Belvedere - Good Grief Retreat

On May 14th, Belvedere released their sixth studio album, Hindsight is the Sixth Sense, on Thousand Islands Records.

This time around, Belvedere takes aim directly at capitalism and corporations. They don’t pull any punches either. Songs like “Good Grief Retreat” focuses on corporate greed and how the average worker is taken advantage of within the capitalist system. The song touches on all the hurdles the average worker has to overcome, and pleads for a better system to emerge, and for the workers to come together to force that change.

If, for some reason, you’ve been living under a rock and aren’t familiar with Belvedere, think of them as a mixture of Propagandhi, Millencolin, and Bad Religion. Melodic hardcore punk with a political and sincere edge. Belvedere newcomers Dan Wollach and Ryan Mumby also add a new dynamic to the band’s sound. They’re definitely welcome additions to the group. There’s something in Hindsight for old fans and new fans alike. Definitely worth a listen, as the album is musically solid and (unfortunately) topical regarding the world around us today.

This is Good Grief Retreat.

Gatuplan - Punkhjärta

Veteran punk rock bass player Inge Johansson (known from bands such as The (international) Noise Conspiracy, Against Me!, CSS, Cryssis and Stilett) releases his first solo album under the name Gatuplan on Sound Pollution/Wild Kingdom. The name Gatuplan means Street Level and the album title KAMPEN GÅR VIDARE! Translates to The Struggle Continues. Gatuplan's music is rooted in old school punk rock, mixed with all the influences that comes from Inge's lifetime as a fan of music and a life on the road. Inge explains "When I started writing songs for Gatuplan the idea was to make music with the melodies and emotions of Ramones, the attitude of Rancid, a way of delivering vocals and lyrics like Mike Skinner of The Streets, a danceable world music/ska groove taken from bands like Mano Negra and The Specials and the approach to politics like Public Enemy. I wanted to write music that would work in a club vibe, but also as the soundtrack to a protest. And even though I'm singing in Swedish, I wanted to make sure that the songs were simple and catchy enough to break language barriers."

I am going with the track Punkhjärta.

Fiddlehead - Million Times

Fiddlehead is the post-hardcore ​‘supergroup’ featuring members of Have Heart, Basement, Youth Funeral and more. They recently released their second album and it  doesn’t stray far from the band’s foundational qualities: gruff but approachable, intense without being aggro, emo but not emo.

I am going with the track they have a video for. This is Million Times.

Onlooker - Easy Breezy

Onlooker are a no nonsense 4 piece garage rock band from Teeside who's previous releases, a Self Titled ep, a single titled Isolation and a split ep with Ballpeen attracted the attention of BBC 6 Music's Steve Lamacq.

The single is the first of 4 which will pave the way for a debut album which will be titled Total Rest and which will be available on 12" coloured vinyl later this year from Serial Bowl Records. They describe their sound as “Lo-fi gritty vocals with buzz saw catchy guitar riffs ….Angry Songs in a major key” and pitch it for fans of bands such as Hot Snakes, Amyl And The Sniffers, Uranium Club, Wire & The Oh Sees. Quite the diverse range of influences!

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Guillotine - Numéro 7

Guillotine are from Paris, they formed in 2019 and recently released a debut ep titled Tout Doit Disparaitre (it translates as Everything Must Disappear). The line up of the band sees Verole Flynn (ex-singer of Les Cadavres, Infraktion and Euroshima) accompanied by former members of Sherwood Pogo, Spermicide, Project Reject and Les Hammer Pikettes;  Jex Spector( Guitar), Fred Conflict (Guitar), Sean Reject (Bass) and Manga (Drums).

The ep features 5 energetic punk rock choons and boasts a sterling production job by Joshua Hudes who you may know is in Louis Lingg And The Bombs. 

This was one of the hits with the folk in the Just Some Punk Songs show chatroom earlier this week, it's called Numéro 7... 

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Sonny Vincent - The End Of Light

A whirlwind of soulful punk with a badass vibe for you today from the legendary Sonny Vincent.

Born in New York City, Sonny formed Testors in 1975 and the band were a regular fixture on the CBGB and Max's Kansas City scenes. They were one of the US' most incendiary acts during the late 70's. Since they split, Sonny's just carried on releasing top notch punk and roll music. 

The 17th September will see the release of a new album titled Snake Pit Therapy and he's enlisted an impressive cast of musicians to support him.

The album will feature "15 tracks of electrifying shock-treatment, with catchy, primal screams and searing melody" and is available to pre order on vinyl now from Finland's Svart Records.  

A teaser single has just been released, it's a timeless sounding modern day classic and it's titled The End Of Light...

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Pigeon - Bad Visions

Pigeon are a Berlin based noisy post punk outfit who's members are also in bands such as Liiek, Ostseetraum & Benzin. They've been compared on the press release to the likes of Wire and The Gordons. Their debut release was 2014's Crooked Teeth ep and since then there's been a few more eps and a Self Titled album. 

