Rydell

-Miles Booker - Vocals / Guitar
-David Gamage - Guitar
-Adam French - Bass Guitar
-Duncan Morris - Drums
-Mark Wilkinson - Guitar

Rydell was a post-hardcore / emo band from Kent, England. After the demise of hardcore band Couch Potatoes, some of the members took a new direction musically, so Rydell was born. After two albums, numerous splits with the likes of: Hot Water Music, Sunfactor, A Rocket Sent To You, and Hunter-Gatherer, Rydell split in 2003. Musically, they spanned the 90's emo spectrum, reminiscent of Mineral one minute, and Drive Like Jehu the next. Some of the guitar work really reminds me of Christie Front Drive's self-titled 12", especially apparent on "Per Ardua Ad Astra", which is usually regarded as their best effort. Miles Booker's vocals are largely on the gruff side, with periods of screaming, all backed up with at times intricate, and at times full-on, driving, punk drum work. Aside from their two albums, there's a collection cd titled "Always Remember Everything" that includes nearly all the songs from their splits and the "Home" 7". And also another three-way split cd with American bands A Rocket Sent To You and San Geronimo. I'm fairly certain that most, if not all of the Rydell stuff is out of print, but still widely available. Enjoy. --Trav

:DOWNLOAD: (Part I.)

:DOWNLOAD: (Part II)

The Secludes - Life Goes On (1998)

The Secludes are a melodic punk band from Portland, Oregon that began in mid-90's, and are still making music today. Although in almost twenty years as a band, I'm fairly sure that "Life Goes On" is their only album. But man, it's a good one. Rise Records also put out a 7" single titled "Blue" in 2000, but now both are long out of print, although used copies pop-up at the usual online joints. Check the song "Lost In The Bottle" and / or download the album below, and give their Facebook page a like. --Trav

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Loadstar

Loadstar were a melodic punk band originally from Grass Valley and later, Santa Cruz, California. I guess I first heard them in 2000 / '01? Close Enough. I really enjoyed their self-titled record back then, but it just became lost in the shuffle of other bands I was more into at the time. I unearthed that self-titled record recently, and I'm declaring it the best 1998 record of 2014, if that's even a thing. It is now. That album only lists nine songs, but there are five more hidden (and untitled) tracks that were recorded during their early days, and plays as one continuous thirteen-minute song. Why? I couldn't tell you. Vocalist / guitarist Donovan Cole said he remembered a song titled "Femagainstme", and another called "Down Tonight", that's all I know.

The following year produced an EP titled "Nothing To Lose", while not quite as good as the album, there are some toe-tappers on there for sure. Both cd's were released by Portland, Oregon label Little Kid Records, and everything in their catalog has become increasingly hard to find, no exception here sadly.

Musically, LS followed a pretty typical 90's punk schematic of fast / slow / fast / fast / slow etc.., "Too Far", "Disengage", and "Jack" could be a Samiam or maybe even a Horace Pinker b-side, while "Mystery Girl", "Carpe Diem", and "Wasted Daze" were far more in line with the Epitaph / Fat Wreck heydays. The link below contains both the album and the EP, I'm fairly certain those were the only two proper Loadstar releases. Enjoy. --Trav.

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Ethel Meserve

Maybe a certain image pops-up when you think about 90's emo; most likely it's an auditory collage of twinkly, self-indulgent, albeit great music that permeated the Midwest, or perhaps it was the organized chaos that centered around San Diego. Maybe it's all, maybe it's none. Ethel Meserve were one of those few bands from that all-encompassing 90's scene who countered a darker discordance with a good sense of melody (much like Kansas City's Boys Life and Giants Chair, and Lincoln's Sideshow). Besides their one and only album "The Milton Abandonment", EM had a demo, two 7" singles, and a split with the aforementioned Giants Chair (as part of the "Postmarked Stamps" series) to their credit. Those non-album songs were collected and re-released on cd as "Spelling The Names" in 2000. --Trav

