Howdy Neighbors!

Through e-mail and a comment to this post, my attention has been drawn to Durham punk band Blackstrap. About as much as any band I've seen, they maximize what the Internet can do for them: their web site is in large part a blog, they have plenty of music to sample, they don't fool around with Flash or other fussy tech tricks that make it hard to find and link to stuff on their site. In true DIY style, they even have a useful section with advice for other bands about using the web.

Formed in 2002 out of a dissatisfaction with the political climate, the band recorded an EP, Media Slut, in 2004 and promptly broke up -- the release party was also their farewell gig. They're at least provisionally back together, having played just last month with Gerty.

As for the music (can't forget that), the NC Punk web site describes Blackstrap as "sexpunk oldcore". Less cryptically, their sound is described here as having "a early-80s Slash Records sort of twang to it, and gets compared to a lot of the noisier, aggressivly charged bands of that era. " Give them a listen.

MP3: "Walking Into Walls"
MP3: "Ice Age"
(from Media Slut, 307 Knox Records 2004).

MP3: "Everybody's Doin' It"
(live on WXDU, 18 May 2003)