Gleam Garden - S/T 10"

Snuffy Smiles (2016)

I've been sitting on this 10" for a really long time.  I don't know exactly why it's taken me so long to review it.  I think it has something to do with the fact that every time I pick it up to review, I try to figure out where all of the songs have come from before and that ends up taking up too much time so I just waiting until another day.

Well that other day is today.  I think I've finally figured it out.  Of the eight songs on this 10", five of them were previously released on a split cassette with Tony's Bite, two were released on a split 7" with Chestnut Road and one of them was on a split flexi with Car10.  I don't have that Car10 split, so if anyone knows where I can get one of those, please let me know.

I've been listening to Gleam Garden for years.  They are one of the best punk rock bands in Japan and the eight songs on this 10" just prove that even more.  These songs are poppy and straightforward and perhaps a bit less noisy than some of their older releases.  But don't worry that's actually a compliment as they've still managed to maintain the energy of the past records, with a tighter focus on hooks and vocal melodies.  These are some of the best songs they've released in my opinion.

I haven't heard much from these guys since this 10" came out, but rest assured I will continue to pick up everything they release.  Provided I know it has come out.  (Seriously, if anyone can get me that split flexi with Car10, I'm buying.)

Gleam Garden - S/T 10" (Four of the eight songs are on this Bandcamp page)
https://gleamgarden.bandcamp.com/album/gleam-garden-10

Broccoli - In Session 7"

Dink (2016)

I'm trying to make a concerted effort to tackle some of the backlog of records that I've had for a while, but haven't written about on this website yet.  More than half of that backlog is 7"s and since I just bought a house and have way less money than I normally would have to buy records with, now seems like a really good time to work my way through this pile.

I honestly have no clue why it has taken me this long to write up this Broccoli 7".  Broccoli is one of my favorite bands in the entire world and I was so very excited when they announced that they were getting back together for a tour of Japan in 2016.  This 7" was released for that tour and contains songs from 2 radio sessions.  The word 'Peel' is missing from the artwork, though I'm reasonably confident that is the type of session that spawned these recordings.  Hope I haven't alerted some sort of Google search police now that I've strung the words, Peel, Broccoli and session together on the same page.

On the A side, we have two songs from a 1996 session (though the internet contends this was a 1995 session, so maybe I'm incorrrect about what sessions these are?) including "Blue" and "Neglect It." ("Relent" and "Cherry Drop Club" were the other two songs recorded that day, for the curious).  The B side contains two songs from a 1998 session, "Broken" and "Television" ("Constance" and "Fido" rounded out that original recording).

Now all of these songs are incredible and it's especially interesting to hear live versions of them.  In particular, this version of "Neglect It" (which happens to be my favorite Broccoli song), really shines from the energy of the band playing live, with the drums sounding particularly intense.  That said, all of these songs sound great as you'd expect because they're great songs.  I do kind of wish they had done two separate 7"s, each containing the whole session for that year, but I will never not be excited about a new Broccoli record to add to the collection.  Now if only they'd get together again to write some new songs...

Broccoli - In Session 7" (Side One):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyXbV3dNtz4

Broccoli - In Session 7" (Side Two):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb1NJFYhw00

The Blues Brothers - Collection Medley 7" (Spain)

WEA (1992)

I'll be the first to admit, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with Blues Brothers 7"s at this point.  We're left with the weird and the pointless now.  I would say this 7" neatly fits into both of those categories as it is kind of weird and it is definitely pointless.

I imagine this is a promotional release, though for the life of me I can't figure out what they were trying to accomplish with this promotion.  This 7" has the same song on both sides and that song is a four and a half minute medley of four different Blues Brothers songs mushed together.  There's about thirty to forty-five seconds of "Do You Love Me," "Going Back to Miami," "Everybody Needs Somebody" and "Jailhouse Rock" blended together in a really bizarre fashion.  They use the crowd noise as cover for their cuts from song to song and really, it's just the freaking weirdest thing.

