“The debut 7″ from one of my current favorite PDX punk bands, Steel Chains. The band plays ridiculously great emotive and melodic minor chord punk for fans of The Wipers, Daylight Robbery, The Stops, etc. Members have also spent time in bands such as The Observers, Clorox Girls, Drunken Boat, Defect Defect, PRF and more. Holy super group!”
“After leaving their mark on three continents, Zaragoza, Spain’s WARSONG are traversing previously uncharted territory with their first release sung entirely in Spanish. This different way of expressing themselves opens onto a free street making new things possible. I honestly don’t know how this band keeps cranking out so many bangers, but their latest record packs 8 more gripping tracks both recognizably WARSONG and significantly evolved from their previous releases. Their most complexly rich record to date, “Control” is an arresting soundtrack for dark times. Those who have been following this band for a while will also notice less distortion, longer and more elaborated song structures, and an unexpected treat on “Dejando Atrás” featuring guest female vocals from the singer of ACCIDENTE. I’d be hard pressed to find a current comparison because WARSONG has few musical contemporaries- they are truly carving out their own path. I hear the convergence of diverse elements such as THE ONLY ONES, early NEW ORDER, the WIPERS, SONIC YOUTH, and THE RAMONES blended up and spewed out against the neoliberal end times.”
“Self-described as “5 ladies playing punk rock.” The Stops quickly became one of my favorite Portland, OR bands since Dirt Cult made the move a year and a half ago. This, their debut LP, definitely adds to Portland’s reputation for dark but melodic punk rock (see: Red Dons, The Observers, The Wipers). The band plays driving distorted punk that is at times informed by power pop. Think of a band that somehow combines the seemingly disparate influence of The Adolescents, The Wipers, and The Go-Gos and you’re in the right place. Members of Red Dons, The Pedestrians, and Pataha Hiss.”
“Self-described as “5 ladies playing punk rock.” The Stops quickly became one of my favorite Portland, OR bands since Dirt Cult made the move a year and a half ago. This, their debut LP, definitely adds to Portland’s reputation for dark but melodic punk rock (see: Red Dons, The Observers, The Wipers). The band plays driving distorted punk that is at times informed by power pop. Think of a band that somehow combines the seemingly disparate influence of The Adolescents, The Wipers, and The Go-Gos and you’re in the right place. Members of Red Dons, The Pedestrians, and Pataha Hiss.”
Taken from Punkalovich:
“Sweatshop Boys are beginning to become more and more important in the Israeli punk scene and hopefully in the punk world in general. Consisting mostly of Haifa boys including Ofri (ex-Friday Night Sissy Fight/Barren Hope), Dean (ex-Friday Night Sissy Fight) and Itai (The Orions, The Backliners, Achim Zabari, Kuskus Records), the band also includes singing drummer and powerhouse that is Nadav (Mondo Gecko, Spit, Shifka Chiefs, Brutal Assault, Uzbecks…help if I’ve left something out!)
Although not what everyone may consider “punk rock”, the band do know how to write catchy as hell songs about things that matter to them. Their first album, The Great Depression, really helped demonstrate the Sweatshop Boys sound and this latest EP very much continues to do the same. All four songs are songs I recognise from shows because they are just so damn memorable.
The EP starts off with No Pity In The City, a pogotastic anthem about moving to a big city but with no real changes. Second track, Special Mood, takes the pace down a bit with an almost 60s beat-music era jangly pop sound, equipped with organ solo and a rhythm that will have you toe-tapping away. Try Hard, again on a bit of a 60s tip but punkier, is a simple and to the point song about “wannabe scene queens” with its intoxicating “You’re not special at all Ahhhh” refrain. The funny thing about writing songs of this topic is that it could be describing people who actually come to your shows. Therefore, it is remarkably ironic when you see someone at their show who has forced themselves to learn the lyrics and stand right at the front, making sure to be heard. I think that’s what I love about it, whether intentional or not. Last track, Slow Dive, leans off the social commentary a bit and instead focuses on a positive message about taking life easy. The band informs us that “Sometimes you got to let it go” and instruct us to “go with the flow.” Good advice, there, my friends! All songs have this fun vibe about them, almost definitely due to how everyone in the band gets a chance to sing and sing together, making everything sound more anthemic.
I kind of remember somewhere near the start of the band’s career that I didn’t really pay all that much attention to them. I wasn’t really keen on the Pet Shop Boys influenced name (I used to like the Pet Shop Boys) and I found it all a bit too “jingle jangly”, for want of a term. Whether the band itself has improved or my musical tastes have broadened, this new EP is a beautiful record and I hope to hear another full length later on in the year full of more catchy twist-inducing tunes.”
Taken from Punkalovich:
“Sweatshop Boys are beginning to become more and more important in the Israeli punk scene and hopefully in the punk world in general. Consisting mostly of Haifa boys including Ofri (ex-Friday Night Sissy Fight/Barren Hope), Dean (ex-Friday Night Sissy Fight) and Itai (The Orions, The Backliners, Achim Zabari, Kuskus Records), the band also includes singing drummer and powerhouse that is Nadav (Mondo Gecko, Spit, Shifka Chiefs, Brutal Assault, Uzbecks…help if I’ve left something out!)
