popwreckoning

Love Notes/Letter Bombs by The Submarines is indie pop filtered through pop punk filtered through the Los Angeles sun. One immediately gets a sense of fun buried in smog. The bass hits hard, and the keyboards are thrilling. I’m reminded of Mates of State, Viva Voice, and other bands anchored by husband/wife duos.

The first two tracks are mid-tempo numbers focusing on the subjects of love and loss. Its weird mix of ’80′s new wave somehow made new. It’s all very interesting. Track three, “Ivaloo” is where things get things interesting.  The song begins with a ukulele and handclaps before the female vocals come out. Shortly, after that the male vocals respond. It’s kind of an argument in song, which is fun.

After that we have another highlight, “The Sun Shines At Night”. This is happy, sugary stuff but it’s pretty infectious. “We’re in love and it feels alright” goes the chorus, and you can’t help but get swept along. I’d usually hate this kind of thing, but it’s so goddamn joyous I can’t help myself.

The album ends with “Anymore”, which might be the best thing here. The song clicks and bleeps as Blake Hazard sings about love and jealousy. The album is best when she takes the lead, as this song proves.

Despite the fact that The Submarines sound like a lot of other bands, they have an originality that I respect. When I first this record on, I thought it was more of the same but it grew on me pretty fast. There is something exciting about this band that I can’t quite put my finger on.  If you’re a fan of indie pop, you’ll dig this.

Track listing:
1. Shoelaces
2. Fire
3. Ivaloo
4. The Sun Shines At Night
5. Birds
6. Tigers
7. Where You Are
8. Plans
9. A Satellite, Stars and An Ocean Behind You
10. Anymore

The Raveonettes are a Danish duo, and Raven in the Grave is their fifth album. They play gothic garage-style rock characterized by close two-part harmonies. They sound like a lot like The Jesus and Mary Chain, if you need a reference.

The good stuff on this album comes quick. Track two “War in Heaven” is what The Birthday Party might sound like if you took Nick Cave off drugs, and somehow hooked the songs on heroin instead. It’s great chill out music, but the lyrics definitely call attention to themselves: “there’s a war in heaven/I hate when they forget to let people in.” It’s not a new subject by any means, recalling any number of classic literary works, but it works well. The song drifts past, occasionally interrupted by bursts of noise. It’s kind of fascinating.

Next is “Forget That You’re Young”, which is closer to a pure pop song. The instruments are played so seamlessly, it’s hard to distinguish what’s going on immediately. There’s an electric guitar playing in the background, keyboards, and what sounds like a drum machine. The vocals are compelling, and the whole thing has a strange sense of space.

If there’s anything difficult about this album, it’s that you’ll miss a lot if you aren’t paying attention. I like this album a lot, but about halfway through I usually find myself spacing out. The albums disregards it’s listener, and simply does what it wants to. The thing is, if you want to dig in there’s a lot here. It’s great for chilling out, but it’s also susceptible to closer attention. Highly recommended.

Track listing:
1. Recharge & Revolt
2. War In Heaven
3. Forget That You’re Young
4. Apparitions
5. Summer Moon
6. Let Me On Out
7. Ignite
8. Evil Seeds
9. My Times Up

Lollapalooza 2011 is due to announce its 20th anniversary lineup in just a few days on April 26, but before they do, they’re having a little fun.

Some of the headliners – Eminem, Foo Fighters and Muse – have been previously announced, but now Lollapalooza is giving fans a chance to guess more of the lineup through a trivia game.

The game asks new trivia questions daily and some of the questions unlock clues. For example, one of the clues given reads: “Name aside, her skies are looking very blue these days.” Lolla fan sleuths have decoded this to mean Skylar Grey would be performing this year.

The game also gives you a chance to win a flyaway, hotel and tickets for two. There will also be ticket giveaways daily until the lineup is revealed.

To play the game, go here.

The 2011 festival is August 5-7 in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois.

Monday just got a little bit better. The Dear Hunter is offering “Deny It All” for free download.

