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Stiff Meds are for people who like both genres of music: 'Fast Music' AND 'Hard Music'.

They are a Hardcore band with Powerviolence influences, rather than the other way round. It's missing the dirge-y, slow, knuckledragging slow parts of Powerviolence. I mean 'Law of Saw' has tempo changes, but no obvious 'slow / mosh part' (maybe a slam-skank part though, mind you) . When watching these guys blow Spy out the water in London last week, the term 'Jock Powerviolence' sprang to mind.

The vocals too keep it in a tougher, hardcore lane. Which I know I prefer.

This is fast hardcore music for people who also like Rucktion records, and being from London.

🪚

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There's a few types of music videos that'll make it on here: 1) a song or band that I like that also happens to have a music video; 2) a band / artist I'm not otherwise that into, but who has a music video that's recently got my cogs turning' or 3) it's a video that to my mind is peak, underground music video canon - and not in a side-eye, slyly ironic, meme-y kinda way - something I genuinely think is a lowkey masterpiece, worthy of more thought, praise, and general love and attention, but for whatever reason has been overlooked. Read these Boks by Ninebar, not only meets the definition for the third type, but also might be one of my favourite music videos of all time.

My love for this video is probably because it brings together two of the most influential music video aesthetics and cultures, to my tastes at least. On the one hand you have the 90s big budget New York hardcore and hip-hop videos like Mobb Deep - Shook One's Pt ii, and on the other the early 2000's DIY Grime DVD and Channel U music videos, like Crazy Titch - I Can C U. Ninebar and Rucktion Records bands in general marry perfectly that New York ruggedness and bounce with a London, swagger, directness and grittiness, both in music and visuals.

But beyond the wider cultural influces, I tried to think a bit more in-depth about what it is that makes it such a captivating piece of Art (yes, I said it, Art!), and why I can happily watch it on repeat. Of course, the infectious aggro-bounce of the tune and the mock-threatening lyrics are what make it an amazing song but there's something about the visuals themselves that really elevate it beyond your standard 'Hardcore Worldwide' video fare.

For a start, the Read These Boks video works because of how well it was filmed. By this I don't mean in terms of 'high quality' equipment or big budgets, but I mean the dynamic way it was filmed. I love how much the energy of the song is mirrored in how alive the filming is. There's so much movement in the camera which helps to reflects the tempo and swing of song but maintains enough steadiness so as to not feel chaotic or random. Seriously, I'd love to know how the camera person operated, whether the shots were planned out they were just sorting moving along with the vibe of the song / on set performance. It feels like cameraman is basically bouncing, moshing and moving along with the beat of the song so smoothly, you feel like you're being forced into moshing along just by watching!

There's also some cleverly deployed conspicuous use of zooms, focuses and even the odd bit of slow motion, that again add a bit of texture and planned chaos to the video. I would imagine you could probably recreate some of this feeling with more static cameras theses days by applying digital effects in post-production. However, I doubt the editing software they were working with in mid 2000s was that advanced, so they could have only created this been achieved through some pretty skilled and creative camera work. This style overall helps to slightly disorientate and wobble you in a way that keeps you on your toes. Like being on the edge of a particularly scary moshpit.

But it's not just how it's shot but what we see in the shots themselves. Waaaay back in the early 00's when I was studying for my A-Level in Media Studies I learnt about the term 'Mise-en-scène', which if I remember correctly, means all the stuff that goes into composing or setting a scene i.e. location, lighting, costumes, props, performers positioning, etc. And whilst I've generally tended to only use this term when I wanted to take the piss out of cinephiles, on this occasion I do think it's the cumulative affect of each part of this video that makes it greater than the sum of all its parts. The fact that it's all shot outside but somewhere that looks like subterraneous London tells you all you need to know about the underground nature of the London hardcore scene, and that it's not for everyone.

To use another technical term it's the 'blocking', as in the position and movement in each shot of the performers, in the wide, group shots in particular that are the iconic in my mind. It's in these epic crew shots where I think you can most clearly see the influence of videos like Punishment and The Southside Allstars in equal measure.

The crew shots feel central to video, and it makes sense given the song is about having to chew on a pair of fresh Workout Plus should you speak out of turn against any of the LBU or Rucktion family.

But there's an energy and a joy in some of even the more simple shots, like Mattybar playing his guitar for instance. It's the little extra grimaces and accentuations in his playing that perhaps you only do if you're filming with mates and it enhances that rhythmic bounce in the song itself. Whilst the shot itself isn't necessarily breaking the boundaries of cinematography, it's the focused energy of these shots in tandem with the more swirling energy of the group shots that all together that builds this larger, mosaic of aggro London mosh-music. Which is frankly, kinda wonderful and beautiful.

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I'm reading a book right now by a guy called David Marx about the universal human desire for status, and how it organises and informs the greater part of our identities - way beyond the obvious, conscious decisions we make about the clothes we wear, or the music we listen to. His assertion is that this drive for status, or the anxiety about losing or maintaining it, underpins wider class structures and in this way is key to understanding so much of human behaviours and motivations.

