#literally any pop song from 1997-2005

[chrispineofficial]

if there’s one thing history has taught us it’s that white people LOVE a song that comes with a choreographed little dance number

#the twist. electric slide. chicken dance. macarena #literally any pop song from 1997-2005

[defensefilms]

Defense Films Names His Top 5 Favorite Rappers

In All It’s Infinite Glory And Magnanimity, Defense Gives You His Top 5 Favorite Rappers. 

5. 50 Cent 

To this day, when you need a playlist for a MMA class and the group is hella diverse, you’re not really sure which way to go with it, pop in that 50. Can’t go wrong with Get Rich Or Die Trying (the original), or even that G-Unit Beg For Mercy.

That run from late 2002-2005/06 was unlike anything you’ll ever see again. That was a perfect situation where there was organic support from fans and there were people at a business level, mainly 50, that knew how to turn it into the wave that it became and industry has been trying to replicate this ever since.

While most people remember is the numerous scandals, beefs and controversies of that time but it was the music that moved the audience. For all the ways 50 Cent’s success mirrors ruthless American capitalism, his debut album is low key one of the most inspiring albums you’ll ever listen to. 

It’s a foxhole mentality on wax. It’s me-versus-you type thinking. It’s someone has to lose and I’ll be damned. It’s who ever has to get hit, is gonna get hit. 

See the first time I listened to it, it was about “In Da Club”, “Wanksta”, you know the more palatable records that got on radio and all that but the more I listened the more I realized, it was actually built on the backs of songs like “Patiently Waiting”, “Many Men”, “Back Down”, “Don’t Push Me” and “Gotta Make It To Heaven”. On one side it’s as motivational as you can think of but it’s not the wacky kind of naivé motivational talk because it’s willing to get it’s hands dirty and go in to much grittier ideas. 

Like his predecessors, 50 pulls off the trick of balancing easy-to-listen-to records on a foundation of graphic and aggressive songs.  

Recommended Songs: Maybe We Crazy, When It Rains It Pours

4. Jedi Mind Tricks

I’ll give you props if you know who these man are but they are legends. Point blank. Violent By Design will forever rank as one of the great group albums in hip-hop history.  Vinny Paz, Jus Allah and producer/DJ Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind, gave hip-hop a shockwave they weren’t ready for, especially back in 1999.

Hip-hop as a business wasn’t ready to market a group, whose themes were rooted in topics like government control, military warfare, covert control tactics, religion and psychological warfare. To have all that in one bundle wasn’t something that big time A&R’s were ready for. 

Had they started this group in 2010, they would have walked in to a business landscape that was far more suitable to who they were as an act and as MC’s. 

Even with that JMT still enjoyed a lot of notoriety and they definitely succeeded in establishing their following, despite the odds. 

While Violent By Design may serve as the magnum opus of their body of work, their run really starts in 1997 with the Psycho-Social, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation Of Human Kind. 

Yes guy, that’s an album title. You gotta think now, I was in high school the first time I heard this and I was very into conspiracy theories and nonsense, so this album hit me right between the eyes. The idea that someone could use the medium of hip-hop in this way was crazy and the album would have been more than 10 years old when I first heard it.

No, the hip-hop historians among us will argue that Wu-Tang were a better and more influential group and I’d tend to agree, I can also bust back and say, “these dudes took Wu-Tang’s formula and gave it a whole different edge.”

 I’ll break it to you like this, Wu-Tang gave the world swordsmanship and the first projectile weapons like bow and arrows, spears and the likes. Jedi Mind Tricks gave the world gun powder, advanced modern explosives and semi-automatics. You see what I mean?

Recommended Songs: Untitled, Retaliation Remix

3. Jay-Z

No top rappers list is complete without my man. The only reason he ain’t higher is because, I rate a rapper more highly if they’re in the prime of their musical abilities. If this were an all-time list he’d be way way higher. 

Beginning with Reasonable Doubt is really the only place to start when it comes to Jay. The production, the skits, the way every sentence was so tightly wound together, the word selection and sentence construction. It’s remembered as an album of hits because of tracks like “Cant Knock The Hustle”, ”Feelin It” and “Brooklyn’s Finest” but Reasonable Doubt was really defined by “Dead Presidents”, “D’evils”, “Politics As Usual” and “Can I Live”. 

The first batch of songs gave the album some relatability, as far as depicting club vibes and nightlife glamour because that second batch of songs were all built on darker themes like betrayal, jealousy, greed, blind ambition and deception. That combination of themes as well as the production to match each one is why that album will always rank high among a certain listenership. 

With that being said, never make the mistake of thinking Jay or any man is perfect. There’s like a 3 album run where there’s moments of dope-ness but not a truly complete album. 

Still with that, songs like “Imaginary Player” and “Where I’m From” will rank among his best songs.

It’s only when you get to The Blueprint can you start to see Jay perfecting the art of crafting, whole, complete albums that bump from start to finish. The Blueprint was near perfection in this regard. “U Don’t Know”, “Heart Of The City” and “Momma Loves Me” will rank as his best efforts and yeah, I skipped a few.

The Black Album replicated the Blueprint’s listenability, while also dealing in topics that created an album that sounded very personal to Jay. 

All told, the best parts of his catalogue are so strong that there is no denying his place on my list.

Recommended Songs: Dead Presidents, I Love The Dough

2. Action Bronson

I cannot for the life of me fathom how this man doesn’t get the love but the real ones know. 

The mixtape download era (2010-2017 give or take), had many unlikely success stories. An overweight white guy, who grew up cooking in his parents deli/eatery, turned pro-chef then turned rapper, is beyond unlikely. Only the internet could allow this man to succeed and thank the hip-hop gods it did.

From 2012 to about 2018, Action was one of the only constants in my playlist. I still remember where I was the first time I heard “Brunch”. His catalogue starting with the Tommy Mas produced, Dr Lecter and boasting full collaborations albums along side Statik Selektah and the Alchemist, and of course the classic Blue Chips series. This man’s prime will be underrated. 

If you’re going to take one chapter of Bronson’s art and study it, it’s going to be Blue Chips 1 and 2. Both are thematically perfect without ever trying to be. Which is what allowed Party Supplies to make production choices that grabbed you from the jump. From the first time you hit play on the opening of Blue Chips 1, you’re hit with the sound of falling shards of glass and a violin sound that makes the opening song un-skippable. The songs themes are also a perfect introduction to the man himself. Debauchery, expensive taste, hedonism, revelry, unabashed pleasure-seeking, drug use and just enough self-depreciation that you felt you were along for the ride rather than just a fly on the wall, turning your nose in disgust. It was a perfect mixtape, at a time when mixtapes were at a crazy dumb high standard.

