How about a big ol’ stack of recommendations for your Friday morning?
I have recently moved back to my home town, which comes with a lot of conflicting feelings. I immediately dove back into working from home while also trying to unpack and set up our new house. As you might expect, it’s taking a while. So, as a result I have been living in what feels like a perpetual state of transition. All the while I have been keeping up with logging my thoughts on my listening material, so I present a big dump of what seemed like the most interesting releases, revisits or “new to me” stuff. I’ll skip the playlists for today.
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!
Quiet Commotion - Red Grasshoppers (2024, Anomic)
Genre: Indie Pop, Slowcore, Slacker Rock
At times this feels like Duster worship, but I like Duster and that kind of bedroom-slowcore indie-rock grab-bag thing works for me usually. This drags on though at 53 minutes long. Still, it's well produced and sounds great and when it leans into that perfect meeting place between indie-pop and slowcore it sticks the landing.
Worse Off - Over, Thinking (2024, All We Got!)
Melodic emo-indie-punk that skirts a lot of sub-genres that tick my boxes - pop-punk, emo-punk, anthemic punk, melodic punk, 90s punk, etc. etc. Has that dual vocalist interplay that is very effective and while they don't have incredibly memorable sing-along moments, they get pretty close.
This feels like it could either be one of those albums that I end up coming back to over the year and really warm up to, or it will remain a fairly memorable album that makes me want to hear their next one. Jury's out, we'll have to see in a few months how this settles but it's strong enough to get a soft recommendation from me if you dig this stuff.
RIYL: Teenage Halloween, Sarchasm, Sad Park, Chumped, Spraynard etc.
Pouty - Forgot About Me (2024, Get Better)
Genre: Bubblegrunge, Power Pop, Indie Rock
Pouty is Rachel Gagliardi's (Slutever) new moniker and their debut release is about thirty minutes of cromulent bubblegrunge. I always have time for big, crunchy, hooky songs and this scratches that itch. Think Star 99, Supermilk, Charly Bliss, Beach Bunny, Nanny etc.
Hate to say it for a second time in a row, but this could either become a sleeper favourite of the year for me or just remain a solid little record in the back of my mind. I will have to keep track of it as the year goes on.
Tearjerker - This is Really All We Need (2024, Self-Released)
Genre: Shoegaze, Indie Rock
I'm probably very biased because I've been reviewing and enjoying Tearjerker releases since Strangers in 2010. This is their first effort since 2019 and honestly, not a whole lot has changed since their early work. It's hazy, featherweight shoegaze / dream-pop / indie-rock stuff. I've always admired their textures and they are still pretty spot-on.
At 25 minutes including at least three little interlude-style songs this lives up to being called featherweight, but I've always felt like they have something intangible that stops them from coming off same-y even though I'm sure you could point to a bevvy of other acts doing this exact thing.
Maybe I'm predisposed due to the Toronto, Ontario connection and their place in my personal history of discovering and reviewing records back in the 2000s and 2010s. Tearjerker definitely became one of those bands I fiercely aligned with - they ended up on my year-end lists, I'd tell everyone I could about 'em, etc. I think they're incredibly consistent and this is more of the Tearjerker I enjoy and admire.
It may be too lightweight for some, but I find their music incredibly comforting.
Dissimulator - Lower Form Resistance (2024, 20 Buck Spin)
Genre: Technical Thrash Metal, Technical Death Metal
Me, listening to Canadian tech metal released after 1989? How novel!
But seriously, I was perusing the Canadian tech metal chart and didn't have it filtered 1980 - 1989 and this popped up and I figured why the hell not? I should really keep more of a pulse check on modern metal subgenres because most of the stuff I listen to these days from current bands are more in the grind/hardcore/death/etc. side of things.
Anyway this is good! It's very all-over-the-map tech thrash that jumps from time signature to time signature with guttural vocals. They certainly seem to nudge into death/blackened metal territory in moments.
If you aren't into frills like random vocoders or random French spoken word outbursts then maybe they won't be your bag but I really enjoyed it.
States of Nature - Brighter Than Before (2024, Little Rocket Records)
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Hardcore
Hesitate to describe this as post-hardcore despite their self-identification of being in that genre, as this is more melodic than you might think based on that description. It's not all egghead angular stuff, there's a lot of punk/indie hooks in here with shouty duel-vocal melodies bouncing around.
This almost reminds me of a much better version of what White Reaper became when they ditched their addictive, poppy hooks for boring arena rock 'n' roll worship. I also hear a pinch of stuff like Sauna Youth in here, where the post-punk bass and garage rock riffs are cranked up into hooky territory while maintaining the edge of their origins. That first Shutups album also popped into my head a few times.
Part of me wishes this really leaned harder into pop-punk influences instead of just the rock and roll, punk and vague post-punk elements but I also think this is really well executed and enjoyed it a lot.
