore witness to the sight of Barnsley manager Gerhard Struber's euphoric celebrations as his side avoided relegation to League One. Whilst wearing skinny jeans. Not your typical managerial regalia but enough to inspire a song.

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He used to wear a suit until he axed it
Found a casual substitute - stonewashed, relaxed fit
From Brazil to Bulgaria
On the touchline and technical area
Football managers are wearing jeans


They shelved sports wear; heard ripped slim fit looked hotter
When sported by Sean Dyche and Graham Potter
An assistant coach in shorts in December
Is an image I’d rather not remember, now
Football managers are wearing jeans


Brendan Rodgers often goes out shopping
The fashion league is one he dreams of topping
A recent acid-wash acquisition
Turned heads of those held back by tradition
Football managers are wearing jeans


Away fans crudely chanted “What’s he got on?”
“Dark blue, distressed, snug fit hard wearing cotton”
There’s outfit help for those in need
From Kenny Jacket and Neil Harris-Tweed


Neil Warnock’s flares flap in the breeze
Steve Bruce cuts a dash in dungarees
No foul committed, the ref says “play on”
Garry Monk’s transferred to spray-ons
Football managers are wearing jeans


2-0 down half time at Grimsby Town
His wardrobe and his team get a dressing down
Roy Hodgson still looks sharp in a suit, but
Wait till you see Bielsa in boot cut!


Excitement mounting on cup final day
Double denim droves down Wembley Way
A united apparel from dugout to crowd
Rossi and Parfitt would be so proud
Football managers are wearing jeans


Football managers are wearing jeans – It’s a real game changer!
Football managers are wearing jeans - A tactical jean-ius!
Football managers are wearing jeans - A victory over two legs!
Football managers!

Pavid Vermin - The Beach Boys Never Surfed

Pavid Vermin are a basement rock band from Rhode Island created by Glenn Robinson. They recently released a new EP titled Titled The Beach Boys Never Surfed and it will be available later this month on Jarama 45rpm Records. Limited to 300 copies on sea blue vinyl you can get more details here.

The title track deserves to be a smash hit but the other 3 songs are also very impressive. Most of Hawthorne, California's finest might not have ridden the waves but they put out some great music. Their influence still lives on.

The Beach Boys Never Surfed...

Neon Bone - Surrender to you

Neon Bone are the Munster band that formed in 2010 and have grown into one of the catchiest outfits around. They've an impressive back catalogue of releases that'll brighten up the gloomiest of days.

They recently returned with their 4th full length (their 3rd on Monster Zero). It's titled Make It Last and unsurprisingly it's a joy. Plenty of riffs, even more hooks and every song is an earworm. You'll find yourself singing along to the likes of I've Got A Friend, I'm Coming Home and Ricky Nelson cover It's Up To You. You can get it on vinyl or digital download here.

This is Surrender To You...

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Laura Jane Grace - The Mountain Song

On Thursday Laura Jane Grace dropped a surprise album. Titled Stay Alive it is 14 songs, all analog and recorded by Steve Albini in Chicago at Electrical Audio over a few days. It is one of my favorite albums she's ever made, which considering what she has to her name is some statement. I could have just posted the whole album, but after a lot of back and forth I have gone with "The Mountain Song". Rather than me write anything else, I am being lazy and pasting the blurb for the release

Laura Jane Grace wasn’t planning on making a solo record this year. In fact, she was planning on making a record with Against Me!, the band she’s fronted for the past 23 years. But clearly, nothing went according to plan this year. “We came home from the Against Me! tour we were on in March, and right before we left, we had been in the studio working on songs, and I had been working on them for months prior,” says Grace. As she sat at home, all of her tours canceled, and the members of Against Me!—as well as her other band Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers—spread across the country, she was left with a batch of songs and no band to record them with.

“I sat around for a month-and-a-half at a home just being shellshocked being like, ‘What the fuck happened and what the fuck is happening with the world?’ As I started to get my bearings, I just came to the realization that waiting was going to kill the record and kill the songs. I spent two years working on all these songs, and the idea of throwing them away didn’t sit well with me,” says Grace. “But then I was like, ‘What am I waiting for?’ All I have to do is adjust my scope. I can sit here on my fucking ass and do nothing, or I can work.”

