The RadioActivist

The We Just Call It Roulette Vol. 2 compilation by Russian Recording represents some of the acts comprising Bloomington, Indiana’s thriving independent music scene and some from out of town, all of whom have recorded at the Russian Recording cabin in Browne County, Indiana. Though extremely diverse in style and sound, We Just Call It Roulette Vol. 2 features a healthy blend of music, the variety of which actually ties the album together nicely. Whether it’s the frisky folk-punk of Defiance, Ohio or xylophonic traditional Zimbabwe music of Sheasby Matiure and the Mbira Queens, the sequencing is fitting and moves from genre to genre with grace. Within the punk framework is the aforementioned Defiance, Ohio, with their contribution “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” which is among the band’s most aggressive numbers. Prizzy Prizzy Please barrels through their sparkling addition “Thundergust of Woodpeckers,” while the somewhat creepily named Child Bite hurls forth an almost instrumental horn-punk nu...

A word of wisdom to the dudes in Janus: More layers does not mean better songs. Just like adding extra double-bass doesn't make better metalcore and piling on eyeliner won’t equal better screamo, Pro Tooling nine layers of sound may give songs a deeper texture, but won’t make up for trite songwriting. That seems to be the inherent flaw in Janus’s newest, Right Red Return. While ghostly background vocals and atmospheric ambience blanket each song like a stratus, the corresponding dullness of form leaves much to be desired. Clumped somewhere between hard rock, heavy emo or some variety of bland post-hardcore, Janus moves tepidly between 10 songs of overdramatic monotony. Almost comically, their press material refers to Janus as “metal,” going so far as to assert they bring “a fresh new sound to the genre" thereof. Perhaps some watered down form of nü-metal might be more accurate, but it’s been awhile since nü-metal was actually considered new (or metal). The histrionic singing o...

My initial encounter with December Peals was marked by generally poor first impressions and unfortunately not much changes with their full-length People Have Demons . With what might optimistically be labeled as energetic rock ’n’ roll, but more realistically some ebullient take on cock rock, December Peals jerk through thirteen songs in 45 minutes. While the musicianship is competent and the songs fairly lively for the most part, the band has a hard time crafting any hooks, instead relying on standard rock guitar leads like on the opener “Bad Company” and its follower “The Devil You Know.” The band goes unplugged for “Capitol Cowboys,” which pursues a slightly different styles, but doesn’t really hit a stride until about three-quarters of the way through. However, it’s clear December Peals has improved markedly over their 2008 split with Boozed. There are occasional traces of the Bronx, and the band grinds out some thick, more punk-styled jams like “Saints and Sinners” and “Hypoxi...

You really gotta hand it to the folks at Rodent Popsicle. At a time when many long-running DIY crust punk/raw hardcore labels are closing up shop (Profane Existence) or lying dormant (Punk Core), Rodent Popsicle Records pushes forward releasing music for and by punks in full knowledge that it’s not the kind of music that’s going to get anyone rich. Granted, this DVD came out a while ago, but the care and attention to detail that went into this DIY release is a testament to the spirit of punk rock itself. Filmed in their hometown of Boston on December 18th, 2004 on their 15-year anniversary show, this DVD celebrates the storied history of one of hardcores’s most vituperative, pessimistic bands. Captured on five cameras and mixed in 5.1 surround sound, the band blasts through 22 Toxic Narcotic favorites like “People Suck,” “We’re Not Happy,” “We’re All Doomed” and “Shoot People, Not Dope.” With strobe lights flashing at an epileptic pace and people going apeshit left and right, the envir...

For the amount of classic rock the Rebel Dead claims as influence on their MySpace page, there’s little semblance of any such traces in their rough-hewn street punk style. But with catchy sing-alongs, danceable rhythms and tight songwriting, there’s nothing lacking in what the Rebel Dead does on their self-titled LP. Granted, there are two songs whose tepid advancement could run parallel to some sheepish, tightly-pants’d arena rocker of yesteryear (“The Hard Times,” and to a lesser extent “Long Island’s Sinking”). But the majority of tunes here are far too lively and rowdy to be considered anything less than punk rock. Though rife with clichés, songs like “Three Sheets to the Wind,” “Thicker Than Blood” and “Bottomed Out” are energetic and full, with walking basslines and "whoa"-ing backing vocals. “Cheers, Fuck-Face!” spends the first two minutes sauntering in like Bob Dylan on his harmonica, before exploding into something more akin to the Pogues, while “Dancing with the De...

The grinding cacophony of crust punk and playful upstrokes of ska have rarely joined hands, and even more rarely done so with any semblance of style or skill. Despite their squatting lifestyle and poor hygiene, the crack rock steady of Choking Victim and Leftover Crack generally gets shut out of the elitist crust punk scene while the Subhumans and Citizen Fish are really more anarcho bands with some ska tendencies. So for all intents and purposes, Mouth Sewn Shut marched into a new territory of checkered dumpster divers and nihilistic rude boys with their debut Pandemic = Solution. If the title of the delightfully fatalistic Doomed Future Today isn't any indication of what to expect on this record, song titles like “When Is it Going to End,” “World War 3” and “I Hate It” should leave no doubt. Featuring half of Toxic Narcotic (including vocalist Bill Damon), Mouth Sewn Shut play a combination of about one-third faithful crust punk, another third grimy, distorted reggae, and the las...

In between pioneering the youth crew movement of the late '80s with Youth of Today and helping ignite the youth crew revival of the late 1990s with Better Than a Thousand, Ray Cappo formed Shelter in 1991 as an outlet for his Hare Krishna ideals and a path to a more melodic form of hardcore punk. Releasing a small library of 7-inches, cassettes, EPs and full-lengths, Shelter has concurrently embraced sugary pop-punk and melodic hardcore anthems that faithfully espouse their Hare Krishna and straight-edge principles of mind and body purity. In 2000 the band released When 20 Summers Pass, which follows the same general pattern but does so in stunning fashion, blending positivity with introspection, spirituality with Earthly struggles, and above all, lays down some of the catchiest melodies hardcore has heard. “In the Van Again” packs some pop-punk punch early, describing the touring routine and sacrifices of the lifestyle: “I traded in university / For this backseat and poverty / But...