I’ve described Tenement‘s album Napalm Dream as the perfect combination of Superchunk, The Marked Men and Recess Records style pop punk. But unlike some pop punk bands, they refuse to get complacent with one style and that’s what I love about this band. It’s all over the place but it doesn’t get messy. The diversity of each and every song is what makes this album so great to me. Napalm Dream feels like an album made by record nerds for record nerds.

This album has so many gems on it, so it’s kinda hard for me to spotlight just one song. So, screw it, here are three songs from the record. Check out “Running Into Mirrors,” “Simple Things Can Seem So Involved,” “Spit In The Wind”  below.

“Running Into Mirrors”

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“Simple Things Can Seem So Involved”

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“Spit In The Wind”

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The band is streaming the rest Napalm Dream on Bandcamp too.  Support the band and buy the LP.

I’ve been saying this for a while now, but New Brunswick, NJ has one of the best music scenes in the country. Kicking Spit are yet another example of this. The band’s latest (and amazingly titled) EP Psychrockbullshit has been a personal favorite over the last few months.  The band has described their sound as “SST worshipping” so the comparisons to Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, later Black Flag, and Meat Puppets are appropriate. As a fan of all those bands, the familiar feeling that comes when listening to Psychrockbullshit is what makes it so refreshing. Psychrockbullshit is loud, spastic, catchy, and one of the best damn things I’ve heard this year.

You can buy the 12″ from Tank Crimes and  check out the song “Skulls” below.

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It was a sweet, sweet feeling to be greeted with the deliciousness of breakfast tacos every morning, in the breezy, 80 degree Austin weather. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, or at least in this case, they have been replaced with the busy hustle and bustle of New York morning commutes and frigid Spring temperatures. Regardless, the buzz that was 2011′s SXSW is still fresh on the mind (and no, it’s not because Ben Weasel took a swing at me during his show).

Long beer-filled days were put to rest by late night shows, which led to some of the best discoveries I could have asked for during this year’s host of free showcases. One of the best stumble-upons of this year’s SXSW was found at the the Austin Imposition II showcase. My heart had been set on hearing Julianna Barwick’s set — having pretty much drooled all over the tracks I had caught from The Magic Place just a few weeks prior — but the Longbranch Inn was probably one of the more inappropriate places to have hoped to watch her play during SXSW. The sound was off, the chatter was loud, and I was just about to turn around and walk away when No Joy plugged in and blew me completely away.

Just a few bars into the first song, and the chattering, uninvolved audience stopped and started to pay their attention to the bastion of sound No Joy projected. The band’s 2010 release on Mexican Summer had only been a slight teaser for what No Joy was able to offer live. Each song played became better than their last and by the end of their set I wanted nothing more than for them to keep playing on through the night — or at least grab hold of a copy of Ghost Blonde and play it on repeat on the car ride back to the hotel.

Here’s the title track from the album. Get it from Mexican Summer.

“Ghost Blonde”

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It was about two or so years ago on a random, bitter weekday night, when I stumbled into a local, divey music hall looking for some music to pick up the night. I wasn’t expecting much, having known the majority of regular bands that frequented the joint, but my prosaic expectations were taken for a loop when I walked in to what sounded like Doolittle and Pinkerton‘s lovechild playing in front of me. That’s right. I had my favorite Weezer album, blended together with the very best elements of the Pixies playing music to my ears. I believe it was the song “Wasters” that caught my attention first – mainly due to its uncanny resemblance to the Pixies’ “Debaser” – so I listened on; eventually leaving with a case of Loose Tooth on my brain.

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Photo by Denee Petracek

Who: Ty Segall

What do they sound like?: T-Rex, Jay Reatard, all things fuzzy.

Why YOU Should Listen!: Ladies and gentleman, I have found your summer 2010 soundtrack. Fuck all this goo goo over Gaga nonsense. Are we really still talking about Katy Perry? Really!? Ok, this guy has NOTHING to do with that world but Ty Segall should be the one dominating your headphones during these hot months. So crack open some High Life and throw some Ty Segall on the turntable. Rinse and repeat.

Last year, I was deeply saddened by the loss of garage rock troubadour Jay Reatard. Sure, he was an asshole, but his songs were some of the best songs I’ve heard come outta the garage rock stratosphere. Now, Mr. Segall, who has isn’t exactly a newcomer to the scene, is here to take his place.

Segall’s latest record Melted is an perfect mix of Reatard’s punk atittude and Marc Bolan-esque anthematic power rock. My personal favorites on the record include “Girlfriend,” “My Sunshine,” and “Sad Fuzz.” I don’t know what to else to say, the album is just so, so good. Check out a lil’ sample below punk, buy it and go see him on tour.

“Girlfriend”

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