“Deny It All” is the first song to be release off the forthcoming 9 EP collection, The Color Spectrum. “Deny It All” will be on the first of the Red EP. The song guest features Manchester Orchestra. Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull also helped produce.

To download the track, go to thedearhunter.com. You can also pre-order The Color Spectrum here. Watch a lyric video of “Deny It All” below:

Fresh off his tour with Girl Talk and Max Tundra, Deepak Mantera, aka Junk Culture, cleverly pursues new frontiers in electronica, layering opposing cuts and synths to make unexpectedly lush, intricate melodies. Named after the OMD song of the same name, Junk Culture played to two back-to-back sold out shows at the Ogden Theater in Denver last month and blew audiences away with his fresh beats and live instrumentation. Deepak took the time to talk to PopWreckoning about his musical influences and what it’s like playing music in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

Brianna Hernandez, PopWreckoning: How did you get your start?
Deepak Mantera, Junk Culture: I’ve been doing all sorts of weird art and music things since I was a kid. The music stuff I’ve been doing since I was maybe 12 or 13. My older brother was really into home recording so I naturally got into it that way, kinda peeking on what he was doing. Eventually he gave me a bunch of his old equipment so I learned on that stuff myself pretty quick.

PW: What is Oxford like?
JC: It’s slow and stable. Certified retirement community. I like it because it’s cheap and I can work on art projects there without much distraction. I’m personally not too into bigger cities or city living or anything. I definitely like having a lot of space and Oxford delivers on that. The only other place I can imagine myself living is Portland – it’s pretty Oxford-like to me in a lot of ways.

PW: Your sound is largely electronic influenced. Does Mississippi’s music scene have an appreciation for electronic music outside of traditional EDM? What has it been like to get your start and evolve in a place like Oxford?
JC: The music economy in Oxford is for the most part blues jam rock stuff. There isn’t really the same appreciation for electronic music here as in Baltimore or Detroit or something, but I think that’s changing. Not just here but everywhere. It’s just becoming more “normal” to complement live performance with electronics and computers and stuff. Honestly, I don’t know how much playing live in Oxford had to do with my music evolving. I mean, I played something like 120 shows last year and only maybe 10 of those were in Oxford. Touring around the country gave me way more perspective than playing in just Oxford.

PW: What was your first show like? How has your set evolved since then?
JC: The first Junk Culture show was more a mix of live and purely electronic songs. We don’t play any of those purely electronic songs anymore. Since then I’ve also added live visuals to the set and do a lot of things that make the live experience more raw and human. I’m all about doing shit that people might not expect to see at a show.

PW: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
JC: Things like movies, other music, and photographs are definitely huge emotional inspiration points for me. I can be pretty sentimental sometimes so I’m thankful that to this point that has helped me write some songs rather than wallow in self-pity.

PW: Is it important to you to include live instrumentation in your sets?
JC: Absolutely. I’m constantly trying to come up with ways to make the set more live and raw.

PW: Who have you collaborated with in the past and who would you love to collaborate with in the future?
JC: I haven’t really done a ton of collaboration with people in the past. The most recent one I can remember was for a track off my new record. I sampled heavily from a song that my younger brother’s band Koala wrote for “Honeysuckle.” There are a couple of vocalists who I’ve played with before that I’m getting to sing on a few new tracks I’m working on. I’m pretty psyched about that. Other than that, there’re tons of people I’d love to collaborate with: Das Racist, Javelin, James Pants, Lil B to name a few.

PW: If you weren’t making music and touring, what would you be doing?
JC: Making comedy films. Working on interface design projects. Copy editing. Something like that.

Fresh off his winter tour, Telekinesis front man, Michael Benjamin Lerner took time to chat with PopWreckoning about the band’s newest album, 12 Desperate Straight Lines, and what it’s like being based in Seattle. We caught Telekinesis’ show at Hi-Dive in Denver, CO a few weeks ago, and were blown away by the trio’s energy and indie pop sensibility. Lerner’s genuine rendition of songs off 12 Desperate Straight Lines turned the Hi-Dive’s intimate space into a Tuesday night dance party. Don’t miss Telekinesis this spring as they hit the road in support of Portugal. The Man.

