Agent Orange - So Strange

Extras from punk week. Yeah, I got a slight case of word-loss.

Refused - Liberation Frequency

I think this is a fitting end on punk week. While Lyxén’s post-Refused bands has been all from decent to boring, David Sandström has been quite excellent across the board— so you should search and listen to his David Sandström Overdrive. He’s the weird one, the one with ideas so I guess this album in particular would have sounded very different without him.

Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Downtown At Dawn

I’m kind of busy watching lots and lots of episodes of Kingdom. But yeah, Richard Hell! Wohoo!

It’s a bit odd really. I prefer the poppier British punk-bands and the harder guitar-grinding American.

Carbon/Silicon - Caesar’s Palace

I know! Another one beginning with that blasted C. The think is though, I needed to have it here. Mick Jones might not be the best lyricist of punk but he is a natural genius when it comes to melody. Add his curiosity and fondness for do it yourself, the duo have free for download new material and all that.

The Bangs - Ferocious Pocket

This is Maggie Vail, she played bass (among other things, she’s one of those multi instrumentalist people). That and the great music is enough for a joint SST/punk week. No, nudity is not required. Fuck that, give me sarcasm and smarts and a pounding guitar-driven bass-line and… that’s enough. Somehow. Let’s not go into that. MUSIC! LISTEN! DON’T READ MUCH INTO WHAT I WRITE! Except normally when you probably should. Today is complicated.

Traste & Superstararna - Pengar

Since Wednesday is the more introspective and personal of days here, I have to post something Swedish. Still, don’t want to go the obvious route with Ebba Grön or De Lyckliga Kompisarna — for me, that would have been way too obvious anyway. Therefore it’s this one. You can hear a small embryo of what Traste would  go on and do with Traste Lindéns Kvintett.  And equally why Per Persson, then of Dead Scouts (Swedish Alt-country alreadin in 1984), would seem like a perfect fit to join the quintet. But this is before the folk rock outfits so this is the punk years.

And really, it’s great. Not as angry as the bands form the Stockholmian suburbs, Traste brought something else though — an air of irony, lyrics with both humour and bite and I wonder if he might not had been too smart for the whole punk movement in Sweden.

It’s the same thing with the London vs Leeds & Manchester style on punk in Britain. They’d seen factories close down, towns dry out and violence in the street. Riot? Are you fucking crazy?! Not again, that didn’t solve anything the last time, quite the opposite. Humour and brains and a passion for what they do as coping mechanism. It’s a bit founded in boredom but mostly it’s because there were no other choice.

Circle Jerks - Wild In The Streets

Keith Morris of Black Flag’s original line up and Greg Hetson of Bad Religion ought to be enough to get attention. Oddly, it more of a bands band, inspiring other people to play but sadly get overlooked otherwise. I guess the on and off again status of the band helped a bit in keeping it off most people’s radar. 

The band tomorrow will not begin with C but T.

Chisel - Your Star Is Killing Me

It would have been easy to post stuff like the Clash or Sex Pistols or the Jam. But no! That’s not what this is about! So instead I start of punk week with Chisel — the first band by Ted Leo and you can feel the Jam influences all over the rough surface.