** One file, but both "The Milton Abandonment" and "Spelling The Names" are enclosed.

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Co-Ed - Sometimes Always Maybe Never (1998)

Co-Ed were a melodic punk band from southern California, some might preface with "female-fronted", but that always bugged me. Why the gender specifics? If the music is coming from the right place, then who cares? I guess that was a decent place as any to get that off my chest. Anyway, they weren't around for very long, but we did get an album, a split with Pollen, and a 7" EP out of the deal. Drummer Wal Rashidi and Guitarist Mac Thompson were primarily responsible for the lyrics and music on this record, and you'll find a good cohesiveness largely on the pop-punk side, but with a few fast ones. I've never heard their 7" EP, but their split with Pollen is also worth checking out. I'll be sure and post that up soon. Enjoy. --Trav

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Houseboy - 1465 Tamarack Street Press Room (1998)

Houseboy were a melodic punk band from... all over. This was their second and final album, recorded after the band regrouped following the death of founding member Dan Garcia. After Stiff Pole Records had released their first record "Ya Right!" to positive reception, the remaining band members re-grouped, recruited a couple of guys from South Dakota and Illinois, respectively, and what came out was "1465 Tamarack Street Press Room". It's raw, almost demo quality, recorded live in one take (according to the liner notes), but it's catchy. Really, really catchy. Every single song is a ripper, 14 of them in fact, in 32 minutes. If you're into stuff like Rhythm Collision, early Horace Pinker or Diesel Boy, then check this out. --Trav

:DOWNLOAD: 

MAPS - Model American (2002)

This is a band I heard when I lived in London. The track "Ronald Raygun" was played during a BMX clip on the extreme sports TV channel. Being back in South Africa it was really hard to find even mp3's of the album, so a friend of mine from the States bought it for me.

The band was origionally called Model American but had to change the name due to copyright infringements. So they came up with the name MAPS which stands for Model American Playing Secretly. This is a really great album which also includes covers of Bad Brains and 7 Seconds tracks. It also includes five bonus tracks. - Marc

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The Scaries

I live here----->

My home state was never known for it's punk scene(s). Indie rock, hardcore, and metal have always been huge, but nearly every punk band with any sort of promise wound up a tiny blip on the radar. Then there were Chapel Hill's The Scaries, who played a brand of tight, driving, honest punk rock with an endless amount of hooks. I've heard them compared to everything from Descendents to The Promise Ring to Lagwagon to Saves The Day, and I would say all of those are accurate to some degree, but they were no carbon copy band.

I began to see them live whenever I could, one thing I realized was that The Scaries really had their stuff together, on stage and on record. I'm not sure if they're even the least bit active now, although they did a Japan tour a few years back accompanied by a Japan-only cd compiling their first two out of print records and some odds and ends. On to the goods, I've included all three of their albums in one file, so enjoy and stuff.
--Trav

Read an old Razorcake interview here.

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Fuzigish - Setlist (2011)

Setlist is a best of CD from South African ska legends Fuzigish. It also includes two unreleased tracks, "Burn The F#%$ing House Down" and "We Rise!". Previous Fuzigish albums have been really popular and also featured many line-up changes and also guest back-up vocals by Joey Cape (Lagwagon) on two tracks from the Roll With The Punches album. 

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Kid Dynamite

I was kinda slow to discovering the talents of Jason Shevchuk outside of None More Black. I got to see None More Black open for Good Riddance in London in 2004 and really liked them. Shevchuk's abrasive vocals drew me in. Then I read that he played in a more hardcore band called Kid Dynamite. I liked them from the very first track I heard. Really fast and even more abrasive vocals. They recorded two full length albums in 1998 and 2000 as well as two splits. One with 88 Fingers Louie and a 3-way split with Elliot and Sunday Evening Dinner Club. Here you will find their two full length albums... enjoy. - Marc

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Cambridge - This Is Not A Victory (2010)

