Music Related News

Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies have split, so there.

AFI have a new album out, called ‘Shut your Mouth and Open Your Eyes’, on Nitro Records

Farside are recording a new album right now, due for release early Spring ‘98, on Revelation Records.  Apparently, it will be Rev: 69 - the band have promised to time the release to coincide with such a significant number...

Shelter were in a serious driving accident whilst out in their tour truck somewhere - one of the roadies even broke his back! They will be out for a while, but should have a new album released soon...

Fat Wreck Chords have released their third ‘Fat Music’ compilation, called ‘Physical Fatness’.

Gameface have re-released some of their old stuff on Dr. Strange, called ‘Remember’.

Review Section

Note on MPEG Layer 3 Audio Files:  This is an excellent audio and video standard that uses, highly optimized compression techniques but with quality kept in mind. Using the MP3 standard, I can compress 20 secs of CD quality audio into roughly 140 - 150k. The same .WAV standard takes up 1.79MB!

To download and play .MP3 files you will need a suitable player - the one I recommend is called WINAMP (Windows ‘95/NT) or MACAMP. They are both freeware, and can be found at HTTP://WWW.NULLSOFT.COM

Bracket - Novelty Forever (Fat Wreck Chords)

Well, Bracket are now officially on Fat Wreck, after falling out with Caroline completely. However, this isn’t their first release on Fat - they have had numerous singles and stuff out before, more or less all of which was compiled together on the ‘E is for Everything’ LP that came out not so long back. Anyway, this is typical Bracket stuff - a very distinctive melodic sound that stands out straight away. A more consistent album than say ‘Four Wheel Vibe’, but still nowhere near as good as ‘924, Forestville St.’, but there again most things aren’t.

Shelter - Beyond Planet Earth (Roadrunner)

Shelter are one mean band, or at least I used to think so until I heard this album.  Um, this is pretty different from previous releases, such as Mantra (their best album, and their first on a major label), in that they just don’t seem pissed off anymore. ‘Beyond Planet Earth’ even has some ska tracks on it, which may or may not be good news, depending on if you like stuff like that.  There again, I would have to say that it is a good album, but it’s just not the Shelter I know...

Shades Apart - Seeing Things (Revelation Records)

Shades Apart are another fine band signed to Revelation, and this is their latest release, produced by none other than Bill Stevenson & Steven Egerton (ALL / Descendents). The result is a really good album, with obvious ALL influences, but at the same time enough variation to make it worth listening to. They rock live too!

Lagwagon - Double Plaidnum (Fat Wreck Chords)

After ‘Hoss’, I didn’t know what to really expect from Lagwagon... Hoss was really really good, far better than any of their previous releases, and I wondered if they could keep it up. Well, this album goes to show that they couldn’t - Double Plaidnum is nowhere near as good as Hoss. But thats not to say it’s a bad album... it’s sort of averagely ok.

Goodbye Harry - I Can Smoke! (Cruz Records)

This was really weird - I had no idea whatsoever that this was going to be released, so it was a really good surprise when it came out! I love anything that Scott Reynolds does; the only ALL albums that I really liked were the ones with him as the vocalist. Goodbye Harry is his band, and as you would expect their style is influenced by Mr. Reynold’s ALL days. So, if you liked Allroy Saves or Allroy’s Revenge (or even some of Percolator), then GBH is for you. This is their second full length, the first being ‘Food Stamp BBQ’, and both are similar-ish, this release being a little more ‘punk’ perhaps, in that it sounds like the band is having more of a laugh...? Whatever, it is really really good; Goodbye Harry rule!

Playlists

Just in case you are interested, here are what we are listening to most at the moment, album-wise:

Nick:  Gameface - Good,  Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - Have a Ball,  J Church - ‘The Drama of Alienation’, & ‘Camels Spilled Corona and the Sound of Mariachi Bands’ Face to Face - S/T

Ben:  Shutdown - Icarus, Bracket - 924, Forestville Street, Shades Apart - Seeing Things, Smoking Popes - Destination Failure, Samiam - YAFMO, Beastie Boys - Aglio e Olio