The Urgency
Self –Titled
Island Records
8/10

When one thinks of a band name like “The Urgency”, images of young twenty-somethings dolled up in lipstick and reject costumes from the Magical Mystery Tour come to mind. Yet the quintet from South Burlington, Vermont is not just pretty boys. In the space of a few years, the eclectic group has toured with many mid-level and well known bands, recorded demos for famed producer David Bendeth, and even managed to get signed to a major label by no less than the mega …

Chris Wollard and The Ship Thieves
Chris Wollard and The Ship Thieves
No Idea Records
8/10

Chris Wollard, guitarist for Hot Water Music, takes a break from simply shredding to record a bit more melodic, country-tinged, PBR-swilling album that is another in the growing list of “solo” albums and side projects from the bands that make fat bearded punks drool. From Ben Nichols (Lucero), to Chuck Ragan (Also Hot Water Music), to Sundowner (Chris from The Lawrence Arms/The Falcon) and Tom Gabel (Against Me!), Chris Wollard is among friends. Straying from the gritty sounds …

Back in the day (which was a Wednesday, by the way) the only way to get info on your favorite bands was through magazines or television. Thankfully for all us lazy bums, the internet has simplified the matter significantly. With sites like the infamous Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and the zillions of other similar sites, bands can instantly update thousands of their fans. Twitter is by far the most accessible of all, if you can get through all the amazingly redundant updates from Heidi.
Twitter boasts bands like Jimmy Eat World, …

Fastball
Little White Lies
8/10

I don’t know if this album makes me feel reminiscent or simply old. Fun, catchy guitar riffs, songs about missing girls, and all the style and spunk of mid-90’s alternative rock reminds me of high school. Most people I know HATED high school. My HS experience was generally a pleasant one, so I welcome Fastball’s new record with open arms. While I enjoy listening to it, I can’t think of anything to actually say about it. It’s standard fare for them, which means that they haven’t really changed. …

The Bakerton Group
El Rojo
Weathermaker Music
10/10
From the first ringing guitar lines of the intro to opener “Time Horizon” I liked this album. I was hoping some serious, instrumental, surf action would kick in, but some serious, instrumental, rock action kicked in instead. I went to Google’s image search expecting to find some dudes rocking Dick Dale tribute ponytails, but instead it’s a bunch of beer-bellied bearded guys who would look more appropriate at a high school football game than on a surfboard, yet there they are on a beach overlooking a …

It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in June of 2002. At the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, the bar is starting to fill with patrons the likes of which the four star hotel has not seen before, particularly not in such numbers. They are a colorful bunch, quite literally. They are attendees at the inaugural Hell City Tattoo Fest and the majority is nearly covered in tattoos. Durb Morrison, Hell City’s creator and promoter, can be seen darting from one place to another, almost always with …

The Hold Steady
A Positive Rage
Vagrant Records
10/10
Well, it’s about time. I was wondering when my ear’s balls were going to drop. It took 17 tracks of bar-room sing-along rock and roll to make it happen. Thanks, Hold Steady! The live recording of their second night at Chicago’s Metro is complemented by a DVD documentary featuring backstage snippets, interviews and thousands of fans making new friends as they scream each and everyone of vocalist Craig Finn’s words back at him.
Flowing through a set full of badass, full blown rock and roll …

The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles
Edited by Jeff Martin
Soft Skull Press
9/10
As I have been a retail employee for the last decade, I relate to a vast majority of the stories of asshole customers, incompetent leadership and dicking off on the company dime. From humorous bits of being locked in the store to a rookie’s failure to close down a boutique shop, The Retail Chronicles sufficiently capture the quiet debilitation of a retail employees self esteem. Whether you are a current or ex-retail employee, or even a …

Blind Pilot
With Loch Lomond and Grizzly Circus
Live at the Casbah
8/10
I used to live in San Diego, but any dude who was over 21 when his girl wasn’t knows that until then, you are stuck at all-ages shows. I was no exception, so I had never been to The Casbah before. I was both excited and annoyed at the same time. An annoying doorman detracted from the decent drink prices, Pabst Tall Boys, and my lovely date poking Grizzly Circus’ Rhodes piano when they weren’t looking, effectively becoming a hidden member …

School Boy Humor
School Boy Humor
Vagrant Records
2/10
Oh, jeeeeesus. Please stop. How are these guys on the same label that hosted such bad-assery as Alkaline Trio, Protest The Hero, and Thrice? School Boy Humor is what puberty sounds like. Nasal, whiny and irritating. I want to kick them off to the side and come back when their nads lower and they’ve experienced all the wet dreams their hearts desire. Until then, I will pass on the power-chord pouting.
–Jonathan Yost

Virgins
Miscarriage
Kiss of Death Records
7/10
Okay, I have mixed feelings about this album. At times it sounds really mediocre and run-of-the-mill. However, it has enough shiny moments of genius mixed in to have me scratching my head about what to say. First of all, this is NOT The Virgins, the major label band who plays kind of new-wavy rock music (their album is quite good), but a punk trio from Florida featuring Sam Johnson from the much better named New Mexican Disaster Squad.
Sam’s vocals remind me a lot of Jason Shevchuk …

Sin City Massive
LMFAO Live
February 28, The Hudson Theatre, San Bernardino, CA.
For one night only, the Inland Empire transformed itself into a crazy night in Vegas complete with light shows and party people. Unfortunately, the alcohol and slot machines went missing. Regardless, Sin City Massive lived up to its name and it was the biggest event held at the Hudson to this day. LMFAO headlined the sold-out event and they return with Dr. Hollywood at the Thank You Party on June 6th with more details to be announced online.
Now …

Zombie Haiku
Ryan Mekum
How Books
8/10
A book of haikus
But from zombies’ point of view
That’s pretty badass.
–Jonathan Yost

One Eyed Monster
Liberation Entertainment
9/10

Here’s what I think happened: the writer and his wife decide to “spice up” their lovelife and rent an “adult film” from the local video store. As they peruse the GangBang Whores 38s and the Horny Housewives 72s, they come to the porn with the names that have entered into popular culture. Jenna Jameson is hot, but the wife would feel inferior. Oh, here we go, Ron Jeremy. So they pick up a copy of Dirty Dave’s Sugar Daddy 15 and head home, thinking that they …

Love Grenades
Tigers in the Fire
Modus Vivendi Music
4/10
This is a three song EP with three bonus remixes of the titular track, “Tigers in the Fire.” The original version of “Tigers…” is bad, disco-sounding crap, but some of the remixes are pretty catchy, which is a-ok since this is electronica and no one is meant to ever hear the original version anyway. Relax househeadz, I’m half kidding. Of the remixes, the Martin Peter mix has a deep house vibe that I enjoyed. Now, the disco damage mix… Well, that’s something altogether …

This is one of many interviews I just found after believing them to be lost forever- I had assumed that my tape recorder had freaked out and deleted them all. Apparently I had put them on a flash drive which, until last week, was lost in the abyss of the Racket office. Bust! This interview was conducted just before Katy Perry’s album One of the Boys was just about to be released, and I suck at not getting this to you, our illustrious readers, earlier (nor to Katy’s really hot …