I don't know where this would ever be useful or where it would be played or why anyone would ever need it.  Then again, on top of all of that, I did buy it so maybe I'm the real asshole in this scenario.  Oh, and there's a second one of these out there, but we'll talk about that in two weeks.

Starvingman - Sound of Sirens CD

 

I Hate Smoke (2017)

I picked up this Starvingman CD at the recommendation of Kazu from Waterslide records.  He rarely steers me wrong and once again, he's shown me another incredible band that I don't think I would have found on my own.

Now, I need to say up front that there are a few songs on this album, including on the opening track "向かい風" where there's some accordion and flute.  In some ways it's kind of a nice incorporation of folksy melodies into modern punk. But in other ways it kind of sounds like the Dropkick Murphys and that's just not my scene.  Luckily, the vast, vast majority of this album is top notch melodic pop punk.

The riffs are punchy with just the right amount of palm muting that leads into giant sing along choruses.  There are aspects that reming me a little bit of the poppier moments of Blew, but everything is a little bit slicker production-wise.  The hooks are incredible throughout the album and in particular the title track "Sound of Sirens" and its immediate follow up "Do The Right Thing" (not the Leatherface song) are two of the highlights on this CD.  This is the band's second album, so if anyone sees their first one, I need that.

Starvingman - "Do The Right Thing":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFbkDHj1P0A

Starvingman - "タックスヘイブン":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hLnDXYUZ2w

The Baseball Furies - All American Psycho LP (Red Vinyl)

Big Neck (2018)

This Baseball Furies LP contains a previously released 10" and 7" onto one convenient piece of vinyl.  Having not heard of the band prior to receiving this in the mail from Big Neck, I'm not familiar with the original formats so these songs were all brand new to me.

I have to say that while this is better than many other bands of this ilk, I don't think it's really for me.  The positives are in the music.  The guitar riffs are fast and furious, with explosive garage energy and just the right amount of lead guitar licks.  There's a little bit of a trashy 60s vibe to a lot of the songs, mixed with a more modern sensibility, but vocally it doesn't hold up for me.

The vocals are really blown out and distorted in that way where the singer sounds like he's shouting from the confines of a cave.  Sometimes this works, other times it doesn't and for my ears, there's just too much yelling on this album.  If the vocals were taken down a notch, I think I'd be much more into this than I am.  But again, this is a lot better than some of the other garden variety garage revival bands out there.

The Baseball Furies - All American Psycho:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/baseball-furies-all-american-psycho

Badge 714 - Tearless 7"

KiliKiliVilla (2016)

This 7" is another one of that I picked up while in Japan last year.  Yes, here we are a year and a half later and I still have a pretty large pile of records from that trip that I haven't written about yet.  Honestly, there are still so many that by the time I get through them I actually might be able to afford to go back to Japan again.

I wasn't familiar with Badge 714, but from what I can tell, they were a band that was active in the mid 90s and this version on Killi Killi Villa is a reissue of a long out of print 7" that came out way back when.  It's funny that when listening to it, while it still has a 90s vibe to it, if you didn't tell me it was almost twenty five years old, I don't think I would have realized that.  The band has a female vocalist, Wakako Uemura, who has such an incredible grasp of melody and a really powerful voice.

In some ways I'm reminded a bit of Cigaretteman, but only just a bit as Badge 714 is much more melodic and the songs tend to be more relaxed.  The two songs on the record itself are accompanied by two extra songs on the download.  I'm not sure why they weren't on the record itself but if Discogs is to be believed they both originally appeared on compilation albums.  They are both excellent and I do wish they were on the actual record.  Luckily my favorite of the bunch, "Mama Made a Face at the Cloudy Sky," is on the 7" and it's really a hell of a song.

I don't think there's much else out there by Badge 714, but if anyone else knows something about other records they have out, let me know so I can start looking around for them.

