#bomb the music industry

[shutupthepunx111]

fight club - fresh attitude, young body!

song by bomb the music industry!

[doyoulikethisemoband]

[vivstand]

Floating in a stasis chamber, dreaming life away.

----------

Songs in order:

Rat of the City by Sidney Gish

Two-Headed Boy by Neutral Milk Hotel

Shop Vac by Jonathan Coulton

Spring and a Storm by Tally Hall

Love, Me Normally by Will Wood

Future 86 by Bomb the Music Industry!

Class of 2013 by Mitski

Future 86 by Bomb the Music Industry! (again)

Rat of the City by Sidney Gish (again)

[crystalstunes]

crystal's tunes #2: WORRY. by Jeff Rosenstock (2016)

i was going to wait a while before talking about this album, but i mean come on, it's literally got a track called June 21st. if i was gonna do it any day it'd be today.

WORRY. is an album that's very special to me. i originally discovered it via James Acaster's book Perfect Sound Whatever (named after the closing track of the album), and in the years since it's become one of my most listened to albums of all time. i'm not going to link any specific songs here, because i feel like the album is meant to be listened to in its entirety.

this was the second studio album Jeff released after the end of his previous project, ska-punk collective Bomb the Music Industry!, which in itself was born out of the end of his previous-previous project The Arrogant Sons of Bitches. this album really feels like a culmination of all of his work leading up to this, refined to a T and bursting with energy.

"We're not stupid people but this financial oppression has got everyone believing all that we can do is nothing/'Cause we organise through avenues they lace with advertisements so the ones we rage against are still lining their pockets" - Festival Song (Track 3)

thematically, the album discusses a variety of issues with modern-day America, such as landlords/gentrification, the coroprate sponsors of festivals and culture, social media mining your data, police brutality, and how the world just keeps getting worse due to capitalism in general. this is especially evident on tracks such as Festival Song, Staring Out The Window at Your Old Apartment, Blast Damage Days, HELLLLHOOOOLE, and The Fuzz, but is present throughout the album. he also touches on some more personal issues, such as alcoholism and the struggles of being a DIY musician.

the production here is absolutely top-notch, every single element is balanced perfectly, guitars are clear and crushing when they need to be, drums are punchy, vocals cut through well and instruments such as saxophones, glockenspiels and synths are used in certain songs to offer various different sonic textures. its not just the instruments that are varied here though, he also travels across a number of styles such as his classic ska-punk on the 91 second track Rainbow, to more hardcore punk on 30 second track Planet Luxury.

the A-side of this album is fantastic, with tracks like We Begged 2 Explode, Pash Rash and Festival Song becoming fan favourites and staples of his live sets, but i think this album really comes into its own during it's B-side. every track from Blast Damage Days through to the final track Perfect Sound Whatever perfectly transition into each other, creating a medley of different punk subgenres that is absolutely incredible. it's cathartic and danceable all in one, and its one of my favourite things he's done on an album.

"Whenever we feel ashamed, being alive and awake in such an era of hate and military police/These are the mass murder days, we are the blast damage age, where we can't love anything, because they keep us afraid/Oh, I will be there, kicking, fighting, beating, screaming 'There's no fucking way I'm ever letting go of you!'" - Blast Damage Days (Track 9)

the album builds up in energy until its final anthemic, gang vocal repetitions of "Perfect always takes so long, because it don't exist/It doesn't exist!", which is one of Jeff's main mission statements creatively. the first Bomb the Music Industry! album Album Minus Band has anti-piracy hiss throughout from various plugins he used the demo versions of instead of buying, and a track that's project files corrupted so he couldnt mix it properly, but all of that just adds to the artistry of it all. nothing can ever truly be perfect, so just be honest and authentic and do what you want, because in both art and people, our imperfections are what make us whole. i'm not a perfect person, and that's alright. i may have my own anti-piracy demo plugin hiss in my brain, but that's just part of what makes me myself - i wouldn't truly be me without it, and that's beautiful.

i think this album is truly great because despite the overwhelmingly negative topics being discussed, in the end its hopeful, even if the world or your life seem like theyre fucked, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. the penultimate track ...While You're Alive, ends with the verse "And it's not like the love that they show us on TV/It's a home that can burn, it's a limb to freeze/It's worry/Love is worry". this can just be taken at face value as the fact that when you love someone you worry about them, but i interpret it a different way, especially with the context of the rest of the album.

when the government and systems are against you, you're fighting your own brain, and you're overwhelmed with worry, that worry is coming from a place of love, because you wouldnt worry about something you dont care about. you love yourself, you love the world, and in a way, your anxieties are really just a form of expressing your care and love even if it feels like fear, and anger, and sadness. and, for me at least, that's one of the most reassuring messages i've ever been given from an album. thanks, jeff.

"Because it's June 21st, and this winter was the worst we've ever seen, but we made it through the freeze/And now it's June 21st, and this winter was the worst we've ever seen, now it's 84 degrees forever." - June 21st (Track 14)

[new-zero-kaneda]

And when I finally got to work today, I ate my SUBWAY™ sandwich, and I drank my COCA-COLA CLASSIC™, and then I ate my SUNCHIPS™ and I thought about the weekend when I'd fill up my FORD™ van with MOBIL™ brand gas and drive to the CLEAR CHANNEL™ venue and I'd drink myself a BUDWEISER™ and play my FENDER™ guitar through my FENDER™ amplifier and tell the kids with a straight face through a SHURE™ microphone and JBL™ speakers that corporate rock is for suckers.

uhhh... yeah...

[caardamoom]

A Teenaged Jeff Rosenstock at a Model UN Convention(?)

[holedaemon]

performing my sporadic tradition of looking through the jeff rosenstock/btmi tags on tumblr and occasionally nodding my head like a cartoon villain at posts

[relativelyfvcked]

who cares about life when it's big and lonely

[figmentrinzler]

Got bored. Put stickers on the sides of my record player case.

[shoegazergamer]

time signature changes and ska, close enough. welcome back bomb the music industry!

[undead-demona]

I lost out to THE URGE so I made a tiktok and started posting

[big-bad-shorty-king]

Me when my AC breaks at the beginning of the summer 2 years in a row

[shutupthepunx111]

Oh, it's hard, Soft Living

[shitnerdsinspace]

December destroyed me

January crushed me

February, I was not myself

March rolled in like beatings

And rolled out like a bear hug

In April I stared out my window for a fucking month

[btmi]