Lilac Daze

Lilac Daze are a pop punk band from Frederick

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Bandcamp

7" SPOTLIGHT - Boilerman - Bright Young Things

It's been a very long time chuggers. Roblet is keeping this thing going, which I'm grateful for. Life has been full of changes lately, including a lack of internet for the most part. So here I briefly offer you a 7" spotlight on an awesome band from Chicago (I think) that are just playing downright good ol' pop punk jams. Four songs, none longer than 2 minutes, and you'll find yourself playing it over and over again. This is definitely one of my favorite pop punk records in my entire collection. So download, jam out, and buy their shit or see them when they are playing in your town! They just did a tour not too long ago and I regrettably missed their D.C. date.

Peace.

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Bright Young Things (2010)

7 INCH SPOTLIGHT: JAWBREAKER - BUSY

Well, it's been a really fucking long time since I've uploaded anything to this blog. I have to say thank you to Robbie for keeping up with this so well. Shit's been a little crazy to say the least.

I'll be easing myself back into the flow of posting with this little gem, which I was lucky enough to stumble upon at Mystery Train Records in Amherst, Massachusetts just this Wednesday, actually.

This record was actually pressed on a whoooole bunch of different color combinations, in regards to the vinyl itself as well as the color of the cover and band's logo. My copy is on black vinyl and with black art and green text, one of the original approximately 1500 or so that seemed to be pressed. There were several later pressings as well, from what I understand.

Jawbreaker's Busy 7" dropped in '89, the year before their debut LP Unfun, would be released. The title track of this 7" would also be featured on that LP, but the b-side, "Equalized," would remain a vinyl only track until the release of the band's b-side collection Etc.

The band certainly deserves their status as one of the seminal bands of their day, and this 7" showcases their brooding, visceral approach to punk. It seems strange to think that Unfun was released over 20 years ago, as it still seems to fresh every time I take it out and spin it (the 20th anniversary remaster souunds amazing, try to find one if you haven't yet!). Jawbreaker continues to influence and excite kids all over the world. There seems to be at least one kid in a bootleg Jawbreaker t-shirt at any punk show you go to anymore. You know the one I'm talking about, with the Morton Salt girl on it.

Anyway, check out this great record from this great band. Hopefully records like this will never die and always sound as relevant as they still do to some of us right now.

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Busy (1989)

Park Jefferson

Park Jefferson are from Michigain. More or less this is the creative outlet of Nick Stuntsman of Merchant Ships / Mid West Pen Pals fame. A good bit of their material is acoustic, I don't know if he plays solo shows under this moniker but I would imagine that he does most of the writing.

I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that this band is really influenced by Pennsylvania stuff like Street Smart and Algernon. They do, however, still retain alot of their mid-west background. Their material is not the most original, but, it is still pretty really dope. The acoustic and electric tracks are good, although the quality of the acoustic songs are better than the electric. The Bicycle Sunday split songs were done well.

I think they are on "hiatus". Go figure, a Merchant Ships band breaking up. Don't worry, they will more than likely get back together. I would imagine Nick is going to keep on making songs.

Everything form their bandcamp is down there. Don't have Bicycle Sunday songs from that split, but I'm sure you can get em if you want em. Acoustic video below. Word.




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Childhood



Acoustic EP


Better Boy



Park Jefferson's songs from the split with Bicycle Sunday

Kid Dynamite

If you don't like Kid Dynamite you might want to check to make sure you still have a pulse. Featuring members of flagship punk acts like None More Black, Lifetime, Paint It Black, and the Loved Ones, Kid Dynamite broke open new ground in the hardcore scene with the the release of their debut LP in 1998, the year after Lifetime's final LP, Jersey's Best Dancers, was released. Guitarist Dan Yemin's trademark buzz saw power chord mentality and Jason Shevchuk's trademark vocal style have influenced an unfathomable amount of bands.

2000's Shorter, Faster, Louder was a more streamlined and polished approach to the band's song and featured classic tracks like "Cheap Shot Youth Anthem". Shevchuk's departure to return to school was followed by the subsequent break up of the band and a release of a compilation of b-sides entitled, of course, Cheap Shot Youth Anthem. The band has played two reunion shows and, thank goodness, Yemin is still very active between Lifetime reunions and touring and writing for Paint It Black.