It’s not so much that a rapper made punchlines about food, that would be an over-simplification and really missing the trick. It’s that he made everything he said sound like the dopest thing ever and the most underrated trick about his music is that he made grown man rap without needing to be thuggin’. A rare feat. 

Bronson has since gone on to establish himself as a content creator/producer/food review guy but man, what he accomplished as a complete body of work is nothing short of astonishing.

Recommended Songs: Midget Cough, Bonzai

1. Headie One

So it’s late last year. I’m hanging with my boy Phil and Brown, we had just finished some content and Phil says “yo listen to this”. He proceeds to play Golden Boot and it hasn’t stopped bumping since. 

A UK rapper with a lyrical nous and wit that rivals even legends like Jay-Z, but rapping over trap and drill beats. What Headie One is doing is not the norm and I’m talking in terms of his lyrics, sentence construction, word selection, metaphors, he does it all and like all the greats, he makes it look easy. 

His collaboration with RV definitely helped mold him, with both the “Sticks and Stones” and “Drillers and Trappers” mixtapes giving you an idea of what Headie offers as a lyricist. He compliments RV’s brash, aggressive boasts with slightly less obvious but incredibly witty boasts of his own.

His discography though really starts to peak with 2018′s “The One”. That’s where Headie begins find a sweet spot between his lyrics, production and the themes of his songs. A mixtape like this can only exist via independent release because outside of the aforementioned “Golden Boot”, ain’t none of those songs getting any radio play especially in a country as “conservative” as England. Even in a genre saturated with gangsta/trap, “The One” stands out for what he accomplishes lyrically.

Headie would follow that by releasing “The One Two” in June of 2018 and he ascends even more in what he’s able to accomplish with the words.

 The track “Banter On Me” should be in an all-time list somewhere for being the wittiest track of all time. The song is literally just Headie finding new and innovative ways to boast, call out and bait his foes. Hip-hop/Rap has plenty of beef songs that weren’t really direct call outs to any known public figure but were still definitely taking shots at someone. 50 cent’s “Wanksta” and “Officer Down” are some examples of such songs I can think of. Those did not really have the kind of wit Headie displays here. The constant streams of alliterations, double meanings, puns, metaphors, inferences and innuendos is just astonishing. There’s a real mastery of language at play here. The song is a lesson in language, no textbooks. 

Headie has since released his debut album along with additional tracks for the delux version of the album. His debut studio release “Edna” does what studio releases are supposed to do. “Parle-Vouz Anglais” and “Aint It Different” will standout and are difinitely the most palatable songs as far as radio play. Those are the 2 songs I’d play for first time listeners. 

Recommended Songs: Hard To Believe, Dues, Zodiac

#music #hip-hop #rap #50 cent #jedi mind tricks #jay z #action bronson #headie #headie one

[chaoticdean]

As another big Green Day fan, I'm curious to know what are your opinions on each Green Day album (studio albums only, not recopilatory, but feel free to add the live ones) and why you like/don't like that album 🖤

OH MY GOD THIS IS SUCH A COOL QUESTION TO GET MARA, THANK YOU! Buckle up ‘cause this will probably, inevitably go long. I’m also gonna use this to catalog each album in order, with dates and shit because a lot of people have actually reached out asking how much material there was before American Idiot got released in ‘04, and my dudes, my peeps, THERE’S A LOT. 

#1 — 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hour (1991)

So this is probably the one I listen to the less to this day, not because I don’t like it but because I discovered most of the tracks on that album through live bootlegs or videos, which in turns made me like the live versions way more than the studio version (Knowledge, looking right at you). That said, this is the epitome of Sweet Children/Green Day, and it’s pretty nice to be able to go back and listen to this album knowing it’s a compilation of their first two maxi albums that came out in ‘89 and ‘90. That being said, I still think it’s criminal not to have Paper Lanterns recorded live on any live album to this day — Billie Joe, imma sue your stupid ass.

#2 — Kerplunk (1992)

THE PRODIGAL SON. Knowing that this is the album that got them to have some form of recognition among the punk community at the time, so much so that Warner was able to get a whim of this Bay Area band, is enough of a tell. There are so many good songs on this album, and you can already sense Billie Joe’s storytelling through some of the songs. I have a very soft spot for 2,000 Light Years Away, even if like most of the older songs I do prefer any live version to the studio version. Like I also said earlier, Green Day were my introduction to a lot of older bands, and I’m pretty sure I discovered the Who by listening to their cover of My Generation on this album. Honorable mention to Tré’s first delight of a song, Dominated Love Slave. Keep slaying, my chaos demon. 💚

#3 — Dookie (1994)

Well, how do you talk about an album that rocked your entire world without turning into a puddle of tears? I discovered Dookie shortly after I bought American Idiot for myself and realized there was more to this band than just this album, and I was blown away. I distinctly remember falling asleep at night with me hear glued to my stereo with the volume on low as to not wake up my parents, and I’d just listen to that album on repeat. I don’t know if it was so much about the music than the lyrics, really. I was about 10 or 11 and hearing Billie singing on Coming Clean felt like a breeze of fresh hair to a little girl that already figured out she wasn’t straight. Dookie holds a lot of good tune but the subject they’re touching are so in touch with society even still today. This is an album that is forever going to hold a very special place in my heart, and I still can get enough of it. It’s actually sitting on my turntable right now.

#4 — Insomniac (1995)

Insomniac is the album I’ll listen to whenever I have a bad day, because it’s so angsty. It’s very different from what Dookie felt like despite being released only a year after. To me it’s also the first album where Billie starts making some sort of bolder statement, especially with a song like Walking Contradiction. Panic Song is also another of those songs that I keep going back to because it’s musically extremely interesting (that bass line! that drums opening! that guitar riff! yes, fucker, gimme more!) and the subject it touches (panic attacks, essentially) is something that I’ve been struggling with. Again, when you’re a young girl struggling with this, it’s comforting hearing your favorite band talk about that same subject. That album is riddled with good songs and it’s a shame that Insomniac still doesn’t get nearly as much credit as it should have.

#5 — Nimrod (1997)

To me, Nimrod is really the first album they started experimenting with a wide variety of different styles. A lot of people (Billie included) would probably argue that Warning had a deeper dive into diversity, but hearing songs like Walking Alone or Last Drive In, god, even King for a Day was not something they would’ve done before. Another solid album that holds one of my major favorite songs, the first song I’ve ever learned on guitar: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Billie’s songwriting on that album is a bit different from what we’re used to, he’s diving deep into his personal life and I think it’s probably the rawest we’ve seen him be at that point. Another one of the album that doesn’t get enough recognition (but then again, the next one too).

