Vinyl Vednesday 1/5/2011

[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. This week’s installment celebrates the best of 2010. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com with your own big finds!]

Records: Bars of Gold’s Of Gold (2010) on clear orange, Crime in Stereo’s I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone (2010) on clear, and Smoke or Fire’s Prehistoric Knife Fight seven-inch (2010) on black.

Place of Purchase: Actually, only two of these were purchased – CiS and SoF came from Interpunk.com. Bars of Gold came from the band’s publicist.

Thoughts: Bear Trap PR has always been good to me. Case in point: I got a limited pressing of Bars of Gold’s semi-self-titled debut. Made up of former members of Bear vs. Shark, the group essentially updates that beloved group’s sound and adds plenty of Modest Mouse-y twists. This record was a joy to review, and a real scoop too. I get high off of breaking great new bands, and debuting Bars of Gold to the Org crowd was awesome.

I’m still a little shocked by the break-up of Crime in Stereo. They wrote some of the best post-hardcore tunes. While their shows got a little hit or miss near the end, they were a band I felt compelled to watch as often as possible, thanks to a passionate songwriting that walked between melody and dissonance. They get compared to Brand New a lot, but honest, CiS had the better discography. I’m still holding out hope – the guys did break up almost as many times as, say, Sunny Day Real Estate. But for now, I have to settle for spinning I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone and screaming along to “Type One” and “I Am Everything I Am Not.” Oh, and, uh, Drugwolf forever.

Smoke or Fire sort of, kind of, maybe broke up somewhere between 2007 and 2010. But they announced their return with an onslaught of new material. Joe McMahon dropped two releases March 16, 2010 – an acoustic split with The Lawrence Arms’ Brendan Kelly and this fine seven-inch. It’s a lot rawer than what eventual full-length The Speakeasy turned out to be, which I respect and enjoy. Mostly I’m just glad to have the boys back.

Smoke or Fire - 'The Speakeasy'

2010 has so far seen a dramatic increase in studio activity from Virginia punk band Smoke or Fire. After a seven-inch and an acoustic solo split from frontman Joe McMahon with The Lawrence Arms’ Brendan Kelly, Smoke or Fire finally gets down to releasing a proper full-length with The Speakeasy.

At this point, Smoke or Fire has developed a style that needs little deviation. Rapid-fire drum beats feed angry vocals and socially conscious lyrics. McMahon’s songs are fast and straightforward. Speakeasy, in that sense, feels very much like a continuation of This Sinking Ship. The production hits a sweet spot, though. As great as the band’s debut, Above the City, sounds, it sounds like ass. This Sinking Ship went too far in the other direction; it’s an overproduced record that still wins based on its musical content. Speakeasy eases up on the gloss without sacrificing clarity. It’s the record that most accurately depicts Smoke or Fire’s live show.

McMahon sometimes falters as a lyricist – too earnest, too many clichés – but he tackles issues far bigger than the typical punk “fuck authority” view point would allow. At the same time, he doesn’t get as preachy as, say, Propagandhi. Either he posits questions for the listener to consider, like when he argues against the 24-hour news cycle on opener “Integrity,” or he tries to find a dash of humor, like when he combats the bitter taste of the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on “Honey I Was Right About the War.” Sometimes he even pulls out a hook, like on “Sleepwalking” or the title track.

The Speakeasy is a grower. It shouldn’t be, considering it’s stock punk rock, but it gradually builds. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t experiment too much. Maybe it takes time to adjust to the fact that, for all his punk rock fervor, McMahon’s songs translate to Johnny Cash-style acoustic country songs. Point is, given time, the songs will bury themselves in listeners’ brains. Hopefully, that’ll tide them over until the next Smoke or Fire release, whenever that may be.

Smoke or Fire - 'Prehistoric Knife Fight'

Three years after dropping the excellent This Sinking Ship, Smoke or Fire is finally serving up new tunes for the masses. This week alone sees two new releases: Wasted Potential, an acoustic split between frontman Joe McMahon and the Lawrence Arms’ Brendan Kelly, and Prehistoric Knife Fight, a two-song seven-inch and hopefully a preview of what to expect when the band’s third full-length finally drops.

There is one thing wrong with Knife Fight: It’s not nearly long enough to satiate any fan’s appetite. Which is probably the point; while the band has toured pretty consistently since This Sinking Ship dropped, three years is a long-ass time in punk rock to wait for a follow-up. Knife Fight should remind plenty of listeners that SoF dishes out high quality punk rock that meets somewhere between Lawrence Arms’ drunk-punk anthems and Avail’s Southern political awareness.

It almost doesn’t matter which side of the record one chooses to put on first. Both tunes are good. As the opener, “Speak Easy” explodes right away with twin guitars and pounding drums. The production is slightly less glossy than on Ship – not that the band’s sophomore album was overproduced or anything – while still maintaining a clarity lacking from full-length debut Above the City.

“Modesty” could be called the more introspective of the two songs, but only because it slowly builds into a rocker. Lyrically, it’s in keeping with a lot of Smoke or Fire’s songs about getting stuck in a rut – “So the days turn into years / Quick fix has become a career” goes one memorable bit. Speaking of quick fixes, Prehistoric Knife Fight is only four-and-a-half minutes long, but I’m gonna have to find a way to make it last until LP #3 comes out. Welcome back, guys.

