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.
It begins off-kilter, somewhat unsettled and stays for a moment but lays in quick: anthemic guitar work, yowling sax, and the chords changing on the last eighth of the bar (that classic anticipation and lift). And, my god, the vocals… Who is singing and who teaches one to sing like that? Such strength and wildness,
The solo debut album from Wilder Maker frontperson Gabriel Birnbaum works in a familiar solemn folky vein with some occasional flourishes to brighten up the atmosphere. Not Alone forsakes the instrumental strength and orchestration of his band for a back to basics approach showing the strength and skill of Birnbaum as a songwriter.
This past August, Ukraine’s Bichkraft released their new single Desire b/w Rod, the duo’s first set of songs to feature lyrics written in English. Following three experimental albums for Wharf Cat, they continue to shift their sound in new directions, “Desire” hinting an a new found pop-eccentricity with dance punk friendly tendencies.
While David Settle’s (Big Heet, Ex-Breathers, Psychedelic Flowers) music has always veered closer to blown-out post-hardcore and noisy punk, his vast range of influences has positioned his latest project with a decidedly jangle-pop aura, one driven by the days of Flying Nun Records, Cleaners From Venus, and early Yo La Tengo.
Is Path Warm? is both an easy and interesting listen, an album of catchy earworms and Elliott Smith-esque intricacies. Acoustic ballads seamlessly wedge themselves between punky bangers with a softer edge. Regardless of the tonal feel of a track, the lyrical depth of each song provides food for thought beyond the intrigue of the music itself.
Brooklyn’s Realworld are here to have a good time and they’d prefer if we’d all have a good time together with them. Formed last year by Kegan Zema and Mike Greene (both former members of Journalism), they come to us with one previous single (“Perfect Vision”) and a goal to create joy with upbeat, positive, 90s-inspired pop-rock.
An imperfectly perfect pop record (or perhaps it’s a perfectly imperfect one?), Somebody Else’s Song subverts your expectations by changing itself from song-to-song, while maintaining its own distinct cohesive identity. It’s this willingness to throw a curveball that makes the record wonderfully cohesive.
Railings are Queens’ best secret. The reliably unbounded New York outfit have been keeping a relatively low profile since their first release in 2012, producing a singular sort of genre-mashing music currently populating backwater Bandcamp tags like “fatalistic flangers” and “ambitious cargo containers.”
San Antonio’s Pinko have been immersed in the Lone Star State’s noise rock scene since their 2015 formation, releasing splits with Exhalants, Bummer, and New Primals along the way. After a string of increasingly tight recordings, the trio are finally set to release their full length debut, You and You on December 13th via Hex Records.
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