Canyons: No Man Is An Island E.P.

This is Canyons' second five-song cassette e.p. No Man Is An Island is a document of the band at a specific time with a specific line-up which unfortunately no longer exists. After this was recorded both Maegen and Garrett would end up leaving the band. However, this is finally seeing the light of day on #diy4lyfe records. And the band has continued on with a new line-up. These five songs are really gorgeous representations of what the band is capable of. Nick's drumming is amazing. Maegen's voice is beautiful. Jeremy's guitar tones are spacey. The songs are long-winded. But they vary. They have highs points and low points. The spacing and the sequencing is well done. I hope someday this band gets their act together enough to put out a full length, and tour on it because when they're good they're really good. It would be sad if this was the last thing they ever put out. 

Forced Order: Retribution 7"

Forced Order put out a demo tape, then the Eternal War 7"on Mass Movement Records, before releasing Retribution, a new four-song 7"on Revelation Records. They did all this in less than a year. It's crazy how fast this band made moves, but it's no surprise how quickly they took off. This is dark, heavy, metallic hardcore. Two of the songs on this thing are instrumental! The drums are pounding, the guitars are wailing, and the vocals are haunting. I think in some ways the two songs that are instrumental are more powerful than the songs with lyrics. "Gnosis," my favorite song on the 7" shows the depth this band has, and says more without lyrics than most hardcore bands do in their entire discographies. With plans to release their full length on Rev in 2015, this is a must own. Buy HERE.

Calvin Jalandoni: Self Titled Full Length

In 2011 Calvin Jalandoni started playing shows by himself. He recorded a demo and released it on bandcamp. He played shows sparingly lecturing people on mitosis, atoms, and biology. His ideas were usually lost on the crowd. His shows were always a little disjointed, a little awkward, and a little inspiring. Three years later he recorded and released his first full length album on hand-made cd's with instructions on how to meditate while listening to it. With a shifted and more directed focus, this feels like the first real representation of what he is shooting for. When he handed me a copy, he told me to listen to this by myself, in the dark, with headphones on. Listen to the whole thing all the way through. Don't give up, he said. It's an album. It's a piece of art. It's an experience. There are only four real songs on this which range from 5:00 - 10:00 minutes while the other seven songs, each at the 35 second mark, represent different chakras with instructions on how to meditate to them and the way to reach full enlightenment. The first standout moment on the album is where Calvin screams "If I die before I wake / I pray the lord my soul to take." I remember listening to this for the first time in Garrett La Bonte's living room, and literally sitting up and saying,"holy shit. Calvin did it. He wrote an album." Yet, I think Calvin is best when he is quieter like on the beginning of Early Morning. But it's his undeniable ability to shred on the guitar that usually stuns people during live shows. He ends the last song Final Flowering, by telling people "don't go on behaving like a machine / that's how people keep functioning / destroy the structures of politicians and greed" before repeating "love yourself." I think at it's very core, these are punk ideas. Ideas we've all heard before, but I promise that this is the most interesting way they've ever been presented. This is unique. No one else is doing what Calvin is doing. He has no contemporaries. But at the end of the day he gets it. "Love is the final flowering. You can not perfect it." That's it. That's all there is to it. 

Email Calvin for a copy of the cd. You want the physical release. Trust me. It ties the whole thing together in a way that listening to it on the internet can't. calvinjmusic(at)gmail(dot)com. 

Enough Said: Heritage Day 7"

I spend a lot of time joking about how I hate Eric Aliberti, but the truth is I don't. And as much as I want to hate his band, this 7" surprised the shit out of me.  Enough Said's been around for years at this point, and their past demos never really did anything for me, but the lyrics on this record are super on point. The title track Heritage Day exclaims 

They march the streets mapped by their elders 

They wear the uniforms adorned by their mothers

They carry the torch lit by their fathers 

They foster the beliefs instilled in them by others 

Before exploding into the chorus

I don't - want it

I won't- accept it
I don’t- need it
I won’t- believe it 

This record hits hard, and it's over before you know it starts. These Five songs in seven and a half minutes will punch you in the face and knock you out before you realize why you're on the floor with a lump on your skull. It's fucking scary good. I don't even like hardcore, and I like this. This is my favorite batch of songs that Madison has ever played on with the exception of Creatures' Vesuvius. It's good. It's really good. And you can buy it HERE. They're probably the only band that'll ever rep Placentia, and that's okay with me. 400 on back. 100 on white. Do it. 

Split released on Thick Skin Records and Fight 'Em All Records. 

Pelican Vision: Isolation E.P.

Pelican Vision, the main songwriting project of Jacob Brown, put out a four song cassette tape back in the summer, and they are something that could only come out of a bedroom. Calling on influences like Pedro the Lion and Rocky Votolato, this is Jake's' strongest release to date. I'm really impressed with this tape because Jake plays both drums and guitar on this recording while using his brother Jordan for bass. "Needing," the strongest track of the four, sounds like the beach, summer boredom, shitty minimum wage jobs and road trips. These songs are about being stuck, but seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Here's to getting out of the suburbs. You can grab a copy of the cassette here from Avocado Records. 

Fury: Kingdom Come 7"

After shelling out a six-song demo tape on Mosher's Delight that had the whole world dancing to Big Al's Beat these kids took their songs to the road opening up for Soul Search for over a month before releasing their first 7" on BBB Records. The A-side of Kingdom Come runs out with guns blazing: fast-as-fuck, angry hardcore that's also a little vibey, and more pissed off than anything on the demo. I really like the contrast with the B-side, which has two longer songs more influenced by NYHC. I think the B-side shows a lot more depth and could potentially preview where this band is headed in the future. The artwork is killer too. Super powerful image. The best thing to come out of Yorba Linda in 2014. Do yourself a favor. Pick it up. It's already more than half way through it's first pressing. 

Sub Pop USA book review

Sub Pop USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology, 1980-1988 is a 400 page book compiling all of the early sub pop zines as well as all of bruce pavitt's sub pop columns that he wrote for rocket magazine between April '83 and July '88. The zines were super cool, and it was rad to see how he did the layout for the cassette releases, but i really liked reading the columns more. He gets meaner in the columns, more confident and more critical of the bands he's reviewing. It makes it way more entertaining. And if you take the time to check out some of the bands you hadn't heard before, you can learn a whole bunch. After listening to some of them, I was super impressed with Pylon from Georgia, as well as all the half japanese stuff I listened to. I also ended up getting lost in a Jandek wikipedia article for way too long and tried downloading that documentary Jandeck on Corwood, but didn't have any luck. But this is super re-readable, and has so much information packed into it that you can't help but learn something new. Bazillion Points published this collection after putting out the Touch & Go fanzine. I hope they can put out the No Idea fanzines next!