Jesse Raub

Bry Webb Free Will There’s a freedom offered when one strikes out on his own. No longer writing parts distinct for each band member to play, a solo artist has the ability to focus in on the song craft itself, and worry less about the arrangement. It’s no surprise, then, that most solo artists tend […]

Black God II EP With no song breaking the two-minute mark, Black God’s new EP follows the rule of golden-era Black Flag—four chords, a lead riff, a pummeling rhythm section—and it comes off as smarter than it seems. Pushing into near post-hardcore territory without sacrificing any beats-per-minute, the band only pause their relentless 10 minutes […]

The Swan King Eyes Like Knives It’s not hard to see Fugazi’s influence among a variety of modern punk and hardcore bands, and it’s clear that the Swan King (featuring former Planes Mistaken For Stars bassist Jamie Drier) were reared on those aggressive rhythms and guitar riffs. The story doesn’t stop there, however. Built into […]

Mikey Jukebox Mikey Jukebox For some people, bridging the gap between Green Album-era Weezer and late-’70s disco beats would be nothing more than a precious gimmick. For former Longwave drummer Mike James, it’s the basis of his new one-man project, Mikey Jukebox. Cutting big guitar hooks with busy backbeats and run-of-the-mill melodies seems like territory […]

Brain Banger Munsoned EP When Brain Banger went through the history of Louisville, Kentucky, heavy music to tally their influences, they came to the same sum of their parts that Sleater-Kinney reached in the early ’90s in the Pacific Northwest. There’s a urgency to the music, a slight melodic bent, a heavy leaning on minor […]

Pepper Stitches EP Brad Nowell couldn’t have known what he was starting. Filled with a desire for both social commentary and substance abuse, he wrote punk-infused, reggae-inspired ska songs with enough pop-radio appeal to make him a star (albeit belatedly). In his wake, we have a pale imitation in Pepper. On the Stitches EP, the […]

American Idiot As if Green Day were attempting to wipe their listeners memories of their missteps on 2000’s Warning, American Idiot starts out with the band’s best Undertones-esque punk riffing on a vaguely political song harkening back to their roots in the best way possible. The band then tackle the next three tracks with a vengeance, using three recurring strengths from their back catalog: ’60s pop (“Jesus of […]

Warning When Warning kicks off with the title track, the straightforward acoustic rocker shows promise for the album. Green Day’s playing is tightened up even more, leaving no note unexpected and placed perfect, and the walking bassline is catchy. Even the bondage-tribute hard-shuffle “Blood, Sex And Booze” is a fun, bouncy track. But then something goes wrong. On “Castaway” and “Minority,” the band seem to have plum […]

Nimrod Nimrod very well may be the album everyone expected to come from Green Day after 1994’s Dookie. But when faced with their major-label follow-up, Green Day went for the stadium-rock grandeur of Insomniac’s huge guitars and tightened up playing. With that out of their system, the band had the chance to take on the hard shuffling of “Hitchin’ A Ride,” the sour pop […]