PULLEY

Pulley - Esteem Driven Engine

Pulley - Sixty Cycle Hum

Pulley - S/T

Pulley - Together Again For The First Time

Pulley - Matters

Pulley - Time Insensitive Material EP

Pulley - The Long And The Short Of It 7"

Fucking Pulley. One of the best melodic hardcore bands to ever grace the earth. Scott Radinsky (Ten Foot Pole) on vocals, Matt Riddle (Face To Face, No Use For A Name) on bass, Jim Cherry (Strung Out) on guitar and Jordan Burns (Strung Out) on Drums. A bona-fide punk rock super group. The line-ups shifted for subsequent releases but Scott Radinsky stuck around on vocals (despite a lucrative MLB career). Every one of these albums totally fucking slays. These guys played a major part in my youth and are definitely one of the 90's best punk bands. Life-changing tunes right here dudes.

MUNG - Vow Of Poverty

MUNG - Vow Of Poverty

Named after Leukorrhea, Mung were a 90's Boston hardcore band. Their first EP, Vow Of Poverty, was released in 1996 on the Bosstones' Big Rig Records label. As far as I know this was Mung's only release and it totally slays. If you like H2O, CIV and American Standard then these six songs are your new favourite jams.

LEATHER

Leather - Anchorite 7"

Leather - Sterile 7"

Leather ride the perfect middle-ground between hardcore and grunge. This is dirty, fuzzy and pissed-off shit. Leather sounds like Pissed Jeans with John Joseph singing. Jade Tree just released the Sterile 7" and it fucking slays so go buy it (Jade Tree needs the money). Sterile is more melodic than Anchorite, but both are equally rad releases that are totally worthy of your precious time.

Tonite BINGO with Archers Of Loaf

Young Ginns

Young Ginns - Anthology

Members of Nation Of Ulysses and Unwound playing Black Flag worship. Their one and only 7" was released by the venerable San Diego punk label Gravity Records (Heroin, Clikatat Ikatowi and Angel Hair). This is their Anthology release which contains the 7" along with various comp and demo tracks. Chaotic fucking hardcore.

Mister Dream - Trash Hit

Mr. Dream - Trash Hit

These dudes are Harvard grads who moved to Brooklyn and started a punk band. Trash Hits sound like The Pixies, Jesus Lizard and early Nirvana mixed with modern bands like Male Bonding, Wavves and No Age. Trash Hits is jagged, fuzzy and catchy punk rock that you need to be listening to right now. You'd be doing yourself a huge disservice if you slept on this album. This is your new favourite band.

Forming

Forming - S/T

I don't know fuck all about this band except that they're young and they play totally rad throwback 90's punk rock. If you dig Samiam, Jawbreaker and Seaweed you're gonna love what these dudes are doing.

SNFU

SNFU - ...And No One Else Wanted To Play

SNFU - If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish

SNFU - Better Than A Stick In The Eye

SNFU - The Last Of The Big Time Suspenders

SNFU - Something Green And Leafy This Way Comes

SNFU - The One Voted Most Likely To Succeed

SNFU - Fuck You Up Like A Bad Accident

SNFU - Let's Get It Right The First Time

SNFU - Ping Pong EP

SNFU - In The Meantime And In Between Time

SNFU (Society's No Fucking Use) are not just one of Canada's best punk bands, they are one of the best punk bands of all time. They have done time on BYO Records, Cargo Records, Epitaph Records and currently are releasing shit on their own label (Rake Records). For the bulk of their history the three constants have been lead singer Mr. Chi Pig (A total madman who is a punk rock legend) and the Belke brothers, Marc and Brent, whose guitar work ranks among the best of 1980's and 90's punk rock. All their albums totally slay and you'd be a fool to not grab at least one of these, seriously don't fuck around here (you really can't go wrong with any era of this band, I'm particularly fond of their 90's Epitaph output). Mr. Chi Pig is a total meth head now (a shell of the man he used to be) who is toothless and suffers from schizophrenia. He was homeless for a while, but seems to be doing better now and can still put on one hell of a show.

Atrophy

Atrophy - Socialized Hate

Atrophy - Violent by Nature

Thrash metal from Tucson, AZ. Both of these fine slabs-o-thrash were released by Roadrunner Records in the late 80's/early 90's. The band called it quits after founding guitarist (and main songwriter) Chris Lykins left to attend med-school. Quality thrash metal with all the hallmarks of the genre: Blazing solos, double-kick drumming and generic lyrics about social unrest (with the obligatory party song thrown in). This may not be on a Megadeth level of awesomeness, but it is definitely on par with anything Exodus or Testament put out. Like most old albums on Roadrunner these are long out of print.

