#this is my favorite punk album to come out in the last 5 years

[nixieniade]

When u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool!)

I'm sure most, if not all, of these will come to no shock to the people who know me well

The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years) by Fall Out Boy

Fall Out Boy is my favourite band, and has been for a long time. Their new album is stellar! Out of this world! And while I love so many of the songs on it, there's something about a song that feels more than itself that just scratches that itch, feeds that part of my soul, and Kintsugi Kid high key does that for me

Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift

I've been a fan of Taylor Swift since I heard a girl in elementary school sing 'Teardrops on my Guitar' in the talent show. The name Drew now has some wild connotations to it for me, but my love for her music never went away.

And honestly,

"Devil's roll their dice, angel's roll their eyes, and if I bleed you'll be the last to know"

what more can I say?

Fly High by Burnout Syndromes

My best friend got me into Haikyu when it first came out, and by consequence, introduced me to one of my favourite bands. I can sing most of the words in Japanese, and I've heard several English covers I love. But nothing beats the original!

Shinsekai by Bump of Chicken

Bump of Chicken does the song, 'Hello World', which is the opening to Blood Blockade Battlefront- my comfort anime. That song falls into my category of 'bigger than itself', and I fell in love with it. Then few years later I found Bump of Chicken's advertisement with Lotte where they featured Shinsekai, and it was instantly one of my favs. The song just makes you want to dance, and I love it!

Mr. Brightside by The Killers

Falls into the emo/punk/pop punk genres depending on who you're asking? Check

Has points where it sounds bigger than itself? Check

All the reasons explained in this:

Video? You bet

Specifically the line

"But it's just the price I pay, destiny is calling me"

❤️

Thanks Áine! 🥰

[strawberryblondebutch]

Back by unpopular demand, it's my top albums of 2023! While 2022 suffered a dearth of good artists that made it impossible to cobble together a top 10, I struggled this year to whittle my 50(!!)-album shortlist down to my top.

Same rules as always: everything on this list is a full-length album (no EPs) of largely previously unreleased material (no reissues, no cover albums, no Taylor's Version) arranged in an intentional manner (no B-sides or rarities albums). Now, behold!

10. DOG PARK DISSIDENTS - THE PINK AND BLACK ALBUM

I hope I'm not the only punk frustrated with the decline of queer rage in the music scene. Everyone's sad and no one is angry. If you're sick of being well-behaved, this is the album for you. I've been a Dog Park Dissidents fan for years now, and I'm thrilled to see them put out an LP, especially one as great as this one.

9. SINCERE ENGINEER - CHEAP GRILLS

Something everyone needs to know about me: I love a girlflop. There is nothing more endearing than an absolute disaster of a woman, and no one is flopping through life quite like Deanna Belos. Her third album brings her scratchy-voiced brashness into her early 30s, and as much as I hope for an end to her crisis, at least she has a good soundtrack going.

8. ALL GET OUT - ALL GET OUT

Wouldn't it be easy if I didn't listen to any albums? If I just put my favorite bands in the top ten and said "that's enough hard work, I think"? Well, I don't, because sometimes there's a surprise. All Get Out has frustrated me for a while, as their Southern-fried brand of rock and roll is something I should like, but they never seemed to put it all together... until now.

7. BLONDSHELL - BLONDSHELL

Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum showed up at the eleventh hour to wreck my rankings. I was unaware of Blondshell until they opened for Liz Phair a month ago, and I was intrigued enough to follow up and listen to her debut. Her stage presence needs some work -- unlike, say, Foxing's latest album, which I learned to love once I heard it live, I think Blondshell is better recorded -- but if this is her first effort, I can't wait to see what she does next.

6. ZZ WARD - DIRTY SHINE

2023 was the year of blues rock artists going independent, and their music was all the better for it. The Record Company was a late cut for my honorable mentions, but ZZ takes the sixth spot here. There was a lot riding on Dirty Shine: she was independent and had been mostly silent since the pandemic. With some of the tightest production I've seen this year, she hasn't missed a step.

5. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - IN TIMES NEW ROMAN...

Talk about someone who's been through the wringer since their last album. Josh Homme battled cancer, alcoholism, and a bitter divorce, and his band's latest release is one of pent-up rage. It bears strong shades of 2007's Era Vulgaris, which was divisive in its own time, and as a result, some might hate In Times New Roman... for its looser, crunchier sound. For me? It's exactly what I like to hear.

4. SPANISH LOVE SONGS - NO JOY

I have a confession: I'm a terrible album reviewer. It takes me weeks or months to listen to something new, even for my favorite artists, like Spanish Love Songs. I didn't get around to No Joy until just before I went to see SPL open for Hot Mulligan, at which point I felt like the time had come. This album was an acquired taste, smoother and more polished than 2020's Brave Faces, Everyone, but like Frightened Rabbit's 2016 Painting of a Panic Attack, the sparser sound lets you focus on what Dylan et al. are trying to say, and you can soon tell No Joy is an album that needed to come out for his own sake.

3. HEART ATTACK MAN - FREAK OF NATURE

Speaking of "late on the draw," behold Heart Attack Man, a band I should have loved... if I ever got around to listening to them. They hang around all the same scenes my other favorite bands do (in fact, Hot Mulligan also brought them along on their most recent tour), and yet I never got around to exploring them until this June, when they played in Philly for $20 tickets. Good thing my impulses won out, because this album is what punk should be (and something it's been sorely missing).

2. HOT MULLIGAN - WHY WOULD I WATCH?

After shouting them out in the last two entries, I have to give Hot Mulligan their flowers. They're a strange band, having more in common with Dance Gavin Dance than, say, The Wonder Years. It's progressive post-hardcore for Midwest emos, and although the individual songs on Why Would I Watch? are on par with any individual song from a previous release, they do something here that elevates them above their other work: put out an album, rather than a collection of songs.

1. FIREWORKS - HIGHER LONELY POWER

It was always going to be Fireworks. They released this album on January 1 after a long hiatus, giving me an entire year to have this LP rattle in my brain and linger in my bones. Higher Lonely Power combines several trends found on the rest of this list -- a new sound that needed to grow on me, a need to shake off the rust of a hiatus, a band I took far too long to get to know. They're my favorite band's favorite band for a reason, and Higher Lonely Power is a gorgeous mediation on love, death, and aging. A worthy album of the year if ever there were one.

[bloody-fate]

when you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish. then, send this to 10 of your favourite followers <3

Oooh thanks for tagging, I had a lot of fun writing these!! ☺️Here's some that I have been really into lately!

Denzel Curry feat. T-Pain - Troubles

I've been digging into Denzel Curry's discography beyond the few features I'd heard recently and realizing I've been majorly sleeping on him. Dude can really rap some songs! Amazing flow and love the raspy delivery. Also sooo happy with this current era of T-Pain's career. It seems like that Tiny Desk session really cemented him in people's minds as an R&B legend and rightfully so. Their verses compliment each other so well, just a crazy fun and breezy song. Listening feels like smoking one of those keef-encrusted pre-rolls you buy for special occasions.

The Oh Sees - I Come From the Mountain

I been using the mindless drudgery of this last spat of jobs to worm my way through a few Oh Sees albums I missed out on because they are constantly churning stuff out. I was halfway through this one (face nearly completely rocked off from the synth break between verses) when the question struck me like a bolt of lightning and riccocheted around the walls of my skull like the biggest, drunkest, most denim-vested guy in the pit: "What the fuck? Are these guys your favorite band? How many times do they have to blow your mind before they are?" Don't get me wrong. I'm not being a hater when I answer that question with a shrugging "Maybe?" because when I'm in my sober mind, I'm not sure they stand alongside some other dear artists I've held in high regard for longer than I've known about these guys, but when I'm listening to The Oh Sees, baby, there ain't any other band in existence.