Although not what everyone may consider “punk rock”, the band do know how to write catchy as hell songs about things that matter to them. Their first album, The Great Depression, really helped demonstrate the Sweatshop Boys sound and this latest EP very much continues to do the same. All four songs are songs I recognise from shows because they are just so damn memorable.
The EP starts off with No Pity In The City, a pogotastic anthem about moving to a big city but with no real changes. Second track, Special Mood, takes the pace down a bit with an almost 60s beat-music era jangly pop sound, equipped with organ solo and a rhythm that will have you toe-tapping away. Try Hard, again on a bit of a 60s tip but punkier, is a simple and to the point song about “wannabe scene queens” with its intoxicating “You’re not special at all Ahhhh” refrain. The funny thing about writing songs of this topic is that it could be describing people who actually come to your shows. Therefore, it is remarkably ironic when you see someone at their show who has forced themselves to learn the lyrics and stand right at the front, making sure to be heard. I think that’s what I love about it, whether intentional or not. Last track, Slow Dive, leans off the social commentary a bit and instead focuses on a positive message about taking life easy. The band informs us that “Sometimes you got to let it go” and instruct us to “go with the flow.” Good advice, there, my friends! All songs have this fun vibe about them, almost definitely due to how everyone in the band gets a chance to sing and sing together, making everything sound more anthemic.
I kind of remember somewhere near the start of the band’s career that I didn’t really pay all that much attention to them. I wasn’t really keen on the Pet Shop Boys influenced name (I used to like the Pet Shop Boys) and I found it all a bit too “jingle jangly”, for want of a term. Whether the band itself has improved or my musical tastes have broadened, this new EP is a beautiful record and I hope to hear another full length later on in the year full of more catchy twist-inducing tunes.”
“Tenement mopped the floor with conventional showmanship the second they walked in the door. With their eyes closed and their heads tilted toward the heavens, they’ve been known to stand still in the spotlight and let their glorious noise ring out, naked and uninhibited. This isn’t a hateful noise, but it is a sincere one that if received by a perceptive audience, can tug at the gut and induce a primal shiver from the mind to the heart. Perhaps this honesty can be attributed to their Midwestern stereotype, or perhaps they are in fact true outsiders among their Rock and Roll peers. No matter which, the curiosity that is Tenement began in 2006 with a series of loose demo recordings and singles that married the genres of “Pop” and “Punk” without being explicitly “Pop Punk” and to many, represented the power and urgency of Hardcore without actually conforming to the genre itself. These recordings have been compiled here by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records for their new collection LP, Bruised Music, Volume One, which covers Tenement’s output on record between the years 2006 to 2009.
The influence of 80’s punk is strong in the bulk of the material on Bruised Music, likening the feeling of The Descendents or The Replacements. However, this comparison might seem lazy when you keep in mind that the members of Tenement had long schooled themselves on everything from The Beatles to Big Star, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Black Flag, Husker Du. Obscure hardcore punk to Brill Building pop music and all points in between. The period of time represented in this collection is a period of growing pains that paved the way for them to become the band that they are today, and the band that they will be many years from now. It’s the birth of a strong creative force; the musicians together learning to crawl, and the great American outsider pop group taking its first steps. Grace and elegance go out the window on this one. It’s clumsy and ugly at times. Its breath stinks and its pimples show. It talks loudly in a quiet room. It speaks its mind and spares no sensitivity. It’s Tenement’s Bruised Music.”
**********************************
The first of two instalments of singles collections from Wisconsin’s TENEMENT will be officially out March 10th! Bruised Music Volume One will feature Tenement’s earliest material, compiling a total of ten tracks taken from the Tenement Sucks tape, Dead Broke and Dirt Cult Records mixtape compilations, split w/ Used Kids, split w/ Friendly Fire, False Teeth 7″, and Icepick 7″. All of the material has been remastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory for one cohesive and superb sounding anthology.
You can hear the remastered version of the song “Spaghetti Midwestern” streaming over at IMPOSE now alongside a quick interview about the release.
It’s an honor for us to be able to get all of this early material back into print and in one place (including the first vinyl appearance for a handful of these songs), and we hope that this release will find its way into the ears of many more people who will enjoy and appreciate the formative years of a prolific, captivating, and truly inspiring band.
Bruised Music Volume One is a split release with the wonderful Toxic Pop Records, and the record will be available for preorder the second week in Februrary.
This year is shaping up to be quite a productive and momentous year for Tenement, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get the ball rolling with this retrospective release.
