haskoor on live.

The Shins remain in the spotlight of the indie/hipster genre with their new album titled Port of Morrow.  Lead singer James Mercer put this album together without his original band, assembling a crew of talented musicians from a number of bands who in turn toured with him following the album’s release.  Members of this collaboration included Joe Plummer, drummer of Modest Mouse.  The album definitely shies away from the traditional Shins sound with some experimentation throughout.  However, the single from the album titled “Simple Song” is more along the lines of what we’re used to hearing.  Track one of the album, “The Rifle’s Spiral” is a great opener and caught my attention almost instantly.  “For A Fool”, a slower track, was my favorite from first listen.  Mercer’s faux-British vocals accompanied with an acoustic support is simply pleasing to the ears.  “40 Mark Strasse” which is another track that fairs the same way, really grew on me after seeing them live at Terminal 5 in New York City accompanied by a couple of the Dirty Projectors doing backups.

Their 2007 release titled Wincing The Night Away still reigns as my favorite Shins album.  This new album has more of a Chutes Too Narrow feel, but really is different from all of the rest in its own ways.  Who knows where the Shins are headed after this.  Mercer seems to hold complete creative control so if they fail we can just blame him.

A sold out Irving Plaza filled up as Scream opened the show. Scream, with a short 9 year career, only reunited recently and started touring this year. The crowd eased into the show (as with most shows), but Scream had some fans moshing towards the front.

The second band H2O, who I actually bought the tickets for originally, came on around 8:45 pm with their usual “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z into “New York, New York” by Sinatra playing over the loudspeaker. My buddy Cons and I were thinking why “Empire State of Mind” when they could have picked any other New York song? Not very hardcore. The H2O set was awesome from start to finish, where classics like “Spirit of ‘84”, “1995”, and “Thicker Than Water” were just a few of the songs they played during their one hour set. Towards the end of their set, Lou Koller from Sick of It All came out to do one of their songs titled “Friends Like You” as well as his vocals in H2O’s “What Happened?” with Rusty Pistachio doing Skiba’s verse.

Finally Bad Brains, an old school Reggae hardcore punk band from Washington D.C., came out to a loudly cheering crowd. They made it especially clear to represent Washington DC, even though they were unofficially banned from there in ’79 when they relocated to become a part of the NYHC scene. Decked out in Adidas and Arnette gear, Bad Brains came out hard from the beginning. The crowd was rough and it was hard to get a good picture or video, but a good blogger prevails! I was able to get a clip of “Give Thanks & Praise/Jah Love” which can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ul8X_GBL4

The lead singer H.R. (Human Rights) aka Paul D. Hudson was mostly stationary, at times holding a guitar (that he lightly strummed), unlike his traditional energetic ways. You can attribute this to his old age or to his degenerative brain disorder. Not to be insensitive, but our friend ironically has a “bad brain” which has been restricting him for years now. I give him a lot of credit to still be up on that stage. They played a new song from the forthcoming album for which I did not catch the name, but I did really like. With a new album titled “Let’s Have Fun” coming out, Bad Brains seem to be back in the game and will probably be back around sooner than later for another show.

Nothing will ever compare to their 2002 self-titled debut or that Maybe Memories DVD, but the Used’s new album titled Vulnerable is not half bad either.  Their web site http://theused.net/ opens with “A Message From Bert” about the new album:

“Vulnerable” is for the real music fans. From the bottom of my heart to yours. My entire life I have always depended on music for safety and comfort. I know there are alot of people that feel the same way. I wanted to share my passion for music on this record, and also inspire people to follow their dreams no matter what the cost. Please enjoy.
Love,
Bert

The first single from the album titled “I Come Alive” is still in heavy rotation for me.  It kind of emulates their old material.  I can’t say the same for the rest of the album, which has a bit of an experimental feel (that I’m not opposed to by any means).  A couple of songs that are pretty solid, especially after a second or third listen, are “This Fire” and “Shine”.  “Moving On” is also pretty sweet.  “Hands And Faces”, their second single from the album, is a song that I did not dig at all.  In fact, I would actually dig a hole for it and bury it if I had the chance.  Their tour in support of the new album kicks off on April 14th at Tinker Field in Orlando, FL.  The band had a couple of songs streaming for 24 hours only, which is a kind of pointless cut-off since whoever is going to rip the tracks probably did it in that time span anyway.  “Shine” was up on Alternative Press and “Put Me Out” was up on Hurley.com.  The band themselves were streaming “I Come Alive” for awhile on their own site as well.

“Getting Over You” is a really solid slower/softer track on the album.  “Kiss It Goodbye” is also good, except for the little Acapella verse at the end which just baffles me. “Together Burning Bright” was placed perfectly as a melodic, ballad-like closer to the album. I know I’m giving mixed signals here but in conclusion, I’m a fan of the Used and have always been.  Pick up their album and give support, keep them going.