Slowdive - Machine Gun

I had to drive up to Maine from Chicago at the beginning of last month for work and was wracking my brain for the perfect thing to listen to while driving through the northeastern part of Our Great Garbage Pit right as the leaves were changing. I came up with a few good picks to fill the crispest, most autumn-iest air I've ever had the pleasure of passing through my busted pulmonary system, but nothing I played could hold a candle to Souvlaki. Not sure if it was the scenic foresty highways, the towering wall of ethereal guitars, roadworn delirium, or a potent cocktail of all three, but definitely one of the best drives I've ever taken even if it was in a stupid rented Jeep.

William Onyeabor - Atomic Bomb

This song right here is one you could live in. You could haul all of your suitcases and boxes holding your sentimental family heirlooms and contents of your junk drawer into the middle of its spacious, rollicking grooves and still have ample room to set about unpacking your life into a new chapter housed by those lilting synths and beautiful backing vocals. You can use the walls of fuzzy keyboard jams to hang cherished photos and take decades of steps across the floor of blunt cruise-friendly drum beats and guitar lines. That smoky rhythm section provides such a strong foundation, you can see yourself years down the line, voice Patty and Selma raspy from years of smoking, lines in your face and hair starting to go grey while helping a gaggle of kids you never expected to have catch their bus before the track is even halfway to its slowburn conclusion. This metaphor kind of got away from me but track owns!!!!!

Against Me! - Walking Is Still Honest

I dealt with the wave of crushing hopelessness I'm sure we all felt the day after the election by regressing all the way back to my folk punk era for the day. Look, I'm not saying it's the healthiest (or best smelling) way to cope with the fact that we are rocketing towards a horrifying new chapter in American fascism, but I couldn't deal with all of the horrible visions of things to come buzzing around my head like a cloud of racist mosquitos and needed to dunk my head anywhere else for a moment. In my diminished state, I settled on submerging myself beneath the swampy waters of heartache and radical politics shrieked over brittle, jangling guitars that are barely holding the song together. It didn't fix the world, but it helped me center myself by reminding me of a time when me and a bunch of my dirty punk friends were all moved to tears by hearing the struggle of our goin' nowhere lives reflected in these songs and that a lot of us are still here despite everything and more capable than ever of fixing shit when it breaks or goes bad, even if some of us are now Grateful Dead fans. I guess it helped being reminded that things have always been bad and fucking terrible, but every nice thing anyone has ever had, no matter how fleeting, has been in spite of all that awful shit and there will always inevitably be a reason you're glad you stuck around this long.

[fltwoodsmonster]

mid-year music round up: my favorite 5 albums of 2024 (so far)

its like june or whatever and ive been listening to a lot of music. here's 5 albums from 2024 I've loved so far.

5. Tems - Born in the Wild

This was my first exposure to Tems, and I'm positively enchanted. Velvety vocals, gorgeous production, and an all around great tracklist. I'm not super familiar with smooth soul or contemporary R&B as a genre, but I've really enjoyed getting into it through classic artists like Sade and, more recently, through rising stars like Tems. It's looking to be a great year for West African music!

Recommended tracks: Burning, Love Me JeJe, Gangsta, Boy O Boy, Hold On

4. Allie X - Girl With No Face

Also my first exposure to Allie-X, I was introduced to this album by my fiance through the song "off with her tits" which might be one of my favorite bops about top surgery ever. A delightful synth-pop album that leans a bit darker but without ever sacrificing dancibility. A real bop of an album!

Recommended songs: Weird World, Girl With No Face, Off With Her Tits, Staying Power

3. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven

It took me a while to click with Mannequin Pussy. Their more punk songs like the eponymous I Got Heaven I vibed with immediately, but I was initially more down on the rest of this album because I thought the energy tapered off too quickly. How wrong this initial read was, though! I had the chance to see them in concert last month and it really reframed how I approached this album, letting me appreciate the slower moments a lot more. Absolutely worth checking out if you like hardcore punk and/or indie rock.. there's something here for enjoyers of both!

Recommended Tracks: I Got Heaven, Loud Bark, I Don't Know You, Softly

2. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice

I heard Mdou Moctar's "Afrique Victime" for the first time last year and was absolutely blown away by it. They easily became one of my favorite active bands. So when I heard they were coming out with a new album, I was hyped. And this delivers! While I don't think it's as cohesive an album as their previous LP, the songs on Funeral for Justice stand strong as punchy, impressive feats of musical prowess. Imouhar might be one of the best songs of this year, no doubt. What a fantastic year for West African & tishoumaren music!

Recommended songs: Funeral for Justice, Imouhar, Imajighen, Oh France, Modern Slaves

Joey Valence & Brae - No Hands

It has been IMMENSELY satisfying to see JVB not only blow up in popularity but also finally start to get the recognition they deserve. Gone are the days of being straight up Beastie Boy clones - they're forging their own path forward through hip hop that draws clear inspiration from the greats (even including a feature w/ the amazing Danny Brown) while putting their own unique, often humorous spin on things. It feels like they've learned a lot from their debut album PUNK TACTICS which released only a year ago. Really hope they continue on this really promising trajectory!

RECOMMENDED SONGS: Any off the album!

[confessionsofabargainbinaddict]

My Favorite Albums of 2023*

*not necessarily from 2023

Last year, I decided that, instead of limiting my "favorite" list to just the past year, I would broaden the scope to include any CD I acquired that year, whether it was released that year or not. Over the past 12 months, I've added 155 CDs to the already over-burdened collection (which may seem like a lot but it's down from 260 last year, so I believe some praise is due). These are my favorite 9, in alphabetical order by album title.

Foo Fighters - But Here We Are

"Times Like These," whether he intended it to be or not, was one of the very few, great post-9/11 songs. And while I might expect that from Springsteen, Grohl didn't immediately spring to mind as a voice of comfort and empathy, so the song's impact may have actually been a bit greater than something akin to "The Rising" (which, don't get me wrong, is an amazing song). And now, a couple decades later, it shouldn't be surprising that a Foo Fighters album dealing with intense and intimate grief would also be stunning, but, like before, I certainly wasn't expecting it and also, like before, I've turned to it a hell of a lot more than I would have thought.

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

You know those albums where you really like a bunch of the songs but not all of them but you also know that, with each repeated listen, you're going to find ways into the songs you didn't like as much on previous listens and come up with reasons why you actually do like those songs and therefore, think the entire album is brilliant? Yeah, this is one of those albums.

billy woods and kenny segal - maps

Let me preface this by saying that I am years late to the billy woods party, so I do not have any way of comparing this to his previous, abundant discography, but if it is at all indicative of the rest of his work, I have some major catching up to do! woods is a top notch lyricist with a clear love of language and the ways in which it can be structured. His metaphors and imagery are complex and layered but never so obtuse that they alienate the listener. And all of this verbal brilliance is nestled comfortably on segal's inviting but never settled production. I'll come back to this one often.

Stevie Wonder - Original Musiquarium I

I'm not normally a fan of "best of" compilations but this one, with the addition of the four unreleased tracks capping each "side," is so well put together and clearly thought through, I'm thrilled to have it as a part of my collection. Plus, it's really hard to ever go wrong with Stevie.