Marx explains that sociological phenomena of counter-cultures, subcultures or alternative cultures, generally come about as a way of smaller groups, often people shut out or unable to gain high or normal 'global status' (i.e. wealth, social capital), creating their own forms of cultural capital, often in direct opposition to the the global status values, and thus achieving a degree of 'local status' within their own communities and cultures. When he uses Punk as an example, his mentions of Jonny Rotten and the like aren't the most flattering, but it's hard to disagree with his overall thesis. More often than not choosing to be into something like Punk is less about truly being an individual, and more about finding a scene or community where what you say, think and do has value or esteem. Sometimes that means breaking rules and conventions, but more often than not, it means ascribing to more status markers than those you're able to bend or break in order to gain status and esteem. That's not to say the ideology of Punk as an act of questioning or rejection of certain norms, values, aesthetics, norms, isn't valid or important, and that this line of questioning should just as easily be focused on the hypocrisies of external wider cultures, as much as the internal culture of Punk. However, I do think it tells us something more about the wider sociology of Punk and Alternative music scenes or subcultures; you're membership of this smaller tribe makes you more of an 'individual' in relation to the 'global social order' but you're 'just another' Punk / Grunger / Metalhead / Goth / Skater within the context of your own community culture.

That's a very long, not to mention largely unnecessary and unrelated, preamble to this music video by Title Fight. This is a band I've been hesitant to post about, despite the fact they probably are one of my favourite bands of all time. I've never said that to anyone, and honestly, I feel kind of embarrassed even writing that down. And being the solipsistic type of fella I am, I thought I'd indulge in a bit of self-reflection as to why I should feel shame or any strong feelings when it comes to posting about a band from 10 years on a Tumblr with 2 followers, so here we are...🤷‍♂️

There is no status to be gained by admitting you like Title Fight, if anything it's probably a status killer. On a global, normie level their brand of Pop-ish, post-hardcore-ish, emo-ish, Punk is simply angsty guitar music for teens ('grow up'!) and on a local level, i.e. within Punk / Hardcore circles, they're popularity and notoriety make them mall punk / emo adjacent ('grow up'!), or at the very least, not a deep cut band for punk-hardcore heads, anyhow.

I guess what I'm describing are the mechanics behind the idea of 'guilty pleasures', i.e. cultural objects that by their association don't earn you any social or cultural clout, and in fact may even damage your credibility or status. What's useful about guilty pleasures is that they tell you when you really, authentically like something, and needless to say, we shouldn't really care about credibility when it comes to things that bring joy into your life. And this song, album and video brings a lot of joy into mine still. I've probably aged more into Hyperview than Shed (see I can be age appropriate at times!) but these song still does the business. I didn't actually realise how many of their music videos I'd missed, but this definitely captures the melancholy autumnal adolescent vibes of the first album well. I'm glad it's shot on a sort of 16mm / VHS film stock, making it feel more timeless and less 2010s. That said, looking at what the band are wearing reminds me of how much Polo Ralph Lauren there was in punk and, particularly, hardcore back then. Good times.

Anyhow, I don't earn cool points by liking this band or music video, but I guess neither do I earn them by being into Punk and Hardcore at my big age. At this point, globally, locally, or however you cut it, there's very little status to be gained by a guy in his late thirties listening to music that's ostensibly by and for angry adolescents. In fact as a I get older a lot of this latent status anxiety seems to ebb away, for the most part anyhow, which hopefully means less concern about clout, or fear of guilt and shame around choices and association. More joy, less guilt. Punk is pleasure.

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Prompted by a move to a new flat and a lull in work, I'm doing the once in a decade re-organisation of my record collection. I decided to shift from a genre based categorisation to a more straight forward alphabetisation (well, sort of, dance and hip-hop singles remain hived off from the main collection of LPs mostly due to yet unresolved display issues).

Overall, it's been a fun way to look more holistically at all my records and see some artists and genres categorised side-by-side where they otherwise wouldn't be. Discharge next to Dizzee Rascal, Frame of Mind next to Francis Bebey, Lights Out next to Lil Peep, and Miles Davis next to Milo Dinosaur, are some of my favourite neighbouring records. Of course, I'm aware that as someone who still buys any kind physical music in 2023 this is a pretty lame exercise in ego, but naturally the stranger the genre-clash the more accomplished and cultivated I feel my tastes are as a fan of music. Should I be feeling down on myself one day, at least I can comfort myself by noticing Franz Lizst next to Fucked Up, followed by a warm internal glow as I think to myself 'oooh, look at how expansive my taste is - I'm great!' lol.

What perhaps undermines this idea of a expansive cultural tastes is the fact that by far and away I have more 'T' artists than other letter; more than double that of the S's or the 'C's in my collection. And the reason for this is because most of these T's are 'The' bands. Whilst I'm not saying all 'The' bands are all Pop-rock / Punk / Indie / Emo (I also have one record by The Delfonics, I'll have you know. I don't have any of the OG The bands i.e Beatles or Stones either) - most, if not all of mine do, in fact, fall under that broad genre umbrella. Guess I'm not such a genre-defining tastemaker after all :'(

Parking what significance my record collection does or doesn't have on my poorly constituted ego, I thought I'd share a song by a very archetypal 'The' sounding band, Power Pop tending to be a very 'The' heavy sub-genre after all.

