Tag Archives: Punk

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Arms & The Man

Regardless of what you think of hardcore nowadays, it seems needless to say that it’s all rather angry and violent. So when you have bands that take a lighter approach, yet still maintain that exceptional intensity and that unwavering devotion and passion to the craft, it deserves the same spotlight as any other hardcore band before and after. Hitchin’s Arms & The Man, are very much in that bracket. While their repetoire boasted a blazing array of bruising hardcore throwdowns, with an impressive hard rock flair and showmanship, their lyrics, well tales, are far more tongue-in-cheek. I’ll openly admit, at a local music festival I attended around five years ago, one of my fondest memories of that festival was this five piece screaming the immortal words, ‘I punched a wolf in the face, mate.’ Four, five years later, that glorious phrase from signature track Wolfpuncher has emerged in recorded format for the world to hear. Hi-jinx aside, these guys were the real deal. Unflinching, uncompromising, and all with a grin in tow, Arms & The Man serves as a reminder that no matter how seriously you take pride in your work, you gotta step back and laugh sometimes.

Sad fact: These gentlemen split up on my birthday this year, 26th February. Your punching of wolves in the face lives on in my heart. For this song, and occasionally as silly song titles, head on over to their Bandcamp, where you can purchase a couple of EPs and singles they’ve released over the years.

https://www.facebook.com/armsandthemanuk?fref=ts

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Beast Make Bomb

Very few bands I’ve listened to make me ask the question: Are they an indie band, or a punk band? Or even a very loud pop band? Actually Beast Make Bomb are the only band that’ve made me ask those questions. Defunct as of three years ago, the two guys and two gals responsible for this dose of sugar-charged, punk-injected indie pop hailing from four different cities in the States, were an underground sensation. Much of their output revolved around a fuzz-saturated guitar freight train, that could compare with many of garage rock’s greats, but they could also pen killer pop melodies, and even sweet but never saccharine ballads to showcase their multi-faceted abilities. Rough It Out, from free-to-download EP Sourpuss, is an upbeat rocket about failing to confess your love that has pace, a contagious chorus and searing hot guitar work to boot in just three and a half minutes that will leaving you smiling ear-to-ear. Beast Make Bomb could turn the struggles of teen life into a wonderland of positivity, punctuated with unforgettable melodies and the world, for what they didn’t know about this band, is worse off without them.

Sourpuss, as well as numerous other EPs and songs can be found on their Bandcamp page, either for a small fee or for nothing at all.

https://www.facebook.com/BeastMakeBomb?fref=ts

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Lightsabres

Admit it. From the album artwork and the font style alone, you’re probably expecting some kind of death metal or similarly edgy dark guitar orientated music right? I mean, any album cover with a skull still brandishing a head of hair, set against a entagled, near illegible font, gives a morose impression of the music to come, yes? Actually, not even close. While the imagery is somewhat misleading, what you’re actually getting is the mastermind of Swedish one man, self-confessed ‘stoner punk’ outfit John Strömshed a.k.a. Lightsabres. This is in essence is punk rock done correctly, at its absolute rawest, most low fidelity, recorded in a garage best. You couldn’t get a purer listening experience if you tried. It encapsulates everything about the original outbreak in the 70’s, the attitude, the killer guitar playing, the fuck-you vocals… Just with one man instead of four of them, and distributed in bite-size chunks that leave you craving for so much more. Spitting Blood may not be ground-breaking, but everything you could ever want from punk you can find right here and there is true excellence in this underground gem.

As luck would have it, tracks from his new album Beheaded went live on this day, it’s sounding slower and murkier, but still nice to listen to. The full album is now out, so yeah, that in addition to Spitting Blood and first album Demons are all up on his Bandcamp, in either digital or vinyl format. The vinyl supply is limited so hurry. Additional merch is also available via his webstore.

https://www.facebook.com/lightsabres?fref=ts