Femme Fugazi (https://www.facebook.com/femmefugazi) have a name that stands out and if you're going to have a name that immediately gets people thinking of the Washington DC post hardcore legends Fugazi then you better be able to back it up. Happily this Netherlands based band will soon have you judging them on their own merits.
They've recently released a debut ep (they call it an ep but it's nearer full album length) titled Look At You and it's somewhat of a bruiser. It's being described as a mix of Metz and Idles though they don't need comparisons, they're good enough to stand on their own two feet.
In the last few years the "Female Fronted Hardcore" genre has really exploded. With new bands seemingly appearing every other week. There are definitely some incredible bands out there including SCOWL, Pest Control and GEL & Poison IV from my homebase here in New Jersey.
Well last week a new album dropped by a band from Austin, Texas called "Mugger" that just set the bar even higher. After only a demo tape they have unleashed what is easily THE Hardcore Record Of The Year with "Luck Forever" https://mugger-tx.bandcamp.com/album/luck-forever.
From the opening intro right into the first song "Crank It Up" it's time to hold on tight. 15 songs that just never let up. Every instrument is pushed into the red and lead singer Lisa Alley sounds like she was BORN to spit these lyrics. There is no other HC album I've heard this year that matches this level of intensity. I love when a band just comes out of nowhere and levels the entire field.
There's pre-orders for the awesome green/black vinyl but they're not shipping out until February so we might have some time.
I know I'm gonna grab one. It's not easy to pick a favorite on this stacked album but I'm going with the video they did with the one & only John Brannon (Negative Approach) for "Find Out"...
On last week's Just Some Punk Songs show I treated the listener's to a song titled Shaken, Not Stirred which began with the attention grabbing opening line "James Bond Is A Fucking Prick." It was taken from the debut ep by a quartet from Bath called Bureau De Change and as far as attention grabbing calling cards are concerned it delivered all ends up.
The ep is titled Are You Flirting With Me? and it's a lot of shouty, sweary fun that sees the band airing their views on subjects such as the patriarchy, sexual assault and the characters you might come across in the dark corners of your local pub.
I'll play this song on this week's show (Sunday at 8pm UK https://gpr.mixlr.com/). It's got a title that's presumably inspired by a Sham 69 single and it's called 'arry Goes To The Pub...
So I've spent the last couple of hours honing the playlist for this week's Just Some Punk Songs show and it occurred to me that I really need to get one of the songs from the new album by The Circulators on the blog.
That song resurfaces on the new album and it's so good I think I'll play it on this week's show but it's not the only highlight from what is rapidly turning into one of my favourite 2024 releases. Pretty much every one of the 14 tracks is a rock n roll gem. I can't recommend it highly enough.
I'm going to post this catchy as fuck song about falling head over heels, it's called Wired Over You.
from Burning Kross II, 2024, Autoreverse Records (Europe, LP), Seats of Piss Records (Asia, cassette), Culture Desert (US, cassette) & Icepicks At Dawn (UK, cassette).
2 years after their vinyl debut, we're treated with a new release from one of Belgium's hardest bands.
Burning Kross are no rookies, the members have earned their chops in various bands in the past: Cheap Drugs, Permanent Debt, Black Haven and more.
While these new tracks blow the dust out of my speakers, I recognize the powerful aggressive voice of the singer Tom (otherwise a real gentle bloke) and the drums, bass and guitars are so clear, a fantastic production in all. Well now I read more about this release, it's obviously a Studio 195 recording effort.
The best place for punk bands in the low-lands (and beyond) to go record.
8 tracks, loud, sharp like knives and aggressively clocking in around the less than 2 minute barrier, leave me no choice to run through them several times. 1 track gives us some breathing space, a 4 minute slower song about oppression in Algeria during the French colonisation and its independence war. Speaking of Algeria, and as a matter of fact, French/Algerian bloody history are featured in the lyrics in most if not all tracks. Which makes this a conceptual album.
Like the track I've taken: the lyrics deal with Maurice Papon who was a French civil servant and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during WWII at a very (too) old age. The mind blowing fact that this man could continue crimes (in the name of France) much longer after the world war and got away with it for a long time struck when reading a bit more background info. Find some of it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Papon
Sometimes great punk music has the power to get you to read more for your awareness.
Little Rocket Records, the independent label from Sunderland run by Leatherface bassist Graeme Philliskirk, is one of my go to places when I'm seeking out new releases. They've just come up trumps again.
Roach Squad are a new band that feature Graeme on guitar. Joining him are a very talented bunch indeed; Hugo Mudie (From The Sainte Catherines on vocals), Frankie Stubbs (From Leatherface on guitar), Alex Keane (The Murderburgers on drums ) & Sim Robson (on bass).
They'll be releasing a debut album early next year and to get us excited they've teased us with a single. It's a joint release from Little Rocket Records and Rad Girlfriend :
If you know the history of the various members you'll already have an idea of how it's going to sound, you'll also know it's going to be very good. It's called Wax & Dust...
The track below (you can find it on Bandcamp https://rub-punk.bandcamp.com/track/good-bloke) sees R.U.B "laying waste to the toxic culture that we see in so called Australia around men’s violence." It proves my initial feelings about the band were right, they're bloody good.
It's called Good Bloke...
awwwww YEAH!
how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke" how many times must a man tell me nahh, he's a "good bloke"
TALK IS CHEAP in a world where nothing's free you shouldn't need to be convincing me how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke"
how many times must a man tell me "everyone's too woke" how many times must a man tell me that I should take a joke??
