New York punk – PERSONAL PUNK

garbage appreciation society

Middle aged punks blasting into the last years of our lives, with a fatalism perfectly pitched for aging Gen X’ers and like-minded younger generations, who all see the same bleak future. (from band bio)

Hailing from New York, ABSOLUTE GARBAGE knock out authentic, old-school US hardcore like the last 40 years never happened. With a refreshingly unvarnished execution, sarcastic vocals make satirical points through amusingly crude lyrics. Released digitally in 2022, this recently received a vinyl outing, so it qualifies for inclusion here. Seconds-long snippets of ultra-fast jokecore aside, the rest of these songs clock in around the two-minute-plus mark. Steven Tyler Won’t Care When You Die is straight-up, 80s political hardcore, Jello-warbling vocals occasionally slipping into spoken. The spiky female vox peppered throughout are a cool addition; see the catchy Jeff Epstein’s Sex Plane (He Was Just Indicted And Now He’s Dead), the superlative fastcore of Garbage Mouth (be warned: the video below this review is fucking horrible), and the title track highlight. A dead ringer for FLAG OF DEMOCRACY, it includes a bizarre middle with disturbing sounds of people appreciating food with lip-smacking creepiness. Buying A Book On Amazon Makes You A Billionaire’s Toilet oozes DEAD KENNEDYS charm, as does the sarcastic Yank punk of We’re All Going To Jail, and The Mambo Man Seeks Justice, the latter featuring a great spoken section. The lean, hardcore burst of Kampus K.O.P.S. is killer, and the supremely catchy When The Economy Collapsed makes greater use of those crucial female vocals. Get Fucked Up! is nothing short of a modern genre classic, and following a chilling spoken part, the song builds to a demented denouement.

Chef’s Kiss will take you back to a time when bands like FALSE PROPHETS, THE CRUCIFUCKS, and DEAD KENNEDYS made political points through pitch-black satire, personality, and zero trace of metal. That you don’t hear this kinda thing too much only serves to highlight how utterly refreshing it sounds. A disturbingly lip-smacking chef’s kiss to ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.

Released 20th May 2024 on vinyl

energized Brooklyn skate-punks return

This record was an awesome way to reconnect with each other, reconnect with figuring out what we wanted to say and to get the opportunity to convey it all in song. It had been quite a few years since we wrote / recorded anything so it was great to be able to experience that feeling of collaborative energy and effort again.
Up For Nothing on ‘Escape Route‘

June 10th sees the release of this New York skate punk band’s latest album Escape Route, their first since 2016’s Swindled. Formed in 2002, I’m a little surprised that I haven’t stumbled across them before *cough* generic band name *cough*.

Any album of melodic skate-punk will throw up few surprises, living or dying on the quality of tuneage and passion of delivery. Thankfully, Escape Route is positively bristling with both. Incoherent‘s two-and-a-half-minutes of BOUNCING SOULS invigoration acts as a refreshing starter, meaty guitars, rumbling bass and tight drumming wrapped around a catchy, fist-in-the-air anthem. Ditto for Sick Of The World and the title track, the latter slowing to a more chugging pace, seeing shades of RANCID sneaking in.

Cigarettes and Ash is a jewel in the crown. Melodic rock flourishes, similar to some of AGAINST ME!‘s work on the much-maligned-but-essential White Crosses album, work in its favour, while staying true to a BOUNCING SOULS/RANCID melee. Channeling 7 SECONDS through a modern skate-punk filter on Sooner Or Later was an unexpected delight – well, I did say few surprises – and there is some great bass guitar on this short n’ sweet banger. The sweet virtues of brevity are also appreciated on Forty Miles‘ fast punker, the catchy Mistakes‘ and Bad Person‘s propulsive, 90’s pop-punk.

A couple of songs blur past without snagging but it does little to harm the album’s flow. Goldbrick and Pinched Nerves have all the ingredients in place – ‘woah, oah‘s’ and fast melodic hardcore – but they don’t quite take. Things get back on track with songs like The Grateful Dread, which packs in so many subgenre ingredients – NOFX intro, a little RANCID, anthemic breakdown, prodigious riffs – without overcrowding it and it works a treat. Quicksand Beach surely includes one of the best key change-ups in pop-punk history as well as being so hooky, you’ll be stuck with it for weeks. Escape Route bows out with an acoustic Pine Barrens and, while it can be tricky getting this right, the band are no strangers, having released a stripped-back mini LP (Responses) in 2014. They sound supremely confident, their passion shining through on this spirited closer.

Escape Route is an album of gutsy, good-time skate punk, brimming with passion and hooks. A couple of throwaway tracks aside, there’s a palpable sense of blood, sweat and tears spilt on its creation, as if the band challenged themselves to craft the album of their career. At this, it seems, they have succeeded. Rock solid.

Released June 10th

https://upfornothing.bandcamp.com/

https://itsaliverecords.bandcamp.com/

PERSONAL PUNK

Tag: New York punk

ABSOLUTE GARBAGE – Chef’s Kiss album

garbage appreciation society

UP FOR NOTHING – Escape Route LP (It’s Alive Records)

energized Brooklyn skate-punks return