Posts Tagged ‘punk rock’

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones bring back their signature sound with Pinpoints and Gin Joints

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Pinpoints and Gin Joints

The album starts with a sound familiar to any fan of ska music. It’s an instant reminder that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones haven’t lost it, even after all these years. The band started in back in 1983 playing something completely new: a mixture of punk rock, hardcore and British 2 Tone ska. They were together until 2003 with few line-up changes. From 1989 to 2002, the seminal ska band released 7 albums and reached legendary status in the scene.

After a 4 year hiatus from 2003 to 2007 the band reunited and performed a few small tours. In 2008 they announced they would be recording a new album, and on December 8th, 2009, the band released the first new album since 2002’s A Jackknife to a Swan. This new album, Pinpoints and Gin Joints, really shows that ska is still alive and skanking.

Green Day’s ‘Warning’ an album screaming political transition

Warning

Green Day is an influential and largely controversial punk-influenced rock band that came out of the punk/ska scene of Berkley, Calif., in 1987. The evolution of their albums suggests a move from self-involvement, indulgence, and youthful unrest to a higher, more universal, and more political purpose. Warning, released in 2000, is a pivitol album on the road to later, more politically charged, albums. It mixes angst, sex, and social commentary and is their most musically eclectic album to date. Their political voice is more honed and relevant with every album — everything about Warning screams transition. The band is made up of three extremely talented men, and the music is only getting better as they get more popular, more visible, and more political.

The first and title track addresses a society that is concerned with their safety and taking great measures to ensure it:

“Better homes and safety-sealed communities
Did you remember to pay the utility?
Caution: Police line, you better not cross.
Is it the cop, or am I the one thats really dangerous?
Sanitation, expiration date, question everything.
Or shut up and be a victim of authority”

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Incendiary new Alkaline Trio album smashes into stores

Alkaline Trio

Alkaline Trio

On February 23rd, 2010, Alkaline Trio released their 7th studio album, This Addiction. The album opens with the explosive title track, “This Addiction.” Fast paced and full of catchy guitar riffs, if the opening track is any sign of what’s to come with this album, it’s sure to be an instant hit. The album continues with “Dine, Dine My Darling,” which is full of big guitars and anthemic vocals. From the first two tracks alone, it’s obvious that the band is trying to get back to their punk rock roots, and it seems to be working.

Alkaline Trio started in 1996, releasing their first full length EP in 1998, Goddamnit. In the last 14 years since Alkaline Trio’s inception, they have seen great success with their often dark and macabre lyrics mixed with catchy punk rock guitar. The band saw their first big success with the release of From Here to Infirmary in 2001. Nine years later, the band has left their major label and self-released the new album on guitarist and vocalist Matt Skiba’s own Heart and Skull label, in conjunction with Epitaph. Skiba has attributed Alkaline Trio’s move from major label Epic to their own label to releases such as Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I-IV (2007) and Radiohead’s In Rainbows (2007).


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