Brianna Hernandez, PopWreckoning: How did you get your start?
Michael Benjamin Lerner, Telekinesis: Well, the live band has been a bit of a revolving cast for the life of this band so far. It’s always been just me writing and recording the records, and then getting my friends to come on tour with me! But, right now, I’ve got Jason Narducy and Cody Votolato playing with me. Jason plays bass with Bob Mould and Bob Pollard, and has his own band called Verbow. He’s kind of amazing. We met through Nada Surf. And Cody Votolato was in a band called the Blood Brothers, and currently in Jaguar Love. We met peripherally through the Seattle scene, and when Jaguar Love took a break, we got connected. He’s also ridiculously amazing.

PW: What was the first show you played? What has changed in your sets and performances since you first started out?
Telekinesis: Our first live performance as Telekinesis, I think, was at this place called the Funhouse in Seattle. It was terrifying! We were really nervous, and I remember it being really clunky, and crazy. David and Jonie Broecker, and Chris Staples were in the band from the beginning for the first year and a half or so. A whole heck of a lot changed from that show, I think. We learned how to play more as a collective, and not just learning the parts. I remember it being really thrilling, and also looking back on it, I’m really proud of where we ended up since then. It’s been a lot of progress: fun progress!

PW: How has your sound evolved over the past few years?
Telekinesis: For me, it’s less naive than it used to be. The first record sounds very naive to me. Which I am proud of! But, this new one I was a lot more confident, and it might sound a little tougher in that way.

PW: Is it more important to you to create something timeless or something that is relevant to what is going on at the time?
Telekinesis: Boy, I don’t know! I mean, I think I just write whatever comes to my head. There’s a whole bunch of influences that are pretty apparent on this record. There’s the Cure, Joy Division, and even some 90′s rock. Whether that’s ‘in’ right now isn’t for me to decide, and I guess I would never really try to write based on what’s relevant! I just have fun!

PW: Who are you currently listening to?
Telekinesis: I’m really, really obsessed with Nick Lowe again! Labour Of Lust is a killer record. I also got this amazing record as per someone’s recommendation. It’s by a band called Dug Dug’s. Insane psychedelic rock. From Chile or something crazy like that. Also, this amazing compilation called Cartagena. Also, The new Love Language record. It’s amazing. And the new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin record. SO GOOD.

PW: What is it like coming back to Seattle after being on tour? How has Seattle affected you as a band?
Telekinesis: It is amazing! I moved into this incredible little house in Georgetown with my girlfriend, and it’s so nice to come home now. I really look forward to it, for the first time in the career of this band, for sure. Seattle has been a pretty amazing place to grow up. So much music has come out of here, and thru here. And I’m very thankful to be a part of it all.

PW: Playing the drums and singing . . . how do you do it?
Telekinesis: It’s not too bad anymore! It’s mostly a question of being in shape or not! But, I really, really enjoy it! And weirdly, it’s easier to do that than play guitar and sing for me!

PW: What was it like to work with Chris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie)? Has he influence your recent work?
Telekinesis: He’s a super genius. 100% super genius! He just makes me play better. He makes me give the best performances I am capable, and most importantly, we have so much fun working together. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work with him.

PW: What was your favorite show to play?
Telekinesis: We just recently played an amazing show in Munich. It was the final show of a somewhat rough six week European tour. And it just felt so incredibly good to play a festival to a very enthusiastic crowd of 1500 Germans. I think Cody knocked me into my drums for that show! It was fun!

There was a line all around the block. 7 p.m. Pike Place. It was a Tuesday. A Tuesday. Two Door Cinema Club sold out the Showbox on a Tuesday, and with an early set time, no less. It’s easy to say that I was flabbergasted by how crowded the venue was and how pumped the crowd was, but that doesn’t really say anything.

I met a girl standing in line outside, who’d come all the way from Vancouver to see Two Door Cinema Club play on this Tuesday night. That’s saying something.

