Another week has gone by and what do you have to show for it? Though you may be older, you certainly aren’t wiser. We may be able to help with that. Studies suggest that listening to music can improve intelligence as it activates both sides of the brain. Unfortunately for you, it doesn’t work quite as well when you exclusively listen to the same four albums from ten years ago over and over again.
It goes without saying, but you’ll need to change course immediately with your listening habits if you want to have any hope of stimulating your mental growth. Here’s a handful of new songs that should get the blood flowing and make you good at holding conversations again.
Move “1,000,000 Experiments”
In a broken nation sadly filled with bullshit and racist ‘Try That In A Small Town’ rhetoric, Boston’s Move are channeling collective fury through immensely satisfying and politically bent hardcore. Calling back to the genre’s explosive and revolutionary political roots, they are making an awful (read, fucking amazing) racket with their debut LP, ‘Black Radical Love.’ Making up for a pandemic-driven delay in releases, each song carries an immense sense of urgency, picking you up just to kick your shit in over and over again. There isn’t a single miss on the record, but last month’s lead single ‘1,000,000 Experiments’ pairs quite well with a folding chair, if you ask us.
Courtney Barnett “Different Now (Chastity Belt Cover)”
Chastity Belt is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their incredible debut album, ‘No Regerts,’ this year. To mark the occasion, Courtney Barnett has covered a song that isn’t on the record at all, but is still a solid track. Borrowing the drum machine-laden production of her previous full-length, ‘Things Take Time, Take Time,’ Barnett’s version of the band’s beloved single adds new sparkle without sacrificing the meditative drone of the original. Barnett will be releasing the single as a split 7″ with collaborator and songwriter Kurt Vile at the end of October seemingly delaying your band’s vinyl release even further.
Slaughter Beach, Dog “Summer Windows”
Modern Baseball‘s Jake Ewald is preparing to release his fifth LP as Slaughter Beach, Dog late next month. ‘Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling’ is promising to be another tour-de-force for the acclaimed Philly songwriter. Much like the album’s previous two singles, ‘Summer Windows’ cranks the Americana vibes up while condensing Ewald’s standard novella-length lyrical refrains down to their most essential elements. If only we could get those in our comments section to take on similar editing abilities.
Dan Andriano and the Bygones “Dry”
You may remember Dan Andriano as the guy who wrote all the Alkaline Trio songs that destroyed you mentally during your brooding emo days. What you might not know is that Andriano has a pretty prolific solo career as well. Backed by his band the Bygones, the Chicago bassist and songwriter has just released his new single ‘Dry.’ It’s a horrifyingly relatable waltz about the pain of growing old. From joint and bone woes to the loss of longtime friendships, the song has it all covered. Before you get too sad to put it on though, please be advised that the guitar solos fucking rip.
TWRP “VHS’ feat. Electric Six
Ever wonder what Styx or Journey would sound like if the singers from Electric Six and TWRP hijacked both bands and forced them to write a good song for a change? That, in essence, is the core of TWRP’s insanely fun new single, ‘VHS,’ which as mentioned, features Electric Six. Every part of the song should be corny as hell, but they go too hard for anyone to actually care or notice. This is a great track to put over a montage video of your buffest friend working out. We guess it could work for your progress video too, but everybody knows you’re too lazy to go to the gym.
Sincere Engineer “Anemia”
Chicago’s Sincere Engineer is at it again, gracing us with yet another scream-along single from their forthcoming album ‘Cheap Grills.’ Steeped in the Midwestern Emo tradition, ‘Anemia’ is fuzzy, catchy, brooding, jangly, anthemic, and most importantly, fun as fuck. Deanna Belos’ voice soars atop a wall of power-chord guitars to deliver the most joyous reading of a line like ‘I’m a walking open wound’ we’ve heard to date. You’ll know when the album drops, because it’s likely that everyone will be screaming every song out of their car windows.
The Armed “Liar 2”
The anonymous experimental hardcore collective (or cult as some call them), the Armed are currently building up to the release of their new album ‘Perfect Saviors’ later this month. That is, of course, assuming this isn’t another patented misdirect from one of the genre’s most mysterious groups. Their latest single ‘Liar 2,’ does well to keep the mystique alive. Weaving in and out of pop, industrial, noise, and hardcore, the track offers curious listeners a major case of musical whiplash. Much like eyes on a horrifying car crash, our ears can’t seem to be pulled away. We understand this may be considered hypnotism and possibly how the band recruits its members, so listener beware.