What The #1's lacked in good SEO band strategy they more than made up with some fantastic guitar pop music. I have a hard time remembering what I did last month, so casting my mind back to 2014 feels like a near impossible task, but coming back across this record I was reminded that I almost certainly listened to this song more than any other that year. It's a song that gives you a sugar rush, a little burst of sweetness, and I'm certain I used it as a salve for many a hungover commute out to Hammersmith for my desk job that year.

The video, like the song, is sweet, simple and charming. All things I perhaps associate more with C86 style twee bands, than perhaps more US styled Power Pop bands. It certainly feels like more of twee move to film a single performance video set in a small Irish Newsagents. I could see Belle and Sebastien doing it, but I doubt the Exploding Hearts would. I also just love music and off license cultural crossovers - RIP Five Pound Munch.

Anyhow, crack open a can of Lilt, open your bag of Space Raiders and enjoy watching The #1's. And remember my taste in music is/isn't better than yours.

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I didn't expect to enjoy the last Fucked Up album 'One Day' as much as I did, and this song, 'Cicada', is probably my favourite from it. The song is probably the least Fucked Up sounding of any on the album, and certainly stands outs from the other songs, especially with Mike singing instead of Damien. What I like about it is that it has a unique, almost wistful, melancholy beauty to it. It's a feeling I wouldn't usually associate with Fucked Up's music to date, but one which I really appreciate. I get this palpable sense of joyful reminiscence from both the song and the video.

The video shows the band and friends going about their creative pursuits - whether music, painting, photography, dance - alongside candid and carefree shots of their daily lives and interactions. It shows how engrained into their daily lives the act of creativity is, but not in a showy, ego driven way. It shows a group of people comfortable in having their creative passion be part of their daily lives but maybe not the only thing, or even the centre of their lives and identities.

Watching the video and listening to the song I get that sort of rare feeling you might get when reflecting on the past with a smile instead of a grimace. As a man in and around the ages of the band members, and I am aware I'm projecting a lot here, but there's a certain anxiety around aging out of your youth in your early thirties which makes looking back a little painful, almost a bit forlorn. However with a bit more growth and acceptance as you age into your mid-late thirties, I've found that reflecting back on your younger years feels less loke mourning a loss, and more like looking at the first part of journey that (hopefully) brought you to a place of contentment and gratitude. And I'm certainly grateful Fucked Up are still putting out good music after listening to them for over 20 years, here's to 20 more!

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As a young person getting into punk I can best describe my early encounters with The Minutemen as confusing. I found the more groove orientated bass and almost disco-esque style guitar work to be more Funk than Punk. The only discernible punk-trait that I could identify in their music was brevity, but there was none of that obvious expression of aggression, anger or angst that teenage me was craving.

I knew theoretically at that point in musical journey that 'Punkness' was about frustrating and loosening the notions of genre, musicianship and creativity; that it was about reforming and either resetting the boundaries or doing away with them all together, and whilst this revolutionist tendency or ideology certainly resonated (and still does), it also rubbed up against a more conservative tendency; that being, the very teenage desire to identify your style, sound and social scene.

So whilst I knew that philosophically speaking punk was about dismantling fixed ideas around the very ideas of culture, style and music, at same time I was searching for a specific culture, style and music to identify with. And in early 2000's I felt more affinity and association with the types of young US bands that you could stage-dive and mosh to. It was a time when I can say I was definitely more interested in what New Era or Nike's a band wore on stage, as opposed to how far out of the box their music or ideas were. Back tot he present day and although my wardrobe still contains too many trainers and baseball caps appropriate for a man approaching his late 30s, I am relieved to say that when it comes to music, I don't think my tastes and judgements on bands aren't as shallow as they once were, and I think my newfound appreciation for the Minutemen is testament to this.

My re-connection with the band wasn't through the algo throwing up an album to listen to, but was stumbling onto and watching their documentary 'We Jam Econo'. As a band with very strong philosophical and political underpinnings the documentary not only provides context on who Mike Watt and D.Boon are / were as people, but it also helps you understand The Minutemen ideology, musically speaking yes, but also more philosophically. And it was their philosophy on the importance of the democracy musical creativity that most resonated with me. Mike Watt says something along the lines of that 'there should be a venue on every block and a place selling instruments on every other one', his point being that there is a universal value in the act of musical creation, not an economic or cultural value but simply the joy, fulfilment and liberaton of the of collective creative act. And it's this collective act that he thinks all people should have access to and one that needn't be predicated on class, talent or virtue.

Watching We Jam Econo, it's clear how serious The Minutemen were as a band, and how much care and thought they put into the song writing and performances. But what mattered for them, and the joy that came from being in a band who lived and toured 'Econo' was the creative act itself more so than the satisfaction of the artistic outputs or benefits. And so, after almost a lifetime of listening to punk music, I am finally moved to really understand the true liberating power of the ethos of punk - Do it (for) Yourself, and don't worry about how good something is because the joy is in the doing rather than the having done.

Enjoy this music video (FFO: Marx and Troma Films) but do yourself a favour and go watch We Jam Econo.

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It's fun for me to try and come at these posts with a bit of an angle. I like to have a bit of rationale or backstory as to why I picked this music video over something else. Unfortunately in this instnce it's tragically straight forward: NEG are simply one of my favourite bands out right now, and their latest album Outcry is easily my most listened to record of this year.

