I was sitting around with my girlfriend when I showed her this record and she told me she’d heard of them, which I took as a good sign because she’s a bit of a hardcore connoisseur. With hope and expectations in my heart, I put No Consequences by Philadelphia’s Braindead on the stereo.

The band sure as hell wear their influences on their sleeves. My only real complaint about this record is that it seems a bit all over the place. It sounds like they took their favorite bands, ranging from Gorilla Biscuits, Kid Dynamite to Bane and took every note to heart. There is definitely a passion, drive and love for hardcore present in their sound though. With a little more focus, Braindead will be a fantastic band, and I look forward to hearing more from them.

They And The Children are an ambient hardcore band from Middletown, CT. If their new album Home, out now on Kill Normal Records, is any indication of what sort of bands are coming out of there, then I’m stoked. It’s good to finally find a band who knows what they’re doing when mixing soft ambient/post-rock with straight up hardcore. Usually you just get a shitty mish-mash of electronic bass, blips and beeps, along with the occasional scream and a poorly-timed, metalcore-esque breakdown. Instead, Home is a lush and beautiful album with a rough edge. Think of a slightly more trippy and experimental From Ashes Rise (a band I loved), and you’ve got Home down to a T.

I’ve always heard of Scream Hello, but never really sat down to listen to them. Man, I was missing out. A great mix of melodic pop punk with smart lyrics, I’ve been spinning this little teaser for their upcoming full-length, Everything Is Always Still Happening constantly. If you don’t find yourself tapping your feet or even dancing to “Vinegar & Baking Soda,” you’re a goddamn Communist sympathizer who deserves life in jail.

Warm weather calls for a different type of music. No more of this mopey, sad-sack stuff. Bust out the upbeat, the melodic, the toe-tapping goodness that is reserved for the time of year when the weather is nice and no one can stop you from wearing sandals outside.

New Jersey’s own The Black Hollies aren’t exactly reinventing the musical wheel with their newest full length Casting Shadows, but their brand of decades old rock is just the thing that spring calls for. Tracks like “Paisley Pattern Ground” and “That Little Girl” are just the kind of song that would have young girls screaming at the TV set back in the black and white era.

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First off, Astpai are European. How fucking hardcore is that? Ok, maybe not terribly so. I mean, I lived there for a while and I’m not that hardcore. Still, the Austria-based band represent the genre perfectly. A great mix of politically-minded thrash, hardcore, with a touch of pop-punk melodies can be found on their Corruption Concealed (Under Deceptive Slogans), out now on Rise Or Rust Records. The record takes some time to pick up and find itself, but by the end of the second song you will be totally into it. Somewhat surprisingly, you do find songs like “Hard To Manage Broken Windows” delving into a more melodic acoustic sound, something that you’d think someone like New Found Glory would be using. Soon enough though, the Look Back And Laugh-esque parts kick in with the blistering guitars and vocals growling, enough to sound like they’re bleeding. All of this without the misplaced machismo you’d usually associate with vocals like that. I’ve been on a hardcore fix for a while now and Astpai definitely are helping to sooth that craving, so check out Corruption Concealed… if you come across it.