"It's eerie isn't it? It's like looking into the future"
Holy lol, Batman! I don't really care about Iggy Pop either way, I don't listen to classic rock but this is sure to annoy lots of people. And who knows, it might turn out sounding good? Hope he guests on a remix of Dinosaur!*
One of the best decisions i ever made was to follow Icp on twitter. Not only does it mean occasional personal tweets that are riddled with lols, but I also am kept bang up to date with all that is fresh in the juggalo world! ICP are wizard trolls, perhaps unintentionally, and when im not enjoying their wiggery ways, I'm enjoying how mad they make ppl. Plus Juggalo Island is a bit of a summer jam it has to be said. I thought they had peaked with Miracles but when I saw the infomercial for their new release I felt a warm glow inside, mainly because of the BONUS COVER ALBUM featuring FRED DURST and a CHRISTINA AGUILLERA cover described as "fearless". Srsly, tell me this isn't going to be amazing!
A case of cheap fizzy drink and a couple of fat ugly people in make up to the first ninja to get through all 19 mins of the infomercial!
This was sent to me the other day and from the title; 'Talented Teen Does the Impossible: Makes LMFAO listenable', I knew this was only going to go downhill for me. LMFAO have sold multi-platinum, lads. How is that unlistenable? I blame Adele for this, pop music is now about 'artists' and not about what it used to be about. You know, dancing and singing and FUN.This is what we call a craic vacuum: when all the fun is sucked out of something.
Aaaanyway, lets examine the evidence..
Imagine a young Jack Black that wasn't anyway funny
Though I'm guessing he's going for extra points on the ironing of it all
His voice is good, fair enough, but everything this represents..no. Just no. Blues is meant to be based on hardship and struggle. The only struggle this dude has had is getting off the couch, amirite?
'Pizza hut or Dominos? Lief is hard let's sing teh blues'
Am I being too hard on the kid? Should he write his own damn material? Will he see the light when he starts drinking and meets that special girl in the chipper at 3am?
A few months ago I wrote what I thought would be a once off post about the Marina and the Diamonds song 'Hollywood', which was a bit of a choon. I tried to explain her (yeah, 'the Diamonds' are her fans.. :-/) appeal and how I linked her sound/themes to System of a Down. In the last week her new single Primadonna has been battering the airwaves and her new album is top of teh chartz. (yeah, they're still a thing).
Dat accent! Plus the melody is so good.
I prefer the old, brunette Marina. If ur listening Marina, u have the ability, ur hair was nicer back den. Though it's probably a STATEMENT. Actually this is 'part 4' it seems.. who is real marina???
00.37: Snare hit! And that's what I call generic club-girl pop...
...until 00.50 where her vocals drroooppp in that unique way
Love the backing vox that are perfect 'I'm a dumb rich girl' shtyle.
Not sure what's going on in the video really, if u such a primadonna y u spend ur time in an empty old house??!
Dem eyelashes and dat tat :-/ not sure if want. Though she is pretty adorable usually it seems.
She has a dog and turtle/tortoise though, that's pretty cool.
brb, starting a 'bring back "hollywood" version of marina' campaign
Yours truly is of course one of said ska-loving nerds. Less Than Jake were the most fun when I saw them last year and I've gushed lyrical about MC Lars before on this blog. So when I recently discovered they performed on stage together I, like many others..(okay like a few others at least) have some hope that LTJ ft MCL could happen.
Not sure if anyone really knows what's going on (esp. the two randomers on stage) but more of this plz.
While being nerdy and checking the analytics of this blog I was bemused to discover the most common phrase entered into google search to lead ppl here. It was not my compelling, ongoing journey to discover the most lolworthy bad films in Dodgy Film Club, nor was it my revolutionary Twitter-sized Reviews, oh no. The most searched term (that leads ppl here from the google machine) is ‘pop punk drinking game’.
Now, I have a few posts about pop punk, and I also put together a drinking game for The Room...But combining both? Do ppl want a pop punk drinking game? Either way..here is pop punk drinking game v1.0
Even though skate punk is probably my favourite of all genres (I've been listening to it for 10+ years now :/) I find it hard to keep up with new bands or get properly excited about new releases. Maybe it's because I've heard alot of it before, maybe it's because, paradoxically, I want it to also keep to the same formula, but most of the newer bands pass me by for one reason or another.
Luckily though the good folks at skatepunkers.net are there to kick me up the arse every now and then, giving me access to the most crucial of knowledge, with a kind of collective, manic grin borne out of the joy of sharing music and their exasperation that I haven't heard so many great bands!
The latest find for me from there has been Symphony of Distraction. Ever wished NOFX had a better singer? Ever wish melodic punk bands could be faster?
Ever wish Pennywise had a sense of humour? Well then Symphony of
Distraction are the band for you! Their EP Pudwack was released in 2010
and it's fast and melodic, sure what more could you want?
Really nice production, clear and heavy but not over-produced
A drummer that plays as if he wants ppl to circle pit rabidly the entire time
Lyrics that have just the right amount of humour, anger, satire and self deprecation
Occasional forays into sweet guitar riffs
Samples that are used sparingly
Melodic vocals and harmonies
It's hard enough to track them down on youtube...this currently be my favourite song:
Samples = always fun
Breakneck speeed
The vocal melodies are so good
00.53: The guest (I'm presuming..) vox and the 'oooohhhs' in the background <3 <3
1.30: Samples are still always fun (when not over done obvs)
There's some of that occasional riffage in the outro, mmm.
Harmonies!
Uncoventional timing for the vocals <3
Lyrics that pit resignation to being an alcoholic against a dark sense of humour, always good
It's just good skate punk, no over-analysis on my part can explain it!