Laura Mvula - Pink Noise

Roughly 5 years ago, I heard "She," and was blown away. I added Sing to the Moon to my discogs want list but never got around to snagging a copy. About 3 years ago, I heard "Got Me" and decided to be a bit more active in trying to acquire a copy of Pink Noise, but I think there were some transatlantic issues because nothing seemed to be remotely affordable. Fast forward to midway through this year, the album miraculously pops up on Amazon for under 10 bucks and a day or two later, I'm finally blessed with these 10 fiercely intelligent yet uncompromisingly catchy pop bangers.

Pool Kids - Pool Kids

It's mathy, it's tappy, it's stupidly technical, but if you strip that all away, at its heart, these are 12 solid pop-punk/emo songs. So while the base effort is already worthwhile, the tremendous musicality turns them into something truly special.

Atmosphere - Sad Clown Bad Fall 10

Okay, so it's only 5 tracks but hear me out. I was introduced to Slug and Ant through their brief stint with Epitaph Records and their, imho, brilliant album, Seven's Travels. Over the years, I've picked up an Atmosphere album here and there, but my takeaways have been lackluster and I started to wonder whether they were just a one-off in my book. And then I found this at a used record store in Seattle, and it not only reignited the flame but made me want to revisit the rest of my collection. That's pretty impressive for only 16 minutes of music.

Triple Fast Action - Triple Fast Action

Triple Fast Action were probably the favorite band your favorite 90's alt-rock band (The Colour and the Shape was, apparently, greatly influenced by Broadcaster) and with only two albums to their name, it was a wonderful surprise to discover this treasure trove of unreleased and rare tracks, most of which were recorded in their rehearsal studio. While not everything is great, there's a general bittersweet air hovering around this 2-disc compilation - they could have been big, but for whatever reason, the stars didn't align. At least we now have so much more music.

Ratboys - The Window

Ratboys aren't reinventing the wheel here. They pull upon most of the major indie rock tropes of the past couple of years (Americana, pop-punk, prog rock...) but even with the genre hopping, the album shifts seamlessly from track to track and always feels authentic. What would we do with a new wheel anyway? Wouldn't you rather just get the top-of-the-line version?

Other assorted 2023 stuff

Favorite Albums NOT acquired in 2023:

Proper. - The Great American Novel

Tigers Jaw - I Don't Care How You Remember Me

Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth

Face to Face - Face to Face

Florence + The Machine - High As Hope

Beauty Pill - The Unsustainable Lifestyle

Favorite Live Bands seen in 2023:

The Verve Pipe (City Winery - 4/23)

Home Is Where (Elsewhere - 7/8)

Four Year Strong (Rocks Off Concert Cruise - 10/15)

The Hold Steady (Brooklyn Bowl - 11/30)

Favorite Movies watched in 2023:

Soft and Quiet

Poor Things

Shotgun Wedding

Pearl

Favorite TV Shows watched in 2023:

Alice in Borderland (Season 1)

The Fall of the House of Usher

The Curse

This is Pop

Channel Zero (Seasons 1 and 2)

Evil (Seasons 1 and 2)

The Last of Us

Favorite Books read in 2023:

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

Wraith - Joe Hill and Charles Paul Wilson III

Favorite Podcasts listened to in 2023:

Fearful Symmetry

Love and Radio

Detoxcity

U Springing Springsteen on My Bean?

"Finn and the Bell" episode of Radiolab

"Wake" episode of The Memory Palace

[defjux]

100 of my favorite non hip hop releases from 2022. I made a seperate list for hip hop already which you can find here if you’re interested. 2022 will go down as a memorable year for me not just for the sheer quantity of great releases, but also because i feel that all my of my favorite genres had a chance to shine. I started returning to my hardcore/punk/metal roots within the last couple years and 2022 was the first time in recent memory where I really felt like I was fully tapped in. There were so many highly anticipated releases from a ton of different artists last year, and the majority lived up to the hype for me. Grindcore, Mathcore, and Post-Hardcore seems to have been making a huge comeback with some incredible new efforts from modern genre staples like Wormrot, Callous Daoboys, Brutus, Greyhaven, Birds in row, Knoll, and Cloud Rat. Not to mention the much welcome return of some legendary acts including Gospel, Sawtooth Grin, and City of Caterpillar. I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff I missed out on too, so feel free to hit me with any recommendations you might have or just let me know what projects you enjoyed the most last year. Oh and you can also click the titles of any of these albums and it’ll take you to the bandcamp or spotify page where you can check them out if you’d like. Peace. Chart with album titles 1. Wormrot - Hiss 2. Alvvays - Blue Rev 3. Brutus - Unison Life 4. Cloud Rat - Threshold 5. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow 6. Gospel - The Loser 7. Natalia Lafourcade - De todas las flores 8. Massa Nera - Derramar | Querer | Borrar 9. Messa - Close 10. Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems 11. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Omnium Gatherum 12. Cult of Luna - The Long Road North 13. tricot - Fudeki 14. White Ward - False Light 15. The Callous Daoboys - Celebrity Therapist 16. The Sawtooth Grin - Good. 17. Ultha - All That Has Never Been True 18. Joel Ross - The Parable Of The Poet 19. Autonoesis - Moon of Foul Magics 20. Knoll - Metempiric 21. Joyce Moreno - Natureza 22. Birds in Row - Gris Klein 23. Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain 24. Wake - Thought Form Descent 25. Tómarúm - Ash In Realms Of Stone Icons 26. Greyhaven - This Bright and Beautiful World 27. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen 28. Nilüfer Yanya - PAINLESS 29. Mary Halvorson - Amaryllis 30. Celeste - Assassine(s) 31. Naked Flames - Miracle in Transit 32. Elephant Gym - Dreams 33. Cave In - Heavy Pendulum 34. Silvana Estrada - Marchita 35. Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double - March 36. Imperial Triumphant - Spirit Of Ecstasy 37. Blind Girls - The Weight of Everything 38. Chat Pile - God's Country 39. fleshwater - We're Not Here to Be Loved 40. Fievel Is Glauque - Flaming Swords

41. Melody's Echo Chamber - Emotional Eternal 42. NEPTUNIAN MAXIMALISM - Set Chaos To The Heart Of The Moon 43. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava 44. An Abstract Illusion - Woe 45. Sigh - SHIKI 46. City of Caterpillar - Mystic Sisters 47. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You 48. Conjurer - Páthos 49. Kali Malone - Living Torch 50. Krallice - Crystalline Exhaustion 51. Aeviterne - The Ailing Facade 52. Scarcity - Aveilut 53. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam 54. Makaya McCraven - In These Times 55. Misþyrming - Með hamri 56. Loraine James - Building Something Beautiful For Me 57. Knxwledge. - 家​.​V1 58. Hylda - Juniper Pyre 59. Gillian Carter - Salvation Through Misery 60. Beach House - Once Twice Melody 61. Angles - A Muted Reality 62. Hatchie - Giving The World Away 63. Daniel Rossen - You Belong There 64. Pyrithe - Monuments to Impermanence 65. Otoboke beaver - SUPER CHAMPON 66. The Orielles - Tableau 67. Sunrise Patriot Motion - Black Fellflower Stream 68. Blut aus Nord - Disharmonium - Undreamable Abysses 69. Helpless - Caged In Gold 70. Immanuel Wilkins - The 7th Hand 71. Mizmor & Thou - Myopia 72. The Wind in the Trees - Architects of Light 73. Daniel Avery - Ultra Truth 74. Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory 75. Show Me The Body - Trouble The Water 76. Sault - 11 77. Bríi - Corpos Transparentes 78. Sweet Pill - Where the Heart Is 79. Vein.FM - This World is Going to Ruin You 80. Ravyn Lenae - Hypnos 81. Disheveled Cuss - Into the Couch 82. Aoife Nessa Frances - Protector 83. Niechęć - Unsubscribe 84. Elder - Innate Passage 85. Raum - Daughter 86. Viagra Boys - Cave World 87. Chalk Hands - Don't Think About Death 88. Boris - fade 89. Nouns - WHILE OF UNSOUND MIND 90. ANNA SAGE - Anna Sage 91. Nu Genea - Bar Mediterraneo 92. JYOCHO - Let's Promise to Be Happy 93. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There 94. Waajeed - Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz 95. Petrol Girls - Baby 96. DIM - Steeped Sky, Stained Light 97. lilien rosarian - every flower in my garden 98. Work Money Death - Thought, Action, Reaction, Interaction 99. A.A. Williams - As The Moon Rests 100. Vital Spirit - Still as the Night, Cold as the Wind

