Hoods Up! – A Collection of Recordings

This one’s a blast from Black With Sap’s collective past. Hoods Up! is one of the many musical endeavors that spawned from our group of friends that never reached its full potential. Yeah, it’s a shameless plug for some friends, but in my defense, this band hasn’t existed for years and everyone else should love this shit as much as I do.

Anyway, Hoods Up! was the moniker that Brett Hawkins recorded under for a short time. At its inception, the band was a shouty two-piece with Ryan De La Rosa (of Fern and Moss and Delores) on guitar, but Brett continued to write acoustic songs before moving on to other projects. These songs are undeniably catchy, charming, funny, and endearing as all hell. They were basically an emo two-piece that didn’t take themselves seriously and wrote music that was fun to play. What’s not to like about that? Brett and Ryan both have tons of recorded music, but I wanted to put together some songs they wrote together (plus a few extras). Download it, listen to it, dig it. Never fucking grow up.

Download.

Outside Smokers Smoking Outside

Hey kiddies, Alex of Terrior Editions / Morose Terrior / Outpost Supply just put out a 10 page zine of his leisurely living inspired artwork of jaded guys smoking, you guessed it… outside. $3 bucks + shipping, limited edition of 31. Pick one up and stay tuned for his other upcoming tape releases.

Buy!

Bandera – II

Bandera is a post-hardcore band from Toronto that put out one of our favorite cassettes of last year. We were able to distro a few copies and they went like candy (seriously, check out that album here). The self-titled, 10 song offering was the perfect combination of post-punk, hardcore, Euro-screamo, and maybe even a touch of emo violence.

The band’s new album “II” builds upon the powerful sound of the group’s first album, but in a much more nuanced presentation. Post-hardcore influences like Fugazi are more pronounced (especially in the vocals). This time around, the songs are much more tuneful and dynamic. Bangers like “I Taught You How To Hang Out” and “Ask Us About Y2FSU” start in a groovy post-punk manner, then slowly devolve into howling, haunting hardcore. “Tim Talks Colonialism” is a showcase of the bands driving, skillfully rhythmic, and discordant instrumentation, while “Tom Jane Just Wants His Kids Back” shows the band is capable of being haunting, energetic, and catchy all at once (not to mention it’s a great Arrested Development reference). This 12″ is coming out on 3 different colors with handscreened covers. We’ll be distroing it soon, but I encourage you to preorder it directly from N.C.J.T. Records. I think this band is awesome and I’d love to see them gain a US following.

Preorder.

Download.