By: Sam Houghton

I like songs with some gumption. When you choose a top five list of songs, those songs need to stand out on their own, without the album to fall back on. Gumption helps. All of these songs rock pretty hard.

5. “Friend” – Courtesy Tier (pictured right), Map and Marker 
Every time I hear this song live it gets better. The guitar on this track is like John Lee Hooker amped on a couple Red Bulls and a handful of uppers, mixed with an equally insane, pounding drum. But like some of the punk songs listed above, it does pause for some moments in there, a few bridges, where the two let you get your head around the sound, and the finger picking, and the rhythm. The song isn’t about the lyrics, it’s about headbanging and blues, maybe a combination of the two, which sounds impossible but these two do it, adding some gitty-up to blues and some authenticity and skill to hardcore.

4. “10 Moons” – Foster McGinty, Peach Red
All the attention from Peach Red was given to “Can’t Help but Shine.” It’s a great song with great songwriting and the guitar and the video are sweet, but I think Foster’s genuine sound can be heard in the song “10 Moons.” After the first drum lick, this song kicks off into a rolling tune filled with Stevie Ray type riffs and some ripping blues solos. The song definitely has some obvious swagger to it, Foster’s signature feel, along with his great guitar work. The singing is excellent, a Hendrix like cool cat voice, and the random background noises give the song a bar-like atmosphere. Great tune.

3. “All You Need” – Gunfight!, Hide Your Empties EP
This song doesn’t stop. It’s 3 minutes and 27 seconds, and the band doesn’t quit its relentless attack on their strings and skins and vocal chords. It’s balls to the walls country punk, whatever that means. The singing has an original, guttural, all out bravado – not screaming like hardcore, or yelling like the Sex Pistols – but like Bon Scott of the first AC/DC, with passion and guitar breaking, London Calling style, aggression releasing. They manage to harmonize the bass and rhythm and lead guitar, above the clamor, to give punk some clarity and soul. Great song, great EP.

2. “Post 110 Pills” – Calypso, Teenage EP
Surf rock has long been the unknown, mysterious, badass brother of rock ‘n’ roll. No one knows who Link Wray is, except a handful of Quentin Tarantino fans, and yet he’s one of the rawest, gnarliest, best guitarists ever. Sadly, everyone confuses surf rock with cute blonde boys in Hawaiian shirts singing falsetto. Calypso knows Link Wray and the real meaning behind the surf groove, and they use the style to give punk an even grungier, slicker sound with their sleek, teeth-gritting guitars on this track. This song is pure punk. It’s scary sick good.

1. “Tammany Hall” – Kill Henry Sugar (pictured left), Swing Back and Down
You wouldn’t expect Kill Henry Sugar to be from NYC. Perhaps Vermont or the back woods of Ohio or something far away from smoke stacks and high rises. But they are straight from the streets, same as Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes, and their rootsy blues folk couldn’t clash anymore with the bogus, capitalist agenda. “Tammany Hall” is like the “Street Fighting Man” for a lumberjack or an old Folkie. It drives with raw power from the dobro and pounding drum combo. It exhales with revolution and fist pounding gumption. This is my number 1.