by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Tone Tank - The King of Surf Guitar Rap EP
DOWNLOAD: Junk Science - "Fire Drill" EP

Where's la bouef? Ah! There's Labouef and Palko!

Chris Palko aka Cage, who's new album Depart From Me hits stores on July 7th via Definitive Jux, is prepping to take his show on the road after tagging Yak Ballz for support. Joining Palko on stage as part of the "Cage band" will be producer of a large portion of Depart From Me and ex-Hatebreed guitarist F.Sean (aka Sean Martin), as well as DJ Chauncey of XO Skeletons. The tour includes an album release party of sorts during a two night stay at Southpaw (July 2nd tix here and 3rd tix here) where Palko will sign posters and copies of his new album. Additional support for July 2nd is TBA, but Junk Science & "The King of Surf Guitar Rap" Tone Tank are on board for night two.

Cage recently dropped the I Never Knew You EP, which is currently available for "pay what you want" download at the Def Jux site. The EP accompanies the video (viewable below) that was directed by partner-in-crime and star of the upcoming Michael Bay explosion-fest Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Shia LaBouef. No word on where Shia is with the reported Cage biopic.

Yak Ballz and House of Blow (aka F.Sean and Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw, Head Automatica fame) are currently collaborating on some tracks, with one to appear on an upcoming Def Jux compilation. Yak Skywalker also recently posted his thoughts on one of his favorite hip hop songs ever, Camp Lo's "Luchini" (I have to agree) as well as dropped details on an exclusive series of shirts with fellow Weathermen El-P, Cage & Aesop Rock. More in a recent blog post here.

Video and dates below...

Continue reading "Cage & Yak Ballz - 2009 Tour Dates, videos & stuff "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Rival Schools - "Take One For The Team" (MP3)

"So yeah, I draw the line at Quicksand". - Walter

Walter Schreifels. Sam Siegler. Two names of a very select few who defined a sound and a movement in the late 80s and early 90s, New York Hardcore. Building upon the zen-like teachings of prophets with names like HR, MacKaye, and Raybeez, Walter Schreifels and Sammy Siegler cut their teeth in the blooming NYC scene with the legendary Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, and Judge, as well as Side By Side, and Project X.

Quicksand and CIV, as well as MTV support, multiple LPs and music videos followed, culminating in the reunion of the two Youth of Today bandmates in Rival Schools. Sam and Walter formed the band in 1999, with their lone LP United By Fate coming in 2001. The band split the following year, scrapping existing recordings that were believed to be the basis of the new album. Six years passed, and Walking Concert, Nightmare of You, Head Automatica, and solo work followed until early 2008, when Rival Schools announced their reformation. The announcement was followed by festival dates in Europe, ultimately leading to a handful of US shows.

Which leads us to NYC... The band have lined up a pair of shows at Maxwells and Mercury Lounge in early November which sold out quickly, but the band have also agreed to headline the free BrooklynVegan day party at Knitting Factory on Oct 25th! In part one of their first joint interview ever, we poked and prodded Sammy and Walter about their past & present projects, the old days, and blow-up dolls...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Rival Schools (Walter & Sammy) (part 1)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: United Nations - The Spinning Heart of The Yo-Yo Lobby (MP3)

Hey wait! I know that hairless chest (photo by James Petrozzello)

A band of unknowns announced their new self-titled LP to be released on Eyeball Records on September 9th, as well as another EP and a seven inch. Ok, they aren't exactly unknowns... it's just that the true line-up of United Nations ISN'T known. Lets start with the facts.... Yesterday, Geoff Rickly of Thursday sat down with Alternative Press to discuss his new side project, United Nations, a "secret supergroup of mid=90's screamo revivalists"

So who are the members involved with this project, and what do they do in the band? Besides you and vocals, obviously

Well, I actually mostly played guitar and did some of the singing. The rest of the band are in contracts, so they're anonymous.

How did this idea first come up?

I was... This is really weird... I've known a kid named Daryl who plays in Glassjaw for a long time, and we used to go to shows, all the same hardcore shows, and we would get excited about a lot of the same bands. We both really loved what was going on on the West Coast in the early '90s, like Gravity Records stuff, really spazzy stuff. We also really loved the Ebullition style, mid-'90s, what they call the emo power-violence stuff.

So we have some kind-of-but-not-really confirmation that Daryl Palumbo is on board. That in and of itself is not a mindscrambler, but add in the fact that Converge has confirmed that drummer Ben Koller (also of Acid Tiger and ex-Cave In fame) is on board, as well as that message boards / the world's most accurate online encyclopedia are claiming Cooper of Made Out of Babies has joined on, UN takes on a whole new realm of possibilities.

United Nations is streaming their entire self-titled album at their myspace and you can download "The Spinning Heart of The Yo-Yo Lobby" from that record above.

In related Thursday news, Japanese badasses Envy will share a split with the band for Temporary Residence Limited, due on vinyl (with accompanying CD) September 15th. Spanning seven tracks, the record will have four new joints from Thursday and three new ones from Envy. The split was recorded this spring and Thursday enlisted Anthony Molina of Mercury Rev to remix one track, "Appeared And Was Gone", the lead in to Envy's first song. Pick it up at TRL when it drops....

Continue reading "United Nations = Thursday + Glassjaw + ?, full stream, MP3"