So yes, I've just ordered their new album 'Call It Off John' (which I'm sure is another hilarious in-joke that I'm not privy to) and you can do the same here. I'm sure to be rambling on about the album when I get it from the wonderful playground that is Japan. They also use the facebooked and have criminally few likes so go there and set that right and ask them to get in here and explain some damn in-jokes to me.
Okay...so usually when starting a post like this I give a rundown of my thoughts on the band in question (liek u care!?) and it's a slightly rambling, unecessary affair. And this time it's going to be even more the case methinks...
I first heard Pennywise through a video a friend made me (which was made up of stuff from the p-rock channel) and the song Same Old Story, which was a great song full of y u no understand me dad lyrics. I also heard Open Door on a compilation CD and it's one of my favourite punk songs to this day. Then I heard Fuck Authority and I was blown away by the intensity, aggression and guitar tones goin' on. The problem was their stuff was pretty hard to find in the middle of nowhere in Ireland and by the time I got their albums (several years later) I found they didn't have the humour of NOFX, the melodies of Bad Religion, the riffs of Strung Out etc. They didn't have a bad song, mind you, but something held them back from nestling a spot in my top 5 skate punk bands. (like they care..)
Then, last year, lead singer Jim left. If you take the story in 'The Other F Word' (which is well worth a watch) then he wanted to be with his family and the other guys weren't sensitive to this, kept pressuring him to go on tours etc.. If you take the story in this interview by Fletcher then Jim wasn't the only one with pressures, and his decision to go on tour with a new band soon after leaving the P-wise was a bit crap. Either way The Black Pacific came along and I was pretty excited when I heard them first but tbh I haven't listened to them much. Pennywise meanwhile regrouped and eventually picked the dude from Ignite as their nu guy. (I have no opinion either way on Ignite, think I heard one song, power metal punk? who dey tbh)
Anyway enough of me, here's one of their new songs 'All or Nothing', it's pretty class.
The sound/production is great, they were getting a little over-produced
Dat opening line, perfect to shout in ur bedroom when ur parents r out of da house!
MMM 00.34... The change of pace, delicious.
Melodic gang vox <3
Is it me or does he sound like a less whiney Dexter Holland?
I can't even put my finger on why this is so good, it just all works
The first part of the chorus is a bit 'epic' for me but the faster vocals parts are gooood
It's very reliant on the vocals but they get better as the song goes on
I'm fully aware I sound like a teenager but I'm genuinely excited about hearing/getting the full album. This has such a late 90s/early 00s skate punk vibe. 4 thumbs up so far.
If you don’t want to watch this film because of the title alone then it’s probably not for you. A kung fu loving Jesus (yes, that Jesus) tries to rid the world of some lesbian vampires, and fights some atheists along the way, with the help of a girl in an atrocious red outfit, and a wrestler..for some reason. (Or something.) Oh and it’s a musical of sorts also.
Some highlights include:
A thumping euro-techno song in the background while Jesus kicks the asses of about a million atheists who look like they met at a punk/metal club the night before.
Some great lol action in the fights such as when Jesus uses his superpowers and a leg drop!
Some of the most hideous women that have ever been filmed, including a GIANT beast in one of the dance numbers. Shudder.
An 80s style montage when Jesus tries on different outfits and his ladyfriend judges them.
A talking dessert that is (possibly) God..? I think?
An assistant who keeps getting her (his?) ass grabbed
It’s definitely worth a watch if only for the wtf factor. There are so many unanswered questions and plot holes. Jesus was advised to get a haircut and new clothes to blend in..advised by a woman who spends the rest of the film running around in dat red outfit.
The first few fight scenes are pretty amazing but it kinda fades after that. Imagine a load of ‘alternative’ people who were drunk/high and joking about making a film about a kung fu Jesus..And now imagine that it actually got made. That’s pretty much what this is like.
Not content with flogging a dead horse playing Ramones songs, Marky is also flogging a red sauce it seems! I'm gonna get a crate (a handy 12 jars, only $88!) and start a punk rock section of my kitchen with my Dexter Holland Hot Sauce.
There's something inherently funny about the situation when a pop-punk band, who have lots of fans who really want the band to be REAL PUNK, release what is essentially a pop song and the fans get mad. The band may have been 'more punk' in the beginning, previous singles may have been 'ironic' or 'sarcastic', but it all boils down to the 'fans' being slightly embarrassed of liking a band that's becoming mainstrm, and therefore not their special little obsession that sets them apart from everyone else. They want to believe so much that the band are different to all the other bands and that they'd never 'sell out'. The problem is pop punk bands like a)music that is catchy, b)making enough money to fund being in the band, c)fun, and when you put these elements together...
So it's basically a timid parody of Katy Perry et al? Cutting edge!
In fairness though, I would have thought Offspringers would have been pretty used to having the skatepunk rug of security pulled from under them by now, after a series of singles over the years including:
Hit That
Spare me the Details
Pretty Fly For A White Guy
Why Don't You Get A Job
But if we go back further, what about I Choose, Don't Pick It Up, or even fan favourite Self Esteem? Y u no hate these non fast songs? And don't get me started on the occasional nirvana-inspired travesty they spewed out.
Tbh the reaction on APnet is more lol than the (possible) parody song ever could be! A sample:
Pretty Fly was made to make fun of people who listen to Pretty Fly? Srsly? lolololol. Also love the solution, delete their songs - real fanz
AND THEN ppl start praising the late pass of a band that is Bowling For Soup and Spare Me the Details, one of the worst Offspring songs evar (if we're basing it on how much it sounds like Smash or not)
Oh noes Noodles! guitarguy211 doesn't liek r musack!!1
I dunno, I haven't listened to anything from these dudes since the under-rated Splinter. I mean, they're getting to dinosaur age after all, it's only natural that they start making songs like the Foo Fighters (oh yeah, that's the other single lololol)
