Back in the 00’s, US punks Chinese Telephones released a few split EPs and an album on It’s Alive Records (home of Gateway District, The Methadones, City Mouse and others) before calling time before the end of decade. They received some positive press, but in punk terms, never seemed to be mentioned as often as they deserved to be. This had as much to do with an over-subscribed scene as anything else. For those outside of Milwaukee, chances are that the only real encounters you had with the band back then came courtesy of the audio widget on the Last FM website which, in a pre-Spotify age, would happy drop tracks from the Chinese Telephones album between better known material from Teenage Bottlerocket, The Copyrights and The Lawrence Arms.
Tag Archives: punk
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #22
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. As always, the amount of submissions has been staggering, and we’ve cherry picked some of our favourite tracks for your enjoyment. This time around, we’ve got a soundtrack worthy tune, some top notch power pop, a fine tribute to a Boston heroine, and more besides. We hope you find something to enjoy!
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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #21
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. We’re happy to share a typically mixed batch this time around. You’ll find the return of an underground rock band, a brilliant track loaded with harmonies that draws influence from the Laurel Canyon scene, a tune that goes deeply into an Americana sound, a piece of modern metal and more besides… As always, these are just eight picks from the mountain of material that’s come our way, but we think you’ll find something new to enjoy.
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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #12
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual MP3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. In this instalment, we bring you another fine selection, ranging from retro sounds to punk to singer-songwriter fare and even a little rap. As always, the Singles Bar has been a great place to share things a little out of our usual remit, but also celebrate a few upcoming releases from the kind of bands people might expect to see featured at our site. This twelfth Singles Bar is one of our most varied to date, but hopefully people will still find plenty of new music to enjoy, and follow up a couple of the featured artists.
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PROTON PACKS – The Concept Of Infinity / Psychokenesis
In 2018, Italian punks Proton Packs contributed a couple of tracks to an excellent split EP with fellow Italians The Livermores which acted as a superb primer for both bands. The Livermores had already started to gain traction with their Ramones obsessed sound, but for a lot of people in the UK and the US, that split provided a superb introduction to their space-obsessed friends.
Throughout the tricky years that followed, Proton Packs weren’t especially prolific by “usual” punk band standards, but they trucked on, and their subsequent full length release ‘Paradox’ cemented their obsessions with old Ramones riffs, b movies and cheap sci-fi. It was a great record; however, it still wasn’t enough for them to get the regular name checks alongside The Apers, The Manges and Mega they so deserved.