is it normal?

Anti-Flag’s major label debut For Blood And Empire is one of my favorite releases of 2006 so far... and I don’t usually like political punk music: crappy music with generic political statements... no thanks! However, the music on For Blood And Empire is first rate and it helps that they are insanely catchy! It features elements of pop punk, skate punk, hardcore, folk, and power rock anthems. Honestly, I think every song from For Blood And Empire has the potential to become a top 40 single... but with the very expressive and explosive lyrical contents, they will most likely never see any radio play. The highlight track for me is "Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime". It is perhaps the most emotionally charged song on the album as it features some very chillingly truthful facts about the consequences of Depleted Uranium used by the U.S. military. In addition, the song features the voice of U.S. Representative, Jim McDermott as he utters the deadly effect of DU, it is absolutely a brilliant song! Read Justin Sane's DU essay here. Another highlight track for me has to be the very fast and catchy "The Press Corpse", which essentially is about the Downing Street Memo leaked to the public back in 2005. The song opens up with the very sharp lines of “the memo says...: we gotta work to make the facts fit the false charges, pull the wool over the eyes of the filthy masses...” The rest of the song consists of continuous clever attacks on the U.S. government’s deceptions and manipulations over the mass public. If you never heard of or gave any political punk album a chance before, you have to just open up and give Anti-Flag’s new disc a try. Like I said at the beginning of this review, I don’t usually like political punk albums, but For Blood And Empire is just way too important to ignore!

I'd Tell You But...
The Press Corpse [wicked-cool song]
Hymn For The Dead
One Trillion Dollars
Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime [wicked-cool song]
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You can also download a free b-side by Anti-Flag at Military Free Zone.

buy For Blood And Empire here

how to pirate a record

I don't think I'll be doing this to my vinyls, but very cool indeed!

don't lose your face

I have the new Futureheads album for about a week and a half now. Their self-titled release in 2004 was one of my favorite albums that year; as expected, I had high expectations for News & Tributes. And surely, disappointments usually derive from such great expectations... so naturally I was dissatisfied with the new disc at first. However, that negative feelings kind of faded late last night. Right now, I don’t know if News & Tributes is better than their first release, but I think it definitely has the potential to have a longer lasting effect. News & Tributes is slower and sounds more mature, but it is still fun and catchy; I just wished there were more of that harmonic vocal style from their self-titled release.

Yes/No
Cope
Skip To The End
Back To The Sea
Thursday
Face
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Futureheads are playing with Tapes n' Tapes on July 26 @ The Phoenix, tickets are on sale now
News & Tributes comes out on June 13, you can preorder it here

UPDATE WTF, Pitchfork did a review on the new Futureheads disc today too... damnit...

i heart free movies!!!

The Insideout film festival starts this Thursday and it runs till May 28. Make sure you go check out the films in this year’s fest... especially the Queer Youth Digital Video Project screening on May 27 @ 5:00pm. This year’s QYDVP features a short entitled Calling Out by the lovely and very talented "Trickee Bandido". I will be at that screening for sure and a bunch of other screenings this year because I know great (and sexy) people who are filmmakers and who are on the Insideout committee and they’re getting me free tickets... sweet! ...it’s great to have connections!!! You know who you are, so thank you in advanced!

frankie! frankie!!!!!!!!!! pt. II

I am so excited!!!! I was just surfing the interweb today, browsing through upcoming releases, and I came across this. I cannot wait for this release... and it's on vinyl too!!! For those of you who are too young or just don’t know who Suicide is, shame on you... haha, just kidding. Suicide is a two piece punk/post-punk/experimental band from the late 70s/80s. And without a doubt, they are one of the most influential bands ever... I bet somewhere in your ipod, CD shelf, computer, etc., that there is at least one artist/band that is influenced by Suicide. Their music was strange and extremely experimental. They were breaking boundaries and creating subgenres... keep in mind that Suicide existed during the time of disco, 80s synthesis pop, and the rise of MTV. As a result, they were innovative and became a huge cult/underground icon. Some of you may remember that I have made a post for the song “Frankie Teardrop” back in February; you can read that post here. I was unable to share the song back then, but I have managed to upload it this time, so here it is:

Rocket U.S.A.
Johnny
Frankie Teardrop^ [wicked-cool song]
^make sure you check out my pervious post on "Frankie Teardrop" before you download it because you may not want to hear it after reading the post
Keep Your Dreams
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I am not sure if the self-titled CD is still in print, but I bought the re-released vinyl a while back at Rotate This. Otherwise, shop around and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a copy somewhere.

we live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities

Did you know that Metric released an EP called Static Anonymity back in 2001? And did you know that it is great? Well, if you answered 'no' to both of those questions, you need to download the five songs EP below. Enjoy.

01 Grow Up and Blow Away
02 Siamese Cities
03 Down
04 Soft Rock Star
05 London Halflife
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Metric, along with The Fiery Furnaces, Secret Machines, Electric Six, and many more acts are playing at Fort York in Toronto on July 15.

buy Metric stuffs here

where’s the bride?

My current favorite band name belongs to Bondage Fairies. To be honest, I am recommending this band solely because of its name. Don’t get me wrong, Bondage Fairies’ latest album What You Didn’t Know When You Hired Me is not a bad record, but it is not anything special. There are some pretty good and humorous songs, however, the album as a whole do get a little annoying… even with a running time of only 32 minutes. What You Didn’t Know When You Hired Me features electronic dance characteristics of The Faint; the amateur playfulness of The Unicorns.... well, that sounds pretty good so far... however, the vocal style sometimes falls closely similar to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which is where it gets a little annoying. Overall, a pretty good first full length, but there is definitely room for improvement! Listen to the songs below and make your own judgments. That's all for today, I must now go watch the Edmonton vs San Jose game.

Faze
Miss Volkova
Levenus Supremus
Aeppeltysken
Cancerfest
Gay Wedding
Fingus Cooked My Cock
Wanna Dance?
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check out Bondage Fairies's website here

to all the moms out there...

Happy Mother's Day!

here's a poem by William Butler Yeats about a hard working mother:

I rise in the dawn, and I kneel and blow
Till the seed of the fire flicker and glow;
And then I must scrub and bake and sweep
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep;
And the young lie long and dream in their bed
Of the matching of ribbons for bosom and head,
And their day goes over in idleness,
And they sigh if the wind but lift a tress:
While I must work because I am old,
And the seed of the fire gets feeble and cold.

too bad the cover art is beyond ugly

One of my favorite places to shop, interpunk.com, is offering an exclusive mp3 from the new Rise Against disc. You can download the new track "Injection" here.

i have to download this movie

A new documentary on piracy... interesting.