Teaching the world through punk rock

In the last while I've been reading a lot about copyrights and how companies are totally convinced that people are too fucking stupid to be able to tell the difference between Apple Computers and Apple records and the like.

This makes me think about the Subhumans. Which Subhumans you ask? Exactly. Generally speaking, the people who care or know anything are cognizant enough to know that there are two distinctly different entities which both hold similar titles. There's the Canadian Subhumans and then there's Subhumans UK or Sub Hum Ans. It's not like either of these bands has every played a show and confused their potential audience that they might be the other one, at least not to my knowledge.

It's fucking retarded that this shit doesn't extend to the "real world." It's an insult to people that companies can file a law suit against someone who is playing off of their name or using some artwork that is similar, and have it win because it could "potentially confuse customers."

A while ago Microsoft sued Mike Rowe, a dude who wrote software, for having a website called www.mikerowesoft.com. That shit isn't confusing to people, it's just a decent way for some kid to generate a bit of publicity. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and all that.

And it just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Now we've got Wal-Mart suing over copyright infringement over someone using the fucking happy face? Are you serious? The world's biggest corporation is worried that some asshole redneck is going to see a happy face on some sign outside of a convenience store and think that it's a fucking Wal-Mart? Get the fuck out of here. I want to burn the world to the core when I hear about shit like that. It's fucking ludicrous.

People are stupid, no doubt about it. But they're not THAT stupid.

More reviews:

Morrissey sucks. Anyone who likes this assclown has serious fucking issues. I'm all for depressing music, but not when it's straight up whining. Fuck Morrissey and the Smiths.

I got fired, you get reviews

No Hope For The Kids - Angels of Destruction 7"
Clearly, this band can do no wrong. The first song Angels of Destruction, is a guitar lead heavy song, that's just as catchy as anything off the first 7" or the LP. Simple lyrics, lots of good backing vocals, great sing-along potential if they'd ever come tour North America. The B-Side Cold Touch Of Death, reminds me of Halloween by the Misfits. It's slower than the A-side, it's one of those super awesome songs that you want to listen to when it's shitty and raining outside. Slow and dark, like a lot of their other stuff. Aces all around. Good follow up to an amazing record and an even more amazing first 7". You can probably still get it online without resorting to eBay, and according to one of the dudes on the KBD mailing list put out the record, and he says a second press is coming out soon and will be "identical" to the first.

The Vicious - Suicidal Generation
Wow. This is so fucking good. The dude's voice kinda reminds me of early Stitches, in that it's snotty as shit and catchy as fuck. Pogo mayhem, mid-tempo punk. Totally fucking good. It's even got reverb on his vocals at the end of the title track. The B-side is more of the same, killer song. I heard the LP while I was down in Richmond this weekend and it's just as good as this 7", I'm just waiting on the dude from bistrodistro to get back from tour to mail it out to me. I found a copy of this 7" at Profane Existence last week, so check there before you go to eBay where it sells for way more than I paid PE.

Formaldehyde Junkies - EP
From Minneapolis, really good 7". This is the first contact I've had with this band, since they first played Winnipeg after I left, and I missed them when they were here-ish. 4 songs of fast hardcore. Snotty vocals, fast guitars, awesomely unproduced sounding. I wish I hadn't heard it 400 times before I tried to write this review, I think I've already said as many good things to people as I have to say about it and typing them out again will kill me. It's rad though, you should probably buy it.

No Bullshit Volume 1
Out on No Way Records, this thing sold out in like 4 minutes and I somehow lucked out and got a copy of it. Talk about a killer fucking line up for a comp. Starts out with Career Suicide giving the record its title track. It's Career Suicide, I don't need to tell you how awesome they are, if you're reading this you should already know. Pretty standard CS stuff, fast circle-pit inducing hardcore from Toronto. After CS is some Japanese band, I dunno what they're hopped up on, but it sounds like it's pretty good speed. They're called Bad Dirty Hate, and they rip. I've never heard anything else by them, but if that song is any indication of what they're like: I'm into them. Last song on the first side is by Government Warning, which I just realized I didn't babble about how fucking awesome their 7" is on here yet, and it's a fucking zinger. Way faster than anything on the 7", rips harder, but without any really catchy singy parts. The B-Side starts up with Strung Up ripping through their version of DMS, which surprisingly isn't a crew song. Strung Up rips, and so they get two songs on the comp. The second one is Bent Out Of Shape, and it rules just as much as the first. Closing the comp is Direct Control with Fake, which is probably my favorite DC song yet. Ripping, raw and totally valid. There's a second press coming out soon, get ahold of one by emailing the label at no way records hc at gmail dot com. But formatted like an email address of course. There's gonna be more of these comps coming out, they'll probably all be this good. That makes me happy.

