Punk

Man vs Machine No. 3

Still looking for an image.

Every week Apple Music makes a New Music Mix for users. I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs the algorithm “thinks” I will like. I can manipulate this list much easier than the friends list by what I listen to. That being said it loves feeding me Black and Death Metal which for the most part isn’t my thing.

The Damned “Making Time” if I didn’t know this was the Damned I’d never guess. Listened to 1 minute and 8 seconds.

Civic “Cosmic Astronaut “ Not the Aussie punk band. Apple you need to fix the multiple bands with the same name problem. Listened 8 seconds.

Landowner “Slippery Abyss” Jangly guitars with talk singing, a painful combo when the song is so bad. Listened to 31 seconds.

Hey Colossus “Runaway Heart” I think this is supposed to be weird, it’s boring. Listened to all of it waiting for something to happen.

A Place to Bury Strangers “Acid Rain” Ultra distorted guitars almost to being painful. Ethereal vocals. Not sure what I think. Listened to all of it.

Megadeth “Another Bad Day” Lifeless. Listened to 1 minute.

Lubomyr Melnyk “Windmills, Pt. 1” Dark, creepy almost ambient piano. Eventually gets into his more Philip Glass type music. Listened to it all.

Black Swan “When the Cold Wind Blow” Starts off and I’m excited for some noisy rock, then it becomes dull power metal. Listened to 1 minute 18 seconds.

Joe Hoekstra’s 13 “Lifeline” Wow sterile unimaginative pop metal in 2026. This is paste. Listened to 50 seconds.

Necofier “Servents of Darkness, Guide My Way III” You know you’re in trouble when you’re on the second sequel of a song. Generic Black Metal. Listened 1 minute and 31 seconds.

Possession “The Black Chappel” Out of all the music I play, I listen to Immortal once and it’s like here’s a lot boring of Black Metal . 1 minute 2 seconds.

Final Gasp “No Hand to Lead” Someone likes Lane Staley. 34 seconds.

Psycroptic “Failing” Music is as bad as the band name. Enough with the metal. 22 seconds.

The Silver “Memorias” Melodeath Black metal. Kinda prog. It’s shit. 53 seconds.

At the Gates “The Fever Mask” It’s good but do you really need more than Slaughter of the Soul? Listened to all of it.

Harrowed “The Haunter” Maybe there should be some kind of license needed to have a metal band. 1 minute 10 seconds.

Suplecs “Pentacle Star” i think this is supposed to be Stoner Rock, whatever it is it’s bad. Listened to 1 minute and 12 seconds.

Chuck Treese Rachel Anne “Our Town (Eye Can Tell)” How this was recommend to me and what did I listen to trigger it is a mystery. Listened to all of it to see if it was anything but vocals and breathing, it wasn’t.

Good Riddence “There’s Still Tonight” Great I listen to hardcore punk and it thinks I want this crap. 58 seconds.

Social Distortion “Born to Kill” Still mining the “I work on my car/motorcycle 50+ punks”. 33 seconds.

Stereolab “Cloud Land” never been much for them. A bit too twee. I kind of like this. Listened to it all.

ADULT. “No One is Coming” Shit, two in a row I enjoy. Noisy Electronic/Industrial with Lene Lovich like vocals. Listened to it all.

Nick Plunti “Bruises and Bandages” The dreaded singer songwriter, who is good at neither. 12 seconds.

Dada Laida “The Beyond” Because you can play guitar technically doesn’t mean you play it well. 44 seconds.

Angel Du$t “Downfall” What did I do to deserve this? 37 seconds.

Hate Your Friends No. 12

Fistful of Dave Hate Your Friends

A belated return

Every week Apple Music makes a Friends Mix. I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs in this list. As Apple Music likes to put the same bands on the list often, so I will skip some of the tracks.

Rat Boys “Light Night Mountains All That” Spinanes or Julianna Hatfield like indie rock thats as boring as either of them. Listened to a minute and 23 seconds.

Mission of Burma “Progress” Uh oh is this going to be a week where I like more than I hate. Listened to all of it.

Come “In / Out” Another quality 90’s indie rock jam. Some nice guitar work here. Listened to all of it.

Grifters “Re-Entry Blues” Never cared for the sleepy bluesy indie rock of the Grifters. Listened 1 minute.

Heroic Doses “Crystals” Weird I don’t remember liking this. Some cool guitar bits. Probably, like most instrumental bands, could use a singer. Gets a bit repetitive as it goes along. Listened to it all.