That said, I definitely suffering from 'first recorditis' when I first listened to Outcry. I didn't hate it but I do distinctly remember not immediately loving Tank on E and a couple of the other jams on the record. I thought that bringing in some brighter grooves and melody on this second album felt like the band losing that stark and raw heaviness that made their first record, 'Just Another Day', so insanely bleak and brutal. But, as I found myself going back to Outcry for repeated listens, even more than I did with their first record, I've come to realise that the widening out of their sound on the second record was no longer a detriment but a driver for me to listen more.

Whilst it took a while for the penny to drop, I get that for NEG, by bringing a greater diversity of sounds and ideas to build ON TOP of their foundational bleak, dark hardcore sound, they were able to make Outcry a bit more of a dynamic listening experience than Just Another Day. For sure both records are hard and dark as shit, and on both the lyrics and grooves are crushing. But I think having a slightly richer tapestry of groove and melody, such as the gang vocalled singalongs in Tank on E (which really reminds me of Knuckledust - Bluff, Lies and Alibi's) doesn't in fact take away from the band's overall heaviness, but it somehow adds to it.

I heard someone on a podcast say not too long ago that what makes a good breakdown (aka the slow, mosh part of metal, hardcore or punk song) so heavy and effective isn't the slow-ness of the rhythm of the guitar chug or drums during the part itself, but the contrasting tempo in the build-up beforehand. Essentially, it's the contrast in sound and rhythm which make for a more intense moment of relief and emotional pay-off for the listener. And whereas both NEG records are have that knuckle-dragginng, self-mutilating darkness and intensity to them, the purity of vision and focus of the first record, by virtue of how dialled-in it is as a music vision, also means it lacks some of the contrasting musical and sonic elements brought in on the second record. And it's these sonic counterpoints that, in an almost counter intuitive way, make the heavy parts even heavier!

It's like by letting in a bit of light, you suddenly realise how surrounding by darkness you are. Or, it's like the difference between that of complete hopelessness and that of having hope snatched away. When I think about Just Another Day, that record encapsulates that former feeling of complete hopelessness, whereas Outcry feels more like that the latter, the pain of hope slipping away. Both channel a sense of pretty intense anger and despair but come at it from different angles.

For all this talk of darkness, despair and hopelessness, I don't necessarily see that reflected in the visuals. Although you could say there's a certain bleakness to some of these Detroit locations such as the railway tracks and the cemetary, plus it looks like it was cold when they filmed, at the same time the editing and effects feel pretty tongue-in-cheek and it looks like everyone had fun filming their parts. Again, some nice contrast, but in this instance its what makes the band feel more real and genuine in what they're saying and doing. It seems like its making music, playing shows and even making music videos on cold Detroit afternoon's that stop their tanks from running completely empty maybe? What I do know is this band makes crazy good music and they know how to wear them some Carhartt!

So there you have it, Never Ending Game: for fans of workwear and despair.

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I read something recently that suggested the idea of 'selling out' doesn't exist in culture today. My first thought was, 'I'm not sure about that'. You can still see people having some of the same debates that connect with this idea; whether that's in people 'gatekeeping' genres, artists watering down or changing their sound, or bands getting getting backlash for working with big corporate sponsors. However, from my vantage point at least, 'selling out' certainly does seems to be a much lesser point consideration or judgement when it comes to conversations around music, art, commerce, identity, etc. and that certainly is to do with the new ways we consume and access music, art, as well as the re-formation of the music industry in the streaming era.

It got me thinking also about a book I about Jawbreaker read recently. The format of the book and the series its published as part of, is notionally a long-form close read / deep listen on a culturally important album by a band, but in actual fact it's basically a biography that takes 24 Hour Revenge Therapy as its central focus by which to tell the story of the band. So even though I would have been happy with someone waxing very lyrical about why they love each element of each song on the record, in hindsight a wider story about who the band where, and their journey along the way probably did make for a better read overall.

Perhaps the most interesting theme within the book is the idea of 'selling out' and how this coloured so much of the bands' legacy and story. Internally it seemed to it seemed central to the decisions and the arc of the 'career' of the band, Such as their initial refuting of the possibility of ever 'selling out' to a major label, and then eventually doing so. And externally, it seemed to colour so much of how they were viewed by their fans and the punk / underground or DIY music communities the band had its roots in, such as the band going from the admiration and adoration they got for being underground heroes of the Gilman Scene, and then the backlash that followed for supporting Nirvana and then signing to Geffen. Boxcar, like no other song in the Jawbreaker discography best encapsulates the way this discourse around 'selling out' is attached to the band.

It's hard not to hear "I was passing out when you were you were passing out your rules" and not regard it as one of the punkest lyrics of all time, but the rules aren't societies rules that say UK82 punks were railing against but the scene politics of the day, and who or what does and doesn't get to be ascribed or as 'punk'. Jawbreaker and Blake are pretty unequivocal: "I never was one". So, maybe fans shouldn't have been so surprised when they signed to a major after all.