#6 — Warning (2000)

It’s... I’m not gonna lie, it’s a peculiar album. I love it, but I know it’s an album that’s been dividing fans for two decades. It’s still Green Day exploring, but to a very wider pace than they did on Nimrod, and this is SO GOOD. Misery is a very good example of that, actually. It’s also Billie’s first ‘real’ dive at politics with songs like Minority and Macy’s Day Parade. Hell, even Warning can be held as some sort of statement. I do love that album, but you can also sense that at that point the band is not doing well. We know that now because they’ve talked about it at length, but you can sense in the music that they’re searching for something that they aren’t able to find.

#Comp — International Superhits! (2001)

Not gonna go in great length about this, but the two exclusive songs (Poprocks and Coke, Maria) are some of my favorite b-sides that they’ve ever released.

#Comp — Shenanigans (2002)

This is a peculiar compilation, I don’t really think I’ve ever seen a compilation of b-sides and rarities being put out as a compilation in any of the other bands I’ve been following around for decades, but it’s a nice one. 

#7 — American Idiot (2004)

How do you talk about an album that literally changed your life? I’ve talked about it earlier today, but American Idiot was the first album I’ve ever bought for myself, with my own money, and it blew me away. I wasn’t raised in a house where music was prominent. Both my parents aren’t really fans of rock music (I mean, my mom listens to Dire Straits a lot and has a soft spot for Alan Parson but that’s pretty much it), so my taste in music stopped at what the radio gave me. And then Green Day came along, American Idiot started spinning in my room and that was some sort of a revelation for me. This is such a bold album. It got released during the Bush presidency, 3 years after 9-11, and there’s such an intensity to the songs that it’s still an album that you can listen to today and go “it still holds the same meaning”. Without even a shadow of a doubt, this is the best album they’ve put out so far. This is a masterpiece, and it’s no short of a surprise that it went this far in terms of number. Let’s not forget that it also birthed a live album, several gigantic world tour, a European Arena tour, a play that’s been on Broadway for more than a year at the time, and a soundtrack album from the play. This is something that is bigger than just an album. This is my #1 album, all artists included. I don’t think any album can top that one for me, not only because it’s a masterpiece both musically and songwrittingly (i don’t care if that’s not a word), but it holds an extremely personal connexion in my heart. 

#Live — Bullet in a Bible (2005)

This was filmed in Milton Keynes (UK) at the end of the European Arena Tour that Green Day did in 2005. I cannot even begin to count the number of time that I’ve watched it. I started a band because of this live album. Just like American Idiot did, this blew me away. It’s a shame they still haven’t put that much more live material out in recent years, because this is a band that is so good live. Anyone would tell you that they’re absolute monsters on stage, even people that aren’t Green Day fans.

#8 — 21st Century Breakdown (2009)

Anyone will tell you that putting out another album after such a strong success as American Idiot would be a sink or swim. This is a swim, and a very good one at that. Politically speaking, I feel like this goes even further than Billie went on American Idiot. This album continues to blow me away even after 12 years, I keep going back for a listen and discovering new layers underneath Billie’s lyrics, and I love it. I have a very soft spot for Last Night on Earth because it’s a song for Adrienne, Billie’s wife, and we hadn’t gotten an Adrienne song in a long while ❤️

#Live — Awesome as Fuck (2011)

I have a love/hate relationship with that live album. I absolutely love the fact that they decided to release some more live material, but I don’t understand what they tried to do with it. By that, I mean that I don’t get why the live footage we get to see has been taped in a different country than the tracks on the album (which are all from different venues and different shows across the world). That being said, it’s still live Green Day and it’s still so damn good. 

#9 — Uno! / #10 — Dos! / #11 — Tré! (2012)

I know that I have a pretty different opinion about the trilogy than most of the fans I’ve met so far, but I, for one, absolutely loved it. That being said, the style is different from regular Green Day, closer to garage rock/surfer pop-punk than anything else they’ve put out. It reeks of live recording and club shows, and yeah sure Billie’s songwriting is not at the heights he was on the previous albums, but the songs are so raw and personal that I connected with those three albums instantly. That said, you can sense how deeply depressed and struggling he was at the time by just listening to songs like Lazy Bones or Nightlife. The entirety of Dos! is a statement, it’s a cry for help. So yeah, I’m fairly certain this is some sort of unpopular opinion, but even if the band’s state of mind wasn’t good, these albums are a good spin to me.

#Comp — Demolicious (2014)

If I’m not mistaken, that’s a compilation that was specifically put out for Record Store Day in 2014. Another bold choice for a compilation, and one I love because people often don’t know what demos sound like (and I LOVE IT). I hold that vinyl very tightly in my record collection, it’s a clear pressed vinyl and it’s very good-looking lmao.

#10 — Revolution Radio (2016)

Green Day returns to making bold statements and higher songwriting! This is an album I didn’t really connect with at first because I was going through some really deep shit in my personal life. This was also the first time I was gonna be able to go and see them live, and I ended up missing it, so that’s a forever burn on my calendar lmao. This is a solid album that holds some very good songs (politically, but also personally). I tend to view Still Breathing as an answer to the song Lazy Bones on Dos!, and it’s no coincidence that it was one of the most massive hit on this album. Bang Bang is literally American Idiot’s little sister. I feel like a lot of the songs on this album are answers to earlier songs actually, and I’m just realizing that now by writing it and browsing the tracklist lmao. 

#11 — Father of all Motherfuckers (2020)

Until that album was released, I didn’t think Green Day could ever disappoint me. I was... well, I was wrong. I don’t understand what they tried to do with that album, and I’m saying that with love. This is a band that’s used to experimenting with different styles (I mean, just have a listen of Warning or Nimrod), but this... This feels hollow. This feels like they’ve been pressed to put out a record and they just went with the cheapest thing they could. Now, I don’t hate that album, I just don’t see the intent. Some of the songs are good enough, but they aren’t up to the standards of enough Green Day used to give us. I still give it a listen every now and then because I’m one of those people that think some records need to be “tamed” before you really start liking them, and I do like some of the songs (Oh Yeah, Graffitia), but this feels more like Billie Joe having fun recording stuff in his garage than the band being hard at work in the studio with a producer. 

Okay, as promised, that got excruciatingly long! I do hope that was entertaining enough though lmao. 

#I NEVER EXPECTED TO GET SUCH A COOL ASK BUT HERE WE ARE #inacatastrophicmind #green day #listen........ i told y'all i could go feral for green day #this is me going feral #i can talk about that band for HOURS #my knowledge knows no bounds #though sometimes i'd like to have some bounds

[mcrmadness]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but do you have any song or album recommendations for Apulanta? So far I've only heard Toinen jumala and Lokin päällä lokki. Absolute bangers, but I've always had a hard time listening to new songs for some reason. Guess it's a comfort zone thing? Also, do you have any other Finnish band recommendations? I just think the language sounds pretty.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA thanks for asking about my hyperfixation and also sorry because now I cannot shut up but you can only blame yourself for that!!! XDDD

No really, I had to look for the song Toinen jumala because I remember it exists but I think it was just some special release that was not on any studio album - they do those sometimes - I am not even sure if I have listened to this song before :D But it sounds incredible!!!