Cows “A Gift Called Life” Chaotic noise rock. Leaves me wanting some kind of hook, Listened to 56 seconds.

Moving Targets “Faith” Husker Du, well Bob Mould at least, clone. I dig it. Listened to all of it.

Versus “8-9” “Blade of Grass” is their best song, go listen to that. Listened to 34 seconds.

The Replacements “Go” The first two Replacements releases are the best. Yeah, they are. Listened to all of it.

The Judybats “Saturday” Harmless indie pop. Boring. 30 seconds.

Smoking Popes “Just Broke Up” Top notch pop-punk, not your jock/frat boy pop-punk. Listened to it all.

Loop “Afterglow” Noisy, Shoegazey, Spacey genius. Listened to it all.

Abrasive Wheels “Danger, Danger” Luckily not about the shitty pop-metal band. Punk, its ok. Listened to all of it.

All Systems Go “Running Blind” Doughboys, Big Drill Car team up. It’s decent not close to either former bands best. Listened to it all.

SNFU “The Quest for Fun” While not their best its closest to top tier SNFU. Easily one of the greatest live bands. Listened to all of it.

Descendents “Hurtin’ Crue” An alright faux-metal song, they have much better. Listened it all.

Dag Nasty “One to Two” Essential melodic hardcore. Too much love flowing this week. Listened to it all.

All “Birds” If it’s not on Allroy Sez or Allroy for Prez… I don’t care. Listened to 54 seconds.

Alligator Gun “Evergreen Lawns” Milwaukee’s (Wisconsin’s) pop-punk kings. Do it. Listened to it all.

Spiritualized “Come Together” I really want to like them but it never clicks. The gospel-ish chorus, no thanks. Listened to a minute and 12 seconds.

XTC “Limelight” I should like them, they annoy the shit out of me. Listened to 27 seconds.

Bauhaus “Silent Hedges” Fucking great, the gloomy masters. Listened to it all.

Hum “Isle of the Cheetah” Yeah I call them metal but a mutation and combination that is dreamy and heavy. Deftones owe them some cash. Listened all of it.

Built to Spill “Happiness” This is way to hard when I like most of the songs. Not the best from this album, a bit too on the bluesy tip. Listened all of it.

Hate Your Friends No. 11

Fistful of Dave Hate Your Friends

I’m back. It’s a miracle.

Every week Apple Music makes a Friends Mix. I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs in this list. As Apple Music likes to put the same bands on the list often, so I will skip some of the tracks.

The Wedding Present “I’m From Further North Than You?” I try and try, nope. Twee, bland and worst of all boring. Listened to a minute and 41 seconds.

The Damned “Strange in Town” This is more like it, Soul punk? whatever it’s killer go listen. Listened to all of it.

Paris Texas “Action Fans! Help Us!” Madison, WI power pop punk. Overlooked and better than most. I do know these guys but don’t think I’d lay off if it sucked. Listened to all of it.

Redd Kross “1976” No one is telling me that it’s not Paul Stanley on backing vocals. FUCKING GREAT. Listened to all of it.

Perfect “Think I call My Life” Decent Replacements like midwest rock, go figure Tommy Stinson is in it. Listened to it all.

The Replacements “Someone Take the Wheel” Go listen to the Perfect song above. Tim or before is all you need. Listened to 34 seconds.

The Posies “Who’s to Blame” This is alright, it’s no “Frosting on the Beater.” Listened to all of it.

The Faint “Glass Dance” Surprised it took this long for this band to show up. People loved this band but my thought is why not listen to Satisfact, they do the post-punk/Gary Numan thing way better. Listened to 28 seconds.

Superchunk “A Small Definition” The Superchunk I don’t like, break-up slow song Superchunk. Listened to 45 seconds.

Pavement “Stop Breathing” Fuck this slacker VU rip off shit. 17 seconds.

Dinosaur Jr. “Puke + Cry” A palate cleanse for that Pavement trash. This rules. Listened to it all.

The Lemonheads “The Door” Not the best song off of “Lovey” but it’s ok, go listen to “Stove” or “Ride With Me.” Listened to it all.

Deep Tunnel Project “When I Hit the Ground” Yup not for me, plodding, dull, unimaginative. Listened to a minute and 13 seconds.

FACS “North America Endless” Weirdo, minimal, angular glory. Go buy all their stuff. Listened to it all.

The Cure “Other Voice” Stop pretending the new Cure is this good. Listened to all of it.

Blur “Battle” On the right day I can do Blur, must be the right day, What is this “I Kinda Like My Friends?”. Listened it all.