Lazy Sunday - Another Summer (2024, Salinas Records)
Genre: Pop Punk
90s indebted pop-punk with twee and slacker rock elements from Salinas Records. Brings to mind label mates joyride! or the earlier Blushh songs. Maybe some All Dogs in their moodier moments. All around solid but left me wanting a little more. Another "time will tell" album, because this kind of stuff has a tendency to sneak up on me.
Porcelain - Porcelain (2024, Portrayal of Guilt)
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock
Now this is definitely some Numero-core. This group are definitely big fans of Unwound. I think they do a good job of incorporating that post-hardcore thing into their album without it being too icy, too technical, too egghead or lacking in melodies, etc. I like it!
Boilermaker - In Wallace's Shadow (1996, Goldenrod Records / Numero Group Re-issue)
Genre: Emo, Post-Hardcore
Numero Group have been digitally (and often physically) re-issuing a lot of 90s emo stuff and Boilermaker's second full-length is their latest to be added to digital services.
Boilermaker sit in that overlap that occurs between second wave emo and post-hardcore guitar rock. They don't get twinkly and overly spacey, and they don't exclusively sit in the alt-rock side of the post-hardcore genre but instead they do a lot of alternating between soft and loud (as you'd expect from emo of this vintage.) When they're soft, they operate on more of a sparkling, emo-jangle kind of spectrum. And they don't get overly math-rock-y or complicated when it comes to the post-hardcore side of their sound, though there are moments where they approach noise-rock.
For me, they have always been a band I admired a bit from afar (though I also enjoyed Numero's Watercourse reissue) but In Wallace's Shadow is super well-rounded an album at about 37 minutes and is maybe a pinch stronger than their previous effort.
The Figgs - Low-Fi at Society High (1994, Imago)
Genre: Power Pop, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock
The Figgs are one of the great underrated 90s bands in my brain, but they are also one of those bands with a really frustrating discography. Yes, I have to admit they are another band where their masterpiece may just be their best work compiled from their 35 year long (and counting) career.
After a string of seemingly false-starts in the late-eighties and early-nineties (band name changes, demo releases and scrappy independent debuts) they made the jump to a major label subsidiary (Imago, an alt-rock off-splinter of BMG) for their proper introduction with Low-Fi at Society High.
Everything that makes them a cult act for better and for worse is on display here; fizzy buzz-bin pop-punk by way of power-pop and an overlong, sometimes aimless track listing.
This is a band that would go on to (at one point) be Graham Parker's backing band and release 12 more albums since this (including one wildly overlong double-album). So, they were an ambitious band from the start, especially for an act just playing college-y poppy punky alt-rock. They'd often get comparisons to Costello and Joe Jackson on their later, less punk-influenced releases but the DNA for those references are in full form on many tracks here too.
The album drags, but the highs are high enough that I can't deny it. Maybe in my head I overrate it as one of the best albums of its kind from the 90s, but I have a lot of love for it. Maybe the meandering elements of the album are what make it a better road trip album vs. one to listen to while working? It's possible.
Jazz Celula - Oheň až požár (1976, Panton)
Genre: Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Rock
Czechoslovakian jazz-fusion. This never drops too far into rock-oriented fusion but it delivers enough punch to stop it from being background-only jazz. Dig those dope as hell synths on "Probuzeni"!
Very nice blend, expertly performed; the type of thing I'm always wanting to reach for but seems elusive when I try to find it.
French Exit - Guts and Black Stuff (2013, It's Alive)
Genre: Punk Rock, Orgcore
"Impossible" has always been a huge fucking banger for me, but I've never thought too much about the rest of the album that much so I figured I should revisit it since it's been a while. After three or four repeats of "Impossible" I moved on to the rest of the record and.............. and it's good if not a little unmemorable.
And again, maybe it's personal head cannon but for some reason "Impossible" has become a mount rushmore anthem for the 2010s orgcore/punk genre. The rest of the album is even above average for this genre and they have a lot of energy and hooks to spare. I just love that song too much for the rest of the album not to feel like a half-step down.
Regardless, I think this is good enough to be bestowed hidden gem status.
Lauren Bousfield - Salesforce (2023, Orange Milk)
Genre: Glitch Pop, Breakcore, IDM
Good stuff and right up my alley in terms of the overlap of glitch/noise electronic and hyper-pop/sugar-rush kind of sounds. I also appreciated the dips into piano/near-classical sounds like on the closing track "Halt Draft." Would be very interested to hear where they go from here, and this would have likely been on my year-end list in 2023 had I heard it then.