[greensparty]

Album Reviews: Jimi Hendrix Experience "Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967" / Scream "DC Special"

Jimi Hendrix Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967

Another year, another Jimi Hendrix Experience release just before the holiday season! Since beginning this blog, I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing loads of Hendrix albums including the posthumous album Both Sides of the Sky, the 50th anniversary Deluxe Edition of Electric Ladyland, the 50th anniversary re-release of his live album Band of Gypsys, his live box set Songs for Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts, the live album and movie Live in Maui, 2021’s Record Store Day release Paris ‘67, and last year's Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969. This week Legacy is releasing a never-before-released (or bootlegged) live album of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's concert at Hollywood Bowl just before they became famous with Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967.

album cover

At this concert, the Experience were opening for The Mamas and the Papas. Attendees were mainly there to see the headliners. Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut album Are You Experienced would be released in the U.S. five days later on August 23, 1967 (it had been released in the U.K. on May 5, 1967). By this point, the band had played a legendary show at the Monterey Pop Festival and opened for The Monkees. This is literally the moment just before they got famous. The trio were bigger than the sum of their parts: Hendrix on guitar, Noel Redding on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. There were quite a few songs from Are You Experienced, but there are also loads of covers including favorites by The Beatles (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”), Howlin’ Wolf (“Killing Floor”), Bob Dylan (“Like a Rolling Stone”), The Troggs (“Wild Thing”) and Muddy Waters (“Catfish Blues”). A live album would pretty much be enough to please a lot of fans, but this one is cool because it's not some overly-bootlegged concert so there's a sense of discovery, but also the covers make this feel like you're getting something new and different. There's nothing like hearing a band the very second they became famous and here it is!

For info on Jimi Hendrix Experience

4 out of 5 stars

Scream DC Special

Bursting out the DC hardcore punk scene in the 80s was the legendary Scream. The Reagan administration gave the Washington DC punk community quite a bit to rant about in the 80s and Scream were among the biggest of that whole scene, along with Fugazi, Bad Brains and Henry Rollins (the list, of course, goes on). In my friend Scott Crawford's 2014 documentary Salad Days about the DC punk scene in the 80s, he interviewed multiple members of Scream. Singer Pete Stahl and his brother / guitarist Franz Stahl, bassist Skeeter Thompson were a tight knit unit with original drummer Kent Stax. After Stax left the band in 1986, his replacement was teenage drummer Dave Grohl, who truly brought it. I was a big fan of the band's albums No More Censorship and Fumble and I have them in my record collection. After the band broke up (as we all know), Grohl joined Nirvana and brought that punk energy he honed in Scream to the masses. The Fumble album had been recorded in 1989 but was finally released in 1993. There were a few reunions here and there and Grohl has continued to work with the members of Scream (i.e. Franz was in Foo Fighters from 1997-1999). In 2009, the original lineup of Scream reunited and they even recorded with Stax on drums at Grohl's Studio 606 for an EP. But we haven't actually had a studio album from Scream since Fumble, which was 30 years ago. This week, Dischord Records is releasing DC Special featuring the original lineup. In September Stax died at age 61, making this his final album with Scream.

album cover

With the Fumble album it felt like the band was really evolving. The punk sound was there, but there was also a post-punk sound coming through. With all of their collective outside projects, i.e. Franz in Foo Fighters and DYS, Pete and Franz in Wool, Pete in Goatsnake and Earthlings?, Skeeter's solo work, etc - this band is way more than just an 80s punk band. This album incorporates a lot more styles and even some melodic tendencies. It's a nice full circle moment that this album got recorded with Stax before he died and that Grohl made a guest appearance. There's loads of other DC punk veterans appearing here including Dischord Records founder and Fugazi / Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye. This is album is a treat for fans and enough to make you want to, well, scream!

For info on Scream

4 out of 5 stars

[akwardlyuncool]

Spotify Wrapped 2023

So I'm here to talk about my hella basic year in music lol. If you're new here I got 2 Spotifys, which means I compare them every year to see which one I think is more accurate.

Basically I got my daily driver,  what I use most often and what’s signed in on my phone and then the Spotify I use for/while I’m working on projects on Akwardly Uncool. Anyway the LEFT side is the Daily Driver and the RIGHT is AkwardlyUncool.

So I'mma Start By Proudly Waving My Basic Card:

I might be wrong, but I feel like everybody who was even slightly in the Pop-Punk, Midwest Emo, Post Emo space had Hot Mulligan in their top 5, either artists or songs for 2023. It was just bound to happen and I ain't mad at it, cause have you listened to them?! Just had to acknowledge that real quick lol.

Minutes and Hours and Just Time:

15,850 minutes. About 264 hours. 11 Days.

Not gonna lie, based on some personal calculations, this was a shorter year for consuming music for me. (If you stick around for ACF 2024 I might divulge some of that reasoning, but for now I'll just say, It is what it is and I know why.) That being said I'll try to beef up my numbers again next year.

Top Artists:

Now don't get me wrong I love The Wonder Years down, however I made a collaborative playlist of The Wonder Years and Hot Mulligan with a friend and basically didn't turn it off lol (it was definitely a shower mix for sure) and that's how they ultimately won the award on my main account.

As for the "side" account, which felt like the main this year, Winnetka Bowling League is just one of those groups that's so good to put on and let run. Now of course I have my repeats, that I've been talking about for the last few years and then I added more and so whether it was going to their page and hitting play or seeking out my repeats, I totally get why they won there. They're coming out with a full album next year, so get used to me talking about them 90% of the time. And if you hop on their train, remember I'm the conductor.

As for the other artists who touched the top 5, I saw 3 of them in concert this year, so naturally their numbers are going to be higher. Also Watsky made it cause Intention is not on CD, hopefully yet.

Genre Sandwiches and Top Tracks:

It's Pop-Punk season mixed with Winnetka Bowling League and Watsky, so both sides reflect that. That being said, the main diver is where I play the majority of the R&B, Neo-Soul and the likes, so they're rarely reflected on my second. But KNOW, I am a mix of Pop-Punk and Neo-Soul, always!

Again it's Pop-Punk season or rather Hot Mulligan season and I spent a lot of time learning every word to those two tracks that won, but are too long for me to desire to type out now. "Draw and quarter a stranger to feel some blood on your fingers. You take away, robbery follow trends as a hobby, find flaws in everything else because you don't like yourself. Woe is me!"

Collector vs Alchemist:

They both say essentially the same thing which is that I make and listen to my own playlists more than anything else, but anyone who works with me could have told you that lol. Geniuses.

Winner? Winner? Chicken Dinner?

Again they basically say the same thing this year, which is that we listened to a lot of Hot Mulligan, Relient K is still my favorite band and if i see you in concert you tend to show up on my Wrapped for the year. I will say though that I'm hella surprised that this is the first year Lyfe Jennings didn't show up on my Wrapped and although that makes way for other folks, it's still a little sad lol.

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.

