The time to catch up on the unabridged Post-Trash “Year In Review” has come, with releases big and small - albums that went under the radar, the hidden gems, and the essential records from the past twelve months, even a few “buzz” bands and beyond. This is our comprehensive guide to our favorite releases of the year without a pre-determined length.
Red Death’s third album is a high watermark for the band, and crossover thrash generally in 2019. They’re a band that continues to flirt with iconoclasm as they define their own identity amongst a growing number of phenomenally talented punk bands, who arm the angry approach of hardcore with the ferocious sonic implements of our metal forefathers.
With two EPs bookending 2019, Alien Nosejob is set to release a new full length in 2020 and thankfully the wait is nearly over as Suddenly Everything Is Louder is due January 17th via Anti Fade / Drunken Sailor Records. If each unique and increasingly realized release has been leading up this, we’ve arrived at essential Alien Nosejob.
The Asheville, NC band are making introspective rock songs rooted in dissonance, caterwauling guitars, and ragged pedal steel. Their three guitar approach is big and blistering, but their music retains a gentle quality, one in touch with Karly Hartzman’s (guitar/vocals) thoughts and surroundings. It’s dreary pop music that isn’t afraid to get messy
A swirling pot of crooked hooks, haunting textures, and looming melodies make up Deliluh’s latest, Beneath the Floors. “Conceived under the gun” of an expiring visa and recorded in an old veteran’s hall, the album demonstrates their accomplishment in creating ten sinuous songs, working with what they had in the time they were given.
After a string of exceptional shows ranging from support for A Giant Dog to the Emerging Music Festival in Bryant Park, the collective co-headlined National Sawdust, a carefully curated and ultra-artistic space that looks as dazzling as Ghost Funk Orchestra sound. The band made the most of the occasion, playing their first show as a fourteen piece band, complete with an extended string section for the evening.
The “Intro” to Banana’s Post-Grunge Revival is the wall of noise you walk through as you enter this EP. In a movie, it would be the opening flyover shot, setting the scene for the heaviness that is to come. With it is a piercing melody that gives depth to the heaviness and breaks through it, much like Ursin’s lyrics in the ensuing songs.
Quiet Moves makes their introduction plenty clear on their debut EP We’ll Understand When We’re Older. It’s emo revival that's aged a little bit. The pop comes through clearly throughout the entire EP. Certain guitar lines or vocal inflections will crawl their way into your subconscious. Take a listen and decide for yourself.
Omni’s Sub Pop debut represents the group’s best work to date as the band flexes their compositional prowess and demonstrates their growth as songwriters. The post-punk edge of their earlier work is still found on Networker, but their songs have a newfound sense of direction and convey a distinct feeling of progress.
During the band’s European tour, they stopped in at The Netherlands’ Katzwijm Studio for a quick Polygänger Session, opting to share one of the record’s most elastic pop-songs, “Green Eyes.” The live version is flat out pristine, with Cohen and co. bringing a desert breeze of psych into the room’s wooden frame, locked in and mellowed out.
Inspired by and echoing the theories of 20th-century Marxist playwright Bertolt Brecht, the themes on Peel Dream Magazine’s latest EP, Up & Up, play out like “a little Brechtian play,” according to the band’s founder, Joe Stevens. In their press materials, Stevens continued,“ ‘Up & Up’ is literally about feeling manipulated by the theatre of crap art.”
February 14th will see the release of New Arrows, their sophomore album and first with Dirtnap Records. Produced by Marked Men/Radioactivity’s Jeff Burke, their first full band effort should have the punk underground swooning long past Valentine’s Day. The record is near flawless and easily repeatable.
Notches has become one of the most consistent bands in pop-punk DIY at large. They create indelible pop songs that gnaw at you in the best ways possible. Their latest, New Kind of Love is no different. The band’s own Ezra Cohen and Zac Mayeux, the two respective songwriters, spoke about songs that influenced the record and their songwriting as a whole.
Just like a good horror or sci-fi movie, outside-the-box albums can make us see the world in new ways. While The Gerbils clearly took influence from The Beatles, Beach Boys, and 60s psychedelia, Are You Sleepy is a ramshackle pop record that defies genre boundaries in favor of catchy, weird songwriting.
Knocked Loose has ripped punk rock a new one, and now the rest of us can feast on the bounty of brutality they have wrought upon the scene. The first minute of A Different Shade of Blue sets the tone for the entire album with squalling feedback and a thunderous death metal groove at full gate, picking up intensity by dipping into a thorny breakdown only to emerge into a stumbling crawl through a razor lined corridor of regret.
DIM Comp Vol. 1 is a collection of both the DIM Things label and New York’s DIY up-and-comers (Pom Pom Squad, Should’ve, Top Nachos), with all proceeds donated to RAICES. Due out 12/13, we’ve got the premiere of one of the compilation’s highlights, a new track from the legendary Lost Boy ?, a Brooklyn DIY essential band if there ever was one.
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