Christmas has come early for indie rock and hardcore historians. Rather, it will be coming next year. According to Bazillion Points, The complete collection of now legendary fanzine Touch and Go will be released as a softcover book in 2010. The zine, written by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson, enjoyed a short life span between 1979 and 1983 with 22 issues to show for it. With stories featuring bands such as Black Flag, the Misfits, and Minor Threat, the Touch and Go chronicles of hardcore music will surely be an interesting read with over 20 years in between for retrospect.

—Nikki Turner

Brooklyn is experiencing quite the revival when it comes to heavy music. Or maybe it’s just that people outside of NYC are taking notice again. Hardcore and metal have always thrived in The Rotten Apple in the face of trends, with bands like Batillus and So Hideous My Love receiving a lot of attention of late. On all the up and comers, Tombs are definitely one of the biggest Brooklyn success stories. Since their inception in 2007, their EP on singer/guitarist Mike Hill’s Black Box Recording has sold out a couple of pressings and last year’s split 12” with German metal merchants Planks continues to sell briskly, especially on the heels of their tour with Isis and Pelican.
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Ok, this is less of an exclusive (I think we got it up first), and more about me begging to post a track from Nisennenmondai’s upcoming long player (although only 5 songs, it’s 44 minutes) Destination Tokyo. Well, my persistence payed dividends, because today we can share with you the title track. This is the best thing I’ve heard all week.
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Notes From Middle America is contributor Danny R. Phillips’ monthly column. You can read past installments here.
 
I have to ask.  What happened to rock? Has it become passé or uncool for a band to struggle, tour, play shows night after night to build a fan base without the help of excessive internet buzz or douche bags in the “hip” magazines who supposedly have their fingers on the pulse of the American youth culture? If a band has to work hard to get what they have, is that far less important than the mandatory polo shirts they wear on stage?
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Mouthbreather is yet another quintet representing for the ever-fertile Richmond, VA punk scene. For a fairly small river city, Richmond shows a diversity in their punk bands that rivals bigger scenes like the East Bay or Austin. Avail, Ann Beretta and Strike Anywhere come to mind, but they are but a few of the bigger names to come out of RVA in recent years. The average outsider would say the aforementioned bands all sound the same, but to split hairs, it’s more accurate that all of the bands sound like Richmond.
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