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BARRY THOMPSON

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Quiet riot

The Points North don't need to be pushy
I'm sick and tired of music bossing everybody around.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | June 26, 2010

Walter Sickert & The Army Of Broken Toys | Steam Ship Killers

Self Released (2010)
Fortunately for me, Walter Sickert and friends unveiled this record in 2010 instead of 1996, when it would've terrified me into a coma.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | June 24, 2010

Bedroom community

Dead Cats Dead Rats dig out of the 'burbs
Okay, so Dead Cats Dead Rats are not actually from Boston.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | June 07, 2010

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’s front may be a front
Not that they’d be the first band to pad their résumé in their one-sheet, but even by industry standards, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’s backstory tests the threshold of plausibility.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | May 18, 2010

Evelyn Evelyn | Evelyn Evelyn

Eleven (2010)
Teetering on the razor-thin line between endearingly whimsical and totally stupid ain’t easy.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | March 23, 2010

Better late than ever

Refuse Resist are enough to make a grown man try
The eternal argument over what is and is not punk rock has been run into the ground for so long, it’s become a cliché — and clichés are so not punk.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | February 09, 2010

Super 8-Bit Brothers | Brawl

The End (2010)
It's easy to forget how annoying certain pop-culture artifacts were in their heyday.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | January 13, 2010

Sick sense

There's a madness to Bunnies' method
We've been told there's no such thing as a new idea, but that may well be bullshit. The new ideas are out there, they just need bands like Bunnies to root them out.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | January 12, 2010

Injustice for all

Getting serious with Star Fucking Hipsters
Scott Sturgeon loses his train of thought a couple of times during this interview. He's loopy from jet lag — which is unavoidable after a 20-hour flight from New Zealand (halfway around the planet from his non-residency at a squatted apartment building in New York City), where he's just finished a tour with his claim-to-fame band, Leftover Crack.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | December 09, 2009

Group effort

Don't call Mark Lind's Unloved a solo project
If you're inclined to play punk rock, chances are you've got a self-esteem problem. It's not an æsthetic that attracts the well-adjusted. Exhibit A: Mark Lind. As bassist and frontman of the Ducky Boys, he's opened for Rancid, U.S. Bombs, and Flogging Molly.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | November 19, 2009

Tegan and Sara | Sainthood

Sire (2009)
Tegan and Sara have always been background music for staring wistfully out a coffeeshop window, in a strange city, alone, hung over and/or going on no sleep, wondering what the fuck went wrong.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 28, 2009

Anything and everything

StreightAngular just want to know what's now
People never like to label themselves. Or, at least they shouldn't.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | October 10, 2009

A.F.I. | Crash Love

DGC Interscope (2009)
First they alienated hardcore kids; now they're alienating the Internet.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 29, 2009

Dark matter

Soulsavers keep it eerie on the ears
To paraphrase some wisdom from Jake "The Snake" Roberts, if a man has power, he never has to raise his voice. Jake was explaining why, unlike his adversaries, he didn't keep screaming gibberish. But it's a universal truth.

By: BARRY THOMPSON | September 15, 2009