The News Review:
- ESSENTIAL AMERICAN PUNK ALBUMS.(TICKET)
- MUSIC REVIEW; Punk but Scrabbling at Folk Music’s Feet
- Pop and Rock Listings
- Hammell on Trial – Gig previews & reviews – Music – Entertainment
- BLWFF “Blowoff” Full Frequency Music
ESSENTIAL AMERICAN PUNK ALBUMS.(TICKET)
Free with registration – Sarasota Herald-Tribune – AccessMyLibrary.com – Dec 15, 2006
Black Flag “Damaged” (1981): When vocalist Keith Morris left Black Flag to form the Circle Jerks (see No. 
the band replaced him with Henry Rollins a fan who had jumped onstage during a New York performance. The result: an angry sonic explosion of dissonance that would redefine punk music for the next decade. It was so confrontational MCA Records refused to release it — and in pure punk fashion the band defied the suits by putting it out on. CPYRIGHT 2006 Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
MUSIC REVIEW; Punk but Scrabbling at Folk Music’s Feet
nytimes.com – Dec 15, 2006
The title of one of its albums Scrabbling at the Lock suggests its sound rather well. The starting point of that sound is punk; it was the bands Square 1 musically and politically when it started 27 years ago in Amsterdam. But if the most famous punk bands tended toward universal themes the Ex went local… Sok worked with postpunk’s stiff dour body language but yelled the lyrics as if something were at stake. The songs were organized poetic vignettes from the unglobalized life: average citizens feeling political discomfort. The Ex has made some of its best music when collaborating with improvisers. But this show was basically music as theory rather than as sensory pleasure: the torrents of words to describe social inequities the co-opting of foreign folkloric music the scratchy sound and jagged rhythm. What saved the music from drudgery was a sense of practiced urgency and all the minor discrepancies in the playing: the rough fit of guitar on guitar the slightly too-fast or too-slow drumming the little intonation problems. These were perfected imperfections. It takes nearly 30 years to sound this rough.
Pop and Rock Listings
New York Times – Dec 15, 2006
Yet there’s something exhilarating about its form of sonic hypnosis. The group has existed for only three years and is part of a close-knit scene of squally young New York bands. But its music conjures decades of the city’s avant-garde rock from the white noise of the Velvet Underground and the claustrophobic electronica of Suicide to the sprawling half-psychedelic half-punk guitar clouds of Sonic Youth a tradition whose common thread is the musical illustration of the bad trip the sensual or spiritual experience that twists into the horrific. This year the band released its debut album “Dins” as well as a spellbinding collection of its first singles “Early Violence” both on the Brooklyn-based Social Registry label. It ends a short national tour with this show at the Knitting Factory. Bad trips can be great… com; $75 cover and $40 minimum. (Stephen Holden) GGL BRDELL (Thursday) With an untamed stage persona a bit like Iggy Pop and a bit like a paranoid Kafka protagonist the singer-contortionist Eugene Hutz leads a cultural mash-up of dirty punk raucous Gypsy music and vaudevillian theatrics. The band has been playing like there’s no tomorrow for years now and shows no signs of slowing down or even taking a breath. Irving Plaza 17 Irving Place at 15th Street Manhattan (212) 777-6800.
Hammell on Trial – Gig previews & reviews – Music – Entertainment
The Age – Dec 15, 2006
Now fully recovered from his head and spine injuries he is backon the road and recently completed a sold-out tour of America’seast coast with Ani DiFranco. Hammell writes acerbic punk folk that has traditionally been toosoft for rock clubs and too tough for folk clubs. He is now tryingto get some work in Manhattan theatres rather than the usualmid-west punk rock clubs. “I’m making a very good living out of my music now” saysHammell who has never before visited Australia despite afascination with Ned Kelly and the Birthday Party. “It’sfrustrating that I don’t get my message out to more people but ifyou have a reputation for playing good live shows as a one-man bandand keep filling rooms you can make a living from it. So what can people expect from his show?”I’m a one-man band but with the power of the Stooges. It’spretty provocative but you’ll have a good time.
BLWFF “Blowoff” Full Frequency Music
Washington Post – Dec 15, 2006
Gradually the two musicians introduced their own material to the mix and crafted the songs collected on “Blowoff. ” The album is heavily electronic yet song-oriented and not without appearances by the techno purist\’s musical nemesis the guitar. The arrangements range from the neoclassic disco of “Man Keeps Winning” to the revved-up bossa nova of “Fallout” but they generally work the same synth-punk territory as Mould\’s 2002 “Modulate.