Brooklyn Vegan — "The Straight Arrows play no frills spazz rock and have grown up on a healthy diet of the Ramones and Hüsker Dü, culminating in a fearless, boozy punk. They used to play on the scungy fringes of Sydney's live scene... more info

Guardian Music — Victor Ferreira's pitch-shifted vocals and chopped-up melodies create a compellingly itchy, glitchy R&BHometown: Luxembourg.The lineup: Victor Ferreira (vocals, music).The background: We were wondering yesterday who first came up with the paradigm of... more info

Guardian Music — Louis Oliver Jones might be a 21-year-old lad from Leeds, but his music is totally in hock to American garage rockHometown: Heckmondwick.The lineup: Louis Oliver Jones (vocals, instruments), Will Jones (drums).The background: We realise that rock'n'r... more info

Guardian Music — Other Lives, On tourYou don't necessarily need a cabin in the woods in order to connect with the American landscape. From a remote Oklahoman town, Other Lives are a band whose music is, spiritually, many miles from the back-to-basics communion of mus... more info

Altsounds — *SHONEN KNIFE / OSAKA RAMONES* ****OSAKA RAMONES make their European live debut ...* * *********OSAKA RAMONES EUROPEAN DEBUT!* The only show in Europe this year by Shonen Knife side project OSAKA RAMONES takes place at The Windmill, Brixton on Thursd... more info

Guardian Music — These Danish punks are in thrall to the spirit of 76, but we'd be lying if we said they take the music anywhere newHometown: Copenhagen.The lineup: Elias Rønnenfelt, Jakob Tvilling Pless, Johan Surrballe Wieth and Dan Kjaer Nielsen.The background: I... more info

ContactMusic — Green Day have been crowned the kings of punk in a new Rolling Stone online poll. The California trio beat out The Clash, The Ramones and the Sex Pistols to land atop the fans' countdown of the best punk acts ever. The Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, The.... more info

Stereogum — When we posted the Vivian Girls’ “Take It As It Comes,” I called it “a girl-group pep talk featuring Grease-style spoken word.” This chatty Travis Peterson-directed plays around with that aesthetic, albeit with Cure and Ramones posters in t... more info

Brooklyn Vegan — Japanese pop punkers Shonen Knife are celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year with Osaka Ramones: A Tribute to the Ramones. The album features covers of 13 Ramones classics including "Pinhead," "Beat on the Brat," "Psychotherapy," and others, an... more info

A Deeper Shade of Soul — I first experienced the healing power of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on August 14, 1985. I was fourteen, had just gotten home from sleep away camp a few days earlier, and had a couple of weeks of summer vacation left before school started... more info