Title Fight — Light Up The Eyes

This EP is sweet. It's a little rougher, a little more basic than their later releases (see The Last Thing You Forget), but it has the same poppy energy and melodic sensibilities as the rest of their work. I don't really know too much about it, other than that it appears to be their first non-demo release, and it came out in 2006. Its still really sweet, despite all the dudes in the band having been roundabouts of 16 when it came out. So yeah, check it out, it's some of the best pop-punk I've ever heard.

Title Fight — Light Up The Eyes

Track Listing:

1. Light Up The Eyes
2. Hope
3. 53 Reynolds
4. Call It Quits
5. Let Down
6. Flying Solo

Title Fight are a band from Kingston, PA. It's pop-punk at first glance, but everyone in the band is into hardcore — some of them are actually related to the singer of Cold World — and that influence comes out really strongly. They formed when they were all 13, and it seems to be the dominant thing in their lives, college, relationships, and everything else taking a second place. Lyrically, it's kind of similar to Jawbreaker in style, and the music is pretty distinct from most other things I've ever heard. It's good. Get into it.

www.myspace.com/titlefight

Judge: The Warriors — YouTube

So this is pretty sweet: it's Judge's cover of Blitz's "The Warriors" set to clips from the movie "The Warriors." Good band, good song, good cover, good movie. Yeap.

Still Here Zine Update 12/9/09

Hey, so I've been doing this for almost a month now, and I feel like it's going pretty well. People have been downloading a little bit, and most people have been pretty positive on it.

I just wanted to let you all know that anyone can leave comments, even if you don't have a blog of your own. You can even leave them anonymously, though I'm not sure why you'd want to. Basically, I'm just encouraging you to let me know what you think about this, and what you think could be better. After all, this is for the readers more than anything else.

Should I put up different genres of music? I've pretty much just been doing stuff I'm into thusfar. Should I do more recent stuff, like review albums that have just come out? Let me know. I could also do an 80s upload segment, if anyone is interested. I could do show/band reviews, etc, too.

I've got finals for the next couple days, and then I'm heading back to Charlottesville for a month, where I don't really get good internet access, so I don't know how much I'll be able to get done for a while. So please, any requests or anything, drop me a comment.

Better Never — ...ever 7"

I don't really know too much about this 7". Chris got a couple of them sent to him as some sort of a promotion, and passed them out to some others of us. Basically, it's some fast, fun, oldschool hardcore. I don't say 'oldschool' too often, but this definitely is. It has an older vibe from most bands today, but its not pure 80's style either. This rip is kind of bass heavy, but still sounds pretty good. Check it out.

Better Never — ...ever

Track Listing:

1. Human Shield
2. Lone Wolf
3. Check
4. Last Dream

From what I've been able to find, this was more of a project than a band. It was started by two dudes in their 30s, both from Flint, Michigan, who met up in DC in 2006. Long story short, they called more dudes and laid down these tracks, without ever even practicing. I'm not entirely sure who was involved or to what extent, but it includes (former) members of Negative Approach, Dag Nasty, Swiz, Gallows, Frodus, and Battery, to name a few. Seriously, it seems like everyone on here, even just doing backup vocals, has been around the block. The cover was even done by some famous cartoonist. As far as I can tell, though, all they did was record this 7", and never even played a show.

Permanent — Sleeping EP

I love Permanent. They might be my favorite band of the last couple years. The West-Coast style melodies and riffs combined with a really Virginian perspective (whatever that means... I guess you have to live here) makes it something powerful. It's not the kind of thing that you put on so you can practice your mosh in front of the mirror. It's not really even the sort of thing you put on in a car full of people. Permanent is different from the rest of hardcore; I would compare them to Stay Gold or Sinking Ships if anything. Just listen to it, ponder some, and then listen some more. And tell your friends.