Upcoming Tour dates:
2/22 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
2/23 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
2/24 Ithaca, NY @ Community School of Music and Arts *
2/25 Hoboken, NJ Stevens Institute of Technology *
2/26 Allston, MA @ Great Scott #
2/27 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
2/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory (early and late shows) #
3/01 Washington DC @ The Dance Institute of Washington *
3/02 Durham, NC @ Pinhook *
3/03 Atlanta, GA @ 529 Bar *
3/04 Nashville, TN @ The East Room *
3/05 Cincinnati, OH @ Frankl Church *
3/21 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
5/13 Hortonville, WI @ Standard Projects
6/05 Calgary, Alberta @ Garbage Daze III Festival* w/ Priests, Vacation
# w/ Screaming Females, Priests, Vacation
“Tenement mopped the floor with conventional showmanship the second they walked in the door. With their eyes closed and their heads tilted toward the heavens, they’ve been known to stand still in the spotlight and let their glorious noise ring out, naked and uninhibited. This isn’t a hateful noise, but it is a sincere one that if received by a perceptive audience, can tug at the gut and induce a primal shiver from the mind to the heart. Perhaps this honesty can be attributed to their Midwestern stereotype, or perhaps they are in fact true outsiders among their Rock and Roll peers. No matter which, the curiosity that is Tenement began in 2006 with a series of loose demo recordings and singles that married the genres of “Pop” and “Punk” without being explicitly “Pop Punk” and to many, represented the power and urgency of Hardcore without actually conforming to the genre itself. These recordings have been compiled here by Grave Mistake Records and Toxic Pop Records for their new collection LP, Bruised Music, Volume One, which covers Tenement’s output on record between the years 2006 to 2009.
The influence of 80’s punk is strong in the bulk of the material on Bruised Music, likening the feeling of The Descendents or The Replacements. However, this comparison might seem lazy when you keep in mind that the members of Tenement had long schooled themselves on everything from The Beatles to Big Star, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Black Flag, Husker Du. Obscure hardcore punk to Brill Building pop music and all points in between. The period of time represented in this collection is a period of growing pains that paved the way for them to become the band that they are today, and the band that they will be many years from now. It’s the birth of a strong creative force; the musicians together learning to crawl, and the great American outsider pop group taking its first steps. Grace and elegance go out the window on this one. It’s clumsy and ugly at times. Its breath stinks and its pimples show. It talks loudly in a quiet room. It speaks its mind and spares no sensitivity. It’s Tenement’s Bruised Music.”
**********************************
The first of two instalments of singles collections from Wisconsin’s TENEMENT will be officially out March 10th! Bruised Music Volume One will feature Tenement’s earliest material, compiling a total of ten tracks taken from the Tenement Sucks tape, Dead Broke and Dirt Cult Records mixtape compilations, split w/ Used Kids, split w/ Friendly Fire, False Teeth 7″, and Icepick 7″. All of the material has been remastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory for one cohesive and superb sounding anthology.
You can hear the remastered version of the song “Spaghetti Midwestern” streaming over at IMPOSE now alongside a quick interview about the release.
It’s an honor for us to be able to get all of this early material back into print and in one place (including the first vinyl appearance for a handful of these songs), and we hope that this release will find its way into the ears of many more people who will enjoy and appreciate the formative years of a prolific, captivating, and truly inspiring band.
Bruised Music Volume One is a split release with the wonderful Toxic Pop Records, and the record will be available for preorder the second week in Februrary.
This year is shaping up to be quite a productive and momentous year for Tenement, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get the ball rolling with this retrospective release.
Upcoming Tour dates:
2/22 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
2/23 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
2/24 Ithaca, NY @ Community School of Music and Arts *
2/25 Hoboken, NJ Stevens Institute of Technology *
2/26 Allston, MA @ Great Scott #
2/27 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
2/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory (early and late shows) #
3/01 Washington DC @ The Dance Institute of Washington *
3/02 Durham, NC @ Pinhook *
3/03 Atlanta, GA @ 529 Bar *
3/04 Nashville, TN @ The East Room *
3/05 Cincinnati, OH @ Frankl Church *
3/21 Milwaukee, WI @ Cocoon Room
5/13 Hortonville, WI @ Standard Projects
6/05 Calgary, Alberta @ Garbage Daze III Festival* w/ Priests, Vacation
# w/ Screaming Females, Priests, Vacation
“At last, it was about time, Hysterese strike back with their second s/t 12“. Three years after the stunning demo tape + the debut 12“, countless shows all over Europe and some line up changes they did it again, 10 songs in about 25 minutes. Melodic Punk with teeth, some say garage some say hardcorepunk? Who cares? dual male / female vocals past all description, noisy simple guitar tunes and a rumbling rhythm section, packed in a nice heavy cardboard sleeve. Driving, melodic punk/hardcore (but NOT “melodic hardcore” if ya get the distinction) with dark, swirling undercurrents. Catchy but not at all vapid. Sounding like a cross between Portland, Southern California, and Copenhagen, you could compare this to bands like THE OBSERVERS, NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS, GORILLA ANGREB, or ADOLESCENTS…”
Recorded at Cool Devices of Marked Men fame.
Listen to their demo and wait with anticipation for the LP!
