Chris Siuty writes
Throughout the month of December we’ll be posting lists of the best music of the year as determined by the volunteers that make CHIRP what it is. Today’s is from CHIRP’s Sound Doctor, Chris Siuty.
- Dear Landlord – Dream Homes (No Idea) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
Made up of Midwest punk veterans from such bands as Rivethead and the Copyrights, Dear Landlord’s first release annihilates rest of my list. This is probably the best pop punk record to come out in the last ten years. Either they’re too good at it and aren’t pulling any punches, or this was a total fluke. This record should be on everyone’s shelf. Not even kidding. If they stay a band and not call it quits, as this appears to be a “side project,” they will be the most important pop punk band of the next ten years.
- Canadian Rifle – Visibility Zero (Residue Records) Interpunk
Straight forward, blunt and unapologetic. Dark, yet catchy and melodic. Canadian Rifle cuts through all the B.S. and puts together a collection of some of the best songs to come out of Chicago. Gruff vocals reminiscent of Jawbreaker, on top of urgent melodic punk songs. If this was exclusively a Chicago list, this record would be tops. Ex-members of Ambition Mission, (Lone) Wolf and Cub and many many others.
- Nothington – Roads, Bridges and Ruins (BYO Records) Amazon / iTunes
San Fransisco natives Nothington manage to combine the gruff vocals and song structure of Hot Water Music with the melodies and drunken wit of the Replacements, creating a sound that is more recognizably Gainsville or Minneapolis than the Bay Area. This record is one heart-string jerk after another. If you get a chance to see them live, it’s well worth your time.
- No Slogan – Aversion Therapy (Residue Records) Residue
If anything, 2009 was the year of Residue Records. Three releases hit my top ten and I’m looking forward to future releases from Jordan Pedestrian and company. This release, coming in at number 4, is the most “Chicago” sounding release on my list. No Slogan are long time staples of the Chicago DIY punk scene and constant favorites of mine. They manage to channel classic Chicago bands such as the Bhopal Stiffs, the Effigies and Pegboy, while maintaining a sound that is far from derivative of any of these bands. This is easily the best thing this band has done. Looking forward to more quality releases.
- Star Fucking Hipsters – Never Rest in Peace (Alternative Tentacles) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
Admittedly, I sometimes feel a little goofy liking the output Leftover Crack and their crew release, because there’s ska parts and their politics are so unbelievably black and white. But, aside from that, these NYC crusties really can write good, interesting songs. They combine a lot of different influences, from street punk to death metal, ska to 80’s hardcore. If you can put down your hang ups and listen to this album without judgement, you’ll find a lot of quality within the grooves of this record.
- Banner Pilot – Collapser (Fat Wreck Chords) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
The only thing that can possibly make an adult who still listens to punk rock with the enthusiasm of a teenager feel more awkward than ska parts is admitting that Fat Wreck has put out something you like. Well, every year, there’s at least one album. Last year it was the Dillinger Four. This year, it’s D4’s fellow Minneapolis natives, Banner Pilot. The crazy thing is, there’s two Fat Wreck releases on the list this year. Banner Pilot are bound make anyone still lamenting the break up of Jawbreaker feel a little bit better about themselves. Emotionally tinged punk, driven by honest lyricism and engaging song structure echoes the passion and energy that draws people to punk rock. If you haven’t listened to a punk record since you stopped going to the Fireside in the mid 90’s, it’s probably time you revisit an old friend. This would probably be a good place to start.
- Daylight Robbery – Red Light EP (Residue Records) Residue
This Chicago group take equal parts influence from early L.A. punk bands such as the Weirdos and X, as well as modern garage rock. Daylight Robbery have put out yet another fantastic 7” driven by female and male vocals exchanged in the urgent crust punk tradition layered over a west coast punk influence and a core rooted in midwestern lo-fi honesty.