Permanent — Sleeping Ep

Track Listing:

1. My Efforts Toward Disaster
2. Times Ten
3. Devils And Bad Luck
4. Days Late
5. To The Gallows
6. Square One
7. Disaster

Permanent originally formed in Richmond with a combination of members of Charlottesville's For All Time and Blacksburg's Hold Me Back. They put out a demo, this EP, a split with Resonance, and Sink|Swim, a masterpiece of melodic hardcore. I can't stress enough the depth of this band. They broke up a year or so back, and I'm still bummed I only ever saw them a few times. Really hoping for a reunion.

www.myspace.com/permanent

Current Spins

There's a lot of music out there that's really sweet and underappreciated, but because the bands or their labels are still trying to market it, I don't really feel cool with uploading it. That being said, this is a blog about music, and just because jams are still on the market doesn't mean they shouldn't be talked about up here.

Basically, this is some current stuff I'm really enjoying. If you don't really have the same taste as me that's cool, but on the off chance you might enjoy it, these are things I definitely recommend going out and spending your money on.

1. Capital — Homefront

How can I explain Capital? It's not really like anything you've ever heard before. It's sort of like hardcore that has come full-circle and rediscovered punk, not giving any credence to genre staples like singalongs or breakdowns, and just speaking honestly about whatever comes to mind. The music is really interesting and varied, no two songs ever really sounding alike. It's sort of like Paint It Black, I guess, although depending on the tune I'm more reminded of Gorilla Biscuits, Avail, Bane, or even A Global Threat. Weird. Sometimes the lyrics get a little corny, but that's sort of the price to be paid for the raw sincerity that produces other ones, like the story of the singer's first punk album (NYHC: The Way It Is — good choice). There's nothing else like it.

2. Title Fight — The Last Thing You Forget

I slept on this band for way too long. Yes, it's really poppy; yes, it's kind of emotional and really sappy. So what? Nothing has made me want to stagedive this badly since the first time I heard Lifetime. The variability of this band does indeed at times remind me of being at a New Brunswick Basement Show, but also of Sinking Ships, or even Horror Show. The lyrics are pretty good, I guess, mostly relationship stuff and being down on living in Pennsylvania, but the music is some of the most expressive I've ever heard from the core. It's catchy, but not like Blink-182 or anything; you just find yourself remembering the songs after hearing them once. I'll be bummed when everyone starts trying to sound like this (watch, it'll happen), but for now at least it's really new and powerful. Every bad boy has his soft side, I guess, but are you gonna get this or Buzz Ballads?

3. Battery — Whatever It Takes

Maybe it's moving to DC and living in a brand-new place, but this album speaks to me. It's solid youth crew, definitely, but it's a lot more than that as well. It's surprisingly personal, mostly talking about moving and being all alone, and the ubiquitous tour song. But it's also a positive, creative perspective on the scene, and brings to mind In My Eyes (the band), or even Richmond's Time Flies. Brian McTernan, probably better known for running Salad Days recording studio, does the vocals, and actually recorded the album — and it sounds pretty damn good. Basically, if you're down for some youth crew that's a little different from everything else, this is it.

4. Dag Nasty — Can I Say

Okay, so this one's old. Probably a lot of people are already on top of this and recognize the power of early pop-punk, but I guess I'm just a late bloomer. Anyway, after Dave Smalley moved back to DC from Boston and D.Y.S., he ended up taking over vocals in Brian Baker (of Minor Threat)'s new band. This is the first album they recorded, and it's awesome. It's definitely still hardcore, but it's a lot more than that; it's really similar to the later songs on Minor Threat's discography, if that's any clearer. These are some really solid tunes, and if you haven't gotten into Dag Nasty yet, do it… and start with this.

5. Offsides — It's A Struggle To Communicate

Holy shit. This might be one of the best EPs of 2008. From their humble demo, this band has come a really long way. The guitars are really crunchy; the drummer started spinning more breakbeat jams; the bassist now wants to mosh a lot more than just posi jump; and ya girl actually gets a little bit evil with the vocals. The songwriting has really been stepped up too, into the realm of simple but pretty melodic, with some really emotive riffs and tempo changes. Basically, this record starts out hard and never really lets up. That last song is absolutely killer too. Seriously, GET THIS.