That said, for all the bands protestations about not being punks - the visuals tell a different story. Gritty Super 8 B+W footage, gear being loaded into tour vans, and candid band footage shot in and out of the tour bus. I mean all it's missing is some gnarly live footage and a stage dive and all the punk music video boxes are ticked!

Also, it's interesting to note that the band only have two music videos, to my knowledge. The raw, B+W Boxcar video and the glossy Fireman video where they appear in yellow suits (!). Both great songs, but again it definitely highlight this idea of the band Pre and Post 'selling out'.

For me, as much as I love their music, I get a certain 'cakeism' when it came to their relationship with the punk / DIY scene. They got so much affirmation and a sense of community from it, whilst also feeling held back by it's conformity and the policing of behaviours and practice. They both needed the scene and wanted to transcend above it. A song like Boxcar is emblematic of this in that: it takes being part of or close to the punk scene to have the context to reject or even reference what Blake is rejecting. It's the things that are closest to home that often wind us up the most after all.

But this is all to say that these considerations of selling out which were so central to the story of Jawbreaker feel somewhat anachronistic in today's world. Maybe this is because the importance or regard people in bands and fans give to 'selling out' has lessened over the years due to the fact that the stakes are a lot lower. There's less money to go around. Jawbreaker may not have been in line for millions when they released Dear You but they might have gotten rich, but now only a select few (and not many guitar bands I would imagine) will ever get 'rich' by virtue of their music. It's hard to sell out if no one's buying I suppose.

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This isn't so much a post inspired by Venom Prison as a band, but it's more related to do with the fact that I think I finally *get* Death Metal.

I say this aware of the fact that VP are a band that sit in a more Hardcore friendly space when it comes to Death Metal, but aside from them, there's a few DM canon records and bands which have recently finally clicked for me. I've been enjoying some heavy rotation of albums by Suffocation, Deicide and Morbid Angel. In previous listens, and aside from a few stand outs like Entombed, a lot of this stuff washed over me; whereas now, I think, I finally get how to listen to and enjoy these records. Which, weirdly for me, seems to be when I'm trying to get my head down and concentrate on work, go figure.

I think I've always been a vocals guy more so than a guitar guy which is most often why I prefer Hardcore and Punk to Metal, for the most part. However, in learning to tune in and listening more attentively and closely to the guitar sounds, sonics and riffs, (thanks in no small part to listening to podcasts like HardLore), this has given me a new way to enjoy and experience stuff like Death Metal.

When you finally start vibing with something that you didn't previously fuck with, that's like one of the best feelings with me when it comes to Art and Music. It's that amazing feeling of possibilities opening up in front of your eyes, and your own personal universe of taste expanding and unfolding. It's that thrilling feeling attached to the surfacing of thought that 'there's still loads of things to discover!' And not just out there, in the world or in culture, but within yourself, within the connections in your own mind. To me cultivating or tapping into this feeling or mindset is one of the best 'anti-depression devices' because it's the perfect example of NOT growing tired with life, of discovering new ways to enjoy, look at and appreciate being in the world.

Anyhow, before I get too lost in fluffy mindset chat let me not forget about Venom Prison and this video in particular. I could of picked two or three other excellent VP videos but I went for 'Uterine Industrialisation' because it connects with another genre that I've found a new appreciation for in recent years: Horror films.

One of the ways I've begun to better appreciate Horror has been to more clearly understand and see them as allegories or reflections of the more everyday 'horrors' of life and society. I'm probably not alone in saying that watching and thoroughly enjoying Jordan Peele's 'Get Out' had a massive part to play in this mind shift.

Without having looked at the lyrics Venom Prison, and I imagine Larissa in particular, are capturing and portraying some of said horror in relation to the way women's bodies are seen as / exploited as 'birthing machines'. In this way the visuals and the music feel more substantiative and meaningful than the typical 'scary music = scary movies' type equation.

Also, a rather naff connection / observation, and perhaps linked to the fact that Venom Prison are also a Welsh band, is that the performance shots in the Church really call to mind the Funeral For A Friend - 10.45 Amsterdam Convo's video - horrific by virtue of reminding me of some very bad fashion choices from that era!

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The idea of nostalgia comes up a lot writing this thing. It makes sense, given that more often than not I'm chasing some sort of aural and visual stimuli that'll join the dots with something I enjoyed as young man, and in doing so hopefully give me that same sorta buzz - or at least the shadow of it. It's funny how this idea of nostalgia can work on different levels though. There's that almost time travel-esque element that I get as a listener and viewer of Razor's Apple; with its sweepy camera work and editing, terrestrial TV picture resolution and over exposed colours, and of course the high production value late 90s alt sounding guitars - all of which trigger dormant memories and feelings from 20+ years ago. However for Fleshwater, whose members were likely born in the late 90s / early 00s and so for whom, this nostalgia is more second hand. They're setting about to recreate their version of that period after the fact, and putting their spin on it, and creating a nostalgia for their idea rather than experience of that period of time. Neither one is wrong and both are imperfect in the sense that they ought to somehow reflect a perfect cultural mirror or simulacra of that period in time. However, whilst both positions are naturally subjective, mine are coloured by my experiences of the time, and theirs by their understanding of it from a present day context. In this way the level of nostalgia I feel listening to Fleshwater feels bittersweet, a reminder of both the good and the bad of that time, on a personal and cultural level. For all the carefree joy and the rush of 'firsts' that you get from youthful nostalgia, I'm similarly reminded of how much smaller and less diverse / culturally rich everything seemed back then. I refuse to wear rose tinted glasses about days gone by! However, there's a more straight forward 'reverence' implied through the band's act of creative homage to the music and visuals of that period. This means that Fleshwater can only reflect and draw out all the positive elements they've understood or mined from that era, necessarily overlooking all of the cultural flaws from that period. But you know what, I'm ok with imperfect nostalgia, so long as we draw the line at cultural revisionism. I like to be reminded of the early 00s, but you couldn't pay me to go back there.

