Pachangacha's Weirdhead LP Teaser

Brainless God by Direct Hit! (2013)

Kind of Like: The Dopamines, The Thermals, Mixtapes
Genres: Pop Punk, Punk
Preview:


Here's some smart but still catchy punk rock.  I have drifted away from bands like this, and it is really nice to get submersed back into the kind of stuff that I almost listened to exclusively for a period of time.  As far as punk rock concept albums go, this has to be the best one I have heard since The Lawrence Arms's The Greatest Story Ever Told.  That album is perhaps one of my favorites of all time, so that is a huge compliment to this new release.

Listen Here:

Orthodox by Native (2013)

Kind of Like: So Many Dynamos, Kidcrash, Caravels
Genres: Post-Hardcore, Punk, Math Rock, Post-rock
Buy: Sargent House
Preview: 

As soon as I heard rumblings of Native's next endeavor, I was beyond excited.  It has been almost 4 years since Wrestling Moves!  These guys have always been overall a really solid band in my eyes.  They seem to take a few steps forward with each release and they absolutely kill live shows, which are all I really ask for in a band.  I feel like the biggest biggest jump forward on this release so far is how the vocals have evolved.  From the standard baseline yell throughout this to softer, haunting coos/chants, there just seems to be much more variety in the vocal department.  They have seemingly altogether ditched the high-pitched single-toned scream/yell from Wrestling Moves to something that is much more chromatic/vibrant.  The music really just picks up right where Wrestling Moves left off, and there is definitely nothing wrong with that.  I have only listened to this guy one time through and I can already tell there are going to be many more listens of this in the near future.  As excited as I am right now after the initial reaction, I just know how great it is going to be to digest this.

Oh yeah, also stoked to catch them this Saturday, check them out on tour.

Get Even by Odd Dates (2013)

Kind of Like: Charles the Osprey, Giraffes? Giraffes!

Genres: Math rock, Emo, Screamo, Punk

Preview:

This is a pretty new band coming from out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This guitar/drum duo will remind you of other guitar/drum math rock duos posted on here but with much more screamo/emo influence shining throughout the album.
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Take Your Time by Letters Home (2012)

Kind of Like: Braid, Built To Spill, Superchunk

Genres: Emo, Punk, Post-hardcore

Preview:

This trio is from Tallahassee, Florida and features members from Send Away Stranger, Ex-Breathers, and former member of Look Mexico. If you live in the Florida area and like this EP, be on the look out because they don't play many shows.  So if you see they are playing, you won't want to miss it! Listen Here:

FUCK IT by 1994! (2013)

Kind of Like: Lightning Bolt, I Smell Blood
Genres: Punk, Noise Rock, Post-hardcore
Preview: 


This new release from 1994! is a deviation from FCKYRHEAD, and was recorded really DIY (if you count iphone recordings).  The result is a guttural experience that will rock your brain in it's skull if listened through decent speakers (not your laptop).  The description on their bandcamp does a sufficient job describing it.  Speaking of 1994, this is the first time since 1994 that Michigan has been in the Elite Eight.  Looking really good for the Final Four right now at the half, sorry You'll Live, we're laying the smackdown on Florida...

I Smell Blood (2012)

Kind of Like: Lightning Bolt, Young Widows

Genres: Post-hardcore, Punk, Noise Rock, Math Rock

Preview:

So, Friday night I ventured out to see Kenny's (The Armed) new band, Nice Hooves.  The kid is in like ten bands and all of them are pretty awesome.  The show was five bucks and at the fashionable Loving Touch in Ferndale, Michigan.  It's an old sketchy massage parlor converted into a really solid punk bar, complete with good drink prices, a jukebox decked out with classic punk rawk music, and a slew of some of the nicest pool tables in metro Detroit.

This band, I Smell Blood, is from that not-as-cool London located in within our northern Canadian neighbors' territory.  They played right before Nice Hooves, and they really ripped it open.  They are a bass and drum combo, but the bass player uses different pedals to get guitar tones and fill in the empty space.  After listening to pretty much emo bands for the past few months, it's a breath of fresh air to get into a good punk/noise rock band that can bring the house down with a wall of sound.