Starting out the night was Work Drugs, who all came out in matching suspenders (except for the one girl in the band) and dark sunglasses. They were fun, kind of loungey synth rock, stuff that you’d hear on an incredibly hip yacht.

It made sense for them to open for Two Door, to slowly build in the energy to the inescapable dance party that Two Door shows have proven to be. Probably the best part came when the keyboardist proclaimed, “This next song is called ‘Catalina Wine Mixer’!” And he shouted away from his mic, but still clearly audible: “It’s the FUCKING Catalina Wine Mixer.” I realize, however, if you haven’t seen the film Step Brothers, that joke doesn’t make any sense. But if you have seen Step Brothers, I’ll have to know that the song didn’t sound a thing like what you’d think the “Catalina Wine Mixer” would be in an indie rock song.

After Work Drugs finished out their set, local favorite The Globes took the stage to set up their gear. As the newly-signed-to-Barsuk Records band meandered around the stage, I thought to myself, “Hey, The Globes was the first band I ever shot.” They were, in November of 2009, when they opened for Telekinesis and the Lonely Forest at that very same venue. It made me feel really nostalgic, even if it was just a year and a half ago.

I can tell you, The Globes have gotten so much better than when I saw them last. They have much more of a loyal following, and they ruled the stage. An odd choice on the lineup for a Two Door show, they played to the energy and filled the Showbox with their heavy experimental rock.

The Globes created a wall of sound that hit me so hard that I wanted to go buy their album right then and there. Unfortunately I don’t own a record player and they only had a 12” available at the time. But their debut on Barsuk does come out next month, so that’s something to look forward to. But while you wait, I highly recommend seeing this band live, because even though now they’re a “Seattle band,” they’re originally from Spokane, on the other side of the Cascades, so they definitely don’t sound like everything else coming out of Seattle these days.

After the uproarious cheering that finished The Globes’ set, a surprisingly different kind of music came over the PA system. Familiar 90’s dance hits like “What Is Love,” and “Sandstorm,” as well as some recent hits remixed beyond recognition. It was a far cry from what we’d heard all night, and it definitely got the already energetic crowd moving even more. The floor even started to bounce. As I sat up in front of the barrier, I could see the top of the water in the bottles on the stage vibrating, like Godzilla was walking down Pike Place.

Thankfully, that wasn’t happening, but there was just as much screaming for Two Door Cinema Club than there would have been had Godzilla entered the room. It was a perfect show to shoot, after a month and a half hiatus of going to shows. I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop dancing, even after I did get hit with a spray of water from a bottle from the crowd.

Two Door Cinema Club repeatedly stated to the teenagers (but not just teenagers, I’ll explain in a minute) how Seattle has been the best city of every one of their U.S. tours, and we didn’t disappoint that night. Which in any other situation might have happened, since their set list wasn’t all new songs. Out of the 13 songs in the normal set, five of them were not on their debut. “Handshake,” “Kids,” “Hands Off My Cash,” “Costume Party” and “Moon” all being the new songs, it made me really excited for what’s to come for Two Door Cinema Club’s next album. I think I’d only heard two of those songs back in November when they played at Neumo’s, so the band is well on their way to record no. 2.

It may have been because the show was a whole hour earlier than what the Showbox normally does, but it was as wild and crazy as I’d seen a show since…well since the last time they were in Seattle.

At one point during the final few songs, bassist Kevin Baird asked the audience, “Do you guys like to dance? Do you like dancing? Well here’s a song that you can dance to!” And the crowd cheered in agreement. But I thought, We’ve been dancing the whole night, so clearly you can dance to all the songs.

But the best part of the night came during “Eat That Up, It’s Good for You.” I swear the latter half of that song is one of the best things on Tourist History, and it’s no less awesome live. The floor was still bouncing and the band, in all their youth, kept up with the frantic Tuesday-night energy tremendously.

