GREEN DAY
Father of All Motherf..ers
My, how time flies! It’s been nearly three decades since Green Day kick-started the pop-punk ‘revolution’ with their 1994 breakout album “Dookie” and the trio of Billy, Tre Mike and will be coming to Manila late this month in what’s expected to be a fresh reboot of pop-punk hysteria in these parts.
Green Day are on a global tour on the heels of their latest release titled “Father of All Motherf..ers” and some statements from Billie Joe Armstrong regarding the last Grammy Awards are fodders to potential controversies. Now, there’s real controversy with regards to the title of the band’s latest album which nobody even in the rock press doesn’t seem to mind. Perhaps, those who still listen to these pop-punk pioneers have already accepted the idea that Green Day are just going through their middle-aged asshole phase. Like, f*ck punk rock. They’ve matured enough to find joy in pre-punk rock & roll as evidenced by the garage rocking opener as well as the ‘60s Kinks-referencing revival in the handsome trio of “Fire, Ready, Aim,” “Oh Yeah” and “Meet Me On The Roof.” Through the remainder of the album, Green Day relish the feel-good vibes in the music of a more innocent time even if they’re now talking about stabbing you in the heart, junkies on high and things not going right.
Advanced reviews report that the band is still one of the best live acts on the planet. These mofos know how to please an increasingly fickle audience.
MANNEQUIN PUSSY
Patience
Female-fronted pop-punk is on the line in Mannequin Pussy’s brand-new album. It’s on the line because it departs from the commercially successful formula of Paramore and their kind. What Mannequin Pussy does is to take away the ultra-saccharine sheen of pop-punk and replace it with a palette of pop confections within the ambit of old-school punk. Where the titular track and “Drunk I” open in driving punk rock, “Fear/+/Desire” de-escalates to the charming atmospherics of dream pop, “Cream” sizzles in the tough hardcore of the likes of Sleater-Kinney while “F.U.C.A.W.” comes out fighting in the tradition of L7 and Bikini Kill. Patience is the sound of a band shooting heat-seeking missiles out of punk’s chaotic engine.
BRITTLE GLASS CASKET
S/T
The band’s name projects a pop-punkish attitude so it’s no surprise that the first two songs on an album unattractively titled “S/T reel off” as polite odes to Blink-182. Squeaky female vocals add to the distraction.
Then, on the third cut, the backing combo brings up their proto-punk garage influence and the track caroms to the classic punk attack becoming “a runaway train with Bugs Bunny at the controls.” A short instrumental track, “Darna Interlude” later and the band continues their garage punk romp till the melodic indie-pop of “Yourself.”
The frontwoman sings of heartbreaks and separation in the context of “Walk away/Things will never be the same” from “Yourself.” They would sound trite and blah in the hands of OPM balladeers but Brittle Glass Rocket, they’re shaped like brass in pocket. Like, hey ho, go eff yourself!
In S/T. the band is actually searching for their niche in the local pop-punk subculture and their initial effort is laudable. Their breakout moment is just a couple of loud and fast chords away.
FONTAINES D.C.
Dogrel
People should be reminded that the Arctic Monkeys were punks when they first started and on their slippery shoulders, Irish trouble makers Fontaines DC construct similar music that’s part punk uprising and part post-punk ramajama in the tradition of The Talking Heads and UK’s The Slits. A track called “Television Screens” even summons the spirits of both The Gang of Four and Tom Verlaine’s Television, bridging two generations arising from ‘70s punk’s possibilities.
In the grander scheme of things falling apart, Fontaines DC vocalist Grian Chatten pulls in nightmares of dashed hopes, regular disconnection and urban decay in songs titled “Hurricane Laughter,” “Too Real” and “Roy’s Tune.” That last song comes encased in midtempo strummed guitars to possibly half-conceal the raging aches and frustrations of the narrator. The pent-up emotions erupt into something more sinister in “Liberty Belle” where main man Chatten bleats “You know I love that violence that you get around here / That kind of ready-steady violence.”
Chatten delivers his words like intellectual sermons allowing the music to blend well in intensity and volume. His voice never rises in anger to make a point of contention and it’s up to the backing music to rise to the occasion. They do a swell job of a balanced punk-inspired rock attack.
BARRED
Bloodstained Existence
What’s primarily interesting about Barred is how well their mesh of punk noise and ululating largely undecipherable vocals can get under your skin. Opener “Trapped” speaks of deterioration in cesspools and septic tanks from a singer who seems to be declaiming while his hair is on fire. There’s so much agitation going on in the human element of the song such that the crash, burn and detonations in the surrounding metallic din makes sense.
This introductory modus operandi gets repeated in later compositions appropriately titled “Blinded,” “Scourge” and well, “Disease.” In fact, the entire record tends to induce extreme unease to any listener quite similar to initial exposure to such releases as Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music or in the periodic WSK Festival happening around the time of the Fete dela Musique, You get orchestrated punk/metal/electronic machinations intended to unleash the dark night of the soul of both performer and listener. Beware though that a bloodstained existence can be a harrowing aural experience.