Crispus Attucks (Time Machine #1)

On this day, 13 years ago, this show happened at DC's Wilson Center. Pretty cool lineup, and for the goofballs that care about Thursday, it might be sort of astonishing to see them playing somewhere for only $5.

I never "got" Kid Dynamite. I still don't. 

Crispus Attucks is cool. I have their album Destroy the Teacher because one of my friends stole it from a chain CD store. Good punky hardcore with (if I remember correctly) mostly political lyrics. If anyone listens to the Dissonance Podcast, there are some pretty choice episodes that have a guy from C.A. on them. One of them is called 'When Good Punk Goes Bad' and it's strictly about really crappy punk songs from bands that used to be good (notably playing something from the oft neglected Clash album Cut the Crap). That's all I can really say.

No Justice rules. Just search any of their live sets on youtube (especially their last show). Stuff getting thrown all over the place, and a madman vocalist (Timmy) with no regard for his own safety. Really cool, not a lot of songs, but most of them are great. Big fan of the version of "Political Scheme" that appears on the Memories of Tomorrow compilation that came out on Youngblood. Sounds much fiercer than the one on Still Fighting.

Title Fight - "Symmetry" (Dylan's Dumb iPod #13)

I'm just as perplexed by the Title Fight phenomenon as you are bub, so get off your hardcore high horse for a minute and level with me. When it comes to pop punk lovin' hardcore, I leave that shit to middle schoolers and soccer moms. No, I never really dug too far into Lifetime, Kid Dynamite or any of that nonsense (too busy listening to metal) and so seeing Title Fight's TIH 2009 set and the Fury of V caliber pit action accompanying it was just baffling. Yeah, I'm hip to their hardcore pedigree, and when it comes to this kind of music, I don't loathe it...it just ain't my bread n' buttah.

So now you're asking, "OK Mr. Hardcore, whyzit on your iPod then?" Well douchewaffle, the magazine I write for pitched me their newest album Shed to review about a year ago. Not wanting to be a jabroni, I dug into their back catalog to make an informed judgment on the album, and in the process snagged The Last Thing that you Forget. I liked the cover art and connected with it more than I did with Shed and just left it on my digital jukebox.


In my book, Title Fight is strongest when they're playing fast and high energy, something TLTYF has in spades. While Shed is deemed a more "mature" record with more "depth" (or something stupid) and more emphasis on slow songs, it didn't hold me long enough to care.


"Symmetry" is TLTYF's opening track and essentially Title Fight at their best. Fast, tuneful, throaty and there's even a breakdown near the end (Still not used to seeing people mosh for 'em). It's a great song, and lyrically the line "you're a match that can't be lit, spark a flame, burn infinite" reminds me of the lyrical coupling going on in Bad Religion's "Incomplete." Plus the inverted "round" style of singing at the end rules.


Yeah, they've got a wider appeal than Bad Seed and will always be more popular...but I'm allowed to have a preference aren't I?