Indonesia’s punk act Thousand Needles have posted their seven song self-titled EP online for free download. With a heavy influence of early Blink 182, this is snotty pop-punk that’s part English and Part Indonesian.
Bellingham, WA’s So Adult released their four song cassette, Rookie, earlier this year. Now Intervention Records are offering the album for as a free download and you should check it out. After all, in our review we described the album saying:
Their sound harkens back to a day when pop punk’s gloss hadn’t been scrubbed and scratched away with self-consciousness. Their melodies are big, the vocals are clean and concise (reminding me quite a bit of the guy from Coffin Break, or a younger Ben Nichols) and their songs are well-recorded and nicely punchy. And again, there’s that charming lack of self-consciousness.
Banner Pilot are one of everyone’s favorite gruff Minneapolis punk bands around these days. However, before joining Banner Pilot, guitarist Nate Gangelhoff was pulling duties in another band called The Pyongyang Metro. During their short time together, they released one album: a thirteen track CD called Tower of White Tigers originally released on Arsenic Records in 2007. Only 100 CDs were made, so its pretty rare. Luckily, they’ve put the whole thing online for free download.
Creeping on people’s Facebook profiles has it’s benefits.
A friend posted a comment on another’s wall saying “Great find, these guys are good!” to which he replied “I knew you would like them.” I read that and thought to myself “hey, I like the same stuff has him! Who’s he talking about.” A few Facebook stalks later and I’m listening to Hisdayhascome‘s Where I Belong and man what a find.
Gruff pop-punk. Good Riddance mixed with Iron Chic, throw in some slower Dear Landlord some Costellos, Mockingbird Wish Me Luck and The Holy Mess and you get Hisdayhascome.
Tit Patrol are one of those old school punk bands that you’ve always heard about but may not have actually got around to checking out. I don’t know about you, but I remember seeing Tit Patrol on more compilations than I can count when I first got into this whole punk rock thing and always enjoyed them whenever they came up but never actually got around to picking up a copy of their full album.
Now that can change as Death To False Hope Records have put up three Tit Patrol records for download. Fast pop-punk with a emphasis on the punk side, Tit Patrol were the original Fat Wreck sound. Fast, raw, rough and the original definition of pop-punk, they fall somewhere between the styles of The Queers and The Descendents; neither of which are comparisons to scoff at.
Lewis Turn Out are onto something here. Fast paced pop-punk like Dear Landlord or any of the other hundreds of acts that make their way down to The Fest every year, Have You Tried Turning It off and On Again? has fantastic potential. With nasally vocals and a certain low-fi quality, there is something here worthy of repeated plays. Sadly it stays at just the potential and never truly surpasses into something fantastic. A bit fuller sound and Lewis Turn Out will be a force to be reckoned with and this will just be the first stepping stone to bigger and better things.
Lewis Turn Out – Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?
Bill Haverchuck is quite easily one of my all time favourite TV characters. A perfectly awkward geek on Freaks and Geeks, Bill stole my heart and imagination when I watched that show with his perfect comedic timing, massive smile and down to earth attitude. The conversation where he says constantly replays movies in his head (actually, the entire sequence when he’s in seven minutes of heaven) is one of the best TV conversations I can remember.
Now I have another reason to love the character as The Haverchucks pay homage to him both in their name and the cover of their demo. These five songs deliver the ’77 pop-punk attitude of The Ramones or Teenage Bottlerocket but aren’t just a cheap knockoff. This is great shit. Catchy, fast, funny – the perfect pop-punk sound. Check it out and then watch Freaks and Geeks.
Everyone’s favourite pop-punk outfit straight from Ohio are back with yet another free downloadable EP! That’s right, The Mixtapes are back with two delightfully witty, comical and poppy tunes for you to download, devour and enjoy. With dual male/female vocals working off of one another and references to Strung Out, Tim Burton, Mars Attacks and more, you know you’re in for a treat.
This one’s for all those people who say most of the pop-punk on this Free Music Blog mostly links to ifyoumakeit.com albums (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The band is Gone By Friday, and their sound is squeaky clean and altogether very fun. Some good benchmarks are probably Lagwagon, Taking Back Sunday, and Yellowcard – an odd mix, but I wouldn’t describe it any other way. Their latest offering is their aptly titled two song freEP. This duo is certainly the band’s strongest output to date, with songs reaching that elusively approachable, but never overly so, level of fun. The band also has their first EP up for download, and while it’s a little rough around the edges, it’s still pretty solid in its own right.
Campaign has posted a couple of their previous EPs as free downloads over on their blog. If you’re into anything along the lines of the Hot Water Music school of gruff pop punk, then you’re in luck. It’s an easy recommendation, but rather than write it all out, I’ll simply direct readers over to a review I wrote a few months back. In either case, get downloading!
