#fidlar

[vampiregerard]

fuck it dawg, life's a risk

[emodennis]

the gang - 40oz. on repeat

[stigmatamama]

I'm not tripping bout yesterday's money, I just wanna know you really love me, and I'm not tryna fall apart every time I wake up. I guess I'm just going through it.

[snarlingteeth]

I took the most relatable line out of a bunch of songs I relate to. This took way too much time lmao, so anyone else relate?

[pitaivvu]

Wee doodles with some FIDLAR lyrics

[mayanhandballcourt]

Photographer Alice Baxley

[jungleindierock]

Two videos from the new Fidlar album

The Fix Me video above was directed by Ryan Baxley and Brandon Schwartzel. Get Off My Wave video below.

American punks FIDLAR will release new album SURVIVING THE DREAM on September 20th, above are two from the 13 tracks on the forthcoming album.

[aztralsea]

You guys don't understand, iDKHOW, Lovejoy, Paramore, FIDLAR, all of them released something last night what is going on.

[infernalexistence]

I love this shirt and this album. Fidlar is another band I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live. The mosh pit was wild, my legs were so bruised but it was so worth it. Definitely my favourite live music experience so far, had an amazing time

[popentertainment-concertphotos]

Fidlar – The Met – Philadelphia, PA – January 20, 2024

Photos by Joshua Kanner © 2024

[adzi3]

[stevepasztor]

[ap0stle]

OOH WHO WANTS TO SEE FIDLAR PICS AAAAAAHHH

[mayanhandballcourt]

Photographer Alice Baxley

[bigfatmusicblog]

THE STATE OF PUNK

FIDLAR vs. Alien Nosejob

On Friday September 20th two punk albums were released - I’m sure in the grand scheme of things a lot more punk albums were released on that day, but for the sake of this article, TWO PUNK ALBUMS WERE RELEASED. Both albums are very different in terms of sound and production quality, as well as lyrical content and what each artist was trying to say with this collection of songs. On the surface, other than the fact that they are both punk albums released on September 20th, there is absolutely no reason to compare these two records. They are both so far on different ends of the entire punk spectrum, picture the Sistine Chapel except God and Adam are each in completely different time zones, still they reach out for each other. I will try to bridge this seemingly insurmountable gap between the two with this article, and maybe by the end we’ll see that we aren’t so different, you and I.

FIDLAR is a band I have been into probably since their inception. I remember hearing/downloading Awkward from a music sharing site in the 2010’s (I think probably Noisetrade, which, rip Noisetrade forreal) and since then I was hooked. I was drawn to their painfully honest lyrics about not feeling like yourself in your body and getting fucked up with their friends. The latter of which I had absolutely no experience with at the time, and still don’t have exactly the experience to relate to lyrics like “I feel like a cokehead” or “Cocaine keeps running around in my brain”. I think the taboo nature of what they were speaking about in their early songs, especially to me as a straight edge Christian kid by nature, is what kept me listening to their self-titled debut even years after its release. Shit, I almost made my senior quote ‘FIDLAR’ (meaning Fuck it Dog, Life’s a Risk), but was too afraid to explain to the principal what it meant. I won’t go as far as to say this band changed my life, but they did get me through High School that’s for sure.

ALIEN NOSEJOB is a band I have been familiar with since September 20th 2024. In fact I was so unfamiliar with them while listening to this album I didn’t even realize Alien Nosejob isn’t necessarily a band but rather the “anything-goes solo project of Jake Robertson.” A project that has spanned seven albums as well as several EPs since 2018. The genre is as fluid as the (clever famous Australian River here) going from hardcore punk to 60s influenced garage rock. Doing research on this artist has been a delight and I encourage you to do a deep dive on Alien Nosejob if this is the first you're hearing of them too.

I feel like we can all agree that both of these albums are punk albums. Leaving specifics and subgenres out of it the very core to both of these albums is punk. For me if you're unsure if an album is punk I'd say ask yourself if the lyrics, or music, or attitude behind that album is one that a shithead kid might utter or exude. Both of these albums OOZE shithead kid energy, however they are posed in different ways. 

