From the inbox:

The members of Orange County, NY’s YOUNG ENGLISH grew up on bands like Hot Rod Circuit, Saves The Day and the Get Up Kids. The influence of those bands is a mark that Young English wears with pride. With the proper amount of melody and drive that hasn’t been seen since the days of Texas Is The Reason, Young English take us back to the mid 90′s where the underground emo punk sound reigned and felt special. Young English’s I Hate My Friends gets a vinyl treatment and hits stores on December 6th, 2011 on a limited edition 7″ by way of Panic Records. The I Hate My Friends EP is the perfect soundtrack for the winter ahead and should carry you through the spring.

You can listen to the new song “Neighbors” on the band’s Facebook page.

- Good energy behind this song. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the EP!

Texas-based End Sounds has a brand new 22 song MP3 sampler available for free from Amazon. The compilation celebrates the label’s first 10 years and includes music by RED ANIMAL WAR, DEATH IN THE PARK, FORTY WINKS, THE MAG SEVEN, GHOST KNIFE, TUMBLEDOWN, SABOTEUR, and more. Congrats to End Sounds on 10 years! Grab the sampler here.

Germany’s SHINE BRIGHT are a five-piece hardcore band in the vein of SHIPWRECK, MODERN LIFE IS WAR, and KILLING THE DREAM (is that some kind of “Defunct Deathwish Band Triple Crown”?).  The band just released a five song EP titled Riots and Golden Anchors, which may be streamed on their Facebook page.

As part of Deep Elm Records’ ‘free album Wednesdays’, the label this week is featuring the BRANDTSON full-length, Fallen Star Collection. You can stream the release below, and download the songs here.

- This is from when BRANDTSON were an awesome emo/post-hardcore band, before they turned into a weird, semi-directionless, pop-oriented band on The Militia Group. Still trying to put those releases behind me. The essential BRANDTSON release remains Letterbox…

From the inbox:

Pure Noise Records will release TROUBLED COAST’s I’ve Been Thinking About Leaving You 7” on January 17th 2012. It will be limited to 1000 copies on 7″ vinyl and will be available in several different color options as well as at all digital outlets. You can check out the new song “La Jetee” below.

- This one will take a little patience to get through. France’s COMITY are an extreme noise/metal/hardcore band that’s been around for the last 15 years in various permutations. This release features four songs in 52 minutes (gulp). The instrumentation is impressive however, and I’m a fan of the various vocal layers and constant sense of controlled chaos from the rhythm section. FFO: STARKWEATHER, CONVERGE, TODAY IS THE DAY.

January 2012 Releases by Metal Blade Records

THIRCE and THURSDAY are probably two of the top five bands that have had an effect on the history of Pastepunk. I’m around the same age as the fellas in both bands (30s), and had the privilege of watching both in their earliest stages and writing about them.

The first time I saw THURSDAY was at the defunct Wilson Center in DC, well before they signed to Victory Records. They were a screechy emo band with a crazy exuberant singer that played to a room partially full of arms-folded crusties. Great dynamic! Someone’s car right outside the venue got broken into during their set and the sound of glass shattering was almost deafening, and probably the highlight for some… I never expected that I would hear from this band again until Full Collapse landed in my mailbox, and I certainly didn’t think I’d interview the band in 2002 and 2004 and ask questions about MTV and radio exposure.

It was close friend Kevin Wade, from the former music site Punkrocks.net, that mentioned THRICE to me for the first time, when the original version of their debut full-length Identity Crisis hit his review pile. Little time elapsed before Hopeless Records picked up the release and Kevin and I made it to the band’s first show in DC, us being virtually the only two people standing next to the stage singing along. There was a head nod, and later, some quick complimentary words with Dustin. I’m not afraid to admit that I really enjoyed that ‘special feeling’ of being in on a band before seemingly the rest of the Mid-Atlantic. It’s one of those myopic feelings at 20/21 that makes you believe in the purpose of doing a zine and evangelizing your music interests to everyone everywhere. I must have locked the door to my apartment bedroom in 2001-2002 and listened to The Illusion of Safety a few hundred times. Similarly, I interviewed the band in 2002 and 2004 and marveled at what kind of music they would create during their career ascension.

Bands don’t last forever. I’ve long reconciled the fact that the music of punk, hardcore, etc. is truly for the kids. But it stings like hell to watch the fixtures of my formative young adult years get off the full-time band carousel, even when you understand completely that everything is a matter of time and place.