Pre-Order: Fucked Up - Year Of The Ox

BAND: Fucked Up

ALBUM: Year Of The Ox (12" Single)

RELEASE: September 28th, Merge Records

TRACKS:
Side A
1. Year Of The Ox

Side B
1. Solomon's Song

PRE-ORDER: Merge Records

INFO:

In keeping up with the previous post on epic punk songs, here's Fucked Up with their latest 13-minute single, "Year Of The Ox". This single is their fourth one in the Chinese Zodiac series, and features and a string section performed by New Strings Old Puppets and guest vocals by Zola Jesus.

Fucked Up aren't a band that are known for doing things the traditional way-- Their obscenely large discography, their MTV appearance during which they performed in (and destroyed) the bathrooms, or the fact that they played a free twelve-hour show in NYC, are all evidence of this. Hell, even their name should be evidence of this.

It is for this reason that it should be no surprise to fans of the band that this song strays pretty far from their hardcore origins, save for the ballsiness of attempting such a whopper of a song, and the fact that Pink Eyes' vocals sound about as smooth as scraping your own knees across hot gravel. In this case his yell is actually catchy, and combined with the mid tempo pace of the song, and the guest string and vocal performances, this single is sure to attract more attention for this band.

I have to say, I have their second album, The Chemistry Of Common Life, and though I like certain tracks, the fact that there are psychadellic instrumental tracks interspersed with hardcore songs makes it difficult to listen to front to back.

"The Year Of The Ox," however, nicely ties together the band's ambitions to do things outside the box, their hardcore edge, and their musical creativity. I mean come on people, it's a thirteen minute punk song with screams, female vocals, and an orchestra section. I would recommend this not just to fans of the band, or of the genre for that matter, but anyone looking to hear something new and original.

If you don't believe me, you can stream the entire thing here or here.

Evidently, the B-Side is meant to be a "gothic vampire love tribute to Twighlight," whatever that means.

Look, point is buy the vinyl, or just stream it indefinitely. Either way, listen to it.


- Frankie D

NOFX - The Decline

ARTIST: NOFX

ALBUM: The Decline (EP)

PRESSINGS:
155 clear vinyl (avg. price $450.00)
??? Black (avg. price $14.00)

WHY IT'S AWESOME:
This is pretty much it, people. NOFX's magnum opus in one 18-minute-long song. If you're going to listen to NOFX, or even punk rock in general, you need this album because it just might be the best punk song ever written (there, I said it).

NOFX, in spite of being somewhat a joke of a band, are arguably the backbone of punk music. They've become rock stars without radio play (back when it mattered), MTV (back when it mattered), or ever being on a major label (back when it mattered). They are DIY incarnate-- They own almost all of their music, and release records on their own homegrown label, Fat Wreck Chords. Though the majority of their catalogue is worth listening to at least once (if not hundreds of times, like I have in the past few months), there is one album that stands miles above the rest: The Decline.

Although NOFX are known for having a few songs per record that clearly took zero effort and time to write, this album/song is exceptionally crafted from start to finish. Not a single second is wasted here, because, as the Fat Wreck Chords product description for this record reads: "NOFX are pissed off, and they want to tell you all about it."

NOFX accomplish precisely what they set out to do with this song: Tell you about the decline-- both societal and personal; And though the song starts out as bluntly as possible ("Where are all the stupid people from, and how'd they get to be so dumb?"), by the end Fat Mike is no longer just singing about the decline of western civilization, but about the personal and emotional decline that each individual member of civilization faces as a result of the society we've created: "Only moron and genius would fight a losing battle against the superego, when giving in is so damn comforting. And so we go, on with our lives, we know the truth, but prefer lies."

To drive the point home, this song intelligently and forcefully enunciates what punk rock was founded on: discontent. Indeed, NOFX are pissed, and not only do they want to tell us about it, they HAVE TO tell us about it. Fat Mike rails against everything that's wrong with us, from the religious and conservative right wing politicians, to the widespread apathy of a conditioned populace. There's a reason this song is a treat when you get to hear them play it live, and it's not just because of the music-- It's because of the emotion behind it that every NOFX or punk rock fan empathizes with.

So yeah, it looks like somehow I've once again managed to do exactly what I promised I wouldn't do in my first blog post: Compare Fat Mike to Michelangelo. Again. And I guess you could say that The Decline is like his Sistine Chapel. Godamnit.


- Frankie D

PS In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, listen to the first half here. Then go out and buy the whole thing. But good luck finding it on clear vinyl.

Bad Religion - Against The Grain

ARTIST: Bad Religion

ALBUM: Against The Grain

PRESSINGS: 
500 Yellow (avg. price $30-$40)
660 Purple (avg. price $35-$70)
??? Black


WHY IT'S AWESOME, AND THE NAME OF THE BLOG EXPLAINED:


Alright people, so this is my first actual post on a record. My ultimate aim here is to tell you about records that I think are cool, while providing some kind of information that is vaguely useful to anyone who is as interested in this narrow subject as I am.