Badge 714 - "Tearless":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V0nHSZB9aE

Badge 714 - "Mama Made a Face at the Cloudy Sky":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiYRoJmnCO8

Rocket From The Crypt - Bootleg 12"

Bootleg (20??)

This bootleg, one sided 12" has been kicking around for a few years, occasionally popping up on Discogs or eBay at a ridiculous price.  I'm not sure where they came from or why someone would be bootlegging anyone, let along Rocket From The Crypt, these days.  But in an effort to keep the collection complete I did pick up a copy when I found one that dropped to a semi reasonable price.

The songs on here haven't ever been released on vinyl before, so that's a plus.  The record starts out with the song "My Silverhead."  This is one of those Rocket tracks with a mysterious pass.  For the longest time, the rumor was that this song was preloaded on some wacky MP3 player that was sold in the burgeoning days of that technology.  I have no proof that this is the case, but the song has been circulating on the dark web ever since.  The version on this 12" sounds way better than the MP3 that I have, so I'm pretty pleased that this is on here.

The next three songs are three of the four extra tracks that came on the expanded Circa Now
+4 reissue that came out on Swami a while ago.  I'm not sure why they left off "Flight of the Hobo," but since that expanded version of Circa Now didn't come out on vinyl, I don't mind having these songs on that format.  But again, why wouldn't you put on all four?  The bizarre choices one makes when illegally releasing records I guess...

The 12" finishes up with two live cover songs.  These seem to be taken from an in store performance.  When Group Sounds came out, Rocket played a few afternoon in stores before their real show later that evening.  They were loose and low key and the one I went to at Tower Records in NYC was a blast.  The two songs here are covers of "Down In The Boondocks" and "Blue Cowboy."  Both are fun and the sound quality is pretty good all things considered.

While I would prefer an official vinyl release for all of these songs, this 12" is still a decent little addition to the Rocket collection.  They made a few odd choices with track selection and the track list on the sleeve itself is totally wrong ("Lambs For Sale" anyone?), but the sound quality of the vinyl is pretty good and the songs are, of course, pretty damn great.

Crocodile God / The Corpse - Split CD

Fixing A Hole (2018)

This CD out on Fixing A Hole in Japan pairs 90s UK punk stalwarts Crocodile God with Japanese newcomers The Corpse.  A split with a UK band on one side and a Japanese band on the other is something that I've loved since I started buying Snuffy Smile 7"s back in the mid 90s.  While the concept of a split CD is still a little weird to me, this release brings me back to the glory days of discovering incredible new bands.

Crocodile God is a band I've been listening to for over twenty years.  Their brand of fast paced and catchy punk rock is one I'll never get sick of.  Though on this release, two of the three songs included are also on their split 7" with Not Tonight & The Headaches.  Both songs are still as good as they were on that 7", but for me at least, they aren't new to this release.  What is new is an acoustic version of their song "Ladders."  This has always been my favorite Crocodile God song ever since I picked up the 7" it was on that Crackle put out.  Hearing it in an acoustic context really highlights what a damn perfect vocal melody they came up with for this song.  It's a little slower than the original (which is typically the case with acoustic versions of punk rock songs), but it's just as excellent.

The Corpse turned in one of the highlights of the recent Tribute To Broccoli CD with their version of "Chestnut Road."  I'm happy to report that the three original songs on this split are just as great if not better than their Broccoli cover.  All three songs are perfect example of the sort of melodic punk rock I like to listen to.  There are times where they remind me of some of the classic Snuffy Smile bands of the past, but at the same time they elevate their songs with more complex arrangements that remind me a little bit of Summerman, though with the distorion turned way up and the tempo much faster.  In all honesty, these three songs are some of the best I've heard all year.  I really hope The Corpse puts out some more records really soon.

