The Swamp Rats "Disco Still Sucks" CD

This is just strange enough to be interesting. One of Get Hip's garage rock re-issues. It's starts out with a cover of "Louie Louie". This band made two 7"singles in 66 and 67 and then reformed during the disco era for a full length. They cover The Kinks, Hendrix, and The Beatles, among others, usually getting a little more wild and punk than the original. However, they don't play well enough to actually "Rock Out". They have originals too. (Get Hit)

Jad Fair and Jason Willet "Public Eyesore - 67" CD

Indy zines are always dropping Jad Fair's name and I've never been hip to the reference. I was curious about this

The Cynics "Living is the Best Revenge" CD
This has a tambourine on the cover and I figured it would be typical retro rock. Surprisingly, this rocks hard! Great sixties influenced songs sped up for the new millenium. I know this band has been around for a very long time, I'm sure I've heard them before. Something tells me this must be their best record in a long time because a band this good wouldn't be obscure for this long. (Get Hip)

The Kaisers "Shake Me!" CD
This is typical retro rock. It's like the Beatles never happened. It's not bad at all just very straight forward with the early sixties sound. I guess some people just prefer it that way. (Get Hip)

The Paybacks "Knock Loud" CD
Great rock n' roll record here. My friend JD was looking around my house for a CD to play and I told him. "That pile you're looking at is all promo crap." However, The Paybacks looked like a good bet and he turned out to be right. "That singer just looks like she sounds cool" and the rest of the band are old geeks so you know it rocks. I thought this was a pretty unknown band but I did notice that the Dutch internet radio site I listen to has this CD voted in the top 30 albums of the year so I guess they are getting noticed somewhere. The Paybacks have tough female vocals and are a solid band, but the key is that this is loaded with hooks. (Get Hip)

The Richie Whites CD and 7 inchers
This is my favorite new band. I got both of their 7 inches and slowly realized that I really like every single one of their songs. They don't reach out and punch you, but their songs don't take long to sink in. "Too Late to Die Young" was the first track that I couldn't get out of my head. Later, I started thinking their other songs were just as good. I bought the CD as soon as it came out. On the first play I figured, "Ah, it's not as good as the 7 inches." Then I listened to it a second time in the car and when the drive was over I said, "Damn, that's a great record!" It's punk and it's melodic, but way too rough for Lookout and the like. Good voice and the two guitars play off each other well instead of playing the same thing. (The 7 inchers were on Rapid Pulse and Pelado and the new full length is on TKO.)

Epoxies CD
Hal and friends talked a lot about this band before I ever heard them. I regret missing the last show. These are punk rockers doing this '80's new wave thing. Their two best songs are actually on their last 7 inch, but the full length is good all the way through. I think I read somewhere that the female vocalist is a hockey player, but I can't remember for sure. (Dirtnap)

Chinmusic #5
I'm really happy this zine was sent to me because I would hate to miss it. It combines baseball with punk rock. I loved the part where, Billy Beane. The general manager of the Oakland A's, interviews his rock n' roll hero, Johnny Ramone, who happens to be a big baseball fan. After this interview I heard they sat together during the play-offs. Mike 3 told me that he was watching the Angels-Twins game and the announcer said, "and there is Billy Beane, GM off the Oakland A's." At first he thought he was sitting with some ugly lady and then realized it was Johnny Ramone. I think that's fucking funny. Apparently Billy Beane used to see The Ramones at CBGBs years ago. It's also funny to hear Billy Beane talking about a member of Rancid calling up to complain to him about trades! We're talking about a man who runs a multi-million dollar franchise here. That's just bizarre. I already knew Billy Beane was the coolest GM in baseball, and the best. I just had no idea he had a punk rock connection. The Red Sox offered to increase his salary by more than five times to move to the Boston Red Sox, but he chose to stay in Oakland. Go A's!! Lot of great articles in here. (huh, don't see an address)

VA "Estrus Double Sampler" CD
Something is different at Estrus. They are beefing up their sound. Some of these bands are still playing the retro stuff, but it sounds bigger now. They aren't trying to re-create any past sound, but just rocking hard. The Immortal Lee County Killers are one of my new faves. Great tracks by Cherry Vallence, Federation X (sound better than the last I heard them), Gasoline (Japan), The Fireballs of Freedom (sound better with the new big sound), even the Soledad Brothers and Man or Astro-Man sound good with this new BIG sound they are doing. (Estrus)

The Pretty Girls CD
This is the new one with the new singer on it. I thought they were really good when I saw them play in Sacramento so I went to their web site and with just one click bought this CD. It inspired me to look into updating my own web site with an automatic paypal link. Not only that it came with a pile of hand drawn stickers, I thought they were coasters. Keri said they were stickers. Someone in the band must have access to a color copier, but someone took the time to hand write www.trapdoorrecords.com and prettygirls@trapdoorrecords.com on every single one of them, and there were about a dozen. Anyway, not to overuse the word, but the CD has a "retro" sound quality to it. Something I didn't pick up at the live show. It threw me off at first, but I've since listed to this a bunch of times and it's really good. It's not barn burning rock n' roll, but almost poppy in a sixties way. (Trap Door Records 3428 H Street #5 Sacramento, CA 95816)

Bar Feeders new CD
This is in my car right now which Keri is driving so I don't have the title. Something about Livers. I think I got a prerelease copy because I wrote a little something for the liner notes. I don't know what label it will be on, but this is a collection of all of their 7" and compilation tracks from over the years. A lot of it I like better than their full length stuff and the Probe stuff sounds better than it did on the record so maybe they remastered it. Super quick abrasive punk rock with a lot of melody, good stuff.

Zero Bull Shit "A Moment of Silence" CD
I saw a good review of this in Hit List and tried to buy it, but their PO Box closed. Then someone told me they knew someone in the band and gave me an email address. I ended up trading them a Ding Dang LP for this. Other than the good review I was interested because I saw this band play about 8 years ago (show review in Probe #5 I think) and it's cool they are still going. They play straight old school hard-core, no frills, which is more up my alley than most of the metal hard-core that is around today. The is beer drinkin' music with a street rock attitude. Song titles like "Don't Give a Fuck" and "I Hate Cops". Hey, I just noticed the guy on the back cover is wearing an A's hat (and a Motorhead shirt). Fuck yeah! The last track smokes, a favorite. (Try It Punk Records www.zerobullshit.com)