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Hey we made it through Spotify Wrapped Time and now must move on to the more nuanced and obviously better Akward Class Favorites 2023. If you don't know, it where I just go through my year in movies, music, online content consumption and other things of the like, so better lol. Don't have an ETA on when that will go up, but I've taken the notes, so hopefully before the end of December.

[broke-bruce-wayne]

My Album a Day - Day 83

Today's album revisit of last year brings me an album from an Irish post punk band who has gained considerable fame in Ireland, the UK, and other parts of Europe, but not so much here in the US, so I was excited to check them out. And I quite enjoyed what I heard, which was very moody sounding post punk, not unlike something you would hear come from UK bands of the mid 80s. I had a pretty good time with this one, rather well done, with no real lulls. If you like the post punk sound, I definitely recommend.

Favorite Songs: Nabokov, In ár gCroíthe go deo, Skinty Fia, I Love You

My Enjoyability Rating (not the same as quality): 4.25/5

Masterpost

Previous Day

[paulisded]

The Ledge #625: Second Quarter Recap

Besides the monthly new release episodes, another regular feature of this show is the "quarterly recap", where I play tracks from the best albums released over the last three months. This month features a wide variety of rock, punk, power pop, Americana, and a few other sub-genres. Everybody should be able to find a new favorite record in this expanded episode.

Before we get to the highlights of the quarter, though, I've got a tribute to arguably the greatest rock and roller my state has ever produced. Myron Lee, the leader of Myron Lee & The Caddies, passed away just days before his 83rd birthday. Along with airing a handful of his late 50s/early 60s hits, I come clean about the simple fact that for the longest time I was completely unaware of his true rockin' sound. In fact, it was due to an appearance on another Real Punk Radio broadcast that I finally understood that rockabilly and punk fanatics have been collecting his singles for decades! RIP Myron!

Also, please head to YouTube and subscribe to our channel - Public Domain Classics 888. We have close to 300 classic films from over 110 years of releases! 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!

1. Myron Lee & The Caddies - Homicide

2. Myron Lee & The Caddies - Baby Sittin'

3. Myron Lee & The Caddies - Aw c'mon Baby

4. Myron Lee & The Caddies - School's Out (Alternate Take)

5. Myron Lee & The Caddies - Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night

6. Buffalo Tom - New Girl Singing

7. Old 97's - Falling Down

8. Pernice Brothers - Look Alive

9. Aaron Lee Tasjan - The Drugs Did Me

10. Micah Schnabel - Get Rich Quick

11. The Reflectors - What's Taking so Long?

12. Extra Arms - Everything Disappears

13. The Lemon Twigs - My Golden Years

14. Raised on TV - Back in the Sun

15. James Sullivan - Day Late Dollar Short

16. Redd Kross - Stunt Queen

17. Guided by Voices - Fictional Environment Dream

18. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Wicked World

19. THE LOONS - HIGH AND LONESOME

20. Pavid Vermin - Dismembered Limbs Rotting in a Pool of Carnal Disfigurement

21. J Prozac - This Is It

22. The Yum Yums - Vitamin U

23. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Motherfucker

24. Drahla - Default Parody

25. Habibi - Do You Want Me Now

26. The Darts - Are You Down

27. Dog Party - Do It All The Time

28. The Cynz - Crow-Haired Boys

29. Kate Clover - The Apocalypse Dream

30. UltraBomb - Never Better

31. Shellac - Chick New Wave

32. Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders - Lie'n Money & A Bad Disguise.

33. Cock Sparrer - With My Hand On My Heart

34. The Shivvies - Runaway Girl

35. Yobs - Wasted

36. Swiftumz - Simply The Best

37. Memo PST - Dog Meds

[themowearchives]

The Music.

paul revere -b/w- angel of the underground

released: december 2013

pristine indigio records

recorded and produced by pete weiss.

the brand new release from boston's my own worst enemy is a 2-song single, "paul revere" & "angel of the underground." tracks were recorded in somerville ma at q division & armory sound, and produced by the incomparable pete weiss. vinyl mastering was done by jeff powell in memphis tn.

paul revere is a two-minute, three-chord stomp and quickly became a fan favorite when it showed up in mowe's live sets. during the weekend studio session, the band brought in friends and neighbors to help bolster the "hey!" refrains and the the big "hurray!" cheer in the third verse.

angel of the underground is the band's tribute of sorts to one of their favorite singers and all-around sweetheart, mary lou lord. through the boston music scene, sue and steve were lucky enough to meet, share bills with and eventually become friends with mary lou, who continues to be an inspiration. it even features a nod to her nick saloman-penned tune, lights are changing, on the outtro.

track listing:

side a: paul revere

side b: angel of the underground

electric like the moon

released: fall 2011

pristine indigio records

produced by pete weiss at verdant studio in athens, vermont.

"bad romance, late nights out, the intersection of love and squalor ... that's traditionally the stuff of great rock and roll, and it's the territory my own worst enemy inhabits with this album, which makes good on the promise of their last few years of heartfelt live shows."

- brett milano, music writer/author - sound of our town

electric like the moon is the fourth full-length release from boston rockers my own worst enemy. featuring the band's signature twin-guitar-and-drums (bassless) sound coupled with emotive co-ed vocals and sweet harmonies, electric once again captures mowe's no-nonsense, impassioned songwriting in the context of bona fide three-chord rock. the album seamlessly swings from punk to garage to country and back again with the constant thread of intensity sewn throughout.

stand-out tracks include "man of the hour," an epic ode to long-time boston music supporter/promoter billy ruane, and "the kids don't care," a garage-rawk tribute to lyres and the real kids. don't miss the 60s bounce track "nothinwithoutcha," the punk-rock stomp of "can't buy my love" and the melancholy twang of "whiskey talkin."

track listing and free mp3 downloads (right click-save link as):

1 april & september

2 the kids don't care

3 nothinwithoutcha

4 bad romance

5 chandelier

6 can't buy my love

7 ask

8 man of the hour

9 whiskey talkin'

10 backyard

11 abort

total action

released: fall 2007

pristine indigio records

released in 2007 and produced by pete weiss at verdant studio in athens, vermont.

"total action is the kind of pop record they just don't make anymore; full of fresh sounds and great hooks, with some careful thought between the lines. leaders sue and steve are music nuts who do their influences proud, and they fooled me into thinking their shimmering folk-rocker 'snowflake' was a long-lost 60s nugget. elsewhere they mix their country and their velvets up with a lot of vital three-chord stomp. call it garage rock if you must; but sue's vocals leave no doubt that garage is in a pretty exotic neighborhood."