Wasted Time
Last up is the Wasted Time 7". I saw these dudes in Richmond on Sunday at Nanci Raygun with Fucked Up, Gorilla Angreb, Government Warning, Cloak/Dagger and the Spark. When they were going on I asked Daniel from Dead Metaphor what they were like. He told me they sounded like Poison Idea, so I was stoked to hear them. I was wicked drunk already, so my hearing might've been a bit off, but they reminded me more of Uncurbed than of Poison Idea. If you ever read my Uncurbed reviews on the original Fuck-Everything, you'll understand that I was totally stoked on Wasted Time. The 7" however, does make me think Poison Idea. Daniel was right to call it such based on the guitar sound which is totally Poison Idea crunchy and punching. But the vocals do still make me kinda think of Uncurbed. Killer hardcore, fast, pissed off, more circle-pits and stagedives. Fuck, the breakdowns on this record are amazing.

Review: The Spades - Learnin' The Hard Way

Wow... This album is fucking great.

Holy shit it fucking rips. Take one part Candy Snatchers throw in some Electric Frankenstein influenced vocals and then jack up the tough factor by tossing in some Cocknoose style lyrics and attitude and you've got a decent idea of how awesome this record is. Amazing rock'n'rolly punk rock out on Go-Kart records. It's got catchy as fuck fist in the air, punching assholes who spill your beer, sneering drunken haze songs and that's about it. That's a good thing in case you were wondering.

The first song starts out by talking about the dude's underage girlfriend and then goes on to say he's gonna kick your ass if you fuck with him. It really doesn't get much better. Some of the guitar riffs remind me of some of the better parts of Turbonegro's really good songs, but it's way too fucking tough to be considered Turbonegro-ish.

Fucking Europe dude, seriously... Europeans are putting North America to shame right now. There's so many good bands coming out of Europe right now and this is one of them.

Most of this record is shit that I really wish I was going through a really bad breakup while listening to. Something that made me really mad at my ex. It's really fucking good drinking alone and hating someone specifically music. I suppose I'll need to settle for getting drunk alone and hating the whole world instead.

Fucking buy this.

Mini-Reviews: Bolt Thrower, Municipal Waste, Chris Rock,

Bolt Thrower - At First Light - Metal Blade 2005

It's my favourite Bolt Thrower record, so that either says something about me, or something about how good it is. It's clean and well, but not over produced and all the songs are rad. When I'm standing around waiting for the bus I air guitar along with it. It's good headbanging death metal. If you know Bolt Thrower, it's what you'd expect from them. If you don't know their shit, I think it's a good place to start. Some killer driving riffs, some rad double kick parts, some totally unintelligible death metal vocals. Five stars. Sucks that it's on Metal Blade, cause they're one of the bad guys in the RIAA, and fuck giving those assholes money.

Municipal Waste - Hazardous Mutation - Earache 2005

Nothing punk about this record. Straight thrash metal, some later 80's style crossover breakdowns, but those are metal, not punk. When I first heard the record I wasn't into it, but I think that's just cause I was bummed on them after the Verbal Abuse show. Listening to it now I'm totally stoked on it. There's one really really weak metal wail at the end of the record, but aside from that it's totally rad. I'm not sure but I think listening to this record requires following the instructions in the song "Mind Eraser": "14 shots plus beers as a chaser, follow it up with the mind eraser." I can't be sure on those lyrics cause I'm headbanging too much. Metal is awesome.

Chris Rock - Born Suspect

It's Chris Rock, and it's funny.

Propagandhi - Potemkin City Limits

Continuing the trend of becoming more musically diverse, and shying away from the pop punk that they initially became famous for Propagandhi puts this out. It picks up where they left off with Todays Empires... Again offering a more diverse musical experience than most thought they were capable of after How To Clean Everything and Less Talk... More Rock, maybe it wasn't most it was just me, either way. There's lots of almost crossovery riffs in this tempered with awesome harmonies, both vocal and guitar wise. Awesome little guitar fills all over the place. Standard lyrical goodness and scathing well put political lyrics. I get chills consistantly when I listen to a few of the songs, even now after I've been listening to the record for a few months. Easily their best to date.

