D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. I quit my job and have been preparing to return to GA for a while, so I haven't really felt like spewing words on the internet. I need to get away for a while. Sober up a little bit, see some friends, get my head straight. Andrea's going to be working in GA for two months and I'll be coming back on the 9th, so trust me, when I get back I'm gonna have fuck all to do but temp and blog until we're back on our feet. Thanks to everyone who's shown support, and for the HILARIOUS dude posting anonymously, I'm guessing that it's just Freddy Madball sitting there pecking out slurs with one finger on the keyboard. Awesome.

See you guys next month! Until then, enjoy some crap I've been listening to lately. There wasn't enough room for Hazen St., but oh well.

Zipped up mix - http://www.mediafire.com/?0l1aymz0k1b

I'm positively positive for Good Clean Fun

One of my longest standing criticisms of hardcore is that, as a genre, it takes itself WAY too seriously. The fact that a bunch of straight-edge, vegan dudes could poke fun at their subcultures is both a praise of them and a knock on their scenes. People who can make me laugh are much more likely to get me to take them seriously than people who think their beliefs are immune from jokes and digs.

The flawless Earth Crisis parody "In Defense of All Life" both skewers militant veganism and reminds people that hey, maybe the most overzealous practitioners are not the people to take cues from. It's possible to pay loving tribute while mercilessly skewering (see Hot Fuzz), and Good Clean Fun manages to actually make me pay attention through youth crew choruses, breakdowns, the spoken word bridge that explains what the song is about that Ian MacKaye did as a joke but now fucking everyone does, the word cramming on the lyrics...etc. etc.

The Asian Man Records Tour going on right now has advertised "making punk fun again!" GCF ain't doing too shabby, either.

A Little Bit Emo, a Little Bit Hardcore - http://www.mediafire.com/?nmgmo1ynrti

Ex-Straight Edge Ex - http://www.mediafire.com/?zwbwrqgpfd0

Hats Off to Halford - http://www.mediafire.com/?i2x1xl4fgtm

In Defense of All Life - http://www.mediafire.com/?m1ztgytog1z

Positively Positive - http://www.mediafire.com/?nv9y05mtdlb

Shopping For a Crew - http://www.mediafire.com/?gsmz9mrzjlz

Bo Diddley and site updates!

So in my last post when I said "tomorrow" I apparently meant "sometime next week when work isn't making Matt feel angry at humanity in general." For all of those nice enough to leave comments that didn't call me a faggot, I will be catching up tonight. Also, I posted the Let's Active mp3's, so yanno, get on that.

To the fine folks in Hollerado, I got your demo today and will be posting about it in the next few days. Unless you sound like Cobra Starship, in which case I will contract the ebola virus and come cough on your bongs and underpants.

New Hold Steady has been posted for streaming. It's great. Maybe even Great. You'll be wasting your time if you don't click here: http://www.myspace.com/theholdsteady

Speaking of bands with streaming stuff, Canada's own amazing Statues have stuff still up on their PunkNews page. I can't recommend this shit enough. Also, check out the new issue of Razorcake, which has a cool little feature on these rad beavers. I really can't get over how great these guys are. http://www.punknews.org/bands/statues

So last week, we lost one of the good ones. One of the best. One of the dudes who apparently still had it. One of my biggest criticisms of rock music is that, with the exception of the peerless Joe Strummer, there was something ridiculous about seeing some old dude panting and wheezing and trying to kick out the jams. This never really seemed to be the case for really old, really killer blues and jazz musicians. Maybe it's because the music itself seems timeless and actually sounds better the more crap life experience and old age piles on you.

I'm guessing this is why no matter how old he got, Bo Diddley would never look silly performing the endlessly badass "Who Do You Love?" He was one of the OGs of rock 'n' roll, one of the guys out on the frontlines making it dangerous and threatening to parents afraid of their children listening to "race records." His only real competition at the time was Chuck Berry, but hey, even Bad Brains had a Minor Threat.

There have been a million things said in the wake of his death last week, so I won't add to the skipping record. I will share my favorite story about the man, though. On the Clash's first tour of the US in '79, they had Diddley open for them. Upon finding the elder man sleeping in a chair on the tour bus on a travel night, Joe Strummer woke him and said, in effect, "hey, you know you have a bunk, right?" Diddley got up, pulled back the curtain of his assigned bunk, revealing that his signature square guitar (named Lucille), saying, "guitar rides in the bunk, I ride in the seat." Fuck yeah that's awesome.

Goodbye, Bo. We miss you already.

Bo Diddley - http://www.mediafire.com/?c54zmmmlwvz

Diddley Daddy - http://www.mediafire.com/?st0vu1m2gnf

Pills - http://www.mediafire.com/?onvzny2zmxm

Who Do You Love? - http://www.mediafire.com/?wltmdgrbjj2

A day of silence for Bo Diddley

We lost one of the best today. Tomorrow expect a tribute to the man and his music.

-Matt

Southern power-pop explosion

Holy dogballs am I exhausted. Had an excellent weekend in Baltimore with the usual suspects (and some new ones), despite the parade being rained out. The day turned sour, however, on the drive home. Construction narrowed 495 down to one lane, and a drive that normally takes 80 minutes took almost three and a half HOURS. All I'm going to say that I hope the people in the two left lanes get face herpes and that Andrea's idea of a superhero whose power was visiting karma on people never sounded better to me.

Rather than rage full on due to dumbass suburban warriors in Chevy-made aircraft carriers who are either oblivious or indifferent to how their actions affect the fate of everyone, I'm gonna get the hell damn on with this thing. I have the next few days of the Kids Are All Dead planned out, so let's make our way down the list, eh?

First up is Southern power-pop greats Let's Active, the perennial faces of slightly off-kilter of 80's college radio. Frontman Mitch Easter will probably be most remembered for producing those first few great REM albums and for apparently pissing off Chris Stamey enough to spur the latter man into forming the dB's, the name to drop when discussing pop rock with someone at an awful hipster party. Also, his wife Angie was reportedly the inspiration for the enduring Replacements' classic "Left of the Dial."

All of this would be enough to ensure that his name would live on in the realm of Those Who Care Way Too Much, but those first few Let's Active releases are pretty damn awesome. It definitely sounds of its time, but that ends up being one of its charms rather than an impediment. When hearing the ascending, chiming Rickenbacker with those only-in-the-80's drums, you instantly become a Paisley wearing college student with one of those weird almost-a-bowl-cut haircuts and a Superchunk poster on your wall. While not as kudzu-thick as fellow Southerners REM, there's still an air of murky distance and mystery on their records, which only makes them that much more interesting.

Of course, it's still as poppy as the Raspberries or early Big Star, but the production adds a layer of menace, or maybe dread. It changes every time I throw the records on. Like with the ascendancy of Southern rap years later, bands like Let's Active benefited from the lack of attention heaped upon the bands in NY and LA. With no pressure to be famous or fit a formula, they were more or less free to do what they wanted. Hell, they're debut EP was their demo, which a big label like IRS would never have imagined doing with one of their flagship artists like the Police.

If you ever find yourself driving through the deep South, put this on. Trust me, it will all make perfect, perfect sense.

Every Word Means No - http://www.mediafire.com/?gxw5iitcyfw

Make Up With Me - http://www.mediafire.com/?ezte1n0tmyl

Waters Part - http://www.mediafire.com/?yzyfmi1xnl5