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From Tuesday 05 February 2013

Fidlar – ‘Fidlar’

Remember skate-punk? The stuff of a thousand Punk-O-Rama compilations, Deconstruction Festival line-ups and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks? It’s back, and against all conceivable odds, it’s cool. This snotty young LA quartet, named for a skater acronym (Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk) are riding the wave (or rather,

Monday 04 February 2013

No Exit Plan – ‘Out of the Dark’

No Exit Plan are just two members strong, but they make one hell of a big noise between. Pop-punk and dance are probably not the immediate choice of crossover genres on paper, but the band manage to blend the two to great effect here. No Exit Plan have built their

Monday 28 January 2013

Mallory Knox – ‘Signals’

2012 proved particularly successful for home-grown British bands, with the likes of Don Broco, Canterbury, Straight Lines and We Are The Ocean releasing albums that were well received by critics and the wider public. As 2013 reaches the end of its first calendar month, Mallory Knox attempt to keep

Saturday 26 January 2013

Funeral For A Friend – ‘Conduit’

The major label shackles have been off for a while now, and with each release since it’s seemed as if Funeral For A Friend have been trying to find their feet again. It was only with ‘Welcome Home Armageddon’ that we saw a band who were truly heading back

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Lights & Motion – ‘Reanimation’

Over its 18 year existence, Deep Elm Records has carved out quite the name for itself. Whether you’re familiar with the label for its release of landmark releases by bands such as The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson and Planes Mistaken For Stars, or for its semi-legendary Emo Diaries compilations of

Monday 21 January 2013

The Bronx – ‘The Bronx’ (IV)

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that a new record from The Bronx is well overdue. The two Mariachi El Bronx records were different and interesting, but with ‘The Bronx IV’ the “proper” band are finally back with new material. The band have been a constantly excellent live

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Snuff – ‘5-4-3-2-1…Perhaps’

Regrettably these days, it has to be said that punk music is not everybody’s bag. Obviously we love it, but it’s mass popularity has been on the wane since the 1970s. Luckily that hasn’t stopped punk rockers Snuff who have been making a terrific racket (on and off) since

Monday 14 January 2013

Heavy Hearted – ‘When You Were Home’

Considering that pop punkers Heavy Hearted have been a band for less than a year, it’s a credit to them as musicians that they have recorded their debut album to such a high standard. ‘When You Were Home’, released recently by the Californian five piece, wears its influences on its

Wednesday 09 January 2013

Army of Freshmen – ‘Happy To Be Alive’

How do you compensate for an oversaturated pop-punk market? If you are Army of Freshmen, the answer is to amplify structures not normally associated with the genre. ‘Happy To Be Alive’ earns itself a punk moniker in basic song structure alone, the majority of the tracks relying upon melodic

Circle Takes The Square – ‘Decompositions: Volume One’

Guns ‘N Roses. My Bloody Valentine. Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Glassjaw. What do they all have in common? Answer: They all released landmark, genre-defining records before subsequently taking aeons to release another album. 8 years since the release of ‘As The Roots Undo’ – widely considered a magnum opus