Painted Thin - Clear, Plausible Stories (1999, Golden Arm)
Genre: Midwest Emo, Pop Punk, Emo-Pop
Canadian band that plays indie/emo rock with at least a dollop of influence from the punk/pop-punk scenes. At times it sounds like Superchunk via The Weakerthans, and other times it has more of a mid- to low-tempo emo-rock thing going on (they toss in a couple synths here and there too.) "St. James" sounds like they're leaning into Jawbreaker worship. Someone on YouTube also said they were Canada's Empire State Games but I think that maybe overstates a punk/hardcore sound that the band doesn't really push into very often.
One member went on to join Sixty Stories who I had some time for when I was in College. It's possible this stuff was a pinch ahead of its time as I feel like you can hear some more modern bands that have some of this sound in their DNA and are probably pulling from the same influences that Painted Thin were.
Maybe not a huge hidden gem but I liked this well enough and feel like there's something here for fans of the genre. They seem like they were one of those bands that had the music but just got swept over as time went on. Guess what? it's also too long at almost 50 minutes haha, sorry I had to.
Sixty Stories - Anthem Red (2002, Smallman Records)
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
This is another one of those albums I have admiration for that likely comes from my experience with it around the time it came out. In 2002 I was using IRC a lot and discovering bands like Moneen through xdcc bots and FTP servers. I remember playing a track off Smaller Chairs for the Early 1900's on my high school radio show lol. So the idea that there were "cool," modern Canadian bands was something I was coming around on.
I first heard Sixty Stories' tracks off their split with Painted Thin (whom they shared a member with) and had a small bit of anticipation around their full length. This stuff is a lot more produced and smooth than their other work, and relies more on crunchy hooks. I remember they caught some flak I guess because singer Jo Snyder isn't the most expressive voice in the world, but that never mattered to me?
Sixty Stories often got compared to The Weakerthans, though it always seemed to me it was mostly because they were also from Winnipeg. These are emo-rock songs with Weezer-y melodies (the solo on "Jessica" in particular feels Weezer-esque.) Sixty Stories also feel a bit ahead of their time in some ways, using the "hooky songs about serious topics" thing that feels even more prominent these days in genres like bubblegrunge. In a lot of ways they fit alongside bands these days more than they did at the time of release.
I think for the average listener, some of the weaker or simpler tracks like "Quit My Job" sinks this. The band is adept at painting lyrical pictures on other songs that just a "Gonna quit my job / woah oh oh" song feels like filler. Plus their big 6-minute epic "A Letter from Mom" doesn't feel as effective as their song "The Place at the Top of the Stairs." off their split with Painted Thin.
That I revisit this album every few years and still hold some place in my memory for it is enough for me to bump it from a deserving three stars to a bonus three point five I'd say. Your mileage will likely vary.
The Like Young - So Serious (2004, Parasol)
Genre: Indie Rock, Power Pop, Pop Punk
Joe Ziemba (previously of Wolfie and who would go on to release music as Beaujolais, Taken by Savages and Beaujolais) was one half of this then-married power-pop-punk duo (alongside Amanda Ziemba) who released a few records between 2003 and 2006 before breaking up. Ziemba would also go on to form cult-cinema mainstays Bleeding Skull and the American Genre Film Archive. For me, So Serious is their pinnacle release (though I have time for all of them.)
If you were a duo in the 2000s you either got compared to White Stripes or Mates of State and The Like Young really did not fit into either of those boilerplate reference points. They're all about hooks and power-pop energy with a sprinkle of emo-influence on the vocals; it's three-chord indie-pop that is crunchy enough to have a pop-punk sub-genre tag even though you may not trace any actual punk in their sound.
There's some Weezer in their dedication to big, big hooks though which is why you'll see them on lists like "So You Like Weezer's First Two Albums" on RYM. This really does feel like it could have only come from the early to mid-2000s when ex-twee band members could lean into a crunchy indie-pop sound like this and catch some blog buzz.
Anyway, it's 24 minutes and very top-heavy (tracks 1 through 5 are a big highlight) but the whole thing goes by fast in a haze of hooks and slashed power chords, just how I like it.
✂ Out to Get Me, You're No Cheat, Tighten My Tie, Worry a Lot, Sabine & Me
The Twirpentines - Goodnight, Porchlight (2002, A-F Records)
Genre: Pop Punk, Melodic Hardcore, Emo-Pop
Another scrappy album of poppy punk that mixes emo-pop and a sprinkle of melodic hardcore. This definitely has similarities to early The Get Up Kids as well Lifetime of course. Another band where you can hear some Samiam as well on stuff like "Walls Speak in Echoes". They do that similar thing as Samiam where it's not just emo, not just punk, not just pop-punk, etc. but all the elements are there in full force.
The pop-punk DNA that is in here that also feels like a link between 90s EpiFat and 00s Orgcore revival stuff. It's too emo-influenced and lacks the skate-punk energy to truly compare to EpiFat stuff but there's just a little something in the attitude of the singer that reminds of that era. The vocals also dip into actual scream-y emo too as well at times. Can also hear some early- to mid-career The Ataris as well on "Walls Speak in Echoes." It's not the most original mix of sounds but it's well executed. Ditch the acoustic ballad though.
