Weekly Roundup: January 18th
Featuring Citizen, The Spill Canvas, Teenage Wrist, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
Citizen – “I Want To Kill You”
Neo-grunge rockers Citizen have dropped their newest single “I Want to Kill You” from their upcoming fourth LP, Life In Your Glass World (out March 26 via Run For Cover Records). It sure is a poppy bop, but still brooding and dark enough to pass for a Citizen track. Here’s to hoping the new record has more surprises in store. Check out the video for the single below:
Soul Glo – Songs To Yeet At The Sun
This one slipped under my radar last year, but god damn, Philly crew Soul Glo might just have the most pissed-off release of 2020. Furious and entirely righteous hardcore punk shot through with power-violence, hip-hop, and soul in equal measure. Songs To Yeet At The Sun (take that Have Heart) is a total blast and I have my fingers crossed for a full-length announcement this year. Suss out the EP here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Enforced – “Malignance”
Richmond thrashers Enforced have dropped another single from their upcoming Century Media debut, Kill Grid (out March 12). It’s another tasty slice of crossover mayhem, with razor-sharp riffage, gruff vocals, and the devastating thrash intensity established by 2019’s At The Walls. Check out the track here.
Molchat Doma – Monument
Sometimes, the Bandcamp rabbit-hole is a deep one, and you never really make it out. Other times, you stumble upon a weird Belarusian new wave band, totally by accident, who also happen to have this really dope retro-futuristic, Eastern Soviet Bloc aesthetic thing going on, and it’s suddenly everything you never knew you needed. Also, apparently, Molchat Doma are TikTok famous, too? (Honestly, I don’t know. I trust music journalism to shape my worldview, okay?) Order and stream the album here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
The Spill Canvas – “Firestorm”
Disclaimer: No, not that “Firestorm.” Returning from the grave after nine years, South Dakotans The Spill Canvas are back with a triplet of new shit. Their new label, Pure Noise Records, is gearing up to drop their sixth LP, Conduit, on March 5. To celebrate, the band’s newest single, “Firestorm,” is out and it’s a super-catchy alt-rock banger in the vein of Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday. Listen to “Firestorm” here.
Somerset Thrower – Paint My Memory
I’ve seen people raving about this record for months and I only got around to it this week. Long Island’s Somerset Thrower play a form of full-blown, late 90s anachronism that perfectly fits that Jawbreaker-Texas Is The Reason-Sunny Day Real Estate-Jets To Brazil super playlist you’ve been crunching the algorithms on. Absolutely top-notch melodic punk rock meets post-hardcore, done right. The ghosts of Silent Majority and Crime In Stereo live on. Stream Paint My Memory here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Teenage Wrist – “Yellowbelly”
Listening to the fourth single from the new Teenage Wrist album, Earth Is A Black Hole (out February 12 through Epitaph Records), the only thing that goes through my head is this: ‘Man, this new Motor Ace track is mad.’ And look, my stream of consciousness isn’t half wrong on this one. It is mad. And so were Motor Ace. Watch the video for “Yellowbelly” below and make up your own damn mind:
Keaper – I'll Find
This was a random find from a friend of a friend on social media (you have to put that social network to work, folks). This Melbourne duo deliver “immersive and introspective guitar-driven music,” and it gives me some serious Now, Now vibes. I’ll Find is their latest two-track release, and it’s definitely worth a look if you’re into anything on the indie-dream pop spectrum. Stream I’ll Find here (Spotify).
You also can find all these tracks on the TPD January playlist, updated each week.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Gatecreeper – An Unexpected Reality
There was once a time when punks and metalheads were bitterly divided. The scene was fractured along genre lines and shows often resembled a warzone as a result. Then Black Flag released their sophomore album, 1984’s My War, and everything got even weirder. Suddenly, these hardcore upstarts weren’t just playing songs at breakneck speed with maximum ferocity. The record’s Side B slowed things down a bit, the riffs were more expansive and heady. Suddenly Black Flag sounded almost—dare I say it—metallic?
With their surprise EP drop, An Unexpected Reality, Arizonian death dealers Gatecreeper crave that aural juxtaposition. Side A compresses seven tracks into less than seven minutes, taking the band’s trademark HM-2 Swedish death metal influences into unseen territory. The riffs still crunch and churn, but the relentless tempos and incorporation of frantic blast beats hit more like a pile driver than a chainsaw. On closer “Emptiness,” the band bring their Black Flag homage full circle, with an eleven-minute doom opus that trades innate savagery for a dense dirge of despair. It’s dark, bleak, and over before you know it—kind of like reality.
Stream here: Spotify | Bandcamp
ERRONEOUS BOTCH:
Links to some of my other published work across the Web. Take a look and help a brother out.
Over at Exclaim!, I published a review of the new Shame record, Drunk Tank Pink. It keeps their British post-punk vibe firmly locked in, along with plenty of cheeky rude-boys-at-the-pub swagger. But it’s also moody and thoughtful and witheringly introspective. It’s great. Check it out here.
I also reviewed the new album from Dutch death metallers Asphyx for New Noise. Not surprisingly, it’s pretty heavy and talks about death a lot. Fascinating stuff. You can find it here.