The biggest way that SURVIVING THE DREAM presents itself as bratty is within the lyrics. From the very beginning in FIX ME as he yells over anthemic single strums on the guitar, words that could’ve easily been nabbed straight from a middle schoolers diary. “It’s too hard to fix me/I know you’ll try/… cause I’m the type of crazy that’s not the cute type” creates the feeling of a bang cut emo girl screaming these lyrics to herself in her mirror as she got ghosted again. This theme of being sad, unfixable, and a general piece of shit continues throughout the album coming to a head in I DONT WANNA DO THIS - a song wherein Zac of FIDLAR continually repeats simple but relatable sentiments such as “I don’t wanna do this/I don’t wanna be here”. I will say as a general note I found myself relating to a lot of the lyrics on this album, more so than I have on any of their past albums. If you spent a lot of time listening to emo and pop punk in your mid to late teenage years like I did you won’t have any issue feeling understood by the general thesis of the album let alone the broad, often melodramatic emotions FIDLAR portrays in this album. We all feel that way sometimes.

Now, TURNS THE COLOUR OF BAD SHIT by Alien Nosejob isn’t necessarily devoid of shithead kid lyrics. As opposed to the introspective and emotional nature of SURVIVING THE DREAM this album focuses more on the outer. Sometimes this album feels like the Burn Book of someone in a local band - usually using the opportunity to talk shit about punk bands like FIDLAR. These lyrics are probably a bit more niche but anyone who has spent anytime in any sort of local music scene will find themselves laughing along to phrases like “45 year olds with guitars/Living out their teenage dreams“ in the song Another Uniform. One of the biggest ways this album finds itself within that shithead realm is through the instrumentation - a lot of chord based riffs often reminiscent of late 70’s proto-punk, there’s a certain grunginess to the whole sound. That’s not to say the instrumentation on this album feels one note, something that’s a fun side to producing solo projects like this is the ability to sort of put any instrument you want to in it, or at least any one that makes sense and is readily available. Randomly on this album you can hear glimpses of various synths and brass instruments, adding the right amount of sprinkles on top of a melting ice cream cone.

Because FIDLAR has spent more time in the limelight, term used loosely, the instrumentation on their album is a lot more polished. Even when they go especially HARD in songs like NUDGE and GET OFF MY WAVE there is still a good amount of squeaky clean feeling behind it, though you don’t really notice it unless you listen to an album like Turns the Colour of Bad Shit immediately after. Something that you can’t exactly produce at different levels, no matter how fancy your equipment is in comparison, is vocal performance on the album. 

In my opinion a defining characteristic in truly good punk music is good vocal performance. From the wavering built in flange of Jello Biafra of The Dead Kennedys to the dead pan dry british vocals of IDLES if you want to stand out you need to, well, stand out. Both of these albums have impeccable vocal performances and that’s sort of the biggest driving force behind my immediate infatuation with them. Zac Carper of FIDLAR has had fairly consistently good performances throughout their discography. His half yell that comes from the back of his throat will have a true empath going for the throat coat tea. SURVIVING THE DREAM is no different, he has his classic vocal style still prevalent throughout the album, going harder than he has in quite some time. Jake Robertson of Alien Nosejob has also had a consistent voice in all of his previous projects - however I think his performance on this is probably his best. I genuinely thought upon first listen that there were two separate vocalists in this band. He seamlessly goes between the dry flat desert that is a typical Aussie vocalist, a la Courtney Barnett, into an almost Mike D of The Beastie Boys impression to place emphasis wherever necessary. The latter affectation is a stand out point as Jake seems to reach into that bag way more on this album versus his previous. These vocalists and their way of approaching the art of punk vocals I think is the thing that will give these albums lasting power, at least it’s kept me listening.

OVERALL:

I wrote way too many words about two probably insignificant punk albums in the grand robust history of punk rock. Both of these albums are definitely flawed and in a way that’s to both of their benefit. I don’t know what else to say.

GRADES:

SURVIVING THE DREAM - B+

TURNS THE COLOUR OF BAD SHIT - B- (I absolutely cannot stand Bird Strike srry)