TALK IS CHEAP in a world where nothing's free you shouldn't need to be convincing me how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke"
how many times must I read that he was a footy star how many times must I read that he was a "loving father"
TALK IS CHEAP in a world where nothing's free you shouldn't need to be convincing me
how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke" how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke" how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke" how many times must a man tell me that he's a "good bloke"
What I do know is that they play "angry yetmelodic punk music with socio-political commentary" and that they've a debut 4 track ep on the way. They're also supporting Control at Camden's Dublin Castle on the 29th of this month.
This is the title track of the ep and it's a great introduction. It "takes a look at the futility of destroying physical symbols in the hope of bringing about change and comments on the fragility of the people who put so much faith into inanimate objects. A lesson to consider more carefully about who we raise monuments to in the first place."
If anyone has a good memory (a very good memory!) you may remember that back in 2015 I featured a classic song originally released in 1982 from Worcester band The Samples (https://www.facebook.com/TheSamplesPunkBand). The song was called Dead Hero and in the write up I mentioned the line up of the band was Sean Taylor (Badger) on vocals, Dave Evans on guitar, Pascal Smith (Pecker) on bass and drummer Rick Vividhead. I also mentioned that they broke up in 1986.
The band got back together again in 2019 but sadly a couple of years later vocalist Sean (Badger) Taylor passed away. The band have carried on as a trio with Pascal Smith (Bass/vocals) and Dave Evans (Guitar/vocals) now joined by Jake Powell (drums).
December 6th will see the release of a new album titled Speak Truth To Power which if the 2 teaser tracks are any indication will show the band can still turn out heart on sleeve anthems to rival any of their contemporaries. It'll be available on vinyl, cd & cassette, all limited numbers so don't hang around : https://thesamples3.bandcamp.com/album/speak-truth-to-power
This song sees them paying a heartfelt tribute to their much missed frontman, it's called Badger's Song...
Haywire are on the blog today with a track from their new ep. That's Haywire the Boston hardcore band not Haywire the UK anarcho punk band from back in the day or Haywire the Canadian rock band or anyone else who may have been called Haywire.
Now we've clarified that, let's get on to the ep. It's titled For Better Or For Worse and it features 4 tracks, one of which is an acoustic version of Love Song (the original was a collaboration with Chubby and the Gang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KqKdpLyrx8). Elsewhere, Feeling Depressed and Ox Must Plow are songs that bruise and pummel their way into your hearts. The other track, my favourite, features below. You can find the ep here : https://dazestyle.bandcamp.com/album/for-better-or-for-worse
Clocktower Place is a love song with bite. It features Fizzy from New York glam punks Loosey and it's the sort of song that you start listening to whilst trying to put together a playlist for the next show and by the time it's finished you want to listen again. So go ahead, listen, then repeat...
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THAT IT HURTS
ALL THE THINGS I SHOULD HAVE DID
YOUR ABSENCE IS MY REGRET
I THINK ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME
EVERY NIGHT AND EVERYDAY
I CANT GET YOU OFF MY MIND
I THINK THAT IM GOING INSANE
IF I I HAD ONE WISH
I WOULD TAKE YOU AWAY FROM THIS
YOU CAN TAKE YOUR TIME
ILL BE YOURS FOR MY WHOLE LIFE
I THINK ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME
EVERY NIGHT AND EVERYDAY
I CANT GET YOU OFF MY MIND
I THINK THAT I AM GOING INSANE
I THINK ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME
EVERY NIGHT AND EVERYDAY
I CANT GET YOU OF MY MIND
IM SORRY FOR ALL THE PAIN
On yesterday's Just Some Punk Songs show I played a song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czN5tKWu_gs) by Melbourne band Money Boys (https://www.facebook.com/MONEYBOYSS) which went down particularly well with the listeners in the chatroom. The song was called New Skin/New Century and it was taken from the band's album New Modern Architecture.
It's a double A sided single with one song, Sydney Road Ceremony, being a 4 minute mid paced look back at a lifetime of wrong choices leading to a lonely death.
This track is a more sprightly affair about being ready for love. It's called Fully Charged...
Back in January 2023 I posted a very impressive Killed By Death style punk song called American Tower (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2023/01/rotary-club-american-tower.html). It was the debut single by a band from Reno, Nevada called Rotary Club. I admitted at the time that I didn't know anything about the band and I still don't. The song seemed to be about landline telephones but I didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics, I was too busy bouncing off the walls enjoying the high tempo music.
But now the band have an album upcoming and it appears they're really into their telephones. The album's going to be released on Iron Lung Records on December 13th (on vinyl & digital), it'll be titled Sphere Of Service and with titles such as Touch Tone, My Landline, Phonemate etc it's not difficult to spot a theme running through it.
I don't think there's much doubt it's going to be a great album so ring all your friends and tell them to watch out for it. This is the opening track, it's called Safety Line...
In every current lies a danger: interference from a stranger. Keep it close for your protection, keep it close and stay connected to a safety line. In the circuit, there is power. In the system, there is trust. Plenipotentiary invitation shields the line from deviation. Citizen nodes in the network, signal flows -- you are the safety line. Loop is closed, ground to orbit. No need for copper, voltage stored in common people on a common wire. Never let go of that safety line.