The Corpse - "Continue To Existence":
https://soundcloud.com/thecorpsefromoita/continue-to-existence

Crocodile God - "Spinning" and "Entomoligist Eyes":
https://crocodilegod.bandcamp.com/album/split-with-not-tonight-and-the-headaches

Character Actor - Out Of Hands 7"

 

 Dirt Cult (2018)

I recently picked up a batch of new records from Dirt Cult, a label that I implicitly trust with their releases (except those really fast hardcore leaning ones, they're not my bag so much).  There were several highlights, others that I'll be writing about soon, but I wanted to start out with this fantastic 7" from Character Actor.

While the players have previously been in bands like The Ergs, Black Wine and Night Birds, Character Actor have more in common with the sort of fuzzy guitar punk that bands like Fear Of Lipstick or The Creeps have released.  The first three songs all clock in under two minutes long and are quick bursts of punchy guitar and energetic vocals.  There's some great hooks in here and part of me wishes the band wasn't quite so economical with their time.

The final song on the 7", "72 Paperbacks," changes things up a little bit, slowing down the tempo and extending the length of the song.  It still manages to be just as impactful as the prior three with a lower key, but still driving rhythm section and some minimal, but very effective lead guitar riffs.  All in all a great debut, hopefully this isn't the last we hear from these guys.  I would absolutely pick up a full length.

Character Actor - Out Of Hands 7"
https://dirtcultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/character-actor

Abolitionist - The Instant LP - Red Vinyl (/274)

1859 Records (2018)

The Instant is the third album by Abolitionist that I've been able to write about on this website.  Over the years I've watched them start out as an exciting band that I hadn't heard of before to a group that I can count on to churn out a pretty strong record every time.

I was a little concerned when the album starts off with the title track as the drumming is in full on gallop mode with the song careening by at a thousand miles an hour.  But this is something of a false start as by the very next song, "Trouble," Abolitionist takes things down a notch and settles into a slightly slower and certainly more melodic pace for a good portion of this album.  In fact I'd venture to say this is probably the album of their's with the least amount of blazing fast songs and I really think they benefit from that. There are plenty of fast, uptempo songs on The Instant, they just don't pass that speed limit where we start venturing into NOFX territory.

Many times throughout the album I'm reminded of Dead Mechanical, primarily in the vocals, but also in the way that the bands construct their songs.  They achieve maximum catchiness, but never sacrifice the underlying angst or pissed-off-ed-ness that are fueling the songs.  All of their albums are solid, but The Instant may be the best of the bunch.

Abolitionist - The Instant:
https://1859records.bandcamp.com/album/abolitionist-the-instant-lp

Aretha Franklin & The Blues Brothers Band - Think 7" (Australia)

Atlantic (1983)

I'm actually just about through all of the Blues Brothers 7"s that I have.  At this point all that is left are a few that are kind of weird and of course the handful that I haven't tracked down yet.  This one is a Blues Brothers 7" although if anything it's kind of like a split 7" with Aretha Franklin.

Aretha gets top billing with her version of "Think" from the Soundtrack of the Blues Brothers movie.  Always a longtime favorite of mine, Aretha's pipes are on full display here as she careens through an incredibly energetic version of the song.  It's one of the most memorable scenes in a movie that has its fair share of memorable scenes.

On the B side is the Blues Brothers version of the theme from "Rawhide."  Again, from an iconic scene in the movie, the whole section from Bob's Country Bunker is one of my very favorites and I've always been partial to the song, even though it's from the soundtrack and is a slightly different and longer version than what is played in the movie.  I think that I like "Rawhide" so much because it is one of the few songs out there that Elwood sings.  And since he's always been my favorite Blues Brother, I've just dug this since I was a little kid.

This is definitely one of the more unique Blues Brothers 7"s I have, it has unique artwork with pictures that miraculously have not been recycled from other releases.  It's even got a funny, fake newspaper clipping show review of the Bob's Country Bunker show by the Good Old Blues Brothers Boys Band from Chicago.  Quality stuff.

