Sore Eyelids - s/t

Take Suis La Lune's frantic, fuzzed out punk/skram aesthetic, mix it with some mid mid 90's emo sadness like the Pine or Evergreen, and add just a bit of mopey brit-pop (dare I say Smith's-esque....boy I'm going to take heat for that one....) vocals and you have Sore Eyelids. The vocals are clean (Why is that a bad word?), but dreamy and far off in the distance, the bass is grooving, and the guitars are frantic, hurried and fantastic. I love this record. Took me a few listens, but it grew on me like crazy! (I should also mention that my pal Jord showed me this...thanks!!!)
~AB

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Ten Grand - The Comprehensive List....

Sometimes you get fucked over...sometimes you get fucked over a lot. If you're in a band, you make a list of the people involved with said fucking over....and then you input that list into the computer and have your Macbook read that list in it's broken, eerie robot voice and use it as the intro to your record. And that's exactly how The Comprehensive List of Everyone Who Has Ever Done Anything Wrong to Us by Ten Grand begins and it really sets the tone of this band...a band that obviously doesn't take themselves too seriously and a band that loves to get under people's skin.

When I listen to this album I think to myself "Man, I bet these guys were total dickheads!" Now before you get all uppity and say "Oh AB is talking shit again," let me explain that I mean this in the greatest way. The vocals are snotty and stand offish, the music is beautifully dissonant and the whole record has this sharp vicious sound to it and it just has a serious "Fuck everyone" vibe to it. It's sarcastic and pissed off with just enough swagger to get away with it. The serrated edge of Orchid of City of Caterpillar with the hip shaking gall of Nation of Ulysses, in fact there is a bit of a nod to the nation on the track "the payload theme song" with the squeaky horn section. Great record!
~AB

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Kevin Rips: Shokei - Painkiller

"Feel something real!"

I've spoken abundance about this current scene happening in Germany, but it's a real shame that more people on this side of the Atlantic don't know what's happening over there. Basically, there's about 6 bands that all have a sort-of mathy-indie-post-hardcore vibe going. And they all seem to do splits with each other. Kids Expolde did a split with Shokei who both did a 4-way split with Falcon Five who did a split with Patterns who've done a split with fuckuismyname. Incestuous, perhaps - but it is a scene that is very vibrant and compelling. And one that has cost me a pretty penny in overseas mailorder shipping.

Shokei may very well be my favorite band of all of these (though I think Kids Explode take the cake for favorite song). Shokei has a sound sort-of like Planes Mistaken for Stars, if they weren't silly, or North of America if they were a little tougher; definitely what's locally come to be known as a "Stebner" band. This is Shokei's First release on their own, a 12" that has 5 new songs, a re-recording of an old one, and a bunch of silly remixes (which, frankly, I didn't bother to rip). You're getting all the good jams from this record, "Night Swim" in particular has made it onto many a mixtape. Dig.

If there's demand, I'll work my way though the rest of the killer stuff from this scene.
~KS

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Heads and Heads - s/t 12"

Reason I like this band...I knew about them before Stebs did. ha! Ok, I actually like them because they're really rad. Really melodic, skrammy hardcore from Barcelona with a heavy Raein/La Quiete vibe. They also seem to take a cue from bands like Portraits of Past or Kidcrash, with the music being a little bit mathy. Rad Rad Rad. This has rekindled my love affair with European emo, which had been dwindling as of late. Currently trying to order this record, but the site is Spanish. Hello Google Translator, my old friend!

~AB
Update: I heard this wasn't unzipping properly, so I re uploaded it.

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Mexican Power Authority

Mexican Power Authority is a band from Victoria, BC. They're one of the oldest and most prolific Canadian punk/hardcore acts that I am currently aware of. Over their nearly 20 year tenure, their sound has explored all ends of the myopic spectrum that is punk. From straight up grind to a more experimental side of things, even exploring other instruments like the clarinet. And they even have a new album coming out sometime this year! I am excited.

This is their side of a split 7" with fellow canadian experimental punk band Insult to Injury, who went onto to become the juggernaut of canadian punk, Submission Hold. Please enjoy responsibly.
~MK

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Hard Girls - Hello

Imagine if The Constantines stopped playing lame cock rock and listened to more Superchunk....or imagine if Broken Social Scene put down their old man sweaters and picked up their skateboards. I don't know what I'm talking about to be honest...Hard Girls is a rad indie rock band from San Jose. Gruff vocals, fun melodic grungy riffs and just enough of a punk rock edge to keep this loser happy. God I miss summer!

These guys put the album up for free on their myspace, and are asking for a donation. I'm putting it on mediafire, just in case the other link goes down, but if you dig this go donate!
~AB

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Kevin Stebner CJSW Hour

OK, so this isn't an album, but it's worth checking out nonetheless. Steb's hosted his pals radio show, Post-Everything, on CJSW last night. Of course he played nothing but good tunes. I'm only half way through so far, and I've heard nothing but new jams. Rad! I don't know how long CJSW keeps their archives up online, so I would download this if you're stoked on it. It's pretty long, but a great listen if you have a long drive or long afternoon of work ahead of you.

