Hot enough for you? If you answered ‘no,’ that’s probably good because devastating heat waves aren’t going to get better anytime soon. Climate catastrophes aside, you’re still probably looking for new music to distract you from the increasingly terrifying state of the planet, and we’ve got the goods. Here are six songs to play immediately if your electricity and internet are still somehow working.
Been Stellar “Start Again”
New York City transplants, Been Stellar, have been slowly building a healthy and impressive buzz since their formation nearly a decade ago. Now, they have finally released their debut LP ‘Scream From New York, NY.’ It absolutely rips and plays out like a love letter to the entire history of East Coast post-punk while ushering in a new wave of its own. Cancel all your plans before putting this one on. Album opener ‘Start Again’ will immediately draw you in, and even with your horrible attention span, you’ll have a hard time not listening all the way through to the end of the record.
Laura Jane Grace and The Mississippi Medicals ‘All Fucked Out’
Mere months after releasing her excellent album ‘Hole In My Head,’ is back with a new single featuring – by our count – her 8,000th band The Mississippi Medicals (Mike Patton, Mikey Erg, and Paris Campbell Grace). ‘All Fucked Out’ plays out like a countrified circus tune, making the underlying themes of extreme apathy sound like something to celebrate rather than lament. Reportedly, the single is part of an unannounced EP, proving Grace isn’t as ‘Fucked Out’ as she would lead you to believe.
Ghost ‘The Future Is A Foreign Land’
We’ve made a lot of jokes at the expense of Ghost over the years. Our therapist thinks it might have something to do with our general fear of joy, fun and dancing. We still haven’t met our deductible and the co-pay is expensive as hell, so it will be a while before we figure out if that’s true. Their new single ‘The Future Is A Foreign Land’ with its ‘60s spy movie vibes and catchy as hell riffs definitely lends credence to Dr. Morrow’s theory, though. We’ll get back to you after we ‘ironically’ listen to it a few dozen more times.
Crack Cloud “The Medium”
While we’re on the topic of mental health, Canada’s multimedia collective Crack Cloud just announced their third album ‘Red Mile,’ which is due out next month. For those who don’t know, Crack Cloud was formed as a sort of pseudo-rehab, with members meeting via addiction recovery communities. The spirit of healing permeates their often explosive discography. Their latest single ‘The Medium’ is no exception, combining elements of ‘70s punk, modern synth rock, and immediate lyricism to form an absolutely triumphant sound.
King Krule ‘Time For Slurp’
Last year, UK songwriter and producer Archy Marshall released his fourth album ‘Space Heavy’ under his moniker King Krule. He also released a handful of tracks that, until now, were exclusively sold on flexi-discs for attendees of that album’s tour. Though it was initially stated that the aforementioned songs were never to be released, they have now been condensed into a single EP entitled ‘SHHHHHHH!.’ There’s not a dud in the bunch and we’ve never been happier to call someone a total fucking liar in our lives.
Foreign Hands ‘Shapeless In the Dark’
You may have been wondering why you had to cut your 34-year-old friend out of a youth medium tee earlier this week. It might have something to do with the fact that Foreign Hands dropped their debut album ‘What’s Left Unsaid.’ Fans of 2000s era metalcore have a lot to celebrate this release. The drums are tight as hell, the guitars do that ‘chugga chugga’ thing, the vocals are clear but edgy, and the bass is… definitely doing something metalcore-ish we think. Lest you think of the band as a tribute to a bygone era, album highlight ‘Shapeless In the Dark’ proves the outfit is also pushing the genre forward into the modern era.
Now that we’ve told you some new things to listen to, you should be ready to face the world with a fresh new attitude and a sense of hope you haven’t felt in years. To double down and make sure the message sticks, however, we’ve compiled all these tracks and more into an ever-growing playlist. Click here to like, listen, and practice even more avoidance.
We’ve said it before, but self-titled LP threes are often a boardroom calculated move when a band wants to return to form, and while this thrice of an effort without deadbolts is better than most pop punk records 2011 and beyond, but the unfortunate reality of rankings is something has to be in last place. We love ALL The Story So Far albums, but for some reason, this one had far less personality than its two predecessors, and certainly less than its perfect follow-up. “Still,” the world was clamoring for more TSSF records, and showcased such by buying/streaming the LP to a strong twenty-three on the Billboard 200 in its opening week. Also, how stoned was the band when they threw out the concept for this album cover?
While this debut full-length is endearing, catchy, and a hell of a solid start for any band, it just isn’t as good as you remember that it is, and to directly quote uber-non-controversial Vince McMahon’s theme song, “There is no chance, NO CHANCE IN HELL that ‘Under Soil and Dirt’ is the best TSSF LP in their esteemed catalog. Honestly it isn’t even a medalist here but it IS likely your gateway drug to this fantastic band unless. And again, we really aren’t sure what is going on with the album cover here. Is this like their thing?
There are no “skip it” tracks moving forward. The Story So Far’s sophomore full-length LP was far from a slump, and like most solid second albums, it is a version of their debut on steroids that doesn’t give you bacne, make your balls small, and give you a giant face. Production value amplified? Check. Catchier songs with better musicianship? Check. Heavier? Check. The band’s collective net worth before even forming? Checks, IRAs, 401Ks, AND trust funds. Anywho, at just under thirty minutes, “What You Don’t See” is the band’s shortest LP, and that says a lot, as ALL of their LPs are pretty concise as well. Want to sweat remotely? Watch the band’s video for one of their biggest songs “Empty Space” and, uh, feel full; yeah. So, enjoy this bronze medalist musical recording and face value but without the “s” like The Suicide Machines’ song.
The band may love that this most recent effort is ranked in the sterling silver medal position here, but you miscreants will still @ us and bitch in the comments/mentions because the music you listened to in 7th grade is always better than the music 7th graders get to listen to now. Whatever, man, we want YOU to disappear anyway. Speaking of the word “whatever,” whatever a valiant return to form is defined as in Merriam-Webster dictionaries. This effort also is the band’s longest gap between full-lengths AND their first without former bassist Kelen Capener, who has both a funny Twitter, and left the band two years ago. Produced by Jon Markson, who also sat behind the boards for Koyo and Parker Cannon’s side project No Pressure, this one truly shows that Markson made his mark, son. (
The gold medal winning full-length studio album “Proper Dose” was and always will be a series of four “uns”: Unexpected, unconventional, unrivaled, and unreal. Some bands “mature,” or at least attempt to do so, and their songs end up sounding like its antonym “immature,” or just “crappy,” but TSSF’s fourth album is far from a farce in musical form, and that’s NOT all we have to say about that. Please find us another Warped Tour band that combined the best parts of the mid-90s with some 00s flair, and a modern Ric Flair for the gold. We mean, you always find the words to say to keep us right here waiting, and take us as you please. We predict that the band will keep this up on album six, and will provide their listeners with a proper dose of quality.