After people started chanting “One more song!” and the adorable Irish band stepped on stage one more time, I noticed a women near the back of the crowd of people, who looked to be about 40. She was short, and at first glance looked like she was there as someone’s mom chaperoning. However, I was happily mistaken. Just like the spry teens sweating in the dense crowd, this woman was dancing her ol’ heart out. She wasn’t afraid to look like a dork, and it was kind of awesome.

So it just goes to show you, some bands can span all generations, even Two Door Cinema Club.

Set list:

Cigarettes in the Theatre
Undercover Martyn
Hands off My Cash
Do You Want It All?
Something Good Can Work
Handshake
This Is the Life
Kids
Costume Party
This is Moon
You’re Not Stubborn
Eat That Up
What You Know

Encore
Come Back Home
I Can Talk

Along with their exclamation point, Panic! at the Disco is back with their third album. A lot has changed in the P!ATD camp aside from their usage of punctuation. When the promising young group exploded in 2005 with their debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, they were a four piece and the primary lyrical songwriters were Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie. The debut album was ambitious – elaborate instrumental arrangements with lyrics borrowing from traumatic events and literary works. For their sophomore release, Pretty. Odd., the guys went a completely different direction and the vaudevillian sound was traded for a more folk rock pop sound popularized by the Beatles. Now, for their third release, P!ATD have returned to those vaudevillian roots and elaborate arrangements for Vices & Virtues. Though the genre makes it familiar, in many ways, this is a whole new band. Half of the band – singer/guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker split from the group after the sophomore release. P!ATD continued on as just Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith for the resulting Vices & Virtues.

Knowing that history helps put some qualities of this album in perspective. Urie was the primary creative force behind the circus/vaudevillian/burlesque sound of Fever, so it makes sense that this album returns to that. It also makes sense because the elaborate arrangements with synths and strings help bury that the writing for bass and guitar lines are light throughout this record. It also explains why the drums are bigger than they ever have been on a P!ATD record – and boy, does Smith shine. Lyrically, this record has its ups and downs – that’s partly why this record would best be called a grower. They have changed and as they try to find their footing as a two-piece, some of the songs can be a little sloppy. The tight arrangements and subtle lyrics can get lost, but this is still a very catchy piece of work and simply fun.

“The Ballad of Mona Lisa” begins “Vices & Virtues,” and just as art critics and fans question what the da Vinci painting’s subject is hiding behind her smile, these lyrics beg, “Say what you mean, Mona Lisa.” It has a big chorus and those previously mentioned big drums. The piece also follows a popular P!ATD structure: a quiet bridge with mysterious piano enters around the 2.20 mark before they finish out big with a giant chorus. A singalong bit of “oh-oh-oh-oh” pretty much guarantees this will be a standout live – and judging by the Youtube videos from the bands early debut of this song support that.

The chance to singalong to an “oh oh oh” bit continues into “Let’s Kill Tonight.” A tune that almost sounds video game inspired – at time it has the building frenzy of “Tetris” and the dark mystery of the “Mario Dungeon” music. This song gives the first taste of the primary problem with this record – at times there are too many effects and the song loses direction and falls to chaos. That struggle to find a balance in the arrangement causes later pieces such as “Trade Mistakes” to just be chaotic messes. Not only are the lyrics sloppy, but the genres and influences on “Trade Mistakes” are all over the place. A string arrangement appears out of nowhere and adds nothing. At another moment, the piece almost turns into a salsa number. Then again, the chaos finds itself on “Sarah Smiles,” which goes from polka-like to rock and has just a metallic sound from the overuse of effects that puts listeners at a distance.