Review: Billy Idol - Devil's Playground

Holy Shit!

Billy Fucking Idol!

I'm writing this because I've been in this super gothy mood for the last week and Daniel from Dead Metaphor finally called me out on it. I was planning on writing a big Damned review to make up for that shitty last post, but that wouldn't have got me out of my goth funk. However, this super happy new Billy Idol CD totally has. Fuck yes for posi music.

I fucking love Billy Idol! I don't know Generation X at all, so let's get that hate mail flowing for liking a punk rockers mainstream shit but not knowing his real punk rock at all and what not. Come on I'm a sellout cashing in on your revolution and all that.

Anyhow, the new record seriously kicks ass. I didn't expect it to be awesome but it is.

It starts out with a song called Super Overdrive, which is a super fucking catchy powerpop-ish song. As soon as it started playing I started bopping my head, and unintentionally felt my lip curl. It's got that early UK move up the fret after you've strummed thing going, if I played guitar I'd use the term, but I don't, so fuck off. It's not straight up punk rock, or even straight up powerpop, but it's close enough that you purists might be able to listen to it without calling it mainstream faggot music. Next up is a song that kinda reminds me of Dropkick Murphys, it's called World Comin' Down and it keeps that kinda vibe up until the chorus, when it goes total singalongy pop. I can't fucking wait to see this shit live, it's gonna be awesome. A super slow start to Rat Race is broken up by a typical rock chorus and then has it's acoustic guitars replaced by distorted electric ones. Thankfully it doesn't lose it's ballad tone because I really enjoy most of Billy Idol's slower songs (Catch My Fall and Flesh For Fantasy especially). I haven't done a lyrical investigation of this album yet, so this song may disappoint me in the end, but right now I like it in a Nothing Else Matters by Metallica kind of way. This doesn't have the nostalgic appeal though so I'm inclined to think that it's a better song. Sherri is up next and starts out with a Mony Mony ish drum beat, and then settles into a decent pop love song. It's totally happy. I could put this record on with the Epoxies and never be sad again. Plastic Jesus is up next, and it makes me laugh. I didn't know it was an old folk song to begin with so I just found it funny. Now that I know, I still find it funny. This version is better because it's Billy Idol. Scream is up next and starts out with the best Billy moment on the record. A "Yeeeeeeeah" that totally puts this record in place with anything he did in the 80's. The song is totally awesome in the same way that Shock To The System was awesome. Fuck anyone who disses that song, the rest of the record wasn't so good but that song rules. It's a fist pumping arena rock song. If you wrote this song you would get chicks. If you listen carefully, right before the solo he quietly says "suck it." That rules, I don't know why, and if I did I probably wouldn't tell you because you'd be too fucking dumb to get it if I did. HA.

Next up... WHAT THE FUCK? A Christmas song? You've gotta be kidding me? A dysfunctional comedic Christmas song? Holy shit! It's amazing. Yellin' At The Christmas Tree. Fuck, I love it.

Romeo's Waiting, another catchy pop tune. Not much else to say about it. Body Snatcher is next and is a rather dark number for the album. I totally dig it, it just seems kind of out of place right after a poppy love song. However it does transition nicely into Evil Eye, so I guess that's why it's there. Evil Eye is pretty slow and moody. I think I only like this song because it's Billy Idol. It goes into a weird electronic thing at the end which is probably the better part of the song. Yeah yeah, goth, raver, bar dude, fuck off I'm enjoying the record.

Lady Do or Die is up next, and is a mellow country-ish number. This was the song that convinced me that this whole record was good. That it wasn't just a wave of nostalgia, and that while this record wasn't going to be as crucial as some of the early Billy songs, it's still awesome. I can see actively seeking this song out instead of just waiting for it to come on. I'm sure it will have heavy rotation at some point in my life when I'm a little more bummed than I am now. Cherie sounds like it could've been written at the same time as Brown Eyed Girl or something. Listening to this kind of stuff makes me sit back and smile and be cheesy and think about ex girlfriends. It's done up 2005 style, but still has that old feel to it. Summer Running, totally blew me away the first time I listened to it and I won't say why. But it's awesome. A good closing track.

All in all I'm totally stoked on this record. I'm really glad Billy Idol put it out, and I'm really glad that he's still stoked on making music. I'll probably even crack and buy this record even though it's on a major.

