Favorites of 2009

Here are some of my highlights of music in 2009. I'll try to keep it pretty short & sweet.

Starting the year off with Cheeky and Screaming Females in January in Brooklyn... one big awesome pop-punk dance party. (Plus this is the first time I met Adam, so that's probably really what this is one is really about.)

P.S. Eliot, Little Lungs, Hop Along, and Foreign Objects in July... an awesome show followed by drunkenness, a silent dance party, and lots of other things we probably can't remember.

The Record Hospital turns 25! Teenage Cool Kids, Failures, Dead Dog, and Daniel Striped Tiger show in September... insane dance party for TCK and a special Harvlard rendition of "Write Back Soon. Is it cheating to add the vinyl release of Queer Salutations to my favorites of the year too? I'll just give a shout to it here instead since the album really came out a couple years ago. Failures live is not so much my shit (sorry). Dead Dog were great and I got an awesome t-shirt and beer cozy! Daniel Striped Tiger's last show before hiatus- miss you guys! And then an orgy in December- lots of old DJs visiting (Fat Day, Pissed Officers, oh my!), revisiting our predecesor (Plastic Passions), and culminating in doing some favorites of '08 & '09 with Milli and Christa while somewhat delirious from 3 to 5 am.

Kamikaze Tailspin- the best blog while it lasted.

Lots of reissues- maybe some of these were in 2008, but highlights include a lot of the Frontier catalog (especially Dangerhouse, Vol. 1) and the Bloodstains compilations.

And my top 10, in no particular order...



P.S. Eliot- Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds

After picking this up at their aforementioned show, it scarcely left my turntable this summer (or even this fall really). I've raved about this on end before, so I'll spare you, and just direct you here. And guess what- they're touring again in March with Virginia's the Two Funerals!

Download Here
Buy Here



Punch - Self Titled LP

You'll probably realize that my list doesn't really include a lot of hardcore; while I do love it, it's not the shit that really gets me jazzed for the most part. When I first put on Punch's LP in the hallowed halls of WHRB's rock lounge at the beginning of last summer, however, I couldn't help but fist pump. Furiously fast, fastly furious.

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The Diamond Sea - Slow Signal 10"

I managed to see this band three times in four days at the beginning of their East Coast tour this summer, and I instantly fell in love with this record. Sleater-Kinney meets Gang of Four from this Australian band, who are unfortunately about to call it quits.

Download Here
Buy Here



The Men - We Are the Men 12"

"EVERYTHING'S SO SPECIAL, EVERYTHING'S SO FUCKING SPECIAL!" "Ailment" is definitely one of my favorite songs of this past year. Despite the fact that it surpasses the six-minute mark, I played it on my show just about every week this fall. I think the A-side takes the cake in my book, but the grungier B-side slays as well.

Download Here
To buy, Paypal $12ppd to markperro@gmail.com



Brilliant Colors - Highly Evolved 7"

I think "Highly Evolved" made it on just about every mix I made this year. Brilliant Colors' lovely post-punky pop would probably do it alone, but then lump it in with a bit of queer love nostalgia... I'm pretty helpless.

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Turboslut- their side of their split 12" with Pygmy Lush

And another one bites the dust... This material gets even darker than their Order of the Turboslut tape with doomy hardcore tracks like "Speed" and "Eulogy" and even more samples. My favorite, though, is the faster "Exorcism."

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Cheeky - What the Heck? 12"

So maybe this is a little bit of nostalgia since Cheeky are no more. I saw them three times in 2009- at the show I mentioned in January, at their last show ever Thanksgiving weekend, and my personal favorite, their set at April's Record Hospital Fest- awesome pop-punk played at hyperspeed! Anyway, Cheeky do pop-punk right. I don't think What the Heck? quite reaches the standard of Choke on a Cheeseburger and their Art of the Underground Singles Series 7", but a best of 2009 list would be seriously lacking without this record. Just as snarky as ever.

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Boston Demos - Foreign Objects, Bloody Gears, Confines, the Waifs, and Libyans

I'm cheating and throwing in Libyans' Crash Course 7" here too as a short format release from my current hometown. Foreign Objects Wire-esque post-punk kept me dancing throughout the year, and they consistently are one of the tightest live acts. The Bloody Gears demo didn't really seem to get the hype that it deserves- five songs from a more hardcore version of Leatherface- hell yes. Confines features one of my favorite hardcore singers, Andrew from Cut the Shit. Their set at the Cult Ritual/Diamond Sea show at the end of June was one of the most energized I saw all year. The Waifs keep it short with three clean pop songs. I think I previously ranted about how I don't think all the Libyans-Dangerhouse comparisons are that accurate, but holy shit, Crash Course- riffs straight out of Los Angeles 1979! This 7" didn't grab me as much as their earlier releases at first, but I really got into it this summer.

Download Foreign Objects Here
Download Bloody Gears Here
Download Confines Here
Download the Waifs Here
Download Libyans Here



Fleabag - Demo

Cute as hell queer-lady-fronted pop-punk from Oakland, with a touch of '90s indie rock mixed in.

Download Here



Layers/Quake - Self Titled CS

With members of Mass Movement of the Moth and Lava Lava (among others), I kind of think of this band as a more frantic, grittier Brilliant Colors, but I think I like them even more. The thing I love about this band is a sense of urgency that is often lacking with similar pop/post-punk/art-punk/whatever groups. Whether it's the lo-fi recording or the sometimes shrieky vocals, Layers/Quake occasionally reminds me of Talulah Gosh's "Testcard Girl" or the Frumpies.

Download Here

-Catherine