Interrobang
April 11th, 2024
Hey y’all, another quick intro for this blast of random music thoughts. As always, today’s post is a mix of old and new things I’ve been listening to for the past week or so. Been trying to get out and enjoy the nicer weather too, so there’s that.
Here’s a picture of Maple, because why not?
As you can tell, I don’t have a lot to say, so how about a random question of the day: what’s the best major pizza chain and why? While I have a place in my heart for Dominos and Little Caesars, I gotta go for the grease-merchant, Pizza Hut. It just hits.
As always, please reach out on the hellsite if you’d like or better yet join the Rosy Overdrive Discord server where I can be found now and again. You can also find me in the corners of Rate Your Music scrounging for obscure emo, hardcore, indie-rock and pop-punk.
Don’t forget: if you’re reading this in your email it will be cut off. Read on the web for the full list of reviews!
Nø Man - Glitter and Spit (2024)
Genres: Hardcore Punk, Post-Hardcore
Solid hardcore/post-hardcore stuff; I've checked in with Nø Man on their other albums and every time I walk away satisfied but don't find their records to be incredibly memorable.
Their sound definitely sits on the post-hardcore side of the coin when it comes to their textures, but they do get into some straight ahead hardcore punk moments. Not a lot of capital "H" hardcore influence so you won't find a bunch of breakdowns or gut-hitting riffery but it's a smooth blend nonetheless.
Louie Zong - Rat Taxi (2024)
Genres: Jazz-Funk, Indie Pop, Digital Fusion, Comfy Synth, Indie Folk, Indietronica
Fun internet-brained nu-funk/nu-jazz/fusion/etc. stuff. Doesn't overstay its welcome but feels a little featherweight to me as it's a bit in-one-ear-out-the-other. I did particularly like the chiptune leads on "Dumpster Disco". A decent diversion, for sure.
Polinski - Meet Me by the Panamax Barricades (2024)
Genre: Synthwave, IDM, Electronic
This mostly avoids the issues I had with Telex From MIDI City, where I found it slipped into cheesiness from time to time. There's less of a synthwave aura here, which is appreciated. It's basically an overlap of glitch and jungle/dnb/etc. with some widescreen atmosphere like on the 10+ minute closing track. That's where they start to lose me but it's more palpable here for whatever reason. Overall, good stuff.
Bayside - There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive (2024)
Genres: Emo-Pop, Pop Punk, Post-Hardcore
As someone who only recently came around to Bayside and really crushed through their discography in the last year, I had a lot of swirling thoughts about this as I listened to it but honestly it all comes down to: nothing in this album makes me want to sing along with them.
Bayside are a band I come to for hooks and riffs, and the former part of the equation on this album is sorely lacking. The songs are FINE. They aren't BAD. But this is probably the most middle of the road and forgettable the band has ever been. Even songs like the title track of Interrobang showed they still had it in them to fuse big riffs and addictive hooks together but nothing here has that special Bayside vibe that makes it all work to me. "Say So Long" and another track or two get close, but otherwise ehhhhh. It feels like the first time they've reached into the same old bag of tricks but didn't pull back at least a handful of really great choruses or hooks.
I was weary based on all the singles and EPs leading up to this but ultimately came open minded and was still pretty disappointed. I could absolutely see a case for this being their weakest effort yet, which sucks because they're a band I love to root for.
Over on Rate Your Music people seem a bit more positive on this one than I am, so maybe I need to come back and see how it feels over the course of the year?
Bronnie - Jaded (2024)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Punk
This sits firmly in that nu-Pop Punk genre very inspired by the 00s radio-pop version of the genre like Avril etc. but they do pepper in some heavier riffing that brings to mind easycore stuff (like on the title track.)
When this sticks on that side of the equation it's very satisfying but when it leans a little further into the straight up radio-rock vibe like on "OH!" it's a little less effective imo.
Cut this down to maybe the best 25 minutes on here and you've got something I'd probably be returning to more often.
Cortex - Troupeau bleu (1975)
Genre: Jazz-Funk, Jazz Pop, Samba-jazz, Jazz Fusion
I was just looking for new-to-me Jazz-Funk stuff in the Rate Your Music charts and came across this absolutely killer French record; very sophisti-jazz, fusion and all around damn groovy. I love MF DOOM but just hearing "Huit octobre 1971" wasn't enough to remind me about it being the origin of "One Beer", so after listening I had to revisit that one. The key to this album, well aside from the grooves, is Mireille Dalbray on vocals. Gorgeous work.
You could basically just go down the list of credits and go "amazing [instrument] work by [name]" because every performer is on point. So sick, not to be missed if you're a jazz/fusion/funk/etc. fan who hasn't already heard this (I'm very late to the party on this one it seems haha.)
Johnny Hammond - Gears (1975)
Really good jazz funk with arrangement, production, and performances (incl. vocals) by Larry and Fonce Mizell under the top-billed Johnny Hammond. Super smooth stuff, very nice.
