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The Amazing Crowns: Royal
Wow, it took quite a while for the Amazing Crowns to get their second studio album out (a couple live CDs have kept rabid fans at bay) but it was worth the wait. The CD starts off with "Still Royal", a tribute to their fans and refers to their name troubles. (The Royal Crowns became The Amazing Royal Crowns when the Royal Crown Revue made a stink about it; that wasn't good enough, thus just The Amazing Crowns.) The second song, "Mr. Fixit", sounds a lot like New Bomb Turks; it's not until "Perfect Sin" that the Crowns I know take over. The production (by the Bosstone's Joe Gittleman) is cleaner and more polished than their debut CD, and as a result is missing some of that album's rawness. Overall, their sound is a lot faster and rockier than in the past (due in part to personnel changes) but The Swinger's standup bass helps keep the rockabilly sound going throughout. Fans will remember "Hat Size" from an early single and "Greasy" from a live bootleg, but the other 12 tracks are originals overflowing with energy, with the final song, "Chop Shop", so blazingly fast number that'll knock you right out of your GTO.
Time Bomb Recordings
Jurassic-5: Quality Control
I thought rap was dead — it seems like there's nothing but the weak stuff put out by the likes of Puff Daddy, Will Smith, and Jay-Z; all the watered-down R&B-influenced hip-hop; unoriginal songs stealing from old hits; not to mention all the metal-rap shit flooding the world. Lyrics, rhyming skills, and flow just don't matter in rap today — just mumble some words over an 80's song and add some R&B background vocals and presto! Instant rap hit. What ever happened to the days of real MC's — Rakim, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane? Those days aren't gone — they're just underground, and Jurassic-5 are the leaders of the rebirth of the old school. Strong beats and well-placed samples lay the groundwork by DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark, but what really makes J-5 the shit is the vocals: four MCs — Chali 2NA, Zaakir, Akil, and Marc 7 — flaunt new school skills, flowing and playing off each other in old-school fashion, as well as harmonizing together. Add some of the best lyrics and rhyming since 1989, and you have an instant classic album. You can't call an album Quality Control without delivering the quality, and Jurassic-5 does it: there's not a bad cut on the entire album — a rare feat, especially among rap albums.
Interscope Records
Nerf Herder: How to Meet Girls
I'm sorry, but I can't get into this at all. I enjoy cheesy, silly pop-punk as much as the next person, but this is just a bit too saccharine for me. You may remember Nerf Herder's big hit a couple years ago, "Van Halen". These 11 kind of along those lines: semi-catchy tunes that aren't too memorable, light lyrical topics — "Courtney" is about Courtney Love, "Pantera Fans in Love" is about heavy metal fans in love, "She's a Sleestak" is about dating a Sleestak from Land of the Lost ... you get the idea. The songs about girls ("Lamer Than Lame", "For You") just aren't in the same league as Mr. T Experience at all, not by a longshot. Sometimes they'll get a chuckle out of me (after pumping iron, "Thought I looked like Henry Rollins, but I still looked like Phil Collins" from "Feeling Bad"). It's almost like they're trying too hard to be funny and/or clever, but for the most part Nerf Herder don't pull it off.
Honest Don's
NOFX: The Decline
This is different approach for NOFX, starting with the CD itself: it's a 4" mini-CD cleverly disguised as a full-size CD with a clear plastic extension. (Never seen that before, and it makes for an original and cool-looking disc — albeit one that can't play in my car CD player...) The Decline is actually a single, 18-minute epic song — that's right, one track. Now before you get the idea of some lame prog-rock concept album in your head, remember that it's still NOFX. In general, "The Decline" is fast and loud, though it does have several different movements: things temporarily get quiet and slow down; El Hefe blows his trumpet; and different musical themes resurface. It's got more of a classical format than your typical 2-3 minute punk song, and is almost a connection of different songs into one single, coherent piece. The Decline is a departure from your typical punk record formula — and it definitely had the possibility of disaster (a lame punk-rock concept album) — but NOFX pulls it off cleanly.
