Here’s Henry:

If you’re playing the kind of punk that kids like to call screamo or hardcore,  sooner or later you’ll realize you’re under scrutiny. The critic will probably start off by reminiscing about Majority Rule and pg99, comparing you to Orchid or Envy before rightfully asking what your contribution is to a music that is said to have peaked ten years ago.

Personally, I’m fucking stoked because of bands like Code Orange Kids. I saw them for the first time Monday night at the Charm City Art Space in Baltimore. Something about a post-industrial city – all those tall rusting buildings, the rail yard, the harbor water – it all lends itself to this type of hard, grimy music. Not to mention how creativity always seems to spawn wherever affordable spaces are abundant. Hailing from Pittsburg I bet their town has had a huge influence on their sound.

Actually I first heard about Code Orange Kids from Welch Canavan, a friend from DC who transplanted with several friends to Braddock, a town outside Pittsburgh that is said to be dying. Welch and company has been working on rebuilding houses and have even started booking shows. Their efforts were covered two years ago in a short documentary series as part of a Levi Strauss campaign. Somehow, even though it wasn’t my hands that held the hammer, I still felt proud seeing pictures of their newly refinished houses.

Meanwhile, back in metropolis, forces like gentrification and growing economic inequality are closing community run spaces, banning all age venues and displacing families who lived in neighborhoods that were once cultural hubs. The music that became our religion growing up has been co-opted and repackaged into an embarrassment: whiny white boys screaming I hate my ex-girlfriend and these are all the violent things I’d like to do to her, while assholes in the pit punch each other in the face. This is why people hate on screamo.

During Give, one of the songs Code Orange Kids played off their new album, the song slowed into a sludgy break down. Jami, Reba and Eric, their three vocalists started screaming, hands clenched together in praise while the rhythm pulls away/ there are no walls that can hold this. Tremendous. Reminds me of why I love punk.

It makes sense doesn’t it? The labor of the re-builder and labor of us as musicians is the same. Our music, our old house on the outskirts of another dying city.

http://www.ccspace.org/
http://codeorangekids.bandcamp.com/
http://codeorangekids.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/codeorangekids

Here’s a nice little press release:

For “I.V.” the band’s Deathwish debut, Loma Prieta once again worked with longtime collaborator Jack Shirley (Atomic Garden Studio). With his guidance Loma Prieta tracked to tape 12 songs intensely emotional songs. Written during a time of great personal suffering and transition for the band “I.V.” is the creative culmination of those collective experiences. From the opening breath of “Fly by Night”, Loma Prieta crash and bang melody and discord together into one beautiful work of art. This grinding theme continues throughout “I.V.” in stunning songs like the aptly named three parter “Trilogy 4, 5, and 6″. Creating a powerful and unpredictable ebb and flow to their emotional outpouring. As the dust settles on the distorted haze in closer “Diamond Tooth”, an artistic coherency and clarity emerges that can only be described as Loma Prieta. A new kind of melancholy chaos that should be familiar, yet challenging, to those who enjoy bands like Love Lost But Not Forgotten, Pg. 99, La Quiete, and the ilk.

Download//Buy

Excuse the janky pans and close ups in the video.  I’m trying to get more interesting shots but after watching the videos I realize that I have no idea what I’m doing.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The World is a Beautiful Place and I am no longer Afraid to Die played before us and I was really excited to see them live because I’ve been listening to their Formlessness EP nonstop.  Here’s a couple videos from the show.

The World is a Beautiful Place and I am no Longer Afraid to Die – Gordon Paul

Click here to view the embedded video.

The World is a Beautiful Place and I am no Longer Afraid to Die – Walnut Street is Dead

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+ Sirs

Sirs is an upbeat emo/punk band – equal parts Acrobatic Tenement era At the Drive-in & Cap n’ Jazz (especially those vocals).  This band would fit really well on a bill with Street Smart Cyclist, Algernon & Chalk Talk.  They share that Pennsylvania emo sound and they do it really well.  I’m excited to hear new recordings from this band.

Sirs just released an EP entitled Vas Deferens which can be downloaded HERE.

+ The National Rifle

The National Rifle plays, according to their press release, “politically packed Philly-soul-infused rock” that will “get you shaking your ass and pogo-ing to your heart’s content.”  I guess the closest band in my musical lexicon that I can compare TNR to is The Strokes.  I bet a lot of people will take that as an insult but I don’t mean it to be.  I like what I hear I just don’t have a point of reference in the soul rock genre.  Their song Love Crack kind of sounds like a b-side off one of The Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower albums so that’s cool.

The National Rifle is playing Charm City Art Space Tonight @ 7 pm with We Were Skeletons, Slowpoke & Life in Vacuum.

+ Raindeer

Raindeer is an experimental synth-pop dance group from Baltimore.  This is completely out of my normal musical territory so my opinion of their music doesn’t really hold much weight but for what it’s worth their tracks had me nodding my head.  The only thing that bugs me about this band is their neon bordered Photoshop logo.  Though maybe that’s a normal synth-pop logo aesthetic like how black metal bands write their names in that extremely messy unreadable font.

You can download the Raindeer EP HERE.

The dancier tracks on this album took a while to grow on me but now I can’t stop listening.  Total Life Forever is an extension of the dance-punk sound found on Foals debut album Antidotes.  It’s a combination of indie rock, funk and post-rock.  A very atmospheric record – much more expansive and emotionally involving than their last record.  Get into it.

At the end of the chorus of ‘Black Gold’, Philippakis sings “The future is not what it used to be”. One would not at all be surprised if this was a motto of sorts for Foals as they were putting together ‘Total Life Forever’, since the greater ambition and maturity evident here could not have been foreseen by anyone. It may not be an especially immediate album, and is definitely not one which can be listened to as background music for fifty minutes, but its slow-burning qualities turn what initially may seem a little messy, into a satisfyingly cohesive release. “Now look back, see how far you’ve come” cites ‘This Orient’, and Foals should heed their own words and be extremely proud of ‘Total Life Forever’.

(via sputnik)

(edit: it looks like their label is forcing a bunch of blogs to remove this album from download.  So follow this google link and do some searching… you’ll come across it)

It’s refreshing to see a “hardcore” band branch out into territory that is rarely explored in the genre.  Their new song Ballots/Stones, which I wouldn’t classify as hardcore, reminds me of a mixture of the clash, the smiths and wham – mixed with a bit of punk.  Sounds interesting, right?  Check it out HERE.

There’s also a sweet cover of The Get Up Kid’s song Holiday by Final Fight.

+ 57,000 dollar bed

+++++

This made me puke in my mouth a little bit…

This made me envious

If you have the chance to go see them live don’t hesitate – they blew me away.  Oh, and they’re coming back through Baltimore with Trash Talk and Alexisonfire at the Ottobar on April 24th.

They turn on lights about 2 minutes into the video – I wish my camera was able to capture better in low-light.

La Dispute – Such Small Hands & Said the King to the River

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La Dispute – Bury Your Flames

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Well it looks like Refused is getting back together and playing some fests.  How can I get to Europe on the cheap?

Download The Shape of Punk to Come and be reminded of how influential this album was.

Janine Conway filmed,edited and produced this short documentary on the beloved Charm City Art Space – a well known punk/hardcore/indie/whatever music and arts venue in Baltimore, MD.

It’s neat to hear from the venue organizers and attendees on why this venue has been/is still a really important space in Baltimore for musicians and artists.  It’s cool that she was able to conduct the interviews before the venue moved into the new Charm City Art Space building – which is actually right next door to the old space.