- brett milano, music writer/author - sound of our town

track listing and free mp3 downloads (right click-save link as):

1 turn it on

2 used to be a figher

3 come on

4 green apple

5 catherine the waitress

6 snowflake

7 drunken angel

8 corner of my eye

9 pay attention to me

10 lose your mind

11 for her

12 redondo beach

no guarantees

released: fall 2003

elis eil records

the band's second full-length release is a sublime sound cocktail with shots of versatility, passion and honesty that resonate through the vocals, guitars and drums and permeate every lyrical syllable. one listen just won't do: this record demands your attention over time. its songs will sink into your brain and, hopefully, your heart. comprised of thirteen songs recorded with pete weiss at zippah studios in brookline ma., and at verdant studio in athens, vermont, no guarantees promises sparks of melodious purity juxtaposed with flashes of aural ferocity.

track listing and free mp3 downloads (right click-save link as):

1 who knew

2 mia

3 why not beautiful

4 poison

5 late show

6 hey hey sunshine

7 finally

8 not the one

9 throw it all away

10 never talking to you again

11 mr leatherboots

12 yearbook

13 pills & pride

treblemaker

released: fall 2000

eils eil records

the band's debut release is filled with moments of sonic sweetness and irrepressible emotion. the dominant factor is the ever-present lead vocals from sue, whose heart-on-your-sleeve approach to songwriting is refreshing and engaging. the breathy and bold backing vocals add a layer of harmonious girl-on-girl bliss to three of the tracks. the twin guitar attack on treblemaker starts out gentle and works its way up to a full-on strum-glaze frenzy, culminating with the knockdown, drag-out anthem "cry for frances." this one-two punch sets its sites squarely on courtney love and hits a bull's eye in true riot grrl-inspired gratification. treblemaker is jam-packed with intoxicating levels of passion, power and pop.

track listing and free mp3 downloads (right click-save link as):

1 garfield

2 those lips

3 portland

4 don't look now

5 no ware

6 free to leave

7 paint the town

8 take it

9 cry for frances

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Andrew Lampe

Andrew Lampe is the sole member of Invultation, the black/death (or “war metal”) project out of Columbus, OH. Andrew is mostly known for his solo work throughout the past 15 years, including projects that span the various sub-genres of extreme metal such as: The Wakedead Gathering, Debauch, Irradiated, LONGBARROW and Echushkya. The newest Invultation album, Feral Legion, was released by Sentient Ruin Laboratories on August 18th, 2023. Dusted reviewed it, here, noting that the record “launches precipitously into black/death’s hammering, crunching, high-velocity intensities,” with music that is “feral, sharply clawed and full of rage.”

Here's a list of things that have inspired and influenced Lampe.

Bolt Thrower — “At First Light”

To start off this list, why not go with (in my opinion) the greatest opening track of all time. Every time I listen to this track it makes me want to run headfirst into battle. Bolt Thrower released nothing but classic albums and their dedication to excellence has always been a quality that I try to emulate.

King Diamond/Mercyful Fate

Both of these bands are in my top 5 of heavy metal bands but I have to give a slight edge to King’s solo work since Andy LaRocque is one of my favorite guitarists. The idea of each album having a story and theme has also been immensely influential to my own music, especially for The Wakedead Gathering.

Archgoat — “Grand Luciferian Theophany”

If you listen to any Invultation material beyond the demo you can hear the Archgoat influence almost immediately. This track, in particular, is the inspiration for the slower riffs that I use fairly frequently in “breakdown” parts. There’s just something about the groove that Archgoat is able to achieve in their slower riffs that is so catchy and dark sounding.

Incantation — “Upon The Throne of Apocalypse”

One of the first death metal bands that I ever got into; this album is perfection of the OSDM sound. The rough mix enhances the atmosphere of these tracks. I throw on this record pretty regularly for inspiration and just to headbang like a lunatic.

Gravesend — Methods Of Human Disposal

These guys kind of came out of nowhere a few years ago and after hearing their demo I was immediately hooked. I don’t know of any other band right now that crushes as hard as Gravesend. Getting to see them live was one of the highlights of my year in 2022.

Dark Angel — “Time Does Not Heal”

I know that this album isn’t usually the favorite for fans of Dark Angel, but I absolutely love it. Famous for containing 246 riffs, but not a single one of them sounds like filler or seems unnecessary. Also, lyrically, they really put a lot of thought and emotion into each track. When I can’t think of an album to put on and I want something fast I always end up going back to this one.

Vader — “De Profundis”

Another of my first tastes of death metal was Vader. This album comes raging right out of the gate with, “Silent Empire.” The part that starts at 2:40 goes so fucking hard. It’s impossible not to thrash around like a maniac when it hits.

Kohti Tuhoa

I also have a background in punk music and I love hardcore and d-beat, especially from the Scandinavian scenes. Kohti Tuhoa keep churning out catchy, aggressive albums that I can’t get enough of. Helena’s vocals sound so pissed off, but she also has such a great range. I highly recommend anything they’ve done.

Savage Necromancy — “Feathers Fall to Flames”

Another modern black/death band that appears heavily influenced by Archgoat. The opening track to this album sets the tone for the rest of what’s to come (sensing a trend here?). An insanely strong vocal performance and crushing production. One of my favorite albums to come out in the last few years.

Occultation — “Silence In The Ancestral House”

Fall has officially begun, and I can’t think of another album that so perfectly captures the feeling of the season. It’s a shame this band broke up after only two albums, but at least we were left with this amazing album. The track I highlighted here, “All Hallow’s Fire,” is the ultimate Halloween song to me.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Riot Fest 2023 Preview: 4 Reasons to Come Early, 1 to Stay Late

Just Mustard; Photo by Olof Grind

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Is it me, or is this the biggest Riot Fest yet? The independently run festival has managed to book bands that can fill arenas (Foo Fighters, The Cure), in-demand anniversary full album plays (Transatlanticism, Give Up, Last Splash), and previous headliners as sub-headliners (Queens of the Stone Age). As always, though, there are just as many highlights in the fine print as on the first row. Here are our top 5 picks: 4 reasons to show up before sunset, 1 to stay till the very end.

FRIDAY

Quasi; Photo by John Clark

Quasi, 1:25 PM, Roots Stage

A couple years ago, if you had asked me what band I thought would have a post-pandemic reunion, Quasi would have been at the bottom of my list. The duo of Sam Coomes and ex-Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss hadn't released a full-length since 2013, and in 2019, a car crashed into Weiss's car, which broke both of her legs and collarbone. As it turns out, during her recovery and COVID lockdown, Weiss, along with Coomes, used free time to bang out new songs in Quasi's practice space. The result is their Sub Pop debut and first album in 10 years, the awesomely titled Breaking the Balls of History, released earlier this year. The album is certainly of a time and place, riddled with references to pandemic-era isolation and the anti-science Neanderthals that have dominated discourse on the political right. But what stands out more is how revitalized these two sound to play music together, and Weiss in general. If her departure from Sleater-Kinney came after an album that minimized her role as a drummer, her meaty fills absolutely dominate "Last Long Laugh", "Queen of Ears", "Riots & Jokes", and "Nowheresville". In tandem with Coomes' fuzzed-out guitar and warped keyboards, Weiss' timekeeping creates an almost retrofuturist aesthetic, 60's pop harmonies rubbing elbows with distorted keys and drums on tracks like "Shitty Is Pretty". And The one I can't wait to hear most at the festival is "Doomscrollers", a surefire anthem for those crumbling under the weight of the world--or their phones--and even "everyone else just tryna get by / To stay alive or at least not die."

Screaming Females

Screaming Females, 4:50 PM, Rebel Stage

Desire Pathway (Don Giovanni), the first album in 5 years from the New Jersey punk greats, is a an album inspired by and about breakup and heartbreak. Thankfully, it doesn't sound down in the dumps. In fact, it's quite the contrary, the hardest rocking Screaming Females album yet, less snot-nosed punk and more mammoth metal. As much as Marissa Paternoster likens herself to "a freight train in the desert dragging chains," her theatrical vocal performances and limber axe wielding show a musician at the top of her class. The album starts unexpectedly, with feedback-heavy synths on "Brass Bell", but not before Paternoster and drummer Jarrett Dougherty enter with power riffs and snares akin to your favorite sludge band. Even a summertime sadness rave-up like "Ornament" yields the same sneering, anthemic quality as the best Screaming Females songs, Paternoster menacingly chanting, "An ornament / Your head hangs heavy on it." So as much as she offers a sense of humility on "Let Me Into Your Heart" and "Titan", don't get in her way on Friday.