The Damned Are Better Than White Cross

End of story.

The seven minute long version of Eloise beats everything White Cross ever did.

Sorry Eric, but it's true.

(more later)

Fuck blogs...

Since I'm super busy with school and flying and shit, and I don't go out much I don't have much to write about. So I'm gonna start posting my radio playlists here every monday.

You can tune in if you go to:
HERE

The stream is low bitrate, typically I'll be playing stuff that's less well known than the stuff I'm playing tonight, but yeah. Give'r.

I decided to go with a theme this week, so these are all bands I've seen. I dunno if I'll keep themeing it up or not, but here's this week:

1. Andrew W. K. - It's Time To Party (1:31)
2. Goons - Never Say Die (1:23)
3. Good Clean Fun - I Cant Wait (1:27)
4. Kill Your Idols - Hardcore Circa 2002 (2:05)
5. Cro-Mags - Don't Tread On Me (1:20)
6. Bad Brains - Fearless Vampire Killers (1:07)
7. Snfu - Victims of the Womanizer (2:31)
8. Malicious Terror - New Song (2:27)
9. The Instinkiacs - The Truth Won't Go Away (2:27)
10. Guns, Liquor & Whores - Scene Killer (1:00)
11. Teenage Knockups - On The Loose (1:41)
12. GWAR - Salamanizer (3:35)
13. Municipal Waste - Flyin' On Top of the World (2:09)
14. Holding On - Fate Comes Crashing (1:55)
15. Speds - I Wanna Rip You Apart (1:54)
16. Mung - Lick The Sweat (1:12)
17. Verbal Abuse - Disintegration (1:10)
18. Direct Control - hardcore for heroin (1:11)
19. Circle Jerks - World Up My Ass (1:17)
20. Bones Brigade - Never Meant Much (3:35)
21. Agnostic Front - Power (1:45)
22. The Distillers - The World Comes Tumblin' (3:08)
23. Rancid - Trenches (2:03)
24. Dwarves - SFVD (0:50)
25. The Bronx - Heart Attack American (2:43)
26. D.R.I. - Beneath the Wheel (5:35)
27. Comeback Kid - False Idols Fall (2:38)
28. The Endemics - Sunday Ritual (2:32)
29. Adolescents - Kids Of The Black Hole (5:27)
30. Agent Orange - No Such Thing (2:46)
31. Breath Grenades - Eat Space Rawk (3:09)
32. Career Suicide - There's Something Wrong with You (2:14)
33. D.I. - Johnny's Got A Problem (2:04)
34. Damage Deposit - That's Not Core Dude (1:53)
35. Under Pressure - 06 - The Gift (2:24)
36. Dayglo Abortions - Proud to Be a Canadian (1:57)
37. Dead Stock Crusher - Never Was (1:20)
38. The Dunce - Sorry Dad (0:53)
39. Gutter Demons - Trouble (1:41)
40. The Horribles - Allergic To You (2:26)
41. The Misfits - Walk Among Us (1:23)
42. Modern Life Is WarT - By The SeaT (3:39)
43. Mohosimrots - Hungry (The Zeros) (1:53)
44. Propagandhi - Todays Empires, Tomorrows Ashes (2:37)
45. Quincy Punx - Fuck You (1:42)
46. Raised Fist - Dedication (3:54)
47. Reality's End - Sick World / Another Day... (4:12)
48. Squareheads - I Wanna Be A Squarehead (1:50)
49. U.S. Bombs - Go Back Home (EP Version) (2:45)
50. UK Subs - New York State Police (2:41)
51. The Umpires - Jimmy Was A Socialist (1:38)
52. Uk Subs - Postcard From La (4:21)
53. Youth Brigade - Violence (2:43)
54. SNFU - This Is The End (1:16)

Verbal Abuse

So I went to Verbal Abuse on Friday and on Saturday, and despite everything I had a good time at both shows.