Aretha Franklin & The Blues Brothers Band - "Think":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELVZIlv5fbE

The Blues Brothers - "Theme From Rawhide":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y55zpYfFAE

The Fastbacks - Answer The Phone, Dummy LP

Sub Pop (1994)

When I went to the Seattle Pop Punk Festival in January one of the bands that played was K Streets.  A band featuring multiple members of the Fastbacks, playing Fastbacks songs.  For whatever reasons, The Fastbacks were never a band that I had listened to much, if at all, over the years.  They embarrassingly just weren't on my radar and I never bought any of their records.  K Streets, however, blew my goddamn mind and I knew right then I had to go buy every Fastbacks record I could possibly get my hands on.

At the recommendation of my buddy Alan, I've started with their 1994 album Answer The Phone, Dummy.  The dual vocals of Lulu Gargiulo and Kim Warnick coupled with the insane guitar pyrotechnics of Kurt Bloch create a real firestorm of catchy songs that have an unbelievable energy to them.  Guitar solos are not always my favorite things at the best of times, but the way Kurt weaves them into these songs, they never feel like self indulgent wanking, they are always in service to the hook and the song.

There are so many incredible songs throughout this album.  Crazed fast rockers like "Went For a Swim,"slower more introspective ones like "Old Address of the Unknown" and flat out pop masterpieces like “On The Wall” and "I Found The Star."  Every song has something unique to offer but still work in the context of the album as a whole.

Again, it's borderline ridiculous that it took me until 2018 to realize that the Fastbacks are great and that I should be listening to their records.  I'm well over twenty five years behind the curve on this band, but now that I've seen the light my hunt begins to track down the rest of their large and very intimidating discography.  If anyone has a recommendation of the next one to pick up, let me know.

The Fastbacks - "I Found The Star":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50QTl8SYEnA

The Fastbacks - "Trumpets Are Loud":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuArA4BDW3E

Revolution For Her Smile - A Compilation of Rad Youth CD

Road Trip (2017)

This album came out at the very end of last year and Kazu from Waterslide recommended that I check them out as he though they'd be up my alley.  He was absolutely right so I bought this CD when I made my most recent bulk purchase of punk rock from Japan.  Revolution For Her Smile is another amazing band in what seems to be a never ending string of amazing melodic punk rock bands from Japan.

Throughout the ten songs on this album, Revolution For Her Smile turn in some amazing moments.  From the bouncy and upbeat opener "Small Riots" to the more straightforward rocker "Waking Life" to the more subdued, but no less catchy "Three Chord Song" this is a band that knows the value of a high caliber hook.  There are parts of the album that remind me of the equally excellent Summerman, but in general Revolution For Her Smile leans a bit fuzzier with their guitars and a bit louder overall.

I'm not sure what it is, but sometimes I really feel like Japanese bands create the best punk rock in the world.  Revolution For Her Smile is another incredible band in that tradition and I can only hope that A Compilation Of Rad Youth is the first of many fantastic records that they'll put out.

Revolution For Her Smile - A Compilation of Rad Youth:
https://revolutionforhersmile.bandcamp.com/album/a-compilation-of-rad-youth

Raging Nathans / Wonk Unit - Split 7"

Drunken Sailor / Rad Girlfriend (2016)

I'm not exactly sure why it took me two years to pick up this 7".  I'm actually not positive that I knew it was out, though that seems weird to me.  Anyway, I grabbed it while looking for something to help qualify for free shipping while grabbing some records from Green Noise.  This split popped up and it fit the bill perfectly.

First up on this split 7" we have Raging Nathans.  A few years ago I wrote about their album Losing It and I definitely enjoyed that.  The two songs on this 7" seem to reflect a somewhat rougher version of the band as they barrel through three chord, pop punk style riffs at blazing speed.  Both songs are short, economical and cram a ton of energy into their brief run times.  "Good For You" is my favorite of the two with it's bouncy, super catchy chorus.  These guys also have a new album out this year called Cheap Fame, but I haven't picked that one up yet.