Brendan Kelly and Joe McMahon - 'Wasted Potential'

You guys. YOU GUYS. There’s this new CD out called Wasted Potential being joint-released on Red Scare and Anchorless Records. It is an acoustic split CD between Brendan Kelly and Joe McMahon. Kelly is a guy from a band that is called the Lawrence Arms. They are a punk band from Chicago that writes songs about drunks. McMahon is in Smoke or Fire, a punk group that is secretly from Massachusetts but pretends to be from Virginia. They also write songs about drunks, but sometimes they also write songs about important issues like equal rights. Both of these bands are very good and I like them very much.

And, you guys, they have just delivered on to mine very ears an acoustic collection of sexcellent proportions. See, they took songs from their bands and played them all stripped down, with a cover concluding their respective sets. It’s like MTV Unplugged except it ups those emotionally fragile creatures, the punx. Kelly goes first and, by his own admission in the liner notes, his takes are rough. “Blood Meridian,” a revised version of “The Redness in the West” from last year’s succulent, juicy Buttsweat and Tears, sounds almost completely different. Perhaps because there’s no full band to contrast with the guitar/vox opening verse this time out, Kelly’s vocals sound a lot more ragged this time. It’s less dynamic, but it’s still TLA.

But while it’s cool to hear “Like a Record Player” or “Quincentuple Your Money,” the song that will probably get most folks stoked is Kelly’s cover of Jawbreaker’s “Kiss the Bottle.” I didn’t realize it was in the track listing until the album showed up in my mailbox. If you listen, late at night when the world we think we know is quiet, somewhere, blowing over hills and through trees and caressing the hair of the sleeping, you can hear the awesomegasm I had upon seeing this song listed. You might also hear me scream “Aw nah!” soon after, since Kelly questions the recording quality of the original in his notes. Sure, it’s the most overrated JB tune, but there are some things you just don’t say, man. You keep that between you and your blog.

That said, Kelly’s cover is good. In the interest of preserving Blake Schwarzenbach’s lyrics, he delivers a modest, melancholy arrangement that highlights the story’s hopelessness. Someone should use it in a montage sometime.

McMahon, by contrast, dazzles more with his originals than his cover. Part of this is because his take on Johnny Cash’s “Let the Train Whistle Blow” originally appeared on the Johnny Cash tribute album All Aboard, which I already own. It’s a solid rendition, but I could’ve used something different. His reinterpretations of SoF tunes is stellar, though. “Beauty Fades,” from the Worker’s Union EP which came out back when Smoke or Fire was still called Jericho RVA, starts off simple with just guitar/vox, but then light percussion and organ creeps into the margins near the end, delivering a stellar finish. “Filter” gets one-and-a-half performances, first on Kelly’s “Blood Meridian,” and again by McMahon. “What Separates Us All” was always a rousing up-with-the-people anthem, and this acoustic folky setting hammers that point home. “Irish Handcuffs” slows down the tempo to make the song’s tale of alcoholism sadder. It’s not a perfect take – McMahon fumbles the words at one point – but it still delivers, making the split a great listen from one side to the other.

Smoke or Fire/Fake Problems live at Siren Records

[Here's some old shite - two concert reviews for City Paper.]

Love means never having to say you’re sorry for dragging your significant other to a punk rock show on Valentine’s Day.

Smoke or Fire and Fake Problems, with support from The Menzingers, The Steinways and Stay Sharp, played Siren Records in Doylestown, Pa. Thu., Feb. 14 for a crowd of dudes and dudettes in love and/or lust. Despite some hiccups here and there, the show was a zesty concoction of varying degrees of punk.

Stay Sharp opened the show with a quick set of Kid Dynamite-influenced punk/hardcore, serving up quick jams without too much preachiness. The Menzingers followed with a strong set of punk jams somewhere between Against Me! and Anti-Flag, with slight reggae and post-punk touches sprinkled on every so often. These guys love gang vocals, with co-vocalists (and guitarists) Tom May and Greg Barnett shouting just about every line together. Menzingers know how to write anthems too, just like their idols The Clash, whom they covered that night with a rendition of “Straight to Hell.” Here is a band to watch in 2008.

A band to avoid in 2008 is pop punk act The Steinways. While the act’s watered down Ramones/Queers style wasn’t necessarily bad — it was even cute and catchy at times – it became tiresome after the group refused to leave the stage several songs after its set was supposed to end. Other people have to play, assholes, and the audience didn’t pay just to see you.

In a way, though, it doesn’t matter how long The Steinways overplayed, thanks to Fake Problems. Easily the most energetic and entertaining band of the night, Fake Problems tore through tunes like “Adam’s Song,” “Crest on the Chest” and set opener “Maestro of This Rebellion” with abandon, instruments flying everywhere and smiles broad and ready. But for all the chaos on stage, the tunes were nearly note perfect, a solid balance between showmanship and virtuosity. While a blown amp awkwardly ended the band’s set early by a song, Fake Problems’ CCR-sped-up-a-few-RPMs style was a life-affirming moment.

Not that headliners Smoke or Fire were a poor finale. The band’s straightforward punk rock was all grit and throaty yells. Although the group couldn’t physically match Fake Problems’s energy, it certainly got by on the strength of frontman Joe McMahon’s songwriting. Smoke or Fire’s all too-brief set (thanks Steinways!) focused mostly on last year’s This Sinking Ship, but the band slipped in some older material in the form of “Point Break” and set ender “California’s Burning.” Also worth noting was touring bassist Gwomper, of Avail fame, who brought some lightheartedness to the set.

The crowd was a good one, never getting so violent as to spoil anyone’s fun, up until “California’s Burning,” when Siren reverberated with fans’ voices. The connection between McMahon and the crowd was evident on just about every chorus, and it’s a testament to his band’s skills that they bond on such a level. Overall, it was a good Valentine’s Day for the anti-corporate, three-chord-loving set.