Part and Parcel – Make Do And Mend (free download)



The best bands are the ones that give you stuff for free. And no I don’t mean by simply not suing you when you use Napster to steal their music but when they actually give it to you to download with their permission. It’s the musical equivalent of a guilt free chocolate cake (in other words, heaven).

A number of bands did this in the run up to Christmas this year but the one gift that caught my eye the most was Part and Parcel, the acoustic EP by Connecticut punk band Make Do And Mend. Having originally released it on vinyl through Holy Roar Records (along with a very snazzy but slightly pointless ‘Make Do And Mend’ watch) you can now get a digital version of it for free via a link they’ve posted on their Facebook page. I recommend that you do.

It is a brilliant little EP. Opener ‘Unknowingly Strong’ is a heart on sleeve corker of a track that starts with the line ‘Believe me when I say, that there will always be cold days. But the grass is only greener here if you plant it that way’ and continues in a similar vein via some acoustic strumming and tinkling background piano. The Touché Amore cover ‘Home Away From Here’ is pulled off brilliantly and provides a more intimate moment while ‘Transparent Seas’ is a grower that builds by gradually adding more and more musical lines and gaining momentum until its haunting guitar line suddenly gives way, leaving you in an expecting silence. ‘Coasts’ that comes after is more of a foot stomping number, with a shuffling, up tempo vibe that would feel at home in countless bar back rooms across the world.

But aside from the fact that the music itself is very good it also shows that while many a snob might assume that ‘punks’ can’t play their instruments this proves very much otherwise. Your Beatles loving mate who ‘doesn’t get hardcore’ will like this just as much as the guy who you go with to local house shows with will. It proves a point, and its free, so what other reason could you possibly need to go and download it right now?

Happy Christmas

Patchx