Abzinq

A while ago my in-real-life pal Griffin finally decided to put together an "album" of a bunch of his miscellaneous recordings and uploaded it to Demonoid. Most of it is pretty silly and light-hearted. Sometimes they're acoustic singer-songwriter bits and others are electronic instrumentals and some are just him fucking around. Of course I'm biased because he's my bestest buddy. But yeah it's pretty good for sixteen-year-old-kid-in-his-bedroom-core. That's a thing now.

Myspace

Last.fm

George Clooney Takes a Bath

Her Space Holiday

Apologies for not posting in a month. I've been busy/lazy (whichever is an acceptable excuse).

So I was browsing through my last.fm recommendations the other night and I was recommended this band Her Space Holiday due to similarities to Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Postal Service, Bright Eyes, Cloud Cult and ¡All-Time Quarterback! So I expected it to be the umpteenth band of that variety that last.fm recommends to me, and I'll like it somewhat but there won't be anything notable about it. Then I read the description.

"Her Space Holiday is Marc Bianchi, a musician with roots in the California emo scene. During the early 90’s, he was part of the highly influential emo band Indian Summer."

And my mouth dropped and I rushed to mediafire to download an album. Musically, it's mid-tempo indie rock composed of drum machines, synths, piano, and sampled string orchestras. Lyrically, it's a similarly awkward, personal, emotional story that makes me love things like Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Paul Baribeau. This style always has its uncomfortable cringe-worthy moments: "Meet the Pressure" is Bianchi getting butthurt over bad press. Overall, though, I recommend it to any fans of aforementioned electronic singer-songwriter types or Indian Summer fans, just to see how much Bianchi has changed.

Myspace

Official

Last.fm

The Young Machines

Suburban Rhythm

Lyrics from "S.R." by Reel Big Fish:

"Whatever happened to Suburban Rhythm? Why did Ed and Scott quit? Please don't go, Suburban Rhythm. All the other bands are just shit."

This is pretty much the only way people discovered the band Suburban Rhythm after they disappeared. Suburban Rhythm was a band that existed in the early nineties, when ska was underground in Southern California but not hitting mainstream yet. These guys played alongside bands like Reel Big Fish, Sublime, and No Doubt when they were all new bands. Constant bickering between the band members led to their early demise. This self-titled compilation album is all of their recorded material, but it's no longer in print. The band is most noteworthy for their genre bending. Besides ska and punk elements, they have funk ("18 Inch Ruler"), reggae ("Incomplete"), bluegrass ("Blue Hawaii"), psychedelia ("99 Degrees"), jazz ("Bright City Lights"), and whatever the fuck "Bixville" is. That's why Reel Big Fish plays "S.R." in so many styles live. (Aaaaah, now it makes sense!)

Suburban Rhythm

Last.fm Page

I just discovered that they recorded a music video. However, I don't deem that song worthy enough of being the one I embed. Note that every comment is related to the Reel Big Fish song.

Chotto Ghetto

I found these guys out while looking at QuoteUnquoteRecords.com, the Label that the dude from Bomb the Music Industry! owns. I expected these guys to be little cutesy ska-punk or folk punk, but I was extremely surprised when I downloaded 'Walk is Godlike' off of their website and found a Progressive Hardcore album that blew my mind, with talent and composition all over the map, I'd definitely suggest this to anyone.

QuoteUnquoteRecords Page - You can download it for free, here. Please do. It's a lot easier, faster, still free, and shows the artist that you care.

Chotto Ghetto Website

Myspace

Last.fm

Walk is Godlike - Here's the link to Pirate them on Mediafire, but you might as well download off of their page on QuoteUnquoteRecords. It's still free, it's faster, AND the band can see that you care and are interested in their work.

Spires

These guys kinda recently broke out into the screamo world straight from Oakland. Though they're getting a lot of fame and making splits with awesome other screamo bands like Mesa Verde and 1994! They released an epic LP called Flowers and Fireworks. Really good chaotic stuff with some post-rock influence definitely seen. Check 'em out.

Myspace

Last.fm

Flowers and Fireworks

Spires/1994! Split

A Wilhelm Scream

A Wilhelm Scream are probably the best remaining SoCal punk band. Technically proficient and frantic as hell, there's no lack of energy in their short bursts of melodious hardcore punk. The self-titled EP they released this year exemplifies these traits to the greatest extent of any of their recordings thus far.

Ruiner

Career Suicide

A Wilhelm Scream

Myspace

Official Site

Last.fm

Buck-O-Nine

There's not too much to know about this band. Buck-O-Nine is a southern-Californian ska punk band (surprising to see them here, right?) from San Diego. They were one of the first bands I liked when I first started listening to ska punk on Pandora radio two (or three I lost track) years ago. There's some obvious Joe Jackson influence, which I love. This is the only album I currently own by them, but I'll find more if anyone wants more.

Twenty-Eight Teeth

Myspace

Official Site

Last.fm

Reel Big Fish

One of the most popular bands of third-wave ska, they hit it big (big for a ska band, anyway) with the single "Sell Out." In recent years their quality has dwindled, but back in the height of their popularity (and when they play live) they're masters of what they do. I have two studio albums and one live album (the latter being incredible). If anyone wants me to post more, I'll be glad to do that.

Turn the Radio Off

Why Do They Rock So Hard?

Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album

Myspace

Official Site

Last.fm