Anyway, both of those songs are in their nu-metal style. And the song and album recommendations really depend on what you want from music. They have a quite long history - the band was founded in 1991 and they have been through lots of changes what comes to their musical style - still somehow they have managed to sound like Apulanta for all these years and I don’t know any other band that would sound exactly like them. No song on an album is like the other and you can’t listen to just one song and think you have heard the whole album now. (Sounds familiar eh? :D) Anyway, I’d say they kinda went from punk to “melodic minor key pop” - that is an actual description of their first album, which didn’t sell as well because they made what they thought people wanted to hear instead of what they wanted to play (but I love the album too!) - and then back to punk after almost breaking up because people didn’t like them that much. From punk rock they evolved to alternative rock, to a bit harder nu-metal sounding music. In 2004 their bassist left the band after 7 albums, and this is the time when I kinda grew out of their music and stopped listening to them.

I found the newer music only last year or something, I was never interested in it because it was too metallic for me and the songs I heard from the radio were either uninteresting or too slow for me. But that was a mistake I made because I literally judged the whole albums based on just a few single songs and those did not tell the truth of the albums. I really learnt to like those albums, but my favorites will be forever their first 5 albums.

So I see you have now heard only newer songs. I don’t really even like Lokin päällä lokki, because I have never understood nu-metal. Explains why I wasn’t that much into their albums Heinola 10 (6th, 2001) or especially Hiekka (7th, 2004). Heinola 10 still has several very awesome songs but I have never really gotten behind Hiekka, even today.

So, shortly: if you want punk, listen to Ehjä (2nd, 1996) or Kolme (3rd, 1997). If you prefer alternative and a bit more metallic rock, also accompanied with string instruments, then go for Aivan kuin kaikki muutkin (4th, 1998) or Plastik (5th, 2000). Plastik is actually my favorite album of all these, but I’m also love Ehjä and Kolme, and am very fond of their first album: Attack of the A.L. People (1995). They also have tons of great b-sides so the single compilation albums are great too.

From the newer albums the lates 2 are my favourites and I actually like to divide their history into two: old Apulanta (1991-2004) and new Apulanta (2005->), mainly because I was a fan when I was 9 yeras old and old Apulanta was a part of my childhood, but then I had a pause and found them again in 2008 or 2009, and started listening to the “new Apulanta albums” for the first time pretty much a decade later.

This is the song that peaked my interest after years, it was the first punk sounding new AL song I had heard ever since their late 90s era and I liked this song a lot and it still slaps!!! The song is called Zombeja! and here’s it’s music video too:

I’ll put more songs from different eras and styles under the cut! The max amount of videos in one post if 5 so I’ll put the audio ones behind links.

For other band recommendations - there’s plenty of bands but it really depends on what is the genre and other things you’re going for. I don’t think I can put too many videos in one so I can e.g. reblog this post with videos from other bands I like - I’m not too fond of Finnish music as it’s mostly metal or boring Finnrock and I don’t like those really. Or you can also send another ask where you specify what you would like to hear so I can try to find something that’d match that.

OLDER STUFF:

Systeemi kusee - from their punk era. At this point they still had two singer-guitarists. The title means “The system sucks”.

ATTACK OF THE A.L. PEOPLE:

Here’s my favorite song, Aurinkoon (”To the sun”), with a video where it’s a playback but for some reason the recording is not in sync at all but I can’t find a better video of this at all. I think someone filmed it from a dvd from tv screen.

Päivästä toiseen (”Day after day”), no words, it’s a bit slow but I think it’s really pretty!

EHJÄ:

...silti onnellinen (”...still happy”). The second and third album were very similar but not in a bad way.

Mitä kuuluu? was the hit that was their breakthrough. It was first released on an ep called “Hajonnut”, “Broken” in English, and they were going to break up if it didn’t work. But it did work, better than ever, so they stayed together and that’s why the second album was named as Ehjä, “Intact”.

KOLME:

Mitä vaan (”Anything”) is one of my favorite songs still day, of all time.

Mato (”Worm”), this is hilarious. I love the lyrics but unfortunately can’t translate them right now :D

AIVAN KUIN KAIKKI MUUTKIN:

Hallaa/008 (”Frost”) is just so. good. Also the video is interesting, it’s very gore and has nothing to do with the song itself :D Their old bassist directed all of these old videos of theirs.

Teit meistä kauniin/007 is one of their most famous songs. On this album they didn’t give the songs any titles, they gave only numbers to them and because of that I still am not entirely sure what are all the songs on the album. I don’t have names for them and I only remember the single releases and other songs that ended up having names in public. It’s interesting.

PLASTIK:

Käännä se pois (”Turn it away”), I just... this is very similar to the next song but I love them both - this might be the one whose audio I remember from my childhood.

Odotus (”Waiting”), I remember this music video from my childhood. It’s my only actual memory of the time when I was a “fan” of them. The actor in the video was in a Finnish soap opera (that my mom didn’t let me watch but I watched it was my cousins’) and I was very confused of why he was in the video and if it was him. Somehow didn’t understand what an actor is.

Terä: with a video but low quality OR better audio but no video, I’m linking this only because it’s one of my favorites and really shows how this album can yet again be so diverse!

Ei yhtään todistajaa, this just slaps and also has a cool video for it.

Maailmanpyörä (”Ferris Wheel”), absolutely one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. EVER.

^You can see maybe that it’s my favorite album :D I just can’t decide only one song!

OTHER STUFF:

They have also made two English albums - both have songs with lyrics either translated into English or with completely new English lyrics but all the songs are originally in Finnish. With the second one they clearly have rerecorded the whole songs but with the first one they have just done the vocals:

Viper Spank

Apulanta (Import) - I think this is actually an English version of their 2002 album Heinola 10.

***

Okay I think this is enough for now! Here are lots of my favorite songs, lots of videos (unfortunately there’s no better quality versions of the old videos anywhere) and way too much text! I hope you’re not overwhelmed and feel free to ask if there’s something you want to know! You can also see my Apulanta tag for newer songs (and also for some older ones) since I’ve been hyperfixating on the newer albums a lot lately (I saw them live in last February and never recovered lol).

I think I won’t talk about other bands here now - except if you are interested in comedy rock or fun punk, then there’s Klamydia. But I think I should do an individual post about them in that case. Anyhow, check this song from my favorite album, the song is called Ooko tehny lenkkiä (pyörällä ilman penkkiä) aka “Have you driven a bike (without the saddle)” and, well, the lyrics are what you can imagine them to be too :D The sound of that song just clicked to me and had so much dä energy I just had to listen to them even more :D Let me know if you want to know more about them too, tho with them the fun part literally is in the lyrics (and sometimes in videos) so it might be difficult to understand things sometimes.

