Philly’s LIGHTEN UP have had Absolutely Not available in some form since June of 2009, but it only recently hit many digital stores due to Jump Start Records new digital distribution agreement with the Independent Label Collective (ILC). These guys really take to heart the melodic hardcore mantra of Short.Fast.Loud. with the band’s 12 songs cruising in at just over 17 minutes. Even that is a bit of a distortion due to the final song’s extended running time. Frequent Pastepunk readers may remember that the band’s song “Butt-speak” originally appeared as an unreleased song on our 2008 Tenth Anniversary Compilation.

From Suburban Home Records:

We have been talking about putting out a split 7″ between ROCKY VOTOLATO and CHAD PRICE for some time now and are excited to announce that this idea will soon become reality. Originally intended to be an Under the Influence 7″, it was later suggested that we release a split 7″ featuring a track from Chad Price’s most recent album, Smile Sweet Face as Rocky Votolato is a huge fan of the track, “This Cross.” Rocky contributed the original and exclusive track, “Transparent” to round out the split 7″. We were set to go as is, but when Rocky was in town, I asked if he would be into covering a song by Chad and having Chad cover a song by Rocky. Both agreed. Rocky recorded a cover of the DRAG THE RIVER track, “Best & Worst”, a song that Chad Price sings from the “Garage Rock” 7″ and Bad at Breaking Up collection CD. Chad recorded a cover of the Rocky Votolato track, “Silver Trees” from The Brag and Cuss.

The 7″ will be pressed in an edition of 1,000 copies, 500 on transparent blue and all other pressings will be on black vinyl, starting with 500 on black. The 7″ will be bundled with an mp3 coupon. We are planning to release the 7″ on March 13th, 2010, but if all goes well, we will have copies in hand around the end of February. It is an honor to be doing this split 7″. I have been a long time fan of Rocky Votolato and both Chad and Rocky are long time friends.

em>From the inbox:

RIFOKI is the new punk hardcore project of Steve Aoki & Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, better known as The Bloody Beetroots. Recorded in Italy with Giulio Favero (ZU), Franz (Il Teatro Degli Orrori) & Rocco Rampino (La Quiete, The Death Of Anna Karina), Rifoki is the maximum level of expression of a lifestyle that has brought them to be two of the most recognized DJs & producers in the world.

But before they were DJs and producers, before electro, and before the rocked the clubs, Steve Aoki and Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo were punk rockers. Rifoki is a return to their roots: hardcore punk, pure and simple. The EP features artwork by Mark McCoy, a visual artist and vocalist for numerous punk and metal bands including Das Oath, also part of the Dim Mak family.

- It’s a rager…

I am consistently amazed and disheartened when professional individuals and organizations neglect to pay even a modicum of attention to spelling, grammar, and style in their communications. I would imagine this is of utmost importance to PR groups where the first impression is make or break for a band.

Today, I am calling out the info sheet which accompanied the promotional copy of the re-release of XASTHUR’s 2005 Demo, which is coming out soon on Hydra Head. Yet, rather than offer a philippic on the subject, let’s just go to the metaphorical videotape:

Click ‘Read More’ to see the rest of this post.

- I’d be into this band if the vocals didn’t sound like one of those ultra-high powered air blasting hand drying machines…

Maryland straight-edge hardcore band MINDSET will have pre-orders of their new EP Time & Pressure going up tonight on the React! Records site.  Time & Pressure is the band’s follow-up to the band’s 2008 7″ Real Power. Four new songs from the six song EP are streaming on the band and label MySpace pages.

From the inbox:

No Sleep Records has launched a new label sampler entitled “No Sleep Till Death” which features unreleased songs from upcoming releases (including THE WONDER YEARS, BALANCE AND COMPOSURE, MONUMENT TO THIEVES (Keith Barney of Throwdown now on vocals), FRONTIER(s) (Chris Higdon of Elliott/Falling Forward on vocals) and more!) as well as a couple songs from past releases. Visit www.loudbytes.com/nosleeprecords and enter code NSTILLDEATH and your e-mail address to receive the sampler! Check out the track listing below.

1. The Wonder Years “Everything I Own Fits In This Backpack” (taken from the upcoming CD “The Upsides” out January 26th, 2010)

2. Monument to Thieves “How Far Can We Fall” (taken from the upcoming self titled 12″ out March 30th, 2010)

3. Balance and Composure “Kaleidoscope” (taken from the upcoming split CD with Tigers Jaw out May 11th, 2010)

4. Frontier(s) “Abul Abbas” (taken from the upcoming 12″ “There Will Be No Miracles Here” coming soon — CD on Arena Rock in US, CD/12″ on Arctic Rodeo in Europe | upcoming 7″ “The Plains” coming soon)

5. Double Vision “So Cool” (upcoming digital single coming soon)

6. La Dispute “Damaged Goods” (upcoming split with Touche Amore coming in May | Full length later this year)

7. Into It. Over It. “Clocked Out” (upcoming full length coming later this year)

- For a free label sampler featuring all unreleased/brand new material, this is really, really good. MONUMENT TO THIEVES sounds like it could have come from the first to THROWDOWN records. Awesome.

Denmark’s MNEMIC are what MESHUGGAH would sound like if that band loosened up its collar a little, maybe unbuttoned its sleeves, and skipped the leather pants for a rugged, if somewhat stiff pair of blue jeans. With their technical and industrial bent, MNEMIC are certainly in the company of “The Mathy Superheroes,” but where things [...]