Bomb the Music Industry! - Scrambles (Quote Unquote/2009)

I've teared up reading books. I bawled a bit during movies. I even got choked up at the Season 2 finale of The Office (US). It's been a while, though, since I've felt a sadness harsh enough to tear about listening to music. But then, one day, I was walking through a park listening to the third track on Scrambles, “Fresh Attitude! Young Body!,” and I cried like a schoolgirl that just found out her dog has to be put down because it has rabies. Yeah, it was that bad.

It's a formula as old as formulas themselves, placing sad lyrics on top of happy music. But somehow Jeff Rosenstock and co. have found a way to make it new again. Scrambles is just seething with lyrics about how much being poor sucks, coke sucks, snobs suck, not to mention coming to terms his own immaturity. That being said, it's the most fun and refreshing punk album to come out since the last Bomb the Music Industry! album. What helps is that the music, much more than the lyrics themselves (with one song being the exception), realizes that it's better to find the fun and humor in everything rather than wallow in your own self-pity. “It Shits!!!” is all about how much “it shits that I only get to see you for an hour and a half every day/ and it really really shits that that hour and a half isn't really very good anyway.” Sad stuff, right? The synth and the stumbling drum machines seem to think otherwise. The instruments scream “Fun! Fun! Fun!” while the lyrics are sad sad sad, creating a swelling emotion that's consistent throughout the album.

Of course all of this talk about sad lyrics doesn't account for “Sort of Like Being Pumped,” an epic ballad about being able to enjoy something as simple as a sunset. I'll be honest I didn't like the demoed version of this that was leaked a year or so ago, but I guess that's why they're leaked demos and not the real deal. Good God, this song is brilliant. It's the kleenex tissue that wipes the tears from the rest of the album away. It's the warm home-cooked meal your mom made for you after a semester of eating ramen. It's the full bottle of Vicodin you get after you get four of your wisdom teeth pulled. It's also probably the best Bomb the Music Industry! album closer to date, which is saying a lot.

In saying this, I may be biased. Not only do I consider Bomb the Music Industry! as one of the best music acts around today, but I am also a New Yorker, and this album has it's roots placed firmly within the concrete landscape that is New York City. When Rosenstock sings about fare hikes and an umbrella filled New York, I can't help but “get it.” I understand that walking in the city when it rains is a bitch, that waiting 20 minutes for the train is a hassle. Obviously, when he makes any reference to a specific train line, my head replaces it with the Q train, but other than that, there's a connection with New Yorkers in this album that I don't know if any others can get. Their loss.

Go to the Quote Unquote Records website. Download the album. If you can, donate some money. You'll feel good.

Black Eyes - Black Eyes (Dischord/2003)

This self titled Black Eyes album is one of the few albums which I took a chance on and was pleasantly surprised. I knew they were on Dischord, but I had no idea what they sounded like. I decided to give them a shot without sampling them on the Internet somewhere, and ordered the album for cheap on Amazon. It was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Black Eyes are made up of two drummers, two bassists (one of whom sings), and a guitarist/vocalist. It's an odd, risky, set up, but it works. The drummers work hand-in-hand providing a cacophony of a background for the bassists to do their groove dueling while the guitar screeches and whines all over the place. In the forefront are the vocalists singing/screeching about social issues, dealing head-on with rape, racism, and other things that make life so much fun. It's a difficult album to listen to at times, simply because of the combinations of the harsh subject matter of some of the songs and the unbelievable grooveablilty of them. One song in particular, “Deformative,” deals with the hardships of pedophilia from the eyes of the pedophile. It'd be a rough pill to swallow if it wasn't for the bitcchin' bass lines and the frenetic drums making the song so easy to dance to.

I wasn't very surprised when I found out Ian Mackaye produced the album. Firstly, it's a Dischord album. Secondly, it sounds like a Fugazi album, if Guy Piccotto was castrated and the entire rhythm section went crazy. In a good way, of course.

I can understand that this album is hard for some people to get, mainly due to guitarist/vocalist Daniel Martin-McCormick, but this guy makes the album. His shrill screams, especially when placed against Hugh McElroy's more conventional vocals, are a piercing call to attention at the things he's singing about. He doesn't really play notes on his guitar, but opts for hitting it with metal things creating some awesome distorted scratching noises. He brings life to the band's full-bodied rhythm section, never letting up on the insanity.

It's cautious, but never careful. It's forward thinking without being overly ambitious. It's also only thirty minutes long. Take a chance and listen to it.

Note: Dan Martin-McCormick and bassist Jacob Long are in a new band called Mi Ami. It's a different, slower vibe, but it's pretty sweet.