Turnstile/BADBADNOTGOOD “Alien Love Call” ft. Blood Orange
If you’ve been paying attention at all these past couple of years, you’ve likely heard about Turnstile. While fans have been clamoring for new music from the outfit, we’d wager to guess that no one would have expected them to surprise drop an EP with BADBADNOTGOOD. The joint release, ‘New Heart Designs,’ drastically rearranges three tracks from the band’s outstanding full-length ‘Glow On.’ More than mere remixes, these tracks seem to rebuild the original arrangements from the ground up. Perhaps the most fitting arrangement comes to us in the form of ‘Alien Love Call’ which, like its namesake, sounds truly out of this world here, especially with a bonus Blood Orange verse thrown in for good measure
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Guess what, now that you’ve read the article you can listen to the songs over and over again by listening to the playlist which will be updated each week.
Coming in at last place is a very good album, “Give a Glimpse Of What Yer Not.” Do you think a titanic musical institution like Dinosaur Jr. cares about which one of their albums comes in last? Gimme a break. There’s a reason these guys didn’t get into competitive sports. Pretty sure Lou Barlow has never thrown a football. Murph might hunt. Sure, J’s been seen skiing and golfing in the music videos, but there’s no way he’d ever have a “coach.”
A touch more pared down than their previous album, “Sweep It Into Space” captures a living room recording quality akin to a “Poledo” or some Mascis solo stuff. It’s elegant, simple, and shockingly quiet for a Dinosaur Jr. album. Feels great, to be honest. Imagine you’re on Facebook Marketplace and stumble upon J Mascis selling his effects pedals after this record drops. That might not actually feel so great, to be honest.
You gotta smile when listening to this one. While not the ultimate exploration of a more chipper Dinosaur Jr. (see “Take A Run At The Sun,” or as we lovingly call it, The J Mascis Beach Party), it feels pretty damn close to having a locally sourced grapefruit quadruple IPA on an outdoor patio. The jams don’t quite set their roots in like they did on their previous post-reunion effort (which we won’t name just yet for dramatic purposes) but “I Bet On Sky” is an undeniable hit.
“Green Mind” is cool. What’s not cool about Dinosaur Jr.? Their music sounds like a bunch of amplifiers having a gunfight. And on “Green Mind,” sometimes there aren’t even amplifiers at all, just loudly strummed acoustic guitars that also sound like they might have a pistol on their hip, ready to shoot somebody in the head. That’s right, even the acoustic stuff can kill you if you aren’t careful. Don’t you forget that.
There’s something immeasurably sad about “Without a Sound,” which is no doubt what makes it great. While other Dinosaur Jr. records like to be unfussy about the volume of noise, this one doesn’t fuss about getting real quiet, falling to basically whispers toward the end on “Seemed Like the Thing to Do.” J Mascis isn’t the type to fuss, man. The guy barely raises his voice above a mutter, there’s no way in hell that he’d even consider fussing.
Don’t sleep on the first album, it rips. Obviously the production isn’t the highest caliber, a pretty crusty affair overall – but c’mon man! This is where it all started, the primordial soup, dog! “Mountain Man” is like, a character study about a survivalist? “Heard the snowcats calling?” Basically high fantasy. And in “Quest,” he talks about eating caterpillars. This might as well be Baldur’s Gate.
Uh, yeah…I’m thinking they’re back! While perhaps not reaching the highs of another post-reunion record that you’ll see shortly, this is a hell of a comeback album. Reunited in earnest for the first time since 1988, “Beyond” molds the ashes of the original trio into something new, joyous, sustainable. There’s an airy quality to the jams that feels new for these guys, and you can’t help but think that they might be pretty damn happy to be at it again.
Genuinely experimental and a product of the (essentially) one-man Mascis Orchestra, “Hand It Over” is certainly out there. And we’re not talking about “Out There.” That’s a different song and it’s not on this record. Don’t expect anything else about “Out There” on this blurb, okay? Strange percussion, trilling horns (see “I’m Insane”), the echoes of a Brian Wilson movement are strong here. No radio hits? Who cares! It’s J’s favorite of this era, and we love it too.