Chemical People “All the Best Things” Haven’t heard this since the 80s. Porno-All/Descendents ripping off Husker Du here. Listened to it all.

Jawbreaker “Gutless” Arrggghhh, the voice. I like that album everyone hates. Listened to a minute and 21 seconds.

Hot Snakes “If Credit’s What Matters, I’ll Take Credit” Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Rick Froberg, RIP go listen to any/all of it. Listened to it all.

Lung “Sick” US PJ Harvey with a cello? This is much easier when I don’t like something. Listened to it all.

Hum “Step Into It” Huge, heavy, dreamy. I used to say My Bloody Valentine playing Slayer songs. Few bands have made a reunion album this good. Listened to all of it.

Motorhead “The Chase is Better than the Catch” A favorite Motorhead song. Listened to it all.

Chappell Roan “Good Luck, Babe” I’d rather listen to her talk about artist rights. Is all of it a poor Kate Bush rip off? Listened a minute and 4 seconds.

Hate Your Friends No. 9

Fistful of Dave Hate Your Friends

I’ve changes this up a bit. I’ve moved to using two weeks of my Friends Mix to get a better list, removing the artist that appear every week. Also makes it a bit easier to keep up with.

Every week Apple Music makes a Friends Mix. Each week I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs in this list. As Apple Music likes to put the same bands on the list often, so I will skip some of the tracks.

Wiper “Over the Edge” Early Wipers is essential punk, that doesn’t really sound like anyone else. Listened to it all.

Chavez “Pentagram Ring” 90s rock, somewhere between noise rock and classic rock. Could use more hooks. Listened to it all.

Sebadoh “Hoppin’ Up and Down” One of the not so great songs on III. Listened to it all.

Brainiac “Flash Ram” Robot rock, just listen to Brainiac. Listened to it all.

Jesus Lizard “Puss” Never did much for me, this is apparently still true. Listened to it all.

Cola “Tracing Hallmarks” Sounds kind of like Silkworm meets Spoon. It’s pleasant enough but nothing that ropes me in. Listened to 1:29.

Upright Forms “Heaven Knows” Upbeat pretty good 90s indie punk. Listened to all of it.

Avail “On the Nod” 90s punk/hardcore. It’s fine. Listened to it all.

Samiam “Clean” If you don’t know take melodic West Coast punk/hardcore and mash it with DC melodic punk/hardcore. I prefer “Billy” and “ Listened to all of it.

Screeching Weasel “Someplace Else” Yeah Ben Weasel, all I can think of the “punk king” wearing a Celtic Frost shirt. I do like the second two records, this being one. Listened to it all.

Suicidal Tendencies “Institutionalized” I never need to hear this again. Listen to the rest of the record instead. 28 seconds.

D.O.A. “The Prisoner” Early D.O.A. Is great. Stay away from that later stuff. Listened to it all.

Gray Matter “Thog” 90s Discord, slower melodic and great songs. Weird fucking cover art. Listened to it all.

SNFU “The Devil’s Voice” If you like 80s hardcore and don’t like the first two SNFU albums there is something wrong with you. Listened to it all.

Voxtrot “Fast Asleep” Always thought this was post punk. guess not, jangly indie rock. Listened to a minute and five seconds.

The Allman Brothers Band “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” Time has not softened my disdain for this hippy jam bullshit. 30 seconds.

Built to Spill “Dystopian Dream Girl” What’s not to love, if Dino Jr was from the Pacific Northwest. Listened to it all.

Die Kreuzen “Among the Ruins” The greatest band from Wisconsin. They go more Killing Joke/Bauhaus here. Listened to it all.

Mudhoney “Running Loaded” I really want to love Mudhoney, then I go listen to Green River instead. Listened to it all.

Jawbox “Green Glass” DC goes to the majors. All of Jawbox’s albums are great. A streamlined Fugazi? Listened to it all.

Girls Against Boys “Cruise Your New Baby Fly Self” Slowly warming up to this after 30 years. Listened to it all.

Treepeople “Clouds and Faces” What Doug Marstch did before Built to Spill, more punk and out of control. All of it is worth your time. Listened to it all.

Jawbreaker “Shield Your Eyes” Still a pass. 32 seconds.

Big Boys “We Got Soul” I’d really like to say I like them. Annoying funk punk. 57 seconds.

Shiner “Cake” A band you might think I’d like. Nope. 52 seconds.

Silkworm “Grotto of Miracles” Why does everyone like this boring, morose shit? 33 seconds.