Fortunately, this album has several stand out tracks that make out for the messiness dribble of “Trade Mistakes” and the disenchanting “Sarah Smiles.” “Hurricane” is a track not to miss. The dynamics on this and the progression make for a catching and interesting number. “Hurricane” begins with a little bit of incidental music that sounds like leftover bits from “Let’s Kill Tonight” turned into a ringtone. Once that is away, you have a big anthem of a number. “Oh, kiss me,” Urie whispers – sure to have his female fans squealing at live shows. Then the chorus hits as big cheer, “Hey, hey, we are a hurricane. Drop our anchors in a storm.” The music is swirling – just like a hurricane and Smith’s part on the drums are impressive. He has this great rhythm he’s rolling out by getting a clacking sound from hitting the side of the drum. This song even has a killer bass line – which is something that isn’t really noticeable on other songs. Then you have to love the line that closes at the song, “You’ll dance to anything.” There’s so many possible innuendos to that and it makes the piece all that more fun. Around four minutes, the piece morphs again into a piano/brassy musical bridge. This is almost an inbetween and incidental musical bit, that it’s hard to even think of it as part of “Hurricane.” It calms down the storm of a song before entering the more reflective, slow number “Memories” – a love song gone sour that’s a lot like the plot to the film “Blue Valentine.”

The other song to be sure to catch out is “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Head).” Just like some earlier songs on the album, there’s some great singalong “oh oh oh” moments. There’s also some beautiful string arrangements on this piece that seem more purposeful than the strings on some other tunes. It’s upbeat and motivating – it would probably do well on a workout mix. It will also probably do well in the live shows, but that’s assuming Urie can pull of the vocals. There are quite a few range leaps and bends. It would be easy to fall off pitch live, but it’d be all that more amazing when those notes are hit correctly. This again utilizes that ever popular effect of a quiet bridge that has a string tremolo buildup before a big final chorus. These guys sure now how to put that effect to good use.

Another song that’s really going to put Urie’s vocals to the test? “Always.” This acoustic ballad is the most stripped down on the album and puts Urie singing in a minor key against an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are metaphor and fairly cheesy: “I’m a fly that’s trapped in a web, but I’m thinking that my spider’s dead.” Uhh, seriously? This would almost be labeled a skipper if it wasn’t for the vocal challenge that Urie’s putting himself through and another impressive drum arrangement from Smith. There’s some beautiful clicks and bass drum accentuating this song.

The guys pick up the pace with the catchy chorus of “The Calendar,” but almost kill the momentum with “Sarah Smiles.” The album ends with an out-of-their-norm song, “Nearly Witches.” This song acts like its in a classroom with a school choir recording a burlesque radio drama with lots of crazy effects. “It’s never silent,” says Urie before one of the biggest fortes on the record. This is an interesting number that really grows on you after a few plays – partly because you find something new with each listen.

Vices and Virtues still has the Panic! At the Disco characteristic stamps, but it also does a lot of new things. The guys have been through some tribulations, but aside from a few missteps (“Trade Mistakes” and “Sarah Smiles”), they seem to have come out of their trials strong. They really found their footing with their big anthems (“Hurricane,” “The Ballad of Mona Lisa” and “Ready to Go”), so it will be even more exciting to see what their future brings.

Vices and Virtues is in stores now. Find more from Panic! at the Disco here.

Track Listing:
1. The Ballad of Mona Lisa
2. Let’s Kill Tonight
3. Hurricane
4. Memories
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Head)
7. Always
8. The Calendar
9. Sarah Smiles
10. Nearly Witches

Influential Paris dance label Kitsune, winning the prize for being the first to sign now internationally-acclaimed acts Delphic, Two Door Cinema Club and La Roux (just to name three), and international label group Cooperative Music have extended their international license deal to include America and Canada.

On this new partnership, Kitsune founder Gildas Loaec has said, “For the past eight years, we’ve been sharing our passion for music through our now worldwide known Kitsune Maison compilations and singles. Two years ago we entered a label deal with Cooperative Music in Europe as to start developing artists and release their albums in the best way possible. The success that Two Door Cinema Club are experiencing now with nearly 200,000 sales just in Europe and a gold record in the UK is the perfect example that we made the good choice. This is why extending this label deal to the United States and teaming up with Downtown on top was a logical step. I’m really proud to join Downtown records, Josh Deutsch and his great team to develop Kitsune projects in the States and I feel that the collaboration between Kitsune / Downtown will create the perfect dynamic for our forthcoming Kitsune artist album releases [for] Is Tropical and Housse De Racket.”

