Weekly Roundup: May 16th
Featuring Envision, My Chemical Romance, Fairweather, and more.
MOSH PITHY:
A curated selection of cool shit for you to listen to.
My Chemical Romance – “The Foundations of Decay”
With the twentieth anniversary of their debut album, the extremely emo titled I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, quickly approaching, New Jersey rockers My Chemical Romance have decided now is the time to return to the fold with an epic banger. “The Foundations of Decay”—the quartet’s first new material in eight years—is a six-minute blast of vintage MCR, with frontman Gerard Way’s lyrical theatrics twisting around an instrumental blend of emo prog and alt-rock. Watch the video for “The Foundations of Decay” below:
Raised As Wolves – Nervous Feelings
Wollongong punkers Raised As Wolves have been grinding away for the better part of a decade. The trio’s new record, Nervous Feelings, will be released on June 10th through Aussie hardcore punk powerhouse Resist Records. The group’s jangly and gruff, guitar-driven melodies are heavily influenced by the energy of 90s pop-punk, with a hefty amount of charged riffs, pounding drums and catchy choruses. Fans of Frenzal Rhomb, The Living End, and Press Club should definitely seek this one out. Stream the LP’s pre-release singles here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
D.R.U.G.S. – “Outcasts Vs. Everyone” feat. Brennan Savage
Admittedly, I’ve never really bothered with post-hardcore supergroup D.R.U.G.S. back in the early 2010s. I always thought the band-name-as-acronym was dumb, and the project really just seemed like an excuse for Craig Owens to do his thing post-Chiodos. Which is fine; the dude has legit pipes. The band’s new record, Destroy Rebuild, is out June 17th through Velocity Records, and their current line-up features guitarist Jona Weinhofen (I Killed The Prom Queen, ex-BMTH, ex-Bleeding Through) and bassist Aaron Patrick (All That Remains, ex-Bury Your Dead). Listen to the album’s latest single, “Outcasts Vs. Everyone” here.
Nerve Damage – Drip Fed. Misled.
Last year, I featured Yugambeh/Bundjalung outfit Nerve Damage in my scene report on the state of Australian hardcore for Bandcamp Daily. Following the release of Society Made Me Sick back in July, the septet are back at it again with a fierce three-track project, Drip Fed. Misled., out now through the good folks at Last Ride Records. The EP’s title track is a powerviolence rager about the struggle against systemic privilege which also features a guest spot from Amity Affliction frontman Joel Birch. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Death Cab for Cutie – “Roman Candles”
My wife has recently completed another rewatch of The O.C. (full disclaimer: I usually stop at season two and, no, I won’t be taking questions at this time) and one of the things I’m thankful for about this particularly nostalgic teenage drama is that it introduced me to emo rockers Death Cab for Cutie. Now, while I’m still an avid Transatlanticism (2003) stan, the group are currently prepping the release of their upcoming tenth full-length album, Asphalt Meadows, out September 16th via Atlantic. According to frontman Ben Gibbard, the record’s lead single is “about the crippling, existential dread that goes hand in hand with living in a nervous city on a dying planet.” Listen to “Roman Candles” here.
Fairweather – Deluge
With a career spanning all the way back to the late 90s, punk rock luminaries Fairweather have announced the release of a new four-track EP, Deluge, out June 24th on long-time label home Equal Vision Records. The band’s new material follows on from their 2014 self-titled debut album, with lead single “Untethered” powerfully folding expansive post-rock and alternative rhythms into their legacy sound. Stream the EP’s pre-release single here (Spotify).
Pale Waves – “Lies”
The evolution of Pale Waves has been quite a journey. There’s the blatant influence of The 1975 on their debut, 2018’s My Mind Makes Noises, which lead to the 90s-inflected goth-tinged pop of their 2021 follow-up, Who Am I?. Now, eighteen months later, the Manchester quartet have returned with their third LP, this time channelling slick, distorted soundscapes on their latest single. The track is a defiant rebuke of abusers, with frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie declaring that “Lies” is about “someone who built up my trust and destroyed it like a wrecking ball.” Watch the video for “Lies” below:
Envision – And Still…
I’m not entirely sure why but there’s a relative dearth of information about And Still..., the most recent release from South Florida wrecking crew Envision, out now through From Within Records. Why is this a concern? Well, because the four-track EP is a vital slice of vegan straight-edge hardcore in the vein of Inclination, Dare and Unspoken. Considering the band’s drummer Lennon is also the frontman of Ecostrike (who dropped their great A Truth We Still Believe LP back in 2020) and the owner of Plead Your Case Records, this level of hardcore pedigree is hardly surprising. Stream the EP in full here (Bandcamp/Spotify).
Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2022 TUNES playlist, updated weekly.
HEAVY METTLE:
A closer, more in-depth look at a new record that ticks all my boxes.
Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
There’s a Genius annotation for the lyrics to DAMN. (2017) that includes a quote from Sounwave, one of Kendrick Lamar’s closest collaborators: “We’ll sit there for hours eliminating songs—that are so amazing—because [they] don’t fit. It has to make sense. [It has to be] a perfect circle. It has to connect.” And this holistic approach to songwriting applies to the last decade of Lamar’s output.
good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) closes with “Real,” where the listener can hear a cassette tape being fast-forwarded, prophetically alluding to Lamar's rapid rise to king status. To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) ends with “Mortal Man” and a reflection on Lamar’s place in the culture—name-checking figures like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jnr, Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, and more—before flowing into an extended interview with Tupac Shakur from beyond the grave. DAMN. closer “DUCKWORTH.” purposefully flips the tape motif, with rapidly reversed audio symbolizing a flashback through Lamar’s life thus far, echoing the first line uttered in the album's opening bar.
Similarly, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers opens with “United In Grief,” where Lamar informs us that he’s been “goin' through somethin’” during his five-year absence, before ruminating on materialism, status and grief. The opener frames the double album to follow as a form of reflection, guiding the listener through Lamar’s inner thoughts and his motivation to speak personal truths out loud.
This then, coincidentally, means that closer “Mirror” ends with an affirmation of growth. The track’s chorus hook sees Lamar choosing himself over his legacy, acknowledging his limits and learning to accept his shortcomings with grace and humility—in short, as the bridge indicates, to sit down and be humble:
“I realized, true love’s not savin’ face/
But unconditional.
When will you let me go?
I trust you’ll find independence/
If not, then all is forgiven.
Sorry I didn't save the world, my friend/
I was too busy buildin' mine again.”
Look, there isn’t a music journalist alive right now that isn’t trying to have a rapid-fire take about the latest Kendrick Lamar record. This is not lost on me. It’s a 70+ minute-long double album and there’s a whole bunch to dive into. However, it’s clear that Lamar has consistently provided introspective album closers that leave the listener with a rich, thematic touchstone for interpretation.