Barons EP on Underground Communique Records

Barons is the all too familiar story of friends who were in countless bands in their collective pasts and didn't mean to start a new band after ending up in Pittsburgh together. Underground Communique posthumusly released a previous project, Voice in the Wire which got everybody in the same place for reunion shows and before you know it, new songs were written, lots of hanging out and their drummer Nick practically forced them to take this new thing, Barons, seriously. A few years later their in deep and Underground Communique collected four tracks of hardcore pop punk on their debut EP.

A-Side's "Wartime Lullaby" scrapes down strings to explode into heavy hitting drums and the tight compressed distortion sounds of the dual guitars from Jon Barker and Mike Rock reminding me immediately of Atombombpocketknife or Braid. The way they let everything go and conjured completely bonkers energy in massive blasts of chunky chords. Like the Promise Ring or Cap'n Jazz they've got a mature hardcore punk that you can't help but get swept up in. Impressive that the four vocalists (What Nick can't sing?) trade off lines and blend into each others energy and tone, they were meant to be together already, that sort of sound or enthusiasm can't be forced.
"Uncommon Ground" has Zack carrying this opening vocal singlehandedly next to the distorted layers of melody before the rest of this thickens up. There's something about this Sunny Day Real Estate sound, the way it's so completely raw and personal that's easy to relate to in those tougher coming of age times. These guys are really giving it everythign in a more than sincere way that has to make even cynical robot audiences feel something dammit, especially this track about losing friends and drifting apart. Makes me want to give them a god damn hug already.
B-Side's "Hitman" opens with an old time radio sample about rich guys dying disgraced and I'm suddenly into these guys applying some of this manic energy in a political way with lyrics about a part of society that doesn't actually do anything. Take it from the band from steel city to be pissed about the one percent. They may be doing themselves a disservice by making it sound so catchy but they trust you'll dig deeper. They give you a history lesson in "Berkman Needed Target Practice (But Had The Right Idea)" about the anarchist Alexander Berkman who tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick of Carnegie Steel in Pittsburgh in revenge over his ordering to kill striking workers. He managed to shoot him twice and even stab him a few times but failed to finish Frick and inspire the oppressed american people to rise up. Heavy stuff that you can trust these five guys to blow up into catchy power punk that's about more than 'things suck' or 'we broke up'. More inspiring than an 'A' patch on a demin jacket, they make intelligent powerful tracks.

Get it from Underground Communique Records. Black or Pink vinyl.

Break Anchor / Lawskof "169 Miles" split on Underground Communique Records

169 miles refers to the distance between these two bands towns; Break Anchor out of Detroit and Lawskof from around the lake in Cleveland. Both places are what I think of as once blue collar factory no nonsense towns you still wouldn't want to mess with. I expect their punk is about the same. Underground Communique separated them o clear red vinyl by about an eighth of an inch. Makes sense.

Break Anchor's side opens with "Don't fuck with me" that blasts in with serious energy and speed, a spazzy off kilter burst of rhythm, hitting all the changes with kicks and chords lining up. Perfect set of vocals from Kyle and Jay with that upper register Cap'n Jazz sincerity. Layering the vocals over each other, finishing each others sentences. It feels like the eye opening days of Rodan or Sunny Day Real Estate without mature cynicism. The track drops out to nothing but a high swath of distortion that gathers steam and feedback, talking for a bit close to the mic further nailing that Cap'n energy in abrupt starts and stops with massive pure naive power. Their Dag Nasty cover "Under Your Influence" makes me want to go back and revisit those guys playing on cassette in a freezing garage with two quarter pipes on either end. They've brought this into 2015, thickening up the sound with massive levels of guitars, clean as hell, piled up in layers and muted to get that chunky click exploding in the next measure. Pure enthusiasm and energy for the source and I'm looking at Dag Nasty vinyl on discogs as we speak.
The Lawskof side starts with "She Spilled My Coffee" and a growl of "I WANT" as this explodes into the weirdest time signature standing on lengthy fills having to punch in vocals to avoid inhaling. Ryan on vocals is being hard on himself letting this whole thing go once and for all or actually night after night performing this track. The rest of the band coming in to punctuate those more important sentiments in the wall of tight distortions, this is incredibly precise almost mechanical if it weren't for the far off manic screaming next to Ryan's vulnerable delivery. This cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge" is just as great as Break Anchor's cover. Super impressive bringing their complexity and speed to this classic track, keeping the best parts of the original intact. The best thing you can do with something like this is honor the spirit of that nostalgia while making it sound like today. They both succeeded. The bonus is really that you get to know both of these guys just enough to take things further. You just might want to get serious.

Get this from Underground Communique Records, red or blue.

The Mons "Fighting Over A Knife" on Underground Communique Records

I heard the DJ on WFMU talking about how there isn't much political punk these days and that missed it or just wasn't paying attention. (It was early.) But that got me thinking that one good thing to come out of Occupy and Egypt or Hong Kong is that the technology to get the word out exists across the world now. A regime can't keep their population ignorant. I think that's why political punk singles have disappeared too. I want to think enough people have recognized the issues and at least post about them on facebook constantly (not that dumping ice on your head is going to change anything) but those global issues aren't followed only by the hardcore human rights activists but everyone instantaneously. The Mons still think some of these issues are worth talking about and they should send their latest "Fighting over a knife" to that guy. (Sorry Mons, wish I was paying closer attention.)

A-Side's "Asshole" has a buzzsaw style Flipper sounding guitar, a shitty grit filled distortion with off kilter minor keys come in before this turns into a real slick hardcore keeping that fuzz, slowly building into speed. I don't know how they can have an intro with this many tracks at 45 but they make the space, super snotty vocals and clean, the sonic production that it - this asshole is controlling countries so they could be talking about any world leader really. On "Burned Out & Bleeding" these drums are seriously out of control, the kick and tightly wound smack of the snare forces this into a sprint, lyrics about the atrocities of man, with a snarly chorus, reminding me of the Dead Kennedys. "Trainwreck" yells that line over, the entire band. This instrumentation is way in the background, squarely hardcore. The manic tempo makes it seem like he's going to wreck sooner than later. This has a little more garage style being thick and party rock. I think it's about being drugged, they palm power chords with drums that are pushed way back in favor of this vocal that's keeping the whole thing solidly aggressive.

B-Side's "Give Up!" has rapid fire twitching strumming in a tight radius with changes that are almost more metal in these huge crafted barre chords from Helmet, I love those gutteral low end crunches that shift like tectonic plates. "Church on Fire" This one is an evil kind of hardcore, burning churches and this guy is almost too excited about it. "Make room for Walmart" so no one wins. "Canadian Dope" has me completely on board with their updated DK's sound, they've won me over. It's a hard thing to reference but they have the same almost absurdity and taking politics to weird extremes only with choppier guitars and heavy compression. Super technical with extremist lyrics that actually have something relevant to say. Take that DJ guy.

The whole package is in black and white. PUNKS DON'T LIKE COLORZ!
They got Raymond Pettibon to sign off on this knife fight art?

Get it from Underground Communique Records.