Okay, now we can talk about “Out There.” They put strings on this record! Yeah, that’s right, strings. Imagine, for a second, J Mascis conducting the LA Philharmonic. Big long suit tails, hair tied back into a ponytail like a teen stoner showing up to their court date. That’s basically the vibe on this one, when we’re not being treated to some truly gruesome reverb (‘you know what’ might be the best opening track of any Dinosaur Jr. record) and the most delicate Mascis vocal to date on “Not the Same.”
A cacophonous, openly hostile listening experience, the impending crack of the band’s sanity is written all over this banger, which is likely what makes it so damn tasty. Worth noting that “Freak Scene” was their first real radio hit, as “Bug” kicks off with this earworm-y single before devolving to complete and utter sonic chaos. Mascis hates it, his least favorite album of the bunch, but we’re not J Mascis, now are we? No, we are not.
“Farm” is a minor miracle, there’s no getting around it. The soloing on “Pieces” and “I Don’t Wanna Go There” goes as hard as any of the first three records, while the sincerity on a track like “Plans” feels more poignant than anything we’ve heard from the boys before. The expected wall of sound starts to feel more like a fortress – with like, a big deep moat around and everything. And not even any crocodiles or archers, either. They know this shit’s gonna hold up.
Sorry, not gonna reinvent the wheel on this one. Alternative rock scholars and weird guys in garages across America agree that “You’re Living All Over Me” is a perfect album, deep shreds bolstered by the sparse musings of alternative rock’s great poet laureate. The clarity in their sound a mere two years after “Dinosaur” is pretty unreal. It’s a showstopper. And can you believe this baby clocks in at 36 minutes? If you take out Poledo, that’s like, an episode of Curb. But don’t you dare take out Poledo.
Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Melinda Stumkins was a devoted wife, a loving mother to three children, and a loyal and honest friend to all who knew her. Then, four days ago, she learned what grindcore is.
Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, Roy Croce briefly relocated to the town of Fiddlewit before being forced to evacuate when it was violently taken over by nonunionized carnies. At an early age he taught himself to play an instrument of his own invention: a bucket full of nails.
Kandace Sprockets was born in Salem, Massachusetts, to parents Exavior and Mysticlina-Hyperboob Sprockets. After dropping out of correspondence college, she worked briefly as a skeleton poser at Spirit Halloween.
So, actually Dad liked this one because he said he knew this song from when he used to hang out at the F.O.P. lodge and that it reminded him of the music from the old country. He also said you couldn’t do that one song anymore because of cancel culture and how come I don’t call anymore?
Regarding this one, Dad didn’t really say much other than that guy’s mother must have done a number on him. Then he reminded me I need to call my mother more, which is a whole thing.
We don’t think Dad had any issue with the music, per se. He just didn’t understand why nobody takes any pride in their appearance anymore and that when he was that age you didn’t go on Carson looking like that. And would it kill them to get a goddamn haircut?
Dad was mostly just amazed that “that Bjork wackjob” had been around since the ‘80s and was in a punk band. He followed that up with something about something in the water and socialism.
I think Dad retroactively tried to claim he liked the Clash because he associates the song “Rock the Casbah” with Desert Storm back when America was still kicking ass. Mom said just take everything he said with a grain of salt because being on disability for so long was getting to him.
Pamela Anderson hosted this one so I think Dad was mostly just pissed off that she wasn’t on the TV at the exact moment. Mom wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Henry Rollins to be performing barefoot as that stage didn’t look very clean.
Gerald Ford’s Chief of Staff hosted this one and Dad said it’s no wonder that peanut farmer won in ‘76 if that “liberal” Ford approved of this sort of bullshit. He said he was thankful Reagan came along four years later, but by then the damage was probably already done.
My old man said these guys reminded him of those goddamn slackers with their skateboards that are always hanging around the 7-11, up to no good. Used to be a time when kids their age spent their summers mowing lawns and flipping burgers instead of going on TV with their cocks out like a bunch of goddamn hippies. (