#useless-blog-of-a-moth #answered asks #apulanta #apulanta master post (kinda) #finnish music

[ihfsttinuf]

(Significantly More Than) Ten Songs Which Have Moved Me

@progamuffin tagged me with this and I like doing these so I thought I’d get right to it. I might even post some explanations! In no particular order:

1. Benjamin Britten, “Elegy” (fourth movement, Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings [Op. 31], 1943)—A gorgeous and chilling setting of William Blake’s enigmatic poem “The Sick Rose”. Knowing more about Britten’s life and his struggles with how he saw himself as a person add an extra veneer of eeriness and pathos to this one.

2. St. Vincent, “Black Rainbow” (Actor, 4AD, 2009)—This one is sort of tied with “Laughing With a Mouth of Blood”, as both wonderfully capture a very particular set of experiences and emotions which resonate with me personally, both lyrically and in the superficially upbeat, lush music. I’m giving “Black Rainbow” a slight edge, though, as a splendid depiction of the claustrophobia and frustration which chronic depression brings.

3. Wire, “Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW” (154, EMI, 1979)—The perfect power-pop song, perfectly encapsulating the wonderment of realising how truly vast and beautiful the landscape is, dashed with cheeky yet ecstatic turns and wrapped in immaculate synth and guitar arrangements. Known to make me cry tears of joy, literally. Fantastic.

4. Have a Nice Life, “Earthmover” (Deathconsciousness, Enemies List Home Recordings, 2008)—The first four songs on this album, as a bloc, are incredibly compelling, but I’m giving it to the grand finale here for its sheer apocalyptic power and strange mixture of holy joy and abyssal melancholy. “We wish we were dead,” indeed.

5. Prurient, “Myth of Love” (Black Vase, Load Records, 2005)—One of the scariest experiences that I have ever had with music was listening to this for the first time alone in my room one night with all of the lights off. The manipulations of the vocals made it sound as if the very static hiss of the amplifiers were speaking, as if this were a recording without human intervention, a self-recorded exorcism of something that had never been alive.

6. Dälek, “Ever Somber” (Absence, Ipecac, 2005)—The culmination of an album and a thesis which builds by degrees. An instrumental which swoops down like a formation of black swans, into which weave erudite lyrics at once quietly delivered and charged with righteous anger. A way forward for political music which I had not considered prior to my exposure to this group.

7. Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet (1931)—Hard to explain this one, except that there is something immensely satisfying about a work of high modernist composition with so much humour, verve, spookiness and outright melody. Foreshadows total serialism and drone music alike.

8. Jute Gyte, “I Am in Athens and Pericles is Young” (Perdurance, Jeshimoth, 2016)—Not difficult at all to explain this one, insofar as it speaks for itself. Any song from this album could go here, but the sheer extremity of the ideas and revelry in abstraction make this one a fine exemplar. Easily the most exciting “band” in black metal today.

9. Swans “The Glowing Man” (The Glowing Man, Young God, 2016)—Pure undeniable minimal-meets-maximal transcendence. Simply astonishing for every minute of its significant runtime, challenged only by the perfection of the album closer “Finally, Peace”.

10. Coil, “Where Are You?” (Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2, Chalice, 2000)—The pure terror inspired by “Strange Birds” and “Ether” from this spectral duo count for a great deal, as do the exquisite requiems which close each album, and the synth odysseys of “Red Birds...” and “Tiny Golden Books”. These albums are, not to put a finer point on it, stone cold classics. But for a taste of pure outer sphere mystery filtered through a haze of attic dust, “Where Are You?” cannot be beat. It is aching nostalgia for a place beyond birth and death.

11. Sonic Youth, “Hoarfrost” (A Thousand Leaves, DGC, 1998)—Skeins of guitar like wood-smoke and frozen branches zigzagged over a snowy landscape, winding in and out of one another, glistening at times and curling dark and quiet at others over the patter of toms and warm yet distant vocals, like something hiding in the very heart of the woods.

12. Angels of Light, “Praise Your Name” (New Mother, Young God, 1999)—Another Gira song? Really? Yes, really. A love song to the righteous hatred of a broken person, in luminous tones full of sacral awe.

13. Current 93, “The Bloodbells Chime” (How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon, Durtro, 2005)—An utterly heartbreaking song in any version, but I wanted to highlight this slower, wearier arrangement from a rather obscure live recording, which absolutely aches with sorrow in the final verse: “Tommy Catkins still sends his regards...” One more reason to cry, this time with no joy whatsoever.

14. Dome, “Keep It” (Dome 2, Dome, 1980)—Another exercise in obscure and paralysing nocturnal terror, here triggered by the realisation that I had no idea what I was hearing or what any of it meant. Like “Ever Somber” and “Earthmover”, this is less a singular sensation than a cumulative one, although like “Where Are You?” or “I Am in Athens...” it more or less stands for the album experience as a whole.

15. Sutcliffe Jügend, “The Death of Pornography” (Blue Rabbit, Crucial Blas, 2012)—As above, so below; from Kafka to Bataille. While the dread of this LP is less subtle than Dome’s approach, it is a similarly restrained effort on an instrumental level, and while it was the title track which made me put this one down for months, it was the closer which made it both a classic and something which I feel uneasy recommending.

16. Bügsküll, “Flowers Smile” (Distracted Snowflake Volume One, Pop Secret, 1997)—A pop song which is also not anything resembling popular music, simple and sweet and unaffected yet deeply strange and intimate. Such a thoroughly underrated musician.

17. The Velvet Underground, “Candy Says” (The Velvet Underground, MGM, 1969)—What is there to even say?

There are certainly more than this but I should probably stop now.

@nyathescurial, if you haven’t done this yet, you’re it. Also @section42l, @allelesonwheels, @sfsorrow, @kitswulf, @carrionade if any of y’all are interested.

#rant #rave #Listening

[b-sidemusic]

FEATURED BANDCAMP: VARIOUS ARTISTS - THIS WAS THE SOUND OF SUGAR TOWN

https://repeatfanzine.bandcamp.com/album/this-was-the-sound-of-sugar-town Back in July, Cambridge-based indie R*E*P*E*A*T Records released 'This Is The Sound Of Sugar Town Volume 2' - a 13-track vinyl compilation showcasing the Bury St Edmunds music scene, with all profits going to East Anglian mental health charity Julian Support, and featuring the currently-thrillsome likes of Gaffa Tape Sandy, Sun Scream, Janet Street Slaughter, Tundra, Cathedrals & Cars, The Wilsons, Jack Rundell and Siah.  