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W_V is a one man indie-electronica-hip-hop project by a dude who goes by 'Fred Worst'. Some say he's from Down Under, I say he's from Upon High.

I've now idea where the title of this track, 'Sniper Wolf' comes from but aside from that I can relate heavily to the use of Soulseek and the Suicidal Tendencies references. (I'll beg to differ when it comes to Bad Religion though - that shit slaps).

Some lovely MDMA'y moments in this one, which I assume is what Fred's referencing when it comes to 'hearts exploding in chests at fests' - at least, I hope so.

I'm also, personally, a big fan of doing your thinking in public (a la this Tumblr) so I can appreciate the thought behind the meta-DIY nature of the video. I think there's also a cheeky connection here with the more recently released lyric video for the same song, which I think uses the green screen our hero searches for in this video. Look at me being heavily sucked into the W_V multiverse already!

W_V music sounds strangely optimistic and hopeful which is maybe because, emotionally, he's still stuck in 2002, and the only goth in a small regional victorian town who's smart enough to listen to Glassjaw.

Good luck to Fred on getting Worst Vibes on some fests this year. I'd love to see them open for Frenzal Rhomb if they can.

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- Had to go back and check I hadn’t already post some ‘Chubby’ on this thing already and I’m surprised to see I hadn’t. I love both Chubby albums, and was paying pretty close attention when they were dropping visuals and generally building a lot of buzz around their tours and shows last year. 

- I caught them opening for Turnstile, my first live gig post-covid lockdowns last spring / early summer. I’ve gotta say they probably weren’t at their best. Charlie looked a little lost on a stage the size of the Kentish Town Forum. The fact he necked a good half a bottle of JD during their 20 minute set probably indicates a degree of nervousness about being up there, and fair fucking play, I’d probably do much the same. That said, it was a great show. Turnstile killed and the kids went off. I certainly left happy. I similarly left happy after seeing Big Cheese play with Fucked Up a couple weeks ago in Kings Cross. The connection here being that two members of CATG play in BC also, and Meg played with Fucked Up on the recent tour too. Once again proving that irrespective of however many great punk bands and records come out and how big a scene might seen from the outside, it always the same small handful of very creatively motivated people doing 80-90% of the work!

- I don’t think Chubby and The Gang tend to play I Hate The Radio in their live sets. Although it might technically be regarded as ‘the slow song’ on their second album, ‘The Mutt’s Nuts’, it would be wrong to dismiss it as somehow less good than their usual oi-phetamine anthems. What I particularly love about this song is the chorus, and particularly the wicked vocal melodies between Charlie and Meg. It gives me very sixties melancholic Motown, girl group vibes, which, when think about it, still connects back to the band’s wider Rock’n’roll, proto-OI, bovver rock aesthetic and sound on this record. It might have blended a bit less well on Speed Kills, mind you. Aside from the killer vocals, there’s some low key fire drumming from Joe that stops the rhythm section from feeling a ploddy and pedestrian background beat to the harmonies.

- The video itself makes the band and central London look very cute. It’s a simple, vibes based vid and that’s ok. Maybe it was coming of age in the early 00s, the era of the DSLR democratisation, but I’m still a sucker for len’s flare and over exposure which the directors use a lot of here, to very good effect. And hat’s off also for taking full advantage of the much less busy streets of London a year or two ago to have fun with this video in an area of London you’re best avoiding any time after 5 in the evening.

- I’m sure there must be hundreds of music videos that have been filmed inn around Piccadilly circus (not a bad idea for Youtube Playlist!), but off the top of my head the only other one that springs to mind is Devlin’s ‘London City’. Although sonically quite different to ‘I Hate The Radio’, both artists shared a strong distaste for radio: Devlin was a member of infamous lyrical grime crew The Movement who filmed some of their most famous freestyles on a DVD series called Fuck Radio. The visuals on both videos share a similar late night central London wooziness and melancholy. They low key communicate that strange feeling of disconnection or loneliness in the busiest part of a city, at the busiest time of the week. What Dostoevsky say, eh?

- Anyhow, existential ramblings aside. This tune and video are very cute. I look forward to seeing Chubby play live again soon.

[saymoretv]

- I’ve always considered this to be one of the best examples of a hardcore punk music video. HC punk is genre that doesn’t necessarily always vibe with the traditional idea of a ‘music video’, especially at the more 80s USHC inspired end of things, such as with a band like Striking Distance. I guess 80s and 90s punks would have seen the ‘music video’ as a self-promotional, business tool, a symbol of mainstream, MTV style co-option, the antithesis to the low-profile, DIY values of the underground scene. As such I think it’s hard to immediately conjure up the codes, conventions and cliches of a typical ‘hardcore punk’ music video (unlike moshier, NYHC hardcore music videos which I do think are all born out of early Madball and Biohazard videos). 