 

So, Grace got to work. She picked up the phone and called Electrical Audio, the iconic studio in her adopted hometown of Chicago, Illinois, to ask if she could make a record with famed engineer Steve Albini. The goal was to go in and document these songs exactly as she’d been playing them in her home, straight to analog tape. When she hung up the phone, she had four days booked.

 

The result of the session at Electrical Audio is Stay Alive, a record that doesn’t just embody that title, it serves as the guiding principle behind its creations. But it also put life back into an industry that’s been ravaged by venue closures, cancelled tours, and delayed records. “By putting the songs out, that puts the label in work, that puts a photographer in work, that puts a graphic designer in work, that puts a merch company in work, that keeps it alive,” says Grace. “You hear on the news every day about people losing their jobs and everything collapsing, and I want to fight against that. The only way I can think to fight against that is to work.”

 

Across the 14 songs that comprise Stay Alive, Grace takes all her pent-up fears, anger, and anxiety and releases it, like an olive branch to the weary listeners who are feeling those exact same ways. As she says in “Blood & Thunder,” a love song to Chicago—or perhaps a mea culpa for “I Hate Chicago” on The Devouring Mothers album Bought to Rot—the album’s thematic premise is all but spelled out: “When you give in and quit / There’s a power to be found in it.” It’s an idea that may sound odd on its face, but it displays Grace’s commitment to no longer resisting the changes in front of her. On a record that sees her traversing the globe—from Marbella, Spain to Glasgow, Scotland to London, England to the Land of Oz—”Blood & Thunder” is a begrudging embrace of what can’t be changed; Instead of resisting the city she once loathed, she finds the beauty in the little things, like the moon rising over Indian Boundary Park, or the wind rolling up Western Avenue.

 

The album’s title is one that surfaces in the record itself, and serves as a subtle rejoinder to her Polyvinyl labelmate Chris Farren, who gifted Grace a hat that said “Can’t Die,” and she’s spent the last two years running in it every single day. By flipping the phrase on its head, Grace built her own message; one based around work, struggle, and reaffirmed commitments. In certain cases, songs like “Hanging Tree,” which has a chorus that builds to the phrase, “A burning crucifix and a hanging tree,” have been kicking around since 2017, but finally found a moment that made sense for it on Stay Alive. And in the case of “Shelter In Place,” a song about her own isolation and introspection, the pandemic finally gave words to a feeling she’d long had but was never able to accurately describe.

 

The songs that make up Stay Alive are documents of a time and a songwriter who experienced enough to find levity in the simple act of doing the work. Recorded with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, an occasional drum machine, and her own powerful voice, Grace’s distinct songwriting signature is front and center. What’s more, she made it purely for herself. “I just want to put this out because it makes me feel alive and it’s giving me something better than sitting here losing my mind while the world falls apart,” says Grace. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about what you do. Just stay alive.”

 

Give the album a whirl. It's raw, it's personal, it is great.

Nieviem - Fick

Nieviem are a 4 piece punk band from Lincoln (UK). Pronounced Nee-vee-em, the name is derived from the polish for I don't know (Nie Wiem). The band, who formed in 2016 features 3 poles in the line up, Bart Stanczyk (guitar/songwriter), Tomek Tyrlik (drums) and Kuba Piatkowski (bass). On vocals is recent recruit Hope Bateman who joined last May following the departure of founder member Vicky McClelland due to ill health.

Inspired by 90's era melodic skate punk, they've made all their releases "name your price" on Bandcamp.  If you're a fan of catchy, fast punk with female vocals then there's no reason you won't like Nieviem. This is Fick....

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Bad Brains - Pay To Cum

Bad Brains are the Washington, D.C punk scene legends that began as jazz-fusion but changed their sound when the punk scene hit. They were one of the few African-American groups on the CBGB scene, but within a short time their sound evolved even more, and they embraced everything from soul to reggae to heavy metal. Many bands are influenced by them and always rave about their live show, blowing many of the bands they were supporting out of the water. Pay to Cum is 90 seconds of speed, swing and agility. Pure madness that changed the punk scene forever.