Hearteningly, '...Volume 2' raised enough money to fund a new music therapy project in Bury St Edmunds, which is currently being piloted at the town's go-to DIY venue The Hunter Club.  To help raise a bit of extra cash, R*E*P*E*A*T have swiftly followed up with a retrospective compilation of Bury bands, 'This Was The Sound Of Sugar Town: A Brief History Of Bury St Edmunds Rock City 1990-2015'.  Co-compiled by B-Side's news editor Seymour Quigley, 'This Was The Sound Of Sugar Town' features 20 songs by a host of bands who were significant to the town's music scene in their respective eras, and includes a number of tracks which, by dint of being self-released in pre-internet times, have never previously been available digitally. 

The full tracklisting is: 1. Ten City Nation – Exhibition Time Again 2. The Dawn Parade – Caffeine Row 3. Thee Vicars – Budget Rock 4. Rats As Big As Dogs – Print 5. Jacob's Mouse – Carfish 6. Glory Glory – Love For Love 7. The Exiles – Come Too Without You (live) 8. The Fashion – Hands Off 9. Obima – Ginga 10. King Blood – Santa Monica Dream 11. Miss Black America – Talk Hard 12. Becky Jago – Baby Barbecue 13. My Hi-Fi Sister – Weak Coffee 14. Chevette – Regular Teeth 15. Tell It To The Marines – Fireworks 16. The Secret Hairdresser – The Welterweight Fund 17. The Siamese Sluts – Have Drugs Will Travel 18. Diastole – Leave Yourself Here 19. Pipehead – Pink Shellsuit 20. The Khe Sanh Approach – Crocodile Teargas

This Was The Sound Of Sugar Town by Various Artists

Below, for your reading pleasure, are the compilation's sleeve notes, with a potted history of each artist.  'This Was The Sound Of Sugar Town' is available on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon, or for the bargain download price of £3 directly from R*E*P*E*A*T.   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * THIS WAS THE SOUND OF SUGARTOWN - TRACK CHRONOLOGY 1990: PIPEHEAD – Pink Shellsuit (Watson) Taken from ‘The Pipehead Demos’, a compilation of cassette demos sold at gigs.   Produced by Pete Alexander. Active late 80s-early 90s.  Pleasingly bitter and twisted, Pipehead were one of very few Bury St Edmunds guitar bands playing their own music at a time when pub rock reigned supreme, regularly sharing bills with the higher-profile Jacob’s Mouse. Singer/guitarist Iain Watson now fronts Americana band The Wilsons. Link: www.pipehead.bandcamp.com 

1991: JACOB’S MOUSE – Carfish (Boothby/Boothby/Marsh) Taken from ‘No Fish Shop Parking’ LP, released on Blithering Idiot Records. Produced by Jacob’s Mouse and Howard. Active c.1988-1995. Jacob’s Mouse’s self-released debut EP and LP (‘The Dot EP’ and ‘No Fish Shop Parking’, the title of which came from a sign outside a chip shop), made serious waves in the indiesphere, and saw them quickly signed to influential indie imprint Wiiija Records (home to Therapy? and Cornershop). They received oodles of John Peel airplay on Radio One, recording a Peel Session in 1992, and toured with many “buzz bands” of the day including Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, Suede and Th’ Faith Healers.  Kurt Cobain declared them one of his favourite bands, but their increasingly experimental albums failed to sell and they split in 1995. Singing drummer Sam Marsh went on to form The Machismo’s, Volunteers, Zen Reggae Masters and The People’s Choice, and produced records by numerous local bands. Link: www.facebook.com/jacobsmouse 

1993: OBIMA – Ginga (Cerhan/Newsham/Sawyer/Sykes) White label 12”.   Produced by Obima. Active: 1990-1994.   To our knowledge the only 90s indie-dance outfit to have emerged from Bury, Obima pushed themselves hard on the London A&R circuit, eventually being courted by Parlophone Records after catching the attention of Blur ‘s Damon Albarn; however, the band lost out on a hotly-contested major label contract to Liverpool’s Space, and split shortly after. Bassist Michael Newsham formed Loft, before moving to Taiwan; singer/guitarist Ed Sykes and guitarist/keyboard player Adam Sawyer formed Taxi To Mars (2002-2006) and then So-Called Humans (2006-2012). Sawyer and Newsham currently play together Age Of Crisis; Sykes is now a solo artist. Link: None. 

1998: CHEVETTE – Regular Teeth (Dewar/Mayhew/Mills) Taken from ‘Regular Teeth’ 7”, released on Slit Boy Records. Produced by Sam Marsh. Active 1996-99.  Literally the only band doing anything of interest in Bury St Edmunds at that time, let alone the only band to be found doing twatlaps of the cattle market in a vintage car wearing 70s shirts and cowboy boots, Chevette’s hometown gigging was somewhat stifled by a lack of gigging infrastructure; as a result, their most-played local “venue” outside of Cambridge was the restaurant area of West Suffolk Hospital’s staff social club. Singer/guitarist Jay Mills went on to front Volunteers, Rats As Big As Dogs and Italian Books; he also co-founded highly-regarded BSE skate/BMX shop Hardcore Hobbies. Link: None. 

2000: BECKY JAGO – Baby Barbecue (Cooper/Jago/Rhodes) Taken from a 7-track demo CD-R, sold at gigs.   Produced by Richard Locket. Active: Late 90s-sometime in the 00s (on and off).  A gaggle of genuine lunatics, Becky Jago would regularly get so worked up onstage that actual fist fights would break out between members. Drummer Simon Cooper went on to play with Methods Of Punishment, Coronach, A Horse Called War and Men Of Munga.  Singer/guitarist Dave Jago and bassist Paul Rhodes went on to perform together in Hobopope & The Goldfish Cathedral and Cockdaughter; Rhodes later founded enduringly popular hardcore outfit The Domestics.  Jago has also performed with Dr Vosine & Roy McFace, Percythrower, ChinaDoor The Movie, A Day In The Life Of A Housewife, Scare The Normals, Voter Kernel, The Exorcysts, Cheap Heat and Janet Street Slaughter, and he performs solo as Mouse-drawn Cart. LINK: None. 