Playlist from what I heard (Sorry if these are wrong):
Cease Upon The Capital
Gods & Queens
Life at These Speeds
Tonnn
Tubers
1994
Sinaloa
One Thousands Travels of Jawaharlal
One Two XU (12XU?)
Fucked Up
Grown Ups (Calgary)
Wipers
Slates
Pecola
Haram
Navies
The Maladresse
The Falcon Five
The Vita Blue (Ten Grand)
Shotmaker
Ten Volt Shock
I Can Put My Arm Back on You Can't
Glass and Ashes
All Through a Life
Segway (Japan)
Portraits of Past
End of a Year
Unrest
I suggest you go seek all the bands you haven't heard and go listen to them. So much goodness.

~AB

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Hop Along - Is Something Wrong?

I've been jamming this record a lot, and while it doesn't really fit into the general theme that this blog tends to follow, I'm going to post it anyways.

Hop Along Queen Ansleis is a fantastic folk/indie band from Philadelphia, originally started as the solo project of Frances Quinlan. This record makes me think of hot summer days, laid back and lazy yet accented with moments of explosive excited energy. Sometimes it feels like minutes have passed between the strums on the echoey, twangy guitar, and suddenly you're awash in noisy raucous shouting, laughing and singing. Quinlan has a fantastic, cute voice, with just the right amount of quiver to keep it weird. At times she's barely audible, whispering secrets into the mic, other times she's shouting so loud the song descends into this beautiful noisy mess of distortion. There is a great friendly vibe to this record that reminds me of Akron Family's self titled with tons of great sing alongs that sounds like there is 50 people in the room with you. It's the perfect soundtrack for those kind of days where you call in sick to work because you'd rather ride your bike and hang out on a hot porch with your best friends pretending you're 12 again. Sometimes we all need those kind of days....especially in the middle of February in Alberta.
~AB

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Mockingbird Wish Me Luck - Goodbye Debris

Mockingbird Wish Me Luck is like the Frankenstein's monster of punk rock; made from the brains of Hot Water Music, the lungs of Leatherface and the heart of Small Brown Bike. Incredibly melodic and catchy pop punk with a singer that sounds like he was raised on a healthy diet of whiskey, cigarettes and broken glass. Hollow Graves has been on constant rotation for months.

These guys are from Kitchener, Ontario, so hopefully we can coax them into playing Edmonton soon. A Mockingbird Wish Me Luck/Orphan Choir tour would make my heart melt!
~AB

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Boys Life - Departures & Landfalls

Boy's Life is one of those emo bands that gets talked about a lot as being really influential. They're name dropped next to bands like Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate and Christie Front Drive....unfortunately I find they're a band that people like to talk about, but not listen to. Which is too bad, because Departures & Landfalls is a fantastic record full of noisy, angular mid 90's emo, with a heavier edge to it that reminds of bands like Julia or Fugazi. Definitely check this out if you're a fan of any of the aforementioned bands. (Again, sorry there has been a lull in the posts lately. I say it a lot, but I'll try and put more time into this...unfortunately time has been in short supply as of late.)
~AB

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Kevin Rips: Pecola - The Mexican

We're starting a new feature on GonnaGetSued called Kevin Rips. Kevin is a great dude with a knowledge of Canadian emo/indie that would make your head explode. When he's not exploding heads, he's releasing tapes by some of Canada's best bands on Bart Records, and playing in your new favorite band, Stalwart Sons.

"Got balls like Sheryl CrooooOOOOOOOooooooowww!"

Bands like Pecola are the reason I spend so much time looking for records. If I'm on the internet, chances are I'll be looking for new bands. It may seem like a futile search - after all, everything's been found, everyone knows every band. But I heed not the naysayers, I just know that if I look long enough and hard enough, I just may find something that absolutely blows my mind. And straight up - The Mexican is one of the most killer albums I've ever heard in my life.

Pecola hailed from Toronto in the early to mid-90's. Somehow they have this perfect blend of bendy Polvo-esque guitar, mathy changes, feral hardcore fervor and as an extra little something, a strange country twang. It doesn't make any sense, but they do all those things better than every other band ever. They've got it down. They're funnier and angrier than most bands could wish to be, and they just happen to do it in a single song. I'm not comparing it to anything, because really, they don't sound like anyone. They've got a few 7"s and a 12" ep, but on their final and only full-length they destroy everything.

When I first heard this album, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This band didn't chug, they barely even yelled, yet somehow they were the toughest scariest band around. There were these strange moments of beautiful melody that shouldn't have worked, that shouldn't have been; weaving guitars and neck bends and cymbal surely cracked from the power hitting them. Ferocity was not in distortion pedals and down-tuned guitars, but in the passion of the guys that hold them.

Pecola destroyed my life.
~KS

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