Propagandhi - How To Clean Everything

Artist: Propagandhi
Album: How To Clean Everything
Genre: Punk
Origin: Canada
Year: 1993

Propagandhi have become a classic of Canadian punk rock, pushing the skate-punk sound into more political territory. This early album is maybe a little less polished, but the production is solid and the lyrics have an odd juxtaposition of heavy-handed, self-righteous anarchism and not-taking-themselves-too-seriously silliness. The irony is laid on pretty thick with the oft-covered Ska Sucks (a ska song), Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass (a reggae song) and the painful I Want U 2 Want Me cover (the liner notes for this song say "we thought it was funny at the time" or something like that; don't worry, the rest of the songs on the album are great).

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Witch Hunt & To What End? - split

Artists: Witch Hunt & To What End?
Album: Split EP
Genre: Crust Punk
Origin: USA & Sweden respectively
Year: 2008

Witch Hunt and To What End? are both female-fronted, aggressive punk bands that came together across the Atlantic for this brilliant split. Witch Hunt is influenced a bit more by '80s British anarcho-punk, while To What End? is straight-up Swedish d-beat. I also highly recommend This Is Only The Beginning..., a compilation of Witch Hunt's early recordings.

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Totalt Jävla Mörker - Totalt Jävla Mörker

Artist: Totalt Jävla Mörker
Album: Totalt Jävla Mörker
Genre: Crust punk
Year: 2006
Origin: Sweden

This here's some of the heaviest, most refreshing crust punk I've heard in a long while. Totalt Jävla Mörker are from Sweden (of course), and the lyrics are all in their native tongue, along with the band name: Total Fucking Darkness. From what I understand, the band's newest album is slowed down a bit, but this self-titled release is lightning fast, crushingly metallic punk in the best Swedish tradition. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys Martyröd or Wolfpack/Wolfbrigade.

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Beyond Decay - Dropping the Bomb

Artist: Beyond Decay
Album: Dropping the Bomb
Genre: Skacore
Year: 2008
Origin: USA

Beyond Decay play a mix of ska, reggae and hardcore, with rap thrown in on a song or two, which comes from the now-worldwide "crack rock steady" scene. I come across a fair amount of this style on the Internet these days, but this is an album that is executed much better than most (see No Cops For Miles as another very good, though less creative, example). Yes, the album cover is larger than my review, but it does look cool doesn't it?

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Disfear - Live the Storm

Artist: Disfear
Album: Live the Storm
Genre: Crust Punk
Year: 2008
Origin: Sweden

Disfear has for years been one of the best bands and worst names in crust punk. Now they are playing it rock'n'roll style, but still with the d-beat (of course). This is for fans of Wolfbrigade/Wolfpack for sure. It may be more accessible than most crusty albums, but the energy on this recording is still unbelievable. It's intense, it's rockin', it will make you bang your head!

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Citizen Fish & AOS3 split

Artist: Citizen Fish & AOS3
Album: TV Dinner/Conspiracy split 7"
Genre: Ska Punk
Year: 1992
Origin: UK

Citizen Fish is the ska offshoot of the Subhumans (UK), and after seeing them play 3 times, I think they are pretty cool dudes. It's kind of amazing how many songs they have about tv rotting our brains. AOS3 is a psychedelic punk band who really rock on their one track from this split; I would really like to hear their full-length albums. They take their name from Augustus Owsley Stanley III, a prominent Dead-head and the maker of much of San Francisco's LSD back in yesteryear. This is a short recording, but if you like punk and psychedelic rock you should definitely try this out.

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happy 2010!!!

La Plebe - ¡Hasta La Muerte!

Artist: La Plebe
Album: ¡Hasta La Muerte!
Genre: Punk
Year: 2007
Origin: USA

La Plebe is a (primarily) Spanish-language punk band from San Francisco, who I only recently discovered when they opened for Star Fucking Hipsters, and played a very memorable set. They play punk music that is heavily infused with trumpet and trombone, but it is not ska at all, just good old fashioned punk rock with prominent horns. In fact I would compare it more with banda/mariachi style music, though really I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to Mexican music, and I enjoy this way more than the "traditional" Mexican music I've heard on the radio. The name means something like "the proletariat", I think, and the music is certainly political. The song Plebe por Vida is really fun, and I remember it being great at the concert as well.

