Sex Dream - Candle On My Skin

If you've noticed me writing about pop-punk bands a little more than usual, well what can I say? There's been a whole lot of great pop-punk coming out lately! Sex Dream is a case in point. Based out of the Chicago suburbs and featuring Maria from Surfinbird on vocals, Sex Dream has released a debut EP/mini album that takes some perfectly-executed Ramones worship and mixes in a Muffs influence and an all-encompassing love for cats. This is the band I've been waiting for all my life! Candle On My Skin comes in at seven catchy tracks, with no songs hitting three minutes until the wonderfully melancholic "Madness Girlfriend" exceeds it by a full 15 seconds. This is a great-sounding pop-punk record. The production is nice and slick in a way that doesn't detract from the heavy punch of the guitars. Maria Surfinbird is a very appealing vocalist - exuding energy and charm but also capable of great tenderness when a song requires it. You can just tell how much fun this band is having playing this kind of music. And that spirit pervades this entire record. You can talk all you want about how Ramones-inspired punk has "been done to death". But then you'll hear the likes of Sex Dream and find yourself wishing for a thousand more bands just like this. If you aren't completely delighted by the idea of punked-up Britney Spears covers and Meow Mix jingles, I have to question if we can even be friends.



-L.R.

https://sexxdream.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/sxdream/

Johnny Jetson - Make Your Move

Johnny Jetson is a glam rock lifer whose musical career has spanned several decades and taken him from New York City to L.A. to Minneapolis. He was in Space Age Playboys back in the '90s, Tattooed Millionaires in the 2000s, and now plays in the Speed City Vipers. He's released a terrific new solo record called Make Your Move - which is available now in digital form from Minnie-Apple Records. What I love about this record is that it captures the essence of Johnny Jetson. It's an over-the-top and fully unapologetic glam rock and roll record - rooted in a great love for everyone from the New York Dolls to T. Rex to Alice Cooper to KISS to Cheap Trick to the bad boys of the Sunset Strip. As '90s/2000s mainstream rock moved away from the hooky tunes and dumb fun of the rock and roll of yore, Johnny Jetson remained a true believer in the old ways. And he's still at it today! The man's on a mission, and it's no accident that the phrases "rock" and "rock and roll" are invoked on several of these song titles. Johnny Jetson is still keeping the faith for real rock and roll like you used to hear on the radio in the '70s and '80s. "Love Me For My Car" rides a timeless Marc Bolan groove straight into that head space where only the catchiest tunes latch onto you. "Hang Around With You" has the bluster of sleaze rock and the heart of pure pop. I heard the opening riffs to "Miss Devious" and half-expected Joan Jett to start singing. "I Believe In Rock And Roll" is a full-on mission statement. If it comes off corny, I would say that's an entirely good thing. Sometimes rock and roll is the only thing we have to believe in, and it never lets us down.

Johnny Jetson is no way inclined to "adapt" for modern times. He's gonna play his kind of music until the day he dies, and he's gonna do it with style and unceasing enthusiasm. From the quintessential hard rock trash of "Knocked Out" to the bubblegum glam of the title track, Make Your Move is all about big guitars, big hooks, and lyrics that unflinchingly embrace the silly cliches and tongue-in-cheek sleaziness that once made rock so great. It seems to me that a song called "Mouth Made For Rock N Roll" is precisely what the world needs at the moment. But while the attitude is commendable, Jetson's talent for writing catchy, hard-rocking tunes of considerable quality should not be overlooked. This album makes me wanna grow out my hair, stay up past my bedtime, and play my records so loud that the neighbors want to fight me. What am I waiting for?!

  
-L.R.

https://minnieapplerecords.bandcamp.com/album/make-your-move-2 
https://www.facebook.com/minnieapplerecords 
https://www.facebook.com/speedcityvipers/ 

Pale Lips - "The Kids" video

Today's post will be short and sweet. Pale Lips have made a music video for their track "The Kids"  - the second single off of their super fantastic album After Dark. The video (directed by Lynn Poulin) premiered today, and it's awesome! If you're already a fan, you'll get a real kick out of this vid. If you're not yet a fan, well then get yourself over to Bandcamp and buy everything Pale Lips have ever released! Ain't rock and roll the best?!



-L.R.

https://palelips.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/palelips

Brad Marino - "False Alarm"

Oh boy, I've got something special to kick off the new month! One of the best albums released by anyone last year was Extra Credit by Brad Marino. It was my third-ranked album of 2019, and I'm psyched to say we're getting a follow-up of sorts next month. The False Alarm 7", out May 15th on Rum Bar Records, will feature two new original songs plus a cover of Hoodoo Gurus' "What's My Scene". The CD version will come with five bonus tracks - effectively making False Alarm a mini album! Brad Marino is one of my favorite people in music, and I love how he injects poppy, hook-driven songwriting into the style of pure rock and roll. The lineage of Buddy Holly to the Flamin' Groovies to the Ramones to Rockpile is carried on in Marino's solo recordings. While we'll have to wait another six weeks for the release of False Alarm, the title track came out today and is of course absolutely killer. It's rocking, catchy, and full of Marino's typically clever lyrics (favorite line: "I've been thinking/And I've been drinking/Sometimes I mix the two"). This, my friends, is how you do rock and roll with hooks. If Brian Wilson had written a song for the Stones back in the day, it might have sounded an awful lot like this. I am so pumped to hear the rest of these songs! Pre-order for False Alarm is up now on the Rum Bar Bandcamp!



-L.R.