As always, too long for this kind of album at 40 minutes but I've listened to a lot worse and this actually stood out a bit in my mind once it was all over.
Choke - Needless to Say (1998, Smallman Records)
Genre: Melodic Hardcore, Skate Punk, Pop Punk
This is a lot more skate punk influenced than the other Choke album I've heard (There's a Story to This Moral) and as such it's a bit more in my wheelhouse personally. This is very fast and technical skate punk with elements of emo and maybe a sprinkle of pop punk's penchant for melody in there.
There's hints of where they would go from here on the next few albums, but nothing that I would call straight up post-hardcore. I guess it's more just their fast and technical playing ability that hints of what came later. To my ear this ends up sounding more like Belvedere or even Strung Out versus the Moneen or Grade sound they'd lean into.
I'm not sure how much melodic hardcore is hiding in here, as when I think of that my mind either goes to Bad Religion-core or Lifetime-core and this is too stop-start-y and show-off-y to me to really fit into that genre. I guess it's there in moments though.
Even though this doesn't hit the gut with a lot of actually catchy hooks, the energy and technicality was enough to keep me interested for 26 minutes.
Schatzi - Fifty Reasons to Explode (2002, Mammoth)
Genre: Power Pop, Indie Rock, Geek Rock
Pretty sure I've tried this over the years on my endless search for more crunchy poppy geek rock with wee-oo-wee-oo synths. Maybe it was because it was mostly a background thing but this worked today. Basically a mix of crunchy radio-pop-punk with indie and power-pop elements. At times it reminds me of The Anniversary or Ozma but then they'll do something like "Undergrowth" which is too big hooked alt-rock for those bands to be apt comparison points. Maybe they'd sit on the shelf beside Ultimate Fakebook, Nerf Herder or The Squish too.
If you like that Weezer-influenced geek rock sound, this will likely scratch that itch.
Technical Thrash & Metal Corner
I.N.C. aka Indestructible Noise Command - The Visitor (1988, Giant)
Really goofy and suitably crusty sounding thrash metal that flirts with technical thrash and slower, heavier groove-chug material. I bounced off their debut album almost immediately due to their vocals, bud didn't seem to have that issue with this record. They toss in two Cars covers (“Just What I Needed / Candy-O”) at the end to give you an idea of how seriously they take themselves. Just like with punk bands doing covers, that track is not exactly essential to the record. Otherwise, the riffing on this record is very high quality and the overall atmosphere is quite fun. I love when they really throw some out-there grooves into the mix like halfway through the title track!
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King (1987, Atlantic)
Labeled as power and heavy metal but would also have a sub-genre of "dad metal" or "air brushed van metal" if such tags existed.
I have to admire how they navigate from honest-to-goodness power-metal but then into basically arena-metal on "Strange Wings." That's probably a negative for "real metal heads" but I'm not one of those so a super cheesy ass catchy ass "heavy" rock song like that is a nice change of pace.
Very weird to hear their carnival-ass take on classical music right afterwards with "Prelude to Madness" too. They're forgiven for that though because immediately following is the title track, which rips. Entire album is worth the price or admission for that song alone. They're great at maintaining a "still heavy!" element to their riffing while not sacrificing melody or arena-ready hooks on some songs.
Plus you get unexpected things like the singer just going AA! AA! AA! for a while, which is a real choice but also amazing.
Messiah Force - The Last Day (1987, Haissem)
More proof that Canada had the real shit when it came to all kinds of metal. Hidden gem alert, for sure.
This has USPM as a sub-label but speed metal is very much at the forefront of their sound, mixed with super anthemic vocals from Lynn Renaud. Very unfortunate that the band released only one more demo without Lynn (who left for health reasons) before calling it quits. Lynn is definitely the thing that makes this worth seeking out so maybe it's for the best.
Maybe the weakest aspect of that genre formula would be the kind of repetitive drum performance on some of the more straight forward tracks. Not bad by any means but if you're looking for something super showy this might not be your ticket. That said, enough songs have their starts and stops and left turns so it's not all set it and forget it speed metal.
Like the comments section mentions, the mixing on this isn't so hot... but crank it loud on your headphones and you get used to it. The version on streaming services is labeled as 2007 and lists the original label of Haissem Records so I have to assume the CD labeled as "remastered" in the releases here could be an improvement.
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.
I didn't even realize Schatzi were a band as long as they were; I also had forgotten about them. Someone got me onto that Dissimulator with the bait "full Voivod vibes". The magic words...And I'm normally not a technical death metal guy.
Been digging the Lazy Sunday myself! Also Pouty.