Amebix “Arise!” Kind of like an AnarchoPunk Venom. Their comeback album “Sonic Mass” is what to listen to though. Listened to it all.

Articles of Faith “Buried Alive” Best hardcore band out of Chicago, ferocious and melodic. Listened to it all.

Dag Nasty “Values Here” Kings of melodic hardcore, first two albums are essential. Listened to it all.

Big Drill Car “Freedom of Choice” A big yawn of a cover, listened to “Album/CD/Cassette Type Thing” instead. 41 seconds.

Finom “Hungry” Pleasant 90 type indie rock with a motorik beat. Listened to all of it.

Kim Deal “Coast” Embarrassingly bad, stop the horns for the love of all that is good. 33 seconds.

This is Lorelei “Perfect Hand” It’s so easy to make awful electronic music. 23 seconds.

Soul Asylum “Beggars and Choosers” One of my favorite albums. So great before “Runaway Train. Listened to all of it.

Julian Cope “My Nation Underground” Where’s that skip button, shitty white guy funk. 13 seconds.

Man vs Machine No. 2

Still looking for an image. Better first half of the list this week.

Every week Apple Music makes a New Music Mix for users. Each week I will make off the cuff “reviews” of the songs the algorithm “thinks” I will like. I can manipulate this list much easier than the friends list by what I listen to. That being said it loves feeding me Black and Death Metal which for the most part isn’t my thing.

Jack White “What’s the Rumpus?” While not a pastiche of himself it’s close. It’s listenable but unremarkable. Listened to it all.

Dinosaur Jr “Whenever Your Ready” The AC/DC or Slayer of 80s indie rock? Quality reproductions of past glory that don’t get near the heights of the classics. Listened to all of it.

Guided By Voices “Serine King” I wish Apple Music would stop feeding me GBV. This song is pretty good but I have all I need. Listened to all of it.

Loma “Pink Sky” Slinky slightly creepy and laid back. Kind of like Blonde Redhead with more 60s French pop thrown in. Listened to and bought the album, more of a US Broadcast. Listened to all of it.

Water From Your Eyes “Tired of Being Alone” First clunker of the week, modern indie rock aping the 70s California thing fronted by a woman that can’t sing. 36 seconds.

J.R.C.G. “Dogear” Beak> meets Girls Against Boys. Not sure what I think, need to revisit. Listened to the entire album and bought it. Great stuff, unique. Listened to it all.

1349 “The God Devourer” Long time traditional Black Metal vets, it’s fine but not good enough to buy. Listened to it all.

Ripped to Shreds “Perverting the Funeral Rights…” Things I hate about modern metal is that it’s so mechanical and artificial sounding. Death/Grind Grind/Death. 44 seconds.

Nachtmystium “Predator Phoenix” Dull black n roll. 42 seconds.

Loudblast “From Beyond II (The Return)” The music I like, kind of a melodic metallic hardcore, the vocals are that over the top how low can I go growling crap. Listened to it all.

Fulci “Human Scalp” More of the low growling vocals, this time over paint by numbers death metal. 32 seconds.

Mayhemic “Triumph Portrit” Sometime I think metal has completely run out of ideas. 50 seconds.

Dark Angel “The Shadows” The electronic music taking a known band name to cash in. Apple needs to fix this. 22 seconds.

Ceremony of Silence “King of the Mountain” A rip off of early Mastodon but a bit more Death Metal. 55 seconds.

Aeternus “Fire Pendulum” This seems to be a former metal band doing awful EDM. 26 seconds.

Holocausto “Seres Inertes” Kind of entertaining retro thrash. Listened to all of it.

Black Lava “Colour of Death” It’s got to be a drum machine Black metal. Listened to 2 minutes and three seconds.

Swervedriver “Butterfly” Left overs from 99th Dream, probably better than anything that made the record. Listened to all of it.

Swami John Reis “Ketchup, Mustard, and Relish” I want to love this, but I heard this hundreds of times from John Reis. Well done but not needed. Listened to all of it.

X “Ruby Church” X with all the edges sanded down. 1:00.

Ron Keel “Hollywood” Excruciating pop metal country cross over. 27 seconds.

Sacri Monti “Desirable Sequel” I was intrigued by the song, then it started for real. 1:09.

Stratovarious “Heroes” i was hopeing for a power metal cover of Bowie’s “Heroes” for a good laugh. No such luck. 1:32.

dirt “Wreckage” Metal is dead. 23 seconds.

Radon “Azufee” Not sure what this is supposed to be but it’s terrible. 46 seconds.