Friday started by me driving out to Richmond to get fingerprinted so that I can go to school, then I went over to Eric from Direct Control/Government Warning and his girlfriend's place to hang out and eventually go to the show. Now, this is something that will certainly alter my perceptions of how the show went. We started drinking at like 4:30, then went to the show for about 6:30 or 7 or something and I dunno about everyone else, but I was far from sober. By far from sober I mean totally fucking gooned. When we got to the venue I was totally taken aback by how many people there were there, I tried to take pictures but due to the drunkenness everything is slightly blurred. I was told that this was almost assuredly all for Municipal Waste which bothered me. I can't imagine going to a show with a legendary band and having no clue who they were. I talked to some kids about who they were there to see and when they said Municipal Waste they were so sure of how awesome it was to be there. They asked us who we were there to see and when we said Verbal Abuse they were clueless. "I've heard of them but can't think of who they are" or something. I said Slayer covered them and they then said that must've been where they heard it. I was bummed.

So whatever, we wait around in line and then finally get in as Witchhunt was starting out. I had a good time watching them here, as I did watching them in Barclay House a while back. The dude was wearing the MK-Ultra shirt again and again I was bummed that it wasn't the good MK-Ultra. They played well and helped me spend too much money. PBR was only $2 so it wasn't that bad, but I spent waaaaaaaay too much money on beer there. I don't think I watched the next band at all. Maybe one song by them, and then outside to go have a beer and shoot the shit with Nicki Sicki about everything ranging from how much of a bunch of assholes Bitzcore was for putting out the VA album that everyone I know has, to Slayer's covering the songs that they did on Undisputed Attitude. I was super stoked to know that they totally hooked him up and helped him out in regards to payment for that shit, got him a good chunk of cash and got him hooked up with some company that gets him all kinds of royalties for anything that ever had to do with Verbal Abuse. We talked about downloading, which as anyone who knows me realises is pretty high up on my list of things to talk to band people about, and he echoed the sentiments that I (and a lot of other people) have on the subject. He'd just rather have the music out there and have people listening to it. I got made fun of for asking interview questions when we were just supposed to be hanging out having a beer and slurred out some excuses about conversation or interest or something. We hung out for a while and then the lot of us stumbled back to the club. I say the lot of us stumbled in hopes that I wasn't the only wastoid there.

We got back to the club and went in I think there was a band playing, but I paid them no attention. I had a beer and talked to some folks for a while and then probably went outside again and talked to people for a while or something. Made fun of crust kids maybe.

Verbal Abuse was on next and I was getting more and more pumped as the dudes moved on stage. As soon as I saw the setlist laid down in front of me my I just started smiling. I'd been waiting for this for 8 years and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to lose my mind to it. We'd been warned several times in the night about how the drummer had just been flown in from California and that he didn't know the songs, and that shit wasn't going to be as good as it should be and what not, so I was kind of worried. I was also really drunk so it didn't matter too much. They opened with Verbal Abuse which had been going through my head all day and I was stoked. It was awesome. Super sloppy, and a bit more Japanese sounding than the recorded version. Vocally at least. Everything was super clipped and screeched instead of shouted out. It was good but not what I was expecting. Leeches came up next and was more of the same. Then came I Don't Need It, which is the song on the record that I don't listen to, so I didn't care about it. It's too slow and not fun for the rest of the record. Social Insect came next and was probably the worst played song of the set. I Don't Feel Right was next and I've got no clue where this is from so I had no clue what it was all about, same thing with the next song; Shit Happens. Then they did Paranoid by Black Sabbath and that's really all there is to say about it. It was clipped and spat out without much melody, but was probably the most together song of the night cause, really, how can anyone not know Paranoid on their respective instrument. I mean, I fucking hate Sabbath with Ozzy, but I still know the words. Paranoid led into Free Money which was done alright. I lost my mind when they played the last four songs starting with Free Money, but looking back on it I'd say that it was largely because I was wasted. Next up was I Hate You and it ruled. This song was probably the closest to sounding like I was hoping for. A tad slow perhaps, but totally rad. Next up was their favourite Slayer song, disintegration, which was radical. It was fist banging mania for most of the crowd, and everyone that was on stage behind and beside the band was stoked and smiling and singing along. They wrapped up with American Band which was way slow. Everyone aside from the Drummer knew it too, despite his being told to play faster during the intro, he did not.

After Verbal Abuse was finished the band they were touring with(?) Eyes Of Hate jumped on stage to do a quick set with VA's gear. The house music was turned on as soon as they set up the drums to play, so they just played over it. They managed to get a song out with everything but the Mic working, at least I couldn't hear it if it was in fact was, that I had fun to and then get part way into their next song before all power to the PA was shut off and the stage lights were turned off. Then two of the dudes from Municipal Waste got on stage and were super aggro looking and totally yelled at the dudes about jumping on stage. It wasn't as if they were cutting into their set time since from what I was told earlier VA was only doing half what they said they were going to do so there was at least 20 minutes before the Waste were supposed to go on. I was totally bummed about the shit as it seemed really rock starry to me at the time, and still does now. I guess it sucks having people crash the bill and whatever, but if a band's only playing half their set then what does it matter if another band uses their gear and only does a few songs? Whatever, it was lame.

