I spend way too much time on the computer, or so my wife says as she's sitting in the recliner with the laptop in hand. Shit it's in the 100s during the summer and below 0 during the winter, so there's 6 months right there trapped in the house. Being a music lover in the middle of nowhere there's no other way to pursue my hobby other than through the computer. With that in mind, was stumbling around the net and found myself a pretty damn cool record label in the form of Grave Mistake Records. Great selection of label releases, superb distro, well organized, fantastic prices and with the guarantee of prompt shipping...after 30+ years of buying records it's cool to know there are still places like this, only bolstered by the opportunity the net provides. Somewhere as I was perusing the place I found that he (Alex, cool as all get out) was open to sending out records to guys like me who like to review new stuff. So being the whore that I am, I contacted Alex, and sure as shit in about a week, there was a package from Grave Mistake. 5 7"s and 2 CDs, so off and on here I'll be giving these a listen and letting yall know what I think (as if my opinion counted for anything...it is very important to me).
No sure, being the vinyl lover that I am, why I went for the CDs first, but I did and definitely wasn't disappointed. Night Birds are a hardcore style band, with surf leanings at times, simultaneously outta New Jersey and New York (where cities are clustered together like apartments). These guys have a bandcamp, a facebook, a myspace and something called an Oknoway, so they have fully utilized the net (for suckers like me). This first CD, "Fresh Kills Vol. 1" is a collection of two of their EPs and a demo, and basically represents their early stuff. If you want to read a well written review go to punknews. If you want my humble opinion, this stuff slays...urgently. The singer is right up my alley these days, screaming that is singing, no cookie monster stuff. You can actually tell what the guy is saying and the lyrics don't disappoint. The guitar is the driving force of the band as it was in so many first wave hardcore bands, power cords and surf noodling. The bass is the back bone and only serves to strengthen that driving force. The drumming is the icing on the cake, hard hitting when it needs to be but down to earth when that is called for. I DIG this band and I back that up by saying that they have made it to my iPod! I picked out some of my favorites and hands down the best tune on both these CDs is "Living In The Middle", so if your attention span is short, at least give that one a listen.
Midnight Movies
Bad Biology
Living in the Middle
More of the same here, maybe just a tad bit more polished, these guys are no slouches when it comes to doing what they do. You get their first full length in the form of "The Other Side Of Darkness". Again if you want a "real" review go get that at punknews. Not a dud on this one, but here's three...
Neon Gray
Born of Man and Woman
Landfill Land
In case you're interested I found an interview, but in the meantime go to Grave Mistake Records and pick up these bad boys or check out a whole host of other shit they've got for your listening pleasure.
</div> A couple of live tunes from a set last year in Brooklyn... [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsCaXvcAZyg&w=560&h=315]
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