outside The Box Week: Dillinger Four - Civil War (4of4)

 listen to A Jingle for the Product by Dillinger Four

What is commonly defined as pop-punk seems to change a lot frequently.and it’s like Anti-Flag blindly follows its trends. What are current popular pop-punk bands, make me want to refer to Dillinger Four as political punk rock, like Anti-Flag at their prime. Only Dillinger Four (website) kept aiming for the same basic sound throughout their different releases. And with good reason. When I started to get in tot hem I would have held this high as the perfect standard for poppy punkrock music. the perfect combination between good ethics and good sound. Catchy as hell, but with the preferable punk mentality and feel to it. Thought-provoking lyrics with occasional ironic lols interweaved, but alwaus making its valid point clear.

Last fm tags as punk, punk rock, pop punk, melodic punk, minnesota 

buy their latest cd's from Fat Wreck Chords. for the rest of their discography, check their website by clicking the image above.

outside The Box Week: Atom And His Package - Hair: Debatable (3of4)

LMFAO. This is still easily the most random music I enjoy THIS much.  Just one dude (who is now a teacher in chemistry and physics), with a guitar and sequencer. While the machine automates sketchy beats, bleeps and MIDI-drums, Atom plays awkwardly upbeat punk rock guitar tunes and blurts out random and geeky lyrics. About his mother’s disappreciation for his and his friends’ black metal lifestyle, a mousache stuck to a TV-screen, how his definition of anarchy is littering, a fictional person who consists of nothing but a head with arms attached etc etc, with song titles like “I am down right amazed at what I can destroy with just a hammer”. You get the picture. The vocals often remind one of The Simpson’s Dr Frink and the overall music of an over-the-top Blink 182 mock-song. these songs are crappy/fantastic live recordings from his last show ever. Atom was also a playable character in EMOGAME.
Last Fm tags as punk, indie, experimental, electronic, rock

buy his stuff from No Idea Records, here

Outside The Box Week: Big KIds – Phone Home (2of4)

Soundtrack to the summer of 2k11! Big Kids  (website) play a smooth transition between gritty and upbeat (pop)punk rock, with raspy vocals, gritty yet cheerful guitars and rousing up-tempo drums. The vocalist favors the (Hot Water Music’s) Chuck Ragan piraty voice, that clash with lyrics which hover somewhere in between optimistic and nostalgic sentimentality, like in references to childhood or loves lost, and everything that comes with that time in your life. The guitar compositions can effortlesly tumble into melodic sounding, which feels odd as the guitar’s overall sound is quite raw –almost lo fi (cassette quality), but in a positive way!

Last fm tags as punk, punk rock, pop punk, rad, wicked 

buy their stuff here, or here

Outside The Box Week: Hot Snakes - Audit In Progress (1of4)

This is probably THE most quirky punk rock music in punx-history. Hot Snakes (site) featured members from Drive Like Jehu, and those very members went on to form The Night Marchers. in this band, and especially this album even more than their previous, they delivered very peculiar post-punk (and maybe even noise rock) influenced structures into punk rock. It’s like punk for all the Liars or The Jesus Lizard fanboys and girls and a prime example or reminder how versatile punk music can be to any die hard (up the) punx. This band is long gone but dearly missed.
Last fm tags as  post-punk, post-hardcore, punk, indie, rock

buy their stuff from Swami Records, right here