From the inbox:

Animal Style is excited to announce HALF HEARTED HERO as our newest addition to the family. In just a short amount of time we’ll release their latest offering – Running Water. The new record contains 6 brand new tracks that are going to blow you away. Following up their full length, Defining, Refining, was no easy feat but the new EP will exceed any and all expectations. Hailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts the band recorded at guitarists Clinton Lisboa’s studio and was then mastered by Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room (Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream, Propagandhi). Running Water will see a release on April 5 on limited vinyl with digital download and will also be available through all digital outlets. We’ve already approved test presses for the record and can’t wait for you to hear it.

In the meantime you can check out “Start Where You Are” and “Periphery” at our revamped Bandcamp page.

- Really impressive band. MELODICore with hard-to-beat level of polish and refinement.

- BAYSIDE – Killing Time — New York pop-punk/heavy-melodic-emo veterans knock out their best full-length thus far, in what should be a make or break defining moment. So catchy it hurts.

- DARKEST HOUR – The Human Romance — Still trying to wrap my head around this one, but it’s definitely good, and I think a step the band needed to take to stay relevant as its run approaches or tops 15 years. Plus, it reminds me of (good) IN FLAMES, which is never a band thing.

- RED CITY RADIO – The Dangers of Standing Still –Paper + Plastick has put out an unbelievable amount of titles in its brief history, but only a few of them have received prolonged national attention. Here’s to guessing that this will be another added to that list. Fast, aggressive rootsy punk rock with soaring melodies and hyperactive drumming. GASLIGHT ANTHEM meets STRIKE ANYWHERE?

- TERA MELOS – Zoo Weather — Quirkier than anything mentioned above… noisy, synth heavy post-punk that sounds the kind of arrival music we’d hear from an alien spacecraft.

- TAHITI 80 – The Past, The Present & The Possible — Highly infectious dance-pop-rock from France. Have only given this one listen so far, but it did remind me to break out Fosbury, which the band released in the US in 2006 on the late Militia Group Records.

1. Finland Viking rockers TURISAS are streaming their upcoming full-length Stand Up And Fight on their MySpace page. It’s epically epic.

2. Continuing the metal theme, Aussie blackened thrashers ASSAULTER have a brand new song titled “Into Submission” streaming on Stereogum.  The slight nod to early 80s studio production sounds pretty damn authentic and in a good way. The band’s full-length Boundless comes out on 3/15 via Metal Blade.

3. SWINGIN’ UTTERS on Daytrotter. The last song they did was “Windspitting Punk”. Exclamation Point.

4. Suburban Home has “adopted” THE LUSITANIA, an Americana/Alt-Country band that is the touring/backing band for Jim Ward (AT THE DRIVE-IN/SPARTA, etc.). The band’s full-length Rain and Rivers was original put out by Ward’s Civil Defense League Records, but Suburban Home has taken over in helps of bringing it to the wider audience. You can stream/download a copy of it via Bandcamp. I give it a thumbs up on the excellent amount of organ usage alone.

5. The last time the federal government had a shutdown (’95/96), I was just short of 16 years old and was mesmerized following the situation in the news (I never said I wasn’t a bit of an odd kid). Come the end of next week, and I could be in the middle of it, as most federal employees are furloughed during a shutdown. I hope it doesn’t come to that, as I actually enjoy doing my job, and would find it unbelievably difficult to not work, especially since I work out of my home full-time. Maybe I could throw a big bed sheet over my computer systems. It’s a nervous but kind of exciting time – these events are rare in U.S. history. It’s a testament to our imperfect-but-not-awful system that shutdowns can occur without the involvement of tanks and military rule.

6.  Enough with the ‘limited edition’ cassette releases… this format has always sucked. They’re ‘limited’ because only 30 people in the frigging universe care enough about these things. There is nothing nostalgic about a cassette recording’s hiss or its napkin sized insert booklets. The only positive cassette memories I have are driving over a bunch of crappy free band demos on my driveway shortly after getting my license. Bah.

From the inbox:

Perpetual Motion Machine is now taking pre-orders for the upcoming 7″ EP from Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s GET RAD, entitled Choose Your Own Adventure, which will be out in a few weeks. This new 7″ follows up last year’s I Can Always Live LP (Gilead Media/Hyperrealist) with five new amazingly catchy tracks of fast, energetic and abrasive hardcore from members of Herds, High on Crime, Seven Days of Samsara, Since By Man, etc.

Limited to 500 copies, with 376 on a black/dark grey vinyl and 124 on varous colors of vinyl. It will come packaged in a two-color silkscreened chipboard cover (preview mockup above) and an 8 page Choose Your Own Adventure-styled booklet with artwork/illustrations by Matt Gauck. This is being released as a collaborative effort between Get Rad, Perpetual Motion Machine Records and Halo of Flies Records.

- Whoooo!!

Brand new music from NIGHT BIRDS! Midnight Movies is a four song EP themed around low-brow horror movies and similar cultish attractions. The 7″ is available from No Way Records.

From the inbox:

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME has built their reputation as one of hard rock’s most inventive and ambitious bands. On March 29th, the Best Of from BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME will lay testament to this band’s prolific history. The compilation CD/DVD release contains 20 songs spanning their impressive career, including songs from The Silent Circus, Alaska, Colors, Colors-Live & The Great Misdirect as well as 5 bonus tracks never before released on CD. The DVD portion of the release will feature music videos for “Moredecai”, “Alaska”, “Obfuscation”, and “Synesthesia”. All of this and more comes in an interactive package that uses a spectral decoder to unveil hidden messages and special imagery.

The second installment of Metalsucks.net’s free compilation series “NYC Sucks” (inventive!) has been posted. You can grab the 13 song release here. Track listing is below.

• 1. Wetnurse – “Not Your Choice”
• 2. Tombs – “The Great Silence”
• 3. Moth Eater – “Aftermath”
• 4. Hull – “Healer”
• 5. The Austerity Program – “Song 6″
• 6. Defeatist – “Dawn of No Light”
• 7. Goes Cube – “Year of the Human”
• 8. Krallice – “Autochthon”
• 9. Empyreon – “Beyond Perception”
• 10. Abacinate – “The Bundy Curse”
• 11. IKILLYA – “Godsize”
• 12. Atakke – “Fight Makes Right”
• 13. The Ghost in Black and White – “Restraint Impalement”

From the inbox:

Drexel University’s Bantic Media announces the signing of two of Philadelphia’s most exciting new acts – the Riot Grrrl inspired duo SLUTEVER, and the 60’s pop-inspired quartet WHEN I WAS 12.

Bantic Media is a music marketing company run by the students within Drexel University’s Music Industry Program, part of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. The artist services company is overseen by music industry veteran Darren Walters who’s applied a DIY approach to music since 1991 when he co-founded Jade Tree (Jets to Brazil, The Promise Ring, Lifetime, Pedro the Lion, Cap’n Jazz). Bantic is a firm that offers ala carte services on a wide variety of creative projects. Bantic provides uniquely tailored solutions in a flexible, efficient and timely manner.

Full press-release after jump…

SLUTEVER – No Offense by BANTIC MEDIA

When I Was 12 – Tree Trunk of My Heart by BANTIC MEDIA