I stumbled on this album by mistake and decided to give it a listen. I'm so glad I did. These guys from Canada produce fast punk rock with slightly rougher than average vocals. This is my favourite album of theirs. They have an earlier album and EP available as well. It seems they have been inactive for a while which kinda sucks as they are/were great. I recently discovered that their vocalist Jesse was previously in a skate punk band called Shortfall who are also well worth a listen. - Marc

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Going Blind - Referatic (2000)

Going Blind were a melodic punk band from Whistler, BC, Canada. Even though this record is fourteen years old, it's a new discovery. A buddy of mine was kind enough to send me a copy of "Referatic", assured that I would love it, and he was right. Literally everyone I've recommended Going Blind to were immediately drawn to them: crazy fast, rad vocal harmonies, above average musicianship, and below average production. Just the way I like it. There's precious little information about these guys around internetland, except for this article from a local newsmag. In the article, the band had seemingly high hopes about the future, but sadly they would split shortly after the release of Referatic, referenced in this article just months later. I'm not sure how many cd's were made, but it's undoubtedly rare. Makes me all the more stoked to own a copy. --Trav.

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Pet Flyz - Here Goes Everything (2000)

One of my favourite punk rock bands from Pretoria, South Africa. They toured many times around the country playing their brand of fast punk rock. The members also held punk festivals at Thrashers Skatepark in Pretoria which myself and friends would drive 6 hours to see. This album is really hard to find as only about 200 copies were pressed. - Marc

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Crestfallen

Nope, not the chaotic hardcore band from the DC area, these dudes were from Colorado and were active through the mid / late 90's. Their sound can be described as melodic pop-punk, with a little more ferocity than most. Aside from any demos, they only released a 7" and LP, through their own label. The LP was recorded in 1995, but not released until 2000, which was after the band had split I believe. --Trav

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Captain Everything! ‎– It's Not Rocket Science. (2003)

Captain Everything was a ska/punk band from Watford, UK. The music on their albums was always fast but it was lightning fast during live shows. This is my favourite release from their catalog. - Marc

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Not The Majority

Not The Majority was a punk rock band from Durban, South Africa. They recorded two albums, Welcome To Sackville (2005) and Calling Down The Bears (2008). - Marc

 Welcome To Sackville (2005)

Calling Down The Bears (2008)

San Geronimo - Self-Titled [EP] (2001)

Usually when your band consists of former members of Lifetime and Drowningman, people will... expect things. At the time, Drowningman had a new drummer, and Lifetime were in the middle of their nine-year break, so a new band was formed on the West Coast, and they proceeded to get all Knapsack on our asses. Sadly, the project was short-lived, only consisting of two EP's and a three-way split with A Rocket Sent to You and Rydell. I'll eventually get around to posting up those two as well, but for now, you get this. Enjoy. --Trav.

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Black President - Self Titled (2008)

A sort of punk rock super group started in 2005 by Charlie Paulson (Goldfinger) and Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks and ex Bad Religion). Quite a few band members have come and gone including Wade and Pat from Unwritten Law and Ty from Guttermouth. The band only recorded this one album in 2008. They are still listed as being active even though nothing has been heard from them in years. - Marc

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The Rebel Spell - It's A Beautiful Future (2011)

A friend of mine from Edmonton sent me a link to this band from Vancouver, and this is my favourite album of theirs. The album has a great melodic sound and plenty of songs to sing along to. - Marc

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Falling Sickness

The first time I heard this ska/punk band from Riverside CA. was on the first two Hopeless Records Compilations. What drew me to them was the speed of the music and also the fact that the songs did not have the greatest production and some backing vocals were out of time. Right On Time was their first full length in 1996 and Because The World Has Failed Us Both came out in 1998. They also released two splits. One with the Nobodys in 1996 and one with Dysentery in 1999. - Marc

 Right On Time (1996)

Because The World Has Failed Us Both (1998)