The first record I've chosen to cover is Against The Grain by Bad Religion because 1) it's an awesome record, and 2) the name of this blog is lifted directly from it (more on this later).

Anyone whose ever listened to punk rock since the 80's will have heard of Bad Religion. Currently celebrating their thirty years together as a band, these guys are the the Godfathers of punk. Listening to punk and not listening to Bad Religion would be like watching films and not watching... well, The Godfather.

During their tenure as a band, they've for the most part released pretty amazing albums (I say "for the most part" because Into The Unknown and The New America arguably suck donkey dick), and of their amazing albums, this one is my favorite.

As far as I'm concerned, this is Bad Religion's best punk album. Not because it's the most innovative or creative (it's not, I'm going with Generator for that), but because I believe that this is where Bad Religion were at the pinnacle of writing good punk songs. This album has a whopping 17 songs on it, and in spite of the fact that they almost all have the same beat, structure, and overall sound, this album NEVER GETS BORING. Do you know how hard it is to find an album where all the songs sound the same without it being boring? Pennywise have tried this feat multiple occasions, and failed just about every single time.

This album rocks because it's Bad Religion at it's purest, most concise, and most aggressive. There is an urgency to these songs that I believe Bad Religion have tried to come back to on their last three albums, and while those last three albums were good, I don't think they'll ever regain their sense that "Hey, we have shit to say and we need to say it now!"

I could go on for hours on why this band rocks, and why this album is the best one, but I'm going to move on to the title of the blog, because I believe it all ties it together nicely: Anyone who has heard Against The Grain will recognize that the title of this blog is named after one of the songs on the album. On an album that is already incredibly concise (most songs are no longer than two and a half minutes), this one is one of the fastest, and shortest (roughly 50 seconds).

There's so much about this song that speaks to the purpose of the blog-- whether it's the correlation between negative thinking and punk music, the optimistic spin on something cynical, or the fact that the lyrics to this song can be interpreted to either be bassist Jay Bentley's lyrical crux for everything the band stands for or a mere stream of consciousness of a disenchanted lunatic-- all of these mean something to me, and why I choose to collect punk records. Plus, shit, it's the only song that Jay Bentley actually wrote on the album. When he said that shit, he meant it.

Do yourself a favor and add this to your record collection if you don't own it already. Then listen to this song on repeat and start your own blog:



- Frankie D

First Post Of Glory: What's The Point Of All This?

Alright people, so here it is: a blog about punk records. I started this blog because I couldn't find any other good straightforward ones out there on collecting punk records-- and even if there are other ones out there, fuck you, I want a blog too. I'm by no means an expert on this subject, other than I spend way too long on eBay looking at rare overpriced NOFX records that were never that good to begin with, containing tracks that I can easily purchase on iTunes, or CD, or any other cheaper and more practical medium.

So why collect records, and why blog about them? To get overly (and perhaps irritatingly) philosophical, there's something alluring about having something tangible in a world where everything is going digital. When I first got into music, one of my favorite parts of the process was going to the CD store and looking through the albums. It was an EVENT. It was an experience where you would go out one afternoon with a friend, and arrive back home a few hours later with a handful of new albums, the remainder of the day to be spent listening to these albums track by track and looking through the liner notes of each accompanying booklet. 

To this day, the friends that I went out and bought albums with as a teenager are still some of my best friends in the world, as if going out and buying albums were a sacred bonding experience akin to losing your virginity, or drinking your first can of beer in some back piss-stained alleyway with kids from school. 

Yeah, I suppose there is a nostalgia factor involved in buying albums that will always be a part of me, but that's not WHY I collect records, and that's not why I mention buying albums as a kid. It's not because I think it necessarily sounds better either (because sometimes, it doesn't). It's because, simply put: it's fun.

It's fun buying an album that you always loved listening to front to back and, actually take time out of your busy day to pop it into a record player and give it its proper due. It's fun because when you have something on vinyl, every little choice the band or record label made seem completely intentional, from the cover art, to the little labels they stick on the records, to the very color of the vinyl, and the number of pressings of each each color. It were as if Fat Mike of NOFX were a regular Michelangelo, creating his own Sistine Chapel with his choice of colors to use for the vinyl pressing of Heavy Petting Zoo (which was aptly titled, "Eating Lamb"). 

I can't properly put into words why it's fun to collect records, but anyone else who has been bitten by the record bug knows all too well just how fun it is. And they know that this rabbit hole goes deeper than it looks. 

So yeah, in summation, it's pretty simple. I'm just a regular-ass guy who likes to collect records. This will be one of the few times I write a blog post without any actual record details in it, cause it's mad boring for anyone to read who isn't me, and this will be the last time that I compare Fat Mike to Michelangelo (cause we all know he fuckin' isn't). 

- Frankie D

Oh yeah I was going to write about the title of the blog and how it all related, but this shit is getting too long, so I'll save it for next time.