2001: THE SECRET HAIRDRESSER – The Welterweight Fund (Baldock) Taken from ‘Top Ten Conditioning Tips’, released on Lap Records. Produced by Jason Baldock. Ostensibly a band, The Secret Hairdresser on record was almost exclusively the work of producer/multi-instrumentalist/pop genius Jason Baldock, who also ran the very popular ‘Planet Beet’ indie/alternative night (at long-gone dive bar The Priors Inn) and Old School Studios.  Despite an apparent aversion to playing any kind of industry “game”, the band recorded a Peel Session in 2004. In 2007, Jason relocated Old School Studios to Norwich, producing and performing with a number of bands including Rope Store and Lake Combover.  He currently runs Seal of Approval Records.  His new venture, Carwash Studios, is due to open in Norwich in October 2017.   LINK: peel.wikia.com/wiki/Secret_Hairdresser 

2002: MISS BLACK AMERICA – Talk Hard (Baldwin/Gish/Quigley/Smith) Taken from ‘God Bless Miss Black America’ LP, released on Integrity Records. Produced by Gavin Monaghan. Active: 1999-2006.  Perma-touring would-be stadium punks MBA received critical acclaim very early on after receiving the on-air patronage of John Peel; they recorded four Peel Sessions between 2001-2003, and their first five singles hit Peel’s ‘Festive Fifty’ in 2001 and 2002 (this track charted at #3 in 2002).  The original line-up dissolved acrimoniously shortly thereafter, with bassist Mike Smith, drummer Neil Baldwin and guitarist Gish going on to form My Hi-Fi Sister.  Singer/guitarist Seymour Quigley limped on with a revolving-door line-up until 2006 before briefly going solo under the monicker ‘Open Mouth’.  Smith, Baldwin and Quigley later reunited as Ten City Nation. LINK: www.facebook.com/missblackamericaband 

2002: THE DAWN PARADE – Caffeine Row (McDonald) Taken from ‘Caffeine Row’ EP, released on Sugar Town Records/R*E*P*E*A*T.   Produced by Gavin Monaghan. Active: 1997-2006.  Driven by zesty singer/songwriter Greg McDonald, The Dawn Parade toured hard alongside fellow Bury dreamers Miss Black America, releasing a string of EPs between 2001-2005.  Disqualified from the 2002 Festive Fifty for vote rigging (by a clearly amused John Peel), they were invited to record a Peel Session in early 2003. Like MBA, the band suffered from a lack of stability, with McDonald the only constant member.  Their debut album was released posthumously by R*E*P*E*A*T Records in 2006. LINK: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawn_Parade 

2003: THE EXILES – Come Too Without You (Dupuy/Halliwell/Miles/Moss) Recorded live in London. Active: 2001-2004.  Although contemporaries of Miss Black America and The Dawn Parade, the far more sensible Exiles chose not to pursue a life of endless touring.  They also released very little, although single ‘The Not Gate’ made enough of an impression on John Peel for him to invite them for a Radio One session in early 2003. Sadly, the band split in 2004 (with bassist Matt Dupuy accidentally concussing singer/guitarist Ben Miles in a joint guitar-smashing at their final gig; Miles then received a standing ovation on the steps of Bury Corn Exchange as he was carried to an ambulance), and their shelved debut album remains unreleased.  Miles went on to form The Siamese Sluts; Dupuy founded The Khe Sanh Approach; while drummer Bob Halliwell released a solo album, ‘Fades’, and played on The Dawn Parade frontman Greg McDonald’s second solo album, ‘Tomorrow England’. LINK: None. 

2004: THE FASHION – Hands Off (Bacon/Drury/Edison/March/Whitford) Demo CD-R, sold at gigs. Produced by Zak Whittaker. Active: 2004-2005.  Formed by singer Sarah Edison after her brilliantly-named sixth-form band The White Trash split up, The Fashion played a handful of life-affirming gigs around East Anglia before quietly slipping away.  Edison, guitarist Adam Whitford, bassist Bradley Marsh and drummer Dave Bacon formed the short-lived DownDog, while guitarist Joel Drury joined The Willycockers.  Dave Bacon currently plays in Americana sextet The Wilsons, alongside Reuben Kemp of Thee Vicars/Rats As Big As Dogs and Pipehead’s Iain Watson. LINK: None. 

2005: MY HI-FI SISTER – Weak Coffee (Baldwin/Gish/Parkington/Smith) Taken from ‘Flashing Lights’ EP, CD-R sold at gigs.   Produced by Gish. Active: 2003-2006.  Initially formed by Miss Black America survivors Mike Smith and Neil Baldwin, My Hi-Fi Sister were later joined by bassist Sam Parkington and MBA guitarist Gish. Rarely playing outside of East Anglia, the band dissipated in 2006 when Parkington emigrated to Australia. Smith and Baldwin immediately formed Ten City Nation; Gish went on to play with Men of Munga and Scare The Normals, and solo under the monicker ‘Hypermagic’. LINK:  http://onedeafear.com/bands.php?id=1 

2005: THE SIAMESE SLUTS – Have Drugs Will Travel (Baldwin/Miles/Steward) Taken from ‘The Best of The Siamese Sluts’ LP (unreleased).   Produced by Andy Taylor. Active: 2004-2005.  Formed immediately after the dissolution of The Exiles by singer/guitarist Ben Miles, The Siamese Sluts also featured Miss Black America/My Hi-Fi Sister drummer Neil Baldwin on bass, and Mark Steward on drums.  Cruelly, their debut album was never released: Miles developed acute tinnitus overnight, and was forced to quit music altogether.  Baldwin would go on to join The Khe Sanh Approach, The Vitamins and Ten City Nation; Steward would later drum for The Birch. LINK: None. 

2006: DIASTOLE – Leave Yourself Here (Langley) Taken from ‘Escalade’ EP, released on Cause Records. Active: 1999-2006.  Originally called Blue Gandhi, the band received airplay from a clearly enthused John Peel after singer/guitarist Ellie Langley handed him a demo at a gig. Sadly, the band never capitalised on the attention and gradually faded from view.  Eventually changing their name to Diastole, their sole “proper” EP, ‘Escalade’, was released shortly before the band split up.  Langley went on to perform solo as Eleanor Lou, and fronted Horse Party between 2012-2017. LINK: peel.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Gandhi 

2006: THE KHE SANH APPROACH – Crocodile Teargas (Abysmal/Baldwin/Dupuy/Phillips/Watson) Taken from ‘The Extraordinary Rendition of The Khe Sanh Approach’ EP, released on Hanoi Recordings. Produced by Andy Taylor. Active: 2004-2007.  Almost certainly the finest “war disco” quintet ever to emerge from West Suffolk, The Khe Sanh Approach (named after a technique for landing aircraft under fire) featured, in singer/keyboard player Matt Abysmal, one of the finest and most under-celebrated lyricists of all time. Counting former Exiles bassist Matt Dupuy in their ranks as chief instigator, they also rocked like bastards, clocking up an impressive mileage on DIY UK tours. Sadly, the World didn’t know what to make of them and, following the self-release of their final (and best) EP ‘The Extraordinary Rendition of…’, the band abruptly split.   Abysmal went on to join electro/psych outfits The Resistance and Bricolotheque; lead guitarist Richard Phillips and drummer Neil Baldwin (also of Miss Black America/My Hi-Fi Sister/The Siamese Sluts) went on to form The Vitamins; and noisy guitarist Tom Watson went on to found Deep Sht and Real Lies. LINK: www.repeatfanzine.bandcamp.com/album/burn-cambridge-burn 