- MK Ultra – Discography (Youth Attack Records) Interpunk
Chicago by way of Dekalb veterans finally released a comprehensive discography. If you weren’t there, or you’d like to have all of your records in one handy place, this collection does all the foot work for you. Someone should do a commercial for this, in the style of those “Hits of the 70’s” collections. Brutal, socially conscious hardcore. It doesn’t get any better than this. This ends up towards the bottom of the list, only because it’s a collection. It doesn’t speak of the quality of the songs at all. Besides, this edges out a lot of records that came out this year that I really liked.
- Teenage Bottlerocket – They Came From The Shadows (Fat Wreck Chords) Amazon / Insound / iTunes
Every time I think “this is probably the last Teenage Bottlerocket album I’ll ever buy, because I don’t think their next one will be as good,” I’m proven wrong. I know what you’re thinking: “how many bands that sound like a cross between the Ramones and Screeching Weasel can there possibly be and how can they be any good?” Well, I’d probably agree with you, but Bottlerocket continues to be the exception to the rule. They manage to continue to take a painfully derivative genre and reinvent it in interesting ways over and over again. If I were to pick a top ten fun albums of ’09, this would be number one.
- The Ergs! – That’s It… Bye! (Don Giovanni Records) Interpunk
So the Ergs! called it quits in 2008, but released their final three songs in 2009. These are the final three songs they ever wrote, closing the book on the best pop punk band of the 2000’s. The Ergs! will be seen as this generation’s Screeching Weasel or Descendents and I can guarantee you that their influence will be seen in bands to come, no doubt. Just to make sure I say something about this record other than the facts, one of the best songs they ever wrote, “Anthem for a New Amanda” is on this record. Do yourselves a favor and check out their discography. You won’t be disappointed.
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Chris Siuty writes
October 3rd, Beat Kitchen Chicago
In the 1990’s, punk and hardcore started to fray into two very distinct categories — “mainstream” and “underground.” As much of an oxymoron as “mainstream punk” might be, it became a reality with the increasing popularity of bands like Green Day, Rancid, Blink 182 and several others whose wallets and fan base swelled. Through the 1980’s and early 1990’s, punk bands really had no idea that there was money to be made playing punk rock, which allowed a lot of freedom and creativity, giving us a scene that was diverse and interesting; limiting any stylistic choke holds and horrible “post” this and “proto” that genre titles. There was basically punk, hardcore and everything else.
While the Green Days and Offsprings basked in mainstream MTV adoration, bands like MK Ultra, Charles Bronson, Los Crudos (all who shared members at one point or another), Pretentious Assholes, Billy Builders and countless other punk bands around Chicago (and the country really) were continuing to write songs that were far too extreme for mainstream rock radio. The scene was the most outspoken the punk scene had ever been, commenting the political as well as social.
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Chris Siuty writes
Before our wedding, my wife and I went through our record collections to find songs that would fit not only on our wedding mix CD (which we gave out as a gift to our guests), but also songs that represent us as a couple. I somehow kept overlooking the Smoking Popes and their pop gems. At the 11th hour, it dawned on both of us that Mrs. You and Me would be a perfect song that would sit perfectly amongst the other songs we selected.
I hadn’t listened to Born to Quit in quite a while, so blowing the dust off and dropping the needle on this classic was due. When this album came out, I have to admit, I wasn’t floored or impressed. I didn’t think it was nearly as good as Get Fired, plus finding out that the Popes had signed to a major and that one of their songs appeared in the credits of “Clueless,” I almost immediately considered them “sellouts.” (totally ignoring the fact that another favorite of the era, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones were actually IN the movie). It was an unprecedented front on underground music and a travesty to their “real fans,” which I considered myself to be. Of course, I now see the ass-backwards nature of that sort of thought pattern and the Popes are once again on my list of “best bands to come out of Chicago.”
If you’re not familiar with the Smoking Popes, here’s a crash course. They’re pop punk, but imagine a pop punk band fronted by Morrissey. It’s like watching a band whose singer has spent far more time waxing romantic to old Smiths LP’s and big band jazz records while watching black and white movies from the “golden age” of cinema rather than heavily spinning the first three Ramones albums and cuffing his jeans. The music is filled with familiar pop hooks, played in fresh and beautiful ways, layered with chromatic guitar solos and lyrics cleverly lamenting lost love and heartbreak.
