MASSHYSTERI- S/T

This is swedish and much like their international hockey team's jerseys, landscapes and educational system, it rules.

Masshysteri formed out of the breakup of punk masters The Vicious and lets just say that not a whole lot changed! We should consider ourselves so lucky that we have more of this fast-riffing and snottier than a communal handkerchief punk! This time around though, instead of having those hard-driving songs like 'The Pigs' the band has favoured an approach that... well... ok so this sounds like the Vicious mixed with the Wipers (and I don't use this comparison lightly!)

Again, its swedish so if you like No Hope for the Kids, Gorilla Angreb or yeah, The Vicious, then this is definitely for you!

p.s. All songs are sung in swedish. Normally that would turn some off BUT I urge you! the melodies are so awesome that you won't even realize it.

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GOOD LUCK- INTO LAKE GRIFFY

Whew. Its been awhile. Back in school and loathing life once again, save for guitar, video games and playoff baseball. Anyhoo, I promise the posts will return to their former consistency! I just got lazy these last few months

To kick things off is Minneapolis' Good Luck. Two guys, a girl and a pop-punk record that isn't afraid to get a little dancey, a little noodley or really fucking cute. This is not any Dillinger Four, Gunmoll 'I-like-beer-and-bros-and-bitching-about-women-who-won't-put-out' pop-punk. This is pop-punk for lovers. Definitely has a persistent beat and some good rocking-out but the guitar is so damn melodic and almost clean that it steers away from some of the genre's macho tendencies. Staying true to their Minny roots, they do a cover of Prince's 'When You Were Mine' on their demo!

but this isn't the demo... This is a whole album of sugary, guitary, wimpy sap and I love it

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RVIVR- S/T

RVIVR hail from Olympia (seriously, the best music scene going right now) and play a very fine-tuned brand of pop-punk. Lots of buildups and breakdowns, fantastic guitar interplay and great female-male vocal harmonies. Very 90's sounding yet this avoids the cheese of bands like NOFX or Screeching Weasel (don't get me wrong!) and goes more for the introspective sound of Jawbreaker or Foolish-era Superchunk. Definitely good for bringing you up when you're so far down in the dumps all you can see is a collection of empty slurpee cups and empty doritos bags... cough

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GENESIS- FOXTROT

The other night my friend and I drove around listening to this album on repeat. I had never heard it before and all I can say is I wish I hadn't held out for so long. This is phenomenal prog. Every member shines, the songs never descend into mindless wanking and believe it or not, these songs contain a lot of feeling. Prog and emotion, I know. It sounds crazy. Enjoy!

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GUIDED BY VOICES- VAMPIRE ON TITUS

Guided by Voices are an institution when it comes to indie-rock and lo-fi. An amazing band with an amazing discography, this is one of my faves. A more somber album but there are some beautiful moments here, especially Gleemer. Great for your late night biking

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GHOSTFACE KILLAH- IRONMAN

I'm feeling lazy today so I'm going to review the album that's been in my car for the past week. Ghostface was quick to join in on the flurry of Wu-related solo LP's released following their debut LP. This album reveals itself, especially with years of listening, to be the most straight-forward, as opposed to RZA's Gravediggaz or Meth's very dark LP Tical, of that first wave of Wu-releases. Moving on... The Wu really had something magical going on from 93-96 and if you enjoy 90's rap, especially that of the 'fuck-you-I'm-better-than-you-so-is-my-crew-and-don't-even-try-to-front-because-we-will-out-cool-you-or-actually-kill-you' variety, then this is a must!

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RAZOR- VIOLENT RESTITUTION

Given that death-metal was already alive and well in 1988, this will seem very tame to some of you. However, this is about as raw and evil as thrash gets. Razor were from a shithole town in Ontario, never got any of the attention or praise of other thrash bands, put out as many great albums as Metallica, Slayer and Testament and more than Exodus, Anthrax or Megadeth. A shame really. This is as good as Reign in Blood, The Legacy, Peace Sells and better than Bonded by Blood. I'm not just saying that. This is a truly amazing and oft-ignored band.

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MIDDLE CLASS- OUT OF VOGUE

blah, blah, blah. hardcore. 1978. no shit? yup, 1978. its not that amazing but there a million KBD-loving assholes who will tell you otherwise. If you like hardcore then definitely check this out. Has a weird vibe. Kind of like they had no idea what they were doing. First song is pretty cool

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SLAYER- HAUNTING THE CHAPEL

Slayer are a band that people like to talk about, but I don't think many of those people actually listen to anything other than Reign in Blood or whatever songs of theirs have made their way onto guitar-hero. So here's one of their best. This should erase any doubts you might have had as to why people love this band so much.

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R.E.M- RECKONING

R.E.M. are a band that kind of shot their indie-rock-godfathers status in the foot by becoming mega-platinum rock stars in the 90's, which is really unfortunate. They were one of the token indie bands of the 80's that refused to do anything they didn't want to do and made four absolutely flawless albums before making it big and making some slightly less than flawless albums. Too bad

This, their second album, is my favourite. Its just a very somber, guitar-driven pop album with very strong 60's influences but it never loses its very modern feeling due to the songwriting and vocals. Its a really unique record and once I gave it a few listens, I was a fan for life. The first track is amazing

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