Foo Fighters, 8:00 PM, Riot Stage

You know the story by now. In a short amount of time, Dave Grohl experienced two devastating losses: the passing of his mother Virginia and the tragic, sudden death of Foo Fighters' longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins. Such periods of shock often cause massive shifts in life perspective, and perhaps, as a silver lining, it caused him to rethink things musically. Songs on recent Foo Fighters albums seemingly followed the tired formula of starting out quiet and melodic and building into an instrumental avalanche and full-throated screams. But Here We Are (Roswell/RCA), on which Grohl plays all the drums, instead recalls earlier Foo Fighters albums with confident and consistent paces and even explores new territory for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. It starts immediately raw and in shock on "Rescued", Grohl describing learning about Hawkins' death in clear terms: "It came in a flash / It came out of nowhere." Elsewhere, the wah wah guitars of an umptempo jam like "Under You" recall the talk box thrills of an older tune like "Generator", and the strutting drum and guitar interplay of "Nothing At All" ascends with a clatter like the band's early Aughts records.

As But Here We Are goes on, the band opts for the unexpected. On the self-reflexive "Show Me How", Grohl and his daughter Violet duet over shoegaze electric guitars and dream pop strumming, singing about his mom's passing, realizing the same thing will one day happen for Violet. The penultimate "The Teacher" is like a ten-minute question, Grohl wondering how to deal with grief and anxious about life and death, wincing, "Who's at the door now?" over scraped guitars and strings. The song slows down and rebuilds gradually with a chugging drum beat and chiming, dreamy guitars, ending with static. That sets up "Rest", on which Grohl repeats, "You can rest now." Such a statement seems like it's as much a mantra for himself as it is a directive to Hawkins and his mother. "Life is just a game of luck," he declares, "All this time escaping us, until our time is through." After the biggest explosion of guitar distortion on a major label radio rock record since "Hurt", Grohl ends the song, "In the warm Virginia sun, there I will meet you." That it's the name of the state in which he grew up and of his mother is not a coincidence, as he's using the memory of his mom, Hawkins--heck, even Kurt Cobain--for comfort.

With new drummer Josh Freese in tow, stay late and catch Foo Fighters performing songs from their best album since The Colour and the Shape.

SATURDAY

100 Gecs

100 Gecs, 7:00 PM, Radical Stage

When 100 Gecs released "mememe", the first single from what would be their long-awaited second album 10,000 Gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic), the first thing you noticed was that Laura Les' vocals were notably less pitch-shifted. A trans woman who had experienced voice dysphoria, Les was now taking voice lessons and deciding to reveal her voice unaffected. That, and her experience with gender transition surgeries and HRT treatments, informs some lines on songs on 10,000 Gecs. "I did science on my face," she sings on "Dumbest Girl Alive". "Everybody shuts the fuck up when I'm passing / You can see me on the fuckin' news, and I'm laughing," she sings presciently on "The Most Wanted Person in the United States", as a few days later, the notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ Fox News would go on to play 100 gecs on air due to anchor Greg Gutfield's fandom. This is the world in which 100 gecs thrive, appealing to all by feeling free to be themselves, refreshingly sans irony no matter how bonkers their juxtapositions. Ribbits nestle between guitar strums and harmonies on the ska-infused "Frog On The Floor". "One Million Dollars" creates a dance jam out of TikTok TTS voice, samples from anti-weed government propaganda, and Primus-level wiry breakdowns. "Hollywood Baby" and "Billy Knows Jamie" are respective tributes to pop punk and nu metal. And Les sings about everything from snack foods to her removed tooth like long lost loves. Even if they sound anything but, 100 gecs might just be the most earnest band around.

SUNDAY

Just Mustard, 1:15 PM, Riot Stage

You don't normally associate minimalism and ambiguity with bands playing Riot Fest, those with riffs and messages that hit you over the head and hooks and feelings sky-high. I bet Irish post-punk quintet Just Mustard wins over some festivalgoers looking for respite, whether from the sun or the distant cry of pop punk. Last year, they released their second album Heart Under (Partisan), and the first on which Katie Ball took full-time lead vocals. Their deliberate tempos and masterful control of dynamics should serve as hypnotic as it is beguiling.

[anosci]

(286-301 albums etc that I’ve listened to this year, copied from twitter) (now with art. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21])

names and thoughts below cut

286/ VA - Summer Chip VI (2016) mixed bag etc etc "The Sawblade Factory" prolly obvious hilight but. yeah. "Pacific Hiccup" fun!!!! "Adlibture" godlike sound design "Voyage: Andromeda" kind of insane. a very specific thought but: sounds like trackermusic without trackerlimits.

---

287/ VA - Genome 3 (2023) mixed bag comp etc etc "Space Funk" is fascinating. feels like one of those "rubber beats". "Deepen Thought" too, but moreso. fav. "K-punk" stands out to me as well, in an entirely different way. a just barely unstable type beat.

---

288/ VA - Artist Showcase 2020/21 grab bag etc. there were two specific songs that stood out to me: "Degausser" now! thats what i call a crunchy beat! "Metlflux" i love the clean sound in here. it's not exactly "chill" but it has some surface features of chill.

--- September ---

289/ VA - Artist Showcase - 2nd Edition (2021) mixed bag etc etc some highlights: "Forward Delay" i love this digital grit "Albedo" with the atmosphere i miss from the late 00s "Estuary Animals" soft and clicky. a specific type of ambient. not stillness but "of stillness".

---

290/ VA - Artist Showcase - 3rd Edition (2022) grab bag etc. assorted thoughts: !!!!"OBBLOONG FORRM" i am extremely into this texture of perc. similarly, i adore the textures in "Cienne" and "acicular". also: "Deimatic Display" is a VERY SPECIFIC type of dirty beat that i dig.

---

291/ VA - Artist Showcase - 4th Edition (2023) perhaps the strongest of the 4 showcases, or at least my favorite :) some favs: "Pulsar" love the weird tone stuff here "Exspitatrum" got this squelchy vibes in a metal can. (this is cool) "Grasshopper" mangled chemical breaks? neat!

---

292/ The Fellow Passenger - Book Of Needlecraft (2023) too many little hilites… the bass like a rinse in "Interlacing". .. "Honeycomb Stitch" 's intimate prickly sound. "Tapes On Pillowcases"… basically, just listen with headphones. its filled with top headphone tunes.

---

293/ qaax - q0 (2022) ok last grab from my latest "ae-esque" quest, for now. to yell abt half the tracklist: "J cycel" god yes give me htat slow tempo weird beat. so good "vmFlec" i adore this otherworldly atmosphere + lasery synths also, all of these r amazing at high volume.

---

294/ Mr. Bill - CSS 24​-​27 (2016) a surprisingly low key jam vibe. very clean. "Metrosexual" is the obvious hilight here imo.

---

295/ Whylie - Sky Echo (2023) kinda like. the chillout you might call "liquid". but that closing track, "And Everything Else", is otherwordly with that massive bass and perc type thing interwoven throughout the track. it's overall too tense to be "chill" i think? highlight tbh.

---

296/ Rena Jones & KiloWatts - Force Multiplier (2023) this is a very specific flavor of soft-beat-driven chillout that i breathed in 2006. check out the piz (plucks?) in "Affinity", comfortably nesting on top of a soft soundscape. the beat that comes in is gentle, but important.

---

297/ Andy Stott - Too Many Voices (2016) the sound design here is crisp. ace. i adore it all. "New Romantic" and "Selfish" pack some choice dist. then there's some amazing texture soundscapes in "Waiting For You" and…actually just all of the songs. & what an enrapturing intro!

---

298/ Ametsub - Sky Droppin' (2016) some perfect nighttime headphone music: super wide with long tails.

