Nite Songs

  And so the countdown continues. Ten more today as we move into the Top 40 (cue up the old TOTP chart rundown theme should you feel so inclined) *** 40.      THE MUDD CLUB - "Bottle Blonde" From Kansas via Machnylleth, the Mudd Club blasted out of nowhere to come up with one of the better debut albums of 2021. No-nonsense two minute knucklehead garage-punk, it's the way the group attack the songs on  Bottle Blonde  with such sheer carefree abandon in the best X-Ray Spex/Adverts/Television Personalities style that makes this album a winner. *** 39.     STEVE CONTE - "Bronx Cheer" Conte's first solo album in seven years was a triumphant comeback from the guy with an impressively varied repertoire taking in everything from full throttle punk to laid back smoky blues jams. The guy deserves credit for putting together something this varied when it would have been very easy to just stick with a safe option and Bronx Cheer  is an excellent listen. ...

  We're a little bit late to the party with this one but the prospect of a new Descendents album is always something worth a listen. However, this is a bit of an odd one as the songs on 9th & Walnut  actually date from the very early days of the Descendents, before even Milo Goes To College . Long story short, these songs were re-recorded in 2002 by the group's original line-up before Milo finally got round to remastering the thing and re-recording the vocals during lockdown last year. 9th & Walnut  is pretty much classic Descendents formula with 18 songs zipping by in 24 minutes (the longest track on here, Nightage , clocks in at 2 minutes and 22 seconds) but, similar to Danko Jones, this is a group who are simply very good at what they do and lightning fast bursts of aggression like You Make Me Sick  and Baby Doncha Know . However, there's definitely a more Ramones style sense of melody here than you'd maybe expect especially on the likes of I Need Some ,...