On the other side of the 7" we have Wonk Unit, a band that I was really late to the party for, but one that I've been trying to make up for lost time with.  "We Came Together" starts thing of with a jangly guitar riff, that feels like something that might be on a deep cut of a Vacant Lot album, but with a slight ska lean to it.  "Candy" showcases Wonk Unit's ability to craft a simple, sparse song that still contains all of the energy of the loudest punk thrasher you can think of.  Their ability to keep things unique, but still cram their songs full of hooks is on full display during both songs.

Raging Nathans / Wonk Unit - Split 7":
https://drunkensailorrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wonk-unit-raging-nathans-split-7
 

V/A - 14 Soda Punx LP - Red Vinyl

Top Drawer (2018)

Reviewing compilations is a pain in the ass.  You have to try to write about a bunch of different bands all playing different songs and it's often difficult to tie everything together in a way that makes any sense.  For that reason, I've been sitting on 14 Soda Punx for a few months.  Even though there's a nice, built in talking point of my trip out to Seattle to see many of these bands play at the Seattle Pop Punk Festival (it was actually reviewing the Four Lights album the other day that spurred my on to finally tackle this one) it's still tough to navigate compilations.

I'm not going to be able to write something about every band, but I'll hit a few.  The album starts off on side A with a band called Sucesss who have a song called "Kurt Bloch."  That was confusing at first.  It's actually a pretty good song, even though the lyrics are kind of silly.  Coyote Bred have a song called "Pile" that's catchy and poppy, with a little bit of a Social Distortion twang to it.  Burn Burn Burn's drummer plays too fast.  I don't really like Choke The Pope, though I did enjoy the song on here more than I expected to.

"Leave You Guessing" by Four Lights starts off the B side and is as good as anything on their recent full length, so that's a highlight.  The Botherations have a great contribution with "Amor Perdido," that kind of has a darker pop punk feel, like the Red Dons.  The Drolls has Denny from Sicko in the band and "Getting Old" is probably my favorite song on the album.  Dude sure can write a hook.  Date Night With Brian has Ean from Sicko and "Get It In" is indie pop fun.  Really dig this song. Dude can sure write a hook.

13 Soda Punx was one of my favorite compilations of the 90s.  It had Sicko, Mr. T Experience, Bum, Stand GT and a slew of other pretty great bands.  14 Soda Punx is a pretty solid sequel.  The highlights for me tend to be some of the bands that sound like they could have been on the first comp, including the bands that have people that were in bands on the first compilation.  But there are plenty of new sounds to discover on this one and really, isn't that the point of compilations?

V/A - 14 Soda Punx:
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F359264052%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-4t1pd&color=%23444e59&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&show_user=false&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=false

The Practice - Punk Rock Needs Tragedy 7"

Niw (2016)

This was a record I picked up while in Tokyo.  Actually, I mistakenly bought it twice, so I have two copies of it.  This was a Record Store Day 2016 release, so I guess in Japan, like in America, a lot of Record Store Day releases end up being around long past the original release date.

The Practice was a band that put out a few 7"s on Snuffy Smiles many years ago.  I loved those 7"s, but then the band kind of fell off my radar.  I know they put out a few CDs that I never was able to pick up, but those Snuffy Smiles 7"s were pretty much all I have heard.  The four songs on this 7" are, in general, pretty good, but they feel a lot cleaner and not as immediately attention grabbing as those earlier 7"s I have.

The 7" starts off with "Yuck Fou," A song that is big and anthemic and sure does have a lot of swearing in it.  It's the very definition of a fist pumper and even though the guitars are jangly and somewhat in the background of the mix, you can definitely feel the energy. "(Super Dirty) Old Town" has a bouncy bass line and is pretty organ heavy you can hear The Clash for sure, but the chorus reminds me of Snuff a bit.