Coffin Break

Coffin Break - Psychosis

Coffin Break - Rupture

Coffin Break - No Sleep 'Til The Stardust Motel

Coffin Break - Crawl

Coffin Break - Thirteen

Coffin Break were a late 80's/early 90's grunge band from Seattle, WA. Their first three albums (Psychosis, Rupture and No Sleep...) were released on C/Z Records. The band then signed to Epitaph Records who released their final two albums (Crawl and Thirteen). They called it quits in 1993. As fas as I know all these albums are out of print (though possibly still available). Coffin Break were a little too punk rock for the grunge crowd and a little too grunge for the punk crowd. Great tunes that any fan of 90's Seattle will definitely love. Every album from these guys was recorded by legendary grunge producer Jack Endino, and as with anything he has done it sounds raw and rad. If you like Mudhoney, The Buzzcocks and Seaweed then you'll love Coffin Break.

TGUK - There Are Rules

TGUK - There Are Rules

If you are a fan of The Get Up Kids than you'll no doubt already be in love with this release. If for some reason you never cared for them, give this new one a spin because it doesn't really sound like any other Get Up Kids album. As always the secret weapon is their rhythm section, the Pope brothers, who make even the most dull song sound incredible. This album has it all, angular buzz-saw guitars, Peter Hook basslines, 80's synths and melodies for days. If you like Bloc Party or Les Savy Fav then I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this album. The last song on There Are Rules, "Rememorable", is a total banger (I've been spinning it on repeat for days now).

Polvo & New Radiant Storm King - ...And Then I'm Gone

Polvo & New Radiant Storm King - ...And Then I'm Gone

Two rad bands each contributing two songs to this split 7". Polvo are one of the pioneers of math-rock, and their 90's output is all fucking killer. I had never heard of New Radiant Storm King before this release and they play totally rad 90's indie rock that any fan of Pavement, Seam and the Pixies will dig.

Rich Kids On LSD

RKL - It's A Beautiful Feeling 7"

RKL - Keep Laughing

RKL - The Best Of RKL on Mystic Records

RKL - Rock 'N Roll Nightmare

RKL - Revenge Is A Beautiful Feeling

RKL - Greatest Hits: Double Live In Berlin

RKL - Reactivate

RKL - Riches To Rags

Here is everything I have from one of the greatest punk/metal/hardcore bands of all time. For me and my group of friends in high-school these dudes were the be-all-end-all. Every song is fucking killer. RKL are the best out of all the nardcore bands (even if they were from Santa Barbara). The stuff on Mystic Records suffered from shitty production, but the songs all totally slay so who gives a fuck. The progression in musicianship that these guys made in the two years between the release of Keep Laughing (1985) and Rock 'N Roll Nightmare (1987) is unreal. I mean they were technical as fuck. The Double Live In Berlin album is one of the best punk live albums and it really showcased their skill as a band, plus they played all the old Mystic stuff (which sounded way better than their studio versions). The Revenge Is A Beautiful Feeling album is just a best of released in Germany that contains their Mystic Records recordings (the band was finally able to make some money off those recordings, as their German label actually paid them). Then in 1989 they broke up. A couple years later they resurrected the band without vocalist Jason Sears (drummer Bomber took over vocal duties) and they released Reactivate through Epitaph Records in 1993. It was a total Butt Rock album that really turned fans off (whatever I like it) and was promptly deleted from Epitaph's catalog. During the European tour for Reactivate Bomber quit the band to do drugs and they flew Jason in to finish out the remaining dates. The re-invigorated RKL returned to the United States and recorded their best album, Riches To Rags, which is the perfect hybrid of hardcore and thrash. Members from this band went on to play in Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, The Other, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes and Good Riddance.

Guided By Voices - 1996-2004

Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars

Guided By Voices - Tonics And Twisted Chasers

Guided By Voices - Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP

Guided By Voices - Plantations Of Pale Pink EP

Guided By Voices - The Official Ironman Rally Song EP

Guided By Voices - Mag Earwhig!

Guided By Voices - Do The Collapse

Guided By Voices - Hold On Hope EP

Guided By Voices - Isolation Drills

Guided By Voices - Universal Truths And Cycles

Guided By Voices - Earthquake Glue

Guided By Voices - Half Smiles Of The Decomposed

So this is it, everything I have from the greatest band to ever emerge from Dayton, Ohio (and perhaps all of Ohio, sorry Trent Reznor). This is their "hi-fi" period (the exception being Tonics And Twisted Chasers which was a 4-track recording, like bee thousand, made by Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout as a fanclub LP) in which the band utilized 24 track consoles, proper studios and budgets that went to recording, not just alcohol. Some truly amazing material was released during this period. From the Kim Deal/Steve Albini produced Under The Bushes Under The Stars, the Rick Ocasek produced Do The Collapse and the Rob Schnapf produced Isolation Drills (the final three full lengths were produced by the band and Todd Tobias). Every one of these albums slays. Nobody sings with a better fake British accent than Robert Pollard. During this period they also released four boxsets (Suitcases 1-3 and Hardcore UFO's) several live discs and tons of singles. They are all worth hearing because their are only three types of GBV songs: Really great, plain great, and just good.