Cargo Music

Cargo Music, for those unfamiliar, is a haven for the random, the amusing, the burly, and the downright deafening. Based in San Diego ("the crappiest place on earth!" according to their web site), Cargo enforces the suckage embargo, delivering only fancy, top-quality product. Eat it up!

7 Seconds
7 Seconds produced epic straight-talking straight-edge punk rock during early '80s. With D.C.'s Minor Threat, they founded and led a new movement of intelligent and moral punk rock that continues to flourish today.

Old School
Out The Shizzy - 1993
alt.music.hardcore - 1995


Armchair Martian
Rough-hewn, loud, and heartfelt guitar rock from three Colorado lads who drown our sorrows in distorted guitar, bass, and drums. Pop vocals colored by the slightest touch of melancholy drive their sound home.

Hang On, Ted - 2000


Boy's Life
Boy's Life is a ghost town hit by dust storms, quiet and eerie with bursts of chaos. Emo-indie beauty like that of their Kansas City compadres Giant's Chair.

Departures & Landfalls - 1996


Chune
Chune were the self-proclaimed "biggest stoners in emo-core." Their long meandering songs drone on in a subdued state before suddenly building into a tidal wave of guitars.

Big Hat, No Cattle - 1996


Creedle
If the devil started a punk rock band, then discovered jazz and told the band members they had to play jazz from now on, it might sound like Creedle. They offer a nonstop parade of demented absurdity full of bizarre rhythms, guitars with minds of their own, and some of the strangest vocal samples you've ever heard.

Secret Weapons for Quiet Wars


Deadbolt
The "scariest band in the world" plays dark voodoo-inspired surf rock that's rife with the disturbing atmosphere of simmering calamity. Deadbolt's groovy instrumental music travels a dark nightmarish highway full of hairpin turns and unforeseen obstacles.

Zulu Death Mask
Voodoo Trucker
Tijuana Hit Squad
Hobo Babylon - 2001


Drive Like Jehu
One of the most influential indie rock records ever, Drive Like Jehu's first album is a masterpiece of high-energy mayhem and jet engine melody. These guys made punk rock with a high IQ and an even higher volume.

Drive Like Jehu - 1999


Final Conflict
The members of Final Conflict remember the days before punk rock was considered a marketable commodity that could be cleaned up, packaged, and sold in the blink of an eye, because they were there. Their powerful, authentic political hardcore has made them legendary throughout the punk community.

Ashes to Ashes - 1986
Rebirth - 1997


Garden Variety
Emotionally intense pop-punk with blazing guitars and forceful rhythms. Their name definitely doesn't suggest their status as a powerful musical entity.

Knocking the Skill Level - 1994
Garden Variety - 1997


Litmus Green
Politically conscious protest punk that recalls the best of '80s SoCal punk. If you've got a penchant for spiky hair, political radicalism, and straight-up uncompromising punk rock, Litmus Green's gonna blow your ass away.

It Must Suck To Be You - 1998


Mycomplex
Mycomplex should get their picture in the rock encyclopedia next to "densely layered, highly technical melodic punk."

If We Keep Moving - 2000


Naked Aggression
They called themselves Naked Aggression, and they played raw, vulnerable, fierce punk rock that was sophisticated and remarkably technically accomplished. Their songs sound like the bitter life affirmations of runaways and nobodies.

Gut Wringing Machine - 1998


No For An Answer
Classic Orange County straight-edge hardcore from the '80s. No for an Answer's gut-wrenchingly tough punk was brutal, articulate, and profoundly sober, full of self-righteous indignation over how messed-up everything around them was.

A Thought Crusade


Olivelawn
From the skate parks and suburban malls of early '90s San Diego, this ferocious foursome comes screaming with a window-shattering blend of sarcastic, grungy punk rock.

Sophomore Jinx! - 1992


Rydell
Emo from England? You better believe it, kiddies. Rydell punches out raspily melodic emotional anthems that should appeal to fans of Braid, Jawbreaker, and Hot Water Music.

Per Ardua Ad Astra - 2001


Kevin Seconds
This is gonna be a shocker folks, for those of you who know Kevin Seconds as the frontman of the seminal straight-edge outfit 7 Seconds. Let's just say that Mr. Seconds's solo work is a bit...different from what we're used to from him.

Heavens Near Wherever You Are - 2001


Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet
Dim the lights, don your dancing shoes, turn on the disco ball, and get ready to dance the night away with a big sloppy grin on your face. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet combine rock and rollicking silliness as only Canadians can.

Sport Fishin'


Shuggie
Shuggie are the new sound of rock and roll. Driving guitar rock for the '90s with requisite solos and all.

Shuggie - 1998


Slimer
Slimer are a lightning-fast pop-punk band that constructs dynamic, gritty pop gems full of melodic arrangements and harmonizing male vocals.

Adult Cabaret


Smile
Thoroughly dynamic, well-produced indie power pop in the vein of Weezer and Blink 182. Smile are almost ecstatic with energy, but a subtle melancholy anchors their songs and infuses them with an unbelievable potency.

Girl Crushes Boy


Speedbuggy USA
Rollickin' high energy cowboy punk from SoCal's favorite alien-wrangling band. Fans of rockabilly, the Reverend Horton heat, or tequila, look no further for your new favorite band!

Cowboys and Aliens - 2000


Swindle
Raw, powerful, straight-up next-generation punk rock out of San Diego. Swindle isn't afraid to tell you what they think, and do it in a loud, nasty, extremely forceful fashion.

Within These Walls - 1996


Tension
Tension kicks out old school rapid-fire punk rock that'll turn you into a hopelessly spasmodic agent of uncivil disobedience. Fans of Born Against and Avail...you ain't heard nothing yet.

War Cry


Thingy
From the ashes of Heavy Vegetable, one of San Diego's most creative and dynamic bands ever, rises a worthy successor: Thingy, eyes flashing, teeth bared, ready to kick some musical ass. This is math pop at its best: intricate, intelligent, and catchy as all hell.

Songs About Angels, Evil, and Running Around On Fire - 1997
To The Innocent - 1999


Thumbnail
Thumbnail screeches its fierce invective with harmonics from behind a curtain of piercing tones. If you're a fan of Unwound or Drive Like Jehu, you already know what we mean.

Thumbnail
Red! Dead! - 1996
That Static - 2001


Uniform Choice
One of the first West Coast bands to self-consciously refer to themselves as "straight-edge," Uniform Choice made rousing, guitar-driven, sing-along hardcore during its brief existence in the mid and late '80s.

Staring Into the Sun - 1980


The Verna Cannon
The Verna Cannon. Replete with acoustic guitar, eclectic minimal backing, and occasional violin, this group is best described as three guys and an angel.

The Verna Cannon - 2000
Movie Star Faces - 2000


The X-Impossibles
The saviors of rock and roll come from Georgia, all five of 'em. The X-Impossibles mount a ballistic barrage that recalls the grimy proto-punk of late '60s Detroit, the menacing camp of the Misfits, and the greaser overdrive of Social Distortion. Music made for living fast and dying young.

White Knuckle Ride