I went to sit outside 'til Municipal Waste got on. They went on and I decided I didn't want to go in yet, so I sat there for a while and eventually fell asleep. Daniel from Dead metaphor came out and woke me up after he walked out, and was telling me about some fight that just happened inside. Sure enough the cops showed up and told us to go inside or go home. We opted for inside. He said he wasn't sure what happened, and nobody else seemed to be too sure either. I watched the last couple Waste songs from the side and kinda shook my head at the idiots in the crowd. The music was good, but man, whenever something gets the slightest bit of metal in it, the fans turn to morons.

After the show we went back to Eric's place and hung out with the dudes from Verbal Abuse and then drove up to DC with them for the show there. The show there was the same set list, but was much better, and much tighter than the night before. The crowd however, was much less into it and much smaller.

All said I had a great time at both shows and I wish I could see them again after their drummer has had a chance to practice with them. Eric made me take this picture cause he wanted the world to know he had breakfast with Verbal Abuse.

Killed By Death stuff

First:

www.killedbydeath.org

Killed By Death radio!!! Amazing! 128kmp3 stream, so it's not audiophile quality, but it is better than the radio stations of old. As far as I know it's done by one of the bros on soulseek in the KBD room all of whom are pretty good with their obscure punk rock knowledge.

It's totally awesome.

They just went from SVT - I Wanna See You Cry (an awesome powerpop song) to Project X - Straight Edge Revenge. That's amazing.

Second:

Reviews:

Drunk Injuns - From Where The Sun Now Stands I Will Fight No More, Forever reissue

Rules. This record really reminds me of Personality Crisis. I'm super into it. It's first gen socal skate rock. The reissue's got a few bonus tracks by Ancestors: Gods of Sound which I know nothing about but based on members looks like the same band with a different drummer and basist(?). The first side is slow and creepy stuff, I was just sitting and reading the lyrics, and they're not half bad. Nothing amazing, but a lot better than most of the skate rock stuff. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the skate rock stuff either. They were on one or two of the Thrasher skate Rock comps, but don't seem like they really fit in with the group. It's not full out balls to the walls fast hardcore. It seems too dark to go skateboarding. This is sitting in your room contemplating murderous rampages or shooting heroin music. Not busting out front side airs in pools music. That's not totally fair, but most of the songs make me think about back alleys and drinking over skateboarding, which isn't the case with most of the skate rock stuff.

Y-Camp is one of my favourite instrumentals ever. It's super simple, but totally works. It'd be a great intro at a live show, and it doesn't seem out of place in on the record. That starts off the second side perfectly. The second side is a little less creepy, but just as dark as the first. Plus it has the bonus tracks which are awesome. The two Ancestors: Gods of Sound are totally awesome. More straight up hardcore/punk rock than the rest of the record, they maintain sound but speed it up a bit. Then to close the record, a song recorded in 1997 by the Drunk Injuns called Juanita. It's a slow acoustic number which sounds like it could be a pretty angry or tragic song based on the vocal patterns, until you pay attention to the words instead of how they're sung and you realise that it's a song about his Grandmother's life. Good song, kinda weird album closer though.

You can get it through Alternative Tentacles.

Wild Cherry Pepsi
Is awesome. I've had like 4 cans of it today. That can't be healthy.

Roger C Reale and the Rue Morgue - Radioactive

This is by far one of the best powerpop records I've ever heard. Incidentally I sought the record simply because of the one song that doesn't really fit with the rest of the record. The song "Kill Me" which is on a few comps, and is totally a ripping punk rock song. It also started my latest poorly thought out and ill-financed ebay shopping spree. The rest of the record is super catchy powerpop. It's all really tongue in cheek and sarcastic, which I enjoy immensely. It also features GE Smith from the Saturday Night Live band, and surprisingly it doesn't fill me with rage and want to destroy the universe every time I think of that. I guess it's because I don't have to see his face, but man, if I had seen these guys live I probably would've fought him every time he played a lead. Great record, good lyrics, fun to listen to. Yep.