Anti-Flag’s politics-infused punk rock has the ability to get almost anyone riled up.  I believe their (2001) Underground Network started their career in the spotlight with appearances on the Van’s Warped Tour and a later signing to Fat Wreck Chords.  Each album they put out always seems to have two or three songs that draw my attention and never get old with the remainder of the album still cool, but unfortunately forgettable.  I had their albums from the (1999) A New Kind of Army to their (2003) The Terror State and then I kind of lost interest with a couple of sub-par albums from 2006-2009, however our Neoliberal friends are back with this year’s The General Strike.  The first single off of the album titled “The Neoliberal Anthem” was done perfectly and is a classic Anti-Flag track for sure.  It was dropped for listening on their Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/anti.flag.official

The next single, for which a music video was made, titled “This Is The New Sound” is another politically-infused song, however the title says it all.  It’s very different from traditional Anti-Flag and your “new sound” is kind of wack guys.  I think you should stick to the grungy Fascist persecution that we all love.  The music video is kind of comical though, I give them that.  I think they should have stuck with “The Neoliberal Anthem” as the figurehead for the album.  The music video for “This Is The New Sound” can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFyMk0HsQik

My second favorite track on the album is “Broken Bones,” another traditional Anti-Flag track.  The album gave me my two or three gems and overall I say to pick it up, it’s worth a listen.

2012 is appearing to be a big year for Skiba side projects.  I have always been a huge fan of Alkaline Trio, a band that combines both Matt Skiba & Dan Andriano’s unique voices paired with a punk rock energy that leans towards the pop/punk end of the spectrum, at least at this point.  I’m a fan of every single track that these three have put out, however the band has segued from their grungy origins.  Their most recent album Damnesia (2011) is a purely acoustic Trio cover album with a few new acoustic tracks, which have a feel as if they were a commercial for a holiday favorites/Josh Grobin album.

Skiba has also clearly been seeking other outlets for expressing his raw creativity with an EP release from theHELL, a new band he formed with Atom Willard.  The EP, which was promised via Youtube video promo “this Christmas” was not released until after the new year (January 13, 2012 - so punk rock!).  While awaiting the EP, Skiba reasoned with his fans via Twitter: “Christmas is a loose term…after all, Jesus was born in April..”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLWnKX2bmTk

Regardless, the EP kicks ass and rocks hard.  It has a very grungy feel with a flat-pitched Skiba singing the vocals and I can definitely hear Willard’s influence from his days in The Offspring.  Their first unveiled track titled “RRR” was released via exclusive stream from Alternative Press and can be listened to here:

http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/premiere_the_hells_rrr

The entire EP was released shortly thereafter via iTunes and can be purchased  now. 

Recently we have been hearing more from Skiba’s other up-and-coming side project, Matt Skiba & the SEKRETS.  Their first single titled “All Fall Down” was released via exclusive stream through Spinner/AOL Music and can be listened to here:

http://www.spinner.com/2012/03/09/matt-skiba-sekrets-all-fall-down/

The most recent single titled “Voices” was released via iTunes and I have been listening to it on loop nonstop.  The album Babylon is due out on May 8th and I am pretty stoked for it.  Matt Skiba & the SEKRETS definitely have a more mainstream/Alkaline Trio feel to their music than theHELL and I am excited to see where both projects go.  Skiba’s last side project Heavens lasted one album.  Let’s see if he takes these two solid starts and runs with them to put out some untiring music like he has done time and time again.

Silverstein is one of those artists who took the emo genre and ran with it.  I’ve been a fan since their 2005 album, “Discovering the Waterfront.” Their energy-fueled tracks can really pump you up (which is ironic considering what is typical of the genre).  Their own tracks are classics in themselves, but Silverstein has always had a talent for covers.  It’s not just ordinary, sped-up covers either.  They put their own spin on them and really make them their own.  Over the course of their career as a band, Silverstein has covered a diversity of bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Gorilla Biscuits (as on their new album).  Their album “Short Songs” can be described as a very short and sweet almost dedication to Punk Rock.  Bands like Dead Kennedys, Green Day & Descendents are also covered on the album.  Half covers and half originals, “Short Songs” includes their single Brookfield which is a solid, classic-style Silverstein track. The music video for this song can be seen here, where Shane storms violently down a street for a minute and a half:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-hvThxHoFo

The album has 22 songs, none longer than 1:36, some even too short for me to enjoy.  It has lots of screaming and is approached with a more hardcore punk vibe, making it interesting to see the band change it up (in a good way). SOS, one of my favorite tracks, is solid but all in all I give the album two thumbs up like those clowns Siskel & Ebert would say.