They recently returned after a 3 year absence with a new album titled Deny All Knowledge Of Complicity. 10 tracks of atmospheric punk rock, it's out now on vinyl and digitally via their Bandcamp page.

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Randells - Karen (feat Valentina De Rosa)

After dropping 4 teaser tracks over the last few months Sweden's Kings of Beach Pop Punk the Randells have released their Magnum Opus - The perfectly titled "Kicks". Besides the 4 tracks we've already heard there are 8 brand new bangers ranging from solid Punk tunes to their patented harmony filled Beach Pop gems. "Pick Me Up", "Cheese", "Elvis In A UFO" and the closer "End Of The Summer" are all classic Randells feel good tunes. There's a couple Punk jams to keep you boppin' including the new video/song "I Don't Wanna Go" featuring guest vocals from Mr. Beef Bonanza from The Bones. This is gonna be my soundtrack for the Summer of 2021 and probably many Summer's to come.

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Shannon & The Clams - Year Of The Spider

Fronted by bassist Shannon Shaw and also featuring Cody Blanchard (vocals/guitar), Nate Mahan (drums) & Will Sprott (vocals/keyboards), Shannon & The Clams are influenced by a wide range of genres including doo-wop, classic R&B, garage psych, surf, 60's girl group & 80's punk. 

There's a new album on the way, it's titled Year Of The Spider and it's out on Easy Eye Sound on August 20th.A throwback to an era long gone and featuring a bravura vocal performance, this is the video for the album's title track. It's called Year Of The Spider...

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Channel 3 - Better Than This

The legendary Hostage Records has released a brand new vinyl only comp called "Unusual Suspects". 12 bands, 12 unreleased gems. All killer - no filler! Since this LP contains the best of the Old School with the New Dogs coming out of H.B./O.C. I suppose you all want some names. Well how about this lineup - The Crowd, The Pegs, Decry, Loose Trucks, The Berzerkers, Love Canal, Shattered Faith, Channel 3, The Vulturas,  (the previously unheard) The Plagues, 16 Again and Infamous Stiffs! You can get it here from their site below.

This is a video that Channel 3 did for their song "Better Than This".

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Husband - What a World

After pandemic delays and singles being trickled through, the debut album from Husband finally dropped on Friday. They are a London based band and describe themselves as an alternative rock and indie band with music inspired by the likes of Radiohead, Nick Cave, The National and PJ Harvey. You can hear these influences strong throughout the album, so if this is your thing then it is worth checking out the album. Still quite unknown at the moment, but you imagine this will change... What a World has strong In Rainbows era Radiohead for me, which is far from a bad thing.

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Garbage - GodHead

The new Garbage is rather fun and possibly their best work in the last 20 years or so, in my opinion at least. GodHead is a standout track for me. Hints of Depeche Mode and Trent Reznors various projects in parts. Some great riffs in their and can imagine it in Bar Phono or something back in the day.

Jonesy - Record Store Day (Is For Losers)

Newtown Aces - Hey! Hey! No Way!

Das Kapitans - Old But Still Handsome

Mannequin Pussy - Pigs Is Pigs

Cutters - Australian War Crimes

Scuzzface - Fat White Blokes

Cosmic Psychos - Sin Bin

Tom Cridland - The Palm Tree

Ska is a genre that lends itself well to absurdity. From Prince Buster, through Madness to Sublime and the Aquabats, humour has mixed well with the genre. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Tom Cridland’s first ska single “The Palm Tree,”  is so perfectly brilliant, with its combination of nonsense lyrics and playful synth-driven downbeats.

As Cridland explained in an exclusive interview: “I wrote this after interviewing UB40 for the podcast. I had been listening to a lot of reggae. Then I got into the studio and everyone said we needed to make it more ska than reggae, which was a good call I think. I am not remotely qualified to do reggae!”

The Palm Tree is a perfect summer song. There’s another feature of its 

absurdity – over the end sequence Cridland has incorporated a recording of John Lennon defending The Beatles as more revolutionary than The Rolling Stones. As a fan of classic music, and especially of The Beatles, this unexpected reference to his hero shows another side of Cridland’s persona – a more experimental side.

Cridland explains: “The John Lennon sound bite is just one of my favourite of his quotes. I love The Stones but I hate it when people listen to things just because they think it looks cooler to listen to a certain band or act. Like the notion The Stones are more “rock n’ roll’ than The Beatles. It’s how we’ve ended up in this absurd situation where the current mainstream pop culture has very low levels of genuine soulful artistry and is just the corporate marketing of the stars’ physical good looks, a manufactured “attitude” and vacuous songs written by teams of ten or more people. The idea that a band needs to stand for something to be credible is ridiculous – the only thing musicians should stand for is good music.”

