Quick Hits: February 8th, 2022
New releases, a seminal soundtrack from 1980, and more.
Quick Hits from The Discover Tab is an on-going capsule-reviews series which covers music I’m currently listening to - short, and to the point for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
I’m trying to keep up some level of pace with these dispatches, so here’s another handful of words and music that I’ve been listening to lately. As always, hit me up on Twitter and let me know what you have been listening to - new, old, or whatever.
The Drolls - That Puget Sound (2022, Self-released)
I’ve never smashed that play button faster than when I realized The Drolls were comprised of Julie of Chinchilla & Guest Directors and Denny & Josh from SICKO.
First off, if you aren’t familiar with Chinchilla, go check out 101 Italian Hits from 1996. It came out on Crisis Records (a subsidiary record label of Revelation Records) and according to the comments section of a web-review, they broke up shortly after due to some internal disagreements. I feel like it’s one of those really cool records that the people who know about, really love. I’m one of those types for sure.
Secondly, I’ve spent the better part of the last five or so years absolutely, completely obsessed with SICKO. When I was younger—and obsessed with pop-punk—I had heard SICKO on some compilations. Later, when streaming music became a thing, I’d try their albums here and there and somehow they didn’t click. I think what unlocked the band for me was realizing that Kurt Bloch—of another one of my obsessions, The Fastbacks—produced all their records. All of a sudden their stuff made sense and now they rank easily as a top five band of all time for me.
All this is to say, That Puget Sound hits every mark for me. Jangly, energetic, hook-fueled, power-pop indie-punk.
Sweat - Gotta Give it Up (2022, Pirate Press Records)
This one blew me away. During my Friday-morning digital release-bin digging, I hit play on this record and was hooked. Sweat play hardcore and punk tinged with just the right amount of 70s rock riffery and melodicism to make it all go down easy. Perfect example: dueling lead guitar lines on “Machismo” hold your hand for a moment before tossing you straight into the pit. This is a year-ender for me, immediately.
Various Artists - Babylon: The Original Soundtrack (2005, Parlophone Records Ltd.)
I watched Babylon (1980) the other day, which follows the story of Blue, a young Jamaican man living in Brixton in 1980 and who is a member of the sound system operators Ital Lion. It’s a slice-of-life movie about racism and the revolutionary power of music, and the soundtrack is absolutely incredible—featuring dub and reggae from Aswad, Cassandra, I-Roy, Yabby You and more. Essential stuff all-around.
The Sad Tomorrows - Self-titled (2022, Don Giovanni Records)
Members of The Ergs!, Night Birds, Black Wine, and Hunchback form this punk-pop supergroup, The Sad Tomorrows. On their Bandcamp page they’re self-described as recalling "an earlier era of alternative music, before melodic punk bifurcated and calcified into indie rock and pop-punk." Makes a lot of sense to me, this is a nice balance between fizzy hooks and power-pop played with indie-punk energy.
Various Artists - AS IF!: A Songs From Teen Comedies Covers Comp (2022, DLTSGDOM!)
A new compilation from the DLTSGCOM! Collective featuring acts like (T-T)b, Oceanator, Bad Moves, toobin, Mister Goblin and more covering "Songs From Teen Comedies" (a prompt that was left up to the interpretation of the artists, according to the bandcamp page.)
My favs include (T-T)b’s chiptune-enhanced Teenage Dirtbag and Bad Moves’ take on The Cardigans (ask me about how I feel about The Cardigans some day and I’ll talk your ear off lol.) Also nice: toobin’s understated take on Blink-182’s crudely postured and unchecked teenage toxic masculinity circa-2000.
All proceeds from this compilation go to No More Dysphoria + Pauline Juliet. Buy a copy!
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.