A quintessential post-hardcore album.

Great inventive and noisy guitarwork, driving rythem section, and manic vocals. The songs range from three-minute blasts to more sprawling and progressive songs that reach the nine minute mark; each with a different part that'll imbed itself in your brain- the bridge of "Caress", the ending screams in "Spikes to You", the breakneck speed of "Atom Jack"- and so on. New instrumental intricacy is discovered on almost every listen.

obviously this can be compared to Hot Snakes (what with the same Rick Froberg/John Reis thing going on), but to take it outside of band connections, I'd compare this to a more cathartic and ragged "In On The Killtaker" Fugazi- faster, more abrasive, and so on. Awesome!

A wonderful disc of technical, mathy post-hardcore. The songs all hover around the five minute mark, +/- two minutes- they're quite progressive, starting and ending with a bang, and leaving you wondering how people can create music like this inbetween. It can drag a little at times, but the explosive moments more than make up for it. Just check out "I Am The Harvest", wow.

If you liked Faraquet, this is a must-get- afterall, it's basically Faraquet with a different drummer. Their selftitled EP is great as well.

One Last Wish is 3/4 of Rites of Spring, with Guy Piccioto on vocals(inbetween Rites of Spring and Fugazi)

Now that I've got your attention... aplty titled 1986, this is about what you'd expect from a 1986 Dischord Release - it's really fucking good. It's 12 songs of melodic hardcore punk- perhaps "emocore" would be a label. Songs like "Break to Broken" have a driving fast beat with throat-tearing vocals from Guy, while other songs like "This Time" are melodic and such. It makes me think of Embrace (obviously the DC embrace, not whatever band is calling themselves that nowadays), except faster and fronted by Guy Piccioto instead of Ian Macaye.

If you recognized any of the names and/or bands in this review, and don't already own this, I'd highly recommend it.

in a word: comprehensive. It's fun to see how the sound of DC evolves, considering these songs are in chronological order. It starts off with some fierce hardcore and evolves into angular post-punk. The booklet has information about every band in here, as well as a lot of photos. The third disc has some great rare songs, as well. It's a great documentation of a label thats released some of the best music I've ever heard.

To put it simply, if you really like Kid Dynamite, you'll love this DVD. The stories from both the band and their friends are great (not to mention Dave Hause and Colin Mcginnis are HILARIOUS). The live footage is alright- soundwise some clips are better than others, and the video tends to be somewhat grainy, but it doesn't really matter because you can see how much energy goes on during their live performances.

Did I mention how goddamn funny Hause and Mcginnis are? They have some great extras on the DVD as well, like more tour stories (the "feather duster", "glass eye", "misfits jacket"...), and even a whole commentary to themselves.

anyways- if you like the band, it's worth getting. KD is a band thats meant a lot to me over the years, and this DVD put a big smile on my face.

Simply put, if you love Fugazi, you'll love this. Some great live performances (the early songs where Guy doesn't play guitar but does vocals on are crazy- you should see how insane he goes, especially on "Glue Man"), entertaining and informative interviews and random talk with the band, fucking around in the studio when recording "Red Medicine", and as it's been mentioned, some arty stuff.

After watching this, I grabbed my guitar and started playing noisy, abrasive music. The energy from the live performances on this disc is infectious as hell. It really makes you want to get up and start a band or something. But yeah, definently a must-get if you're a huge Fugazi fan.

As with most live cds, this is for fans only. The sound quality is alright, nothing spectacular- perhaps a little muddy. The vocals get drowned out a little sometimes. The stage banter is fairly regular, although theres a few holiday jokes (it WAS recorded in December).

On the pro side, Matt's voice has the grit that was lost on "Black Tape". That means you can hear "Filthy Insane", "Here I Am", "Mothers Cry", "I Know" and so on without the ultra-polished vocals. You can really notice it on "I Know"- the snottiness and grit from earlier albums shines through. (I'm not putting down the Black Tape album, it's got great songs- the production just brings it down a little.)

So overall, it's only worth getting if you're a huge fan of the Explosion (like myself). They're one of the best bands I've seen live (fun story- I got singled out in Calgary last summer during an Explosion set, got a song dedicated to me as well as the mic for a portion of "I Know" followed by a big ol' hug from Matt after the set), and this cd is alright, but doesn't fully convey how awesome their live performance is. The live versions of "These Times" and "God Bless the SOS" kick ass, by the way.

Basically this book chronicles three years of Ben Snakepit's life through three-panel comic strips. These aren't gag-type comic strips(although there is some humour thrown in there), they merely show and tell what happened that day. Sometimes it gets a little repetitive; but hey- thats life for ya. It's a charming bunch of strips, and it's also pretty easy to relate to. A fun book, just don't be expecting gag strips.

I'm not quite sure about this one. The songs that are good are REALLY good, but then theres a few songs which don't really seem to go anywhere and make me reach for the 'skip track' button. Pretty decent I guess. I love the vibraphone or whatever it's called.

Now THIS is some great stuff. A diverse record, but not so diverse that it leaves you scratching your head- it's just 50-some minutes of excellent music. "It's Alright, You're OK" is a great song. Definently worth checking out if you like the music Ted Leo is releasing with the Pharmacists. This might be a little more pop-oriented; but in the end it's just a really damn good album.