Offsides — Demo 2007

Offsides rules. Hard. A lot of female-fronted hardcore bands either go too far and turn really crusty and ridiculous, or come off kind of soft and poppy. Not Offsides (or the Libyans… just sayin, that band's sweet too…); this is really good, really sincere hardcore that just happens to have a female vocalist. I guess the lyrics are a little different from those usually written by dudes, a little more emotive and ambiguous, but that's not really a bad thing. Anyway, the music is sweet, vocals are sweet, and from the pictures it looks like they have a really sweet live show. Definitely trying to catch them the next time they come around. I don't really know too much about this demo, but it came out a couple years back and is of reasonable sound quality. Plus it has an intro AND an outro, so it has to be good, right? Also, any band named after a Ten Yard Fight song is a necessary part of your life. Get into it.

Offsides — Demo 2007

Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. No Direction
3. We're Messing With Texas
4. Sets Us Back
5. Growing To Fit
6. Outro

Offsides is a female fronted, kind of melodic straight edge hardcore band from Florida. They have a full length and a couple of splits out, and generally rip it up really well.

www.myspace.com/offsidesct

Sucker Punch! — Demo 2k8

I think Charlottesville kind of has a habit of using band names already taken by other bands, even though myspace and the internet tell us better. Seriously, there is another Full Court Press, another Mob Mentality, another Demagogue, another Menace To Society, and a couple other Sucker Punches through the decades. Oh well, in a genre where being too original means you're no longer in that genre, I guess some repetition is to be expected.

On that note, Sucker Punch! is sweet. This was the evolution of the band DDT, whose demo may end up up here eventually. It was a really interesting combination of Straume's skate-thrash songwriting brought out by Eric's really precise drums, and Noah's vocals that remind me of like Horror Show or Shark Attack. I always felt like they had more potential than they ever exercised, and this demo showcases that really well. It's different, and darker, than most other things Charlottesville ever put out, maybe more akin to Richmond's style than anything else. It's good. Listen to the drums. Backed hard.

Sucker Punch! — Demo 2k8 

Track Listing:

1. Intro/Deceitful 
2. Caught Up 
3. Let It Out 
4. Can't Take It 
5. Alone 

Sucker Punch: 2007-2008

Noah — Vox
Straume — Guitar
Riley — Bass
Eric — Drums

After the short-lived thunderdome that was DDT, Sucker Punch! came about to give a thrashier perspective on modern hardcore. Noah's very-real delivery and Eric's ridiculous proficiency made it something interesting. They were too-often paired with FCP, leaving them somewhat lacking for an identity for a while, but they eventually came into their own and started ripping it up. Always a really solid live band, they faded away after the fall of 2008. 

www.myspace.com/suckerpunchcville

Clocked Out — Demo '06

About a week after I got my first car, there was a show in Richmond that I really wanted to go to. I picked up 5 other people, and we drove on down. Somehow during the course of that show, I got hit in the eyebrow and later ended up needing to get like 4 stitches... after driving home in an overcrowded car with blood dripping onto my cheek.

Clocked Out didn't play that show. Insted, I picked up this demo at a different show in Richmond, but I don't remember that show at all so I thought I'd share a more memorable story. Anyway, it's some pretty cool tunes in a sort of modern-hardcore way; they have a couple songs with riffs that always make me think of the word 'urban' for some reason. As similar as it is to a lot of other Richmond demos, this one always stood out in my mind for some reason. I guess it's pretty good. Plus it was recorded by Mike Reaves, so you know it sounds smooth like butter. Alright, get to clicking:

Clocked Out — Demo 2006

Track Listing:

1. Riot
2. Fed Up
3. Too Far
4. Hard Times
5. Integrity
6. Mindset
7. Earned It
8. On Your Own

Clocked Out were a short-lived band from the era of early Swamp Thing. They sounded a lot like Swamp Thing actually, and even got the singer to do some guest vocals. They managed to score the position of opening band at DTN's "the Most" seedy release party, where they covered "Off My Chest" by Carry On, and it was really tight. Then they broke up, apparently to move to Omaha.

www.myspace.com/clockedoutrva