The tired and irrelevant disapproval of Epitaph Records

Epitaph's Punk-O-Rama 10 relates to possibly my earliest memory of evaluating a work critically. My favorite band was NOFX, who at the time released a series of EPs as part of its 7" of the Month Club. I didn't have a record player yet, nor was I very keen on how to obtain rare songs by other means. I used the Internet very infrequently.

Review: The Lawrence Arms confront adulthood on Metropole

“I blinked twice, and twenty years went by.” Rarely has a cliché come across so earnestly, but on Metropole, Brendan Kelly’s revealed longings, even the fairly pitiful ones, are sympathetic. The record itself is a testament to the fleeting aspects of adulthood. Fatherhood, husbandhood, relocation and work all rearranged the priorities of the long-running punk rock band, and it’s now been nearly eight years since The Lawrence Arms released its last full-length. As Kelly might put it, less than the blink of an eye.

Review: On its sixth full-length, Against Me! finds clarity

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is the product of more than two years of songwriting, a pair of lineup changes, and a recurring battle with progress. It’s the end result — or, perhaps, a single milestone — of Laura Jane Grace’s personal journey, one that has since evolved into something much more public.

A music-related Best of 2013 list for those who don't particularly care much for My Bloody Valentine, Kanye West, or the latest Arcade Fire album

The Dillinger Escape Plan. Photo: Sumerian Records

I bought a lot of records in 2013. A number of them happen to have been released this year. I liked 10 of them enough to write about them here. And though I can't help but roll my eyes at end-of-the-year lists posted in early December, I also realize that I probably won't pick up any more records between now and January 1st, unless I'm pre-ordering something new from Dillinger Four. Note to Dillinger Four -- we're now approaching six years of waiting. Again.

Review: Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara once relied heavily on elements of folk, but the group now more closely resembles Kesha than Ani DiFranco. That’s not to say the progression is unexpected.

Band Write Up: We Were Skeletons

Appears at http://www.nationalunderground.org/news/bands-you-need-to-know/451-bands-you-need-to-know-we-were-skeletons

If Ampere decided to find some middle-ground between having a regular tempo and no discernible tempo at all, the result might have been remarkably similar to We Were Skeletons, a chaotic three-piece screamo band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The band adds a mathy twist to many of their songs, and it’s always smartly integrated, briskly played, and typically utilized as a series of transitions into angry, full-on blasts or subdued moments of restraint. Dual vocals often overlap in a tag-team manner reminiscent of early Twelve Hour Turn.

Over the span of their nine-song self-titled sophomore LP, which came out last year, We Were Skeletons demonstrate a remarkable talent for holding the listener’s attention through one dynamic shift to another, and song lengths range from two to seven minutes. The immense “This Destroys Us” features super intricate guitar work that progressively takes shape alongside a percussion-heavy rhythm that breaks down as quickly as it picks back up, and that’s just the first thirty seconds.

Currently signed to Topshelf Records, We Were Skeletons have released a split EP with MNWA, and subsequently released a split with The Saddest Landscape last April. The band recently wrapped up a U.S. Tour, and will be playing the Fest this October. Stream We Were Skeletons at Topshelf's Bandcamp page here!

Rain and Sweat

The House of Vans in Brooklyn has hosted several free shows this summer. I’m not sure how they do it, to be honest. The place is formally a skate park, renovated to temporarily accommodate a large stage. There’s a barrier, as well, with no-nonsense security tossing out crowd surfers without a single warning. But hey, not my problem. The strictly enforced no-crowd-surfing rule is completely understandable considering the cost of entry, and I imagine it’s somewhat necessary in combating the inevitably shitty result of having offered free beer. The combination of alcohol and flying bodies is surely a recipe for destructive rowdiness.

I showed up at four PM last week to secure my spot in line for Against Me!. Against Me! were opening for Tokyo Police Club, for whom I did not stick around, but they played a lengthy set, regardless. My dad, sister, and sister’s friend sought food, drinks, and a bathroom while I held our spot. They returned shortly thereafter with a slice of pizza for me. Unfortunately, the rain picked up at about ten minutes 'til doors. We got soaked, me in particular, as wetness clung between my skin and a sticky flannel shirt. I dried off eventually, but enduring the rain was unpleasant. In all my years of waiting in lines, I’ve actually never encountered it, so that was a first. House of Vans employees sold ponchos at the last minute, but by then it was too late, and there was no point. They finally started to let us in at 6:30.

RSVPing, which we all did, was recommended prior to the show, but it turned out to be pretty unnecessary, as the line filtered into the building without so much as an ID check. Perhaps the lack of formality was in part due to the rain, but I’d also heard of people having very little amount of trouble getting in. They allowed entry up until a certain level of capacity. I believe that most people, assuming they endured at least some of the rain, managed to get in. There was plenty of space. My sister and I ended up in the second row facing stage left and some poorly-placed amps that blocked some of the view onstage.

The openers were remarkably awful. I’ve heard good things about Japanther, but the telephones-for-microphones gimmick and garage rock mediocrity did little more than bore me. Boredom, however, turned out to be among the least of my concerns, as it transcended into uncomfortable, horrified embarrassment when Big Freedia emerged alongside four backup dancers and a DJ. Big Freedia is a Brooklyn-based, flamboyantly gay “rap” artist whose performances feature unsightly, gratuitous amounts of rear-end gyrations that culminate in a volunteer-based “booty battle” to the tune of the self-explanatory “Azz Everywhere.” The songs themselves were comprised of so many repetitive loops that it became, at one point, totally nauseating, both audibly and visually.

Against Me! more than made up for that horrendous display, invigorating the crowd with the first decent thing they’d heard all night. They somehow squeezed eighteen songs into fifty-five minutes, pausing only to thank the crowd and the venue. It's truly astonishing how tight they’ve become. The set was incredibly well-rehearsed and professional, yet it somehow appeared to be equally casual and joyous. The band is clearly having the most fun they’ve had in years, and that unbridled enthusiasm undoubtedly descended to the crowd, climaxing with the ever-impassioned “We Laugh at Danger and Break all the Rules.” I left the show with Black Crosses on CD, a smile, and yet another soaked t-shirt.