Kid Dynamite (1998)



Shorter, Faster, Louder (2000)



Cheap Shots Youth Anthems (2003)

Good Luck

Sometimes you hear music so heart warming that you start to get that warm, fuzzy feeling, and for the time that album is on, everything seems okay.

Good Luck, hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, makes music like that. You may recognize bassist/vocalist Ginger Alford from her Bruce Springsteen tribute and collaboration with the beloved Paul Baribeau (which you can download here). Here she mostly backs up lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Tobey, who's nasally yet pleasant voice (somewhat reminiscient of John Samson of the Weakerthans) takes charge on most of the songs here, although Ginger takes the forefront on a few songs, like "Stars Were Exploding", "Same Stories", and "Sleep With No Bad Dreams", all with great results.

2008's Into Lake Griffy, their sole output thus far, is a great debut. There are plenty of great sing-a-long melodies and uplifting, jingly guitars that noodle their way in and out of tracks. Every song on this album has great, insightful lyrics that are so damn Posi it makes you wanna jump on a bike and just cruise around listening to it. If I had to describe this group in two words I would say, "Cute and fun."

So download it! Summer's almost over, but there's still some time to cook out with your friends and have this playing in the background.


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Into Lake Griffy (2008)

The Kidcrash

First off, I would like to say that Kidcrash and The Kidcrash are the same band.

Anyways, Kidcrash is four piece based up in Washington, originally from New Mexico. They play some really original mathy screamo, and used to be a pop-punk band. Their first album, New Ruins, is on iTunes, but Kidcrash has this to say about it:


"Please don't order this cd (New Ruins). After spending more than $10,000 of our own money recording it, Lujo Records continues to try to justify their right to continue to collect 100% of the royalties from mp3 sales, after four years of selling the album on itunes and amazon. At one point we requested a box of cds for a show, they sent them way too late and they didn't arrive for the show. We never ended up selling them, but according to them we still owe them $400 for those cds and with that included they are still out about $500 recouping their $2000 investment. Reality is, we are still out about $8000, and they are honestly out maybe $200-$300 and have plenty of copies of the cd left. But there is no way for us to know how much they have made off of the sales of our mp3s. We have, on multiple occasions demanded that four years is long enough, and that the mp3s be removed from itunes. The response has been a load of bullshit about how we will get 50% of the royalties once the label recoups. But we don't want those royalties, and don't want to make money for those music monopolies. Amazon.com does not have the legal right to sell our mp3s and continues to after hours and hours of phone calls; we never signed anything granting Lujo Records the right to sell our music on iTunes, so when the time comes and we want it taken down, they have no right to refuse to respect our wishes. After all, they dropped us in a myspace message, why are they holding on so tight to our music. The only way we can force this to stop is by giving away this album. We wouldn't ever want to encourage people to listen to this album with the belief that if you like Jokes that we think you'd like New Ruins. So it is only posted here in protest of Lujo Records' lack of consideration for our wishes and legal rights as the composers, and REAL financiers of the record. DO NOT BUY IT!"

After releasing New Ruins, they progressed wonderfully with every ensuing release, including the rare EP "I Haven't Had a Date..." and the self titled 2006 demo. Their full length Jokes is a screamo masterpiece.
They put up all their recorded music on Denovali a while ago, including rare pre-New Ruins demos and releases put out by the band early in their career; however we didn't download them before they were taken down. If anyone has these releases, please comment.

If you like what you hear, buy their shit off of Slave Union and Denovali or whatever, BUT NOT ITUNES!

Here's a video of them doing A Conduit Rather Than A Vault.



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New Ruins (2004)



I Haven't Had a Date in Four Years Goldie Hawn Goldie Hawn Goldie Hawn (2005)



Demo (2006)



'Misspellings' Arse Moreira Split 5" (2007)



Jokes (2007)



Coffin Dancer Split 10" (2007)



Heavy Nugs and Heady Chugs - The L'antietam Split (2008)