Fat Wreck Chords
NOFX: Pump up the Valuum
The band that launched a thousand bad imitators are at it again. NOFX's new album contains more of the same fast, snotty punk that you've grown to love (or hate) over the years. But don't bother telling them that this album sounds like albums past: the first song "And Now For Something Completely Similar" beats you to it ("Can you hear the blatant similarity to 'Linoleum'?"). Pump up the Valuum then blasts directly into the next song, "Take Two Placebos and Call Me Lame", and stays in high gear for most of the rest of the trip. There are a couple revisits to old songs ("What's the Matter with Parents Today?" recalls "What's the Matter with Kids Today?"; "Louise" from "Liza and Louise"). There are the occasional serious (as serious as NOFX gets, anyway) lyrics, such as in "Dinosaurs Will Die" (about the impending death of the record industry). But for the most part it's fun & goofy: "Clams Have Feelings Too (Actually They Don't)", "Stranger Than Fishin'", "My Vagina", and the accordian-accompanied "Theme From a NOFX Album". Nobody ever accused NOFX of taking themselves too seriously, that's for sure.
Epitaph Records
Rancid: Rancid
Is it legal to release a second self-titled album? I don't know, but Rancid has released a second album titled simply Rancid. There may be a reason for this, though — this Rancid is similar to 1993's Rancid in that it's pretty much straight-ahead punk rock (though a little angrier than their first album). To continue the Rancid-Clash comparisons that have followed them for a while now, if ...And Out Come the Wolves was Rancid's London Calling, then their last album Life Won't Wait — decent, but sprawling and unfocused — was definitely their Sandinista! Now Rancid comes full circle, ditching the ska and dub from Life and blasting out 22 songs in under 40 minutes. This album does what a punk record should do: kick you in the stomach, travel over the posted speed limit, and leave you wanting more when it's over.
HellCat Records
Sunny Day Real Estate: The Rising Tide
I've read several other reviews for the latest Sunny Day Real Estate album, and it seems like either people absolutely love it or hate it. Put me in the former category — I think it's great. Some people have suggested (or should I say accused?) SDRE of listening to too much Rush between their last album (How It Feels To Be Something On) and this one. (One reviewer called it "the pop record '70s prog bands would make in the '80s...Power Windows for a new generation". Of course, I actually like Power Windows...) This may be true: there definitely seems to be an even stronger prog-rock sound that first reared its head on How It Feels, especially on "Disappear" (the introductory drums have a "Mystic Rhythms" feel to it) and "Television". Though the band's sound has evolved a lot since their first album, The Rising Tide does have some similar element that helped them "invent" emo-core (the electric guitar in "Rain Song" sounds a lot like "Seven"). And, of course, the high, straining voice of Jeremy Enigk is present throughout, floating over the music, to which layers of keyboards and strings have been added. Still full of emotion and feeling, the lyrics are (slightly) easier to understand than previous albums — another thing those who prefer the older more cryptic lyrics don't like. This is one of those albums that might turn off some fans, but those that dig it will be unable to stop listening to it.
Time Bomb Recordings
Various Artists: Punk-O-Rama 5
The latest Epitaph sampler is what you'd expect, pulling songs from recent albums. The usual suspects are here, including Pennywise, Pulley, NOFX (who contribute the only unreleased song), Millencolin, and Voodoo Glow Skulls. Some of the 28 songs here are good (tracks by NOFX, All, Rancid, Guttermouth, Dwarves, Bombshell Rocks, Bouncing Souls, Satanic Surfers), and some I couldn't get into. Some hardcore (Madball, Straight Faced) breaks up the punk, but I'm not much of a hardcore listener anymore. The song that really stands out most on Punk-O-Rama 5 is Refused's, mainly because it sounds like nothing else on the CD. Overall a decent (and cheap) compilation, 'specially if you're a big Epitaph fan.
Epitaph Records
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