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Punch - Punch

Artist: Punch
Album: Punch
Genre: Hardcore / Thrash Punk
Year: 2009
Origin: USA

Punch is a powerviolence/thrashcore/very-fast-punk band from my local metropolis, San Francisco. The female vocalist is extremely fierce, which accompanies the band's blistering speed and heaviness perfectly. The lyrics are of course quite important to the band, with vegan and feminist ideologies featured prominently in those that I read. I only came across this, along with the band's only previous release, the Eyeless EP, very recently, but I think this is definitely a promising young group.

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Anti-Flag / Bouncing Souls split

Artist: Anti-Flag / Bouncing Souls
Album: split
Genre: Punk
Year: 2002
Origin: USA

It's Blog Action Day! I'm supposed to talk about climate change. So, ride your bike or walk somewhere today. And don't eat any meat today - the meat industry is one of largest human-created sources of carbon emissions. This shit matters! A small rise in sea-level from melting glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will be devastating to the people in a poor, sea-level area like Bangladesh. Lives are at stake.

And here's a very nice ep from one of the greatest, most unashamedly political punk bands I know. And the Bouncing Souls side is ok. I will forgive Anti-Flag just about anything they do musically nowadays because this older material is so damn great. This release marked almost ten years of awesome, unmistakably unique punk albums from the band.

I should also mention that each band does a cover of the other on this split: The Bouncing Souls play Anti-Flag's "That's Youth" and Anti-Flag does The Bouncing Souls' "Freaks, Nerds, and Romantics". "Ever Fallen In Love" is also a cover of the original by the Buzzcocks and "We're Coming Back" was originally by Cock Sparrer (lots o' cocks here I guess).

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Kakistocracy - Cast Aside Your Chains and Dance

Artist: Kakistocracy
Album: Cast Aside Your Chains and Dance
Genre: Crust Punk
Year: 2004
Origin: USA

kakistocracy n. - "Government by the least qualified." As you would expect with a name like that, the band plays anarchist punk with crust heaviness and dual-vocal technique. They come from the South of the US, which seems to give them the motivation to kick even more ass than their Northern counterparts.

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The Broadways - Broken Star

Artist: The Broadways
Album: Broken Star
Genre: Punk Rock
Year: 1998
Origin: USA

I think this is what happens when sociology students form a band at university (...though I'm just guessing about the Broadways). The album features musically upbeat punk rock with serious intellectual (but still all punk-angry!) lyrics. I first looked into this band when I saw they had a song about Jonathan Kozol (read Amazing Grace, it's a very powerful account of the terrible inequalities in US schools and communities). It's an enjoyable album sort of along the lines of Propagandhi and Good Riddance.

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The 241ers - Murderers

Artist: The 241ers
Album: Murderers
Genre: Folk Punk
Year: 2008
Origin: USA

The mysteriously named 241ers (some New York thing I guess?) were formed from members of the Stockyard Stoics among other underground punk groups, which is probably what first got my interest. They play acoustic folk-punk though, with the angry-drunk vocal stylings and anarchist lyrics that make the genre work for me.

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Mephiskapheles - God Bless Satan

Artist: Mephiskapheles
Album: God Bless Satan
Genre: Ska (-punk)
Year: 1994
Origin: USA

Satanic ska! God Bless Satan has become one of my favorite ska (-punk) albums over the last couple years. The song-writing is excellent and very horn-focused, and the lyrics are humorous and sung with a unique voice. Many of the songs give me the urge to get up and dance to the swingin', blazin'-fast rhythms. All the tracks are catchy and fun, but Doomsday stands out as my favorite ("wu-wu-wu-wu-what's this button for?").

