Ain't no drama like hardcore kid drama

Holy fucking CRAP is there teh drah-maz online right now. I won't get too much into it, but here are three things:


1. I flew off the handle too much about Jason breaking up LaGrecia, especially in light of the revelation about the real (legitimate) reason the band broke up, for which I offer some apologies. I wouldn't want to be in a band with an ex, either. He was dumb for shitting where he ate, but whatever. I'm still pissed for the same reason I was pissed before - he broke up the band on the eve of the record's release, leaving his label in the lurch and with a ton of boxes of CDs that will probably gather dust because he won't man up enough to do any kind of promotion. I've probably lost some friends and allies with everything I said today, but I don't like it when people fuck with Virgil, a man who bends over backwards to do his part in making punk rock a culture worth giving a damn about. The fact that Jason has not even intimated an apology on this front or that his supporters have admitted that it was a dick move upset me. For all the NY/NJ crew's talk about standing by your friends thick and thin, this was a fucking dagger in the back. Brian Banal from punknews is encouraging everyone who goes to the NMB reunion shows to yell out for LaGrecia songs the whole time, and I couldn't endorse an idea more.

2. The new H2O is bad. Like, laugh out loud bad. It's not as terrible as the abortion that was their major label record, but geez. I'm not saying every lyricist has to be Blake Schwarzenbach, but christ, it would help if you opened books of poetry instead of the Idiot's Rhyming Dictionary every now and again. The fact that they sound so defensive about having "NOTHING TO PROVE" does nothing but betray insecurities about how they are perceived in a scene that pretty much laughed them out of music for seven years after said major label album. Apparently Ryan and I are in some kind of minority here in thinking this. I loved the Punk-O-Rama comps too when I was 13, but that doesn't mean I swore a blood oath to all the bands found therein.

3. It's pretty much bullshit that Nas' label is preventing him from calling his new album Nigger. God forbid a black man in this country make a blunt examination of race identity and divides and give it an appropriate title. Everyone knows true art requires asterisks and bleeps and castration.

So I'm sure y'all are wondering what the fuck music I'm going to trot out after all that hoo-hah. Why, something that pisses off all the punks, of course! I love Andrew Jackson Jihad. Punk needs more people who can piss off the majority of the fringe. It's part of the reasons I love "Candle in the Wind (Ben's Song)" where they tackle topics about people having sex because they're lonely, how he'd like to have more money so he wouldn't have to worry about rent, and how "I'd kill a kitten to save a human being." Our culture has buttons that light up and just beg to be pressed, an AJJ gleefully slam down on each and every one. They remind me of the Modern Lovers in the sense of how awkwardly, painfully honest they are.

I like playing them for the people in my car, because inevitably there will be a lull in the conversation and some lyrics about murder fantasies or lines like "I like telling dirty jokes and I like smoking crystal meth/But darling I love you" set to a lo-fi folk lilt will pop up and you will get strange looks from your companion. We all expect people like GG Alin or Marilyn Manson to shock and provoke, but what if even more outrageous lyrics were set to music normally associated with hyper sincerity and emotional exploration? All the punk and hardcore dudes and dudettes with no sense of humor, irony, satire, or provocation will give you dirty looks, and what can be a better compliment than the tasteless hating you? I'm sure Judd Apatow smiles every time he gets an angry letter from an Adam Sandler fan. There's something satisfying about people who don't get it not getting it.

They just put out a record on Asian Man called People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World, and I cannot recommend it enough. If you like the songs I'm posting, buy it post haste. Like Virgil, label owner Mike Park is one of the few people in punk worth supporting with your wallet.

I Love You - http://www.mediafire.com/?bjmycnoprim

Little Prince - http://www.mediafire.com/?iss0jd914i1

All The Dead Kids - http://www.mediafire.com/?jllpm2mpu2z

Rejoice - http://www.mediafire.com/?txbxmn10xnt

No More Tears - http://www.mediafire.com/?cqr0y9lngtv

Candle in the Wind (Ben's Song) - http://www.mediafire.com/?0znui1x5m3n