2007: THEE VICARS – Budget Rock (Whittaker) Taken from ‘Let Us Play’ EP, released on Dire Records.   Produced by Jason Baldock. Active: 2007-2012.  Literally exploding onto the Bury scene (via the BurySOUND band competition) while still at school, Thee Vicars stood out as the only sharp-suited, 60s garage-obsessed teenage punk gang in a scene then largely preoccupied with emo and metal.  Hard-touring to the last, they quickly signed with London beat aficionados Dirty Water Records; second album ‘Psychotic Beat’ received universal acclaim, and the band developed a sizeable following in Europe and the USA, but at the cost of line-up stability (singer, bassist and chief songwriter Mike Whittaker was the only constant member).  Tragically, the band ended with the sudden passing of lead guitarist Chris Langeland in 2012.  Whittaker went on to front The Baron Four; original lead guitarist Reuben Kemp went on to play with The Wilsons, Rats As Big As Dogs and Kate Jackson & The Wrong Moves, and formed the short-lived Black Sands with original Vicars drummer Jasper Kemp (his brother) and rhythm guitarist Marcus Volkert. LINK: www.reverbnation.com/theevicarsgarage 

2008: TEN CITY NATION – Exhibition Time Again (Baldwin/Quigley/Smith) Taken from ‘Ten City Nation’ LP, released on Sturm Und Drang Recordings. Produced by Sam Marsh. Active: 2007-2012.  Formed by reconciled Miss Black America founders Seymour Quigley (guitar/vocals), Mike Smith (bass/guitar/vocals) and Neil Baldwin (yes, him again – drums, vocals), Ten City Nation – having learned the hard way the pitfalls of living la vida loca – toured sparingly and wrote incessantly, clocking up three albums and two EPs between 2008-2010.  A period of inactivity followed; after the band’s song ‘TDK 90’ was used on the soundtrack of a Suicide Girls movie, a collaboration with (Nashville-based Raconteur) Brendan Benson was talked up but never came to pass, and TCN silently disbanded in 2012. Smith went on to form The Birch with former Siamese Sluts drummer Mark Steward; Baldwin formed The Vitamins with fellow ex-Khe Sanh Approacher Richard Phillips; while Quigley formed Horse Party with Diastole’s Ellie Langley and Glory Glory’s Shannon Hope, and later joined Kate Jackson & The Wrong Moves. LINK: www.facebook.com/tencitynation 

2009: TELL IT TO THE MARINES – Fireworks (Bull/Fretwell/Hyland/Naylor/Phillips) Taken from ‘Bridges’ EP, released on All Aboard Records.   Produced by Lewis Childs. Active: 2006-2012.  Equally influenced by evergreen 80s indie stalwarts The Wedding Present as they were by post-hardcore heroes Million Dead, Tell It To The Marines stood out as a beacon of hope in an age when depressingly careerist identikit Kerrang! cover star wannabes reigned supreme.   Big of tune and tidy of hair, their steely determination to succeed via good old-fashioned hard work saw ‘Marines, like Miss Black America and The Dawn Parade before them, cultivate an enthusiastic grassroots following by touring themselves into the ground.  On the receiving end of unhealthy major label interest, the band (by their own admission) “let it go to our heads and went mental”; following fractious tours with You Me At Six and Lower Than Atlantis, the band were told at a meeting with Warner Music that they needed to be “the next Adele”, and split the following week.  Singing guitarists Tim Hyland and Dan Fretwell, along with drummer Jason Naylor, subsequently formed Real Life Charm;  drummer Lewis Bull played bass with Chapters; and guitarist John Phillips is now a conflict archaeologist. LINK: www.facebook.com/Marinesband 

2010: GLORY GLORY – Love For Love (Hope/Yasimi) Taken from ‘Love Music Hate Racism EP’, released on R*E*P*E*A*T Records. Produced by Jason Baldock & Glory Glory. Active: 2008-2010.  Formed by Bury-based singer/drummer Shannon Hope and Norwich singer/guitarist Panos Yasimi after meeting on an Access To Music course, Glory Glory were the scrappy, truculent underdogs of a Norwich-centred scene (dubbed “Twitch Rock” by The Fly magazine) that also featured Fever Fever, Violet Violet and The Brownies.  In their short lifespan the band clocked up a decent collection of support slots in their respective hometowns, but split abruptly in 2010.  Hope went on to drum with Rats As Big As Dogs, Horse Party and Kate Jackson & The Wrong Moves, and released an eponymous solo EP in 2013.   LINK: www.repeatfanzine.bandcamp.com/album/the-love-music-hate-racism-ep 

2013: RATS AS BIG AS DOGS – Print (Hope/Kemp/Mills/Swift) Taken from ‘Stupid Suits You’ EP, released on Sturm Und Drang Recordings. Produced by George Perks & Seymour Quigley. Active: 2011-2015.  Rats As Big As Dogs were effectively a supergroup, featuring singer/guitarist Jay Mills (of Chevette and renowned hardcore outfit Volunteers), singer/guitarist Reuben Kemp (Thee Vicars, The Wilsons), bassist Olly Swift (The Vitamins) and singer/drummer Shannon Hope (Glory Glory, Horse Party), but carved out their own singular niche within the Bury music scene: Fugazi levels of intensity, fierce anti-bullshit rhetoric and uncategorisable musical outbursts that left indie kids and hardcore meatheads alike scratching their heads at every left-turn. Releasing only three EPs over the course of their four years together, RABAD nevertheless played an impressive number of shows before mundane life circumstances slowed their progress to a stop in 2015; Kemp and Hope continued touring together with Kate Jackson & The Wrong Moves, while Mills embarked on an industrial noise project, Italian Books, in 2016. LINK: www.ratsasbigasdogs.bandcamp.com  

2015: KING BLOOD – Santa Monica Dream (Powell) Taken from ‘I’ve Got My Kicks So I Don’t Feel’ EP, self-released download.   Produced by George Perks. Active: 2012-2015. Making a fittingly odd entrance, King Blood’s debut live appearance was at an acoustic singer-songwriter competition; still at school and under-age, they silently loaded drums and amps into a tiny pub corner, played two blistering tropical-dub-punk songs like their lives depended on it, then silently loaded out again. Word spread fast, and during their short tenure, King Blood became a hugely popular part of Bury’s burgeoning, reborn DIY scene (based around The Hunter Club) and released a couple of excellent EPs before heading off to university and calling it a day.  Singer/guitarist Aaron Powell currently writes for The Line Of Best Fit. LINK: www.facebook.com/WeAreKingBlood 

Image credit: 'This Was The Sound Of Sugar Town' sleeve art by Kate Jackson.

#playlist #playlists #bandcamp #featured bandcamp #this was the sound of sugar town #seymour quigley