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/false-alarm 
https://bradmarino.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/bradmarinomusic 
https://www.facebook.com/RumBarRecords 

Mäsh - "I Don't Want You"

You know I love my '77-style punk rock, and I know I can always count on Wanda Records to deliver it! Next up on the Wanda hit parade is Mäsh, a five-piece outfit from Berlin. New single "I Don't Want You" offers up a pair of smokin' tunes that marry Detroit rock/proto-punk to glammy '77 punk by way of '50s rock and roll. The title track pairs some red-hot lead guitar with a beat that'll instantly have you shaking your ass. It kinda has a Teenage Head feel, which is a-ok by me. On the flip, "Wisper" is similar but a little more bubblegum/glam influenced. I dig! Both of these songs hit that sweet spot where old style punk and early rock and roll intersect. "Songs with dynamite balls, straight outta the junkshop bin," says the label description. How can you not be enticed?! Highly recommended if you like New York Dolls, The Joneses, Humpers, etc.!

  
-L.R.

https://wandarecords.bandcamp.com/album/i-don-t-want-you
https://www.facebook.com/mashpunkberlin/
https://www.facebook.com/wandarecords/

Parasites/Lone Wolf - Passport Split Series Vol​.​ 4

For a while now, Mom's Basement Records has been doing a series of splits featuring bands from all over the world. With Mom's Basement being one of the world's preeminent pop-punk labels, it's no surprise that previous volumes of the Passport series have featured heavyweights of the genre like The Windowsill, Neon Bone, Grim Deeds, and The Putz. Well for this fourth volume, John has really upped the ante and delivered new recordings from the legendary Parasites! Some of you oldtimers may recall that I was an obsessed Parasites fan circa the later '90s, and I would still put this band in any holy trinity of pop-punk I ever concocted. Here Parasites share space with Dutch punk rock supergroup Lone Wolf, and I must instantly declare this as the most essential installment yet in the Passport Split series!

So how do new songs from Parasites sound? Very much like old songs from Parasites! My god, "No Sleep Tonight" sounds like a missing track from Punch Lines! It's everything a pop-punk tune ought to be: full of catchy melodies, heartfelt vocals and lyrics, and guitars that pack a serious punch. Nobody writes 'em quite like Dave! "Nowhere Near Me" is faster-paced and punkier - yet still full of those vintage Dave Parasite airings of grievances that you'll surely relate to if you've ever had bitter feelings towards an ex. One thing that always drew me to Parasites was how Dave could write about completely miserable experiences yet still find twisted humor in them. Here he is still doing that in 2020. Listen to a master at work!

You'd get your money's worth on this split just from the Parasites tracks alone. But the Lone Wolf  side of this release turns out to be just as good if not better! Featuring members of The Apers, The Bat Bites, Accelerators, Giant Eagles, and The Windowsill, Lone Wolf belie their three-chord pop-punk pedigree with a sound that's a great mix of indie rock, power pop, and punk. The band just released a really great LP on Stardumb Records that I should have known about (I mean that literally - I just found the email from Stefan dated last August 13th!). Here Lone Wolf turns out two more fantastic tracks. "Meet Me In The Middle" is great upbeat pop-leaning punk with keyboards. Even though the lyrics are intensely emotional, this song possesses the kind of triumphant energy that can immediately turn your day around. And with what the world is going through now, a lot of us may need our days turned around on an hourly basis. "After Dark" is another emotion-packed number that really plays up the outstanding chemistry Merel and Ox have as co-vocalists. What a fine tandem! While still fitting perfectly within the Mom's Basement universe, Lone Wolf are a band you might dig even if you don't like pop-punk. I'm hearing traces of everything from the Marked Men to Dirt Bike Annie to melodic post-hardcore to '90s indie/alternative. 

Sometimes split records are where bands' shitty material goes to die. So I must commend John from Mom's Basement for securing top-notch tracks from two great bands. Here we've got perhaps the best Parasites songs I've heard in more than 20 years along a pair of top-tier tracks from one of the finest new punk groups out there. Of course I was pumped to hear new music from Parasites, and I was not disappointed. But I've come out of this split with a new band to love in Lone Wolf. Which band wins the split? I'll happily call it a tie!



-L.R.

https://momsbasementrecords.bandcamp.com/album/passport-split-series-vol-4-parasites-lone-wolf-split 
https://momsbasementrecords.bigcartel.com/product/passport-split-series-vol-4-parasites-lone-wolf-split 
https://www.facebook.com/MomsBasementRecords/ 
https://theparasitesofficial.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialParasites 
https://wearelonewolf.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/wearelonewolf/ 

The Merinuks - EP 1

As you may have already gathered from the cover art, The Merinuks named themselves after the legendary artist Darren Merinuk - who has been cool enough to design the band's logo and artwork! This trio from Hamilton, Ontario has been at it since 2018 and just released a debut EP that is an absolute hoot. When you say "garage punk", that usually just implies trashy, low-budget punk rock. But in the case of The Merinuks, it's more like garage rock with a punk attitude. Palpable influences range from The Who to The Stooges to the Stones to Teenage Head. These guys play loud, thumping rock and roll that very much aligns with the artistic spirit of their namesake. About 30 seconds into "Real Cool Love", I was like, "This reminds me of The Dictators!". Of course I was hooked from there. "I Still Love Detroit Rock City" is a song about how awesome it was to be a KISS fan growing up in the '70s - which I can certainly relate to as a '70s kid myself. "Hurry Hard" kind of brings to mind a less obnoxious Angry Samoans. Whether you call it garage or proto-punk or just plain kick-ass rock and roll, "Driver" is an absolute smasher. All in all, this EP is the most fun that $4 could possibly buy you. It's got all the classic stylings of garage rock with the lyrical and musical edge of punk rock. And I love how these fellas inject their humor and personality into their songs. I bet they are a blast to see live. EP 2 already in the works!



-L.R.

https://merinuks.bandcamp.com/album/ep-1
https://www.facebook.com/themerinuks/