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Conflict - There's No Power Without Control

Artist: Conflict
Album: There's No Power Without Control
Genre: Anarcho-punk
Year: 2003
Origin: UK

This is the comeback album from British anarcho-punks Conflict after 10 years of hiatus - which might have something to do with apparently being banned from performing in the UK after inciting a riot. This album is heavier and features better production than their old work, and it's catchy enough that I find myself singing it out of the blue every once in a while. The dual male-female vocals complement each other very well when present, and Conflict's favorite lyrical themes of anarchism, police abuse and animal rights make a strong appearance. There's also a pretty sweet ska beat on The Hidden Hand. Also, I've gotta say that is one of the coolest album covers I have ever seen.

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A.P.P.L.E. - Plutocracy = Tyranny & Exploitation

Artist: A.P.P.L.E.
Album: Plutocracy = Tyranny & Exploitation
Genre: Punk
Year: 1988
Origin: USA

A.P.P.L.E. helped define Peace Punk by merging elements of British anarcho-punk, a la Crass, and 1960s San Francisco rock, Jefferson Airplane-style. The result is quite different from both influences, I think, but very enjoyable. The lyrics have that punk kick (and gratuitous profanity), with the 1960s influence giving them more of a peace-and-love message than most anarcho-punks. This album incorporates a few (very good) songs from an earlier ep, A Sensitive Fascist is Very Rare.

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No Cops for Miles - A New Diction

Artist: No Cops for Miles
Album: A New Diction
Genre: Ska-core
Year: 2008
Origin: USA

California punk/riot-ska band No Cops for Miles is clearly influenced by Choking Victim and the resulting "Crack Rock Steady" scene, but I feel like they bring something fresh to the songwriting. The production is fuzzy and DIY-tastic, and the album is very short, but worth a listen if you're interested in this style.

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Oi Polloi - Fight Back!

Artist: Oi Polloi
Album: Fight Back!
Genre: Oi!
Year: released in 1994, but the material was recorded in 1986
Origin: Scotland

This is a rerelease of songs from a couple splits from 1986 by anarcho-punk/oi! band Oi Polloi. The band was very interested in working class unity, particularly in mending the conflicts between punks and skinheads, the band having members identifying with both groups throughout the years. As well as being antifascist they have also supported direct action in response to environmental issues. More recently it seems they have started singing in Gaelic, but these songs are all English. The tracks on this album are all very catchy chant-along stuff with the energy you'd expect from an anarcho-punk band.

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Morning Glory - The Whole World Is Watching

Artist: Morning Glory
Album: The Whole World Is Watching
Genre: Melodic Punk
Origin: USA
Year: 2003

Morning Glory is the side project of Ezra from Leftover Crack. It is just about the most melodic an album can be while still feeling entirely like rough-around-the-edges, street punk. This is partly an affect of the low-tech recording and production, and partly just a matter of attitude (with songs like "Gimme Heroin" and "School is Bullshit" you know these guys aren't going mainstream anytime soon). In any case, this album is catchy as hell. The last few tracks are off The Suicide Singles.

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Agnostic Front - Victim in Pain

Artist: Agnostic Front
Album: Victim in Pain
Genre: Punk
Origin: USA
Year: 1984

This is the classic from the fairly well-known hardcore punk band Agnostic Front. It's inspiring, chant-along kinda stuff. I guess Blind Justice is the most famous (and probably the best) track, and it's been covered a few times, including one by Napalm Death, paying tribute to a major punk influence. This album has a ton of awesome tracks, and it really doesn't have any flaws I can think of, though I recommend avoiding a lot of Agnostic Front's later material.

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Detestation - Agony of Living

Artist: Detestation
Album: Agony of Living
Genre: Crust / Anarcho-Punk
Year: 1997
Origin: USA

Detestation is a crust anarcho-punk band with female vocals from Portland, Oregon. If you are familiar with other female-fronted crust punk acts like I Object! or Mankind? or A//political, this is a pretty standard but very enjoyable album. The music is furious and dense and seemingly a bit more metal than their counterparts, and the lyrics hit the typical animal rights and class war topics as well as a pretty heavy dose of depression.

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