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Chris Siuty writes
I remember 1990 pretty well. I was just really getting into punk rock and all of it’s connected genres and an older friend of mine loaned me his copy of “Hate Your Friends” by the Lemonheads. With the exception of their cover of “Amazing Grace,” that record was pretty solid. I dubbed the cassette and it went into the archives. A few years later, I was watching 120 Minutes on MTV and this pop-punk cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song, “Mrs. Robinson” was playing. I missed the opening credits, but was really intrigued, because it was really good. The end credits came on and it was the Lemonheads. I wasn’t sure if it was the same Lemonheads that my friend Dave had shown me, but they definitely were a band worth looking into.
The next time I was at the record store, I was looking through the various stacks of CDs and I found “It’s a Shame About Ray.” I passed on it, because it didn’t have the “Mrs. Robinson” cover and I was still unclear as to whether this was the same band as the “Hate Your Friends” Lemonheads. A few weeks later, I was sitting shotgun in my mom’s car, driving down Oakton through Skokie, listening to XRT and the title track, “It’s a Shame About Ray” came on. It was such a great song; so much so that my ears perked up and I stopped talking mid sentence. Whatever I was blathering about was forgotten and my focus had been shifted to this amazing pop song. When the DJ came on, he said “that was Boston natives, the Lemonheads.” I asked my mom if we could make detour to the record store on Dempster and Crawford. She agreed and I ran in and bought the album. At this point, the “Mrs. Robinson” cover was tacked on to improve sales and I won at record shopping that day.
Recently, I dropped this Alt-rock gem onto my iPod and was very quickly reminded of sitting in the music wing of my high school on a Friday afternoon, playing “Confetti” on my friend’s acoustic guitar. Some girl asked me what I was playing and I told her “it’s a Lemonheads song.” She told me it was pretty and walked away. Those were the days of fingerless knit gloves and nail polish. Screeching Weasel shirts and a-symetrical hair cuts. Army cargo pants and Dr. Martens. Fall of 1992 was a very good time. Change was in the air and a new era was beginning. A decade where music would lead a cultural explosion that would change the way the mainstream listened to music, watched movies and television, looked at politics; pretty much everything changed that year.
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Chris Siuty writes
In 1990, a friend of mine walked into my high school cafeteria, in his ratty unbuttoned flannel shirt and matching ratty hair wearing a Mudhoney shirt. He looked like a combination of Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and a moodier, dirtier Steve Albini. I was never sure where I stood with him, but no else really did either. He was either slightly just less than happy to see you, or entirely indifferent to your existence. That day, he was a bit more pleasant than usual and was enthused to tell me all about this great band he saw over the weekend. He demanded that I do myself the favor of finding the Superfuzz/BigMuff record. I did just that, mostly because I generally found his music taste agreeable with mine.
Today, I spent the better part of the afternoon lying on my bed listening to records and about five minutes ago, I dropped the needle on my first edition vinyl copy of Superfuzz/BigMuff. I haven’t pulled this record off the shelf in several years, because I haven’t been in a Mudhoney mood in quite sometime. You see, I listened to Mudhoney almost everyday between 1990 and approximately 1993. They were on heavy rotation pretty much all the time. Lately though, I’ve been less into blistering hardcore and melodic punk (which is my usual flavor) and a bit more into “stoner jams,” so to speak. This record probably holds up infinitely better than most of it’s contemporaries, short of the Melvins discography.
Taking equal parts influence from Texas natives the Dicks, Black Sabbath, fellow Seattle natives, the Fastbacks, they created a sound that was unique, coupled with an all around “no bullshit” attitude that was refreshing for the time. If any band that truly deserved to be part of the “grunge explosion” of the early 90’s, it was most definitely Mudhoney. But what held them back from the charts was their lack of willingness to drop the “no bullshit” attitude and their lack of desire to “write hits.” They kept things simple and dirty, which is why their records hold up infinitely better than albums from that era that sold millions of copies.
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