"Another Measure" is the slowest of the bunch with a borderline reggae style drum beat.  It's not my favorite of the four. "Tragedy" closes the 7" and is my favorite this batch of songs.  With a driving rhythm section and a really catchy chorus, it's the the most straightforward song on the 7" and I think, the best.  While I don't think this 7" as a whole is as good as the other Practice records I have, these are still solid songs that I dig.  I'm not sure I need two copies of it, but I'm happy to hang on to one of them.

The Practice - "Yuck Fou" (I could only find a live version on YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YOLYGcCGY

Four Lights - Kobayashi Maru LP - Blue Vinyl

Bomb Pop / Stardumb (2018)

Four Lights hail from Seattle and they actually played at the incredible Seattle Pop Punk Festival that I went to in January.  There were a ton of great bands that played that weekend and it was pretty cool to have this album show up in the mail.  Whatever magic Four Lights had as a live band that weekend has absolutely transferred to this album.  It's a gigantic ball of energy from start to finish.

To my ears, Four Lights has successfully threaded the needle between bands like Samiam and Superdrag.  They have the big, crunchy guitars and pounding energy you'd come to expect from the Samiams of the world.  But, they manage to incorporate the sort of hooks, song structures and harmonies that one might expect from some of those Superdrag level bands that snuck onto some major labels back in the 90s (only to end up in the used CD bins of the world for all eternity).

That isn't to say Four Lights is destined for the used bin.  Quite the contrary, this is an album filled with songs that get absolutely lodged into your cranium.  Whether the band is blasting forward full steam on songs like "ComRAD" and "We Got Em"or when they slow things down as they do on "Scene of the Crime" and "Jimmy's Song Part 2" (which reminds me a ton of the band Hospital Job) they always deliver on a big fat chorus that you'll be humming for days afterwards.  I'd not heard of Four Lights prior to the Seattle Pop Punk Festival, but I'm sure glad I did as Kobayashi Maru is good stuff.

Four Lights - Kobayashi Maru:
https://fourlightsrock.bandcamp.com/album/kobayashi-maru

Kenny Baker - Out of There, Out of Time CD

Fixing A Hole (2017)

Going to Japan last year was more than just a great trip, it also stoked the fire I have for the Japanese punk rock scene.  Over the last few years I had been trying to pay more attention to things over there, but since that trip all I want to do is buy more Japanese records.  Luckily, Kazu from Waterslide records has been there to help me find some things I've been looking for and also to recommend some bands that I might have missed on my own.  Kenny Baker was one of his picks for me last year and I am so thankful I listened to him and bought a copy of this CD.

Out of There, Out of Time is practically a perfect melodic punk rock record.  Kenny Baker channels the sort of melodies and hooks that you'd hear from Doughboys or perhaps the more upbeat moments of Senseless Things, but they enchance these hooks with the sort of vigor and energy you'd expect from a band like Samiam or Blew.  Kenny Baker has managed to take some of my favorite sounds of the 90s and put their own stamp on it, creating ten absolutely fantastic songs.

If it's not obvious, I love this album.  I only wish I had gotten it last year when it came out so I could have put it on my list of the best records that came out in 2017.  There's no way Out of There, Out of Time wouldn't have at least been in the top five of the year.  It's one of the best records I've heard in a while.  Now I just have to try to find their other EPs that came out back in the 90s and hope they are already working on a new record.  Seriously, this is the best.

Kenny Baker - "Heavy Moon" (I can't find anything streaming, but Fixing A Hole has an MP3 of this song up):
http://fixingahole.jpn.org/mp3s/kenny_baker-heavy_moon.mp3

Kenny Baker - "I Just Want To Say Something To You" (Also an MP3):
http://fixingahole.jpn.org/mp3s/kenny_baker-something_to_you.mp3