Made In America - CROW BAIT, "Sliding Through The Halls Of Fate" (2014)

An amalgamation of several local area New York bands including Iron Chic, Sister Kisser, American Hellfire Club, and Jonesin', Long Island, New York punkers Crow Bait formed in 2011 around their love for bands they grew up listening to from the 90's indie/pop-punk scene. Since their formation they've released a few singles, the Three Tickle Guys EP, and covered Husker Du's Dead Set On Destruction for the "Something To Du" tribute.

Crow Bait are set to release their full-length debut album Sliding Through The Halls Of Fate on May 20th via Don Giovanni Records, a label that continues to sign more and more bands that are right in my wheelhouse.

Made In America - Heavy Times, "I'm Single" 7" (2013)

I like to think that I have a decent handle on new music but in this day and age with so many bands self-releasing music on the internet sometimes good bands just slip through the cracks. Chicago's Heavy Times are one of those bands that I completely missed the boat on, and shamefully so because they are right up my ally.

Lo-fi garage rock with pop tendencies is as close as I can get to describing Heavy Times whose sound really doesn't fit into any one category and you can't do a band like this justice by pigeonholing them. If I had to draw comparisons to other bands I would immediatly go to Guided By Voices and Husker Du who share two common traits in their songs, melodic driving guitar riffs and monster choruses that will eat you alive.

Heavy Times released their debut album Dead on Rotted Tooth Recordings in 2010 and their breakout record Jacker, released on Hozac Records, the following year. Their latest, I'm Single, a three song 7", also out on the Hozac lable, defines their sound nicely and keeps you believing that Heavy Times are destined for something bigger. The closing song "Bath Salts" just might containg the catchiest guitar hook I've heard in years. Listen to it and you'll be instantly addicted like I was.

Heavy Times - Skull Hair - From the album Jacker

Made In America - Deathfix (2013)

Brenden Canty (Fugazi and Rites of Spring) and Rich Morel (Blowoff) met while touring in the backup band for Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) in 2009. The two, connected by a love for 1970's glam/prog/pop-rock, began collaborating on songs over the next two years and recruited multi-instrumentalists Devin Ocampo (Faraquet, Medications) and Mark Cisneros (Medications) to form Deathfix.

Deathfix released their self-titled debut on Dischord Records earlier this year. The seven song album has a nostalgic feel to it but it doesn't commit fully to just rehashing that 70's sound. There's evident influences from the likes of Deep Purple, Big Star, and Mott The Hoople but Deathfix manages to impart their own post-punk/alt-rock flavor to the recipe creating a flavor all their own.

For those of you paying attention, Deathfix may seem like an outside-of-the-box move for the D.C. based Dischord Records who made their name churning out independent hardcore and punk music over the years but then again this is just like Dischord who have never played by the rules.