Pretty late with this one, but thought I'd write a little about the records I bought when I went to the Our Time Down Here and Good Luck gigs a couple of weeks back.

Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy LP
Usually you know exactly what you're getting with No Idea Records, as 2 thirds of their roster seem to be gruff American punk bands that like to wear shorts and sing about drinking. However, Bloomington, Indiana's Good Luck come as a very pleasant surprise. For a start, they're fronted by a female with a very cool set of vocal chords on her. Not in the sense that they're anything out of the ordinary, just very unique and that's one of the charms of the band. Aside from the vocals, the other thing that marks them out from the rest of the gruff punk ilk is the guitar work. Instead of straight ahead powerchords there are some delightful jangly parts which owe more to indie acts than any punk rock band. Combined with the more orthodox punk drumming it creates a really satisfying sound. I hate using the term "grower" to describe an album, but that's truly what this is. Even after not listening to it for a couple of weeks I still had some of the excellent lyrics going around in my head.

The Don Ramos Players - The Don Ramos Players LP
Here is a band that have a good ethos to this whole being in a band thing, having spent time in various other projects they describe Don Ramos Players as "taking it back to when being in a band was fun". Despite this, the lyrical content doesn't always share the same positive outlook but this thoughts the somewhat melancholic punk rock really well. These aren't songs about high fives and rad times, but the realities of life and it's all the better for it. Whilst they're not reinventing the wheel, it's still a solid record which I'm sure I'll be putting on for those evenings when I'm in a reflective sort of mood.

Caves/Pure Graft/Big City Plan/Calvinball - Split 10"
An absolutely excellent record showcasing two songs apiece from 4 of the best bands in the UK punk rock scene at the moment. First up are Caves from Bristol, challenging the myth that punk is a boys only club. It's nice to hear female vocals, makes a change from the identikit gruff bearded male vocals that seem to have infested the scene. The two songs on offer here are both catchy, straight ahead tunes and are very impressive for a young band. I'm definitely looking forward to what these guys get up to next.
Pure Graft offer up something a bit faster and more hardcore influenced. I'm going to start sounding like a broken record, but again these songs are really promising for a young band. And how can you fail to like a band with a song called "Pugs V Dan Yemin"? These guys seems to love four-ways and have another one out sometime soon with Rooftops, Broken Few and Ssssnakes.
Big City Plan's first song on this split instantly reminded me of old school Alkaline Trio, which is definitely a good way to grab my attention. There's some awesome shout-a-long sections on display here, and they definitely keep up the high quality of the two previous bands.
Finally we have Calvinball who bring the split to a close wonderfully, with uplifting, melodic songs that makes you feel truly happy to be alive as corny as that sounds. Fast verses, slower bouncing choruses and Bill Hicks soundbites. Excellent! I think on the basis of these two songs they may be my favourite band on here, but it's hard to choose from such a great handful of acts.

Spraynard/Break The Habit - Split 7"
Spraynard seemingly came out of nowhere and have made quite an impact with certain members in the punk rock underground. For an unsigned American band to make it over to the UK for a tour when many more established acts struggle to make it happen is impressive. Unfortunately I missed it when these two bands played together, but at least I have this split now to forever remind me what a fool I was.
Spraynard like to keep their songs short and energetic, not wasting time repeating their lyrics ad nauseam or extending their songs with instrumental interludes. Straight and to the point, both songs here are catchy and bouncy with just enough of a gruff edge. It's just a shame it's all over so quickly.
Break The Habit are a band it took me a while to check out, which is pretty lame on my part as I know the guitarist (there I go name dropping superstars again) but in my defence I'm not best friends with him so I can be let off. The vocals here may not be to everyones tastes, being rather high pitched, but it certainly beats those pop-punk bands that sing with faux American accents. With one of the members recently finishing uni, it seems the band may end up not being as active anymore which would be a real shame.

Good Luck - http://www.myspace.com/wearegoodluck
The Don Ramos Players - http://www.myspace.com/thedonramosplayers
Caves - http://www.myspace.com/wearecaves
Pure Graft - http://www.myspace.com/puregraft
Big City Plan - http://www.myspace.com/bigcityplan
Calvinball - http://www.myspace.com/thisiscalvinball
Spraynard - http://www.myspace.com/spraynardpa
Break The Habit - http://www.myspace.com/wearebreakthehabit

Perfume Is Punx

I don't want to get into that horrible debate of what is or isn't punk, especially as I'm sleep deprived and it's all a load of bollocks anyway. I just felt the need to write about Sex Pistols latest endeavour, a brand of perfume. That's right, they've joined the elite ranks of those over vapid money hungry celebrities and lent their brand to a bottle of smelly water.
Perhaps if it was the bottled scent of junkie vomit and cider on vintage leather jackets I'd let them off, as that would truly be a "punk" statement against the perfume establishment. But no, its just the same as all the other flowery rubbish that gets up my nose and makes me sneeze everywhere.
I'm not crying "sell out" or any of that crap, I'm just truly baffled by what made them think this was a good move (besides the money, obviously).
Whilst we're on the subject, here's some other music related scents I think would shift by the truckload:

Anal Cunt - the soft, sweet smell of discharge mixed with a hint of diarrhoea.
Cannibal Corpse - the strength of fresh meat on a BBQ, mixed with delicate undertones of month old cadavers.
Bring Me The Horizon - the delightful dregs of a Jagermeister bottle combined with the essence of fresh piss and just a hint of hairspray.

If anyone else has any music-related perfume ideas then send them my way!

Glassjaw - All Good Junkies Go To Heaven

Its been eight years since Glassjaw's influential album Worship And Tribute was unleashed, and very little has been heard from them since. There have been a handful of shows, and many hints that new music was being recorded but finally after all this time we have been given a 7" single. Hopefully this will be a sign that the elusive third Glassjaw album is on its way, but I'm not holding my breath. They seem to want to release the Chinese Democracy of the post-hardcore world.
So, what of the song itself? Anyone expecting a return to the viciousness and the fury of Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence will be disappointed, but those that embraced Worship and Tribute will love this song. Daryl Palumbo's vocals are as distinctive and melodious as ever, although it seems almost all the rough edges have been smoothed over, possibly due to his time fronting Head Automatica. I miss his paint stripping yelps and screams at times. There's a slight industrial sounding undertone to the song rumbling away in the background, and a somewhat strange section with fake crowd noise. I can't see this song boring its way too deeply into my brain, but it's a decent little song for sure. Lets hope when (if?) the third album does drop it's not a Chinese Democracy, and is actually a solid album.

"You're my guitar hero!"

I spend so much time listening to, reading about and writing about music that I thought it was about time I got in on the act myself. Received this acoustic today, it's nothing special, just a cheap guitar for me to start to learn on. I've attempted once before but didn't have the patience to stick with it, so I'm hoping it'll be different this time.