Zeal & Ardor - Run

A track from the black metal, soul and African-American spirituals today and it's a preview track from their upcoming 3rd album and it’s quite a blast in the face. While Zeal & Ardor have often tempered their aggression with other elements, that is certainly not the case here as the band is full-on going for it, complete with the hardest hitting riffs we’ve heard from them, double bass drumming and screamed vocals. Not for everyone, I wonder what older fans will think of the less varied and more heavy route. They definitely fill that heavy genre I sometimes crave.

Tim Barry - Avoiding Catatonic Surrender

An old Tim Barry from Avail track that popped up the other day and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. This is a great track and something we can all relate to in some part. A great example of punk goes acoustic / folk punk done well.

Slobheads - Ain't Nothing New

Another single from South West London trash punk duo Slobheads. This is fresh and shouty punk for a generation that weren't even born when many of us old gits were falling in love with the genre but it's a sound that still manages to excite even the most jaded amongst us. 

The video is fun too. This is Ain't Nothing New... 

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Geoff Palmer - Many More Drugs

Geoff Palmer is musician and songwriter. Best known as a founding member and songwriter for the veteran garage rock/power pop band The Connection. He has a way with his song writing and vocals that are easily recognizable and transcends throughout his many projects. His latest single is right in his wheelhouse of catchiness, sincerity, fun and the love and adventure of the music he loves.

There's even a tribute to the mighty Dickies within 

Many More Drugs. This is a story of a teenage Palmer desperately searching for The Dickies song ‘Manny Moe And Jack’, which he fell in love with but misheard the lyrics of! It's called Many More Drugs... 

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The Lawrence Arms - Last, Last Words

Another appearance for Chicago based punkers The Lawrence Arms. Last, Last Words is from their 2020 release Skeleton Coast.

Burial & Four Tet - Moth

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater

The World/Inferno Friendship Society is an American band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merges punk, soul, klezmer and jazz, while its collective membership features horns, piano and guitar and has a membership of about 40 players, of whom only about seven to ten active members usually perform at a time. The group was led by singer Jack Terricloth, who was the only constant during the group's history. Terricloth was known for his pointed commentary during shows; his monologues touched on politics and his transformation from the "old school".

Its lyrics often concern historical or biographical subjects, such as Weimar-era Germany, Peter Lorre, Jeffrey Lee Pierce of The Gun Club, Paul Robeson, Leni Riefenstahl, Dante Alighieri, Philip K. Dick, and Jonathan Fire*Eater.

Band leader Jack Terricloth died last month; No information on the future of the World/Inferno Friendship Society has been released following his death.

When discussing the revolving doors for the band, Terricloth maintained that the group was ‘always meant to be this way.’ and are of a gang than an actual band. Many members continue to collaborate with the group, but do not join them on tour.

Not a band I have listened to in a while, seeing posts of his death reminded me of some of their tracks I used to listen to and were introduced to on various punk comp albums. I was always intrigued by their name whenever I saw it.

Today I am sharing Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater which is the opening track from their 2006 album Red-Eyed Soul. It's a fun track and a great intro to the band.

Clowns - Does It Matter?

Melbourne 5 piece Clowns formed in 2009 and have undergone a few line up changes down the years but currently feature Stevie Williams (vocals), Jake Laderman (drums), Jarrod Goon (guitar), Cam Rust (guitar) & Hanny Tilbrook (bass/vocals). Their most recent album was titled Nature/Nurture and it came out a couple of years ago and if you missed it you can check it out along with their previous releases on their Bandcamp.

They've now returned with a brand new single and it's their catchiest song yet. It's a song that thrills. It's a feel good rush and it benefits immensely from the utilisation of Hanny duetting on vocals with the always impressive Stevie. This is Does It Matter? 

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Snakeheads (feat. A. Swayze) - Shit I Don't Have Time For

Last March saw the sad passing of Ivy League Records founder Pete Lusty who lost his battle with cancer. To honour his memory, the label recently released a debut single from a posthumously named garage band partnership between Pete and his lifelong friend and collaborator, James Roden. The band are called Snakeheads and single also features lead vocals from fellow Aussie, Andrew Swayze from A. Swayze and the Ghosts

Taking inspiration from 70's English punk, Pete and James recorded a bunch of demos in 2019 at Hercules Street Studios and one of those is the debut single.

Sounding very much like a timeless classic, this is Shit I Don't Have Time For...

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A. Swayze and the Ghosts

Dog Date - Rope Burn

Dog Date are from New Jersey and have been releasing music on Bandcamp since 2015. Now they've given some of their best tracks a bit of a polish and put them out on a debut album titled Child's Play. It's available from Pop Wig Records and as a name your price download on Bandcamp.

If frantic, fuzzed up garage punk is your thing then you'll want to check it out. In the words of the band, it's not for the squeamish... The rest of you will love it. 

This is just one of the delights on offer, it's called Rope Burn... 

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