So what exactly does that mean for us on this side of the Atlantic? Well ladies and gentlemen, this means Cooperative Music will be releasing Kitsune’s artists and compilations through its new understanding recently launched in conjunction with New York-based Downtown Records. The first release will be from Is Tropical, who you may know through their “Come Back Home” remix on Two Door Cinema Club‘s Tourist History deluxe edition (review here). The masked London trio will be releasing their debut album Native To here on June 14. For a free taste of Is Tropical, you can download their new single “The Greeks” for free from Kitsune‘s website here.

Two months later will be the release of the second album from French rock / pop duo Housse de Racket. The 11-track album, called Alesia, was produced by superstar producer Philippe Zdar, who has worked with Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, and the Rapture. Kitsune is pretty famous for their dance compilation albums. Both of these acts contributed tracks to the 11th Kitsuné Maison compilation album The Indie Dance Issue, to be released in the States on May 16. Keep your eyes and ears open for more from this exciting business partnership.

Kitsune: website
Is Tropical: website | myspace
Housse De Racket: website | myspace

I am a HUGE Dropkick Murphys fan. It all started with when I was in the Air Force and I was in the middle of a deployment that a fellow buddy of mine played “Sing Loud, Sing Proud” in a beat-up portable CD player we had hooked up to a tape adapter in the truck we were driving around the base while having the A/C on full blast as the humid temperatures reached in the High 90’s/low 100’s. After hearing songs like “For Boston” and “Which Side Are You On?,” I became hooked.  It wasn’t until a year later that I saw them at Warped Tour in Charlotte, NC, that they became one of my favorite punk bands next to Descendants and Suicidal Tendencies.

Their last two albums, The Warriors Code and The Meanest of Times, have been nothing but stellar. Although, The Warriors Code which was awesome, could get tiresome after a few listens.  Although, after “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” was featured in the Academy Award winning film “The Departed” things took off for the band.

Four years and a lineup change later, the Murphys are back with Going Out in Style the second release on their Born and Bred Records label. It is a concept album that takes the band’s own personal experiences and family folklore and rolls them into the story of a fictional character named Cornelius Larkin.

The album starts off with “Hang ‘em High!,” the typical start off track off of any DKM album to get you pumped for the record as what Sing Loud, Sing Proud had with “For Boston” and The Warriors Code had with “Your Spirit’s Alive.” Another standout track would be none other than the title track, “Going Out in Style,” which features a couple surprise guests, such as Fat Mike from NOFX, Chris Cheney of The Living End and comedian Lenny Clark. This makes a great song to drink to, especially the near St. Patrick’s day release. On some occasions it can be on the level with “Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced,” but much more fast paced and hardcore. Other stand out tracks include, “Peg O’ My Heart” Featuring The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, “Memorial Day” which has more of the Celtic sound that DKM is known to produce on top of the hardcore Irish-punk sound they are famous for. And my personal favorite, “Deeds Not Words’ which starts out with a revile of drum beats and a haunting sound of the old bagpipes that sounds like a policeman’s funeral, but then jumps into a brash hardcore punk song that gets pumped up like that of fans at a Boston Red Sox game.

Overall, this album doesn’t disappoint in any aspect. Even with a lineup change, DKM never disappoints and this album is proof of just that. The band still has the magic that makes them the fan favorites they are today. In areas where The Warriors Code may have disappointed some fans, this album makes up for it. Oh and by the way- if you haven’t seen these guys live, do me a favor; next time they are playing in town near you, GO SEE THEM!!!

Track listing:
01. Hang ‘Em High (3:59)
02. Going Out In Style (4:08)
03. The Hardest Mile (3:26)
04. Cruel (4:21)
05. Memorial Day (2:59)
06. Climbing A Chair To Bed (2:59)
07. Broken Hymns (5:03)
08. Deeds Not Words (3:41)
09. Take ‘Em down (2:11)
10. Sunday Hardcore Matinee (2:43)
11. 1953 (4:14)
12. Peg O’ My Heart (2:20)
13. The Irish Rover (3:39)