- If ever there was a music video that has most, if not all, of the ingredients for what make up a good HC punk music video, I’d say ‘Fail Me’ is up there:

1. Gritty / lo-fi / filtered photography style; this one looks like it’s been shot on a super gritty b+w 8mm film which feels like the photographic equivalent of a Greg Ginn-esque USHC guitar tone.

2. Very sick live footage with outrageous mosh and stagediving, with bonus points for being in a non-typical venue type space, like this one, which is outdoors in what looks like a car park. It shouldn’t work to match the desperate and angry vibe of the song given that’s this looks like it was filmed @ 2pm on a summer’s afternoon, however the fact that the footage is grainy as fuck and dudes are jumping off each other onto concrete somehow makes it waaay more aggy than if this was filmed in a typical ‘rock venue’. THIS IS THE KEY INGREDIENT IMO - the sicker the venue, the cooler the video.

3. Dark, sort of horror-esque b-plot, albeit one that refrains from narrative or ‘acting’; like here, we just have the live shots spliced with the dude lacing up the noose and then the final shot of his dangling legs. We don’t see much of his face, the imagery of the noose is heavy enough. Point made, vibe darkened. No need for too much scripting or acting - the drama comes from the live shots, this b-roll it just there to crank up the tension between stage dives footage.

4. Goes without saying but fast as fuck edits to the breakdowns / mosh parts.  making sure to capture one or two sick, dynamic shots of guitars and drums. If there’s some crucial riff action it can’t go visually unnoticed.

- One thing which I will say that I like to see, which Fail Me doesn’t have so much of, is more up-close-and-personal, animalistic and wild, front man action, which I think my guy in SD was known for in his live sets generally, but it doesn’t necessarily come through too much in this video - that would’ve really sent this video into the untouchable category. 

- Just in general I think it’s cool as fuck to make a video for songs that are under a minute. Not on some dorky ‘iT’s A ReeaALLy SmmaRTT wAy to MArkeT YouRself On TIk-ToK’ vibe, but more in the sense of taking something that would otherwise been seen as a bit of ‘throwaway’ or ‘low-value’ art and embellishing it and elevating for those who care, just like Fail Me does for me. Hat’s off to Striking Distance for making the archetypal hardcore punk music video.

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- I finally got my copy of Dissolution Wave this week. I’m chuffed to bits as it’s definitely my favourite Cloakroom record to date. To my bruised and battered ear it’s got some of their best songs since my personal fav Bending on the first EP, Infinity, which annoyingly they didn’t play the one time I saw them years back. I would like to hold that against them (I’m that kind of arsehole) but it’s hard when they keep writing bangers like A Force at Play, and this one, Doubts. 

- I’m probably in the minority as a Cloakroom fan when I say that I probably like them when they’re at their least heavy and their most gentle. In fact, it’s probably more correct to say that I’m a Doyle Martin fan more so than I am a Cloakroom one. I will buy any record he has hand in for the rest of my life purely out of my undying love for his previous Midwestern Indie-emo band Grown-Ups. Although Cloakroom are probably best known for their soundcape-y space rock sonics, it’s his voice and lyrics that I like so much about this band. So I love that a song like Doubts, which is probably one of the few non-Doom-tinged tunes in their discography, gives so much room for his words to breathe and resonate.

- I’ve heard this song described as ‘Space-Country’ and I think that’s pretty apt. It feels like intergalactic melancholy. Although the lyrics are supposedly bound up in the album’s concept of a ‘space western’ in which the protagonist needs to fill-up an artless world with new compositions, they feel super resonant and just plain beautiful, however you interpret them. These last lines in particular really stick with me:

There's just no good way around it  Maybe I should cherish the gift Maybe I should smash the mirror to bits - I’m not sure how, or if I can even place my finger on what exactly but there’s something in these three lines that speaks to the essence of human life. Maybe it’s because I read ‘Crime and Punishment’ not too long ago, but this prods the deep existential angst button in my psyche. For me it’s a very simple and poetic way of saying ‘life is one long negotiation with yourself about death’ i.e. you can get busy living or get busy dying, kinda thing. 

- The video is super cool too; I love the opening 30 secs and the super wide snow laden landscapes, and the slow-mo shots and dissolves - it fits so perfectly with the woozy, spacey vibe of the song. 

- Finally, and this is something I don’t think I’ve thought about any other song, but I WISH they gave us more from the little guitar solo / noodle that comes in really dramatically in the last section of the song. It’s only a few notes but it feels like such an emotive release after the build-up of the lyrics and it just leaves me wanting more from the guitar. Maybe it’s something they play with live, I hope I can find out some day. Until then, I’ll ‘cherish the gift’ of finally having Dissolution Wave in my record collection. Love, you Doyle!

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- I’ve been trawling a lot of punk distros at the moment. Not buying much mind you, just getting some low level serotonin hits when seeing records I might want to buy at some point. The added benefit of trawling said distros is coming across interesting new bands I’ve never heard of, and the Irish Oi band, Sympos, from Waterford was one such band. 