Then Nice Hooves played and they were great as usual, followed by local favorites, Child Bite.  Somewhere in there, I stumbled outside to check out a hot dog stand Kenny was raving about that had hot dogs with mac and cheese on them.  As I got closer, Randall (also from Nice Hooves) told me they also had one with pulled pork on it.  I decided to get the best of both worlds, and I ended the night with a gigantic heavenly weiner smothered in mac and cheese and pulled pork.  It was awesome.

So, check these fellas out, and if you Euro guys should look out for Child Bite.  They are a great Michigan band that are heading out there.

Listen Here:

Old Friends/Keyholder split (2013)

Kind of Like: No Omega, Bastions, Comadre
Genres: Screamo, Post-hardcore, Hardcore, Punk
Preview:

This split is pretty brutal, in a good way.  The Leyholder side reminds me a lot of No Omega's first little EP.  Speaking of which, I heard their new album just came out.  Maybe look for that in a little bit.  This is my first time checking out Old Friends (I think).  Their side is equally awesome for it's own reasons, it almost sounds like Chris from Snowing screaming in a hardcore band.  Also getting a little Comadre feel in there.  I would like to write more about this split, but the servers for Simcity are finally working. I'm a total nerd and need to get my fix.

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Sore Subjects EP by Best Practices (2013)

Kind of Like: Sirs, Dikembe, Weak Teeth
Genres: Punk, Indie, Pop Punk
Preview:


I saw Best Practices when they were just starting out.  Chris (Weak Teeth) helped set up a show in Providence when Peace Be Still came into town, and he got these guys to play.  Since then, Tiny Engines has put out a record of theirs and they just released this little diddy.  Getting a Sirs vibe in a really good way.

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Wolf's Law by The Joy Formidable (2013)

Kind of Like: Metric, Gaslight Anthem, Arcade Fire, The Pixies
Genres: Rock, Punk, Indie
Buy: Warner Bros
Preview:


The Joy Formidable's last release, The Big Roar, had a few really heavy, powerful, good songs on it, but in the end, I lost interest in it a few months after I first listened.  I have a feeling that this new album may be the same deal for me, but this "Bats" track is killing it right now, so who knows.  I would really like to see these guys live at least once because I have a feeling they would put on a really good show.  As long as it isn't someplace expensive like the Fillmore.  OoOoOo, it looks like they actually will be at the Loft in Lansing this April during their tour.  That shouldn't be too expensive and it is fairly intimate for a band of their popularity.  Hmmmmmmm.

Listen Here:

Comadre by Comadre (2013)

Kind of Like: Rites of Spring, Refused, Glasses
Genres: Punk, Hardcore, Screamo
Buy: Vitriol Records
Preview:


It's only January and people are claiming to already have found the first contender for album of the year for 2013.  Rightfully so, Comadre has some teeth on them and so does this album.  There is a whole lot like about this and it is the freshest sounding hardcore/punk album I have heard in awhile.  From hard riffs to blasting horns to curdling vocals, it covers a lot of ground.

Listen Here:

Best of 2012: Indie/Emo/Punk

Well this is the longish one.  There are a whole bunch of albums from this past year that I haven't had a chance to spend quality time that probably belong on here, but they will be added into the archives once that time comes.  The first ones are just a bunch that aren't in any particular order and then there is the top 15.

  

  

  

  

  

  

15. Dimaggio

These up and comers from Italy put out these two releases this year that probably flew under a lot of radars.  In fact, I may be overcompensating by putting them so far up on my list so more people check these guys out.


14. Scherbatsky by Snowing

Really? You're going to put up a 7 inch that featured only one previously unreleased song? Yeah, I damn well am.  This was the final goodbye to a band that may continue to influence bands for a long time.  They remastered "Pump Fake" which made an already great song sound even better, and the other side is a new song called "Scherbatsky" that is a wonder in that it was never on one of their other albums.

13. Fade by Cloudkicker

When you're making an entire album yourself, you can really pump out material.  Ben Sharp does it all in his Cloudkicker project.  The highlight is the guitar work but he still has a knack for the entire composition in general.  Although I don't find this release as good as last year's Let Yourself Be Huge, it still is something to behold.

12. Ormai by Fine Before You Came

Another group of Italians!  I am part Italian, so maybe I have a bias (thanks Nana for all the gnoccis).  Or this album is just awesome, which it is.