The Old Firm Casuals - Wartime Rock 'N' Roll

The Old Firm Casuals are an American street punk/Oi! band from San Francisco, California featuring Rancid member Lars Frederiksen. This is a great catchy song that shows off the great side of Lars's writing.

Northcote - You Could Never Let Me Down

 Northcote, moniker of musician Matthew Daniel Goud (born May 17, 1985), is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His voice is described as similar to Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker, Peter Gabriel, as well as a more refined projection of his former hardcore roots. Northcote has shared the stage with Frank Turner, The Gaslight Anthem, Tim Barry, Wintersleep, Aidan Knight, Hannah Georgas, John K Samson (Weakerthans, Propaghandi), Corb Lund, The Wooden Sky, Library Voices, Lindi Ortega and others.

The song has somewhat darker verses than other songs but these are met with rousing chorus's and a fantastic bridge.

Matt Skiba And The Sekrets - Falling Like Rain

Matt Skiba And The Sekrets is one of many side projects from Alkaline Trio vocalist and guitarist Matt Skiba. Compard to his Alkaline Trio material, there are more synths in The Sekrets work and a bit of an 80's vibe. This is possibly my favourite from his first album, Babylon.

Press Club – Headwreck

Press Club are a Melbourne based indie garage band that I stumbled upon through The Smith Street Band. I love the energy and lyrics on this one and the video shows off what you will get live. This is an unrelenting 2 minutes and 40 seconds of explosive alt-rock.

Great Cynics - Waster

Great Cynics are a punk rock group based in London, England that I first came across when they supported Bouncing Souls at Brudenell Social Club back in 2017. A great nice band who write some catchy indie punk tracks, this being the one I shared on my spotify mixtape a few years back.

The Taxpayers - I Love You Like An Alcoholic

The Taxpayers are a punk rock band, taking influence from folk, country, jazz, swing, blues, hardcore punk. They have been credited for working with different styles. Experimenting with different forms of audience participation, they often incorporate magic tricks, stories, and more at live shows.

This is rack 12 from "God, Forgive These Bastards" - Songs From The Forgotten Life Of Henry Turner. Some great lines in there such as "I need you like I need a gaping head wound". I think there is something super bluesy about the song but has folk punk type stuff going on as well.

Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy

Gin Blossoms is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, New Miserable Experience, and the first single released from that album, "Hey Jealousy". "Hey Jealousy" became a Top 25 hit and went gold, and New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from the album.

As one critic notes, the lyrics of the song reflect Hopkins' "constantly self-medicating in the face of depression." However, even though the lyrics' "hopefulness shriveled into empty promise," the performance of the song "is emotionally detached from Hopkins' afflictions" and presents a "sunny soundtrack" for his depression.

The lyrics originally contained the line "you can trust me not to drink", referring to Hopkins' addiction, but this was changed by the band.

Mischief Brew - Thanks, Bastards!

Mischief Brew was an American band from Philadelphia, which played DIY anarcho-punk music, incorporating a variety of styles including American folk, swing, and Gypsy-punk. It was started by Erik Petersen as a solo project and was fairly unique for the time, blending anarcho punk with folk and medieval imagery. Eventually, the project would become a band and record acoustic and electric tracks. Sadly Erik Petersen passed away in 2016, but he left behind some great folk punk with some brilliant thought provoking and clever lyrics.

I have gone with "Thanks, Bastards!" which is a fairly simple yet fun song. If you haven't heard them then I feel that this is a good intro to them as well.

Foxing - Night Channels

Foxing is an American indie rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. The band has released three studio albums and an EP, as well as a pair of split albums and a single. I discovered this track on a compilation called "Forever Beautiful" which was released after the Florida nightclub attack. I love the piano and the vocals. Great song. The video is, erm, interesting. But does it somehow works?

PEARS - Comfortably Dumb

Second appearance from New Orleans hardcore punks Pears. This is Comfortably Dumb from thier 2020 self titled release. It kind of sounds like a hardcore NoFX and is a nice catchy song with mix of melodies, singing and a bit of shouting thrown in for good measure.