---

299/ easyFun - ELECTRIC EP (2023) god that's some Sound Design. "HARDPAIN" true to name. god damn. i saw some love for "Be Your USA" which is really good but i think the "chipper" track that stands out to me is "Audio"

---

300/ Francium - Melancholie (2023) microtones for a comfortably curved feeling. "Elise Ain't Right" is a funny track. doesn't fit at all but its fun lol. "Chill Bells" probably hits the best for me. followed by the title track.

---

301/ POBBLES - Another Pobbles Christmas (2023) huh ig i have to expand my list of 1 christmas song that i like now. i really really like the objectless language structure in "We Wish You". absolutely fascinating percussive textures in "Plasticshop" and "Scenes of Winter's End"

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next page...

[greensparty]

Talking with Exene Cervenka

The legendary L.A. punk band X is kind of having a moment this Summer. When Elon Musk decided to re-brand Twitter as X last month, the band X had the perfect response! It was kind of like free advertising for the band’s current U.S. tour, which includes a stop in Boston at the Wilbur Theater on Sat. Sept. 2. I have always enjoyed this band and their immense contribution to punk music, but in some ways they are more than just a punk band, as they encompass a lot of other sounds too. Their 1980 debut Los Angeles is a classic and their 2020 album Alphabetland has some bangers on it! Earlier this Summer I caught up with lead singer Exene Cervenka via phone.

Exene Cervenka

Me: Let’s talk about X’s Summer tour. You’re playing all over the U.S. Is the band feeling energized since getting back on the road in 2021?

EC: It was really amazing. I don’t know about you, but just getting out in the world again was just so incredible. We’re just so grateful to be able to play again and to survive. So yeah, we’ve been playing as many shows again as usual. We’ve had really lucky with our careers and I’m grateful we can still do it.

Me: I really enjoyed the band’s 2020 album Alphabetland, which was the band’s first new album in 27 years. Could there be a new album soon?

EC: Yeah, we are working on a new record. I don’t know if the rest of the band would agree with me, but I feel like if COVID hadn’t happened and our album had come out when it was supposed to and we had done the tour we had planned with it, and blah blah blah, would we have been satisfied and toured so much that we wouldn’t feel like we need to make a new record? Probably. So because we couldn’t realize that project, we have to do it again. So here we are making another record. I see it as a blessing. We’ve been doing some of the new songs live (4 or 5), which is good because you can’t just record a new song, you have to play it live for it to be realized and take on its own life. It’s crazy because now we have so many songs, the question is what are we going to cut from our live shows? You can’t cut “Los Angeles” and you can’t cut “White Girl”, but we have to play 18 songs! Anyways, it’s a great problem to have. So we’ll probably go into the studio when we’re done with the tour.

early X press photo circa 1980

Me: I am a huge fan of the band’s 1980 debut album Los Angeles. I have it on vinyl and it still holds up today. What is the secret of the band over 45 years old now and the music is still speaking to new generations today?

EC: I don’t think it’s a secret, I mean everybody knows! We just stuck together and stayed alive. I’m fortunate that I’m in a position to be in a group with the best musicians ever and that we get along is amazing. It’s just a blessing, I don’t know - it’s luck! And that’s another thing that people still like us. We could still be together and if no one likes us or wants to see us, then we wouldn’t be together.

Me: Beyond the band X, you are a true artist: creating music, art, poetry, books and film throughout your career. Is there any medium you haven’t done yet that you’d like to explore?

EC: Gee, that’s a really good question. I’m really into making quilts right now and I’m doing one by hand which is really hard work. It’s a really hard time, but it’s very rewarding. So that’s something I’ve decided to do. I’m into a lot of fabric and clothing design type stuff now. I’m interested in fashion and architecture as an art form, not just as in “I wanna wear this Chanel bag” - no, what I mean is the history of fashion and the way people look. I’ve always been that way, but it’s always been my own style. But now I’m seeing that there’s all these amazing people in the world, whose art is fashion or architecture. I don’t know if it’s for me, but I do like watching other people do it. 

Me: Two of your songs (from both X and The Knitters) appeared on the soundtrack to one of my all time favorite movies Something Wild, a film I talk about frequently. Did you meet with director Jonathan Demme at all?

EC: We did meet with him a long time ago. Neat guy, really nice. Yeah, we’ve met some really crazy nice intelligent people in our career too. It’s been a real blessing.

Exene in The Decline of Western Civilization

Me: You have actually appeared in numerous documentaries that I’ve actually gotten to cover on this site including L7: Pretend We’re Dead, The Doors: Break on Thru - a Celebration of Ray Manzarek, and What Drives Us just to name a few. But the documentary that you appeared in that is one of the all-time greats was Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization. X were among the highlights in what is now a time capsule of L.A. punk in the early 80s along with The Germs, Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Fear. Did you get the sense at the time you were being filmed for that documentary that you were a part of something so revolutionary?

EC: I knew I was a part of something revolutionary the first time I saw my first band The Screamers play before I was even in it. But I do need to say this, not out of disrespect for Penelope, but I do think the documentary was her subjective version of that scene and it did cause much problems. That scene was full of a lot of creative intelligent people, as you saw in the film, all these different kinds of people and it really did show that. It did show that there was some violence and some vitality, but [pauses] we were kind of thrown in with the Black Flag mentality and it kind of haunted us throughout our career. Some people wouldn’t book us or thought we couldn’t play. But when we started opening for other bands like Pearl Jam,  Blondie, Violent Femmes - people would come up to us and say “Oh my God, you guys were so great. I never listened to you before, I heard you were a punk band so I didn’t bother. But I didn’t know you guys were so good.” And that’s from that movie. But that also showed us in that film, they were in our bungalow for twelve hours until 7 o’clock in the morning and put down cases of beer and bottles of whiskey. There was all kinds of stuff going on, we played a show. We couldn’t go to bed, we had to stay up all night because they kept putting a camera in our face. I regret that because I was 22 or something and I didn’t know what I was doing.

But having said all that, I do respect the film that Penelope made. It is her film, not my film. And if I wanted to appear differently, I should have. It has changed peoples lives and it was one of the only films to show that scene. If she hadn’t done that then nobody would even know what it was like at all. So, I just think it was a narrow representation of what was going on.

Me: In 2021, Dave Grohl and his daughter Violet covered X’s “Nausea” (I included it in my Best Songs of 2021) after it was discovered that they were actually related to X drummer D.J. Bonebrake. Then, later that year Violet joined you onstage to perform that song. Could there be another collaboration between X and the Grohls?

EC: You know, why not? I think Billy [Zoom]’s daughter and Violet are about the same age. So why don’t they do something? I thought Violet did a great job. I love her personality and I think it took nerve to get up and do that, because it’s hard to get up with a band and sing their song and she did a great job. Dave’s a great guy, very giving. When you think that he and D.J. are both related, you go “of course they’re related”! They both have that kind of Buddha quality that drummers have and that musicians have who are kind of centered. That was kind of nice that you brought up that moment, I had kind of forgotten about that, but it was a nice moment. She’s welcome to sing with us any time!

Violet Grohl singing with X in 2021

Me: Do you have a favorite album that you yourself have done?

EC: Well I have two. One is Life Could Be Dream I did with my band Auntie Christ. D.J. [Bonebrake] played drums, Matt Freeman played bass and I played guitar, wrote the songs and the lyrics. I really like that record because all the songs are about viruses, UFOs and aliens and shit. And my second favorite is Alphabetland. I love that record and it’s the most realized record and it marks a place and time and I can’t believe we got it done under the deadline of COVID and get it released. I love the art on it. But the new one we’re working on is going to be great!

For info on X: http://www.xtheband.com/