11. It's Still Pretty Terrible by Dowsing

Dowsing has been around here quite a few times; they are from Chicago and myself from Michigan.  In fact, Saturday we are making the trek to Chicago to catch Coping's last show and these guys are supporting them!  However, this will be our first time seeing them since this came out.  Let the sing alongs commence!

10. Feeling Better by Nai Harvest

These lads form the UK put out this 7 inch this year, and are in the process of recording new material at the moment.  In fact, you may be hearing it soon...on our winter sampler.  Oops!?  No but for real, I listen to these songs way to much.  So this is(n't) new to meeee!


9. Giant Orange by Cheap Girls

When I went on the road with Peace Be Still, we kind of weren't prepared for the rides music wise.  We stopped at record shops and got cassettes and cds.  We listened to a lot of The Cure, The Police, Sirs, Algernon, and Chalk Talk.  We also listened to a fuckload of this album after picking it up from them at Pouzza Fest.  Maybe it's nostalgia, but this album makes me feel all sorts of good inside.

8. Future Reference by Legs Like Tree Trunks

I tried pretty hard to set something up for these guys in Michigan this past summer, but it didn't work out.  Honestly, I really wanted to see them which was a big disappointment.  I think this came out a little bit after that, and I was even more mad that I couldn't hear these songs live. Oh well, please come back guys!

7. NOPE by Coping

This is a farewell to a great midwest emo band.  In a couple days, they will be playing their last show at the Subterranean.  I hope to get some documentation of this, and maybe throw it up on here.  But I may be pretty fucked up.  Actually, seeing that we are staying nearby, I know I will be fucked up.  It's going to be a hot mess, in a good way.

6. Broad Shoulders by Dikembe

It's weird how things go.  When the Chicago Bowls EP came out, I was immediately hooked on this band.  Then their full-length came out on Tiny Engines, and I gave it a listen before it falling to the wayside.  When I started thinking about this past year's releases a month ago, I started listening to this again.  I kicked myself; why did I give up on it so easily?  Oh, Dikembe, we have been catching up this past month haven't we?

5. Awkward Breeds by The Sidekicks

So, this album is a pop punk dream.  It is just clear cut greatness, and it's so easy to sing along to.  There isn't much more to say, just a really solid and uplifting album that separated itself from the rest for me.

4. Sirs by Sirs

Back in August, there was a day in Grand Rapids that began with a house show that featured Sirs, moved down the street to Mulligan's where Glocca Morra and Kite Party played and then to the Pyramid Scheme for free pinball and Algernon Cadwallader.  It was one hell of a day/night and Sirs got it kicked off right.  I was afraid I was going to miss them to go catch Glocca; I had thought another band was starting and then SIrs was on next.  Well, a familiar song kicked in and I asked Matt Weaver next to me who this was because the song was awesome, and he said it was actually Sirs.  The song was in fact "Early Riser" and it had taken me a minute to recognize it.  Granted, I really started listening to this album heavily after I picked it up on vinyl that night.  

3. Eunoia by Invalids

It's hard to justify putting an album so far up here that was created by two guys that have never met eachother.  Or maybe that makes it even more charming?  Either way, the music speaks for itself.  There was a point where I would listen to "Steinborgium" at least once a day for a month.  The song is great before 2:35, but then it just gradually starts hitting on all cylinders for me.  The best part is that after I eventually got somewhat burnt out from that song, there were easy pickings for new songs to obsess over.  Seriously, when any of these songs pop up on shuffle, I am immediately immersed back into this album and just want to listen to the rest of this song.

2. Get Disowned by Hop Along

For the longest time, I thought this album would be the album of the year for me.  Frances has a way with her voice that can make knees buckle.  It doesn't hurt that she is also a great songwriter that had the help of producer Joe Reinhart to make every part sound as good as it could in the Algernon Warehouse.  Plus, she told me about some Korean breakfast place in Ann Arbor I never heard of that is really awesome.



1. Glocca Morra (1 and 2)

Just Married and Get Disowned were neck and neck for me until Glocca Morra spit out another great EP in An Obscure Moon.  Their delayed full length Just Married was good enough by itself; every song has a part in it that flicks something in my brain.  Obscure was a departure from that LP, but was still fucking awesome and had hints of Just Married scattered in.  My last.fm scrobbled for the past year don't lie, Glocca Morra has saturated my library/brain and for these two great releases.  I can easily say they were my favorite artist this past year.