- On reflection it seems pretty weird that I’ve not come across more Irish Oi bands in the past. The combo just, sorta, seems like it makes sense and that there should be more bands in that lane. But, as someone who’s admittedly no Oi connoisseur, I haven’t come across any, which made me so excited to check these guys out, and they really didn’t disappoint.

- Really leaning into the more rootsy side of Oi, I can hear more than a touch fo the glam rock guitar and in Pub, Sympos hit us with a more of a bovver rock, stomp over a 1-2-1-2 tempo tear. I love that in a genre so defined by its love of pints and mentions of beer, Sympos have still managed to create a proper love song to boozer that, for my money, will really stand the test of time. 

- The video is great too. It’s not often I say this about a punk music videos but the two protagonists are really good actors! Their performances fit the lighthearted vibe of the tune but are also well done enough to really elevate the video to something that is, dare I say, bordering on the cinematic, all the while retaining the feel of mates having a laugh down the pub. Crack open a can of the black stuff and enjoy Sympos!

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- I’m not a heavy ‘twinkle-mo’ or American Football guy but I will say when this style hits, it hits hard for me and this song by Football, etc. definitely hits. (Also, I’ve noticed that ‘Football’ emo bands are a sub-genre unto themselves at this point, see also Chinese Football).

- I love the pitch of the vocalist’s singing. I don’t know much about sonics or harmonics but her voice and the tone of the guitar just works. Her vocal delivery is excellent also; it’s like a lazy or exhausted plead to the listener, which works really well with what I think is a very slight Southern drawl (Americans don’t @ me). It’s the sound of someone exhausted by emotion rather than overwhelmed by it, which feels really apt for this style of indie-emo.

- Being a complete musical nimwit I’m also completely bamboozled by the bassist’s very ‘guitar-like’ bass. Not sure whether it’s my complete lack of knowledge but she very much looks like she’s playing the bass riff on a guitar?! Answers on a postcard if you know what’s going on here.

- The video, I’ll admit, is a little ropey in places. I’m not a huge fan of the shots in the bathroom, which feel a bit too ‘on the nose’ emo, for me. However, I like that the rest of it feels like a Weezer video with more bisexual lighting.

- Top quality twinkle-mo at any rate. Football, etc definitely scored a ‘touchdown’ with this one, ahem.

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- It’s always hard to define ‘it’ when you’re talking about people or performers. ‘It’ tends to be that uncommon mix of charisma, charm, intelligence, authority and like-ability that make you want to pay a little closer attention to what this rare breed of person says or does. ‘It’ definitely seems like a super power from the outside, like a gravitational pull that draws you in, willingly, and has you nodding along in agreement by puree force of character alone. Now, I don’t know much about NYHC band Regulate but I sense that vocalist Sebastian has ‘it’.

- One part, and perhaps the most immediately obvious part of Seb’s ‘it-ness’ is his physicality. You can sense it a little in this video, but even more so in live videos of Regulate - this guy has moves. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen videos of him doing standing backflips on stage, and you can tell he could more than handle himself in any moshpit but unlike a lot of hardcore punk vocalists, Seb seems like a guy who can not only do the slamming, but also the dancing, element of ‘slam dancing’. That makes a big difference for a studio shot, performance music video like ‘Why Can’t We’. Seb still has the physical presence and movements to captivate even outside the context of a live show setting.

- However physicality alone doesn’t always equate to ‘it’. What I think gives Seb ‘it’ is his combination of stage presence and lyricism. On one level, Why Can’t We fits in in the very broad and lyrical tradition of hardcore and hardcore-punk’s desire to be one’s honest self, unencumbered by and unshackled from the expectations of others or ‘Society’. What I think Seb advances in this tradition is the simplistic, toddler-like rejection of societal norms foisted upon us unwillingly, but he instead comes at things from an almost studied, psychoanalytic perspective; reflecting more carefully and more sensitively on the disconnection between what one feels and what one says. 

- Seb is searching himself for his more emotionally honest  voice rather than simply falling into social archetypes or masks he thinks others want to see.  At this level we are talking about some of the essential building blocks of subjectivity, how we see ourselves, how we relate to others and how we show up in the world. Seb’s journey to a more authentically aligned version of himself offer us clues to how we might do the same, whilst never feeling didactic, something which Youth Crew vocalists so often fall victim to. His questions aren’t for us but for himself. He’s leaving breadcrumbs rather than telling us we should follow him.

-  For me Why Can’t We is nearing lyrical perfection for a hardcore song, particularly of the more ‘positive’ / Youth Crew influenced end of the spectrum.  It’s emotionally complex stuff communicated in the most raw, energetic and honest way. Appearing short and simple but hiding deeper complexity and thoughtfulness. This is the sort of stuff Kendrick Lamar might tackle across three verses except concepts except Seb has boiled down issues of egos and emotional honesty in into four and six word phrased singalongs you can stage dive and mic grab to. 

I know have it in me  To really speak from the soul But it's the ego that stops me and keeps me playing that role

- And maybe that’s what makes those with ‘it’ so enchanting, they let us foolishly believe that maybe we can have ‘it’ too.