Vaux - There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them (2003)
Genres: Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Always had a soft spot for this one, despite it being a little faceless. They are definitely doing the At The Drive In / Trail of Dead kind of post-hardcore thing with shades of emo, indie rock and hardcore (or maybe it's more screamo than hardcore? I dunno…) in here.
Things get pretty same-y throughout but I dig the overall texture and tone here so it doesn't really matter. Songs like "Set it to Blow," "On Love and Cars," "Ride Out" and some more are all solid bangers with decent melodies throughout.
At the time I tried to follow them to their EP and LP but felt like the proportions of their sound really got out of whack. They sounded like they wanted to be Muse on Beyond Virtue, Beyond Vice, which... nah.
What Gives - Feels Good (2017)
Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop
I feel like this got washed away in the flood of midwestern emo revival stuff in 2017, even though it doesn't really sit perfectly in that genre. This is crunchy mid-tempo power-pop influenced emo, way more second-wave and without the noodly-twinkle riff stuff.
Way more of a "what if second wave emo by way of Weezer/Rozwell Kid" kind of thing, but without the high that comes with the oft-faster tempos of those bands. Maybe some shades of The Get Up Kids too. Definitely shares DNA with that geek-rock, wee-oo-wee-oo synth-line kind of thing, but they do churn their songs into cathartic hooks that have a foundation in emo ("All We Got", "Slime Time Live" etc.). They released some singles in 2018 but disappeared ever since, unfortunately.
Features members of: Annabel, Dowsing, and Elway.
Tired Lion - Breakfast for Pathetics (2020)
Genres: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Power Pop
Really enjoyed this record in 2020 - it landed on my 2020 year-end list - and revisiting it recently reminded me why. Just big, crunchy pop music with enormous guitars. Not really enough punk in the DNA to call it pop punk, but it also doesn't not got some pop punk in it, you know? Makes sense as a sub-genre tag.
"Lie to Me" is such a huge jam it almost ruins the rest of the album but this just really scratches that grungey, poppy itch that I often need scratched.
RIYL: Momma, Violent Soho, Bully etc.
Dance Hall Crashers - Lockjaw (1995)
Genres: Ska Punk, Pop Punk, Punk Rock
Avoided this album for a long time because of how bad the cover art is, haha.
I know that the whole thing with DHC was that they started as a “real deal” ska band before morphing into more of a horn-less pop punk / power-pop band that happened to have upstrokes sometimes. Most of their original fan base seems to hate anything that isn't that original debut album.
Unfortunately, I happen to really like pop-punk and ska-tinged third-wave stuff as long as the hooks are strong, so this is just fine. It's not super memorable and the hooks aren't going to bury themselves into your brain or anything but this is A-OK for what it is.
Drop a dollar in the "dan said an album was too long" jar though because this does not need to be 40 minutes!
CAKE - Fashion Nugget (1996)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock
An album so powerful that it's still revealing that would-be critics don't know what the words smug or ironic mean. I'm not sure what it is about CAKE that make people think like the band is smirking or acting above it all? They've had their moments where they come off that way (notably their debut's "Rock and Roll Lifestyle") but just because they covered a song and added a swear word doesn't mean they're making fun of it? What's ironic or smug about "Open Book"? "Daria"? "Friend is a Four Letter Word"? "It's Coming Down"? Like, what?
There's way more sincerity here than there is a lack of it, but I guess just the fact that they genre-jump and mix up styles makes people think they're taking the piss or something? It's probably the talk singing, though, all said. People just cannot handle that shit it seems (see also: Cheekface.)
There's a big "I don't know what to do with this music, so they must be trying to pull one over on ME!" vibe to reviews of this album over the years. The closest I'd give them is that there is a novelty to what they are doing, but I don't think the novelty is the exclusive draw because the songs are good. I remember reading the Allmusic reviews of their first few albums and being like damn what does this person have against this band?? lol
Anyway, everything about this album rules: the production, the guitar tone and riffs, the horns, the hooks and melodies... I'm probably biased because hearing this album when I was younger was definitely a big part of expanding my tastes outside of the walled off garden of punk rock. Even with a couple toss-off or potentially annoying songs like "Race Car Ya-Yas" (which I do like a lot) this is a good stack of great songs, top to bottom.
Their three album run from Fashion Nugget to Comfort Eagle is great. I do like Pressure Chief and Showroom as well but they are definitely not as good as those three.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
What an awesome collection of reviews! Thanks for spending the time writing all these up. Will check out a few for sure although I might just give that Cake album a listen for the first time in about 10 years!
Really digging Tired Lion this morning! Kinda needed something with high(er) octane, and this is it.
As for pizza, is Round Table still around? I haven’t been in one in probably 30 years, but even just typing this, I can taste it.